"Why?"
It was a simple, soft spoken question. A question that Roy wanted to hear the answer to as well. Standing silently in the doorway of the dorm, unseen by either man, Roy waited for Chet's answer as to the reason why Johnny had become his alter-ego, the Phantom's pigeon. At first the jokes had been harmless, water bombs, a cupcake in Johnny's helmet, syrup in Johnny's boots, even a rubber snake in Johnny's bed but the last joke of the peace pipe had crossed the line.
"Why what?" He heard Chet answer innocently and he didn't need to see the linesman's face to see Chet's smirk of triumph.
"Why me?"
Roy could hear the resignation, defeat and tiredness in his partner's voice as Johnny turned to face his nemesis, "Why not Roy or Marco or even Mike? What have I ever done to you?"
"Ohh come on, Gage-"
"Is it because you think that I'm a dirty, half breed? Is that the reason?"
Roy felt his heart sink. He had seen the hurt, the anger and the betrayal in Johnny's eyes when Chet had decided to gift him with the ridiculous gift of a peace pipe all wrapped up with ribbon and even a bow as a joke, but he hadn't realized that Chet's little joke had cut Johnny to the core. Looking at the hurt expression on his partner's face, Roy realized that his partner had probably faced the same ignorant racism all his life, never fitting in or being made to feel welcome anywhere or by anyone just because of his mixed heritage.
"No!" Roy heard Chet gasp in surprise.
"Then why?" The need to understand just why he was the butt of Chet's jokes evident in Johnny's plea.
"Because…"
Roy held his breath as Chet looked down and shuffled his feet uncomfortably beneath Johnny's questioning and hurt look.
"Because?" Johnny asked, the desperation to know just what he had done to be singled out as the Phantom's favorite target evident in his voice. "Because why?"
From where he was standing, he thought he could see the red flush of embarrassment color the back of Chet's neck as Chet slowly looked back up at Johnny as the words tumbled out, "It's… well…"
"Well?"
Roy could hear Johnny's frustration and anger rise and began to take a step to make his presence known but stopped when Chet snapped back. "Hell, you really don't get it, do you Gage? We're family, Johnny, and you're the kid brother. And kid brother will always be the butt of any of the Phantom's jokes just because that's the way it is. That's just the way it happens in my family. "
"Family?"
Roy heard the shock and bewilderment in Johnny's voice.
"Jeez, Gage, for someone so smart, you can really be dumb sometimes." Chet growled before he added, "Do you really think I care that you're half Indian. Hell, I'm half Irish and -"
"Your Grandmother was an Indian princess." Johnny finished for him.
"Yeah." Chet nodded.
"So, do you really consider me as family?" Johnny eyed Chet, skeptically.
Roy could hear the disbelief mixed with hope in the Johnny's voice.
"Yeah, you numbskull, of course I do," Chet answered without the slightest hesitation before adding, "but if you tell anyone else that I ever admitted it, then you will have the Phantom to deal with. Got it?"
"Got it!"
Roy saw the relieved smile that lit up Johnny's face as the younger man agreed to the Phantom's terms before he quietly turned and walked away, leaving the two men with the belief that their new understanding of each other and their little secret stayed just between the two of them.