Less Than Guilty
My mother still owns me, how could I possibly own Justice League? It belongs to the big DC guys.
About the Burn: I wasn't sure what the hell to do about it. Seemed like a good idea when I was writing it, but now I don't know. Maybe Wally should get a tattoo to cover it. A lightening bolt or something…lol.
Warnings: Nothing really… Well, there's J'onn. I like J'onn. Something about his personality seems to flow well in a story with Manic Wally and Mildly Psycho John.
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Chapter One
Scars Remind Us
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It started innocently, as most things do. Wally was sitting on his couch eating a bowl of cheerios and reading through a passage of one of his textbooks with a highlighter in the hand that wasn't holding the spoon. John was half-watching him half going over a sketch he'd been working on.
Any minute now that bowl and its sugar drowned contents were going to be on his couch. He could feel it in his bones… Yeah. It was coming. Maybe because Wally was stupid enough to sit cross-legged on a couch with a bowl in his lap, maybe because he had his book resting against his knees, scant centimeters from the bowl, maybe because he wasn't ambidextrous and should really stop trying to do three things at once. (Four if John counted him non-too subtly watching 'Hellboy'.)
John shook his head and returned his attention to his own work. Unlike Wally he actually had a job beyond mooching off of the guy who liked him too much to be healthy. Wally had been amazed that he worked.
"You…work?"
John stared at him, pencil poised above the paper almost warily. "When you aren't around, sure. Why do you look so surprised?"
"Well…I though you were…I don't know, world saving centric. Plus you were a marine, and off planet for a while, and everything. When did you have time to become an architect?" He looked just slightly bewildered by this new information. "Don't you have to go to school for that?"
"Probably the same time Bruce was becoming a multi-millionaire and Clark was becoming a journalist. Just because you can't manage a life and 'Flash' doesn't mean the rest of us can't."
Wally snorted. "You have no life. That's why you keep me around."
"I…can't argue with that."
Rather suddenly the background noise of the TV was gone and he saw a blur of movement to his side. He looked up to see Wally in the kitchen washing out his bowl. He smiled ruefully. It'd only taken a month and a half to get Wally to wash his own stuff. Now if John could just manage to get the redhead to clean up his apartment (which frightened John from time to time. He'd call it a sty but he didn't want to offend any pigs) he'd have done the impossible.
He leaned back and watched silently as Wally milled about the small kitchen. John's entire apartment was a bit on the small side but, up until a few months ago, no one was ever around. Not even he spent much time here and the only people to visit were Shayera and…well…Wally. Now he spent a lot more time here, mostly because Wally seemed to be avoiding the Watch Tower. How that was possible was beyond John but the redhead was managing it somehow. He, personally, didn't really care where he was.
Though he had to admit he did kind of like watching Wally early in the morning. A pair of gray sweats hung low of the redhead's hips, showing off more skin than Wally intended. His hair was out of place, not that it was ever really in place, and he was always a bit quieter and…almost bearable. Where his usual maniac energy went off too was a mystery, but he wasn't complaining.
Not that he didn't like Wally when he was so hyper he made some kids John knew look mild, but a little change never killed anyone. As long as he was too quiet and withdrawn, in which case they drifted from pleasant variety into something worrisome.
Wally raked his fingers through his hair, which did nothing to help it, then turned to look at John who didn't even try to hide that he'd been watching the younger man. Wally blushed slightly then walked over to him and sat back where he'd been before, collecting his book and highlighter.
And no mess. Shocking.
"What're you doing?" Wally's tone was innocent but John knew better. Wally didn't ask these sort of questions if he didn't want something. Usually that something involved making John leave his apartment for an extended period of time and 'joining semi-normal society'.
"Working on the plans for the new Luthor Corp building I was telling you about." The look on Wally's face said he had no idea what John was talking about. "You know, the one I don't want to do because Luthor should be shipped off to a very distant planet devoid of all signs of intelligent life, but have to do because you eat enough for a small army and have no job of your own?"
Wally's eyes lit up. "Oh! That one."
"Yes, that one." John couldn't keep from rolling his eyes.
"Screw it." Wally plucked the plans from his fingers and then zipped off somewhere. John cursed and rubbed his temples in annoyance. It was going to take hours to find those. His place wasn't big but Wally seemed to have memorized every possible hiding place in his first five minutes in it, and that had just been when Wally was his annoying friend. Then he was back, smiling widely. "We're going to Blü dhaven."
"Isn't that where your friend Nightwing lives?"
"Yeah." Wally drew out the word and looked just slightly suspicious as he said it.
John sighed, swearing he could already feel how much he wasn't going to like this. "Okay Wally, I'll play along. Why're we going to Blü dhaven?"
"Well you know the Titans were like family to me and Dick is one of my two best friends, and I don't think you're ready to meet Hart yet, and I kind of want to meet his boyfriend in the non-world saving sense, but he won't let me until I agree to let him harass you. So I thought maybe lunch."
John arched an eyebrow slowly. "You want me to agree to meet your friend so you can meet his boyfriend?" It wasn't like he'd never encountered Nightwing but he'd never actually met the man beneath the mask, though Wally seemed to think very highly of him. "Okay."
Wally stared at him, mouth dropping open slightly. Then he pulled himself together, swallowing loudly. "What? Did you say 'okay'?"
"Yes." He really wasn't as anti-social as everyone seemed to think he was and he really didn't 'hate' everyone who crossed his path. (And certainly not the entire populace of the galaxy, contrary to Wally's belief.) He just…found most beings, human and otherwise, to have abhorrent personalities and that was through no fault of his own.
"Thanks." Wally smiled widely and John hated to admit that seeing him smile like that was enough to make any potential craziness worthwhile. He was so far gone he was starting to border on the pathetic. Still the redhead didn't smile like he used to. John couldn't blame him for being…different but sometimes it was unnerving.
Wally could be in the middle of something, smiling and cracking jokes in his usual fashion when something, a word or a gesture, could make him go silent and draw into himself. There was nothing so strange as watching Wally, arms wrapped around himself while he stared at nothing, quiet and nearly meek. It wasn't normal.
Not that anything about either of them was overly high on the normalcy scale.
But he didn't have time to really think about that. Wally kind of…tackled him and pressed a wet kiss onto his lips. John was still for a few long moments, surprised by the change. He reached up, fingers curling around Wally's forearm.
Apparently saying yes had been the right thing to do. Wally was entirely too easily amused for his own good.
Wally shifted his weight so that he was straddling John's hips and warm lips parted in a quiet gasp when John's 'free' hand slide down his back. Wally was probably the most receptive person John had ever had the pleasure of being with. The smallest touches almost got the most interesting responses. It was always fun to find new ways to make Wally react. (Though John was willing to entertain the fact that he may have been easily amused.)
He mentally rolled his eyes. That was nice, talking about the redhead like he was an experiment or something to study. He had to stop spending so much time around Bruce and J'onn. Then again it was better than being around Clark all the time.
John had been stuck on tower duty with him last week. It had been mind numbing. Superman was just…mind numbing. He wasn't so bad when you got him out of the uniform, and what a disturbing thought that was and it wasn't so say he wasn't still a pain in John's ass even then. Just a more bearable pain. But when they were 'working' it was all John could do to not try and throw him out of the tower sans spacesuit.
Though with his luck it wouldn't do anything except upset him.
His fingers busied themselves just under the hem of Wally's shirt, fingertips mapping out flesh. The skin there was smooth and he didn't need to look to know that it was pale. Wally was the cliché pale redhead. He claimed the sun was his mortal enemy and did terrible things to him. John also know that as smooth as the skin was here that a little higher out, just below his ribs, there was a long patch of raised skin, forming an 'S', a reminder of things better left forgotten.
Only he couldn't really forget and he sincerely doubted that Wally would ever.
Wally made a noise in the back of his throat, causing John's less than pleasant thoughts to give up and kill themselves in a terribly painful way that befitted such thoughts, and blue-green eyes flickered shut. A light flush had risen to his cheeks, making those hated freckles stand out even more than usual.
He was so easy. John's fingers trailed up more, expertly bypassing scarred flesh, when he felt Wally's shudder and tense up for a moment. If John hadn't known Wally as well as he did he probably wouldn't have noticed it.
John drew back slightly, more to breath than anything, then sighed before shoving Wally off of him. He smirked at the startled yelp followed by the dull thud of Wally hitting the floor. He sat up and smiled wryly, looking down at the glaring redhead.
That really shouldn't be half as entertaining as it was.
"You okay?"
"Yes. No thanks to you." He was less glaring and frowning sullenly. John wasn't concerned, knowing it was mostly annoyance on Wally's face.
"I have to protect myself from unnecessary suffering?" He shrugged and stood up slowly, stretching and wanting to banish the feeling of Wally that close from his mind. He tried to pretend he couldn't feel Wally's eyes on him. "You're frustrating sometimes."
John liked to think he was getting better at interpreting Wally's various moods and, as such, he knew this wasn't going to go anywhere. Sometimes Wally was there and you knew he was there and other times he just…wasn't. He'd never understood if before but now he wondered if the nightmare the night before wasn't the first one and if they weren't the source of Wally's strange hesitance.
"Yeah." Wally sighed and leaned back on his elbows. "I'm frustrating. Sure. I think those sadistic tendencies of yours are closer to the surface than you pretend."
"Maybe." John admitted then shrugged. "Do you have any idea how stupid you look pouting like that?
"Of course." Wally stuck out his tongue. "But you love it."
"God help me." John muttered then paused for a moment to consider the turn in the conversation. Wally blinked then coughed while looking towards the floor. Then he looked back up and smirked uneasily.
"I don't God takes kindly to bastards who shove people onto floors for no good reason."
John rolled his eyes but decided to refrain from pointing out that, of all the reasons for some higher power to be pissed at him, being mean to Wally was probably fairly low on the list. No point in crushing his ego so early in the day.
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J'onn looked around the meeting room, observing the others. Wonder Woman was sitting next to Hawkgirl, discussing something in low whispers. Superman was sitting across from Batman and both were trying to pretend they weren't annoyed with the other.
The problem of the government 'plotting' against them was creating an even larger rift between the two men, eating away at the harsh and often confusing, but undeniable, friendship they had.
J'onn was next to Batman, trying not to think too much. On Mars thinking had been something you shared with others, as truly intimate thoughts were far and few between. Things like shame and embarrassment were uniquely human ideas that he'd finally begun to understand, somewhat, in his time among them. Everyone knew about everyone else and your mind was never a lonely place.
The opposite was true here, now. People were oddly selfish of their minds and hated the idea of someone probing into their thoughts and, for all the professed to want to be near others, he couldn't help but feel they were all dangerously far apart because of it. Even the most honest man hid himself from those he loved, but the very nature of having…thoughts.
The mind had become a very…lonely place for him.
Though he'd begun to get used to the strange, and often confusing, way that other races of people made relationships work without being able to sense each other's emotions. He supposed that, considering all things, there were worse things in life than adjusting to being alone in his head.
This meeting was going to prove to be uncomfortable. Both Flash and Lantern were elsewhere as neither had been informed of it and J'onn had to confess it made him feel deceptive to speak of his teammates, and friends, without their knowledge.
Still no one had asked what he thought of the matter and so he didn't say anything.
Superman was tense, worried…very close to being on edge. Wonder Woman was concerned and a touch confused. Hawkgirl was much the same, only very tense as well. Meetings sans teammates created a kind of sadness in her. Batman was ill at ease, feeling much as J'onn did. He thought it unsavory to be dishonest with two of the few people who knew who he was.
That too related to some of the frustration regarding Superman, who had called them here to begin with.
"So, lets get this over with." Hawkgirl said, breaking the silence. "I don't know about anyone else but sitting around staring at you four all day isn't my idea of a good time."
Batman's lips quirked in amusement before he inclined his head towards Superman. "She's right. We all have other things to be doing."
J'onn agreed. What else had to do he wasn't really sure but he knew he could find something. This really didn't sit well with him.
Superman frowned slightly. "I don't like this anymore than you all do." He was a little offended, out of his element amongst them. While the rest of the world stood in awe, and most of the League looked up to him J'onn could always sense that around them he was…vulnerable. He wasn't accustomed to the way they treated him like everyone else, even after all of this time.
He didn't like being the center of blame.
Before anything else could be said a holographic image flashing into being behind Superman's head. Superman blinked then turned and sighed before sitting down. The Guardians, if J'onn remembered what they were called correctly, were in the image and were watching them solemnly.
"Thank you for calling this meeting for us Superman."
The Kryptonian waved a hand dismissively. "That's fine. You implied this was a very urgent matter concerning Green Lantern."
"It is." One of the Guardians said nodding. "You must understand that John Stewart is on of the most trusted and noble Lanterns and we don't want to affect his work, however this cannot be ignored. It concerns the recent capture of Sinestro."
There were spikes of alarm and worry from Batman and Superman, respectively, but only curiosity from Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman. They had, at Wally's insistence, never been filled in on the whole truth concerning Sinestro's impersonation of Green Lantern. J'onn hadn't approved of the dishonesty but understood why Wally would want to keep the 'incident' to himself.
"What about it?" Hawkgirl asked, eyebrow going up. She was still very fond of John, though not necessarily in the romantic sense. Even if she had been she seemed to take too much pleasure in taunting him about his relationship with Wally to harbor any ill will.
"Obvious it would seem John crossed a line in his handling of things. Sinestro has been in a healing facility since he was collected from John's custody and has only recently been able to tell us his version of events which we must say is very different from what we were told."
Now there was a flash of annoyance from Batman. "I hardly see why you would trust anything Sinestro would tell you over what Lantern did. He's not only a criminal but I understand he's made a habit of going after Green Lanterns and stealing their power rings."
The Guardians exchanged a look then nodded slowly. "We are well aware of Sinestro's crimes but if John is using his power for vengeance then action must be taken. Sinestro is an example of what happens when Lantern's use their rings for their own gain and we won't allow this to happen again."
Wonder Woman's face remained impassively but her emotions were bordering on something very dark. She was very protective of Wally and by default took a threat to John very seriously. Not that she wouldn't have taken a threat to John seriously otherwise but this compounded upon it.
"It would seem to me that if Sinestro is taken out John's fellow Lanterns than he, and all of the rest of the Corps, are entitled to a small measure of revenge. You can't expect him to hold back on someone who has committed such crimes."
"It is not a matter of restraint, but a matter of deliberately and maliciously tormenting someone. If John has simply lost control we would understand but that doesn't seem to be the case."
"John would never do something like that." Wonder Woman kept her tone ever but her eyes clouded with anger. "Obviously Sinestro isn't to be trusted."
"Perhaps. This is why we seek your help. We have tried to contact John directly but he doesn't seem interested in responding, so we must direct our questions to you."
Hawkgirl arched an eyebrow. "You must know we have no intention of betraying John."
"We don't ask you for betrayal, simply for answers. If you wish not to answer we will understand." There was moment of uneasy silence before the Guardians continues. "Sinestro said that John took action against him because of what he had done to the Flash and that Flash and John were on intimate terms."
Again silence before Hawkgirl leaned forward in her seat eyes darting around the table. "What did Sinestro do to Flash?"
"Shit." A very uncharacteristic remark from Superman who was now eying Hawkgirl's mace warily. He was wondering whether or not he could grab it before the truth came out and she tried to kill someone with it. J'onn wasn't worried.
Hawkgirl wasn't one for misguided rage. Odds were strongly in favor that she'd find a way to get to Oa and make an attempt at finishing Sinestro off. Unless of course that was what Superman feared.
"You are not aware of Sinestro's actions against Flash?" The Guardians seemed surprised. "Sinestro said that Batman, Superman, and the Martian were all present."
Batman muttered something under his breath that sounded like "John should have broken his jaw." but J'onn didn't hear it well enough to be sure.
"I see." Wonder Woman blinked mildly. "I'm sorry to say that the nature of Flash and Green Lantern's relationship is not for us to disclose. Talking about them behind their backs is something we won't take part in."
"That is fine. If you were not aware of what happened then it seems you would not have been of much help anyway." The Guardians bowed slightly before the hologram vanished.
J'onn didn't think he was a sarcastic creature but he couldn't help but note that they had left right before the 'fireworks' they lit were sure to begin. Neither Wonder Woman nor Hawkgirl was going to appreciate being left in the dark. They would eventually understand that what Wally wanted took precedence over their own feelings but at the moment they were far from pleased.
"So," Hawkgirl's eyes narrowed dangerously. "What happened that you boys decided to not inform us of?"
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Wally figured there were certain rules that came with wearing spandex and getting into freak accidents/suffering serious childhood tragedies/getting powers from strange omniscient beings/being exiled from your people. One of them was the rule of visiting the 'territory' of other heroes.
Batman was a big believer in this rule and thus anyone who stepped on his turf was just begging for the Dark Knight to smack his or her head against something potentially painful. Wally wasn't sure if he believed in the rule or not, as he spent a lot of time all over the country and he wasn't aware of any overly strange occurrences. (John blamed it on his short attention span. Wally was inclined to agree.)
Still, the rule. It was something like 'If a city/area gets hit with a certain amount of criminal activity per week for it's main hero/heroine/heroes then, with each new hero to step within the city limits, the amount of criminal activity shall increase to be in proportion with the new addition.'
Wally, who'd never been great at stupid Math related definitions in school, liked to think of it as 'If Hero A kicks 3 people's ass daily and Hero B comes to visit than the number of ass kickings shall increase to six, and so on accordingly.'
Now Wally wasn't sure if this was true or if the addition of new bodies simply meant there was more potential for crime to be stopped.
Besides, if the rule was true then it was really unfair to Nightwing if every time his boyfriend came to see him crime increased and he had to handle it alone because he'd chosen to date someone who just didn't do violence.
Usually anyway. Wally was pretty sure he fell into a Dove-like category of not liking violence and seeking a better way, but being more than able to do what was needed when he needed to.
Case in point he was, at present, shuttling people out of the restaurant. That should have been the first sign that something was up; people like them just couldn't have a quiet time in a restaurant. Such an occurrence would defy all of the laws of the universe. Wally should have known better.
Still, when a group of mutant squid people burst into the riverside restaurant it was safe to say everyone had been…moderately surprised. Why he couldn't say, you'd think they'd be used to this kind of crap by now.
Well…varying degrees of this sort of thing anyway. The squid people were pretty weird looking. They looked human enough, aside from the pockmarked blue skin and the fact their heads were more…well, squids than anything. Just a kind of gelatinous mass that looked like it might slide from the creatures shoulders at any moment, complete with beady black eyes and waving tentacles.
It was vaguely nauseating in a way actually.
But the worst part, Wally thought as he raced through the restaurant looking for any other potential people in harms way, was that they were all ready to slip into the costumes and save the day a moments notice. Dick had vanished for all of thirty seconds before Nightwing appeared and started luring the creatures away from the more crowded areas and towards the back while Green Lantern went for the direct approach and used his ring to create a force wall and push them back.
He had gotten rescue duty.
Speaking of that, where the hell had Blair gone? Flash came to a halt and frowned. The place was, without a doubt, empty. The squid people were probably being pummeled back into the water and all of the people were out and he…was standing around looking goofy. So he grabbed a chair and sat down. He was pretty sure Lantern and Nightwing had this under control and…well, he was feeling lazy.
This was to be expected of course. He tended to end standing around looking a least slightly strange while he waited for the rest of the world to catch up to him a lot. That was actually a rather depressing thing, now that he thought about it. Sure, he'd adjusted to being two steps ahead of the rest of the world but it was still rather depressing.
In fact it was so depressing that Wally fully blamed it for what happened next. Well that thought and the fact that being a mutated quid apparently meant you could spit acidic ink. Who's idea had that been anyway? It was just…stupid.
Still, one minute he was sitting in a chair thinking about the downsides of superspeed and the next his chair collapsed (Actually the legs dissolved but he wouldn't know that until later) and he's flat on his ass. Which really shouldn't have happened, his reflexes were usually better than that, but he blamed it on being caught off guard.
He pushed himself up, wondering what had gone on. He just caught a wad of black heading in his direction before it actually hit him. Again, shouldn't have happened.
For a moment he just looked dumbly at the slippery black substance that had hit him in the side, wondering what the point had been. Then the burning started and it wasn't just the simple 'touching a hot pan' kind of burn but it was a burning that seemed to march over his skin, like a tiny army of fire ants stinging him in tandem, and sear him all the way to the bone.
He hadn't felt anything that painful since…well, since Sinestro and now really wasn't the time to be thinking about that freak but he couldn't seem to stop his mind from going there and now would have been a fantastic time to pass out because he was pretty sure he was on the verge of crying like a little girl and that was just a level of humiliation he was trying to avoid. A shadow fell over and while he rationally knew it was probably was one of the squid things and it couldn't very well be Sinestro because…it…couldn't, he didn't want to look up anyway.
He wasn't freaking out. He was Not freaking out. Now wasn't the time for a nervous breakdown of any kind and he'd love to reschedule one for later if that was at all possible.
Wally imagined his flesh was starting to melt and bubble right about now but rather abruptly his body decided it didn't care and would rather shut down for the time being. Wally greatly appreciated the thoughtfulness.
The world went a lovely shade of black and the pain faded away with his awareness of the outside world. Normally this would be a good thing but, because someone hated Wally, the nightmares that lurked in the corner of his brain decided to make another appearance.
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By the by, this is not a cliffhanger. Cliffhangers involve someone in trouble from outside influences; Wally only has to deal with the twisted maze that is his mind. And don't ask about the squid people, I was just having one of those moods…
TP96: I did write Rumors, as you know already. When I was moving stories I got on a bit of roll and, accidentally, deleted that and my one-shots. But it lives again and so…yeah. Thanks, I'm glad you like it so far.
Keeosu: Ah, another happy convert. I like the idea of opening up others to new fandoms, makes me all warm and fuzzy.
Saturn: I understand, don't worry. I tried to blend in more of that sarcasm into this part (along with random fluffyness) so you can laugh in a non inappropriate way this time. Hopefully. And…I'll see what I can do. I am an obliging sort and I work with random ideas pretty well.
Mechante: Maybe. I'm not sure I want to find out if my strange sense of humor extends that far…killing people is never fun. Unless they're really annoying people… The recording does still exist, in the bottom of Wally's sock drawer. (No. I'm serious. That's where it is) We may see it later on. Depends on Wally's mood later. And, since you asked, I did find the lost chapter of Iris. I saved it in the file I usually hold by Harry Potter stuff in and I'm a dork and didn't think to check there…
Cherre: There is absolutely no way I could wrap up 'Heroes' in time to save you from spoilers, trust me. And it's no so much sad as kind of…bittersweet.
HAP: Things most likely won't pick up for a chapter or two. I do that sometimes, accidentally take a roundabout way of getting where we're going. Rumors…I'm working on part four on and off. What stories I write often depends on my mood… Rumors calls for a mood I can't even really explain.
Candy: Pink freak…lol. Sinestro is certainly that, though I felt bad about making him such a goof. He's an actual legitimately scary dude so I had to bring him back for a sort of revenge. I know, bad Dimi… I'm trying to have Wally deal in a way that's realistic for someone like…well, like Wally. Hopefully I'll do okay.