Chapter 8: Love Hurts
Last night's movie theme for the team was apparently comedy, or so Rose was told by Wally. That night, she proposed a horror movie marathon, dedicated to classic horror movie remakes, and over the following weeks they would watch the classics and compare them to their successors. Movies like Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Omen, and a few Saw movies.
"The Saw movies aren't even remakes." Supergirl said, arms folded over her chest when the boys brought all the movies out.
The boys had exchanged glances before looking back at the Kryptonian female. "No, but it is a classic."
Rose had merely rolled her eyes as Wally put in the first movie.
"So much more realistic, but classics are classics, and they just don't compare," Robin had commented after the diner death scene in Nightmare on Elm Street.
"Sex, blood, gore, and guts. Everything a good horror movie has." Wally added after the Michael killed his older sister and her boyfriend in Halloween.
By the time the third Saw movie came on M'gann was cowering behind Conner, who was surprisingly intrigued by the amount of pain John Kramer could take during his conscious surgery.
Artemis had one of the couch pillows in a death grip, with the majority of her face was hidden behind it.
Supergirl, though she was the one who suggested and loved horror movies, was probably the most scared. "Something about torture scenes just freak me the fuck out." She had whispered to Wally when he asked why she seemed so scared. The Girl of Steel was between him and Robin on the couch, both of the boys too enticed with the Kryptonian clinging to their hands for dear life to notice or even care about the movie or its contents.
The brunette had a grip of steel, even without her powers, but neither boy minded because even a simple touch or brush of skin from the girl was enough to make their hearts flutter.
Artemis looked up from the movie to glance over at the trio on the couch. Adoring her, like she was the air they breathed, and she was too dense to even realize it. Yet she clung to them like her life depended on their heat energy.
"What's the matter SG?" The blond asked in a mocking tone. "Jigsaw too scary for you?"
Supergirl glanced over at the blond in confusion.
"You're clinging to those two like the guy is gonna come for you if you let them go." She pointed at the two with her index and ring fingers.
The brunette hadn't noticed she had even reached out to grab hold of either boy. It was a wonder she hadn't broken their hands.
Her knuckles were white from the rigidity of the grip she had on the two, though M'gann's grip on Conner's arm rivaled hers by far. Having invulnerability came in handy when your girlfriend had the grip of a boa constrictor.
It was obvious why Conner hadn't said anything about M'gann's death grip, but why hadn't Dick or Wally said anything about Supergirl's?
"Scared?" The blond continued to taunt.
Supergirl's grip on the boys' hands tightened, if only in the slightest, at the blonde's comment. "Why the hell does it matter blondie?" she asked, annoying lacing her voice.
"Well, you were the one who suggested a horror movie marathon and boasted how nothing about them scares you, yet here you are, grasping for some knight in shining armor to hold your hand throughout a stupid movie."
The brunette glared at the blond behind her shades. "What about you, gripping that pillow for dear life?"
"I never said these movies didn't scare me," was the archer's witty remark.
Supergirl's grip tightened a fraction more before she closed her eyes and let out an aggravated sigh. "How about this," she began in a voice that didn't show an ounce of the hostility she felt at that moment. "Let's trade seats. Since you're obviously so freaked out about the movie that you have to comment about my ability to grab onto someone, I will sit there and you can come over here. Some physical contact will do you good."
Both bodies on either side of the Kryptonian girl froze. It almost seemed as though neither was breathing.
"I could use the space anyway."
If she noticed the grip on her hands tighten from the boys as she stood Supergirl didn't show it. She simply slipped out of their grasp, stepping over the alien couple in front of the couch, who either hadn't noticed the exchange or just didn't comment.
Artemis shrugged her shoulders and stood as well, whispering in the brunette's ear that she knew only the brunette could hear as they pasted each other.
"They're mine."
The Girl of Steel froze in place, the images from the previous night flooding back into her mind.
The blond sat between the bird and speedster, glancing up at the frozen Kryptonian girl in triumph, before turning her attention back to the movie.
Dick and Wally stared at the brunette with longing in their eyes, not seeming to notice her little frozen moment in time. They already missed her small body and warmth.
Being a half human half Kryptonian hybrid meant Rose's body temperature was a bit higher than average, yet nowhere near that of a speedster or full Kryptonian. Even Conner burned a bit warmer than she did, and he was half Kryptonian too–but there were so many things about Rose and Conner that were different even though they were both half and half; Rose could never help but wonder what the difference was between them in their genes. Unlike other meta-humans with the same ability, when Rose's powers faltered she got cold; the weather and high and low temperatures affected her like they would any ordinary human being.
For some reason, be it genetics or bad luck, Rose was smaller than most. She was underdeveloped, but some girls her age were. She was short, shorter than Dick now, and he used to be the shortest member on the team.
Artemis was a human, who took more heat than she gave. She was a few inches taller than M'gann and a few shorter than Robin. She was almost fully developed, with great boobs and a pleasurably plump ass that anyone, male or female, would want to hold. She was the image of the perfect girl.
But not Dick and Wally's image.
Sure, great tits and a perfect ass would be great, but that wasn't what they had their sights on. They wanted small, underdeveloped, brown haired, blue eyed perfection. Someone funny and smart who got and knew them; someone who didn't mind Wally's eating habits or Dick's mystery. Rose was the girl for them, and that would never change. No matter what.
M'gann looked up from the TV screen, when the signature Saw music and end credits began to roll, and noticed Supergirl standing in the spot she had been the last time the Martian looked up at her.
"Are you alright?"
The Kryptonian girl hadn't been standing there for very long, four or five minutes max, but she was giving off rays of distress that the Martian could feel, and it made her curious.
"Supergirl?"
Supergirl shook her head, coming out of whatever had fogged up her mind.
"Ye-yeah M'gann," she turned to face the Martian. "I was just remembering something. It wasn't pleasant, but it'll be a thing of the past once the next movie starts."
Supergirl sat down in the arm chair previously occupied by Artemis, trying again to forget, with the sounds of screaming from the next movie opening.
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"Hey, Kaldur," Supergirl greeted him from her place on the couch. Her legs were drawn up underneath her, and a book in her lap. "How was your trip back to Atlantis?"
The Atlantian came to sit on the couch beside the Kryptonian, his usual calm and collected image present.
"It was good. An impromptu dinner with my King to discuss certain, personal, events is why he summoned me out of the blue, to answer your question."
Supergirl smiled and placed a hand on his knee.
"Good to know. Oh," she stood up, placing her book on her opposite side and walked over to the fridge. "After you left yesterday, M'gann wanted to head out to a Cinnabons store, so I got you one for when you came back." She took out the box and turned on the oven, so she could warm it up. "It makes a great midmorning snake, even as leftovers."
When she turned around, Kaldur was sitting at the breakfast nook with Conner and M'gann coming up behind him.
"Welcome back Kaldur," the green skinned, redhead greeted with her usual chipper smile in place. Conner nodded and took a seat on the couch to watch the static on the TV.
"Hey Con," Supergirl called over to her 'brother'. "Have you ever wanted to watch something other than static? I could give you a list of TV shows and movies that you might enjoy better."
"You can, but I'm good at the moment thanks." He replied without taking his eyes off the screen.
"I'll take the list and the two of us can check it out over the week." M'gann said to Supergirl as she placed the cinnabon in oven via telekinesis.
"Where are Kid Flash, Robin, and Artemis?" Kaldur asked, taking notice that not all of the team assembled.
"Batman gave the team the day off, so the boys took the opportunity to stay up and 9 o'clock this morning, so they are asleep. Artemis is in the training room." Supergirl explained, leaning against the counter opposite the island Kaldur was sitting at. "I actually should go check on them, and get their breakfast plates."
"I will go accompany Artemis in the training." Kaldur stood from his chair, following Supergirl out of the kitchen.
"M'gann, can you keep an eye on Kal's cinnabon for me for a few minutes?" She turned to the Martian, who was taking out brownie ingredients.
"Sure and I won't leave it."
Supergirl laughed lightly at the other girl's enthusiasm. "Okay, I'll be right back."
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When Rose arrived at the door to Robin's door, she put her ear up to the cool metal to see if he was in there.
There wasn't even a heartbeat that she could hear, so she figured he was in Wally's room. She knew they would most likely be together because they usually were nowadays.
When the door to Wally's room, the door swished open and Rose was greeted with the sight of two sleeping sidekicks. Both were knocked out from the previous night's activities.
They had stayed up to finish the Saw series, and then turned their sights on the Wrong Turn collection. Because mentally challenged serial killers and well thought out, terrifying death traps weren't scary enough.
Rose had stayed up through Saw, even after M'gann and Conner went to bed somewhere around one. She and Artemis was the only others who stayed through with the boys, but after the final scene of the Final Chapter, Rose was done for the night.
The brunette stood to leave and both boys had begged for her to stay–to the obvious exasperation of the team's natural blonde, which caused the other girl to smile–like they were normally do, but someone had to get them to bed in the morning.
Rose wasn't too keen on leaving the boys with Artemis, but she remembered what the archer had said earlier in the evening, and reluctantly left.
When she woke up the following morning, the boys were still wide awake with a sleeping Artemis on the couch. Turned out she fell asleep soon after the Kryptonian left; Rose laughed a private laugh to herself, because the blonde obviously couldn't keep up with the boys insomnia. It made Rose wonder where else the blond couldn't keep up with the boys.
Wally had taken Artemis back to her room while Rose made him and Dick a quick breakfast that the boys ate in their own separate rooms, when Rose had left, but inevitably ended up gravitating back to each other.
Rose smiled down at the two sleeping forms; Dick was resting his head on Wally's chest, arms wrapped around the redhead's torso and lower chest. In turn, the speedster had his arms wrapped around the acrobat, holding him as close as he could even in his sleep, the action was possessive.
They looked so cute like that Rose couldn't stop herself from pulling out her phone and taking a picture of the sleeping couple.
She pulled the blanket from the foot of the bed over the sleeping couple as gently as she could without waking either boy.
They were so vulnerable and cute when they were asleep that Rose couldn't stop herself from brushing a few strands of hair out of Wally's face and ghosting her fingers over Dick's cheek. She giggled quietly when both unconsciously nuzzled into her touches.
She would never touch either this way when they were awake. How weird would that be? Plus, they would never respond to a touch like that positively, so she was going to milk the feeling for as long as she could.
She wasn't really sure how long she had been standing there, watching them (because that didn't sound creepy at all right?")
Sighing, Rose picked up the dishes had from the boys' breakfast; with a final look at the bed, she walked out of the room with the door swishing closed behind her as she made the short journey back to the kitchen.
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When Dick stared making his way back to consciousness, he was greeted with his favorite scent. It was a cinnamon and vanilla mix that he only knew to come from one place so close.
He opened his eyes and was greeted by a red and blue blur. He blinked a several times in order to get the blurriness out of his eyes. The blur slowly became a figure that had to be a person, right across from him, beside the bed. A person with brown hair that was in two ponytails on either side of their head. The more times he blinked, the clearer the person became, until it had a face.
Dick smiled at the person in front of him and they returned the smile the same amount of warmth.
"Hey D," Rose spoke in a soft voice, trying to ease the ebony back to consciousness rather than force him.
"Hi Ro," he greeted back, his voice rough with sleep.
"I came to get you. B wants us back by dinner; he's actually going to be there to eat with is this time."
"He said that last time." Dick chuckled softly. "What time is it?"
"A little past six, don't worry we have time." She held back from brushing yet another stray strand of hair out the raven's face.
Wally groaned from his place behind Dick and wrapped his arms tighter around the smaller boy's waist. "Don't leave. Want you to stay. Both of you."
Dick turned in the speedster's embrace to look at his face. "You'll see us on Friday, Walls."
"Friday's five days away."
The youngest of the three smiled and placed a kiss to the other's lips. Wally eagerly returned the kiss, pulling the smaller boy closer.
Rose looked down at her knees to the boys a little privacy.
She had never really seen them kiss each other, except for that night with Artemis.
Rose scrunched her nose up in disgust at the mere thought of the blond and any part blond and any part of her anatomy touching either Dick or Wally.
Wally opened his eyes to look at the brunette and felt a pang of hurt when he saw her glaring in disgust at her thighs.
He quickly pulled his lips away from Dick's, much to the chagrin of the other boy. Dick, seeing the hurt expression on his boyfriend's face, turned his head to find the explanation for his best friend's anguish.
He too felt pained at the expression on their friend's face. They thought she didn't have a problem with their relationship, but apparently that only meant as long as she couldn't see it. They had never had any visual confirmation of the brunette's true feelings.
The Boy Wonder turned away from the brunette to face the redhead when he felt tears slowly stream down his face on their own accord.
Wally wiped the tears from the ebony's eyes and tried to smile for him, silently telling him that everything was going to be okay, but neither believed it if they couldn't have the brunette.
"Hey Rosalie, could you grab my sunglasses from the–" Dick's voice cracked a little, causing him to clear his voice. "The bathroom please? They're on the counter."
Rose's brows furrowed slightly. She and Dick never called each other by their full names unless they were in a formal setting or one of them was upset.
"Dick, are you okay?" Rose's eyes narrowed in confusion when Dick flinched from her hand on his back when she tried to touch him.
"He's just sensitive right now." Wally answered sharply when the ebony buried his face into his chest. "We woke up from a nightmare a little before you came in."
Wally looked at her with an expression specifically reserved for people the redhead didn't like; Rose had no idea what she had done to upset either boy to the point where she would receive that kind of reaction from either boy.
"Umm… okay," she stood from her spot beside the bed to retrieve the Boy Wonder's shades, which were on the sink's countertop, right next to a brush with both black and long blond hair in it.
Rose balled her hands into fists at her sides, anger radiating off her in waves.
No matter how hard she tried to forget or distance herself from that night, something always seemed to draw her back to it. She didn't want to know any of it, see it or hear about it. She just wanted to forget.
During her spite of rage, Rose accidentally crushed Dick's shades with her super strength when she balled her hands into fists. She rolled her eyes in frustration and deposited the broken pieces into the trash bin, dusting off the smaller parts that stuck to her hands.
"Richard, I broke your sunglasses. I'm gonna go get the spare you left in my room." Rose walked out of the bathroom, back into Dick's room, and out the door without stopping or sparing a glance at the bed as she spoke.
"Why is she mad? She's the one who can't or won't accept us." Wally snapped, leaning his back against the wall, arms crossed.
Dick sat up, leaning on his arm to balance himself. "It's not like Rose to just get mad out of the blue like that though. She's more down to Earth and accepting."
"Yeah, until you do someone or thing she doesn't like." Wally grumbled.
Dick knew Wally didn't mean all the things he was saying about the brunette, he was just upset about her reaction to their kiss.
Maybe it caught her by surprise. She had never seen them kiss before, as far as they knew. She might have been thinking about something unpleasant. She did look as though she were deep in thought. She wasn't even looking directly at them. That might have also meant something. Well maybe–
"Alright dude, I get it!" Wally put his hands over his boyfriend's mouth. Dick hadn't even realized he had been speaking aloud. "You always find a way around the obvious, don't you?"
Dick rolled his eyes when Wally yelped when the ebony licked his hand; the redhead pulled it away to wipe on the bedspread. "They're other possible reasons beside the negative, Walls. It's not my fault that's how you see things."
The redhead pulled the raven into his lap at the pout gracing the smaller teen's features. "I get it. Trust me, I know about keeping an open mind on multiple scenarios and outcomes. It's a primary requirement for scientists."
Dick turned his head, unfolding his arms to look at his ridiculous boyfriend. "So, you'll consider the fact that she might not really have a problem with us, but with something else?"
"Only if you do. Remember I wasn't the one in tears not five minutes ago."
Dick chuckled softly at that, "I know, but I also know Rose. She's not prejudice or close minded."
"She's probably the most open minded person I've ever met." Wally proclaimed, staring past Dick as though he were lost in a memory. "So, yes, I am willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. It's all she ever does for anyone else, so it's the least we can do for her now."
Wally smirked at his boyfriend's, always prominent, optimism, and kissed him gently for it. Dick smiled into the kiss and brought his hands up to the ginger's face to deepen the kiss.
Wally was the one to pull away moments later, but Dick made it so he could only pull a breath away, resting their foreheads together with the breaths mingling between them. Just a peaceful moment of process and visualization.
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Rose couldn't look at Dick and Wally as she walked, angrily out of the Boy Wonder's room with a quick word to the two on the bed. She was pissed, though obviously not at the boys themselves.
She just couldn't catch a break. No matter what she did or how far she tried to get away from the memory, some way, somehow, it always found its way back to her. She tried to accept the relationship between the three and everything that came along with it, but if she didn't have to be reminded of it, she tried to distance herself from it as much as she could.
Though Rose was a very levelheaded person who didn't judge anyone for who they chose to be unless it affected them or someone else negatively, and she could control herself, both physically and verbally. She could control her breathing and heartbeat to make herself seem unconscious or asleep. She could be tormented emotionally and not give away how she really felt; she could even portray a false or opposite emotion from the one she was feeling at that exact moment in time. It made playing poker so much fun, for her.
But when she saw that hairbrush, Dick's brush, with blonde hair in it, she couldn't handle it. Nothing but more rage and sorrow filled her. It made her realize how real their relationship was and how unreal her stupid fantasies were, because they were just that, fantasies.
For the past two days, there has been nothing but anger, betrayal, and jealousy coursing through her veins–some of it being from her father leaving again after he and her mother made a promise to spend the week with her–but what if that was all because she hadn't been able to accept or truly see what they had was real. She was the first person, as far as she knew, to find out about the trio's secret lovers tryst. Maybe if she did finally let it go and accept the inevitable truth, regardless as to how often she was reminded of it, she would feel better.
But that was going to be hard, and was going to take more time than anyone might have had. She didn't want to let the boys go to that blonde witch, but did she really have a choice?
Rose let out a fatigued sigh. She needed something to take her mind off of all that was going on. With the boys, Artemis, her parents, just everything.
When she entered her room, Rose paused, looking around her room as though a distraction would somehow magically materialize out of nowhere.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the blue light of her phone illuminate some light in her room, an indication that she had either received a texted or missed a call. She walked over to her bed and sat at the edge, picking up her phone.
She smiled when she saw who it was from, and knew this was the distraction she so desperately needed.
She sent the person a text asking if she could come over. The response was immediate and she grinned wider as she picked up her bag from the floor next to her bed; when she saw Dick's shades on the dresser she froze once more.
Right, she still needed to take Dick his shades. She groaned in frustration, wanting nothing more than to just leave at that very moment.
She could have just left, but that would just raise suspicion from the boys, and they didn't need to know where she was going because she was not theirs.
With an eye roll, she took the shades off the dresser and walked out of her room, only to bump into Conner in the hall.
"Oh," she stumbled back a few steps. "Sorry Con. Quick question, are you doing something right now?"
"I was just going to grab something for M'gann from her room, why?"
"I promised Robin I'd take these to him because I broke his other ones, but I have somewhere I need to go right now. Could you take them to him for me? His room is on the way, so you would even have to go out of yours." She asked, holding the shades out for the Boy of Steel to take.
"Sure,"
"Thanks, you're the best," Rose hugged her 'brother' and the two headed the own separate ways, before a thought crossed Rose's mind. "Could you also tell Rob that I'll be back around dinner time; BTW, knock first with secret ID's and all that jazz."
"Yeah, I know." He called without turned back to face the brunette. "See ya later."
"It's nothing personal. Bye Con." Rose smiled and turned back to walk down the hall and to the garage.
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There were two hard knocks on the door that both boys knew were too hard to belong to Rose, so Dick called out instead of going straight to the door to answer. "Who is it?"
"Conner."
Dick looked at Wally, who shrugged. "Hold on."
The Boy Wonder picked his masked off the night stand and applied a small amount of Spirit Glue to both corners of the mask before putting it over his eyes.
Once the mask was in place, Wally sped over to open the door, and was greeted with a pair of black shades.
"Where's Supergirl?" Dick asked, now standing behind the redhead.
"She said she had somewhere to go, but that she would be home around dinner time." The Kryptonian dropped the shades into Dick's open palm and walked away.
Both boys exchanged confused glances, unsure as to where the brunette might have gone.
A/N: This chapter seemed a little dry, even for me, and the next chapter might be the same depending on your taste, but we'll be picking up speed soon. And I changed the storysummarybecause the first one wasn't as clear as I wanted it to be.