A/N: Howdy all! Merry Christmas Eve :) Hopefully the next chapter will be up for Christmas Day. I'd always planned the next part of the story to be set during Christmas, but I've been struggling to get it written in time. The latest demands on my time have come from good news (I know, shocking!) My first professionally published bit of writing came out this month. It's called A Turning Point, and it's being carried by MLR Press. I've got links posted in my bio, should you want to purchase my short story (oh please oh please oh please!) and I also have the url of my professional pen name's facebook page listed there. I'll be updating that page with clever writing memes, fan fiction news, and of course, anything relevant to the published works, so please consider friending me.
Again, some more substantial author's notes will close out this chapter. Hope you all enjoy it, and please remember to review! I always love hearing from you guys :)
Chapter 29
As Dick effortlessly disarmed his second mugger of the night and gallantly returned valuables to a frightened looking couple, he failed to suppress a gnawing irritation with Keystone City. There was plenty of petty crime to be seen, Keystone's low income neighborhoods being almost as seedy as Gotham's, but he was having a hard time finding the right level of danger. None of this beginner's stuff was going to require backup, which meant he would never be able to draw Roy away from his spider solitaire game.
As Dick grappled back to the rooftops he seriously considered getting shot again.
No, Damian might break his vow to Bruce and kill him this time.
He found and averted another mugging, and was trying to think of another way to get Roy to patrol with him (were there any sexual favors he could offer in trade that he hadn't already agreed to do?) when he noticed a speeding armored truck heading towards him. A line of police cars, sirens blaring, were speeding after the truck, so Dick started jumping on the roofs of cars until he was able to get onto the side of the truck.
The Trickster was driving, and the poor delusional crook actually thought he'd be able to shake Nightwing off of his stolen truck. His attempts did make his driving more reckless though, so Dick resolved to stop the vehicle as quickly as possible. He crashed in through the passenger window, avoided some kind of bubble gum gimmick, and knocked the punk out.
Dick pulled the truck over and grappled off again. It looked like half the KCPD had been on Walker's tail, and they could certainly take it from there. From the safe perch of a nearby tenement, Dick was able to read the side of the truck. STAR labs. No wonder the cops had been so jumpy about it.
A red blur tore through the streets and stopped in front of two detectives that were checking over the truck's cargo, ostensibly making sure it was all still there. Wally spent a couple minutes talking to them, and then the metrosexual detective in the ugly tie pointed to where Dick was perched. Wally spotted him and waved and, feeling a bit odd, Dick hesitantly waved back.
Wally ran up the side of the building and stopped in front of him. "Hey dude! Didn't expect to see you here. I figured you'd get ported to Gotham so you could keep patrolling with Robin."
"Shaytun," Dick corrected.
"Shat-on?" Wally asked. "I'm saying that wrong, aren't I?"
"Yeah. Shay. Long a, Fonzie style. But yeah, no, if I'm going to live here then I want to work here." He watched Wally's expression, looking for any sign of disapproval.
And found none. "Well that's awesome! I'm stoked to have the help, and I'm sure everyone else will be too. And thanks for taking Trickster down."
Dick worked to put a smile on his face. "It wasn't that hard."
"Oh, yeah, uh, don't underestimate him. Axel's kind of a fall guy and distraction for the other Rogues. When he wants to put up a fight he can be a real pain in the ass, but that's not usually what he's going for."
Dick frowned. "The truck cargo…?"
"Left with someone else. Morillo's checking with STAR to see what's missing. Whoever wanted Trickster to draw the attention from them will probably try to break him out of jail as a courtesy, so we're going to keep an eye on him at Iron Heights. When we get a lead on where the missing tech actually went, want me to call you?"
"Sure." Dick wondered if now was the time to press it…oh what the hell. "I can give Red Arrow a call too. We can make it a real team-up."
Wally laughed and shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Nightwing. We try not to bother Red Arrow if we can help it. Guy's got enough on his plate without us yanking him out for costume work every time something comes up."
Dick scowled. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Wally looked honestly confused, and he took a few steps closer to Dick and lowered his voice before answering. "Well, y'know, he's a single dad. I've got my wife and my whole family to help me look after the kids, but it's just him to look after Lian. They've already gone through kind of a lot. I talked to Barry and Bart, and even Jay on this, and we thought we owed it to Lian to try to keep her dad out of the line of fire. I mean, it's not like he's living in a city where he's needed every single night, y'know?"
"Oh." How fucking typical. Wally's true motivations were actually really thoughtful, but his expression of them had alienated Roy. And because Wally was Dick's best friend, Roy would never believe it when Dick tried to explain Wally's side, or defend his actions.
He'd have to try to fix the miscommunication from Wally's end first. "Well, even if they don't live nearby, Lian's still got family. And I'm living with them now. Roy's a good crime fighter. Don't you think he should be out here with us?"
"Dude, you're talking to a Daddy here. He should be home with his kid. If I didn't have Linda, that's exactly where I'd be."
And then Wally could be almost willfully obtuse about it. Dick decided he might be better off talking to Roy instead.
"Ow! Son of a…" Piper went to suck on his finger, but then noticed that the shock he'd just gotten from the Thanagarian tech on his workbench had left a layer of faint blue powder on his skin. For the umpteenth time that night, he went to the bathroom to disinfect his hands before he continued (the almost religious caution he'd picked up regarding strange gimmicks and technology had originated in his days as a Rogue, and was reinforced several times in that period by the odd gadgets of Sam Scudder and James Jesse in particular). He returned to the bench a few minutes later, finger bandaged, and glanced with distaste at the alien machinery cluttering up his workspace, which normally contained orderly bits of flutes and sonic guns in progress or in need of repair.
It was nearly one in the morning. Despite the fact that Jai was supposed to have met him at seven, when they were going to get dinner and work on the tech upgrades for Titans Tower together, Piper had spent the night working alone. He figured that Jai would call him at some point and let him know why he'd failed to show up, but it had yet to happen.
Jai pulled this sort of thing with his parents often enough, but he was usually more courteous to Piper. Piper was that comfortable pseudo-authority figure that was really more of a confidant. Jai went to him with things he didn't tell his parents, and Piper respected his privacy and tried to guide him. It was a lot of work, it was uncomfortable, and sometimes he felt like he should be reporting more than he was to Wally and Linda.
And this was the thanks he got.
He hadn't realized how late it was though. He'd meant to just tweak a few things while he waited to hear from Jai, but the hours had marched by while he'd been absorbed in the fascinating alien equipment. Piper's body was telling him in no uncertain terms that it was tired, and no amount of coffee would make up for sitting hunched over that workbench for any further amount of time.
He started for his bedroom, and then his phone finally did sound off. Piper considered letting it ring, but that wasn't really an option. He picked up, determined to sound as irritated as he felt no matter what the moody teenager said to him. "Hello?"
"Hey Hartley…um…um…you're not mad at me, are you? 'Cause I need help."
The timid little voice, the loud background music, shouts, and laughter all served to aggravate and concern Piper at the same time. "Where are you? Are you at a party?"
"Y-yeah. Was the first one I…no one's invited me to anythin' since I wazzat the hospidal."
"Are you drunk?" Piper asked, noting the slur in Jai's voice.
"Uh…I dunno. I didn' mean to drink something like that, but now'm having a hard time walking…Can you come and get me? And not tell Mom'n Dad?"
There was no way he was acknowledging the last part of that. He'd have to give it some thought when he was more awake and less cranky. "Where the hell are you?" Piper changed courses and went to get his keys while Jai rattled off the address.
Jai was sitting on the stoop in front of a large house in the suburbs of Central when Piper pulled up in front of him. He had his head in his hands, long black and blue bangs obscuring most of his face. He was only wearing one shoe, and his shirt was inside out and stained. It didn't look like his first post-hospitalization social event had gone very well.
Piper reached over and opened the passenger door. "Get in. Do I need to give your uncle a call and report anything about that party?"
"Uh…I don't think I should narc," Jai mumbled.
Well that was a definite yes. Piper shot Barry a quick text while Jai was fumbling his seat belt on. "You're not seriously considering going out with these kids again after this, are you?"
"S'not Brennan's fault I…I mean, he's a good guy."
Piper threw a sidelong glance at the boy huddled next to him (who had probably arrived clad in a sweatshirt and with a second shoe he appeared to be missing, and without the vomit crusting in his hair), let out a long suffering sigh, and then pulled out onto the street. "Do you mind if I ask why your friends are throwing a massive party on a Thursday night?"
"No school tomorrow for a teacher's conference. Today's like Friday. Which is good. The Titans'r gonna kill my social life."
"I thought you said this was your first party since going into the hospital."
"Well yeah, but I don' want it to be th'last. I mean, m'hoping next one goes better."
"You do realize you were supposed to be at my house working on that Thanagarian stuff with me, right?" Piper pressed.
Jai had the audacity to laugh. "Dude, that was an excuse! Oops. Guess I shoulda told you, huh? Yeah, tha' was jest so Mom an' Dad wouldn' know where I was."
Piper pulled over to the side of the road, severely tempted to throw the impertinent little beast out onto the curb and leave him there to stumble his own way home. 'You love Jai, you love Jai, you love Jai,' he chanted, doing his best to take deep breaths.
"Piper? M'sorry," Jai slurred, and Piper reminded himself that the boy was in no shape to be having any kind of conversation. But oh would they be talking in the morning.
"Am I correct in assuming that your parents think you're sleeping over my house tonight?"
"Uh…yeah."
"Where were you planning on sleeping?" Piper asked, as it was pretty safe to assume Piper's house was not the answer.
"Uh…didn' get that far. Brennan was having people, uh, he collected keys so no one would drive while they were fucked up. I guess I was just gonna crash on the livin' room floor like everyone else."
"And you called me instead because…?"
Jai frowned and looked away. "Didn' feel safe. Wanted to leave."
"Ah." And that was the first reassuring thing Jai had said all night. At least there were still lines that could be crossed, and when they were he would make a responsible call. Still though, it was sad to see that he had to be manhandled and groped before he'd make that call.
God, but Piper could not wait until Jai got out of the nihilistic phase. He was definitely going to have to talk to Wally and Linda though. Keeping Jai's secrets to keep his confidence was one thing, but when he was actually putting himself in unsafe situations Piper had a duty to his friends that superseded his duty to the troubled teen.
"I'm glad you called me, Jai."
"You seem pretty ticked," Jai pointed out.
"We'll talk about that later." His hands had stopped shaking, so Piper pulled back onto the street. "But I am glad you called. Whatever stupid, needlessly reckless situations you get into, I want you to know that I will help you."
"Thanks Piper."
"I would appreciate it if you'd try a little harder to avoid the needlessly reckless situations though."
Jai laughed. "I'll try. Um…you're not gonna tell my parentsabout this…right?"
"We'll talk about that in the morning," Piper said, hoping he sounded stern. Jai clearly didn't see him as any kind of authority figure at all anymore, which was not only annoying as hell but also troubling.
Jai slumped even further in his seat, relief visibly washing over him. "Thanks for not bringing me home like this. Dad'd haff a fit."
They stopped at a red light, and while they were waiting a few police cars passed them, heading towards the party. Piper didn't comment on them and thankfully neither did Jai. Soon enough they got back to Piper's house and he helped Jai stumble his way into the guest room. Piper was still feeling irritated, so rather than toss him some spare pajamas and make sure he got cleaned up before bed, he slammed the door shut and disappeared into his own room.
The next morning, Piper felt eyes on him before he fully woke up. It wasn't just his imagination either; he could hear breathing and a heartbeat. He was careful to keep the blankets around his waist as he sat up, as he'd been having a rather inappropriate dream about a certain one armed musician and didn't want to advertise that to a friend of the man's daughter. Once he was sure of his modesty he turned to face the intruder.
Jai was sitting in Piper's desk chair, seemingly absorbed in his phone. He'd made use of the shower, and was now wearing clean clothes he'd swiped from Piper's dresser.
"Just how long were you watching me sleep?" Piper asked.
Jai shrugged without looking up from his phone. "Not long. I didn't want to wake you up. It looked like you were having a good dream." He glanced up for the barest of moments to offer a mean little smirk, and then turned back to his phone.
Piper felt his face turn red, and he felt more than a little violated besides. "I didn't realize I had to lock my bedroom door when you slept over."
"Oh don't take it like that. I promise I won't tell Lian you were moaning and groaning about her Daddy."
"Jai, go downstairs and wait for me. I, we-we are going to have a talk."
"Jeeze, way to sound like Barry." But Jai jumped up from the chair and did as told.
Piper buried his face in his hands. This was already shaping up to be a nightmare of a morning. Speaking of Barry though, he reached for his phone on his bedside table to check if the elder Flash had texted him back about the party they'd had broken up. And then he couldn't find his phone.
Piper got out of bed and found the jeans he'd been wearing the night before, but his phone wasn't in the pockets either (not that he expected it to be there; he remembered putting it on the bedside table).
He got dressed, ran a brush carelessly through his tangled hair, and then ran downstairs to confront his guest. Jai was seated at the kitchen table, still engrossed in his own phone. Piper's was sitting in the center of the table with his text to Barry displayed.
Jai threw a disgusted look at him. "Way to narc on me, Hartley."
"I didn't tell him you were at the party, if you'll notice, and you shouldn't be spying on me." Piper angrily snatched his phone from the table and stuffed it in his pocket. "Jai, what is going on with you? I want to help you, but you've been making that very difficult lately."
Jai didn't answer. He shrugged his shoulders and kept his eyes on his phone.
Piper pulled a chair up to Jai's and sat down across from him. "Will you at least look at me while we're talking? Where is this coming from? I thought you liked me."
"I do like you, Hartley. But…look." Jai finally put his phone away and fixed a piercing gold-green stare on his fake uncle. "Did you tell me I should join the Titans because you really thought it was a good idea, or did you talk me into it because Mom told you to?"
Piper blinked at him. "I, um, excuse me? I'm not quite sure what that has to do with this conversation."
"Just answer me. Was it because you think that I'm good at this stuff, and you want to mentor me, or was it because of my mom and you feeling like you had to? I heard her ask you to do it."
Piper swallowed around a suddenly dry throat. "I think the Titans will be really good for you-"
"Even though it puts me in the constant company of my ex-boyfriend, whom you thought was psychologically damaging to me?" Jai returned coldly.
"You said you were fine around hi-"
"But you talked me into it without even mentioning Damian. And then as an afterthought, you and Irey were all 'oh, that might be awkward for him'. No one gave a shit beforehand. I am fine, but I think it's weird. I just want to know if we're really friends, or if you're just friends with my parents and you put up with me."
Piper's stomach dropped. He'd thought, after the events of the summer and several one on one visits talking out Jai's self-worth issues, that he wouldn't have to reassure the teen about the nature of their friendship anymore. Piper was friends with Jai's parents, but he was also friends with Jai. Even though emotionally investing himself in the troubled teen was wearing him out beyond words, Piper could never see his honorary nephew as a burden.
"I…of course I'm friends with you. Don't you…aren't you my friend? You don't…Jai, I've been trying everything I can think of to keep you from feeling like I'm reporting on you to your mom and dad. I'm not. I just want you to be safe."
"And yet you narced to Barry."
"I didn't!" Piper exploded. "I just told him I'd heard about a gathering of young people doing illegal things he should look into. If you'll kindly remember how I became such good friends with your father, you'll remember that I network with criminals and have a range of informants. I could plausibly get that information without being the get-away driver for a self-destructive young man who knows better," he snapped. Then he took a deep breath and stood back up. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be shouting. I'm going to make coffee."
Jai's eyes were on his own hands, which looked to be itching to take out his phone again. "I already brewed you some. It's on the counter."
And indeed it was, in Piper's favorite mug, with soymilk and two spoonfuls of raw sugar. Piper retrieved the coffee and sat back down next to Jai. He took Jai's hand and squeezed, until eventually they were making eye contact again. "I don't want to fight with you."
"I don't wanna fight with you either," Jai said, and it sounded like the first sincere thing he'd said all morning. "I just don't know how to stop. I wanna trust you, Hartley."
"I want you to trust me too, but the fact remains that I need to be a responsible adult. I should tell your parents about what happened last night."
"But Dad'll freak out. And Mom, and she'll be worse. And now that you got Uncle Barry involved and he was arresting the kids who were there, they'll know exactly what was happening."
"Which was…?" He assumed underage drinking, drugs, and lots of sex, but Piper had to admit that he didn't really know.
"Nothing. It's not a big deal; I just know they'll get on my back about it." Well that was a lie.
Piper was tempted to press him further, but then, he probably wouldn't trust whatever Jai told him anyway. God. When did things get this bad?
Piper took a sip of the coffee. He tried to hold eye contact with Jai, but the teen kept looking away. He finally settled on talking to a downturned head. "Look, Jai, I want you to feel like you can always come to me, that you can tell me anything. But right now that doesn't seem like the responsible thing to do. Can you just give me something to make me feel like I can trust you?"
Jai roughly wiped at his face with the back of his hand. "I'm so sorry, Hartley. I don't know why I'm being such a jerk, but I know that if Mom and Dad find out I was at a drinking party they'll send me back to the hospital. And if they do that…I mean, I'll miss school and Titans meetings and it'll fuck me over. I know Damian doesn't want me on the team. What if he uses the mental health stuff to get me booted?"
Piper hadn't thought of that.
The adults in Jai's life had pretty universally decided that the Teen Titans were the best hope they had of Jai straightening up and flying right. Not only would the team (hopefully) surround him with a good peer group that he could be completely honest with (as they were all hero kids too), but the team could also give him a sense of purpose that his troubled actions demonstrated he lacked. He'd belong to something larger than himself, and have the opportunity to use his incredible talents for good.
Maybe they were hoping for too much though.
Piper set his mug on the table and rubbed blearily at his eyes. "I'll keep quiet for now. But will you please try harder? Stop giving me reasons to want to report on you to your parents, and we can avoid all this."
He still had his head in his hand, and was surprised by feeling a pair of skinny arms slinging themselves around his neck. But Piper returned the hug anyway. "I will try harder, Hartley. I promise. Just don't hate me, okay?"
"There is nothing you can do that could possibly make me hate you," Piper said.
He hoped Jai wouldn't interpret that as a challenge.
Roy was in bed with a few signal devices around him when Dick crawled under the covers beside him. Roy reached his arm out and pulled his boyfriend against him, still mostly asleep but gradually waking from his contact with cool skin and damp hair.
"How was the patrol?" Roy asked groggily. More active than he'd expected, if Dick had showered before getting into bed.
"Fine."
Roy ran his hand up and down Dick's side, and breathed in a strong whiff of soap and shampoo. It was a nice smell, but he preferred even sweat stink as long as it smelled like Dick.
"Just fine? Did you bust anybody?"
"Three muggers, stopped the Trickster from carjacking a truck heading for the nearest branch of STAR labs, and then I teamed up with Wally to stop a mob of ex inmates from murdering the old Iron Heights warden." And he sounded incredibly pissed off about it. "With the STAR labs tech."
Roy was definitely much more alert after hearing all that. "You…teamed up with Wally?"
"Yep."
"He…didn't tell you that the speedsters had it covered? Because it's their city and they know it?"
"Nope."
"Huh."
"Yeah." Dick sat up and hugged his knees. He looked incredibly tense. Roy carefully touched his back. It was clearly a question.
Dick leaned into the touch, and that was the answer. "I'm not mad at you, you idiot. I'm just...I don't even fucking know. I don't know how to fix this."
"Don't worry about it, Dick. It's not your problem." Roy was getting along fine. He didn't particularly like feeling like a second-rate hero instead of a seasoned veteran just because he'd encroached on a different super family's turf, but he'd gotten used to it. Any time he was really itching for the spandex and Kevlar, he just ported up to the Watchtower to work with someone he liked. It wasn't ideal, but it was a system.
Besides, he'd certainly lived through worse. For the level of stability he and Lian were enjoying, he'd take as many mundane nights sitting in as it took.
Dick crawled back over and draped himself over Roy. His eyes were fixed on Roy's, and they looked almost eerie in the darkness, like the pale blue irises were glowing. "I want you to suit up and patrol with me tomorrow night. And if we bump into Wally, or Barry, or Bart, I want you to talk to them about the patrol thing."
Roy recoiled a little at that. "I've tried. I've heard their answers already, and trust me, I'm good."
"I think there's been a miscommunication. Please, just try one more time. You live here, Roy, and you're an amazing crime fighter. Having you stay in night after night wasting time on your computer is irresponsible. I've half a mind to tell Bruce what they're doing."
"Oh yeah, because Bruce never tells anyone to quit suiting up in his city."
Dick narrowed his eyes in challenge. "He tries to frighten away amateurs and people that don't share his ideas and methods. You, on the other hand, don't kill criminals and have almost as much as experience as I do. If he found out the Flashes were trying to keep you from saving lives in Central and Keystone, he'd tell them they were being fucking stupid too."
Roy sincerely doubted that, but it was nice to hear. As far as he could tell, Bruce's opinion of him was about the same as most others in the hero community (or worse, as he'd found Roy deflowering his first little Robin out in the grounds of Wayne Manor back when they were kids. He hadn't exhibited any fondness for the brash archer since).
It was still nice of Dick to lie to him like that though. Roy leaned closer and pulled him back into a cuddle. "So you know, you're pretty much the best boyfriend ever."
"Really?" Dick asked, tone somewhat short as he was still fuming over speedster dickery (or so it appeared to Roy).
"Yeah. Now go to sleep. You just listed off four fights and a team up. I think you've earned a rest."
Dick rested his head on Roy's chest, did as instructed, and snuggled. "I wish everyone saw what I see in you."
"Hey, just so long as you keep deluding yourself into thinking I'm awesome, I'll be fine. G'night, Dick."
"Night."
Roy was sitting on the front porch while Arrow Dog ran around the yard yipping at anything that moved for exercise when he saw Piper walking up the street carrying the Great Frog CDs he'd borrowed. Roy waved at him, and he returned it, though looking a bit distant while he did so.
"Hey dude. You okay?" Roy asked, once Piper had gotten closer.
Piper stepped onto the yard, then jumped back when Arrow Dog started barking at him. And of course, Arrow Dog being Arrow Dog, she followed it up by peeing alarmingly close to his sneakers. "Did you end up taking her to the vet?"
"Yep. Apparently it's behavioral. We've got to train her to stop doing it."
"I'm sorry."
"Me too. Not as sorry as Lian though. Keeping the house from smelling like dog pee is her responsibility. Arrow Dog, get the hell away from him! He's a guest."
Initially the little pest had been smelling Piper's shoes, but then she started jumping up on him while making noises that were somewhere between a bark and a growl.
"If she were really bothering me, I think I could take her out with a well-placed kick," Piper said dismissively. He stepped around the dog and joined Roy on the porch. The dog yipped at him again, and then went back to attacking rustling leaves and twigs.
"I keep thinking that. In fact, I'm pretty sure if I stepped on her in the middle of the night that that'd be the end of her…but then I remember how much I love my daughter and that stops that. So how goes it?" Roy asked.
Piper frowned. "Well enough. How are you?"
"Shitty." And Piper clearly was too, but apparently too polite to open a conversation with whining about his personal life. Roy always had to remind himself that outside of the Arrow family, most people kept a lid on that kind of stuff around their casual friends. "Thanks for bringing the CDs back. I guess Dick wanted to give them a listen too."
"He's never heard them before?"
"I…kinda restricted his access. He wasn't aware of the second CD until about a week ago." Roy grimaced. "It was just as awful as I told you, right?"
"Actually, I think your band had a lot of potential. I mean, these albums weren't spectacular, but a little polish and a bit more practice and you'd have really had something."
Roy regarded him skeptically. "Are you saying that because you don't want to offend me and thus exclude yourself from any future threesomes, or do you really think that? Because seriously, I still sleep with people who tell me I'm a sucky musician. I was hooking up with Grace right before me and Dick got back together, and she's let me know in no uncertain terms how god awful Great Frog was."
Piper's face turned bright red. "I, ah…no, that wasn't a consideration. Does this Grace person know that much about music? Because I'm, um, talking about what you could have been. It doesn't sound like she, er, never mind. Let's talk about something else."
Roy smirked. He was tempted to tell Piper that he'd become Roy's first choice for an addition to their bedroom, if he and Dick were ever in the mood for it again. The less of a stranger Piper became to him, the more Roy was sure that his missing arm wouldn't bother him in the least. After all, Piper hadn't stared (except in blatant lust), and seemed to treat the missing limb the same way Dick did: as a respectable mark of sacrifice and not something to be bothered by. Roy still didn't feel that way himself, but he was a lot closer to being comfortable with his deformity than he had been, and the experience with Piper had helped (even if it had only made him paranoid at first).
The poor guy looked really flustered though, so Roy figured it was best to back off.
They chatted about Great Frog for a few minutes, and laughed when Arrow Dog ran after a squirrel, reached the end of her leash line, and almost choked herself before she had the sense to get off the sidewalk and run back into the yard.
"Is, um, is Dick home?" Piper finally asked. His voice was low and his body language was a little defensive. Something had really shaken the guy, and unless Roy was greatly mistaken he was looking for a confidant.
He kinda wondered why Piper wouldn't just go to Wally, or someone else he was a little closer to, but Roy couldn't say he objected to filling that role. Hell, he'd enjoy the crap out of it if Piper needed a confidant to bitch about Wally to.
"Nah, Dick's taking another day trip to Gotham. He's gotta coach his little sidekick on teamwork before the next meeting tomorrow night. And Lian's at school for another couple hours, at least, so the house is empty."
For some reason, that news seemed to upset Piper even more. "I thought the high school teachers were having a conference today."
"No…school is very much in session. They send notices to the parents when school gets cancelled." Roy held up his phone. "I get texts and everything."
Piper nodded, and chewed on his lip.
Ah. So that's why he wasn't going to Wally. Sighing, Roy stuck his phone back in his pocket and then hit his leg. "Arrow Dog! C'mere-for fuck's sake, you can bark all you want but that squirrel is not going to run over to you and let you eat it! And the damn thing's bigger than you anyway!" Roy finally unhooked the leash from where he'd tied it around a post in the porch railing and tugged it until the dog came running to him.
He shooed the dog into the house, then led Piper into the living room. "Want anything to drink?"
"No, I'm fine."
"Kay. I'll be right back, and then you can spill whatever it is you need to-"
"I-I'm not…"
Roy gave him one of his perfected 'cut the shit' looks. It had almost the same effect as it did on Lian, Dick, and even Grace sometimes. Piper mumbled some kind of assent and sat down on the couch to wait for him.
Roy snagged a soda and then plopped down across from Piper. "So…Jai's causing trouble again?"
Piper smiled sadly. "How did you know?"
"It's gotta be about the kids, and if it weren't about one of the twins you'd be talking to a West right now."
"And Jai's the screwed up one, right?" Piper muttered, looking oddly defensive even though he was clearly about to unload about the little shit.
"No…he's the one you're close to," Roy said. The kid was a fucked up little brat, if what Dick had said about him was true, but that wasn't how Roy had come to his conclusion. And besides that, it wasn't polite to point that kind of stuff out about other peoples' kids.
"I am Irey's godfather…but you're right. I am very close with Jai. Frankly, sometimes I wish I weren't. We've bonded over a certain similar temperament…and I was miserable when I was his age. I wish he were happier."
"The teen years suck," Roy said with a nod. "I'm doing my best to keep my daughter from noticing."
"She does seem quite happy. You're doing a good job with her," Piper said.
Roy smiled. "Thanks. It hasn't been easy."
Piper nodded. "I'm starting to sympathize with my poor parents and everything I put them through."
Roy couldn't suppress a small laugh. As he'd gotten older, he'd started to really appreciate how much he'd stressed Ollie out back in the day, but he'd never have the kind of regret Piper exuded. Ollie had reacted terribly to finding out how screwed up his legal ward was, and he'd unintentionally helped Roy spiral more wildly out of control in his attempts to get him to straighten up. And then he'd given up entirely, run away on a road trip, and smacked Roy around when he caught him shooting up…
Yeah, Roy was never going to feel any pity for Ollie as a surrogate parent.
"So what's up with Jai?" Roy asked.
"He…well, I'm sure you've noticed he confides in me," Piper murmured. Roy nodded. Piper was mentoring the kid, after all, and Roy only lived up the street from the Wests. He saw how often Piper's car passed by with Jai in the passenger seat. "It's just…I want him to keep coming to me and telling me things, because he needs the help. And I know that if I tell Wally and Linda anything he's told me in confidence, that he'll never trust me again."
"It's a fine line," Roy said with a nod. "I put Black Canary in that position a couple times by accident. She never went to Ollie, thank everything sacred, but I think that's only because she knew he couldn't help me anyway. Wally and Linda are actually competent guardians though. What's Jai doing that makes you think you need to rat on him?"
"I'd rather not say." In that he clearly really wanted to vent everything he knew about the kid, but he didn't think it was right.
"I know how to keep secrets, Hartley."
Piper took a slow, steadying breath, and then, in a whisper of a voice, started talking with his head down. "He's skipping classes now instead of entire days, and has figured out a system so that his parents only get notified once a quarter. He's sexually active, and promiscuous, and I'm no longer certain he's taking the precautions he should. I've…I've started hiding condoms in his bag when he comes over to visit, because I'm sure he'll have sex anyway, but I'm not sure he'll stop and procure them himself. I'm trying to encourage him to get a blood test, but he only teases me when I bring it up. He's still depressed, and his mood swings…he gets downright cruel if you try to confront him about some things. Last night he used my house as an alibi to his parents, and then he called me to pick him up because he was too drunk to stumble home himself, and…" Piper stopped, and buried his face in his hands. "I need to tell Wally. But I can't. He won't stop, so what'll it help to lose his trust entirely?"
"Piper, he doesn't trust you. He's using you. You've got to see that." Roy was absolutely appalled by what he'd heard, but he didn't doubt a word of it. It fit perfectly with what Dick had said about Jai and Damian's relationship.
"He does trust me. It's…I don't seem to have his respect anymore though," Piper said. "He…"
Roy leaned forward. "What? What else is he doing?" Roy was sure Piper was going to say drugs, and for a horrible few minutes Roy panicked, thinking of the little boy he'd watched grow up, and how heartbroken Jai's tight-knit family was going to be, and how miserable Lian was going to be when Roy forced her never to hang out with the West twins again because there was no way in hell she was ever going to be around drugs—
And then Piper answered. "Honestly Roy, he's making me really uncomfortable. I think after he broke up with his ex-boyfriend he started fixating on me." Piper visibly shuddered. "I know it sounds ridiculous, and that I'm older than his father, but yesterday I woke up with him in my room, and the way he'd been watching me…"
That may not have been worse than drugs, but it was up there. "That's…definitely a cause for concern."
"You won't tell Wally, right?"
There were few conversations he'd want to have less than that one. "I'll keep quiet, I promise. I don't know, dude…um. At least…having crushes on your mentor isn't unheard of. Dick had a thing for Batman back in the day-"
"To be fair, Roy, that was so obvious the villain communities of other cities knew about it," Piper said with a faint smirk. Roy would have to tease Dick about that later. "You'd have to be blind and incredibly dense to have missed Robin's crush on Batman."
"And Damian had a thing for Dick too."
"I think half the caped community has a thing for Dick."
The guy wasn't wrong. Roy smirked. "Yep. And they can all choke on their envy, because he's mine. But you see my point? Crushes are part of adolescence."
"I know. And I wasn't bothered when I thought it was just a normal crush. I'm a little afraid he might do something to act on his feelings. I'm not sure what I'd do then. If he doesn't understand the impropriety himself, what can I possibly say to convince him of it?"
"No means no?" Roy suggested.
Piper shook his head, as though it had been a legitimate suggestion. "I really miss him, Roy. He used to be my star music pupil, and he was so thoughtful, and sensitive, and kind…I want all that back. Whatever's caused him so much pain, I wish there was something I could do to stop it."
Roy reached across the table and squeezed Piper's hand, completely on impulse. The guy was so visibly emoting pain that Roy's hero wiring kicked in, and he needed to comfort Piper any way possible.
That night he had a talk with Lian. He didn't clue her in about much, but he let her know that he was starting to worry about Jai, and that the kid might be heading for the same kind of troubled path Roy had tread when he was a kid.
"What should I do, Daddy? I mean, I'll let you know if I think he's on drugs or anything we really need to worry about, but I don't think there's much we can do."
"I don't need you to spy on him, honey. I just want you to do something for Jai that almost no one did for me when I was having issues. Just be kind to him, okay?"
"Oh. Well duh."
Roy gave her a hug, and she kissed his cheek, and he left her room satisfied that he didn't have to worry about his own kid…all that much, anyway.
Billy Hong was in the bathroom in his hotel room standing in front of the mirror and brushing out his long dark hair, when he noticed a flash of green light out of the corner of his eye. He tensed with the brush halfway through its stroke, but no attack followed.
And then a transparent, green tinted head poked into the bathroom. "Hey kiddo."
"Hey Dad," Billy greeted, instantly relaxing. This was a friendly visitation then.
He may not have gotten much of a chance to form a relationship with James Jesse in life, but there were perks to being a magic user, and necromancy was among them. Several years ago, when the Pied Piper had turned up on his mother's doorstep and broken the terrible news about James' tragic death, Billy had listened patiently until the well-intentioned, fumbling, and slightly traumatized man disclosed the exact details. Then Billy had spent a few months reading up on methods of contacting the dead, and shortly thereafter he'd conducted his first séance.
He'd been in near-constant communication with James ever since, excepting the years he'd taken off for his intensive meditation. Their bond had grown strong enough that Billy no longer needed to summon James; he often made spectral excursions to the land of the living to check up on his son on his own, and this was one of those occasions.
At the moment James was in the semblance Billy most recognized; how he'd looked when they'd first met. His blond hair was long and swept up into a messy ponytail, and he was clad in a slightly less ridiculous (but still ridiculous) striped costume than the one he'd worn at the time of his death. James hovered around the room, admired the view of New York through the window, then headed back towards the bathroom.
"Glad I caught you before Titans meeting number two. You nervous?"
"Not really," Billy answered truthfully. "The first meeting wasn't ideal, but it didn't go that poorly. Shaytun was the only one who didn't want me to join, and now his teammates have had time to look me up and come up with arguments against him. They'll overrule him, and I'll become a Titan."
"Cool. It'd be nice to see you make some friends your own age."
Billy rolled his eyes. His mother had said that too.
"So what are Flash junior's kids like? I didn't get a chance to meet them before I started pushing daisies."
Billy set the hairbrush down, pulled his hair back into a loose tail, and made his way into the main hotel room. He had a few outfits laid out on his bed. They were all nearly identical; he did his clothes shopping for practicality's sake alone and not for fashion, but there were some slight variations in his dark dress shirts and slacks, and for the first time in his life he had an investment in the image he presented.
"I didn't get a chance to have any kind of extended interaction with them, Dad." Billy picked up a charcoal grey shirt, then set it down and went for a black one instead. "From what I could tell they were a bit nervous. The girl didn't maintain eye contact except when she was calling me out on knowing their secret identities, and she blushes fairly easily. The boy was barely a presence, and when he spoke up he seemed to regret it. He's friends with Piper though."
"Ah. So he must have some redeeming qualities," James said with a smirk. He joined Billy by the bed and looked over his clothes. "Y'know kid, it wouldn't kill you to throw some color into your wardrobe."
"It may have killed you. Blue collared cape?" Billy returned.
James scowled. "I shouldn't have told you that. Hey, even if it had been a black cape, it still would have been a grip for Deadshot. I don't regret my fashion choices. They were fun."
"Seriously? Not even that ponytail?"
"Says the kid with his hair growing down to his ass."
"My ponytail is classy. You'll notice a certain lack of split ends." Billy finally selected a shirt and slacks he was happy with and went into the bathroom to change.
"So where's your mom?" James asked.
"I'm not sure. Running errands, I think. Probably seeing a few apartments. We're going to relocate to New York once we've confirmed my place on the team."
"Good to know. So…not nervous, on top of finding a place to live, and you're positive you want to show up for this meeting dressed like you're going to a funeral. Anything else I should cover with you before you set out for your team up?"
"Are you treating this like it's my first day of school?" Billy asked, amused.
James shrugged guiltily. "I missed the real thing. This is as close as I can get."
"I'm going to be fine, Dad. I'm not nervous at all."
"Well…let me know if the other hero kids pick on you. Seriously, I'll give them such a haunting on your behalf."
Billy laughed. "Thanks. I'd better get going though, or I'll be late. Do I look alright?" He walked back into the main room, did a little turn, and James studied him.
"You look a little goth, but I suppose that's your thing. Wait a minute, you're taking fashion advice from me? You've been giving me hell for the vertical stripes for years. You are nervous."
Billy felt his face grow warm. "I am not. I just…haven't spent a lot of time with kids my own age. This is a little weird for me."
"Uh huh…"
"And…there's this girl on the team," Billy mumbled, sure he was going to regret sharing this with his father, who loved to tease people and only had so many targets now that he was dead. Billy sat down on the bed and let out a sigh. "She's very pretty, and I think she was trying to flirt with me. I don't really know though…I don't think I've ever been flirted with before."
"Well now that you're not living in a monastery anymore get ready for it." James hovered so that he had the appearance of sitting on the bed next to Billy, though of course he would have gone right through it if he tried. "Was it Flash's daughter?"
"Iris?" Billy shook his head. "I suppose she's pretty enough, but I was thinking of Lian Harper. She's beautiful, and very confident." He thought back on the way she'd stepped between him and Damian Wayne, and how she'd handled the tactless leader of their team. "I…wouldn't mind if she liked me."
"Ask her out."
"Dad. I can't ask her out!" Billy spluttered.
"Why not?"
"Because! I-I'm a stranger, and I'm just trying to win everyone's trust, and I don't really know her either…and…" And she'd say no.
"Fine. Get to know her, and then ask her out. It's not like you have competition, right?" James teased, no doubt thinking of the three other boys on the team.
Billy didn't really think Shaytun, Tech, or Burst were rivals for the girl's affections though. Shaytun had the social graces of a howler monkey; even if he did want to romance his teammate (which Billy sincerely doubted a stick in the mud like that would), he was probably incapable. Burst was too timid to try, and Billy was pretty sure Tech had been checking him out.
"Can you just be a normal dad and lie and say I'm handsome, and that all the girls will like me?"
James snorted. "I think someone misled you about the role of fatherhood. That stuff's for your mom. The dad's supposed to tell you not to get the girl pregnant. So don't get her pregnant. And ask her out."
"I knew I shouldn't have told you about this."
"Can I follow you to the Tower? I want to see this girl-"
"Dad, no! You'll make me look crazy in front of the Titans!" Who conveniently for James, wouldn't be able to see him. He'd made Billy look like a raving loon in public more than once.
"What if I promise to behave?"
"You'll break the promise. Because you have the impulse control of a sugared up five year old."
"I have more than that in common with a sugared up five year old. Ah well…I'd better get back to the pit anyway. Don't want anyone to notice I'm missing."
Billy's stomach turned. He hated when James referred to the afterlife like that. "Everything's…okay down there, right?"
James shrugged. "As okay as it ever is. I've got my little posse of friendly spirits to keep me company. Billy…don't worry about me. You've done as much as you can for me. Way more than you should even have bothered for an absentee bum like me."
"It wasn't your fault. You didn't know. Um…are you going to be able to come back after the meeting? I mean, I'll tell Mom about it first, but I wouldn't mind talking to you again. I might even be able to talk to one of the twins and get an update on Piper for you."
"I'd like that," James said. "Yeah, I'll swing by. And summon me if you need to. I'm always here for you kiddo, and I've got a lot of free time." He threw one last smile Billy's way before disappearing in a subtly faded green light.
Billy went back into the bathroom and looked at his reflection in the mirror. Smooth complexion, even white teeth, healthy dark hair, pleasant light brown eyes…he tried to smile in that charming way his father did, and it lasted barely a second. It had looked ugly and foreign on his features.
"Urgh…a charmer you are not, Hong. Better keep to the serene I've-been-stuck-in-a-monastery-looking-at-cave-walls-for-most-of-my-adolescence look then…at least that's really me."
He closed his eyes, felt his body become enveloped by a warm, cleansing blue light, and when next he opened them he was standing in front of the Titans Tower. Billy took a deep breath, and then strode confidently inside.
Lian got to Titans Tower three hours before the rest of the team. She'd brought supplies to decorate her room, and happily immersed herself in personalizing the space for a good chunk of the morning.
She was arranging books and trinkets on her bookcase, belting out show tunes along with her laptop, when she heard a rapping on her door. Mortified, she shut off the music, hoped the walls were thick enough that whoever it was hadn't heard her singing, and went to open the door.
She was wearing short-shorts, a bat symbol tank top, and fluffy pink slipper socks, and Damian was standing in her doorway in full Shaytun-costume. This was already a bad start.
"H-hey. You're here early too?"
"I wanted to talk to you, but you appear indisposed."
Lian glanced down at herself, blushed, and then looked back up at Damian. "I got hot moving furniture and stuff around. I'm setting up my room. What do you think so far?" She dragged him into the room and then waved her arm around.
She'd rearranged it so that the desk now faced the window and the bed was against the opposite wall. She had posters up, and scented candles lit, and her books and knick knacks were tastefully arranged on all the surfaces. "I still need to get a throw rug, but otherwise I'm happy with it."
Damian did one of his small, almost-smile expressions. "It's certainly cozy. Are you sure I'm not intruding?"
"Not at all. I kinda wanted to talk to you too. I'm sorry I was such a bitch to you last week."
Damian regarded her in some confusion. "You…were?"
"Yeah. I was biting your head off all weekend. I know you have a hard time with social stuff, so it was pretty mean of me to be all pissy with you about how rude you were. You weren't doing it on purpose, and you were trying to look out for X'hawn. I'm sorry I was such a bad friend."
"Lian…I can take it when you're short with me. I accept your corrections. I need them."
Lian chewed her lip. "So…we're good?"
"Yes, always. But I am glad you considered my feelings so thoroughly. That's…gratifying." His expression was hard to read (which was sad; it's not like the boy had a lot of range in his expressions), which made Lian wonder.
"So what did you want to talk to me about?" she asked. "Did you wanna schedule another training session or something? Oh! Maybe we could bring in X'hawn and Jai! They both need to learn how to fight."
His face turned stony. "I don't see why Jai would need to learn how to fight. He isn't to leave the Tower."
"Dami, people who aren't supposed to be in the line of fire still get attacked. I mean, case in point." She gave a little wave.
"Right…perhaps…well, I'd still rather not be the one to train Jai. I'm sure his family can see to that themselves. And Drake is going over basic combat training with X'hawn."
"Ah…so…are you ever going to tell me what happened with you and Jai?"
The effect on Damian was immediate. His entire body stiffened, his face set in an expression awfully close to terror from a haughty, recklessly brave and arrogant superhero, and it looked for a second like he considered bolting from the room. "How did-that is…what makes you think I've had problems with Jai?"
"Dami, I'm not dumb. You kinda visibly react whenever the kid's brought up or in the room. Did you guys have a falling out?"
"Yes."
Lian waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't. "Fine. I'll just ask him."
"I'd prefer it if you wouldn't. It's intensely private."
"Oh." Well that left her feeling wounded. She'd thought that Damian was closer to her than that. "Um…well, well then…just don't let it get in the way of our team work, okay? Last week it didn't seem like you were being entirely fair to him. I mean, avoiding him on your own time is one thing, y'know?"
Damian nodded. "I'd thought of that. Actually, that's what I wanted to speak with you about." He started pacing around the room, and his tone became even more formal than usual. "As you're aware, I have certain social difficulties. I am unequipped to properly empathize with most people, owing to my unusual upbringing, and this makes me come across as unfeeling and cold. I don't believe, given these shortcomings, that I will be able to properly manage this team by myself."
"Dami, you're going to be a great team leader! You have Cassie and Bart to lean on if you need to-"
"They're to help with training and mentoring, but this is beyond the scope of their duties. Lian, I was hoping that you might be interested in helping me."
Lian frowned. "Um…yeah, of course. You're teaching me how to fight and I'm teaching you-"
"Lian, I want you to be my co-leader."
She gaped at him. "You're…huh?" She was the youngest member of the team, and her chief experience in superheroics involved being a tragic victim. "Really? Me?"
He finally stopped pacing, crossed the room, and took her hand in his. Lian felt her cheeks grow warm. "Yes. I truly believe that you're the only person with the talents to do this for me." Oh, his lenses were down. His eyes looked really intense.
God, he was so pretty…
"Y-yeah…I'll do you-um! Um, do that for you. Help you. Oh geeze."
He'd left her door open when he walked in, and they had the good luck for Cassie to pass by just as their conversation turned awkward. She looked in at them with a quirked eyebrow, and then sped her pace. Lian had no doubt in her mind that Cassie was running off to call her dad. Fucking swell.
Damian didn't seem to notice. "Well then. I'll leave you to get ready for the meeting. Goodbye Lian. See you soon."
"Bye Dami."
He'd been gone for twenty minutes before she realized she'd just agreed to co-lead the Teen Titans. "Oh fuck!"
Billy's second interview with the Teen Titans wasn't going as well as he could have hoped.
He was met at the entrance by Kid Flash, who had exuberantly chatted with him about various topics while she showed him through the Tower to the conference room. She'd been amiable, if a bit spacey, but she had done her best to set him at ease and he'd enjoyed her kindness.
Her teammates on the other hand…
He'd barely taken his seat before Tech threw a pile of papers and photographs on the table. "Care to explain to us why you were eleven seven Crises ago?"
Billy calmly went over what had happened to him at the monastery, but it wasn't easy to maintain his composure with everyone staring at him so suspiciously.
"I've been studying meditation since birth-"
"Is birth really the word you want to use there, Shaytun?" Billy interrupted with mock-innocence.
Damian glared at him. "Since the program to spawn me achieved its goal. Satisfied?"
"Sure."
"At any rate, I've never encountered a case of suspended aging like yours."
Billy nodded. "I've never heard of something like this either. I suspect Meshta's involvement."
The interview progressed from there, with the teens and young adults asking all manner of questions about his background, doing their best to contradict him where they could. Jai was particularly ruthless, no doubt trying to prove himself as an intelligence gatherer. The boy was clearly intimidated by Damian, which was another strike against the damn snob. Jai probably wouldn't feel the need to try to discredit Billy if he were secure in his role on the team.
Billy kept his cool and answered all of their questions, no matter how invasive, as honestly and openly as possible.
After a seeming eternity, the volley of inquiries stopped. "Alright Billy, thanks for being so forthright with us. Do you mind if we talk in private for a few minutes?" Cassie asked.
"That's perfectly fine. I'll wait in the hall." Billy took his leave and paced outside the doorway, trying not to feel nervous. His confidence from the morning was gone.
Wayne's initial dislike was simmering into a proper hatred, and the other teens hadn't come across as terribly friendly this time either (he tried not to be bothered by the fact that Lian had barely smiled at him at all).
They were still conferring when Billy noticed a flash of green light. By the time James materialized in front of him he felt like screaming. "Dad, what are you doing here?!" he snapped. "I told you not to follow me!"
"I'm sorry Bill, but-wait, is it not going well?"
"No, it's not, and I don't think talking to myself is going to make them like me any better. Now what are you doing here?" he demanded in a harsh whisper.
"The pit's in an absolute uproar. You were right about joining the Titans-Neron absolutely does not want you on the team, under any circumstances, and he dispatched minions to distract you. They're going after your mom."
A/N: Review Responses
Hopefully I won't take up too much more space answering anon reviewers (please make accounts!), but as it's already a pretty substantial chapter I assume you guys won't mind me detracting from the story content with a few lines.
Guest A: Thanks again for another review. I've given some more thought to Jason-plans, and he might be showing up sooner than I anticipated. He's definitely got a starring role for a story in the far-future of this fic series (the next one's going to star the offspring of this generation of Titans, but it'll probably take a couple years for me to get to the point where I can write with them).
Amod: Thank you so much for so many kindly worded reviews. I'd have been responding to them with PMs if you were signed in with an account (well, almost all of them; I know I miss a few here and there, but I try to respond to everyone who signs in). I hadn't planned on detailing any more of Lian and Damian's training sessions, but I'll see if the muse comes up with anything fun for you ;)
Guest B: I've become a Flash fangirl and it's all Piper's fault. I believe he is COMPLETELY amazing in canon and encourage anyone who likes outspoken, gay, socialist, activist, environmentalist musicians to read up on him. He's a very two dimensional villain from the silver age through the bronze age, but when William Messner-Loebs made him reform in the late 80s he started getting really interesting. And speaking of William Messner-Loebs, he's my favorite Flash writer so my take on Wally is mostly based on his. He made Wally an incredibly dynamic character who was always growing and learning while discovering how to become a hero. Piper's outspoken liberalism was a plot device, and Wally came across and somewhat obtuse but always good natured while Piper taught him social responsibility. I try to preserve his propensity for inadvertantly offending people.
Lian's kind of a girly-girl and (outside of spandex) Irey's a follower, so we might not see a deeper side to their friendship for a while. Plus right now they're a bit boy crazy. I'll keep your concerns in mind, as I think they're valid and would prefer to portray the ladies and strong and independent.
I got a lot of heat for Roy and Dick's break up in chapter 20...glad that you found the hints I was dropping with further examination. Their relationship is one of the details I haven't planned out in advance for the story, so I'll be discovering what happens to them along with everyone else. I know they're a couple again by the time they're old and grey, but I don't know how many times they've broken up before they get there.
Right now there are no plans to stick Jai with any diseases, but the adults in his life have cause to worry about him and he's not sympathetic enough to let them know better.
In case no one spends time checking X'hawn out, here's a description. He's short and runty, having suffered from malnourishment during his time as a refugee and slave (but short for a Tamaranian still has him at 5'10" when he's full grown). His skin and hair are the same shade of poor white, and it's long and thick like Starfire's but not curly. His face isn't quite as rounded as hers, and his eyes are a deep orange, kind of like carnelian stone. They're all orange, just like Starfire's are all green. He's got an exotic kind of beauty, but his attitude hides that. It's kind of like in Goblet of Fire, when JK Rowling points out that Hermione Granger is drop dead gorgeous when she gets all prettied up, but as she doesn't spend hours maintaining her hair and is usually hunched over with books, she makes it rather hard to tell.
Damian's magic abilities will be coming up when he gets further into his rivalry with Billy, and ssh! I want everyone to forget about the problems with Lian's resurrection ;)
Thanks, glad you liked the chapter! Damian has nothing but respect for Lian's abilities, after all, he wouldn't want to court her if he didn't ;)
I love long reviews full of content. Seriously, makes my night and gets me cracking on the next chapter. It's just, as you leave rather a lot that I want to respond to, it'd be easier for everyone if my response didn't have to appear in the body of a chapter, y'know? If you could make a new account, I'd really appreciate it. Thank you so much for taking the time to write to me about the story. It's making the whole thing much more fulfilling for me and I appreciate it.