It seems like it's been a while since a wrote a fluff piece, so I came up with this chapter to remedy that. I actually love this chapter, it was so fun to write, and I can just see the reactions they would all have to everything that happens. I really feel like it puts things in perspective and shows that, no matter what they do, they're still young, and they still do stupid stuff and they still want to have fun. I'm not sure who Rocket's fiance is in the show, so I'm just going to make up a name to put in here. This also makes Brek and Mallory an official couple, hope y'all are ok with that. Anyway, I really hope you like it. Review and let me know!
"Hello Megan! We should have done this days ago!" Megan said, lacing her fingers through Conner's as they walked slightly ahead of the rest of the group.
The team, sans Kaldur, had gone to the fair in Happy Harbor. Wally had an arm around Artemis as they ambled along, and Robin and Zatanna walked side by side. Raquel had brought her boyfriend to meet the team for the first time, which was why they had decided to do the couples day. Mallory walked with Brek as they regrouped with the rest of the team beside the food trucks.
"Well, how are we gonna do this?" Zatanna asked, she and Robin at the head of the group, the unofficial leaders of the day.
"Let's split up for a while and meet here in about an hour," Raquel suggested.
The others agreed and they split up. Wally and Artemis headed to the food trucks, Robin and Zatanna to the roller coasters, Megan and Conner to the games, and Raquel and Darius went to the rides.
"Where do you want to start?" Brek asked Mallory as they strolled down the path. Mallory surveyed the fairgrounds, her eyes settling on the ferris wheel. "We might as well start there," she said.
Brek shrugged and they gave the man their tickets and climbed into the car. When the ride started, Mallory tilted her head.
"You know, we kind of rushed things when we were getting to know each other," she said.
"Is that why you wanted to do this first?" Brek asked.
She shrugged. "It's easier to talk up here," she said.
"Ok, well, you start," he said.
"Let's start with the basics. Favorites, what's your favorite color?"
"White. Yours?"
"Red. Favorite food?"
"Niar. You?"
"Nachos. What is niar, anyway?"
"It's kind of like jello, but then it's not."
"That doesn't make any sense!"
"It would if you'd ever had it."
Mallory chuckled and looked around the grounds for the first time, trying to come up with more questions. "Favorite animal?"
"Moose, I think," he replied.
"Really? Out of all the animals you could choose from?"
"Either that, or that little bird we saw at the zoo."
"The sparrow?"
"Yeah."
"Ok. Mine's a horse. Favorite, um, Leaguer?"
Brek smiled a little. "Well, it's a little different for me, but I would say Batman. He was the most interesting to learn about in school."
Mallory smiled at him. "You know who he is, don't you?" she asked.
"Yeah, I know who everyone is," he replied. "I wish I could tell you, but there's no way that the timeline would be all right if I revealed Batman's secret identity during this time period."
Mallory shook her head. "You know, I don't think I would want to know, even if you could tell me. Batman needs the mystery around him, or else why is he even on the League?"
Brek chuckled and didn't say anything. The car jolted a little as the rusty ride stopped to let the bottom car off, and Mallory was thrown slightly into Brek. She looked up at him to apologize, but before she could he put an arm around her easily, and she decided not to correct him.
"I'm out of favorites," she said after a second.
"You didn't tell me who your favorite Leaguer is," he pointed out.
Mallory smiled. "It's kind of hard for me to be unbiased. Superman's practically family, of course I'm going to pick him."
Brek chuckled. "Yeah, I guess that was a given. Well, what's your favorite time period?"
Mallory shrugged. "I mean, it's hard to answer that considering I've never been to any other time than this one, but when I was a kid I used to want to go to the old west, like in those old cowboy movies. I guess that sounds kind of stupid, though."
"No, not really. I've been there, and it's really not that bad. I think you'd like to go there. And you'd probably get along with Jonah. He'd like your spunk."
"Jonah?" Mallory asked.
"Jonah Hex. He's the hero's ally in the old west. He's a bounty hunter, but he deals with a lot of strange things like time travel and futuristic technology that ends up in the past."
Mallory nodded, interested. The wheel moved again, letting the car ahead of them empty. When it was their turn, she got out and offered Brek a hand. He took it, and they didn't let go for the rest of the hour.
"There they are," Mallory said, nodding towards the group waiting for them by the food trucks. She and Brek hurried to join the team. Wally and Artemis were missing, but everyone else was there.
"Wow, Rob, did you steal those or just cheat?" Mallory asked her friend, eying the large pile of prizes he and Zatanna were carrying.
Robin grinned. "I wouldn't call it cheating, exactly. I fixed the games so they weren't rigged. It was easy after that."
"Which ones?" Mallory asked, looking towards the game booths.
"All of them," the Boy Wonder replied.
Mallory surveyed the booths and grinned. At every booth, kids were winning prize after prize, and the attendants were looking around their booths in confusion and slight panic.
Mallory laughed. "Leave it to you to create chaos by fixing something," she said.
Robin grinned and shrugged, and Wally and Artemis joined the group before he could say anything.
"Y'all want to go do the roller coasters together?" Raquel asked.
"Sure," Artemis replied, and the group started towards them.
Robin and Wally exchanged a glance, and Wally said, "What do you think they would do if we all jumped off at the top?"
Mallory grinned and looked around the group to see who else would be game to do it.
Megan looked at him nervously. "We'll get in a lot of trouble," she said hesitantly.
Mallory shrugged. "Not if we're in our suits," she said casually.
"Yeah, no one would dare yell at super heroes," Wally added.
Darius looked at them, a nervous look on his face. "Y'all know I can't fly, right?" he asked.
Mallory smiled sympathetically. "Well, then, it's going to hurt when you hit the ground, isn't it?"
Raquel laughed at the look on his face. "She's kidding, don't take everything so seriously. I'll give you a lift."
"Guys, we really shouldn't," Megan said, stopping.
Zatanna sighed. "Oh, come on, M. Nothing's going to happen. Come on, let's do it."
Megan sighed, but she allowed herself to be led behind the food trucks so they could disguise themselves a little before getting on the ride. Mallory burned her hair to it's natural red, and she pulled the black cap down lower on Brek's face, and Zatanna magiced a new outfit on all of them. Once they were satisfied with the results, they hurried to the tallest roller coaster and got in line.
"Are you sure we can't just ride it?" Megan asked as the group piled in by rows of two.
"Yep," Robin, Zatanna, Wally, Artemis, and Mallory replied in unison.
The Martian heaved a sigh and the roller coaster took off. Zatanna said a spell that changed them all into their suits, except Brek and Darius, and at the top of the coaster Robin unlatched the bars and they all jumped out. Robin and Artemis shot their lines to the bars, Wally spun in a circle to create a tornado, Mallory, Rocket, and Megan flew, Superboy jumped, and Zatanna created a floating platform under her feet and got Brek and Darius on it.
A crowd had collected on the ground when they jumped, and by the time they got to the ground the crowd was cheering. They moved closer together and Wally turned to Megan.
"See? Told you nothing would happen."
Fifteen minutes later:
"How was I supposed to know the owner would yell at us? We were in costume! That guy has a lot of nerve," Wally said as they wandered down the streets of Happy Harbor.
"You got us thrown out! We're banned for life!" Megan complained, furious.
Mallory grinned and looked at her friend. "Yeah, but it was worth it, wasn't it?"
Megan glared at her, but the Martian had had so little practice at intimidation that the glare only served to widen Mallory's smile.
"I don't know what you're so mad about, anyway. The fair will be moving on in a week, and you're a shapeshifter. You can get in as someone else anytime you want to. We all can. It's the heroes that were banned, not us," Robin pointed out. They piled into a small cafe and pulled two tables together.
"I don't care, we still got in trouble. And there was a news camera there. What if Batman finds out that we were in our costumes doing something like that?" Megan continued.
Wally scoffed. "Yeah, right. Batman's not going to find out. Why would he be watching Happy Harbor local news when he's got Gotham to worry about?"
The news channel switched on over them and the heroes admired their form as they jumped off the coaster. Mallory leaned into Brek a little.
"You ready to quit yet?" she asked with a smile.
Brek grinned. "Are you kidding? That was schway! Besides, I wasn't lying. I'm not going to push you away again." Mallory smiled and laced her fingers through his.
Wally looked over and pointed to the tv. "Rocket and Inferno look the coolest," he mentioned.
Mallory and Raquel grinned at each other.
"Megan's not bad, either. The cape really brings the attention to her," Zatanna said, looking at the Martian with a smile. Megan finally uncrossed her arms and let herself smile.
"I guess it wasn't too bad," she conceded, leaning against Conner as they watched the news people comment on the sighting. Mallory sighed happily. She'd missed the family outings.
"You know what, I don't even care if Batman finds out. That was totally worth whatever he would do," Wally declared boldly. The group laughed and ordered their drinks, content to spend the rest of the day in the calmer environment.
Four hours later:
When the team went back to the cave that afternoon, Batman was waiting in the training room, his eyes narrowed to slits. The group froze and stared up at the Leaguer nervously.
"What. Is. This?" he growled, pressing a button and having a holographic screen of the news play behind him. The team looked at it and saw that it was the footage of them jumping off the coaster, then of them getting banned and disappearing in a puff of smoke provided by Robin. Mallory looked back at the team nervously.
"See? I told you it was a bad idea!" Megan said over the link.
"What are we going to do?" Artemis asked.
"We're so dead," Zatanna said.
"Guys, guys, don't worry, I've got this. Just follow my lead," Wally said calmly.
They looked at the speedster and he smiled a little and stepped up to Batman. He looked over his shoulder for a second, then pointed his thumb at Robin and said, "It was his idea."
As soon as the words left his mouth, he sped away towards the zeta tube. Robin stood in shock like a deer in headlights and the rest of the team scrambled to get out of the room as quickly as possible. Mallory slid into the next hall, ending up on her stomach peering back into the room. She couldn't just abandon the boy wonder, after all.
Brek came behind her and knelt beside her. Batman looked around, and when he decided that no one would stay and risk him finding them and punishing them, he turned to Robin.
"This was your idea?" he asked. He was keeping his voice low, but Mallory could hear from where she was. Robin nodded. Another second went by, then…. Batman smiled!
Mallory couldn't believe her eyes. She'd never seen the Dark Knight do anything that even resembled a smile, not even in her wildest dream. Robin returned the smile, and they went to the zeta tube together.
Mallory stared up at Brek, her mouth slack in surprise.
"Did you see that, or was I hallucinating?" she asked.
"No, I saw it, too," Brek replied, equally as surprised.
"Aww, man, I wish I'd gotten a picture of that. It'll probably never happen again," she said, accepting his hand up. When she was back on her feet, Brek shook his head.
"And the Legion says the thirtieth century is better," he said, chuckling.
Mallory grinned. "I'm telling you, the future doesn't have anything on us," she replied. Brek nodded in agreement and the couple went down the hall to their rooms.