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The view from out the right eye of the big blue bug is of an even bigger, bluer ocean for miles ahead. Ted’s eyes flick across the control panels in front of him. Speedometer’s holding steady at about 500 mph. Altitude: a couple thousand feet up. Tank’s a little over half full. Should be more than enough to get them back to New York sometime tonight. He checks the miles per gallon, the gps, the odometer, the stereo settings, and finally, the time.
4:14 pm
One minute has passed since takeoff. In that one minute, Ted has checked everything he can think to check at least twice. A nervous energy rises in him, and he quickly begins checking all the automatic systems for (at least) a third time.
“Hm.” Ted makes the noise almost unconsciously.
“Is… something wrong?”
Ted takes a moment to finish quintuple checking the bug’s “antennae drag ratio”. Then, he straightens up a little and spins around in his chair, to face the interior of his craft. Standing almost directly behind him, arms crossed, weight settled on his left foot so that he’s leaning a bit, is Booster. Ted has to lean back a little in his seat to get a good look all the way up at his face. Behind his gold tinted goggles, Ted can make out Booster’s brow-- crinkled in mild concern.
“Yeah,” Ted nods reassuringly “I just… uh…I was checking the stereo settings... and then I realized the radio’s not gonna work way out here. Kind of a bummer.”
Booster nods, slowly, “Uh… yeah… bummer.”
“Yeah, I mean, we won’t be back over dry land for at least three hours. So that’s three hours of no tunes.”
“No tunes?” Booster asks, walking over to Ted’s side.
Ted spins his chair slightly to follow Booster, “Yeah! For three hours!”
“Damn.” Booster sits in the passenger’s seat, turning it to face Ted. “Three hours? No distractions? I guess we might have to actually talk to each other? Ya know. About… it.”
There’s an edge of venom that comes through in Booster’s voice, which is very unlike him. Ted’s expression transforms into one of real concern.
“...Booster--”
“I’m sorry-- imsorryimosorryimsorry-- I just,” Booster covers his face with both hands “I didn’t mean to sound like that. It’s just. It feels kinda like you’re avoiding me. And I’m... I’m just…” in an undertone, he adds, covering his face even more, “I’m just a little freaked out I guess…”
Ted pushes his lips together, almost holding his breath, waiting to see if Booster has anything to add. When it seems pretty clear he does not, Ted takes a deep breath, and hesitantly begins, “Uh… it’s okay, Booster.”
Booster’s hands remain firmly planted over his face.
Ted breathes in, repeating, gentler this time, “It’s okay. Really.”
Booster peaks out from behind his hands. Ted shoots him an encouraging smile.
“I didn’t mean to avoid you. Well… maybe I did… But I definitely didn’t mean to upset you or anything. I'm sorry about that... I'm kinda freaked out too. And you’re right… we should talk about it.”
This time, Booster fully removes his hands from his face, and returns Ted’s steady gaze for a moment, before glancing at the floor and nodding, “Yeah…”
Ted glances out the window, at the endless ocean, then back at Booster. “... So--”
“Actually,” Booster cuts Ted off, jumping to his feet, “Maybe we should just not talk about it at all.”
Ted frowns. “Booster.”
He’s already halfway to the other side of the bug. He turns back, and says, insistently, “Look, Beetle, it’s just… easier, if we forget about it, don’t you think? Or… maybe we should talk about it… but if we talk about it, then we can’t just forget about it, so before we talk about it, maybe we should consider forgetting about it before it’s too late and we can’t just… forget it.”
“Uh...okay. But...” Ted hesitates. He gets to his feet. “The thing is… I know I’m not going to forget what happened. It’s kind of… unforgettable. So…”
Booster takes a step towards him, “So, I guess we might as well talk about it.”
“Yeah…” Ted also steps in, “I guess so.”
They stand a couple feet away from each other, in the middle of the gently cruising aircraft. They make eye contact momentarily, but then, almost simultaneously they glance away.
Then, also almost simultaneously, they say,
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry.”
And, once again, almost simultaneously, their expressions turn to confusion.
“What are you sorry for?” Booster asks, frowning.
“What am I sorry for?” Ted points at himself, letting out a single, dry, laugh. “Booster… this... This is all my fault…” He turns away slightly, shaking his head, “I mean…” suddenly aware of the tight fitting fabric stuck to his head, Ted pulls his goggles away from his face, and with them pulls the hood of his costume back. He pushes his messy hair, slightly damp with sweat, away from his face, and once again shakes his head, then look straight at Booster. “I’m the one who said it first.”
Booster frowns a bit, thinking back on the events of the day.
***
Booster had been on the island since early that morning. The Justice League had gotten notified of some sort of wannabe dictator abusing a village. It was a pretty small village, and most of the league was busy with other stuff. Booster had found the bad guy, but before he could take him down, he got captured. Ted responded to his distress call. Somehow, they both ended up trapped. There was a bomb. It was set to go off in minutes. They didn’t know what to do.
“So… how do we get out of this?”
“I don’t know.”
“... Sorry?”
“I have no idea.”
The countdown read 4 minutes
“Beetle-- you have to have an idea!”
“I don’t hear you offering any brilliant plans!”
“Me and brilliant don’t go together. You know that.”
“I’m thinking. I’m THINKING.”
…
The countdown reads 3 minutes
“Oh my god,” Booster struggles against his restraints, “Is this… is this really the end?!”
“It… it can’t be… it’s not!”
“But what if it is? What happens when that thing goes off? What if… OH GOD.”
“SSHHH. Freaking out isn’t going to help.”
…
The countdown reads 2 minutes.
“Well… if we’re going to die. At least we’ll die together.”
“Booster.”
“I’m serious! No one I’d rather die with than you… Ted.”
“... We have had some good times. Up until now.”
“Yeah! … I’ll miss… all that.”
“Yeah… same here”
…
“Hey, Booster?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
A beat.
“I love you too, Ted.”
Before anything else could be said, screams could be heard from just outside. The doors were pounded on until they burst open, and a dozen or so armed villagers burst in. They were able to free Ted and Booster, and Ted disablec the bomb just in time. They got the bad guy in jail, and left the clearly competent villagers to their own devices.
***
“I guess you did.” Booster sits down on one of the benches at the side of the bug. He crosses his arms, “So… what? You regret saying it?”
“That’s not what I’m trying to say,” Ted searches for the right words, “I.. I don’t regret it. I said it, and I meant it. But… I didn’t mean to… complicate things between us… ya know?”
Booster looks up at him, one eyebrow raised. He sighs. “Okay. So just to be clear, when you said… it, you meant it in an… ‘uncomplicated’ way? You meant it, ya know, in the simplest way. Like…” Booster almost trips over the word, “‘ love ’ as in friendship, and companionship, and nothing else? Right?”
There’s a pause. The tension between them is thick, and Booster can feel his stomach tossing over and over again in the silence that follows his question.
“Booster… I... ”
“I get it. You just meant you “love”d me as a friend. And I… misconstrued it. And… I made a damn fool out of myself because I THOUGHT I was going to die, but now I have to live with it…”
“You didn’t make a fool out of yourself.” Ted sits down next to him.
Booster snorts, “Of course I did, Ted.” He pulls his goggles off so he can look him right in the eye. “Don’t you get it, Ted? … I LOVE YOU.”
“I love you too.” Ted replies in an even tone.
Booster turns away from him, groaning, “I mean I LOVE you. And… not… just… as a friend. I love you, Ted,” he’s almost choking up now, “I love you...”
Ted takes a deep breath.
Booster’s face is red, his breathing is uneven. He’s staring off towards the back of the bug, heart pounding, refusing to look right at Ted.
Gently, slowly, evenly, Ted places a hand on Booster’s shoulder. “Michael.” A small smile slips onto Ted’s face, “I love you too.”
Somehow, Booster’s heart seems to beat even faster. He looks over his shoulder, “Uh… really?”
Ted nods. “I love you like crazy, you idiot.”
Booster turns to face Ted, the humiliation he was steeped in turning immediately to elation. “Well why didn’t you say something, stupid?”
Ted shakes his head in exasperation, “Do you want a list? It never felt like the right time. What would people think? I didn’t think you’d feel the same way--I mean, for cripes sake you’re like a walking talking underwear ad, and I’m just--oof!”
Booster just about crushes Ted as he wraps him up in a hug. “Sshh… On second thought, it doesn’t matter.”
The tension in Ted’s body eases away, and he leans into Booster’s shoulder, smiling wide now. For a minute or so they sit there, on the bench in the bug, wrapped up in each other, a million miles from civilization.
Ted breaks the silence, murmuring into Booster’s shoulder, “So now what?”
They pull away from each other, still sitting close, but keeping their hands to themselves.
“Good question.” Booster admits.
“So… I guess…?
“What are the--”
“Are we--”
“Honestly, I don’t…”
“It’s okay.”
“It’s not like--”
“Um, yeah...”
After a minute of making unsure noises, the two of them fall into silence and look at each other.
“I’m not, like…” Booster begins, hesitantly, “familiar with this century’s “customs” when it comes to this kinda thing…”
Ted snorts, “you’ve… dated in this century.”
“So we’re dating now?” Booster asks with excitement.
Ted snickers, shaking his head, “Uuuhh-- I have no idea.”
“I mean yeah, I’ve dated in this century, but I’ve never done… this… in any century.”
“This?”
“Ya know,” Booster shrugs, “Getting caught in a death trap with your best friend and confessing you love them, and then finding out they feel the same way after, ya know, years of being best friends and superheroes together and all that.”
There’s a pause. They glance at each other, both smirking.
“Ya know,” Ted leans back, sticking his hands behind his head, “I’m sure you’ll be shocked to find out, but, this is a first for me too.”
“So… there’s no precedent?” Booster asks.
“As far as I’m aware? Absolutely none.”
Again, they glance at each other. This time, when they glance away, a silence stretches between them. Booster copies Ted, leaning back against the hull of the ship, staring off at the other side out the small windows that only reveal patches of late afternoon sky and cloud.
“It’s…” Ted sighs between his words, “kinda scary. Or, maybe ‘scary’ isn’t the right word…”
“Scary’s the right word.” Booster swallows hard, “definitely…”
“It doesn’t have to be,” Ted insists, “Hey,” he turns to face Booster, grabbing his upper arm, “It’s me. It’s just me. Me and you. Beetle and Booster. Nothing scary. Nothing weird about it.”
Booster turns a little towards him, nodding, “Yeah…it’s just… us.” He places his hand on Ted’s shoulder. Booster’s eyes flick from his own hand, over to Ted’s eyes. Ted smiles a little. Booster smiles back, “You and me.”
Ted nods. He leans towards Booster just a little, and Booster does the same, so that their faces are centimeters apart.
Booster sticks his tongue out slightly, wetting his lips. Ted glances at the motion, then back into Booster’s cool, blue eyes.
Ted turns his head a little to the side. And all of a sudden he’s giggling
Booster frowns, “Ted..?”
Ted rests his head on Booster’s shoulder, as he continues to quietly shake with laughter. “I’m… I’m sorry! I--pfftt! I, just--” he gathers himself, sitting back up straight, and looking right at Booster, grinning ear to ear, “I just… I can’t believe this is happening.”
Booster takes a moment to appreciate Ted’s smile, before murmuring in soft delight, “It’s crazy.”
Ted shakes his head, still smiling.
“Hey, Beetle,” Before Ted can respond, Booster pulls him in for another close hug, in the process planting a light kiss on his cheek. “Um,” Booster continues, “Did I mention I love you?”
The kiss catches Ted off guard, and he goes all stupid for a second. But he recovers quickly, settling into Booster’s embrace. “Yeah. I remember you saying that. But, um, feel free to refresh my memory.”