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Chapter Text

"Wow, I still can't believe that actually worked." The ridiculousness of their ruse struck Piper once more with powerful force as he struggled to wriggle out of his borrowed shiny red spandex. Wally was in the next room, having changed into street clothes much more quickly and efficiently, and not just owing to the superspeed. The costume was obviously designed with his sleekly muscled form in mind, not Piper's recently acquired chub.

"Eh, I told you, the guy was only going to give you a passing glance. Adrenaline's funny that way." Wally sounded utterly dismissive and as confident as ever. Piper could only shrug. Clearly the kid's methods worked for him, and Piper did have a tendency to sabotage his old projects by over-thinking them.

He finally finished ridding himself of the clingy fabric, threw on his more accustomed grubby sweats, and joined Wally in the main room. He wadded up the costume into a ball and tossed it on the kid's lap, where he was lounging on his couch.

"Dude, you're wrinkling the hell out of it! C'mon, aren't you guys supposed to be good with clothes?"

Piper quirked an eyebrow. "You guys?"

Wally winced. "Did I put my foot in my mouth again already?"

"Kind of, yeah. I'd appreciate you not reducing me to stereotypes just because you know about my sexual orientation now. I mean, geeze Wally..." Piper stepped around the couch so that he was in full view of his friend. More specifically, so that his grungy grey sweatpants with the rips and sealer stains, as well as the stretched out band t-shirt complete with tiny burns from careless moments during his tech work, were on full view. As well as his broken and stubby fingernails, his messy orange ponytail, and unflattering but environmentally friendly footwear. "I'd say it's rather obvious that I'm not now, nor have I ever been, one of the obsessively over groomed and fashion conscious gays you're thinking of. I'm still me. There's no reason to suddenly reevaluate everything you knew about me before."

"I know, I know. You're not actually the first gay guy I've been friends with."

That got his attention. "Really?" Piper frowned thoughtfully. "But...but you ran down the side of the building to get away when I told you."

"Is that what it looked like?" Wally sat up a little straighter, looking mildly horrified. "No, no-no-no, I swear it wasn't a hasty retreat. I actually did have a meet up with Superman I was late for. I mean, c'mon, I called you less than twenty four hours later to pull you in on the team up. That should exonerate me, shouldn't it?"

"I'd thought you just needed some space to process it. I didn't weird you out?"

"I didn't see it coming, but people say I'm kinda dense, so...yeah. You don't think much of me, do you Piper?" Wally teased.

"It's not that. People just...don't always respond that well when they find out. I've come to expect the worst." Piper sat down on the arm of the couch. Wally looked intrigued.

"Coming out to supervillains must have been something, huh?"

"I was thinking of my parents, actually. But you're right. It wasn't exactly a treat when the Rogues found out. So wait, you've got other gay friends?" And he was still that unintentionally insensitive?

Wally smirked and nodded. "Yeah. One of my best buddies is bi. He came out to me back when we were kids. So, y'know, as far as the putting my foot in my mouth thing goes, that's probably never going to go away because I still say stupid shit now and I've been besties with a bisexual guy for ages."

"I'll keep that in mind," Piper said dryly. "Is your friend cute?" He'd said it teasingly, but Wally looked to be taking the throwaway comment seriously.

"He's supposed to be, yeah...and he's single at the moment and you're not that much older than us..."

"Wally, I was kidding. I don't want to date a twenty year old kid."

"You sure? Us twenty year old kids can be a lot of fun. Besides...this is my best friend we're talking about. I'd kind of like to see him set up with someone who wasn't an asshole to him, intentionally or otherwise. He keeps winding up with girls who mess with his head, and then this one asshole he's been on-again off-again with since we were in high school. I found out the other kid was bi when I walked in on him examining my friend's tonsils in the old Titans HQ. We had meetings in that room. You should not go that far with someone on a couch that's communal. We all had to sit there, and I don't care if you scotchguard it; that was still really inconsiderate."

"Wait, you're talking about setting me up with one of the former Teen Titans?" Piper had just assumed he was talking about one of his old friends from Nebraska or something. He couldn't for the life of him imagine which of the Titans Wally was referring to. Obviously one of the originals, if they went back that far...

Oh. Oh, Nightwing was one of the original Teen Titans...but no, even if the rumors were true and the kid was also into guys...Wally would never think to set the two of them up, would he? 

Wally picked up on Piper's sudden interest in the idea, and he laughed. "Yeah, I'm not the best judge of male beauty or anything, but from what I hear my friend is quite the looker. You think you could see past youth and immaturity for one date?"

"I might...um, well...I'll give it some thought."

"Cool. I'll float the idea by him and see what he says. Maybe me and Connie could double with you guys."

Piper just managed to keep his displeasure at that suggestion from showing on his face, but it was a near miss. He didn't exactly have anything against Connie. She was a sweet girl, and when Piper talked to her one on one he actually rather liked her...but her and Wally together were a miserable combination. Quite possibly the last thing he wanted to do was be stuck in a confined space ostensibly trying to get to know an attractive superhero while Wally and Connie bickered with each other and tried to get any and all bystanders to take their side in the quarrel. Because Piper was friends with Wally, he'd be expected to side with the kid, but the thick skulled idiot was almost always in the wrong regarding how he treated women.

"That's...certainly an idea," Piper said, only slightly haltingly.

"She's been bugging me to take her someplace nice. Yeah, the more I think about this, the more fun it sounds. I'll let you know what Dick and Connie say."

Piper left Wally's place shortly thereafter, puzzling over his possible blind date with a former Teen Titan.

Chapter Text

The date with Wally's friend never ended up happening.

Wally disappeared for a couple of weeks, as was his habit. He was one of those friends who dropped off peoples' radars for long stretches, but when he showed up again it felt like no time had been lost at all. During the couple of weeks Wally was off saving the world with other friends, Piper overthought the idea of going on a date with an ex-Titan, and decided that the age difference was creepy. It was only actually about five or six years, and he'd have no qualms about dating someone five or six years older than him, but still. If it was one of Wally's friends then it was going to feel creepy; the kid was starting to feel like a kid brother to him.

During that time, Piper also met Michael the chef, and by the time Wally pestered him about the double date he felt committed enough not to want to go out to dinner with another guy. Wally took the news harder than Piper expected. He seemed genuinely upset that Piper didn't want to go out with his buddy.

"But...but he's hot. Why wouldn't you want to go out with a hot younger man?"

Piper shrugged. "Right now I'm the hot younger man. I'm sorry, Wally, but I'm really hitting it off with Michael and I want to see how things go."

"But it's Nightwing. He's gotta be better than some stupid chef you've just met. Just who is this guy anyway? Do you have anyone to vouch for him? How do you know he's not secretly a supervillain trying to get close to you so he can attack you or something?"

Piper stared at him in stunned silence, and Wally had the sense to look a bit embarrassed. "Sorry. But that sort of thing does happen. And I still think you're being a bit stupid about this. Some civilian guy you just met is not more of a catch than my superhero longtime friend."

"Wally, I'm very flattered that you think I have enough going for me to interest a young man like Nightwing, but I promise you, I've given this some thought and I think I'm better off sticking with someone more my speed. Michael's not as glamorous as Nightwing, of course..." Piper couldn't help but wince a little as he said it. Truthfully, he'd had a crush on the younger hero from about the time he'd dropped the childish Robin persona in favor of his spandex clad walking-wet-dream persona. "But Michael's a nice enough man and we've got chemistry. I don't feel it's fair to walk away from that."

"But-but-"

"Is there any particular reason you're so dead set against me dating Michael?" Piper asked, finally starting to feel genuine irritation with his friend.

Wally pouted. "No, it's not really about you. I just want Nightwing to go out with someone who doesn't suck and isn't going to jerk him around for once. Not that I really have anything against the old Batgirl or Starfire...but those relationships sucked and I'm sick of hearing him bitch about his love life. I'd rather hear him exult about it, y'know?"

Piper felt a little thrown. "And...you think we'd be good together?"

"Well yeah. You're both awesome, so if I put you together that'd only add more awesome, right? Plus Arsenal's been flirting with him again, and I seriously might run headfirst into a wall at full speed if they start that tangled mess of fucked-up-edness again."

"Oh..." Piper wasn't quite sure what to make of that. On the one hand, his low sense of self-worth was being nicely appeased by Wally's easy, even thoughtless insistence that he'd be a good boyfriend for his close friend. On the other hand, the thoughtless impulsivity by which Wally had come to this conclusion was far from comforting. Just because Wally got along well with the two of them as friends didn't necessarily mean they'd make a good couple.

In his continued difficulty accepting Piper's refusal, Wally started bringing Nightwing around. He said it was just a coincidence that the frequency of his teamups with his friend coincided with his attempt to fix him up with Piper, but seeing as Piper was neither stupid nor suffering a recent head injury, he of course didn't believe him. Still, he played ball. When the Flash and Nightwing showed up in his workshop, Piper helped them with their gear without drawing attention to the thinness of Wally's ruse. He made conversation with the guys, checked Nightwing out a little because he was only human, and then happily sent them on their way with their improved tech.

One day they stopped by with hopelessly smashed comm devices. Piper took a look at the things, arched a skeptical eyebrow, and then swept the pieces into a spare pencil box he happened to have lying on his workbench. "I don't know what kind of abilities you think I have, but those poor things are past the point of no return."

"The guy who had us hostage for a little while really didn't want us calling in the League," Wally explained. "So you can't fix them?"

"Nope. I could probably build you new ones based on them, but that's not going to be a while-you-wait kind of project."

"Kay. Guess we'll get out of your hair then." Wally stood to leave, but they both noticed that Nightwing was looking a little worse the wear for his recent adventure. He'd been leaning heavily against the wall where he was sitting, and when he climbed to his feet he let out a weary groan. Piper reflected that unlike Wally, this hero was only human and possessed no superhuman abilities to help him out with healing and just general fatigue.

"You guys don't have to take off right this second. If you want to...uh, what's a good social sounding pretext for telling you you should change into comfy clothes and take a nap? Should we call that watching a movie?"

"That sounds perfect," Nightwing said. "I don't have any civilian stuff with me. Can I borrow something?"

"Absolutely. I have almost nothing but scruffy comfortable clothing." Piper led them out of his workshop and into the main house. He waved Nightwing into the downstairs bathroom so he could clean up, and snuck in some sweats that were probably going to be a little loose fitting, but very comfortable, once he was in the shower.

Wally had switched into civilian clothing and was sitting on the couch with takeout menus arranged in front of him when Piper got to the living room. "Just make yourself at home," Piper teased.

"Working on it. I haven't tried the new Chinese place yet. Is it any good?"

Piper made an iffy motion with his hand. "I didn't care for their veggie delight with tofu, but the greasy fried stuff will probably be right up your alley."

"Cool." Wally looked at the menu with renewed interest, and meanwhile Piper's attention was pulled away by his phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Hartley. Do you have a minute?"

Piper felt a warm smile form of its own accord at the sound of his boyfriend's voice. "Of course, Michael. How's everything going? Did you get that work drama sorted out?" He started walking towards the doorway, putting some space between him and Wally in case the conversation turned personal.

It went that way decidedly quickly.

"Work is work. Listen, I'm sorry to do this over the phone-"

"Then don't do this over the phone. That's a terrible phrase," Piper said, smile evaporating instantly. He'd actually heard that one before, several times. "Is this seriously a breakup phone call?"

"Well, we haven't been seeing each other that long. It didn't seem necessary to do it in person."

"We haven't been seeing each other for that long, but I thought we had at least enough of a connection to require courtesy!"

Michael stuttered out some kind of guilt-ridden apology, but Piper was too irritated to really hear him. In addition to the indignation he felt at once more being unceremoniously dumped in a rather rude manner, he could see Wally smirking at him from the couch.

Piper hung up on Michael while he was in the middle of his long winded apology and stalked over to the couch. He flopped down and crossed his arms over his chest. "Say nothing."

"What, did you expect me to tease you or something? Maybe throw in a comment about all that connection and chemistry you two had and how that trumped your close, personal friend's good intentions in his match-making attempt?"

"I will seriously smother you with this couch cushion."

"No you won't. You're not fast enough."

The two of them were childishly smacking each other and calling each other names when Nightwing walked into the room. Piper immediately forgot what he was doing at the sight of the half-naked man (he'd forgone the t-shirt, and Piper's sweats were riding rather low on his hips), whose hair was dripping rivulets of water down his perfectly sculpted torso. Piper was so busy ogling Nightwing's perfect body that it took him a second to notice the man wasn't wearing his mask and oh...oh those eyes were just as pretty as the rest of him.

Of course Wally caught him in the face while he was distracted.

"For fuck's sake!" Piper clutched at his nose and fell back against the couch. "Dammit, Wally! You're not supposed to actually hit during a slap fight!"

"Sorry! I thought you were going to block. Are you okay?"

Piper hunched over, still clutching at his face, but went still when warm, slightly damp skin covered his wrists and gently eased his hands down. Suddenly very blue eyes were very close to him and it was kind of hard to think. Thank goodness his deer-in-headlights mode kicked in, because otherwise he would have babbled something idiotic about how pretty Nightwing was.

And kind of familiar looking, come to think of it. He'd definitely seen those baby blues somewhere before.

"I think you'll be okay," Nightwing said, flashing a perfect smile at him. Piper grinned back, even though his nose was still killing him from the smack.

"Yeah...I know what would help though."

Wally looked positively giddy. Later, Piper would realize that the boy was expecting him to ask Nightwing out, what with having just become single and therefore available. So even with his superspeed, distracted as he was he didn't see it coming at all when Piper hit him with a retaliatory smack.

"Ow! Dammit, Piper! That hurt."

"Funny that, isn't it?"

Nightwing sat back on his heels and rolled his eyes. "Children, both of you. Seriously though, Wally said you were reluctant to go on a date with me because I'm younger than you. From the looks of it, our maturity level is hovering around the same area."

Piper's eyes widened. "Wally talked to you about that?"

"Haven't you been friends with Wally long enough to know what his filter's like?"

"Non-existent," Wally said with a nod. "Speaking of which, Piper's boyfriend just dumped him so he's single now."

"I will seriously hit you again."

"Please. Like you could land it this time."

"Piper, is he being serious or is he being an insolent shit right now?" Nightwing asked.

Piper found himself once again mesmerized by the gorgeous young man kneeling across from him. Which was just frustrating, since he was supposed to be the hypnotist. "H-huh?"

"Are you really single now?"

"Yeah, dude. He is." Wally looked absolutely insufferable.

"In that case...are you doing anything on Saturday?"

Piper blinked a few times. "R-really? Uh, I mean no...I'm free on Saturday. Wait, really?"

Wally snorted, then turned it into a cough. Piper would have been more embarrassed, but he was still suffering some kind of hypnotic daze in the wake of that pearly-smile baby-blue-gaze combo. He was too distracted to care how ridiculous he sounded.

"Cool. Assuming nothing cape-related comes up, I'll pick you up at seven. In the meantime, I am all about that nap disguised as watching a movie plan." Nightwing joined them on the couch, sitting closer to Piper than Wally. He periodically flashed flirty smiles at Piper throughout the first half of the movie, then he konked out and ended up napping curled up to Piper's side.

Still feeling dazed, Piper stared at the gorgeous half-naked man snuggling against him, and then gaped at Wally. "I'm sorry I hit you. You're a much better friend than I give you credit for."

Wally stuck his tongue out at him. "Don't I know it."

Chapter Text

To Piper's great surprise, the date with Nightwing went really, really well. Despite his idiotic manner in getting them there, Wally was clearly onto something when he decided that setting up his two best friends was a good idea. 

Piper didn't really know the other hero. There was a lot of gossip about Nightwing, certainly, so he'd heard about him, but he also knew that that wasn't the same thing as knowing anything of substance about the young man. Having a certain weakness for sexy brunettes (but really, who doesn't?), Piper knew he was interested in Nightwing on a physical level...he just wasn't sure that that would translate to any kind of connection. He'd dated pretty boys before and unless there was a decent brain to go along with the package his interest never lasted.

Well, except for Earl, but that was a different story. A story loaded down with much baggage that he was doing his best to forget.

At any rate, Dick turned out to have nerd interests comparable to Piper's own. They discussed literature, radical politics, the LGBT movement, music theory, and all other manner of intellectual goodies over the course of the date. Dick professed himself a total history nerd, so tentative plans were formed to do a museum crawl through Gotham.

Wally came up a few times throughout the date, which couldn't really be helped what with him being the only important person they had in common. To Piper's immense amusement it turned out that despite them being the same age, Dick took a similar stance to Wally in regards to seeing him as a dense younger brother.

Dick shrugged his shoulders while Piper laughed about it. "I can't help it. I think Wally's even a couple of months older than me, but you'd never be able to tell from the way he acts. Well no, that's not fair. He's been doing amazing things since he became the Flash. I always knew he had it in him, but he needed to get his butt kicked in gear."

"He certainly has matured a lot in the time I've known him," Piper agreed. "I worry sometimes about him getting ground down. The lifestyle can be difficult, and as irritating as some of his immaturity can be...I wouldn't want him to change too much."

Dick nodded his agreement.

"So how does he take mentoring attempts from someone his own age?" Piper asked.

Dick made a face. "About as well as every other Titan. Well no. He listens to me way more than Ro-than Arsenal did. But yeah, at first everyone chafed about taking orders from the kid with no powers. Wally was a pest at first because he wanted to impress the girls on the team, but after Wonder Girl and Speedy started going out he calmed down a little. Enough for me to teach him what I knew about superheroics and have him actually listen to me, anyway." Dick looked a bit uncomfortable, and not just because he'd almost given the real name of one of his friends. Piper diplomatically changed the subject by bringing up an article he'd read on a female abolitionist society that had operated out of Gotham, and that provided them with conversation fodder through dinner.

The date ended with them "watching a movie" at Piper's, but without Wally present they pretty much just made out with a movie on in the background. Piper was wondering if he should break his personal rule, instated after a series of poor choices in his latter teen years, about how far to go with a guy on the first date (it seemed like the rule could use a bendy acrobat exception) when some sort of signal device sounded from the pair of black jeans Dick had kicked onto the floor (okay, so Piper had already pretty much decided on making a bendy acrobat exception).

"Sorry. I should probably get that." Dick reluctantly disentangled himself from Piper and snagged his jeans. Piper awkwardly rearranged his clothing and redid his ponytail while Dick dug out the signal device. "Little busy right now. What is it?"

"You're needed," a gruff voice answered. Piper involuntarily shuddered when he realized that that was most likely Batman on the other end of the line.

He'd put his finger on where he recognized Dick from within a couple hours of seeing him mask-less for the first time and was still grappling with the fact that Bruce Wayne was most likely Batman. Piper had met Bruce Wayne in his civilian life. Sure, he had the build to be Batman, but...but...

The man must have been one hell of an actor, because even with the picture of the ditzy playboy in his mind Piper still felt a lurch of terror from hearing that voice. He wasn't sure he was ever going to be on the right side of the law long enough to overcome his fear of Batman.

"Listen, I'm on a really fabulous date and I fucking need this right now. I'm not taking off for the Cave unless you give me a valid reason."

"Nightwing-"

"I don't owe you any favors. It's actually the other way around at the moment."

There was a moment of tense silence. Piper fiddled with his clothing some more, trying to smooth wrinkles that likely weren't coming out of his one nice dress shirt without ironing.

"...Robin would benefit from your presence."

Dick let out a long suffering sigh. "On my way." He shut off the comm or signal device or whatever it was and stuffed it back into his pocket. "God dammit. There's every chance in the world that he's full of shit and he's just using the kid because he knows I'll come running for Robin every time, but if it is legit...aargh. Damn him. I'm not going to let him screw up another poor adolescent with a hero worship complex."

"Is everything okay?" 

Dick scrubbed a hand through his hair and let out a self-deprecating laugh. "Either Gotham's in danger or Batman got in over his head trying to mentor an eighth grader. Personally, I believe him when he says it's the latter. He doesn't call me when Gotham's in danger anymore. He doesn't trust himself to handle the messy stuff with the kid on his own though, and he knows I'm good for co-mentoring. I'm sorry. I was hoping to leave this shit on the back burner for the night."

"Hey, the spandex life doesn't always let you. Don't worry about it."

Dick smiled in relief. "Ah, the benefits of dating another Cape. You get this shit. I'm sorry to run out on you though."

Piper watched Dick wriggle into the tight black jeans and silently agreed with him. "It's fine. Take care of your sort-of sidekick."

"Thanks. This was fun. Seriously, Piper, I am very bummed about walking out on this date early. You're good if I call you for date number two the next time I'm free, right?"

"Of course."

"Great."

Dick pulled him close for another incredible kiss, murmured a goodbye, and then he was gone, leaving a very dazed Pied Piper in his wake.

Chapter Text

"Dick, hi. I was wondering when you'd..." Piper trailed off when his sort-of boyfriend (maybe? They hadn't discussed it yet despite seeing each other, exclusively on Piper's side, for over a month) stalked past him into his apartment and started moving furniture around in the living room, intently looking for something. He was visibly tense and scowling. "Um...is there something I can help you with?" Piper shut and locked the door and joined Dick in the living room, thoroughly confused.

"Hold on. This will only take a sec." Dick peered at Piper's sound system, then went to stand in front of it and held his arm out in front of him, slowly turning until he apparently found an angle he liked. Then he crossed the room, bent down in front of an end table, and felt along under the tabletop. Scowling once more, he pulled off a little metal bat symbol with a blinking red light. "Not funny, Bruce." The light abruptly switched off. Dick tossed it to Piper. "I'd take a blow torch to it, but it'd serve the jerk right if you reverse-engineered it instead."

"I just might do that." Piper was exceptionally discomfited. He had super-hearing from his robot ears. He should have heard the surveillance device working. In addition, how the hell had it been placed in his apartment to begin with? He'd designed his home security system himself.

"There are at least two more in here, but that's just what I know about. I'm sorry to start the date this way, but I think we'd better search the place."

"Oh god. Dick, I'm a pack rat. That could take hours." If not days.

"Then let's just go upstairs for now. He, uh...he's got paranoid tendencies when it comes to us ex-sidekicks but he doesn't bug bedrooms. Even his creeping respects some boundaries."

Piper wanted to point out that they'd had sex on the couch before, so that was a flaw in Dick's logic, but he was also trying really hard not to think about the fact that Batman had possibly listened in on him having sex with the original Robin.

No, he couldn't have listened in. Piper was still alive, after all.

They went upstairs, and as soon as Piper shut the door behind him Dick enveloped him in a tight hug. "Hartley I am so, so sorry. I swear, I had no idea about the bugs. I mean, it's not the first time he's done that to someone I've dated but I honestly didn't expect it this time. I mean, I'm not a teenager anymore and we're barely speaking right now."

"It's okay."

"No, it's not. You're trembling. It's very clearly not okay."

Piper glanced down at his hands and saw that Dick was right. His anxiety and paranoia was amped up to eleven at the moment, but he hadn't noticed the way he was shaking. That was a worrying sign. "I suppose I should have mentioned this earlier. Um, where I've spent some time on the wrong side of the law...Batman terrifies me."

"That's what he's going for. There's no shame in it, trust me." He ran his hands down Piper's arms, took both his hands and gave them a squeeze. "God, Hartley. I'm so sorry about all of this. If I had known-"

"Dick, it's okay. It's not your fault. I'll have Wally help me check the rest of the house later. I'm sure the search won't take nearly as long with a speedster's help." They went to sit down on the end of the bed, and Piper ended up anxiously tapping his hands against his knees. "I guess now's as good a time to ask as any. Does...he seem to have a problem with us dating?"

"I don't know, and frankly I don't care if he does."

Piper arched a brow. Dick's personality, he'd come to learn, was generally on the playful side. The man adored puns, so-bad-it's-good movies, and nerding out over music and museums, which made dating very compatible for them. He did have a broody side, but it didn't come out nearly as often as Piper's. When it did though...Batman was definitely the most obvious trigger Piper had detected thus far.

"Okay. Generally I agree, it's just...the man took you in when you were a child, right? My family's started asking questions about you. I'd just wondered if anything like that was going on on your end, and if we should talk about it. Where my identity's public and yours isn't, things could get complicated."

"Oh, right." Dick bit his lip as he thought, which was very distracting. As was the fact that they were sitting on Piper's bed, but he took the effort to keep his attention focused. This was important, and making out with the bendy acrobat had gotten him off track on this discussion too many times already. "Hm...well, considering we've spent the most time together in our civilian identities, I think that's how we should be official. You should pretend not to know me when I'm Nightwing."

"No one would believe I was dating Nightwing anyway. Hell, I'm not sure I believe it most of the time."

"Oh, and is dating Dick Grayson not exciting in any way?"

"Something about the clingy black spandex with the finger stripes lends your alter ego more bragging rights in the gay community, but you're right. You're still well out of my league in your civilian identity. It's just slightly more plausible sounding since we've got that society background we conceivably could have met through."

"As opposed to a loud mouthed ginger."

"Exactly."

Dick took his hand again. "You're still shaking. Overall I think you're taking this stalked by Batman thing really well. I wish he hadn't upset you like this though. It's not fair. And also, I am not out of your league, Hartley. As Nightwing or Dick Grayson."

"Hm...I think any remotely reflective surface proves otherwise, but thank you for humoring me."

Dick's eyes narrowed, an annoyed pout on his face. "Kay. So I won't pretend I don't know I'm good looking. That's disingenuous, to say the least, especially given how much time I spend playing it up. And I do put kind of an embarrassing amount of work into it. That being said, you're good looking too, Hartley."

Piper rolled his eyes. "I'm average looking at best." His feelings about his looks tended to change based on whether he was in a relationship or not, and with whom. Sometimes he felt like hot shit indeed, but definitely not lately.

"You've got some self-esteem issues, which makes perfect sense based on what I've heard about your background," Dick said, clearly launching into one of those eerily on-point mentored-by-Batman detective analyses he sometimes did. "You don't dress well and it looks almost defensive to me. Like a can't win, don't try sort of fashion sense. And you clearly focus your efforts on projects that are less frivolous than figuring out which colors and suit cuts flatter you the most. I like that in a guy."

Piper took a deep breath. "I have a feeling I'm going to regret asking, but what do you know about my background?"

It might have been his imagination but it looked like Dick was blushing a little. "Look, I'm a detective and Wally doesn't have a filter. I wouldn't do anything as bad as bugging your house, but I might come across like a creeper if I...shit. I already sound like a creeper."

Piper leaned forward and planted a quick kiss on his lips. "If you've looked into me with Bat-family style scrutiny and you're still here, I'll choose to consider that a good sign."

"Oh believe me, I'm very invested in making this work. It's not often I get to date someone as unabashedly nerdy as I am. I always had to downplay it with my last boyfriend. And my most recent ex-girlfriend..."

"My ex asked me why I had so many books. He said I should just use the library instead of throwing away so much money, never mind the fact that I'm independently wealthy. Also, he doubted my ability to actually read enough of them for it to be worth it."

"Ugh. You should have dumped him on the spot."

"Come to think of it, I really should have." Piper frowned. "The more I think on it, Wally was probably right. Michael was kind of a jerk."

"He did say something about your low sense of self-worth contributing to your dating decisions. Was he actually right about something?"

"I think that new girlfriend of his probably helped him with that insight. It doesn't seem like something he could have come up with without Linda's help. By the way, isn't she a nice change of pace from Connie? I think he might actually be growing up."

Dick rubbed his thumb over the palm of Piper's hand. "I've only met her once so far, but she seemed nice. Piper, I'm not here to discuss Wally's love life."

"I didn't think you were." Piper shrugged. "I know I talk about him a lot, but I didn't think you minded. Where you're his other best friend and all."

"I've got a different sort of friendship with him than you, I think. I go months at a time without seeing him sometimes, but when you've been friends with a guy since you were twelve you still feel like brothers the next time you see him, even if you're clueless about a lot of the things going on in his life. I never actually even met Connie. I heard the most about her after she dumped Wally for Chunk."

"Ugh, you dodged so many bullets then. That was a terrible relationship. I did a happy dance when they finally broke up." Piper gave a small shudder. "When Wally first pitched setting us up on a date he wanted us to double with him and Connie. Finger stripes be damned, that was not happening."

"I want to cycle back to something from earlier in the conversation. You said your parents were asking questions about me. I was under the impression you didn't talk to your parents."

"Oh, that. We reconciled a few months ago." Piper frowned, considering how much he really wanted to say on the subject. "It's a bit...it's a bit tense right now, but I've been going over for the occasional family dinner and whatnot. And they're letting me take my sister out for day trips and stuff, which is nice. The worst part of being cut off from them was being separated from my baby sister."

"I can't even imagine. The closest thing I've got to a younger sibling is the new Robin. Actually, I'm really liking this kid, but where we've only known each other for like a year and a half it's not remotely the same thing." Dick frowned. "They really kept you from seeing your sister?"

"I almost don't blame them. I mean, I was an unstable supervillain. Although I wasn't at first. At first I was just a scared gay kid sleeping in his car because his parents threw him out. Ah, shit, there's the bitterness again. I don't want to start on this tangent again." He got up and started pacing, all kinds of nervous energy coming to the surface. "Maybe we should go out and do something tonight. I'm getting antsy just sitting here talking about upsetting things. Talking about my parents isn't supposed to be upsetting anymore. Shit. Damn bitterness."

"Believe me, I have nothing but sympathy on this particular topic." Dick walked over to him and placed his hands on Piper's shoulders, stilling his restless movements. "I don't think we should go out. You're really jittery right now, so being around people probably isn't a great idea, right? Let's order food and watch a movie or something."

Piper blinked a few times, caught off guard by Dick's insight. "Good call."

"I'll run downstairs for the take out menus. I'll let you know if I see anymore of the bugs while I'm down there."

Some hours later, Piper was awake but pleasantly drowsy in bed with his bendy acrobat snuggled up behind him, dead to the world and lightly snoring (really, if one didn't have super-hearing they probably wouldn't have heard snoring of any kind). The building anxiety that began with Dick's frantic entrance and discovery of bat-bug had disappeared entirely, replaced by contentment.

Piper wasn't used to that. Normally, if he started down the road to panic it stayed with him for a few days, making his skin crawl and his limbs feel heavy while he felt a constant weight in his chest. Sometimes it erupted into an actual panic attack, but not always. It never went away so quickly of its own accord.

The television was still on, though Piper was barely paying attention to it, instead focusing on the feel of the warm body pressed against him. He felt incredibly lucky, to have somehow drawn this man's attention to him and somehow keep it. He knew who some of Nightwing's exes were, after all. He was thankful he apparently had more in the way of nerdery going for him than Starfire or Arsenal (the rational part of his brain knew that having so very many exes, all of whom seemed perfectly desirable if one were bisexual, was a red flag but Piper was choosing to ignore that). Piper had been infatuated with Dick for a good long while already, and now he felt in danger of falling in love.

"Dick, are you still awake?" he asked, even though he knew Dick had fallen asleep. But the sound of Piper's voice roused him, since he was an incredibly light sleeper, and he groggily planted a kiss on Piper's neck.

"Something wrong?"

"No, actually. I was just wondering, um...would you be free to meet my mother and I for lunch on Sunday? She...she just really wants to meet you." Piper suspected she thought meeting a boyfriend and having a nice day out together would exonerate her from any future charges of homophobia. It wouldn't, but he could still see how this was important to her. Much to his surprise, Piper realized it was important to him, too. He finally had a boyfriend he actually wanted to show off to his parents (as opposed to the ones in the past, whom he'd dated knowing they'd infuriate his parents.)

"I'll try my damndest to keep Sunday open, but you know how the life goes."

"You really don't have to. If it's weird. Or too much trouble. It probably is weird, right? Since we haven't been...uh..."

"Together long?" Dick gave him a little squeeze. "I've managed more dates with you this month than I usually manage to pull off around the Costume, and that's because I've really wanted to be here. I really like you, Hartley, and I'd love to start meeting the important people in your life. If you're ready for it, I've got a couple people I'd like to introduce to you-not Batman!"

He must have felt the way Piper tensed up.

"I'm barely talking to him myself right now. I promise, meeting Batman is far, far into the future."

"O-okay. Who were you thinking of, then?"

"Tim, at the very least. He's the new Robin, and like I said, the kid's important to me. But I've got a couple of others too..."

And that's how, for the second time in as many weeks, Piper found himself in the same room as Superman. 

Chapter Text

Superman, it turned out, was really, really nice. Piper's slightly broken cynical brain wasn't quite sure what to do with so much good nature and geniality. At first he assumed he was being mocked somehow, though he couldn't detect anything but sincerity in the Kents' earnest expressions (Superman's parents were possibly the most adorable little old couple Piper had ever met, which was also a shock to the emotionally damaged young man).

They were sitting down at the kitchen table of the Kent family home for an honest to god home cooked meal, much of it grown by the Kents themselves. Mrs. Kent and Dick were doing most of the talking, reminiscing about days gone by. The whole thing reminded Piper of TV movies he'd happened on when he was a kid. This was what families were supposed to look like. That was what houses were supposed to look like, as opposed to the elaborate mansions he'd honest to god gotten lost in a few times when he was a kid (eventually the maid always noticed he was gone and helped him back to the nursery, but it always took her a few hours). The Kents had some of Superman's Daily Planet articles cut out and stuck to the fridge with magnets. Not the ones about Superman's heroics, since those were written by other people. The boring stuff Clark Kent had written about Metropolis local politics and a farmer's market the city was unsuccessfully attempting to launch.

Piper almost jumped out of his skin when he felt a tap against his calf. He looked up and realized Dick was eying him nervously. “You okay? You're being unusually quiet.”

“Food coma,” Mr. Kent said with a laugh. “They must not feed you like this in the city.”

There were an awful lot of carbs on his plate. If Piper had had much of an appetite, Mr. Kent's guess would have been a good one . As it was, he was just feeling reticent and a bit intimidated.

Which was ridiculous and he knew it. There was absolutely nothing off-putting at all about the Kents (unless one found the lack of off-putting-ness off-putting) . Even knowing Clark Kent was Superman (Piper couldn't get himself to mentally refer to the guy as Clark, and as such there had been a slight delay every time he'd addressed him by name so he could make sure he actually said Clark) didn't explain anything. Superman, though an impressive superhero, wasn't a terrifying one. He didn't scare people, Piper had never faced him as a villain, and even if he had he'd never have panicked about it. Kind of like he'd never been afraid of Barry Allen. Those two had enough integrity that you knew nothing scarier than a jail cell was waiting for you if you got busted (as a skinny little gay kid, the jail cell might have been terrifying in its own right but Piper had been very good at breaking himself out of Iron Heights).

Piper was starting to realize just how screwed up he was from his dysfunctional life. It was the normalcy of the whole thing that scared him. Nothing in his life had ever prepared him for a sit down dinner with friendly people who wanted to hear about his day because they cared about the people around them. He was out of his comfort zone, and he didn't know how to respond. The cues he'd taken in from TV shows were only going to get him so far in a setting this completely alien .

Dick lightly touched his wrist under the table and smirked at him. Piper frowned, unable to guess what he was trying to communicate, and went back to stumbling his way through the dinner as best he could. Making conversation with the Kents was difficult. This part of Kansas was so far removed from Keystone City that Piper had nothing to latch onto to even try to relate to the pleasant family in front of him, and they were completely ignoring superheroics so he couldn't even chat about that with Superma-Clark. Clark . They weren't talking about superheroics so he really needed to use the guy's actual name.

What a nightmare. Piper was learning an awful lot about himself, including the unfortunate fact that he was more comfortable with open hostility than healthy social interaction.

After dinner the guests retreated to the family room while the Kents washed up. Dick immediately offered to help and was shooed away for his efforts. Superman didn't even try, just smiled knowingly.

“Of course I could clear everything up for them in seconds, but that's not the point,” he said, once they were seated on the comfy, faded furnishings that would have given Rachel Rathaway an aneurism if she saw them.

“Oh, speaking of speed,” Dick said. “Hartley, did you and Wally get around to searching your building?”

“We did.” Piper happily latched onto the new turn in conversation. “We found seventeen more bugs, mostly concentrated in my workshop, which I thought was amusing. Does he think I'm still a supervillain or something?”

“Possibly.”

“Well, I probably bored him out of his mind if he took the time to listen in to me fixing Wally's busted tech. He just heard me arguing with NPR broadcasts and badly singing along with the college radio station.”

Dick grinned. “Maybe he learned his lesson.”

“At this point I've been reformed longer than my villain career lasted. Why would he think I'm still a supervillain? I mean, this would be a very long con, wouldn't it?”

“You'll have to have some patience with Bruce,” Clark advised. “None of the villains in Gotham ever actually reform, and he's suffered from longer cons than this. I don't like it, of course, but I also don't blame him for being as cautious as he is. And though it is invasive and out of line, Dick, you do understand why he's so uncomfortable with you dating a reformed supervillain, right?”

Dick crossed his arms over his chest and scowled, the picture of youthful indignation. “Because he's a pompous hypocrite? My boyfriend's actually reformed. Can we talk about Catwoman and Talia? Oh god, and frickin' Talia. I've read up on all of Piper's super crimes and he has absolutely nothing on Bruce's trysts with super criminals. Like, seriously, he's giving me crap for dating an ex-gimmick thief who donated most of his loot to underfunded LGBT charities. But Talia's work with R'as al-Ghul is way more innocent, right? Self-righteous, stubborn, insufferable-”

“I'm going to stop you there before you use language Ma wouldn't approve of under this roof,” Clark said. “I know Bruce is being hypocritical and obviously you know that, but all he sees is his desire to protect you from mistakes he's made himself. Besides, he's too smart to let his prejudices against criminals blind him to Hartley's good qualities for much longer. His investigations will sway him. He's too logical to ignore facts forever. You just need to give him a little more time.”

“I'm just going to keep quiet so I don't upset your mom with my choice of words.” Dick's tone was light, and it looked like he was actually considering Superman's advice.

Piper was certainly caught on his words. From the sounds of it, Superman respected him. It was an odd thought and honestly a bit unsettling. Piper was prepared for all the costumes to hate him for his past, especially the big names in the Justice League. This revelation caught him off guard as much as the cheerful family dinner.

And he just wasn't going to think about the fact that, from the sounds of it, Batman was all but stalking him. That thought was best left alone, buried as far in his subconscious as it would go.

By the time the Kents joined them in the living room they were having a lighter conversation about the Metropolis Jazz Fesitval. The Daily Planet was having Superman cover it, and Piper had been invited to run a table. They made tentative plans to meet up again, and Dick lamented that he most likely wouldn't be able to attend since Bruce was going to be out of town that weekend and he anticipated having to help Robin patrol Gotham.

They played Trivial Pursuit, and once dinner was a bit more digested cookies and cocoa appeared. It was nice. An hour into boardgames, Piper even started relaxing a little, and made a few more efforts at participating in the conversation.

Mr. Kent and Dick started trading amusing anecdotes back and forth about Clark and Dick's respective experiences of being the smart, nerdy kids in high school. Hartley felt safe enough to jump in, and told the story about the time his science fair project got him in the local paper and offered a visit to a nearby branch of S.T.A.R. labs, but his parents were away at the time and he'd needed a guardian with him to get into the facility. “My grades were always atrocious, but that was behavior based. Building my own hearing aid from scratch was the first indication any of my teachers got that I was actually a total nerd and they just hadn't been holding my interest . Unfortunately, it also clued in the bullies about the nerdom .”

Dick winced sympathetically. “As any kind of over-achieving will.”

“Let me get this straight, son. You earned yourself an honor like that with no support or outside help, and your folks wouldn't cut their vacation short a few days to come home and celebrate with you?” Mr. Kent looked heartbroken.

“Uh...they actually got mad at me for asking.” Hartley frowned, and was starting to regret having told the story. He'd always thought it amusing. Back when he was in with the Rogues, he and Mark and James would go back and forth with stories of parental neglect trying to one up each other. James usually won, since he'd been out and out abused by his parents, but Piper always impressed the others with his ability to compete despite his privileged upbringing. Although to be fair, the fact that the Rathaways hadn't noticed he was born deaf until he was two years old usually won him a lot of points.

The Kents were all staring at him with an unnerving amount of sympathy. It felt like the metaphorical crickets should have been chirping. Oh wait, there were actual crickets chirping, although Hartley and Superman were probably the only people who could hear them from the living room.

“Well, uh, anyway it wasn't so bad. I got shoved into lockers for the rest of the quarter and was duct taped into a recycling bin and rolled around the parking lot until I threw up, but then I got the principal implicated in a scandal and I won some respect from the bullies for it. I wasn't popular, but they stopped beating me up.” His epilogue didn't seem to help. If anything, the crickets sounded louder.

“What was the scandal?” Dick asked, apparently trying to help.

“Oh, he wouldn't approve the GSA I was trying to get off the ground, but a white power student group was meeting in the band room. They called it something else, of course, but if you spent even five minutes looking into it you knew what they really were. Central City might not have been very supportive of the LGBT community back in the day, but that hypocrisy still struck people as too much.”

“Did you get your GSA?”

“Nope. I still wasn't out at the time, which was honestly kind of the point. I wanted a safe space where we could meet and support each other, so I was claiming to be a straight member of the GSA.” Piper rolled his eyes, thinking back on his insecure youth. He could barely remember what it was like to even want to fit in with the straights. Oh the joys of no longer living with his parents, and not having to give thought to the weight of their expectations. Even rebelling against those expectations had taken up too much space in his consciousness. “I think my supposed heterosexuality made my call for the GSA seem less urgent. Plus, you know, the rampant homophobia of the times. As opposed to the quieter, more respectful middle class sort of homophobia the kids at school are dealing with now.”

“Yeah, just look at how far we've come since then,” Dick said with a laugh.

Once again, the Kents were very quiet, and also quietly heartbroken from the looks of it.

“It isn't right,” Mrs. Kent finally said, voice soft and full of unwavering conviction. “No one should have the gall to make a child feel unwanted or alone, no matter how different they are from other children. It's good that you tried to make a difference, Hartley. If you'd been my son, I'd have been proud of you.”

“Th-thank you,” he mumbled, not really sure what else to say.

The evening was definitely winding down. Piper was greatly looking forward to getting home and hiding in his bedroom with some over-ear headphones and his music collection. He'd probably spend the next day or so recovering from the uncomfortable social outing, and hopefully be confident enough to face people again before his next Keystone Out! meet up.

Dick hugged Mr. and Mrs. Kent and was sent off with a plastic container full of leftovers. Mrs. Kent tried to hug Piper, but he jumped at the contact. Mr. Kent settled for an awkward handshake. They'd driven in from Keystone, so Dick was waiting in the car when Superman pulled Piper aside to talk to him for a few minutes.

He wondered if this was going to be the, 'hurt my friend and I'll destroy you,' speech. It didn't really seem like Clark Kent's thing, but then, people who realized he was Superman probably didn't need a speech to be on their best behavior.

“I just wanted to apologize about how tonight went.”

Well that wasn't anything Piper was expecting. “S-sorry? I mean, what? Nothing went wrong.”

“And yet you were really uncomfortable the entire time. Don't patronize me, Hartley. I could hear your vitals just as well as you could. You were nervous and off-center. It was short sighted of me. This is usually a good setting for people, honestly. My folks are good at putting people at ease, and when we have people to dinner they usually get an unguarded, relaxed sort of night. But there's always so much nostalgia around. It doesn't always work with people with certain...unpleasantness in their background, I guess is the best way to put that. So I'm sorry for not thinking that through. Next time we'll have you and Dick come and visit in Metropolis. I'm sure you'll feel more comfortable with Lois. She has a certain witty cynicism in common with you.”

“It's fine, really. Your parents are very nice people.” And he felt like even more of a freak than usual for finding that so ridiculously uncomfortable. “I guess I'm still getting used to interacting with people like them. I haven't known that many people who are that honest and still pleasant.”

“Mm. Bruce doesn't like visiting me here that much either. Like I said, you'll probably feel more comfortable if you visit us in Metropolis.”

Piper blinked a few times. “Bruce…?” Did Superman just imply he had something in common with Batman?

And then he made it worse by outright stating it. “You know, Hartley, it's a shame you and Bruce are starting off on the wrong foot. I think you'll get along once you get to know each other. You have so much in common. I mean, assuming things keep going the way they are with you and Dick.” He smiled, which was both very handsome, almost reassuring, and kind of terrifying. “He seems very happy with you, by the way. I've seen him through some tough romantic woes in the past, so this is a nice change of pace. I'm glad Wally set you two up.”

“You...are?”

Superman laughed. “Yes, though I'm guessing you're going to have a hard time believing that. I think the two of you will be good for each other. Well, I'd better not keep you. I'll see you at the Jazz Festival, okay?”

“Absolutely. Good night.”

He must have looked dazed when he got into the car. Dick shot him a concerned look. “He didn't do the 'be good or else,' speech, did he?”

“No. It was kind of the opposite. He said he was happy for us and he thought we'd be good for each other.”

Dick visibly relaxed. “Good. I didn't think he would. He's only tried to intimidate one of my exes and honestly...I'm not sorry he did. Roy was being a total ass at the time and being flown laps around the cornfield at superspeed by his ankles really straightened him out. For a couple weeks, anyway. ”

That sounded like a bit more than a threatening speech but Piper decided to let that go.

“So he thinks we're going to be good for each other? That's interesting. I'd been worrying the different ways we're damaged might set each other off.” Dick turned in his seat to face Piper. “You've been so nervous lately.”

“I'm just kind of a nervous person. I'm pretty good at hiding it, under normal circumstances. Most people don't pick up on it.” He reached over and bopped Dick's nose. “Stop being such a detective.”

“Sorry, can't help it at this point. So...what should I do? Shut up about it and let you deal because you've got coping strategies at this point in your life, or is there anything I can do to actually help?”

“Hm...considering my coping strategies have had me suiting up in spandex and robbing banks to Robin Hood in the past, I think it's safe to say they're not always the best. You can check up on me if you feel like it. I don't mind.”

“Cool.” Dick turned on the radio sat back in his seat. Smallville was a good two hour drive from Keystone, so they had a bit of a road trip ahead of them.

“So...I assume meeting your mom on Sunday's going to be a bit different from dinner with the Kents.”

Piper smirked. “That's a bit of an understatement. I'd try to prepare you but I don't think that's possible. If nothing else, at least it won't last long. Mom's never had much of an attention span when it comes to me, so I'm sure she'll be off to some other social engagement as soon as brunch i s finished.”

“That's...”

Piper sighed. “I always end up doing that around normal people. I'm sorry. I have a...I guess a complicated relationship with my parents. We love each other, really. I just had to stop expecting things from them that aren't going to happen to be able to see it. They're very self-absorbed, and their emotional range is a bit limited, but they're not bad people. I'm sure it sounds really different when I talk about the past though. Dick…?” He'd gone very quiet, and there was an interesting expression on his face that Piper couldn't quite read.

“You just referred to me as a normal person. I'm a circus brat who was taken in by an unstable Cape to start fighting crime in fish scale underpants when I was eleven. Like, our childhoods were different, but I've introduced many an awkward pause into conversations by trying to tell funny stories from my childhood. Don't worry so much, okay Hartley?”

Piper laughed and gave himself a little shake. “I can't always help it, but I'll certainly try.”

Chapter Text

Of course, nothing went wrong when Piper and Dick were supposed to meet up with the Kents, who knew all about their double lives and would have perfectly understood having dinner pushed back because of superheroics. Hell, since they were nice, sympathetic people seemingly without a judgmental bone in their body, they probably would have been cool with an excuse as mundane as a flat tire.

No, the superheroics had to crop up when they were supposed to meet with Rachel, who was always on the lookout for a reason to be displeased, especially when it came to her gay son's love life (she claimed she'd accepted his homosexuality and wasn't secretly hoping he'd change his mind, yet she still let him know about every eligible, age appropriate daughter her friends had).

The original plan was for Dick to come by Saturday night after his patrol in Bludhaven. They'd spend the night together, head out to Chez Ennui in the morning, and then after the awkward obligatory meal swing by Wally's house to hang with him and Linda and wait for superhero stuff to come up (because three costumes in one room meant superhero stuff would inevitably come up). Really, the plan sounded far too idealistic to work out but Piper was trying to be more optimistic. Dick said he didn't mind his cynicism, but Piper also suspected that was a bit of a fib.

Saturday evening, when Piper got home from his shift at the soup kitchen he went upstairs to shower, put on clothes he found almost flattering, limited himself to five minutes staring at his reflection and wishing his nose wasn't such an odd shape, and then sat down in the living room to wait for his boyfriend.

Four hours later he was asleep on the couch, his nice pants had chocolate ice cream stains on them, and a carton of half eaten ice cream had melted a new ring onto his coffee table.

He still hadn't heard from Dick the next morning, and they were supposed to be meeting up with Rachel at eleven. With a resigned sigh, Piper cleaned up the living room, got changed into chocolate-stain free clothes, and started mentally preparing himself for the prospect of spending nearly an hour in his mother's company without anyone else to buffer. He thought about brushing out his hair, which had gotten rumpled in his sleep, but ultimately decided against it. Rachel hated his ponytail so it didn't much matter if it was messy or sleek.

For the hell of it, he tried giving Dick a call but of course it went straight to voicemail.

“Darling, good morning. Come here, dearest.” Rachel kissed both of Piper's cheeks, a charming smile on her face that had fooled many an unsuspecting acquaintance into thinking her a doting mother. Piper shakily returned the smile and sat down across from her at the table. “So where's this new beau of yours?”

“Stuck in Gotham, I'm afraid. Family business came up.”

“Oh, that's right. You said you were dating the Grayson boy now?” To his great surprise his mother actually looked happy. “The next time you do manage to get him to yourself, do tell him that your father and I send our best to Bruce, and we'd love to chat with him some time about a possible collaboration. You know he owns the Daily Planet now? If he's interested in publishing, he really ought to renew his business relationship with Osgood. We do have something of a history with the Waynes.”

Huh. Piper felt a bit foolish for not anticipating this. Rachel couldn't care less that he was dating someone he was happy with. Dick had connections to their society circles. He was a networking opportunity. That's why she cared.

Well at least her desire for said networking was keeping her from calling attention to being stood up.

They placed their orders and the next fifteen minutes passed in slightly awkward small talk, the two of them dancing around all the subjects they knew were going to set the other off.

“Darling, I'm so sorry your, er, partner couldn't make it out today. Do you think he'll be able to free up some time next month for your sister's birthday party? Jerrie's determined to meet him. Of course, I'd hoped for a chance to talk to him myself first, as I'm sure Jerrie will secure all his attention to herself. She has that way about her, you know. That charming innocence.”

Piper smiled, thinking of his baby sister. “Dick's going to love her. I can't make any promises without talking to him first. You know, it's already a long distance relationship and he's always got so many commitments, but I'll pitch it to him. And I'll definitely be at Jerrie's party. Thanks for inviting me.”

Rachel's smile almost slipped. “Oh come now, Hartley. This can't be the first I've mentioned it to you.”

“Actually this really is. I'd assumed you guys were doing something for the sweet sixteen but somehow it always seems to have slipped your mind when you've been talking to me. I guess it's a good thing I've got a boyfriend that's more interesting than me now.”

“Really, Hartley. You always take everything in the most unflattering way possible.”

Piper quirked an eyebrow. “And how should I take my parents forgetting to invite me to my baby sister's birthday party until I landed a boyfriend they wanted to meet? Seriously, spin that in a flattering light for me. I'll wait.”

Rachel narrowed her eyes. “Perhaps we got into the habit of excluding you during those long years you spent doing your absolute best to humiliate your family and ruin every social engagement you were involved in, including your sister's parties. Or do you not remember Jerrie hiding in the pantry sobbing her eyes out on her fifth birthday when you lost your temper and punched the magician we hired?”

“The bigot you hired did a super fey mean imitation of me to give the parents a cheap laugh at my expense. I just showed him that some of us sissies could hit.”

“Hartley, no one knew you were gay then. You were just being too sensitive, like you always are. Look, this party is for Jerrie. I don't want you spoiling it by making it about yourself and this air of victimhood you're always carrying with you. We're family and we love you, darling. I'd love to be able to send you as many invitations as I can think of without this awful anxiety that you'll act out. You know how Jerrie is. She doesn't understand half of what you're always ranting and raving about. All she sees is that her brother is upset and she ends up thinking she did something wrong. She shouldn't have to worry about your tantrums on her special day.”

Piper balled his shaking hands into fists. The words had struck home, but damned if he would let Rachel see that. “Right. Because god forbid you just not invite horrible people to your inane parties to begin with. But I know me feeling safe and welcome has never been especially important to you and Dad.”

“You're twisting my words.”

“You're guilt tripping me for standing up for myself. Just say it, Mom. You're still ashamed of me and you always have been.”

“Hartley, that's not...can we talk about this later?” Rachel shot a quick look around the restaurant, reassuring herself that no one was paying attention to them.

Piper balled his napkin up and tossed it on his plate. He stood up, took out his wallet, and tossed some bills onto the table. “I'm not doing this.”

“Perhaps that's for the best. After you've cooled down please give me a call, darling. We should talk about this.”

He bit back a retort he'd probably regret later and then stormed out of the restaurant.

Dick stumbled into Wally's living room later that night. Piper was in comfortable, scrubby clothes playing video games with Linda. He'd spent the whole day trying not to be mad at Dick, but considering how the solo brunch date with his mother had gone, he was hoping for one hell of a story.

The fact that Dick was shaky on his feet and almost as pale as Piper when his skin tone was normally tan and healthy was already buying back some sympathy points. Linda shut off the TV and Piper jumped to his feet. “What happened?”

“Sorry about the...about being off the grid. Tim got in over his head on a case and called me in for support. Poison Ivy hit me with something. I think it's out of my system now but I'm still not feeling my best. I'd have called, I swear, but I was in a coma. I only woke up an hour ago.”

Piper stared at him incredulously while Linda awkwardly collected up the controllers, scrupulously avoiding eye contact with either member of the couple. Wally helped Dick sit down on the sofa and handed him a few throw pillows.

“Why are you here?” Piper was very proud of himself for keeping his voice low and even.

“Um...what?”

“Dick, why are you here? You were poisoned into a coma, you could have died. You should be home resting, not...fuck, but that's a perfectly valid reason to blow off a date, okay?”

“Is it?” Dick blinked a few times and then rubbed his forehead. “Sorry, head's spinning a little. Look, I know the costume infringes on the civilian life a lot. I seriously do try my best, and I'm sorry I wasn't there to meet your mother. I know you weren't looking forward to it and I shouldn't have left you alone for that-”

“Well you made up for it by not actually dying.”

Wally rubbed Dick's shoulder. “He's not mad at you, dude. He wasn't even mad before you got here.”

“I don't know about that,” Linda said. “Hartley was definitely simmering. If the excuse had been less serious than near fatal encounter with a dangerous supervillain we'd be having a very different conversation.”

“We would, but as is...you should be home resting.” Piper frowned, upset with Dick for taking unnecessary risks on top of the ones that already came with superheroics and upset with himself for how personally he'd taken the lack of phone calls while being blown off. Hell, he hadn't even been blown off, really. It was a coma. That was perfectly valid. Why on earth did Dick feel guilty about it?

“I'm already here though. Can we rest together at your place?” Dick threw him the puppy eyes, which he really should have looked into weaponizing somehow. Piper probably wouldn't have needed the help of modified flutes to hypnotize people if his baby-blues could do that. “I've had a miserable day. I'd like to cuddle with my boyfriend.”

Linda smiled. “I was losing at Mariokart anyway. You can have him.”

“Thanks.” Dick's gaze didn't leave Piper. “You're really not mad at me?”

“Why would I be mad at you?”

Wally looked awfully smug about something. “Yeah, Dick. Only a real asshole would get mad at you for missing a date because you got your ass handed to you.”

“Or a sixteen year old going through some serious shit.”

“Hey, the two of us were both sixteen year olds going through serious shit, and yet came out capable of empathy.”

“Slow down there, red,” Linda said. “You're easily the most obtuse person in the room so I'm not sure you should be bragging about this supposed empathy.”

“I had to bail on Roy an awful lot when he really needed me,” Dick said, frowning. “He had plenty of empathy the first ten or twelve times it happened. You saw him blow up when it was literally like the twentieth time I left him hanging.” He sighed and rubbed at his eyes. “I really wish we weren't still snarking at each other about a relationship that ended when I was seventeen. Ostensibly you're friends with Roy.”

“Ostensibly. It's mostly because so many of my friends have had the misfortune of falling in love with him. Fucking mystery to me, how he's managed that. You and Donna are so smart. You should know so much better.”

“Look, can we not drag out my relationship drama in front of Piper, please? Especially since I'm feeling like utter crap?”

“Yeah, this is about as crap as I've seen you look,” Linda pointed out. “You almost look like a normal human being.”

Dick put on a cheery, over the top smile in an attempt at snarking back at her, but it barely lasted a second. He did look really wiped. Piper helped him up. “Come on. I might not have been poisoned, but my day wasn't exactly stellar. Cuddling sounds good.”

“See you guys later,” Wally called. Piper could hear him and Linda discussing his relationship while he helped Dick into his car. He did his best to tune them out, but it was a bit of a challenge.

Apparently Wally had decided they were frickin' adorable together. It was a little patronizing, but not actually a bad thing. Dick did bring some of his warm and fuzzy tendencies to the surface. Maybe Wally was actually being observant for once.

Some hours in bed and a few bad movies later and Dick was starting to look more like himself. His face had a little more color and he wasn't nearly as lethargic. Piper was glad to see it, though still generally discomfited.

“You really shouldn't have pushed yourself to travel while you were still under the weather.” He brushed Dick's bangs back and placed a kiss at his temple. “Next time, just text.”

“Sorry. To be fair, I didn't know you were going to be so compassionate about this.” Dick snuggled more firmly into Piper's arms and let out a contented sigh. “I keep forgetting that just because I don't see you at team ups, it doesn't mean you're new to this stuff. Like, you're one of few people who actually gets what it's like to have bouts of unconsciousness and being taken unexpectedly hostage and flown to a supervillain base in the middle of fucking nowhere interfere with your social obligations. Even other superheroes don't always get it.”

Piper wrinkled his brow in confusion. “Why on earth not? It must happen to them too.”

“It happens in Gotham a lot more than in other cities. My exes always assumed I had to be lying about it at least some of the time.”

“Huh. Wally has literally disappeared on me for weeks at a time. I never hold it against him. Maybe they just need to spend some time with someone whose powers involve accidental time traveling and parallel universe hopping.”

“You know, come to think of it Wally's pretty much the only friend I've got who doesn't get mad over that stuff.” Dick was quiet for a moment and Piper enjoyed running his hands through his shiny black hair. “I'm still sorry I wasn't there for you today, excusable circumstances aside. You said one on one time with your mom is still hard for you guys. Was it a total shit show?”

“It...no, I can't even pretend. It didn't go well at all. She managed to get under my skin again, and I honestly thought I'd figured out how to deal with every avenue of emotional attack she's got left. But she...urgh. She made it out like I've hurt my sister by being the problem child in the family. And I know it's bullshit. I know she's just deflecting her responsibility for failing me back onto me. Like, I wouldn't have made so many scenes if I'd been supported and protected. I know that. But she's right. At the end of the day, Jerrie has been hurt by my behavior.”

“How does your sister feel about that?”

Piper shrugged. “Who knows? I never get to talk to Jerrie without Mom and Dad around. I haven't seen her one on one since I was nineteen, when they kicked me out. Oh, sorry, according to Mom and Dad I ran away and chose to live in my car. Of course, that makes Dad reporting my car as stolen and having me arrested an odd detail in their reconstructed narrative. Because they only wanted the best for me, ever, and I kept refusing their help and support like the willful brat I am, you see.”

“God, that sucks. Hartley, I'm so sorry. Um...have you ever thought...this is kind of hard for me to gauge here, being an orphan who had supportive parents. But, um...is reconciling with them actually worth it? It sounds like you might actually need some space from them, just to heal.”

Piper closed his eyes, focusing on the silken hair sliding through his fingers and the steady rhythm of Dick's heartbeat. “I don't know. Maybe. It's just...I'm afraid we might not get the chance if we don't fix it now. We only started talking again when they got taken hostage by some upstart super criminals. Wally helped me save them, and then there's the fact that my work puts me in danger. Mom told me that...that she watches news reports in the guest house whenever Wally and I are fighting someone so that Jerrie can't hear and be upset by it, but that she can't think straight until she knows for sure that I'm safe. They do care about me. They're just...complicated people.”

“Sounds it. It also sounds like you'd never hurt your sister on purpose, so I hope you can shake your mom's barbs off. That wasn't fair of her.”

Piper nodded, and wished that feeling of guilt would dissolve under the weight of reason. He still felt bad about all the years he hadn't been allowed to see Jerrie, even though he knew it wasn't his fault.

“Um...so, um, Jerrie's turning sixteen next month. Mom and Dad are throwing her a huge, elaborate party. They're all dying to meet you, so we've been invited.”

“Sixteen? Your sister's a lot younger than you.” Jerrie was only a few years older than the new Robin. To Piper's amusement, Dick talked about the kid in a similar fond manner to how Piper talked about his sister.

“There's eleven years between us,” Piper said. “Neither of us were planned, thus the lengthy gap.”

“Ah. Yeah, I guess I was an accident too, but Mom liked to call me her special surprise. I think it was just hard to keep your birth control filled on the road.” Dick smirked. “It's a good thing I was an acrobatic prodigy. Mr. Haly eventually forgave Mom for getting pregnant once I proved to be adorable and have stage presence.”

“When did you start performing?”

“I started doing simple stuff when I was three. I was out on the swings by the time I was seven. Good times.” Something in Dick's expression turned sad, and even a bit guarded. Piper gently steered the conversation away from either of their childhood traumas until they eventually fell asleep with a new bad movie playing for background noise.

Chapter Text

“Hey, Mr. Rathaway! Are you the adult on for the meeting tonight?”

“Hm?”

Piper finished typing out a sentence on the email he was working on, then turned his attention to the intern hanging out in his doorway. He was working a shift with Keystone Out!, an underfunded nonprofit that served LGBTQ+ youth. At the moment, most of their work involved social support but they were hoping to expand to areas such as mental health counseling and securing housing. Piper was also seeing a growing need for transition related supports for the trans kiddos, but so far the rest of the board had been pushing back on that (“Let’s help the regular kids before we get too specialized, Rathaway.”)

The intern, Mattie, took a shy step into the office and set one of the fancy gold foil thank you cards they sent out to donors who gave them at least a hundred dollars on the desk. “Kerrie asked me to give this to whoever’s running the group tonight. We got a really big donation in and she thought it’d be nice if the kids signed the card this time.”

“Considering the first rule of our organization is confidentiality, that’s quite an ask. I suppose as long as they don’t sign their last names, that’ll be fine. How much was the donation?”

Mattie shrugged. “I’m just an intern. I don’t have access to that kind of info. But you’re on the board, aren’t you? Maybe there’s an email or something?”

“That makes sense. Thanks, Mattie.”

Mattie lit up, the way some of the younger volunteers and interns did when Piper addressed them by name. He was something of a celebrity among a certain set of queer activists, which amused and unnerved him in turn. Piper hoped they were taking the right lessons from his life story - there was a certain amount of pressure that came with being an openly gay adult working with impressionable youth. Whether he wanted to be or not, he was considered a role model, which generally terrified him. He wanted the kids to have a much better queer adolescence than he’d had.

Once Mattie left, Piper finished writing his email and then refreshed his inbox. Sure enough, there was a group message sent out to the board waiting for him. He clicked it open and read about the $500,000 one-time donation from the Martha Wayne foundation, with a sustaining $10,000 monthly donation to follow.

Holy shit. His parents had given them a begrudging $1,000 monthly, after much begging, groveling, and guilt tripping. Granted, Wayne was worth more than the Rathaways, but still. Not by this much. Not by nearly this much.

Speechless, Piper just stared at his work computer in amazement for a few minutes. Then he picked up the foil gift card and scribbled his signature near the top.

“I can’t even begin to-you have no idea-the things we can do-Wally. He paid our entire operating costs for the next five years, and he’s throwing another ten grand at us every month on top of it. We called an emergency meeting for Thursday to discuss the future because obviously we need to make sure we’re using this money correctly. I can’t believe it.”

“Does this make you a prostitute?” Wally asked with a snort.

“Sex worker,” Piper answered reflexively.

Linda smacked Wally upside the head with a throw pillow, then winked at Piper. “He really is stunned. Look at him, letting you run your mouth on autopilot. But hon, I sincerely doubt Bruce Wayne donated all that money to Piper’s pet charity just because he’s dating Dick.”

“Oh yeah, this is more than that.” Wally glanced at his watch and then changed into his Flash outfit. “Hold on a sec, our pizza’s ready.” He raced out of the Wests’ living room and returned in a fraction of a second with two large pizza boxes. Linda wasn’t even back from the kitchen with the plates and napkins before he was on the couch in his scrubby, post-superhero-battle clothes again. “Bruce isn’t the kind of guy to just come out and say that he likes someone. Consider this as him giving you his seal of approval.”

“And maybe a teensy apology for violating your privacy,” Linda added.

“Teensy? He can violate my privacy anytime he wants if this is the apology. Seriously, you guys have no idea what this means. He just completely changed the scope of the work we can do. Now the board has no grounds at all to fight me on moving forward with transgender specific programming. Even if we lose transphobic donors in the process, who cares? We’re completely funded for five years.”

“And if things keep going this good with you and Dick, maybe we can get you funded for life. Bruce has deep pockets. I’ve seen what the batarang budget looks like.” Wally helped himself to a slice of pepperoni and sausage, nudging the eggplant and mushroom towards Piper and Linda’s side of the coffee table. “I’m a pretty good matchmaker. Maybe I should do this more often.”

“Let’s not get carried away,” Linda said with a smirk. “I still think you got lucky. But I’m glad it’s working out.” She gave Piper’s shoulder a squeeze. “I couldn’t think of two guys more deserving of the happiness Wally fumbled his way into bestowing on you.”

“Why does everyone think I didn’t know what I was doing?” Wally set his plate down and then held out his hands in demonstration. “Dick is one of the coolest, nicest, and best nerds in the world.” Here he gestured with one hand. “And Piper is also cool, nice, and equally nerdy.” He wiggled his other hand to indicate that it was Piper and then brought them both together. “Combine, and awesomeness is achieved. It’s basically math. Plus they have the shared hobby of giving me shit even when I’m trying to help them.”

“We do, don’t we? It’s great fun, swapping anecdotes and strategies.” Piper smiled sweetly at Wally before biting into his pizza.

“You’ve truly done so much to help them bond.” Linda gave Wally’s shoulder a patronizing squeeze. “So Hartley, are you going to tell your parents about the donation at the party?”

“Hey yeah,” Wally chimed in. “Maybe you can play your folks off of Bruce and begin a cycle of escalating donations. Homophobia will be completely vanquished in the Cities under the strain of unsurmountable piles of cash.”

Piper let out a dreamy sigh. “That sounds nice, but while money helps a lot I think we’ve got a ways to go on that goal, regardless. No, I probably won’t bring it up. If Dick’s able to make it this time, I’m going to talk to him about it. I have to figure out a better way to say thank you than using the fancy greeting card.” He frowned thoughtfully. “This donation caused so much excitement and fuss, I’d actually forgotten to be nervous about the birthday party for a few hours.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Wally said, speaking with the confidence of an only child who’d never been used as a weapon against siblings he didn’t have. “I mean, it’s your sister’s day, not yours. You can fade into the background if you need to, right?”

Piper traded a quick look of exasperation with Linda and then made a noncommittal noise before returning to his pizza.

At least he was confident that, however much of a shit show the party turned out to be, Dick wouldn’t hold anything against him. It was so nice to have a partner he could communicate with and relax around.

Chapter Text

“Okay. One more time. How long have you guys known each other?”

“Certainly not since we were tweens and in a questionably organized team for underaged costumed vigilantes. Because that would be incredibly inappropriate,” Wally said. He paused for a moment and then scowled. “I forgot already. We met through you, right? Wait, how are we saying you two met if it wasn’t through me?”

“It turns out we actually were both at the Gotham by Night Gala this year, so we decided to go with that,” Dick answered. “I don’t actually remember seeing you there though.”

“I mostly hung back by the fringes of the crowd and waited for the night to be over. I was there on behalf of an old friend. He’s been trying to get his couture exhibited for ages but he hasn’t been able to break in. It turns out I’m not as helpful connection as he’d hoped. I should have given his business cards to my mother instead.” Piper had tried to explain all that to Gambi, and that if anything he’d want to do as much as possible to distance himself from his campy supervillain clientele as possible, but once he’d heard that Piper had an invite to such an important fashion event his blinders had been on and he wouldn’t hear a word of opposition. “I assume you spent some time on the red carpet?”

“I stopped for a few photos but I’m not an actual celebrity. Thankfully, they give me a little more space than Bruce. Okay, so Piper and I met at a gala and hit it off. You two are friends, so I’ve become friends with you through him. Wally, you and I have known each other for three and a half months.” Dick frowned. “Are you gonna be able to stick to the story?”

“For a couple of hours? Yes, even I can handle lying and subterfuge for an afternoon birthday party.”

The three of them had decided to ride into Jerrie’s party together. Wally had been a bit surprised by his invitation, but Piper was under the impression that Wally was one of very few people that Jerrie had actually chosen to invite. As was her habit, Rachel had managed nearly everything about the party, including the guest list. But Jerrie had been very taken with the superhero who rescued their parents and helped the family reconcile with her big brother. Her admiration for him wasn’t unlike the enthusiasm Wally had shown for Barry back when he’d been president of the Flash fan club in his youth.

“This would be so much easier to navigate without the secret identity. And that’s not hypothetical. Take it from experience. It is so much easier going through life as a superhero without having to constantly lie my ass off,” Wally grumbled.

“Well, there are other identities tied to mine so I can’t make that decision without a lot of one on one discussions.” Dick turned in his seat so that he could throw Wally a sarcastic smirk in the back seat. “But if it’s really that tricky for you, just ask for help. I’m sure Piper and I can help bail you out when you get in over your head, okay chum?”

Wally kicked the back of his seat, so Dick reclined onto his knees.

“Children, I will turn this car around,” Piper threatened. “Seriously. Feel free to give me an excuse to turn this car around.”

“Relax, dude. We’re almost there, aren’t we?” Wally peered out the window, and let out a low whistle as they passed a particularly gaudy McMansion. “I can’t believe this is still Central. You weren’t kidding when you said your folks lived on the edge of the city.”

“It’s called White Flight, and my grandfather may have started the trend for our community. He contracted some of the first mansions in the area. In addition to publishing, we also owe a lot of our wealth to real estate. You can’t properly exploit the masses if you don’t hoard up non-negotiable necessities like housing.”

“Dick, change the subject. We shouldn’t bring him to his parents fresh off an anti-capitalism tirade,” Wally stage whispered.

Piper rolled his eyes, though Wally did have a point. “I’ll behave. What did you end up getting Jerrie for her birthday, anyway?” Piper had insisted, multiple times, that just showing up for the party was gift enough for the teen, who didn’t exactly lack for creature comforts. But Wally had insisted just as hard that it was bad form to show up for a birthday party empty handed. He was trying to grow past the selfishness he’d exhibited in abundance as a young adult, and treating his mere presence as a gift didn’t align with his goals.

“A one year membership to the Flash museum and a hoodie.”

Dick let out a snort.

“What? Piper said she’s a fan and I thought maybe it’d be cool if she learned about the other Flashes too. If she thinks I’m hot shit, she’ll really be knocked out by Barry’s legacy. Besides, she’s rich. What the hell was I supposed to get her?”

“She’s not rich, Mom and Dad are. There’s a difference.” Piper heaved a weary sigh, and steered his car into the massive driveway that insulated the family home from the street. “We’re here.”

Dick gave his shoulder a squeeze.

There were a few cars ahead of them but mostly it looked like they’d beat the majority of the guests. They each grabbed their gift bags, and Piper showed them through the house and out to the backyard where the tent and tables had been set up.

“Oh, there you are! Hartley, come here, darling.” Rachel strode over towards him, extending her hand in an imperious manner. He braced himself for her to say something oily to Dick, figuring she would still be trying to court his influence for business. But she didn’t even seem to see him. She grabbed Piper by the wrist and started marching him across the yard. “Randall has made a terrible mess of the sound system. I knew we should have hired a live band, but of course I was overruled. Osgood thought the children would want a DJ that played their own music. But the DJ wasn’t prepared to work outside, even though I explicitly stated that if the weather was fine, we would be in the garden. Can you get this equipment working, dearest?”

“Uh…sure.”

“Excellent. Disaster averted. Come this way.” Rachel showed him to a small platform beside a portable dance floor where a clueless looking college kid was repeatedly plugging in and unplugging the same three or four pieces of equipment. Piper had his gear set up for him in a manner of minutes. All things considered, he probably could have DJed the party just fine himself (and actually enjoyed himself doing it), but he could kinda see why his parents hadn’t asked him.

When he finished with that, he scanned the growing crowd, looking for Dick, Wally, or even just his sister. But mostly, the garden seemed to be filling up with his parents’ acquaintances and business connections, their children, and an assortment of bored looking teenagers who must have been Jerrie’s classmates.

He found the gift table and set his bag amongst a growing pile, then took another lap around the yard.

Wally was pretty easy to spot. He’d been cornered by a large group of teenagers who were asking for pictures and autographs. Piper smirked, looking forward to throwing Wally’s words about the inconvenience of a secret identity back on him during the ride home (assuming he didn’t have to leave early to avert a crisis). Try as he may, he couldn’t find the birthday girl anywhere.

To his horror, he spotted Dick in a literal corner wedged between the tent and the food table, with Osgood blocking his exit. Dick’s handsome face was just as relaxed and charming as ever, though that meant little considering how good the man was with people. Meanwhile, Osgood was animated in a way he seldom appeared while conversing with others…unless it was about business. Thanks to all the ambient noise from the music and the guests, Piper couldn’t filter enough to decipher exactly what he was saying. He maneuvered his way through the party guests until he could get up beside his father.

“Dad, hi. I see you’ve met Dick.”

“Oh, hello, son. Good to see you.” Osgood actually sounded like he meant that. Who knew he could defeat his family’s deep-seated homophobia by appealing to their class interests? “I was just telling your young friend here how delighted your mother and I are to hear about how happy you children have been together. It seems like a wonderful match, wouldn’t you say?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Dick answered, using the opportunity of Piper’s arrival to angle himself away from the corner and more towards his boyfriend’s side. He took Piper’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “I’m so glad we hit it off. Your son is an amazing person.”

“Oh yes, we’re quite proud of him. Especially lately.” Osgood turned a warm smile on his baffled looking son. “The headlines we’ve been printing about you since you became friends with young West over there are far more agreeable than the old sort, wouldn’t you say? You’re a regular superhero these days, off saving the city, and then there’s that charity work. Not as glamorous, but just as important.” Osgood turned another satisfied smile back towards Dick. “It must be exciting for you, meeting these costumed fellows through Hartley. Why, I know it’s given even my old bones a flurry of excitement to get to rub elbows with the Flash from time to time.”

“Oh yeah,” Dick said, not missing a beat but sneaking an amused glance at his boyfriend, who had gone speechless. “But I promise, I’m not just dating your son so I can meet superheroes. That’s just a perk. Hart’s a draw all on his own.”

“Wonderful. Well, I won’t keep the two of you. Oh, just, one question. Obviously, we know Hartley’s preference on…being known. But among your community, I understand it’s a faux pas to speak on your proclivities without stated permission, isn’t it?”

Dick’s brow furrowed as he tried to decipher what the hell Osgood was talking about. “He’s asking if you’re out of the closet,” Piper filled in.

“Oh! Yeah, I guess the tabloids never really made a fuss about that. I’m openly bisexual. You can tell people I’m dating your son.”

“Splendid. Well, my boys, enjoy the party.” Osgood nodded at them with another uncharacteristic smile, and walked off to accost another acquaintance.

“That wasn’t so bad,” Dick said. “Actually, he seemed kind of nice. Odd, but I’ve met more eccentric old money than that.”

“Yeah, he’s in a good mood.” Piper gave Dick’s hand a desperate squeeze, and took a slow, calming breath.

“Piper, do you think you could introduce me to some real superheroes? I’ve always wanted to meet the Justice League.” Dick batted his lashes at him, and Piper let out a startled laugh. “So where’s your sister? I’ve talked to your dad, seen your mom, however briefly-”

“That’s probably for the best-”

“But I still haven’t met Jerrie.”

Piper frowned. “I haven’t seen her yet either. I don’t think she’s out here.”

Dick glanced towards the house. “Would she still be inside?”

“I’m almost sure of it. If you don’t mind me leaving you defenseless for a few minutes, I’d like to go check on her.”

“Hey, I’ve been mingling with society folks for half my life at this point. They’re only slightly more scary than supervillains. I’ll be okay. Go help your sister.”

Piper wanted to kiss him and thank him for being basically perfect, but he also wasn’t sure how much physical affection he could get away with showing his partner around his parents. This was the most accepting they’d ever been of him and he didn’t want to push his luck. So he gave Dick’s hand another squeeze before walking off for the house.

Once he was inside and had some distance from the party noise he could hear Jerrie’s soft breathing from her bedroom on the second floor. He strode through the house, jogged up the stairs, and knocked on her door. “Jerrie? It’s Hartley. May I come in?”

He heard some movement in the room, and then Jerrie opened the door. She was wearing a floor length halter dress with sequins sewn over the bust, with a pink zip up sweatshirt that had cat ears on the hood. Her eyes were wide and she was breathing a little fast.

“Hey, kiddo.”

Jerrie dove into his arms and squeezed him tightly. “Hartley! Oh, I’m so glad you came. It’s so loud out there and everyone wants me to talk to them but I don’t know what to say. Uncle Roger asked why I wasn’t smiling and I didn’t even know I wasn’t smiling. And Auntie Hazel said I looked like I was scared. I had to come back in, but, but Mom’s going to be so mad. She worked so hard on the party and I don’t want it. I never wanted it. Being at home instead of a ballroom was supposed to help but it’s still too much. I don’t want all those people to stare at me.”

“Oh, Jerrie…” Piper rubbed her back. He’d felt nearly the same about his own sixteenth birthday, though his overwhelmed emotions had manifested as more haughty indignation than fear.

“Do you think they’ll be too mad if I just sit up here and wait for everyone to go home?”

“Let’s go over to your window and take a look.” Helpfully, Jerrie’s bedroom had a perfect view of the backyard. Piper walked her over and they looked down at the party. “Look, see? Now that the music’s been fixed and the food has been served, all the guests have a lot more things to hold their interest than greeting the host. See all those kids dancing? Are any of them your friends?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I know a bunch of them. They go to school with me. And I think…I think that’s our cousin down there in the blue dress, isn’t it? Is that Mariah?”

“Is it?” Piper hadn’t seen Mariah since she was an infant, owing to the split with the family. It was disorienting to see an entire middle schooler and realize that it was a baby he’d once held in his arms. “She’s a pretty good dancer, isn’t she?”

“Yeah. I like her dress. It looks more comfortable than the one Mom made me get.” Jerrie squeezed her eyes shut and let out a short, high pitched noise of frustration. “I don’t like the way the spangles scratch at my arms.”

“I’m sure we can do something about that. I assume that’s why you put on the sweatshirt?”

Jerrie nodded. “It’s my favorite. But Mom…Mom won’t like it for the party.”

“Wait here a moment, darling. I’ll find you something that Mom won’t mind. You keep watching all the people and see how many of them you know. If they were here one at a time instead of all at once, I’m sure you’d be happier to see them.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Oh! That’s the Flash! The Flash came to my party?” Jerrie’s face lit up. She pressed her hands against the glass, peering down at the gathering with renewed interest.

Piper picked through Jerrie’s closet, and found a fitted cardigan that matched the dress a bit better than the cat hoodie. It would offer her arms some protection from the sequins, which Rachel really should have known better than to stick her daughter in. They also swapped out the strappy heels Rachel had selected for a pair of ballet flats. Jerrie threw a longing glance at the stuffies on her bed, but turned with determination towards her bedroom door. “I think I’m ready now. I want to thank Mr. West for coming to my party, in person. I can do it.” She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then started walking towards the door.

“Jerrie, I don’t think anyone would mind if you brought one of your stuffed animals down with you. It’s your party, after all. They’re not allowed to say anything.”

“No, Mom’s right. I’m getting too old for that. I’ll be okay. But Hartley…can you stay with me?”

“Of course. Believe me, I’ll take just as much comfort from the arrangement as you will.” He took Jerrie’s arm, and the two of them walked downstairs.

They almost made it across the yard to the spot where Wally was still signing autographs, and looking much less cheerful about it than when he’d started, before Rachel accosted them. “Oh, there you are. Jerrie, dear, were you cold? That cardigan looks lovely with the dress. I can’t believe I didn’t consider that. It is a bit brisk for a sleeveless dress, isn’t it? But you look so lovely, darling. You’re positively glowing. Oh, the two of you look so wonderful together. It’s so nice having the family all in one place again, isn’t it? We’ll have to do some pictures later. Are you ready for cake and presents? I’ll just get the DJ’s attention. Excuse me.” She gave Jerrie’s arm a pat, then ran off before either of them could get a word in.

Jerrie kept a death grip on Piper’s arm while he escorted her to the present table. He nudged his gift bag to the front of the stack so that it was the first one Jerrie opened after blowing out her birthday candles (she did very well while the intimidating crowd sang Happy Birthday to her, but she was a little green afterwards). Jerrie opened the bag and pulled out an FAO Schwarz unicorn stuffed animal that actually got her to drop her brother’s hand in favor of hugging it to her chest. The comfort stuffie helped tremendously, as did the fact that most of her presents were gift cards that involved very little display or acknowledgment.

Once that was over, the upbeat pop music went back on and the guests went back to tactfully ignoring their shy little hostess. Jerrie, now wearing the Flash hoodie instead of the cardigan, grabbed Wally for herself before another line of autograph seekers could form. Considering she was the birthday girl, they seemed to feel it necessary to give her some one-on-one time with her favorite hero.

“Thanks for the save, Jerrie. I was getting sick of signing my name over and over again.” He wrapped an arm around her in a half hug that had her smiling so wide it looked like it might have hurt. “How’s the hoodie fit? It’s not too big, is it?”

“I, I like big ones. Th-thanks, Mr. Flash-I mean, Mr. West.”

“Hey, Wally’s fine. I think we’ve known each other long enough to be on a first name basis.” Wally gave her a fist bump that she returned with enthusiasm.

“Can I hide out with you guys for a bit?” Dick walked up to them, his pleasant smile slipping a little once he was away from the crowd and among his people again. “Hart, your parents have been really sweet actually, but their friends. Dear god. It’s like they all think I can get them an appointment with Bruce if they find the right way to ask. I’m his ex-ward, not his personal assistant.”

“Jerrie, this is my boyfriend, Dick. Dick, this is my sister. And of course you can hide out with us.”

Jerrie reluctantly turned her gaze away from Wally and picked up the skirt of her dress, ready to do a curtsy for her introduction. But she stopped mid motion, her mouth dropping open. Dick regarded her with kind curiosity. “Hi, Jerrie. Nice to meet you.”

“You’re so pretty…”

Wally had to run down the street to let out a loud laugh that would have embarrassed the teen if he’d done it in her presence, which her protective big brother appreciated. He reappeared before she could notice he’d left.

“Yes, he really is, isn’t he?” Piper grinned at Dick, who was actually blushing a little. “Well, I’m going to get some cake. Anyone else want a piece?”

Chapter Text

Piper let himself into Dick’s loft condo in the tastefully converted (gentrified) former industrial district in Bludhaven, already aware before he got inside that he’d beat his boyfriend home. He set his travel bag down by Dick’s dresser, then poked around the kitchen to see if the boy had actually gone grocery shopping that week. The fridge was just as empty as he’d expected, probably owing to an abundance of team-ups that week, so Piper grabbed the phone and ordered some take out. Then he camped out on the couch with his work computer to wait for the food or his boyfriend, whichever showed up first being fine by him.

The first footsteps he heard approaching the front door definitely weren’t Dick’s, and since it was more than one person he doubted it was the delivery driver either. He stopped typing for a moment, attention trained on the hallway. Then he heard a key in the lock.

“I’m just saying, if he can make it to Titans meetings, help Tim with Young Justice, and patrol Bludhaven while providing backup for the Gothamites, he can swing a night out with his oldest friends now and then.”

“Roy, I’m pretty sure that schedule is exactly why he can’t. Plus isn’t he trying to nurture a new relation…oh. Speak of the devil.” A tall black haired woman who looked like a slightly younger Wonder Woman was standing in the doorway with a buff guy with douchebag looking tattoos. She smiled warmly at Piper, while the guy scowled. “You must be Piper.”

“Yeah.” Well she obviously wasn’t Wonder Woman. Was this Wonder Girl? No, she couldn’t still be calling herself that. Dick had moved on from Robin. She had to be something else by now.

“He gave you a key? Already?”

Not-Wonder Woman elbowed her companion in the ribs. “Come on, Roy. They’ve been together for a few months now, and Wally’s known Piper for ages. I think we can trust-”

“Wally West’s judgment?” Roy rubbed his side, and then threw a quick look in Piper’s direction. “No offense, dude.”

“None taken. I’m very close with Wally so I understand completely.” He shut his laptop down, despairing of getting any work done. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ve been thoroughly stalked by Batman by now and he seems to be warming up to me.”

“Honestly, Piper. We’re not concerned.”

Roy’s eyebrows shot up. “You were incredibly concerned when this started. I distinctly remember hearing something along the lines of, ‘here we go again,’ and ‘why can’t he just make it work with Kory?’”

The woman’s face colored a bit. She looked like she would have elbowed him again if he were standing closer. Thankfully, there was a knock on the door that allowed Piper a peaceful few minutes to greet the delivery driver, collect his food, and disappear into the kitchen. While he was grabbing utensils, he heard Dick walk in and greet his friends.

“Oh, hey Donna. Wait, did we make plans I forgot about?”

“Apparently, but we won’t hold it against you-”

“That’s a little strong, Roy. Dick said maybe when you asked him.”

Piper hovered in the kitchen doorway, watching the three of them and weighing whether he wanted to approach or find some excuse to putter around a little longer. Maybe he could empty the Pad Thai from the containers onto plates? He wasn’t one hundred percent sure Dick actually had plates as he’d never seen any, but surely he’d been set up with the ability to cook and eat homemade meals if he ever had the time and desire to do so.

“Oh shit. The Great Frog anniversary show’s tonight, isn’t it?”

“Yep. And you did said you’d try to make it.”

“He did,” Donna said. “And you promised not to hassle him if he couldn’t be there.”

“I believe the exact promise was that you wouldn’t be a whiny little bitch about it,” Dick added. He scrubbed a hand through his hair and sighed, taking the temperature of the room and weighing the likelihood of whiny bitchiness. The conditions didn’t look favorable. “Hey, Piper. How would you feel about going out tonight instead of hanging around here? You’re a music guy. An unexpected concert wouldn’t be a terrible imposition, right?”

Piper took a few steps away from the doorway, since he’d been directly addressed and couldn’t plausibly pretend he had any reason to still be in the kitchen. “I’m always down for live music. Of course, I don’t mind waiting here if you’d rather keep this restricted to your social circle.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Piper. We’re happy to have you along.” Donna looked sincere enough, at least. “Roy, why don’t we head down to the venue now and they can meet us there? You said Mal was already on his way for soundcheck.”

“Yeah. Yeah, we can head out now. Give them a chance to get ready.” Roy nodded at Dick. “See you in a couple hours.”

“Bye.” Dick waved them along, while Piper glanced down at his outfit in confusion. Did he not look ready to go out? He wasn’t even wearing sweatpants. “Did you get enough takeout for both of us? I’m starving.”

“Yep. There’s another helping of Pad Thai waiting for you, and I got scallion pancakes.”

“Yes! Best boyfriend ever.” Dick kissed his cheek on his way to the kitchen, a spring in his step.

Piper went back to the sofa, and tried to ignore the not quite hushed conversation he could make out with his superhearing that Roy and Donna were having in the stairwell. It was pretty hard to ignore though, since it was about him.

“You were being rude-”

“I wasn’t! I absolutely was not. I mean, I wasn’t being friendly, but that’s not the same thing as being rude.”

“Whatever. Just try to be nicer when they join us. I don’t want to spend the entire night running interference between you and Dick’s new boyfriend, just because you’re jealous.”

“Hey, I am not jealous. Dick soundly rejected the idea of getting back together before Wally dumped his damaged buddy on his lap. By the by, the fact that Wally was scared enough of the prospect of us dating again that he grabbed the first gay guy he saw and threw him at Dick in a panic is kind of insulting, don’t you think?”

“Not really, since I don’t think that’s what happened. C’mon, Harper. They’re pretty cute together.”

“Dick’s cute. Piper’s kinda…”

“That wasn’t what I was saying. But I suppose you’re right. He’s a little plain compared to Dick’s usual partners. Still, they seem happy. Don’t jinx it, okay?”

“Hartley, everything okay?” Dick sat down next to Piper on the sofa with his plate of food and a concerned expression.

“Oh, yes. Fine. Absolutely fine. So what kind of music does your friend’s band play?” Piper half listened to Dick’s reply, quietly stewing over what he’d accidentally overheard.

They weren’t wrong, exactly. Piper was pretty plain compared to the average superhero; most of them could have modeled. But he was getting back in shape, and he definitely wasn’t ugly. Dick was (thankfully) attracted to him, and his was the only opinion that mattered on the subject anyway. And he would keep telling himself that for as long as it took to sink in.

While Piper was waiting for Dick to finish getting ready, he called Wally to see if he’d been invited to the show as well, as it seemed to be an ex-Teen Titans get-together.

“Oh, fuck. I knew I was forgetting about something. Well, I’m not off-planet or anything so I guess I’m down. I’ll meet you guys at Dick’s and we can head in together?”

“Sure, that should be-” Piper hung up the phone, since Wally had appeared in the living room as soon as he’d finished saying ‘sure.’ “Do you have a key as well, or did you run through the wall?”

Wally held up his keys and gave them a little shake. “The Bat-Family has some security measures that make it uncomfortable to arrive by superspeed unannounced. Not impossible, mind you. They do call on us in emergencies. But yeah, when I visit I try to use the door. Just, y’know, more quickly than you do. So did you already meet Roy? What’d you think?”

“He’s…fine.”

Wally’s grin was troubling. Clearly, he sensed an ally. “Uh huh.”

“Look, I barely spoke to him. We were in the same room for maybe ten minutes, tops.”

“And you already think he’s a prick too.”

“You could look less happy about that.”

Dick walked into the room, looking especially good in designer jeans, a faded band shirt, and a leather jacket. His hair was mussed in a way that was probably supposed to look casual, but had been carefully styled. “Oh, hey Wally. So you were free tonight too?”

“Yeah, for now.” Wally glanced down at his watch, which also held his current JLA communicator. “I mean, between the three of us, Roy, Mal, and Donna, that is way too many heroes for nothing to go wrong tonight. Someone’s gonna blow up the music venue at this rate.”

“This many of us? Someone could blow up the entire city,” Dick agreed. “Still. Let’s try to have some fun while we can, shall we?”

Maybe it’s because they went in expecting it, but the evening was pleasantly supervillain free. Roy’s band was pretty good, to Piper’s annoyance. Having been insulted by the man earlier that day, he was feeling a bit petty and wanted to find something to slight him over in return. But he was a skilled musician and a solid performer, something that Piper couldn’t say for himself and it was incredibly frustrating. Wally tried to meet his eye a few times during the show, and after it finished he finally grabbed Piper’s attention. “Well?”

“Well what?”

“C’mon, you know I’m not a sophisticated music listener. Is Great Frog any good?”

Dick laughed when he realized what they were talking about. “Yes, Wally. They’re good-”

“I already know you think so, but Piper’s the music expert. I want his opinion.”

“…yes, they’re very good. Actually, I was thinking of hitting up the merch table and grabbing a CD. I particularly liked the trumpet player. He’s one of your friends too, isn’t he?” As tempting as it was to be petty, being gracious felt like the most sensible option. 

Dick looked like he was struggling not to laugh again as Wally’s face fell.

“Yeah, that’s Mal and he’s always been incredible. After the band initially split up he kept going with it on his own and he does a lot of studio session work now. You could probably find him in the liner notes for some albums you already have.”

“Oh, I’ll have to keep an eye out for him. I’m sorry, Wally. Did you want me to pretend that they’re bad?”

“No,” Wally said, in something very near a pout. “I mean, I never thought Mal was bad…”

Piper did end up heading over to the merch table while the others mingled, greeting old friends in the crowd and reminiscing about the short-lived band’s glory days. Considering Great Frog was just playing a few shows in cities the members were connected to and not actually getting back together, they didn’t have much merchandise to speak of. But they’d put out two albums and Piper scanned the backs of them, trying to guess which one had more of the songs he’d enjoyed during the show.

“Get the second one.”

He looked up and saw the trumpet player they’d just been talking about. “The first one’s okay. I mean, I think we did pretty good for a bunch of seventeen year olds who barely knew what we were doing. But we were working with an actual producer on the second one. The vocals are much more intelligible.”

“All right then, I’ll take the sophomore album.” Piper handed some money over to the man running the table, who he thought might have been the guitarist, and then stepped aside. “Mal, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, you’re Wally’s buddy, right? The Piper? Nice to meet you.” He held out his hand for a shake and Piper took it. “You’re a sound guy too, aren’t you?”

“I thought you looked familiar. Hornblower?” There were only so many costumes he was aware of that worked with sonics.

“Sometimes, but mostly I’m trying to stay out of all that mess. Those idiots over there though, they have a way of dragging you back into things.” He smiled fondly and shrugged his shoulders. “Still, we should compare notes sometime. It doesn’t hurt to keep the skillset sharp, y’know?”

“Oh, certainly. I’d love to pick your brain.”

“Cool. I’ll be in touch then.” Mal leaned forward a little, and Piper perked up, expecting him to say something costume related. “Don’t worry about Harper, okay? He’s a good guy, really. He just gets kinda stupid when it comes to Dick Grayson. He’ll cool off soon enough, and if he does anything especially stupid the rest of us will get him in line.”

“I wasn’t worried,” Piper said, because being annoyed wasn't the same thing as being worried. “But thank you, all the same.”

Mal clapped him on the arm. “Cool. I’m gonna try to sell more CDs. My wife’s been on my butt about how much space they’re taking up in the garage. See you around, Piper.”

Piper drifted back over to his friends, who had migrated to the bar and been joined by Roy. Everyone looked happy enough, but he still felt a bit unsure of himself as he approached the group. He stood a bit closer to Wally than Dick, who immediately undercut his effort to avoid tension by greeting Piper with a quick kiss. “Hey, did you get your CD?”

Piper held up the CD case, carefully avoiding Harper’s gaze (he did catch Donna elbowing the guy in the ribs out of the corner of his eye though). “Yes, Mal said that this was the better of the two.”

“Oh, yeah, we had an actual producer for that one. Turns out those are important. Wait, did you really spend money on our merch?”

Piper nodded. “I liked the show. You’re talented.”

“Oh. Well, thanks.”

Dick wrapped an arm around Piper and leaned against him, but turned his attention towards Roy and Donna. “I’m glad you guys reminded me about the show. I’ve been so busy lately, it completely slipped my mind. But this was a great way to introduce my new boyfriend to my oldest friends. Shared interests and all that, right?”

“Yeah, I’m a pretty easy sell when it comes to good music.”

This time, when Piper and Dick were leaving and Piper accidentally overheard Donna and Roy's conversation, he wasn’t affronted by their commentary.

“Okay, Donna, you were right. He’s a pretty chill guy.”

“Mm hm. Wally’s spoken very highly of Piper, and you know how he gets about Dick. He wouldn’t have set them up if he didn’t think it was going to work. It’s time to move on, Harper.”

“Yeah, I guess. So…what have you been up to lately?”

“…that’s not what I meant.”

“You know you’re a good person, right?”

Piper leaned up on his elbows so he could get a better look at Dick, feeling a little thrown. “Um…I guess? Dick, I was just telling a funny story. It’s not that serious.”

Dick was watching him with an unnecessarily earnest expression. They were lounging on his bed, idling away the last hours of Piper’s visit before he had to catch a train and prep for his Keystone Out! board meeting. Piper had thought he was telling an amusing anecdote from his adolescence, but instead of laughing his boyfriend looked mildly heartbroken. Dick hadn’t exactly had a normal upbringing either; Piper hadn’t expected to have quite so many of these moments where his dysfunctions introduced awkward pauses into conversation. That usually happened more with folks who'd had happy, boring home lives. But Dick’s actual parents had been surprisingly grounded for circus folks, and they’d instilled him with quite a bit of emotional intelligence. Couple that with his detective training, and he was eerily perceptive.

“Look, it’s just that you make a lot of self-deprecating jokes, and there are all these throwaway comments about you thinking you’re a problem that other people have to deal with. But like…you’re not mean. I actually find you really respectful of other peoples’ feelings. You get a bit nasty when you think someone else is being unjust, but that’s not a bad thing. Obviously, I’m biased.” Dick ran his fingers over Piper’s forearm, and then reached up to stroke the side of his face, which Piper could feel turning a warm red. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I just thought you should hear it clearly stated.”

“Well, thank you. I’m sorry, I’m not really sure what to say.” Everything in him was rebelling against the assertion. It wasn’t just the years of costumed villainy that had conditioned him to believe he was, well, evil. It went back further than that. He was the problem child, the one that needed to be fixed. The one who couldn’t let things go, who had to make everything a fight. At home, in school, everywhere he’d gone, he’d always been too much, too loud, and considered a raging asshole.

But Dick was right. He’d always been trying to be considerate of those around him. Calling out injustices was part of that, and it tended to make the people committing the injustices unhappy to hear their actions challenged.

“You’re still all flushed. Okay, I’ll change the subject for now. So you’ve got that meeting tonight, right? Are you guys going to discuss how to spend Bruce’s money?”

“I’m sure there are other items on the agenda, but that’s the main objective. Did he…say anything to you before he sent the donation?”

“Nope, the first I heard about it was from Wally, actually, and I assume he got the info from you. Which is very Bruce. He pulls strings in the background all the time. I’ve learned that I’ve got to pick my battles and roll with the stuff that doesn’t actively cross lines if I want to have a relationship with him, and funding a charity that does important work definitely doesn’t qualify as a battle.”

“Not at all. Well, if he ever does acknowledge it to you, please thank him on my behalf.”

“Of course, but you can thank him too.”

Piper laughed, but once again Dick didn’t. “We sent him a card, with a VIP invite to this fundraising holiday party we host every year. Usually the VIP tickets are fifty dollars while general admission is twenty, so obviously he’s paid admission for life. He can come to any Keystone Out! event he desires, though I don’t think anyone’s expecting him to actually show up.”

“Yeah, probably not,” Dick agreed. “Well, I’ll get the two of you in the same room and actually talking to each other someday.” He gave Piper’s hand a squeeze, a pretty sappy looking smile on his face that Piper couldn’t help but return.

“I know it’s only fair, since I’ve subjected you to my parents-”

“Who were surprisingly nice-”

“For selfish reasons. But yes, all the same. You’ve met some of my complicated people. I ought to meet some more of yours. I just think I could use a few more warm ups before we go right for the most difficult person.”

“That’s more than fair. Bruce is intimidating even when he’s not trying to be. Well, you’ve met almost every member of the original Teen Titans now. That’s a good start. I think I’ll throw Robin at you next. He’s a pretty easygoing kid.”

“I appreciate you.”

Needless to say, given the discussion he’d had with his partner, Piper was quite surprised to walk into the Keystone Out! Holigays fundraising party a few weeks later to find Bruce Wayne posing for a picture with their executive director, programming director, and newly hired mental health counselor.

“Oh…boy.”

Chapter Text

Piper walked into the large meeting room in Keystone Out!’s rented commercial space, which was located in a strip mall that was equidistant between Keystone High and the downtown, saw the photo op taking place, and walked back out again. He went out to the parking lot, got into his car, and took a few slow, steady breaths. But when he stopped thinking about his breathing it got fast again. So he opened up the glove box and got out his lorazepam.

He’d shown up. Batman had shown up. He wasn’t actually supposed to accept the invite. Piper and Dick had talked about this, and he was planning on meeting Batman sometime in the early spring. He thought he’d be ready by then. He’d hung out with Tim Drake (who he’d immediately gotten along with, to Dick’s immense pleasure), he’d been introduced to Tempest, the one original Teen Titan who hadn’t been at the Great Frog show, and he and Mal were actually hanging out sometimes without Dick or Wally present. Things had been progressing so nicely. Dick had even done Thanksgiving with the Rathaways, and it hadn’t been a shit show (largely because they’d fled for Wally’s for desserts and had accordingly kept to a strict time limit).

“You’re not a scared kid in a silly polka dotted tunic acting out against society,” Piper whispered to himself. “You’re an adult who is actively contributing to make things better for the marginalized and oppressed. It’s fine. Everything’s fine. He’s a guest in your space. He’s the guest. Just breathe.”

He did a breathing exercise, and when his hands stopped shaking he tried walking into the party again.

“Mr. Rathaway, did you see who’s here?” Mattie spotted him hovering in the doorway first. “Our new donor actually flew out from Gotham for our event. This is so cool! I can’t wait to use the pictures in the newsletter.”

“Yeah, it’s…something.”

Piper spent the first half hour of the night keeping himself busy with the interns and the actual youth attending the event. This dinner was mostly for donors - they had a separate holiday party for the kids themselves, but as a rule the kids they served were always welcome at every Keystone Out! function, especially when food was involved. And inevitably, the kids who made it out for the fundraising events always felt intimidated and out of place when the wealthy, establishment types dominated their queer little oasis. Excepting a couple of ambitious older teens like Mattie, most of the kids ended up hiding in the smaller meeting room with the bean bag chairs and the softer lighting. Piper set himself up as the adult in the room, and joked around with the teens and obliged their requests for stories about queer activism and super heroics.

Then Mattie came to switch places with him because the actual dinner was starting. Piper let out a sigh. “Anyone else joining us in the big room?”

“That’s okay, Mr. Rathaway. They ordered us pizza, so we’re just gonna stay in here,” Yazmin, one of their peer leaders, answered.

A wide eyed kid who’d been testing out different names that week regarded Piper with some amusement. Last he’d heard, she was going by Elinore. “Aren’t you on the board? How are you as scared of the rich weirdos as us kids?”

“I’m not scared,” Piper lied, as even his medicated nerves screamed otherwise. “I just find you kids to be much better company.” Which was one hundred percent true. “Well, I’d better at least make an attempt to glad hand and secure us some more donations. Oh, have any of you talked to the new mental health counselor yet? Isn’t she delightful?”

“Yeah, Monique’s nice. Stop stalling, dude.”

“Dude, don’t call Mr. Rathaway dude.”

“Yeah, show some respect. He’s been beating up bigots and phobes since the olden days.”

“My name’s Hartley. You can call me that,” he said on his way out, as the kids continued to squabble with each other.

The dinner itself wasn’t any more or less awful than it usually was. As Mr. Wayne was being treated as a guest of honor, the other board members and their executive director, Harry, seemed to think it appropriate to do the bulk of the interacting with him. Bruce was at a table with the other VIPs (and looked a bit silly at a folding table with a red plastic table cloth thrown over it being served roast chicken and vegetables from the same grassroots org that worked with the Keystone Pantry, flanked by local business owners who weren’t even millionaires, let alone billionaires). The room was mostly decorated with art projects the kids themselves had made, but they’d tried to class things up a little with some plastic evergreen garlands and potted poinsettias. One of the older kids, who was something of a piano prodigy, played Christmas carols while they were eating.

Then Piper had to get up and make a speech to the donors. He kept his gaze everywhere but on the VIP table, and proceeded with a basic version of the same speech he’d given at every Keystone Out! fundraising event since he’d started working with the organization, shortly after he’d reformed and his friendship with Wally had improved his reputation enough that he could openly contribute to non-profits. He talked about the need for services like theirs and gave it a personal touch by talking about how a group like this could have made a difference for him personally during his youth. Then he introduced Monique to the room, talked about the work she was already doing for the kids against the bleak stats about mental health and the prevalence of suicidal ideation for the community they served, and the work they expected her to do going forward. He finished off by introducing their goals for the coming year; hosting an alternate prom for the kids who couldn’t openly attend the ones at their schools, a series of workshops that would result in the production of a zine written and illustrated by the kids, to be archived at the space, and finally a closet of donated clothes to provide newly transitioned youth with access to gender affirming clothes as soon as they were needed.

He watched the reactions to his last announcement with particular care. It was only the first of several transgender-specific programming pieces that he and the volunteers wanted to roll out, leading up to a legal clinic to help interested kids with name and gender marker changes.

Usually the speeches ended with polite applause, but this time most of the donors were silently staring at Piper with varying shades of discomfort and disapproval on their faces. “Thank you for coming, and once again for making our work possible. I’m going to turn things back over to Harry. Goodnight.”

Piper resumed his seat at a table with the volunteers, who were the ones who worked directly with the kids. Piper was one of two board members who was hands on and actually knew the day to day operations of the place. He received a whispered, “good speech,” from Kerrie.

While Harry told them about some upcoming fundraising opportunities, Piper sipped his drink and tried to ignore the rude whispers he was picking up from the other tables.

“This is what our money is going to now? Confused kids who can’t tell if they’re boys or girls?”

“They shouldn’t be pushing this stuff on kids. I’m fine with adults doing…that…that sort of thing, but this is a group for teenagers, isn’t it?”

“There’s no way this is going to fly. The city’s going to shut us down.”

“I can see why they needed a mental health counselor if this is the tripe the children are coming to them with.”

Piper could feel himself getting madder and madder, and with great effort he held himself in check. But for fuck’s sake - didn’t these assholes know they were repeating the exact same bullshit the bigots always said about the LGBs? Just substitute transgender instead of their own cherished labels, and it was literally the exact same bigotry.

He remembered his mother insisting he was too young to know something like that about himself the first time he’d tried coming out. It was the same goddamn script.

Well, it didn’t matter. The establishment gays, who were living comfortable lives completely removed from the struggling preteens and teens who found refuge in Keystone Out!’s programming, could withdraw all their funding if they wished. The volunteers, the executive director, and most of the board were with him on this. They had the funds, and they were going to use them to help all of the kids who needed it.

Bruce had been far too young when he’d become Dick Grayson’s guardian. If he’d had it to do over again, he’d have made a lot of changes, first and foremost being that he’d have reached out for the help and guidance he’d needed. At the time, he’d only really spoken to Alfred about how the pressure of being responsible for the vulnerable young boy’s life was getting to him, and he’d stubbornly ignored at least half of the advice the older, experienced, and well meaning man had given him.

Taking Dick in hadn’t been a rational impulse - he’d been completely driven by emotion. They’d bonded through a shared trauma, and since then he’d been doing his best to protect Dick from things he hadn’t been able to protect himself from. For awhile, things had worked out well enough, but his best hadn’t been good enough and ultimately he’d pushed Dick away. Then he’d failed another child even more horrifically, vowed never to tempt fate in such a calamitous way again, and somehow wound up with a third sidekick even after that.

At least this child wasn’t living with him. Besides that, Bruce had been humbled in the most brutal manner by Jason’s death. He was asking for help whenever necessary, understanding and accepting that he couldn’t do this work alone. He needed so much help. He needed some redemption. Tim would survive, and he would flourish. Bruce was sick of making the same mistakes over and over again. So this time he was actively seeking Alfred’s guidance and carefully considering everything he had to say. Tim’s presence had gotten him talking to Dick again, and though it smarted to be called to task on everything he’d done wrong during Dick’s adolescence, it was instructive.

Sometimes they even managed civil conversations where neither of them felt the need to prod at each other’s unhealed emotional wounds. They really did know each other too well.

He loved Dick, and truly saw him as family. But they would have been better suited as surrogate brothers than surrogate father and son. In his attempts to help guide the boy, he’d constantly overreached and ultimately damaged their relationship, though hopefully not beyond repair. Alfred had mitigated some of the harm Bruce had done; he’d always had the best of intentions, which was his saving grace. It seemed like they were on their way to a true reconciliation. Every time he and Dick were thrown together for work, or for Tim’s benefit, or just because Dick wanted to swing by and chat with Alfred for a bit, Bruce looked for signs of Dick’s bitterness relenting, and he was encouraged by what he saw.

And then Dick decided to date a supposedly reformed supervillain.

One of the biggest differences between Bruce and Dick’s characters was how easily Dick trusted people and let them into his heart. This foolish openness was a core part of his charisma; he was fascinated by his fellow humans and had a way of making everyone around him feel seen, heard, respected, and valued. Bruce was similarly fascinated by others, but his attention resulted in everyone around him feeling ill at ease. When he had to put on the playboy mask, he actually emulated some of Dick’s natural character traits to soften himself and try to be more likable (something that he was never planning on telling Dick).

Really, Dick’s faith in people, if tempered by discernment, was an admirable trait and it made him a good leader. But it had to be tempered. He couldn’t just open his entire life to a perfect stranger with a questionable past.

And yet, that was exactly what he’d done. He’d been introduced to the Pied Piper as Nightwing, and immediately unmasked himself as Dick Grayson. He spoke to him in a completely unguarded, relaxed manner within minutes of deciding to go on a single date. The man was a hypnotist; Bruce would have thought that called for more caution, not less. Apparently, Dick was placing a lot of faith in the judgment of Wally West, and the way he vouched for Rathaway did speak well to the (former) crook. But West also had questionable judgment, first and foremost being his insistence on doing away with a secret identity. It was one thing for West to put himself and his own family in danger by choosing not to take the necessary precautions that came with super heroics, but he needed to confine that recklessness to his own circle.

So Bruce spent the first months of Dick’s relationship with a (reformed) super-villain (who’d come alarmingly close to murdering Wally’s uncle on multiple occasions) gathering intel about the man. Dick discovering his bugs had been a setback, but not an insurmountable one, and besides that, by then he’d learned pretty much anything he was going to from listening to Rathaway’s comings and goings. He’d consulted with Clark and gotten a stubbornly rose tinted view of the man, which was what he’d expected. He got ahold of Rathaway’s files from the CCPD, Iron Heights, and Breedmore Mental Hospital. He had the Batcomputer regularly scouring databases for any news reports on Rathaway. And ultimately…it looked like Clark was right.

Rathaway had had a troubled adolescence and young adulthood. He’d had a breakdown, received psychiatric care, and after being released from the hospital he’d found a supportive community to aid him in recovery. Even at the height of his supervillainy, there were signs that he was misdirected more than malevolent (the attempts on Barry’s life were uncharacteristic - he never set death traps against anyone who wouldn’t be able to solve them). Begrudgingly, Bruce came to the conclusion that Hartley Rathaway was most likely a good man. And that he’d once more overstepped and damaged his relationship with his former ward while trying to protect him.

Bruce realized that his donation to Rathaway’s pet charity would be construed as an attempt to buy forgiveness (something he’d been fully aware of before Alfred snarked at him about it), but truthfully he’d liked what he’d learned about the charity while conducting his investigation. He’d also instructed the foundation to send similar (if less extravagant) recurring donations to non-profits doing the same type of work in the greater Gotham area. Bruce knew he still needed to actually talk to Rathaway, and that’s why he’d accepted the invite to the Holigays Dinner.

And then he spent most of the event with his attention jealously guarded by well meaning administrators that he couldn’t seem to shake. Besides that, Rathaway was obviously avoiding him. The first time he got a good look at the man was while he was giving a speech that got mixed reception from the other donors, though Bruce thought it was delivered well enough. Generally, the fundraisers he attended didn’t involve folding chairs or strip malls, but there was certainly overlap in the desire to wring as much money as possible from the attendees so the charitable institution could continue its work. Bruce found the brevity and directness of Rathaway’s speech refreshing.

After the dinner, the attendees went back to milling around the room networking with each other and gossiping about the, apparently, new direction the non-profit was taking. Rathaway was just about to slip out of the room again when he was grabbed by Harry, Keystone Out!’s director. “Hartley, has anyone introduced you to our new donor yet? You’re probably the best board member to give him a tour of the space, if he wants it.” Harry smiled at Bruce. “Hartley’s the most hands-on of us old fuddy duddies with the kids. He’s sort of a go between for us business minded folks and the volunteers who do the actual programming.”

Bruce observed the briefest bit of reluctance from Rathaway as he backtracked and fixed a blandly pleasant smile on his face. “We’ve met in passing before. You’re acquainted with my parents, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I’ve worked with your father a few times in the past. How are they doing?”

“They’re fine. Busy with the holidays and all that. I’m sure you can relate.”

Harry seemed to think this was going well. Rathaway was a good enough actor to fool someone looking to be pleased with what he saw. But his eyes flickered towards the exit periodically and it looked like he was reminding himself to smile.

“So, how about that tour?” Bruce prompted, and, with further well masked reluctance, Rathaway showed him out into the hallway. He gave an obviously scripted description of the different rooms in the building, and explained what they were hoping to change in light of their improved financial status. “We’re going to condense the supply room and the craft closet into one, and then this is going to become the gender affirming clothes boutique. Well, I think that’s everything. Good seeing you.”

“I think you know why I’m really here. I won’t insult your intelligence by pretending otherwise.”

Rathaway pressed his lips together, then turned on his heel and walked back over to Bruce. “I’m at work. Technically this is a volunteer position but on a personal level, this is the most important work I’ve done in my life. I can’t do this right now. Not here.”

“I understand.” That had been shortsighted of him. One thing Rathaway’s mental health files had made abundantly clear, if nothing else, was that he was an anxious young man who expected persecution more readily than good will. “I do need to talk to you at some point though. What would be a better time and place for you?”

Rathaway let out a labored sigh, and nervously flexed his fingers. “I’m not, um…look, why don’t you just meet me at my place after this ends? I know you already know where it is. I’ve got to stay at least until all the kids get picked up.”

Bruce nodded, and left him to his work.

Chapter Text

“I’m not sorry I investigated you. If you and Dick were to break up tomorrow and he wound up in the same circumstances with an identical partner, I would conduct myself exactly the same way.”

Piper gaped at his guest, who was waiting for him to respond, looking perfectly unconcerned as he did so. “You’ll have to give me a moment. That wasn’t remotely what I’d been expecting you to say.”

Wayne smirked, and quickly hid it by taking a sip from the cup of coffee Piper had offered him once they’d gotten settled in his kitchen (he’d almost brought Batman into his living room but at the last moment he’d stopped himself, realizing that he couldn’t have this conversation while seated on a sofa he and Dick had fucked on).

“It’s really nothing personal to you. Dick is…very trusting. And, unlike our acquaintances who have vouched for you, he does not possess godlike powers. As he is only human, it takes work to keep him safe in this field. I will continue to value his safety over his idealistic insistence on looking for the best in everyone he meets.”

Piper frowned, weighing how much he wanted to say in response to that. “Okay…as I’m sure you’re aware, I have a chronic anxiety disorder so I do see where you’re coming from. Truly. But leading with my anxiety has irreparably damaged quite a few of my personal relationships so I try not to let it take over if I can help it. Dick’s an adult. Don’t you think you ought to let him make his own decisions?”

“Of course. I can’t stop him.”

Piper tilted his head to the side, as though the little shake would help him better understand Wayne’s reasoning. He was still coming up blank. “But you’re meddling. That completely undercuts the entire premise that you respect his decisions.”

“I’ve kept my actions in the background.”

“Uh huh. What would you have done if your investigation had turned up something you didn’t approve of?”

“Well, let’s both be glad that didn’t happen.”

Piper started to take a sip of his own coffee, then thought better about consuming caffeine with the night he was having and dumped it in the sink. He put on some water for herbal tea instead.

Then, to his surprise, Wayne made the smallest sound of frustration and rubbed his temple. Busy fussing with the tea kettle, Piper almost missed it.

“This wasn’t supposed to go this way. I am sorry that we’ve gotten off to a tense start. You seem like a nice enough man, you’ve got integrity, and to the point, you’re making him happy. I appreciate the changes I’ve observed in Dick since you’ve started seeing each other. I’d like those changes to progress.”

“Okay…thank you, I suppose. And thank you for what you’ve done for Keystone Out!. The super heroics I engage in with Wally, I’m sure you’ve noticed it’s never been my main focus. The heart of what I do is my local work in my community. Being able to support the kids with what they actually need, right now, in this moment, without having to worry about being palatable to the donors…it means a lot.”

“I understand. That sort of organizing hasn’t been on my radar but I see its value. I’d like your help in implementing similar programming in Gotham, if you’re interested.”

“Oh, certainly. Uh, did you actually need one of these?” Piper reflexively took a business card out of his wallet, since he was in the habit of handing them out whenever he was connecting with someone about the non-profit work.

Again, Wayne fixed him with that unnerving smirk (unnerving because it was just off from being the smarmy smile he used in his tabloid-type pictures. Change it by a degree and apparently it was a Batman expression). “I’ve got one.”

The kettle whistled, interrupting the strained silence. Piper shut it off and fixed his tea, though he remained standing and leaned against the kitchen counter. He wondered how much longer Wayne was intending to stay. They’d probably said everything they needed to…hadn’t they? Wayne wasn’t going to apologize, clearly, since he didn’t see that he’d done anything wrong, and Piper didn’t have it in him to try to argue his case. He could settle for this tentative peace between them, and was frankly just happy that Batman wasn’t actually opposed to his relationship.

The tense silence was spectacularly shattered by someone frantically ringing Piper’s doorbell. His face fell and his stomach twisted in knots as he recognized the childish button pushing. ‘Not now. Why now?’

Wayne watched him, face inscrutable beyond some curiosity. “Shouldn’t you answer that?”

Piper inhaled through his nose and set his mug down. Well, the pest at his front door certainly wasn’t going to go away until he did, and he doubted Batman would leave either. Piper walked through his house to the front door and opened it just enough so that he could fix an urgent glare on one of his oldest friends.

“James, now is not the time.”

“And normally I’d respect the cold shoulder you’re clearly trying to give me,” James Jesse started, throwing his shoulder against the door to try to budge it the rest of the way open. Piper held it firmly in place. “But I’m on a bit of a time crunch. I need your help.”

“If you expect to get it you’ll leave now and let me contact you when I’m ready,” Piper said, careful to keep his voice low.

“Why’re you being so weird? Is someone threatening you or something?” James leaned up on tip toe, trying to see around Piper, who closed the door another inch and leaned forward, trying to block his view.

“Please, just go. I’ll explain everything later-”

“Listen, old pal, you’re looking a little green. Is everything okay?” James did look sincerely worried about him, which made Piper wonder how bad he did look. He could feel his breathing getting fast again, and he was a little light headed.

“Well? Who’s at the door?” Wayne’s voice sounded from far too close by. While Piper jumped, James used that opportunity to get past him and into the living room.

“Oh, I get it,” James said with a grin, his eyes landing on Bruce. “You got the new boy toy’s father figure over for a visit and you’re trying to hide your embarrassing pals, is that it? Well, it doesn’t get much more embarrassing than the Trickster, so we might as well get all the dirty laundry out at once and get it over with.” James held his hand out to his eerily calm looking guest. “James Jesse.”

“I know. You robbed me once, though it was several years ago at this point,” Wayne said as he shook hands.

“Did I? Huh. I don’t work Gotham very often. Not the kinda company I like to keep, those guys. Were you over our way in Central at the time?”

“James, I believe there was some kind of emergency?” Piper asked, barely recognizing his voice with the hysterical breathiness it had taken on. He turned a pleading look on Wayne. “He’s reformed, by the way. H-he works with me and Wally now.”

“Yeah…reformed…mostly.”

Piper really wanted to tell him he was talking to Batman. James would not be digging a grave for them like this if he realized he was in the company of more than a tabloid chasing billionaire ditz. But he couldn’t give away Wayne’s identity, and he couldn’t think of a way to get rid of James or get him to shut up.

“Okay, so this thing I need you for, it’s a swell bit of trickery. First, we’re gonna con Captain Cold and the other guys into breaking into a Buddhist temple in Zhutan and stealing a valuable artifact. Then, while they’re doing that, I’m gonna need you to set up some sound gear so we can make it look like the temple and the puppet government of the local dictator is being attacked by a mythical folk hero. It’ll be a diversion so I can kidnap a twelve year old hostage and smuggle him back to the United States-”

Piper didn’t hear the rest of what James said. As his vision went dark, he was somewhat aware of the ground getting closer and James’ oily conman smile slipping into a look of concern.

When Piper came to he was lying on his living room floor with a couch cushion shoved under his knees. James was holding a wet cloth to his forehead, while Batman was counting his pulse. “Did I…I’ve never passed out from anxiety before.”

“Dude, that was scary. You’re still really pale. Are you okay?” James helped him sit up, and steadied him when he almost fell back onto his elbows. He still felt terribly lightheaded.

“I’ll be fine. I’ve just had…had a trying day.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet.” James shot Wayne an expectant look and tilted his head towards the front door. “You know, it might not be such a great time for company. Ahem. Cough-cough. Hint-hint.”

Piper involuntarily gripped James’ arm, his fingers digging into his skin.

“Yikes! Relax the grip there, Pipesy old friend. I bruise like a delicate piece of fruit.”

“I probably have overstayed my welcome. But Hartley, I expect an update on this story when you have a chance. Your friend is very interesting.”

“That’s one of the nicer ways you could put it,” James said with a wink, then yelped when Piper squeezed him again. “I mean it! You really are going to leave a bruise at this rate.”

“Then shut up,” Piper tried to mutter while moving his mouth as little as possible. James waved Wayne off expectantly, and once the front door shut behind him Piper dropped his head into his hands and let out a breathy sob. “Oh my god. Oh my god. I don’t know what he even thinks, I, I…I need to call Dick.”

“Well, call your lover boy later. I already told you, I need your help. C’mon, Hart. This kid’s counting on me, and he’s really important to someone who’s important to me. You’re not going to leave me hanging, are you?”

Piper closed his eyes and slowly counted to five. When he opened them James was still watching him expectantly. “Of course I’ll help you rescue a child. But James…did you have to say all that to Bruce Wayne? Couldn’t you have waited five minutes and let me get rid of him on my own first?”

“…look, I know you’re dating the guy’s sort of kid right now, so I get wanting to impress him. But Bruce Wayne’s kind of a doof, isn’t he? I mean, is a himbo like that really that hard to impress? I think you’re freaking out for nothing, buddy.” James slung a companionable arm around his back, clapped him on the shoulder, and then helped him to his feet. “Now c’mon, let’s get your bag packed and I’ll catch you up on the finer details of my plan. We’ve got forty minutes to get to the airport for our flight.”

“Okay. And after we get back from the rescue mission, I’m going to skin you alive.”

“Sure, sure. Assuming you can catch me, you mean.”

Piper was away with James in Zhutan for almost a week. Reception in the mountainous country wasn’t great, so other than a few quick phone calls from airport payphones, Piper didn’t have much of a chance to talk to Dick or Wally, and he didn’t want to say too much about his true concerns in such a public area. If Batman was convinced he was actually still secretly a supervillain and working with other supervillains, then blabbing about his secret identity in an airport in the presence of the Trickster would not get Piper back into the good graces his charity work had fumbled him into.

Before James had shown up, Batman had said Piper had integrity. He’d said he thought Piper was good for Dick. It had been uncomfortable at the time, but actually the conversation really hadn’t been going all that badly. And then James had barged in with his usual tactlessness and blown everything to hell.

Trickster wasn’t still a villain. He’d saved existence from Neron, multiple times now. Why had he said that he was? Because he thought it was funny, obviously, but still, why?

James opted to remain in Zhutan for an extra couple of weeks when he realized that the child he’d just rescued was, in fact, his own biological son. The rest of the Rogues scattered at the first possible opportunity, leaving Piper on a lonely solo flight back around the world to Kansas. He was glad to be home but not in the least looking forward to putting right everything he’d left hanging when James had blown in and yanked him away for an adventure.

Linda was waiting for him at the airport, with a sympathetic smile and a to-go cup of peppermint hot chocolate. “Welcome back.” She pulled him into a hug that he happily returned. “Wally said you guys saved the world from some kind of demon king this time? He was a little fuzzy on the details.”

“Honestly, so am I. But I think it was the same one who just possessed all the Rogues. James seems to have bartered their souls back for them.”

“Well that was nice of him. And hey, you made it back with a few days to spare before Christmas. It could have been worse.”

Piper scowled as he followed Linda out into the parking lot to her car. Not expecting to have been gone as long as he’d been, he’d carried on and didn’t have any checked bags to wait for. “Actually, I think skipping over Christmas would have been the best case scenario.”

“You and Dick aren’t planning on doing anything cute and couple-y?” She took his bag from him and shoved it in the trunk.

“He wants to do Christmas in Gotham. He said something about sacrificing Alfred’s cooking for my parents’ bland food was fine for one Thanksgiving but he wasn’t planning on making a habit of it. And I don’t think I can get out of family Christmas this year without it being a whole thing, so we’re spending it apart. I think he’s planning on coming to you and Wally’s party though, so I’ll see him there.”

Linda gave his arm a bracing pat. “Even with all the resources at your disposal, the distance really bites, doesn’t it?”

“Mm.” Piper rested his forehead against the window and closed his eyes while Linda drove them away from the airport and towards the highway.

“Have you two talked about that yet? I mean, you’re going on what…four months?”

“Closer to five now. No, we haven’t talked about it. We probably should.”

“Yeah. See if you can sell him on the Midwest. I’ll go and visit you in Bludhaven if it comes down to it, but I’d rather not lose you, Hartley. I might have to give that boy of mine a talking to if his matchmaking sends you out to the east coast.”

“I’ll see what I can do, Linda. I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you.”

“Mm hm. It’s good to see you have your priorities straight.”

Chapter Text

“Goodnight, Hartley. Rest up.”

“Goodnight, Linda. Thanks again for getting me from the airport.”

“Anytime.” Linda threw him a cheery wave, then drove off. Piper grabbed his bag and started up the walkway. He could hear someone in what sounded like the living room, but it was just relaxed breathing and the scratching of paper on paper as the page of a book was turned. Considering the paranoia with which Piper had overhauled his security system after the bugging incident, and who he’d given access to the house, it was most likely either Dick or Wally inside. And part of the reason Linda had been the one to get him from the airport was because Wally was apparently away on a Justice League mission.

Feeling a bit hopeful, eager to see his boyfriend again and reassured that if he’d been waiting up for him, Dick probably wasn’t mad at him, Piper unlocked the door and turned off his alarm. And then he found himself with a sudden armful of excitable acrobat.

Dick had jumped up into his arms, wrapping his legs around Piper’s waist and knocking him backwards into the wall as he initiated a passionate kiss. Piper returned the kiss, and found himself slowly sinking towards the floor from the unexpected extra weight. Dick jumped down before he completely lost balance, and Piper was able to suck in a quick lungful of air before Dick pounced on him again.

“Missed you,” Dick said, before trailing a line of kisses down Piper’s jaw and then lingering on his neck. He unzipped Piper’s jacket and his hands slid under his shirt, roaming over his torso. Piper could feel his brain turning to mush in the wake of all the insistent stimuli.

They shed clothing as they made slow, stumbling progress from the entryway to Piper’s bedroom. Piper landed with his back on the mattress and Dick straddling him. “This is quite the welcome home.”

“I told you. I missed you.”

Piper locked eyes with him, a small, sentimental smile on his face. He trailed his fingers down Dick’s cheek and across his jaw. “I missed you too.” Dick turned his head so that he could suck the tips of Piper’s fingers into his mouth. He groaned, and involuntarily bucked his hips up a little, grinding their crotches together.

Dick’s eyes looked positively wicked. “Sappy romantic drivel later?”

“H-huh...?”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Dick ended up staying over for the rest of the weekend. By the end of his visit, Piper reflected that there wasn’t a room in the house he’d be able to comfortably look Batman in the eye in, should the man ever return for some reason.

“So what did you end up thinking of Bruce?” Dick asked while Piper fixed them breakfast (with his limited culinary abilities they were having oatmeal and toast). There was something mischievous in his manner, which made Piper wonder what he’d already heard about the disastrous meeting.

“He’s a very talented actor,” Piper answered, pretty diplomatically, he thought. Dick let out a loud snort. “Well he is! I promise you, if we hadn’t started seeing each other and I hadn’t learned his identity through yours, I never would have put that together on my own. He’s uncannily convincing as a celebrity himbo.”

“Oh, I know. But that isn’t what I meant.”

Piper sighed, and scrubbed a hand through his hair. “I honestly still don’t know how I feel about him. Other than that I wanted to make a better impression than I did.”

The microwave beeped, allowing Piper a few minutes of distraction as he finished preparing their humble meal and setting it out on the table. As soon as they were seated, Dick grabbed Piper’s free hand and laced their fingers together. “You honestly did fine. He told me he was impressed with you, actually.”

“Did he?” Piper arched a skeptical brow. “Did he tell you that I fainted?”

“Yes, and he also told me that meeting you put some of the changes he’s observed in Wally into perspective. He thinks you helped Wally mature and become more community minded.”

“Oh.” Piper smiled, and took a bite out of his toast.

“Which you totally did.”

“It’s been a joint effort. Linda did a lot of the heavy lifting there. Besides, Wally’s friendship has done infinitely more for me. I’ve…never had this kind of stability before. It’s really meant a lot, having a steady friend like him who doesn’t brush me off when I’m struggling. Or worse, feed into my spirals and set me off on purpose. Ugh. Speaking of which…I swear, despite how James worded it, we were actually doing superheroics in Zhutan-”

“Piper, I know.” Dick laughed, and gave his hand another reassuring squeeze. “Believe me, I’d have had some questions for you before I dragged you off to the bedroom if I’d thought you’d had a villainous relapse. I do have to say, though, the fact that you ran off to a remote locale with another acrobat…” he gave his head a shake. “That’s the sort of thing that could make a guy jealous.”

Piper let out an incredulous snort, and had to cover his mouth with his hands so his sudden giggle fit didn’t have him spraying the table with half chewed toast. “I know you’re joking, but me and James? Really?”

“Wait, I was joking but only in a, like, I don’t expect you to cheat on me sort of way. In the past, before we got together…the two of you never…?”

“He’s straight.”

“You’re kidding.” Dick was visibly flabbergasted, and Piper started laughing harder. “Oh come on, I am not the only person who thinks the Trickster is gay.”

“No, I get it.” Piper had to wipe at his eyes, as he was laughing so hard they’d started to water. “I did try to flirt with him once back in the day. And that’s how I found out that I was the only queer in the Flash’s Rogues gallery. It still blows my mind to this day. They’re all so campy with the costumes and the gimmicks. And oh, the patter that we all used to do against Barry…but we all went to the same gay tailor, so that accounts for some of the flamboyance, I suppose.”

“Ah, that’s too bad. He’s cute.” Dick stirred his oatmeal, dirty mind likely going to some very dirty places.

“Mm, and very aware of it. The vehemence of his heterosexuality was also an immediate turnoff for me. Still, once he grew up a little and became more secure in his own masculinity he calmed down with the defensive homophobia, and we’ve been good friends ever since. I do know better than to try to depend on him for anything important though. It’s not the same sort of friendship I have with Wally and Linda.”

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Dick got up from the table and disappeared into the bedroom. When he returned, he had a small paper bag with him. “Bruce asked me to give you this.”

Piper uncomfortably swallowed the oatmeal in his mouth and accepted the bag. There was a book on Insight Meditation inside that came with a CD of guided meditations.

Dick looked incredibly amused. “He said this one pairs well with a medication regimen like yours. Which is both thoughtful and creepy, which is a good way to summarize Bruce, I think.”

Piper flipped the book around and scanned the text on the back. “I suppose I do find breathing exercises helpful, so I may as well give this a shot. Um. Tell him thanks, I guess? So James didn’t completely ruin his impression of me?”

“No, he saw that for what it was. An unexpected superhero team up. Hartley…you do know that you don’t actually have to impress him, right? Like, our relationship doesn’t change based on his feelings, okay? You’re dating me, and he doesn’t get a say in that.”

“But life would be undoubtedly easier if your former guardian and complicated family figure wasn’t actively opposed to us being involved. I appreciate what you’re saying though. I’ll try not to give this all more weight than it needs.”

“Kinda like how it’s nice that your parents like me, but it’s also not necessary? Like, some of the finer details are different but it’s still basically the same. I care about you, deeply. And he can’t change that.” Dick kissed the side of his face, then resumed his seat and went back to the toast and oatmeal.

The gentle but insistent reassurance did a lot to quiet the negative little voice in the back of his mind, and Piper was finally able to relax and fully enjoy his boyfriend’s visit.

“You’re back? Did you go anyplace cool this time?”

Piper barely made it through the door to the Keystone Out! youth center before one of the kids stopped him. He liked the distinction; not all of the kids were comfortable approaching all of the adult volunteers, no matter how open and friendly they tried to be. But Piper had his little group of core followers, and he assumed it had something to do with the fact that he didn’t put on airs around them. His misspent youth as a leftist supervillain answered for some of the appeal as well, although he always tried to deflect that subject when it was broached. The kids had a tendency to glamorize what he considered to be a pretty terrible period of his life, and he was still trying to get through to them that being the Pied Piper had involved a lot of suffering until he’d become friends with the Flash and turned things around.

“I was in Zhutan to help an old friend. It’s a small, mountainous country in Southeast Asia. I’m sorry I missed the Christmas party though. Did you make out well during the Yankee Swap?”

Elinore made an iffy gesture with her hand. “I had a gift card to the comic book store for most of the Swap, but Ayden got me at the last minute and swapped me for a box of markers. At least I’ll use the markers. Oh, I changed my name again. I’m trying out Lucille this week. But I won’t mind if you still call me Elinore. I’m still responding to Stacia, and that was three names ago now.”

“That’s good to know. Thanks for updating me, Lucille.” Piper took his jacket off and started walking towards the meeting room. “Did I miss any other big events at Keystone Out! while I was away?”

“We started some new volunteers. Oh, and Nathan’s not allowed near the crafting supplies without adult supervision because of the glitter incident. That’s everything I know about, but I’m just a kid. You should probably check your email, shouldn’t you?”

Piper grinned, and promised to do so. Lucille went to investigate the snack table, leaving Piper to get the room ready for the meeting. They weren’t expecting a very large turnout, it being so close to the holidays, but seeing as it was such a difficult time of the year to be trapped with family that may or may not be accepting, they liked to stay open anyway. Any youth that did show up probably needed the extra support more than they were willing to admit. Piper knew that on a personal level, he benefitted greatly from having a few hours in the company of unapologetically queer folks before he had to shrink himself to be with his family.

One of the new volunteers was setting up folding chairs in a semi-circle. He was a white guy that looked to be about Piper’s age, and his business casual suggested that he’d come to Keystone Out! directly from some kind of office job. Piper approached him to introduce himself, and the volunteer dropped one of the chairs, which made a terrible racket as it knocked over another metal chair on its way to the ground. Lucille clapped her hands over her ears and let out a distressed squeaking noise. She kept her hands over her ears as she left the big room for the small, quiet space with the bean bag chairs and the dim lights.

“Oof, sorry.” The volunteer ducked down to grab the chairs, and Piper helped him fix them. “I’ve noticed that some of the kids are really sensitive about loud noises. Figures I have to go and be such a klutz when I’m trying to help.”

“I’m sure she’ll come back before the meeting starts. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. You’re one of the new volunteers, I take it?”

“Yeah. My name’s James.” He held out his hand for a shake.

“Hartley.”

“Yeah, the Pied Piper. I’ve, uh…heard of you.”

“Yeah, he’s heard of you…” a middle schooler named Alex said in a sing-songy sort of voice. “Because he has a c-r-u-s-h on you…”

James’ face went a little red and he let out an awkward laugh. “Boy, these kids sure do like to expose anything and everything they know about the adults who work here, don’t they?”

“Oh yes, you won’t last long at this job at all if you can’t handle being incessantly bullied by children.” Piper turned his attention to Alex. “Don’t you think that’s the sort of thing that James should have been the one to tell me, if he wanted to?”

“Oh, yeah, probably. Well, too late to do anything about it now. Are we ordering pizza tonight?”

“Yes, Kerrie’s picking it up on her way in.”

“Yes! Pizza!” Alex skipped over to the doorway but paused before leaving the room. “Oh, and Mr. Architect dude? Mr. Rathaway’s already got a boyfriend and the guy’s like crazy hot, so don’t bother asking him out. But there are loads of other old guys who volunteer with Keystone Out! and one of them might go out with you. Okay, bye. I’ll be back when the pizza gets here.” The tween took off for the smaller room, and they could hear the kid excitedly telling their friends about the impending pizza arrival.

James’ face was now completely scarlet. “I actually didn’t start volunteering with the youth center as a dating service. Oh my god.” He sounded mortified. “I just said I thought it was neat that there was a superhero on the board. I guess I did tell Mattie that I thought your new costume was flattering, but Alex wasn’t even around when we were talking.”

“Gossip travels fast here. I told one intern that I’d been on a date that went well, and the very next meeting the kids completely derailed it by asking all sorts of invasive personal questions about my new boyfriend. We weren’t even official yet.”

“But you are now…?” James laughed, and immediately turned away, clearly embarrassed but still not able to stop talking. “Okay, Alex wasn’t wrong. I’ve got a teensy crush.”

Piper decided the most diplomatic course of action was to change the subject, though the flustered young man was doing a lot for his self-esteem. “Well, flattered but happily committed. Come on, let’s get some plates and napkins for the pizza.”

“I think the other new volunteer’s on it.”

“Oh, I guess I should go introduce myself to that one, too.”

James frowned. “Don’t you already know each other?”

Piper shrugged. “Maybe we do. I have no idea who the volunteer is.” He set up one last chair, then started walking towards the supply closet, keeping an eye out for someone he hadn’t seen at the space before. He passed a few more kids, another intern, and then he saw a fit looking teen in a clingy red and blue body suit with a leather jacket. He did recognize the kid, but not because they’d ever actually met before. “Superboy?”

He turned around, a bag of paper plates in his hands. “Oh, hey. Piper, right?”

“Yeah, but most of the people here use my civilian name. I hadn’t realized you were going to be working with us.”

“Superman suggested it. He said he thought I might get some benefit out of spending some time in a community center like this and, I dunno. When he wants to give me advice I try to follow up with it. So is this enough plates or should I get more?”

“That should be more than enough. Well, um. Welcome to the space. I’m sure the kids will be excited about having you here.”

“I dunno, man. So far they’ve just been staring at me from doorways.” He tilted his head a little, just in time for Piper to see three kids duck back into the smaller room. “See? Maybe I should have volunteered in my civilian identity. That I don’t actually have yet. Ugh. I gotta get to work on making one of those. So is this like a normal superhero thing, volunteering at places like this? Have you dragged Impulse out to do this yet?”

“It hadn’t really occurred to me to ask him if he was interested, though I suppose I ought to.” Piper frowned, taking in Superboy’s haircut, fingerless gloves, circular sunglasses, and pierced ears. He wondered if the boy was aware of what he was flagging. If the kids could work up the courage to actually talk to him, Piper imagined there were going to be quite a few little gay boys with crushes on their new volunteer.

The Rathaways had a selection of Christmas cards they’d received that year displayed on the mantle in the den with the main Christmas tree in it (they had four trees in total, spread out throughout the house, but the one in the den had the heirloom ornaments on it and was the one Santa put the presents under). Tucked in amongst cards from friends and family, Piper spotted a pretty generic looking card from Wayne Enterprises. It had been signed by hand though, and possibly not by a secretary.

Piper walked around the tree, inspecting all the old ornaments he remembered from childhood. It was his first Christmas back with the family since they’d reconciled, and while there was a niceness to some of it, he knew he was going to have a lot to discuss with his therapist when she was back in the office. Piper searched the branches of the tree, looking for a particular antique glass filigree ornament that he’d always liked and then stopped when he saw a photo ornament made out of gold painted popsicle sticks with pipe cleaner reindeer antlers hot glued on top. A faded picture of five year old Hartley completed the ornament - he’d made it in a kindergarten arts and crafts activity.

After he’d been kicked out, his parents had stopped using his homemade ornaments (he’d broken into the house a few times to leave presents for Jerrie and had checked). He’d assumed they’d thrown them all away.

“Hartley! Merry Christmas!” Jerrie ran into the room and pulled him into a hug. She was wearing her Flash hoodie over a red and green plaid nightgown with lace trim.

“Merry Christmas, sweetheart. How did you make out?”

“Mostly clothes this year.” Jerrie’s nose wrinkled in distaste. “Mom’s trying to make me dress like her. But Auntie Hazel sent me a check in her Christmas card, so I can keep buying the clothes I like with that. Where’s Dick? Isn’t your boyfriend gonna be here for Christmas?”

“No, darling. He’s spending it with his family.”

“Oh.” Jerrie’s face fell. “But he spent Thanksgiving with us.”

“Yes…and you hardly said two words to him.”

“I still liked having him here though. He’s nice, and he makes you smile a lot. You’re not breaking up, are you?”

Piper quickly reassured her that things were still going very well with his boyfriend, and made a mental note to find some gentle way to broach the subject of Jerrie’s mental health with his parents at some point in the future. Now that he was able to spend more time with the family, he was seeing more and more evidence that the anxiety disorder he’d struggled with wasn’t entirely a product of distressing circumstances. There seemed to be a genetic component as well.

By dinnertime, Jerrie changed out of the holiday nightgown in favor of a green and gold dress that did very much call to mind their mother’s taste in fashion over what a sixteen year old might pick for herself. She put the Flash hoodie on as soon as dinner finished, and was hugging her unicorn stuffie by the time they sat down in the den with coffee and desserts.

Having prepared for the old, familiar family dynamic, Piper had shown up in a guarded state, ready to deflect criticism of his life choices and introduce conversation topics that he thought his parents would receive well. But the expected attacks never came. Osgood asked polite, interested questions about his work with the Flash, while Rachel even tested the waters on Keystone Out! (despite the fact that Piper had tried talking to her about the non-profit work multiple times since the reconciliation, she insisted she’d first heard of it after the Martha Wayne Foundation donation had made local news - even though she and Osgood were already recurring donors). And of course, they both expressed disappointment that Dick couldn’t make it out for a second family gathering, but were pleased to hear that the relationship was still doing well.

“He’s such a pleasant young man, Hartley. And you seem so happy together.”

“Thanks, Mom. We are.”

Her answering smile was surprisingly genuine. “That’s the best Christmas gift I could have asked for, dearest. Knowing that you’re finally happy. That’s all a mother ever really wants.”

That line was one of her stock phrases. He’d heard it many a time throughout his teen years, always weaponized against him. This was the first time Piper felt like she might have actually meant it.

He was still trying to figure out something to say when the broadcast of It’s A Wonderful Life cut off for a breaking news story. Osgood shushed them and turned up the volume on the television. “It could be something the Flash needs your help on.”

“Dad, I really don’t think-”

“Breaking news, a daring holiday escape as a group of criminals flees prison in a truck meant to deliver their Christmas dinners. We’ll have more for you after the broadcast, including live coverage from Iron Heights. See it first on seven…pardon.” The anchor scanned an index card that was handed to him from just off camera. “New reports indicate that there were two supervillains among the escapees-really, we’re calling them supervillains? I haven’t even heard of this second one.” There was a muffled command from the studio and the anchor turned back to the camera and continued reciting what must have been written on the card. “Escapees include the Rainbow Raider and Fury. More at eleven. And now, we return you to It’s A Wonderful Life.”

“Goodness. Hartley, is everything all right?” Rachel set her coffee on the table and went to join him on the sofa. She took his hand and gave it a press. “Dear? Those two villains, they’re not anyone we should worry about, are they? I have to confess, I’ve never heard of them either.”

“No, Mom. Don’t worry.” He mustered up a smile. “I’m sure Wally will have them back in a cell in no time.”

“I should hope so,” Osgood said with a nod. “And you’ll give us the inside scoop on the excitement, won’t you, son?”

“Yeah, of course. You know what, maybe I should get going. I’ll check in with Wally and see if he does need my help on this.” He said his goodnights, gave Jerrie an extra tight hug, then went out to his car and sat in front of the steering wheel, gazing off into space but not really seeing anything in front of him.

Hartley’s mind was very firmly on the past, and on the ex-boyfriend who’d finally managed a jailbreak after so many years of unsuccessful attempts.

Chapter Text

YEARS AGO…

Hartley staggered through the door of his most recent apartment, the intense agony of his headache the only thing keeping what he could tell was going to be a real doozy of a panic attack at bay. He wanted to sit on the floor in a dark room with his most powerful over-ear noise blocking headphones for about a week.

He was good at breaking out of Iron Heights. This time he’d helped a few of the Flash’s other foes sneak out with him, and it had earned him an invite to one of their gatherings. Mirror Master had even expressed interest in a team-up. But the whole thing had been incredibly stressful, and it hadn’t exactly been a breezy two weeks of incarceration. Hartley really wanted to eliminate the necessity of planning and carrying out daring escapes. Maybe team-ups were the solution. If enough of them pooled their resources, surely they’d have a better success rate against the Flash.

Just what was that jerk’s problem, anyway? Did he really think the police and the business owners were the underdogs in the Gem Cities? The Pied Piper and Fury were very clearly targeting their heists against some of the worst, most corrupt members of Central City’s elite (Hartley would know - they were all chummy with his parents) and using their scores to support underfunded social resources...

Well, most of their scores. They worked hard, they deserved some treats. Besides that, Hartley was always tinkering with his sound devices, trying to keep one step ahead of a speedster. Upgrading their equipment all the time wasn’t cheap.

Hartley groaned when he saw the state of their front room. Left to his own devices, Earl had a tendency to let the chores stack up. Generally, Hartley was the one who cooked (mostly with a microwave), tidied, did the laundry, took out the trash, built their gear, networked with the other criminals, staked out targets for future heists…But Earl kept him safe and that counted for a lot. The few times he’d wound up at Iron Heights without Earl, he’d always felt the lack of his supportive protector. Earl had found him on the streets just after his parents had kicked him out. He’d helped Hartley get on his feet again, helped him be able to even picture a future he wanted to live and how to get there. Hartley may have been doing the brunt of the unglamorous grunt work that kept things going, but Earl was the big picture guy. Hartley needed Earl much more than Earl needed him…something he always made sure Hartley was fully aware of.

“Hey, you’re back. What took you so long, music man? You losing your touch?” Earl walked out of the bedroom shirtless, drying his hair with a towel and sending it into wilder disarray than its resting, charmingly disheveled state. He’d probably just gotten back from the gym, based on the pile of sweaty workout clothes Hartley had walked past in the entryway.

“They’ve beefed up on security, I’m afraid. It was much more difficult than usual to get out this time.”

“Yeah.” Earl tossed the towel on top of his smelly clothes and walked up to Hartley. He tilted his face up by his chin and looked him over. “Another headache?”

“I feel abysmal.”

“You look it, kid. Go lie down for awhile, okay? I tried to keep my mess outta the bedroom so you’d have someplace nice to rest up once you got back.”

Hartley leaned forward for a kiss. “Iron Heights is rapidly becoming a maximum security fortress with all the supervillains they keep cramming into it. I love how you just assume I’ll always be able to get out again.”

“Well you always do. Still though, let’s try to keep your skinny little butt outta there to begin with, if we can.”

“Yes, that’s the goal.” Hartley cast a look at the bathroom door. He did want a shower, but he also felt like he was going to drop on his feet and besides that, there was a good chance Earl had used up all the hot water. He continued on, and dropped onto his blessedly clean bed still wearing his prison clothes. Earl walked over to the windows and pulled the curtains for him, then sat down on the mattress beside him and stroked Hartley’s hair. He let his eyes drift shut with a pleased murmur.

“So before you got busted on that last one, we were talking about hitting a few places together.”

“Yes, that theater my godfather just bought, that new jewelry store, and that horrid hotel my mother hosts all her charity dinners at.”

“Yeah, well, you’re going to be out of commission for a little while from the looks of it.”

Hartley snapped his eyes open and frowned at Earl. “I just need to rest. I’ll be fine again in a day or two.”

“Babe, we’ve got expenses. I’ve already been waiting longer than I should have for you to get back. I’ll just hit the theater. I’m guessing they’re not gonna be as tight on security as the other two anyway. I’ll get us a nice little cushion of cash from all the rich assholes in the audience, maybe steal you a fancy souvenir from the costume room for your fruity little disguises, and then when you’re up to it we can hit the other two. Don’t look at me like that. I’m doing this for you. If you hadn’t fucked up against the Flash last time, we’d have finished these hits already and be planning new jobs right now.”

Hartley pouted, then winced and closed his eyes again. It really was hard to concentrate when the headaches got this bad. “Are you taking a crew, at least? You should have someone watching your back.”

“For an artsy little theater?”

“Owned by a very evil, vindictive man. Besides, if the Flash happens to be around-”

“I’m not scared of the Flash.”

That was only because he hadn’t actually fought the man yet.

“He doesn’t lose, Earl. It’s possible to dodge him a couple of times, but he doesn’t give up. Eventually he always catches up with you.”

“Yeah, with you.” Earl leaned over and dropped a kiss on his forehead. “I’ll be fine. If he runs up at me, that’ll be his own funeral cuz once he’s close enough I’ll get him right in the jaw. He’ll go down like that.” He snapped his fingers, and then scowled when he saw that Hartley was still obviously doubtful. “Cut me some slack, music man. You know I’m good in a fight.”

“I know. It’s not your abilities I’m worried about. It’s just…”

“Stop worrying so much.” Earl caressed the side of his face, then stood up and started for the door. “Just get some sleep, okay? I get sick of having to be twice as strong when you can’t pull your weight. You gotta start taking care of yourself, Hart. I can’t always be carrying you like this.”

Hartley rolled onto his side, facing away from the doorway, and tried to go to sleep. Despite his exhaustion, his mind was racing and the pain in his head wouldn’t abate. He felt like throwing up but there hadn’t been anything in his stomach for hours.

He wanted to argue with Earl some more, talk some sense into him. He could definitely wait for Hartley to recover some strength - it never took him very long to bounce back. He might not have been as physically strong as Earl, but he was scrappy in his own way. Doing super crime in the cities had gotten so much more dangerous recently; neither of them should have been pulling solo jobs unless it was absolutely necessary. But at the moment, Hartley couldn’t imagine himself leaving the darkened room or his blessedly comfortable mattress and duvet, let alone try to turn his stubborn partner’s opinions when he was so set on his plan. So eventually, Hartley drifted into a restless sleep.

And the next morning he saw on the news that his lover had been captured by the Flash. Just like when his parents had rejected him and unceremoniously tossed him out into the world without protector or aid, he was alone.

PRESENT DAY

“Hartley, there’s something I really need to talk to you about and I think it’d be better in person, but I’m swamped over here. Is there any chance you can make it out to Bludhaven or even Gotham sometime soon-ish?”

Piper was sitting on his bed, with newspaper articles about Fury spread out around him. Some of them were recent, but most of them had come from an old shoebox in the very back of the closet in his living room (it had taken him several hours of searching to locate it - damn packrat tendencies).  He’d also found an old journal from those days, and reading through his thoughts and feelings from the very beginnings of his costumed career had sent him into something of a spiral. He’d only answered the phone because he’d seen that it was Dick, and so far the man had been incredibly helpful whenever his brain decided to turn on him. He wasn’t even taking calls from Wally and Linda at the moment.

Piper licked his lips, and tried to cobble together a response while his racing heart and panicked brain told him to throw the phone across the room. “I, um, I don’t think I’ll be able to…to make the time just now. Uh, I’ve got a bit of a situation here, unfortunately. Costume stuff.”

“Damn, me too. Okay. Well, whoever resolves their case first, let’s agree to meet up and do an assist on the one that takes longer. Then we can talk afterwards.”

“All right.”

“Hart, are you okay? You sound tense, even for you.” He said it teasingly but it was difficult to take it that way when Piper was so very aware of how badly he was currently doing.

“I’ll be fine. Just tired and stressed. What about you? Are you…um. The thing you need to talk to me about…” He really didn’t want to spend an indeterminate amount of time worrying about that on top of everything else.

It’s not like Piper hadn’t been expecting Dick to dump him at some point. For one thing, that’s how his brain worked. He always had an easier time anticipating the bad than the good. For another, he’d learned enough about Dick’s history and seen enough of the parade of exes to figure out that stable, committed, long term relationships weren’t his habit, however much he may have desired it to be different. Piper didn’t really think he’d be able to keep the engaging younger man’s attention longterm, but since he had fallen harder than was wise, he was hoping to hold onto the boy for as long as he could.

“It’ll keep for now. But I’ve gotta head out soon anyway. Is it cool if I call you after patrol, or do you need the uninterrupted sleep?”

“You can call me. I’d like that.”

“All right, I’ll talk to you later then. Good luck with the case.”

“Yeah, you too. Goodbye.” Piper hung up, then rubbed at his eyes.

Well, it didn’t sound like Dick was ready to dump him just yet. What was it he needed to talk about in person then? Was it the long distance? Linda certainly seemed to think they were heading towards a discussion on that, and she probably wasn’t wrong. Or maybe, despite the fact that so far he’d been handling Piper’s mental health struggles with compassion and respect, it really was getting to him after all. Or maybe Piper’s parents were still being weird about the business networking and he needed some hard boundaries thrown up. Maybe it was actually a problem that he’d fainted in front of Batman. Maybe he did secretly believe that Piper had had an affair with the Trickster in Zhutan…

“Spiraling. You’re spiraling. Redirect.” Piper fixed his eyes on one of the recent newspaper articles, which had a picture of Fury’s mugshot attached to it. The mugshot was so old, Earl looked exactly the same as he had the last time Piper had seen him, the morning when he’d left to do his solo robbery and been busted by Barry Allen.

When it had become apparent that Earl was incapable of escaping from Iron Heights on his own, Piper had been planning on breaking in himself to get his boyfriend out, but he’d been stopped by a contingent of his fellow Flash Rogues. Captain Cold had been especially insistent - let Fury prove his own worth, for once. The biggest stunt he’d ever tried without Piper’s help, he’d been immediately foiled. Earl had always postured that he was the big deal, but Cold accused him of riding another crook’s coattails. Not wanting to hurt his partner’s reputation, Piper had held himself in check, and he’d waited.

And while he’d waited he’d reflected on some things. And he’d noticed that Cold had a point. Piper was good at team-ups, but he was also very good as a solo crook. And maybe…Len had also had a teensy point about how as a romantic partner, Earl could have been treating Piper with a bit more respect too. Weeks passed, then months, and when Piper still hadn’t broken Earl out after a year he started to feel guilty and even a bit fearful whenever his thoughts turned Earl’s way. He wasn’t sure he could ever face the man again. There really hadn’t been a good choice available to him, but he certainly hadn’t made the right one. Whichever way he cut it, just leaving his lover to rot in Iron Heights had been a betrayal.

And now Piper’s life was so different, he couldn’t even imagine confronting Earl again for a whole host of different reasons. He really wasn’t the same person anymore. After this long locked away, Earl probably wasn’t either. It was tempting to just let the CCPD and the KCPD, or Wally, or Jay, or Max Mercury, or anyone else in the cities handle this breakout, but Piper knew that Earl deserved some closure. They’d been so much to each other back in the early days. The right thing to do was to face him one last time, no matter how much his nervous system protested.

Piper spent the next few days either in costume prowling the cities looking for Fury, or at home poring over the newspapers and old journals looking for any insights into what the man might be doing. He wasn’t sleeping enough and probably drinking more coffee than was wise. He knew Wally, and especially Linda would be worried about him if they saw him, so he simply stopped answering the phone. No pesky but well meaning questions to avoid if he didn’t talk to anyone who cared about him.

After almost a week of this, Piper admitted to himself that the constant work, very little sleep, and lack of social support wasn’t sustainable. He pulled the curtains in his room and tried to take a nap, but ended up having terrible flashbacks instead. So he took a shower, put on his headphones, and tried distracting himself with music.

When he started feeling calmer, Piper decided that the social isolation was getting to a worrying point, and he really ought to talk to someone. He tried calling Dick, but there was no answer. “Worry about that later,” Piper muttered to himself. He started to dial Linda but hung up the phone again. Linda was too perceptive for him at the moment. What he really needed was to pretend everything was fine for a few hours. He’d been stewing in stress and bad memories for days; he needed a reset. Being around folks who saw the best sides of him and let him slip into that role sounded good.

With that in mind, Piper put on civilian clothes (though he did pack a bag with his costume and some sound gear and stow it in the backseat of his car), and he drove to Keystone Out!.

The kids were still on winter break, so the youth center was open a few extra hours without any organized meetings, just so the kids could hang out and socialize. Piper figured he’d park himself in one of the meeting rooms with his work computer and catch up on emails, or maybe see if the volunteers needed any help setting up the gender affirming clothing boutique. When he walked through the door he saw Mattie and James chatting in the front room. “Hey, guys. I had some free time. Do you need help with anything?”

“Actually, James is on his way out, so if you want to be the adult in the big room that’d be great,” Mattie answered.

“I’ve got to get back to work, unfortunately. I’d much rather be here than designing facades at the new mall in Central. The kids have been so fun today.” He let out a reluctant sigh, his eyes lingering on Piper for a moment, then hefted his briefcase and started for the exit. “See you guys later.”

“Bye!” Mattie waved after him, then turned his attention to Piper. There was something about his smile that struck Piper as a little odd. “It really has been an exciting day in here. We got some great donations for the boutique, and the kids have been going nuts with them.”

“I thought we were still setting it up. They’re already using it?”

“Yeah, it’s good to go.”

“Oh. Well that’s awesome.” Piper started walking towards the big room. He could feel Mattie watching him and wondered once again what was going on.

Then he turned down the hallway and saw Yazmin and Alex run out of the big room and over towards the clothing boutique. Alex was wearing a baggy Kelly green shirt with white polka dots on it, and Yazmin had a vest on that was made of the same fabric.

Piper immediately stopped walking, his mouth hanging open. He peered into the smaller room and counted four teenagers wearing at least one garment that appeared to be made out of the same material as his original supervillain costume. He counted seven teens in the big room. He blinked a few times, rapidly, then marched into the clothing boutique. The racks were full of all manner of shirts, pants, dresses, vests, jackets, everything one could think of in green and white polka dotted fabric. Most of it was in the larger white polka dots of the original tunic, but some of them had the little polka dots from the last version of that costume.

“What in the ever loving-”

“That donor that runs the tailor shop dropped it all off right before Christmas,” Mattie explained. “He said when he heard about the gender affirming clothes closet that he thought it’d be a great way to make use of a bunch of old bolts of fabric that were just collecting dust, so he made up a bunch of outfits for us. Wasn’t that kind of him? He completely stocked us up before we could even get a call for donations out in the newsletter.”

“I thought I saw you in the doorway!” Lucille ran up to them, with a couple of other kids just behind her. “Look, Hartley! We’ve all got our own Pied Piper outfits now. We can go out and fight capitalists just like you used to.”

“No, we still need him to teach us how to hypnotize people, or build us flute weapons or something,” Ayden chimed in.

“Oh my god. Please don’t talk like that. You’re going to get me fired.”

Ayden laughed. “They can’t fire you. You’re a volunteer. C’mon, Lucille. We were in the middle of plotting out how we’re going to get even with the Young Republicans Club at school. See you later, fellow evil gays!”

Mattie waved after them, clearly enjoying the chaos.

“Remember the Keystone Out! guidelines,” Piper called after them. “For legal purposes, everything we just heard was a joke, right? Right?”

The only answer he got was maniacal sounding laughter, which to be fair, was actually pretty impressive. They would have fit right in with the original Rogues with that kind of performance.

Chapter Text

Piper gave up on the thought of reasoning with the kids pretty quickly - that would only make the game more appealing to them. He sat down in the big room with his work computer and, every time they tried to bait him by asking for help with plotting an Evil Gay Scheme, he answered with an unglamorous but truthful anecdote about his early days.

His detailed recounting of escaping Iron Heights through the sewer system quieted Lucille’s enthusiasm especially. She started rocking back and forth while Piper described the smells and the texture of the waste water he’d had to wade through while only wearing a prison jumpsuit in vivid detail. She turned green when he explained that breathing through his mouth wasn’t an option because he didn’t want to ingest anything by accident and had forced himself to keep his mouth closed while the waste water splashed against his lips with every movement.

“You won,” Ayden pouted, while Lucille ran from the room.

Smirking, Piper turned back to his laptop. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You just asked me a question and I answered it. Besides, I don’t think that route would still be viable. I’m sure they’ve reinforced the toilets and narrowed down the crawl spaces by now. I made that escape seven years ago.”

As he was scrolling, a window popped up from a search he’d programmed that morning. It was a breaking news story about Fury robbing a jewelry store. “Tuppeny’s…oh. Oh, shit.”

Fury had hit that bank that used to be his godfather's theater already. That was the site where he’d originally been taken in by Barry, but if he hadn’t then Tuppeny’s was going to be next, followed by the Fairwelder Arms hotel. Earl was calling Piper out by trying to complete their old itinerary. He must have wanted the confrontation as well.

“Mattie? Mattie, I’ve got to get going. Can someone else cover the big room?” Piper threw his laptop in his bag and started for the exit.

“Superhero stuff?” Mattie strode over to him, Yazmin trotting just behind him. “Yaz, if you stay in the small room, I’ll do the big room and we’ll be covered until Kerrie gets in.”

“If you’re going out to fight crime, you could take a henchman or two with you.” Alex, now wearing polka dots from head to toe, popped out of the boutique and joined them in the hallway.

“You’re only henchmen if you’re committing crimes, not when you’re fighting it,” Ayden snapped. “We’d be sidekicks. And I called dibs on being Piper’s sidekick!”

“Batman has like a zillion sidekicks. You’re not the only one who gets to be a sidekick.”

“I’m a sidekick!” Piper yelled, cutting them off. “I mean, I’m not, but I assist the Flash. Now cut it out, I’ve got to go. None of you are doing anything illegal today, you hear me?”

“Listen to him, guys. I can’t escape through a sewer. I don’t have it in me.” Lucille tapped Ayden on the arm. “Let’s just play D and D.”

“Oh, that sounds cool. I’ll DM you for a one shot campaign.” Yazmin threw Piper a wink, then herded the kids into the small room so he could make his exit.

Piper tried calling Wally while he was en route to the hotel but didn’t get an answer. He thought about trying one of the other speedsters but ultimately decided against it. Socially, Wally was the only one he felt comfortable around. If he really needed to, he knew he could call on one of the others and they’d help him, but he’d rather wait until he was sure he actually needed the back up.

He was almost to the hotel when he got a call from Dick. “Hey, my case finished and I’m getting a teleport back to Earth. I could have them drop me in Central instead of Bludhaven if that works for you. Like, even if you’re still working your thing, maybe we could make it a last minute team up?”

“I’ve just had a break in mine so hopefully it’ll be finished soon. I’m on my way to the Fairwelder Arms to check it out. Actually, having a detective along might be helpful.” Well, practical. Having his current lover around (who needed to have an ominous important talk) while confronting and actively betraying his first love was going to be a special kind of hell. But the universe had already taken quite a few cheap shots at him, between Earl’s escape and Gambi fitting up the vulnerable kids in his care in the uniform of his youthful mistakes, so what was one more psychological blow?

Besides, maybe somehow, despite the way things were trending, his partner would find some way to actually make him feel better.

By the time Piper got through the traffic between Keystone and Central, Earl had already hit the hotel. Actually, there was a police blockade outside it. Mangeluso, the detective working the case, informed Piper that Earl was holed up inside with a bunch of hostages.

“That doesn’t sound like him.” Like Piper, Earl had never actually been in the super crime game to hurt anyone, but he’d never wanted to make that obvious to people either. The threat of violence had been a useful tool. So he’d avoided hostages like the plague, since it was nearly impossible to mask your unwillingness to hurt anyone once you had one.

Then Earl came charging out of the hotel, crashing through a window with a frightened young woman clutched to his chest. He fired a sonic gun at the line of cop cars, and Piper and the detective had to leap back to avoid the blasts.

Piper recognized that gun. It had gone missing from his workbench a few weeks before Earl was arrested.

In the chaos and confusion of the flaming cars and downed officers, Earl raced into a nearby building; the entrance to the Petitte Mall. Piper scrambled to his feet and followed after Earl, through the massive hole he’d blasted through the wall. He could hear Mangeluso yelling after him but his attention was trained solely on Earl, who was ranting and raving at a crowd of terrified shoppers just inside the damaged mall.

This was Piper’s fault. He’d supplied the man, helped start him on this path. He had to take care of this.

“I used to own this town, and nobody’s gonna forget me again after today-you.”

Piper could feel his hands shaking. Earl’s eyes were trained on him with searing hatred and disgust. While he was distracted, the woman he’d dragged in with him from the bank managed to pull away from him, but she only staggered about a foot away before her legs gave out and she collapsed in a heap.

“Earl-“

“Fury. Let’s keep this professional, music boy,” he sneered. “Glad you got my invitation though. Boy, have I had a bone to pick with you.”

Piper swallowed around a suddenly dry throat. “That’s more than fair. But since I’m the one who’s earned your ire, why don’t you let the others go?”

Earl laughed, then fired the sonic gun into the crowd without even looking. Piper watched in horror as one of his weapons discharged into a young man’s chest, sending him crashing against a nearby pillar. The woman he was with shrieked loudly and shook him by the shoulders but he didn’t move.

And Earl laughed.

He’d never been like that. Cruelty had never been the point of what they’d done together.

Well if that’s how he wanted to play it, Piper could play dirty too. He raised a pipe to his lips and played a strain of music that would have Earl surrendering his sonic gun and marching out to the cops. Or, it should have. But nothing happened.

Earl let out a low chuckle and then brushed his tangled hair back from one of his ears, showing off a robotic earplug that he’d probably swiped from Piper’s workbench when he’d taken the sonic gun. “You must think I’m really dumb if you didn’t expect me to prepare for your bullshit. You only have so many tricks, y’know. It wasn’t hard.” Earl hefted the gun and aimed it squarely at Piper’s chest. “I gotta admit, Hartley. The shit I was hearing about you, that you turned on your people, that you’re working for the fucking capes and the cops. I didn’t want to believe it. But you’re a bootlicker now, huh? What happened to trying to tear down the system? You turned your back on me and when you couldn’t hack it on your own, you just folded on everything you said you believed in-”

“Shut up!” Piper took a step forward, and Earl fired a shot just above his shoulder that blew a chunk out of the wall, pelting him with fragments of concrete and overloading his hearing aids with the most awful feedback. He collapsed to his knees, the edges of his vision going white as tinnitus assaulted his brain.

When he could hear again, it was a menacing laugh from Earl, who was standing just in front of him, the sonic gun now trained on his forehead. “Too easy. It was always too easy getting under your skin. You’re such a self-absorbed little brat, you know that? You never should have turned on your partner, music boy. I’m gonna-”

Earl was cut off by a piece of rubble bouncing off of his shoulder. He snapped his head around, which gave Piper the opportunity to roll to the side and scramble to his feet. “Who the fuck threw that? Ow!” Another piece smacked him directly in the face.

And to Piper’s horror, he saw James, the new volunteer from Keystone Out! who had left that morning to do architectural work at the mall, clutching a piece of broken concrete in his hand. He was white in the face and his hands were shaking, but his attention was focused solely on Earl. “Get away from him, you crazy asshole! You don’t know anything about Piper. He hasn’t turned his back on the community. He’s the heart of it.” He threw the piece of concrete but since Earl was looking right at him he blasted it with the sound gun before it could reach him.

James flinched, but didn’t otherwise move, facing Earl and the powerful sonic gun on his feet.

It wasn’t his finest moment, but Piper launched himself at Earl and jumped up onto his back. Earl pulled the trigger as his arm was yanked back, and he ended up firing at the ceiling while Piper clawed at his ears, trying to dislodge the earplugs. While he was doing that, a batarang slashed through the wires holding up a massive plastic prop on the ceiling of the mall. A strong arm snaked around Piper’s waist, pulling him off of Earl and yanking him away just as the decoration landed on top of him.

“Earl!” Piper tried to pull away, but Nightwing kept a firm grip on him. “Let me go. I, I need to-oh my god. Is he dead?”

“Stunned. But calm down, let me get him in restraints before he recovers. Hartley, ssh. Just hang back here for a sec, okay?” With the lenses in his mask filtering out his eyes, Piper lost some of the intensity of Dick’s obvious concern for him, but it was still there. He forced himself to take some deep breaths, and let Dick be the one to examine Earl, cuff him, and hand him off to the cops.

While he was doing that, James approached him, some of the color returning to his face now that the main action was over. “Hey…are you okay? You’ve got some cuts from that wall he blasted.”

“Oh.” Piper gently touched his face and finally noticed the stinging sensation. Now that his attention had been called to the cuts, he wondered how he hadn’t noticed them before. “They’re shallow. I’ll, I’ll be fine. What about you? James, I’m so sorry. It’s my fault you were in that situation. I built that gun. Oh my god. All these people. That man he shot. Oh my god-”

“The paramedics came in as soon as that supervillain was taken out. They’ve already got him on a stretcher. Just keep breathing, Piper. Everything’s going to be okay. It’s not your fault. You didn’t fire the gun.”

“I built it. I made that, and I’m the reason he had it. And I’m the one he was trying to hurt, and it’s my-”

“Breathe.” James gripped his arm and gave it a strong squeeze. “C’mon, Piper. Deep breaths, okay? You just saved everyone in here. It’s okay.”

“Excuse me?” Nighwing tapped James on the shoulder. He jumped, but turned around and flushed a little when he saw the other hero standing behind him. “Do you mind if I take it from here?”

“Oh, of course. I’ll, uh, I’ll see you around then. At the youth center, I mean.”

“James…thank you.” Piper watched as James rejoined the group of bystanders, who were either waiting for medical attention or to give statements to the police.

“I gotta say, Hartley, it is getting increasingly difficult to pretend we’re work acquaintances right now,” Dick muttered out of the side of his mouth. “Can we slip away while everyone’s distracted so I can give you a hug?”

“Yes. Let’s get out of here.”

Being a member of the Bat-family, Dick took him to a rooftop with a breathtaking view of the city to de-escalate post-supervillain battle. He removed Piper’s visor, cleaned his cuts, and helped him through a breathing exercise. And then, when Piper was starting to feel a bit more grounded, he finally took him in his arms and let out his own shuddering breath. They sat leaning against a support column for a billboard, Piper resting with his back against Dick's chest, while Dick held him. “So that guy down there…I take it that was an ex of yours?”

“…yeah. My first serious relationship. It, uh, didn’t end well.”

“Got that from context clues, actually,” Dick said with a smirk. “You guys were already in the thick of it when I got there but I heard him taking some cheap shots at you. Are you going to be okay? I know from experience how much worse the mind games can be than just getting knocked around.”

“I’m coming down. It’s, well, it’s been quite the week. I already did plenty of heavy lifting for Earl in regards to guilt and shame before the actual confrontation. I’m really glad you’re here.” Piper dropped his head on Dick’s shoulder and took a deep breath. He could hear Dick’s heartbeat, and the rhythm was soothing, especially after all the strain his hearing aids had taken during  the battle. And then his throat tightened, as he remembered that Dick was there to have some kind of serious discussion with him. He felt his eyes water, and he squeezed them shut.

God, but he really didn’t want Dick to leave him. He needed to get away, go ground, take some meds, something to even himself out before he ruined this.

But Dick’s arm remained firmly wrapped around him, while his other hand traced some stray hairs out of his face. The rough material of the glove actually felt nice on his skin, as long as he avoided the fresh cuts. “I wish you’d told me how personal this case was. I’d have tried to get here sooner. How come you didn’t look for some backup? You know there’s a lot of people who would have supported you on this, right?”

“I don’t think I can talk about this right now, Dick.”

“Yeah, that’s fair. Sorry. Let me rephrase that a bit. If something like this happens again and you’re going through personal stuff, please reach out. You don’t have to go through something like this alone. And now that I’ve said that, I’ll shut up about it and remind you that you’re amazing and smart and definitely not betraying the gay community, and also your ass looks amazing in green spandex.”

That startled a laugh out of him. “I suppose that last part’s as important as the other things?”

Dick grinned and kissed the top of his head. “I mean, I’m probably more invested than I should be, but as something of an expert in the field I thought you’d appreciate the feedback.”

“Ah. You know, I hadn’t considered the prestige that came with having such an expert weigh in on the niceness of my ass. That does indeed change things.”

“You sound like you’re doing better.” Dick caressed the side of his face again, and Piper snuggled closer to him. The sun was setting over the city, and the dying light looked spectacular on the river. He was safe, he was loved, and there was proof of that in a skintight jumpsuit holding him securely while his heart rate got back down to normal. Yes, he was doing better. “Can I ask you something?”

And here it came. Piper braced for whatever was coming, silently praying that the obstacle was something they could overcome together. “Of course. What is it, love?”

“So you and Fury…how did that work, exactly? Like, what did you even talk about with a guy like that?”

Piper let out a loud, startled laugh, then clapped a hand over his mouth.

“What? I know you like me for my expert level ass, but we also go to museums together and loan each other books and we went to that film festival. Like, we talk. Deep conversations. All the time. I gotta know. What did you talk about with Mr. Macho down there?”

“Oh, I imagine my conversations with Earl were probably similar in character to the deep, meaningful conversations you used to have with Arsenal and Starfire.”

Dick opened his mouth to say something, then gave his head a shake. “Touche.” He lightly punched Piper’s arm. “Just so you know, as much passionate, kinky sex as I had with my exes, I could still have conversations with them too. It wasn’t just about the bedroom.”

Something in Dick’s tone sounded a bit off. Piper realized what he’d meant as gentle teasing had skirted towards a nerve, so he decided to share something vulnerable to make up for it. He laced his fingers through Dick’s, and leaned back against his chest. “Earl and I mostly talked about society and how we thought it ought to be organized. He didn’t have the patience to read all the theory I did, but he liked it when I summarized things for him, and he was always ready to chime in with his thoughts. We wanted to combat heteronormativity and create a society where no one would have to grow up being ashamed of who they were. That’s still my goal, even if it does look like I’ve joined in with the oppressors to some people.”

“From my perspective, it looks like you’ve refined your approach with experience. You’re definitely not part of the oppressive structure.”

“That’s always nice to hear.” Piper sighed. “I used to think the most terrible things about all you superheroes. It looked to me like you and your mentors were in it for the glory, not to actually change anything or risk upsetting the status quo. But then I got to know Wally, and I realized that we are all trying to help people, at the end of the day. There are just different approaches one can take. We’re sort of like different sections of the same orchestra, you know? I’m more boots on the ground, and the Justice League keeps the planet from being blown up. There’s not much point in struggling to get a roof over everyone’s head and food in their fridges if they’re just going to get vaporized the next day.”

“That’s certainly true. But we could definitely be doing more for the community level stuff. You should definitely keep calling us out on that. Well, it’s getting dark out and in my experience, if we keep hanging out on rooftops after sunset then we’re definitely going to get pulled into more superheroics. We should make a break for it while we have the chance.”

“I’m parked in the garage by the hotel. Shall we head back to my place then?”

Dick helped Piper to his feet, and again, there was something not quite right about his smile. Something bittersweet. "Yeah, let's go have that talk."

Chapter Text

“What a miserable day it’s been. Do you know if there’s an established etiquette for how to handle your ex boyfriend taking your new coworker hostage? Should I get James a card, do you think?”

“I think rescuing him from the hostage situation and sending the psycho ex to jail is all you need. I’ve certainly never sent any rescued hostages a card afterwards,” Dick said with a laugh. “I do check up on some of them though. How’re you feeling? You still look a bit shaky.”

Dick had been the one to drive them back. Piper hadn’t wanted to come out and explain that even with medication and breathing exercises, it usually took him a few days to get back to his baseline when his anxiety got that bad. Truthfully though, he was feeling a lot better. He’d probably even be able to get some actual sleep, as long as the dreaded conversation didn’t send him into a new spiral.

Piper held his hand up in front of his face and, with some concentration, he kept it level. “I’m starting to come down. If you don’t mind putting a pin in that conversation you said we need to have, I just want to grab a shower and put on some regular clothes first.” Keeping his composure and pretending to be a put together, reasonably functional human would be an infinitely more attainable goal without the superhero costume, he felt.

Dick leaned against the doorframe, his eyes tracking up and down Piper’s sleek green bodysuit. “If you insist. The new costume gets my enthusiastic seal of approval, by the by. It’s nice to see you wearing something that actually fits you, for once. And so nice and snugly, too.”

Piper felt his face heat up. “I wear clothes that fit me.”

“You have like two pairs of jeans that are actually your size. Everything else-”

“Okay, yes, I do get the majority of my clothing from thrifting and community swaps, which makes it more difficult to find garments that are precisely my size than if I purchased new, but that’s because-”

“Fast fashion, exploitation of the working class, evil capitalism, yes, yes. We’ve been through this. You’re also friends with a tailor, Hartley.” Dick walked up to him and smoothed back an errant strand of hair that had escaped his ponytail. “You look amazing in that bodysuit. You could show yourself off a little more often outside of the superheroics, you know?”

“That’s more your department.” Piper offered him a small smile, and Dick returned it. “I like my scrubby thrifted clothes. They’re comfy, and I don’t have to feel bad when I inevitably destroy them by accident. I went with a form fitting costume this time around because I’m working so closely with Wally now, and having a cape when you’re constantly being grabbed and run places at superspeed is uncomfortable for both of us. Now. I just need ten minutes, okay?”

“Take your time. I’ll order us some food.”

While he showered, Piper tried to puzzle out Dick’s behavior. It didn’t seem like he was about to be broken up with. Dick had brought an overnight bag with him, and he was being just as affectionate as he usually was. But he’d sounded so upset before…Piper tried to come up with other scenarios to explain the behavior but his anxious brain stubbornly reverted to being dumped as the only possible reason a boyfriend would want to have a serious, in-person conversation.

Maybe Dick was behaving affectionately because he knew dumping Piper was going to hurt, and he was trying to be nice? “Shut up, brain,” Piper mumbled. “Don’t go into this expecting the worst. He wants to talk. Which means if there’s a problem, he must want to work it out.” Damn, but this was hard. It was so much easier to be pessimistic and cynical.

In light of the critique he’d just received on his (lack of) fashion sense, Piper considered putting on one of the pairs of jeans that Dick had referred to, but post-superheroics cool-downs and jeans didn’t really go together. Piper really wanted to eat a bunch of carbs and take a nap. He was willing to have whatever heavy discussion Dick had come over for, but Dick would have to have that discussion while Piper was wearing sweatpants and his stretched out Rust Never Sleeps shirt.

When he got back to the living room he spotted Dick sitting on the couch hunched over with his arms resting on his knees, face uncharacteristically somber. Piper sat down beside him and grabbed Dick’s hand, caressing his palm with the pad of his thumb. “What is it, love? What’s bothering you?”

“Hartley, I…I don’t know how to say this.” Dick’s voice was small, and he was talking more to the floor than Piper. “At first I wasn’t going to say anything, but that didn’t feel right, but also I don’t know if I’m going to be able to explain myself well and I don’t, I really don’t want to mess this up. These past few months, I’ve been so happy with you. That first date was a total whim but every date since then, and visit, and everything. It’s just been getting better and better. You’ve been so, so good for me and there hasn’t been any drama, or weirdness, or like, stupid petty stuff. We just talk, and you’re so understanding about everything. I really don’t want to mess this up but I’m pretty sure I did, because I can’t ever just let things be good when they’re good. I have to bring in the drama. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“Dick? I’m going to cut you off. You’re going in circles. Just talk to me. What happened?” Piper’s anxiety went back up a tick, and he silently told his brain to cut the crap. It was Dick’s turn to freak out, apparently. He’d been nice and patient, and downright lovely with the reassurance and caresses while Piper was breaking down over his ex. Piper wanted to return the support.

He was a little thrown though. Was Dick upset because he thought Piper was going to break up with him? For what?

“Okay.” Dick closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. “When you were gone for that week with Trickster, I-”

The doorbell rang, and Dick went quiet. Piper was fully willing to ignore the delivery driver, but Dick got up to go get the food. Piper wanted to bury his face in his hands and scream.

Carbs would help though.

A few minutes later, Dick was back at his side and they had pizza and garlic bread on the coffee table. Piper eyed the food with some longing, but he didn’t think he could actually eat until he knew what the hell was going on. His nerves weren’t as bad as they might have been. Mostly, he just wanted to soothe his distraught looking boyfriend (well, depending upon what the distraught looking boyfriend had to say). “So, while I was gone…?”

“While you were gone. I had a couple of team ups myself. One of them was with Robin. And…one of them was with Kory. Uh, Starfire. She’s, well, you already know we used to date and yeah, we-we were…serious.” Dick was once again directing his attention to the floor. “More serious than any other relationship I’ve had, actually. We almost got married. Um. So even though we’re trying to be friends now, there’s always a lot of baggage when we see each other. And even though there were a few other people on the team up when it started, by the end of it, it was just the two of us. And you know how when you’re in the moment, and you have all that adrenaline in your system-”

Piper’s face fell. He felt like he’d been punched in the stomach. “Dick, are you saying that you cheated on me?”

Dick immediately sat up, eyes wide and fixed on Piper. “No! No, god, no. I didn’t.”

“Oh.” Piper let out a very slow, deliberate breath. “Well you’re an atrocious storyteller then.”

Dick let out a nervous laugh, then covered his face with his hands and made a small sound of exasperation. “She kissed me though, and I pushed her away but I almost kissed back. You’d been gone for five days already, and since we hadn’t seen each other for three days beforehand it had already been longer than a week and I was a little pent up. I wanted to. I really, really wanted to. When we’re both single, Kory and I do hook up. I just, the rest of the time we’ve been together it hasn’t even crossed my mind, even with the long distance. I’ve screwed up so many times before and I thought, I actually thought maybe I was outgrowing that. I’m so sorry, Hartley.”

Piper chewed on his thumbnail, brow knit in confusion as he thought over what Dick had just told him. “I want to make sure I understand this correctly. While I was gone, you worked an adrenaline fueled superheroics case with your incredibly beautiful ex-fiancee that you clearly still have feelings for, she kissed you, and you…didn’t do anything that betrayed your commitment to me. But you still feel bad about yourself. Do I have that right?”

“Physically, I didn’t cheat on you. But mentally-”

“That doesn’t count, at least not to me. Dick, I’m not upset.” Or, not in the way that Dick thought he should be, but he was willing to shelve a discussion about how to communicate with an anxious partner teetering on the edge of a panic attack for another day. “But you very clearly are. Has monogamy been a problem for you in the past?”

Dick had dropped his gaze again and was now fidgeting with his fingers. “There’s something wrong with me. I, I always mess it up. Falling in love is the easy part, but making the relationships actually work. I don’t know if I’m ever going to figure that part out. I thought it was different with you because so far we’ve communicated so well. Like, you don’t freak out about things. You talk things out and you give me the benefit of the doubt. But clearly I don’t deserve it, because as soon as you were gone for too long I still started thinking about other partners. I love you. I want to be with you. So why can’t I just turn these other feelings off?”

“Dick, please. Slow down. Listen to me. Hear what I’m saying.” Piper touched him under the chin and tilted his face so that those incredibly blue eyes were locked with his. “Darling, I’m a queer activist. If you think you’d be better suited for polyamory than monogamy, that’s on the table. And it doesn’t make you a bad person. It just means you love a little differently than how the majority of society does.  Which is something I have no problem relating to and sympathizing with.”

“…you don’t want to be monogamous?” His voice was so small. The poor thing looked lost, and a little hurt.

Piper took his hand again and gave it a firm squeeze. “One partner is all I have the patience and energy for, personally. But I’m not averse to ethical non-monogamy. The thing is, for it to be ethical we have to be honest with each other, and also honest with ourselves about what we want. We talk to each other about what makes us uncomfortable and where our boundaries are. And, seeing as you’re not the misanthrope I am, if you do find yourself interested in having other partners, we can make that work. I’ve known a few throuples and seen other poly arrangements before. If my old friends and acquaintances can manage it, I’m sure we can.”

“Oh, man. I almost feel like crying. So it’s a thing? I’m not just, like, a manipulative asshole when I fall in love with more than one person at the same time?”

“No, darling.” Piper looked him in the eye again and offered him a reassuring smile. “You’re beautiful, actually. I’m happy I get to be one of those ones. So we’re using that word now?”

“What, love? Yeah, I guess we are.” Dick leaned in for a gentle kiss. Piper’s eyes drifted shut, and he let out a pleased murmur as Dick’s arms wrapped around him. “You’re too good to be true, you know that?”

“I have a criminal record, a terrible wardrobe, and one of the most significant mistakes of my youthful misadventures is currently on his way to Iron Heights after having threatened our lives less than an hour ago with an arsenal I customized for him. I think I have more than my fair share of character flaws to keep things interesting. But thank you. I love you too.”

“And you’ve been dying to dig into that garlic bread since this conversation started. I appreciate your restraint. I also know how important the post battle calorie fest is.”

“Oh thank god. I’ll keep reassuring you that you’re actually lovely and perfect if you’d like. Talking about how amazing you are is actually pretty fun. But also, garlic bread.”

Dick watched him tuck into the comfort carbs for a few minutes before grabbing a slice of pizza for himself. He looked a little giddy. “So polyamory. It’s really a thing, and not just something people say when they want to cheat on their partners?”

“Nope. Very real label. The further left you go with your queer politics, the easier it is to bump into poly folks. After a certain level of immersion, they’re actually difficult to avoid.”

“Hm. So I probably could have had this self-discovery ages ago if I’d ventured out into more explicitly LGBT spaces then, huh?” Dick chewed thoughtfully for a second, then set his plate down. “I’ve been calling myself bi for ages but I’ve never really thought about it as a cultural thing like you do. I mean, obviously I’ve been in favor of gay rights and all that, but I’ve never done pride parades or…or been in a room with more gay people than straight people in it.”

“That’s kind of impressive, honestly. I would think it’d be easier to find spaces like those in Gotham than out here. Growing up in Missouri, I had to hunt hard to find queer spaces. I’m happy to be a corrupting influence on you in this regard though. I’ll loan you some books.”

“Yeah, sounds good. And, um. If you’re sure you’re comfortable with this-”

Piper reluctantly set down his garlic bread, wiped his fingers off with a napkin, and then grabbed Dick’s hand for another supportive squeeze. “I am.”

“I…think I’d like to talk to Kory, then. Um. I absolutely still have feelings for her. But I’m definitely in love with you, I swear, I-”

“Dick, I believe you. Everything’s okay.”

“It is. It’s okay.” He licked his lips. “Right. Polyamory. It’s a thing.”

“It’s definitely a thing.”

“Okay then. Oh my god, I thought you were going to break up with me.” He let out a nervous laugh.

“Nope. But we’re going to have to work on your communication, because I’d been dreading this conversation all week thinking you were about to break up with me.”

“Oh.” Dick frowned. “Yeah, in retrospect I can see how you got there. S-sorry.”

Piper would have kissed him but he was mindful of the fact that he’d just wolfed down several pieces of garlic bread, so he settled for caressing the side of his face. “Don’t worry about it. We’ve talked it out, and now we’re on the same page. I’m glad you told me what was troubling you.”

“I’m…actually glad I did too. I still can’t believe that wasn’t a fight. You really are the best boyfriend.”

Piper wasn’t sure what to say. He could feel his face heating up a bit, so he turned away and finished off his pizza, while Dick laughed and teased him about being bashful.

After they finished with the carbs, they migrated to Piper’s bedroom. He fell into a desperately needed, perfectly restful sleep while Dick played with his hair. Dick remained awake, sitting up in bed and reading through a book on queer theory he’d swiped from one of Piper’s bookcases before settling down for the night.

“Okay, so I talked it over with Kory and apparently ethical non-monogamy is actually the default setting for Tamaranean society. She was just doing monogamy with me because she thought that was necessary for dating on Earth.”

“Ah. So I take it she’ll be my first metamour then?”

“…Partner of your partner? Yeah, she’s enthusiastic about rekindling things again. And…um. Has been talking to someone else, so I guess I might already have a metamour through her? Anyway, she wants to meet you.”

Piper was in his workshop with his phone on speaker so he could talk and tinker at the same time. He was in the middle of a project for Wally and was hoping he could make progress on it and enjoy yapping with his boy. But he set down the small torch he’d been using and pushed his goggles up. With this turn in the conversation, Piper wanted to give his boyfriend his full attention.

“Dick. She does know I’m gay, not bisexual, right?”

“Yeah, I told her. She’s not looking for a threesome or anything. She just wants to meet you. Y’know, since you’re important to me.”

“Okay. Yeah, that’s fine. We can grab coffee or something.” Piper was actually curious to meet her too. He couldn’t imagine what, aside from Dick (heh), he was going to have in common with the alien warrior princess supermodel, but he was hoping they’d find some way to bond so they could co-exist peacefully in their partner’s life.

“So, just to check…so you’re not even, like a smidge bisexual?”

“As I’ve explained to my mother many times, at length, no. Not even a smidge.” Piper smirked a little. “So she wasn’t hoping for a threesome-”

“But I was, yeah. Hey, you already know I’m horny. So far I’ve yet to hear any complaints.”

“No, indeed not. So far the horniness has served me well.”

“Damn straight.”

Piper put his goggles back on and reached for the torch. “Well, like I said before, I’m really only interested in having one partner at a time myself. But that’s romantically speaking. Sexually speaking…”

“Oh hell yes!” The excitement was unmistakable in Dick’s voice. Piper smiled in response to it, and almost soldered the wrong part of his project. He was thinking about taking a break until his phone conversation was over, but he also knew that Wally was in a rush for his equipment. “When are you free again? We need to go pick up guys together.”

“I’m in the workshop, love. I know I’ve got some commitments coming up but I’ll call you back after I’ve checked over the calendar. Just try to keep your schedule open, too, if you can. Your cities have been more volatile than mine, lately.”

“True enough.”

As predicted, Wally zipped into the room while Piper was still putting the finishing touches on the sound dampener. He saw that Piper was on the phone, and backed up a bit, dropping into a nearby chair to wait for him to finish his call. He pulled down his cowl, and grinned when he heard Dick’s voice on the speakerphone. Really, he was starting to get insufferable about the whole “expert matchmaker” thing.

“Oh wait, Hartley! What did you think of Roy? I bet he’d be down for a threesome.”

Wally’s face fell, while Piper’s went bright red.

“Dick, I’ve got to let you go. I’ll call you later though, and we can talk about this some more.”

“Okay. Love you, Hartley.”

“Love you too.” He hung up the phone and kept his eyes trained on his torch. “Hi, Wally. I’m just about finished with the sound dampener you asked for.”

“Piper, what the fuck did you do?”

Chapter Text

“The whole point of fixing you two up was to keep Dick and Roy from starting their bullshit together for the millionth god damn time. They’ve been trying to be a thing on and off since we were fifteen years old. It’s not going to happen. They are incapable of making it happen. I am so sick of being dragged into it when they try to make it happen and it blows up in their faces.” Wally was stomping around Piper’s workshop, making grand gestures and basically throwing a hissy fit. On the plus side, at least he was doing it at regular speed; a superspeed meltdown would have been downright dangerous with so many unsecured tools and bits of scrap metal floating around.

“Wally, has it occurred to you that perchance Dick is not managing his romantic and sexual life around whether it inconveniences you?” Piper asked, more amused than annoyed at his friend’s reaction. For the moment, anyway. This was a loaded conversation, and he could feel the potential for it ending horrifically if he wasn’t careful. “Besides, Dick didn’t say anything about dating Roy again. He just wants to hook up.”

Piper made his last adjustment to the sound dampener, and then placed it in a small box and tried to hand it to Wally, but he was standing behind Piper with his arms folded across his chest, a determined scowl on his face.

“And why doesn’t that bother you? Roy should not be hooking up with your boyfriend. Wait…is everything all right with you two? You’re not breaking up, are you?”

“…you literally just heard us end a conversation with professions of love. Wally, didn’t you need this for an emergency?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Wally grabbed the box but he didn’t pull his cowl back up. “I don’t get it. Why’s he looking to boink other guys if you two are good?”

“Well, you see, in a threesome, both of us would actually be present with the other guy. In theory, I’d be enthusiastically involved in the boinking.”

Wally’s face scrunched up. “I don’t get it. Isn’t that, like, the kind of move you make when you’re desperate to bring spice back in or something? I thought it was kind of a Hail Mary for relationships that are on their last breath.”

He couldn’t help but reflect that if that’s how Wally approached threesomes, it explained so much about his last few weeks with Connie. Piper assessed his situation, and decided that he would not try to cover the topics of polyamory and metamours with Wally until he’d talked with Linda so she could back him up. And he’d have to ask Dick how he felt about other people knowing about his new label.

Well, time to deflect. Thankfully, on subjects like sexuality, deflection was never difficult with Wally. Despite how much he’d slept around before falling for Linda, the boy was surprisingly vanilla and fairly bashful.

“I really didn’t think you wanted to hear about the intimate details of my sex life with your longtime best friend, but if I have that wrong I’d be happy to-”

“Nope.” Wally’s face heated up. “That’s fine, actually. I really don’t need to know what you and Dick are getting up to.”

Piper grinned. “But we get up to so much! Where it doesn’t look like this was much of a tech emergency for you, and you’ve actually got loads of time, I could share so many spicy stories with you. I’ve never had such an amorous, flexible, and creative partner before-”

“Piper, cut it out!” Wally scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Dude, can you not? You and Dick are like brothers to me. I’d really like to keep your boinking as hypothetical and far removed from my business as possible. Once again, I’m truly happy you guys are, uh, having a good time together. But I promise you, I already know more intimate details about Dick’s sex life than I ever wanted to, and walked in on things I never wanted to see. I’m good.”

Piper turned his attention back to his workbench and started to clean up his tools. “One would think you’d have learned to knock by now then.”

“And you’d think he’d stop having sex in communal spaces. Is that a kink for him or something?”

“It’s more that he gets impatient, I think. At least, that seems to have been the case when we’ve gotten freaky on different surfaces in my house, anyway.”

Wally jumped back from the table he’d been leaning against as though it had bitten him. “Oh my god, I did not want an answer to that!” His face was nearly the same shade of red as his costume. Piper smirked, looking forward to relaying this conversation to Dick later. “Ugh. Look, before I head out. You two really are good, right? Like…bringing Roy in, that will never, ever, make any relationship more stable. He doesn’t do healthy. So like…be careful. Okay?”

Piper nodded. “I do appreciate you sharing your concerns. Thank you for looking out for me, Wally.” Teasing aside, he could appreciate what Wally was going for (and that brother comment had given him the warm fuzzies).

Wally gave his shoulder a quick pat. “You don’t make it easy, dude. I’ll see you later.” He pulled his cowl up and raced out of the room, and Piper went back to puttering around with his workbench.

Linda kept trying to catch Piper’s eye, and it made him wonder what Wally’s version of the recent developments in his love life had sounded like. He was pretty sure the boy must have skewed things somehow, considering how concerned his wife currently looked. He’d have to talk to her eventually, but Piper was hoping to do so after he’d gotten some parameters straightened out with Dick. In theory, they’d be seeing Dick later that evening, so hopefully he wouldn’t have to dodge Linda’s inquiries for that long.

Piper was at the West house, once again helping them set up for a holiday gathering. Even though Wally did like to host Christmas parties, he didn’t usually do anything noteworthy for New Year’s Eve. Linda seemed a bit miffed about already opening their home up again for another big social to-do so close to the last one, but she’d also audibly reminded herself that unexpected company was part of the deal she’d signed on for when she’d fallen in love with Wally.

Unless superheroics got in the way, Piper typically spent New Year’s Eve with the Trickster. They’d been splitting Chinese food over the Three Stooges marathon almost every New Year’s Eve since they’d first met. Once Piper had fully accepted that he’d reformed and was technically a Cape, he hadn’t been sure that James would still be interested. But he’d (somehow, around the security system) let himself into Piper’s apartment, just like always, looking surprisingly tan for that time of year (Piper would later learn that the flaky young man had taken up temporary residence in California), with their usual food order, buzzing with all sorts of useless trivia about how the theatrical shorts had been made.

James was the first person who’d made it clear that he intended to have a friendship with Piper regardless of what side of the law he was on. Most of the other Rogues had let their friendship fall away, but James behaved basically the same. He just didn’t invite Piper on many team ups until he’d started to become more of a hero than a villain himself. As their most recent team up had James flitting between Central City and Mindy Hong’s current residence, Piper wasn’t expecting to see his friend and had accepted the invite to Wally and Linda’s without hesitation.

“So hon, run through this again with me. We just had this house full to bursting with superheroes for Christmas. How did we end up being the ones to host the New Year’s Eve party?” Linda opened a bag of potato chips and dumped them into a bowl while turning a grimly amused look on her spouse.

“To be fair, I didn’t actually get to attend the Christmas party,” Wally plopped a gold foil party hat on Linda’s head and went in to kiss her cheek. She rolled her eyes a bit but didn’t actually pull away. “You’re not really mad, right?”

“No, not exactly. I’d just been hoping to have a low key night for once. We were supposed to get take out and watch the Twilight Zone marathon.”

“I thought we were watching the Stooges.” Piper was up on a ladder taping some balloons to the Wests’ unnecessarily tall ceilings. “Wally, how many people did you invite?”

“I’m not honestly sure. This whole thing got away from me pretty quick.” Wally chewed on his lip, thinking it over. “Once Gar overheard me talking to Dick about the two of you coming over, suddenly it became a Titans thing and he was seeing if Vic and Donna and Kory were free. Then it didn’t seem right not to ask Jesse, and she assumed I’d already invited Bart. And he’s probably going to bring some friends.”

“So possibly all of the ex-Teen Titans, possibly all of the current speedsters in the cities, and maybe Young Justice?” Linda sighed. “You’re cleaning up.”

“Yeah, that sounds fair. I’m going to see about ordering some pizza. Now that I’m thinking about it, we probably didn’t get enough Chinese food.” Wally went into the kitchen, leaving Piper and Linda alone as they finished decorating the living room.

“So…have you met Starfire yet?”

“Nope.” Piper taped another balloon in place, then hopped down from the ladder to reposition it.

“She’s nice. Affectionate.”

“I’ve been warned.” Piper smirked a little, then blew up another balloon.

“She’s definitely not over Dick. She might be…a bit much. Not the same way Roy was. Like, I don’t think she’ll intend to be nasty to you or anything. Just…if you need to talk or to make a quick exit or something, just let me know.” Linda finished laying out the party hats and noisemakers on a folding table, then approached the ladder. She looked concerned.

“I appreciate it, but genuinely. I’m not worried.” He taped the balloon in place, then glanced down the ladder. “Does this look okay? It’s hard to get a sense of the symmetry with these sloped ceilings.”

“It’s even. Hartley, are you sure? I know you were saying before that all the exes were making you a little insecure.”

“Yes, they were. Back when they were more of a concept than actual people to me. All these young, fit supermodels who’d been in emotionally charged life and death peril with him, it was definitely intimidating. But we’ve had a few important conversations, and I’m feeling happy and secure with my commitment. I promise.” He hopped down from the ladder and looked around the room. “Does that look like enough balloons?”

“If Wally wants more balloons he can hang them himself. I think that’s fine. So you’re really okay?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Okay. Well you went on silent with us during that whole Fury thing. I’m trying to make it a point to check in with you a little more.” Linda gave his shoulder a squeeze and he returned her smile, truly touched.

He did have a tendency to isolate when he wasn’t doing well, but it was a new development for someone to actually notice.

“We should do another coffee date or something,” Piper said. “I’m sure you’ve got some drama to catch me up on as well.”

Wally ran back in at superspeed, with three large boxes of pizza for the snack table. His entrance caused all of the balloons Piper had taped up to pull from the wall and swirl around in a whirlwind before delicately drifting to the ground.

Linda patted her hair back into place, wearing a thin lipped smile that was almost a grimace. “Yeah, that sounds good. All right, I’m going to shower and get ready for the party while Wally rehangs all those decorations for us. I’ll see you boys in a bit.” She kissed Wally’s cheek on her way to the bathroom while he set the pizzas on the food table.

Piper smirked and climbed back up on the ladder. “It’s okay, just hand me the balloons.”

Somehow, among all the invitations that Wally accidentally gave out, Piper’s little sister got included in the mix. Piper was not exactly hiding from the roomful of mostly strangers and acquaintances by tinkering with Wally’s sound system when he heard Wally welcome Jerrie into the house. He was pretty sure he hadn’t seen Jerrie without her Flash museum hoodie since she’d gotten it, but probably owing to the fact that she was attending a party at the man’s house, she was wearing her pink cat ear hoodie instead. Wally showed her into the living room, and pointed out some teenage superheroes that he clearly expected her to mingle with.

Piper finished what he was doing in record time, then darted through the crowd to get over to where Jerrie, red faced and obviously anxious, was still standing by the doorway. “Hey, sweetheart. I didn’t expect to see you tonight.”

“H-hi, Hartley. Mom’n Dad let me come. They said it was okay, but I’m getting picked up right at, right at twelve-o-one. There are a lot of people here. I thought we were just watching TV together.”

“Yeah, that’s what me and Linda thought too.” He shrugged a little, and started walking her more towards the food table. “Dick’s supposed to be here at some point, but I haven’t seem him yet.”

Jerrie glanced down at her outfit, which consisted of yoga pants, an oversized t-shirt, and the hoodie. She’d thrown her long hair back into a messy bun with a blue scrunchie. “I didn’t know it was a real party. I wish I’d worn a dress like Mom told me to. At least I didn’t bring sparkle horn inside with me. Um, Hartley…are those kids over there…are they superheroes too? I don’t think any of them go to school with me.”

“It’s best not to ask anyone if they are or not, but just assume that there’s a high probability almost everyone in this room has put on spandex and punched a supervillain at some point. It’s just one of those things that you let people tell you themselves.”

“Like being gay?”

Piper hadn’t thought of it that way before but he nodded. “Yeah, exactly. Guess all you want, but other people are the ones to tell you who they are, not the other way around.”

“Got it. Oh, speaking of that. Um…I kinda have a girlfriend. Do you think Mom’s gonna get as mad as she did when you told her you were gay?”

Piper blinked a few times, trying to process what he’d just heard (and trying to silence the nasty little voice in his head that was telling him if Rachel were going to get mad at anyone over this, it would be him, not Jerrie).

“Of course not. Mom will never get mad at you the way she does with me. You’re too sweet, where I excel at pissing her off.” He wasn’t sure exactly what to say beyond that, and desperately wished that Jerrie had opened this conversation in a less overstimulating setting. But then, with how protective Rachel and Osgood were over their youngest, he never really got to see her without either of them present, so this was likely the first opportunity Jerrie had had to come out to her brother.

At least she didn’t look at all distraught about her announcement. Grappling with his sexual orientation had been a huge source of pain and shame for Piper during his teen years. It was refreshing to see that for Jerrie, it looked like liking girls was just another personal characteristic for her, no more or less consequential than being a redhead or an anime nerd.

While Piper was still trying to come up with something else to say, someone tall and strong came up behind him and pulled him into a hug. His vision was mostly obscured by voluminous, jasmine scented hair, so he guessed that this was Starfire.

“Hartley! I’ve been looking all over for you. It’s so nice to meet you.” She let him go, and he was able to turn around and face the exuberant young woman.

Well, she did seem nice.

“Hi, likewise. This is my younger sister, Jerrie. Jerrie, this is…Kory? I’m pretty sure that’s short for something.”

“Hartley, I know who Starfire is,” Jerrie murmured, so quietly that Piper was probably the only person who heard her (except for maybe Superboy, though Piper wasn’t sure if the kid had the superhearing or not). Jerrie had taken a step or two back, so she was now standing behind Piper looking over his shoulder. Her eyes were wide, and they were not focused on Kory’s face. The metallic purple dress she was wearing only covered a fraction more of her figure than her superhero outfit, which had both entranced and overwhelmed the hormonal young lesbian.

“Kory’s fine. That’s what I use when I’m not in battle. Hello, Jerrie. Is that short for something, too?”

“G-Geraldine.” Jerrie’s nose wrinkled in distaste as she said it. “We were both named after dead people on our dad’s side. And they all have gross names.” Jerrie’s gaze briefly flickered in the direction of Kory’s face as she spoke, then darted away again.

“Ah, unwanted family legacies are something, aren’t they?” Kory offered Jerrie a beaming smile, which made the girl let out a small eep before training her eyes on the floor. “Hartley, I’m spending a few days in Central before I head back to New York. I know it’s still Earth holidays, but is there any chance you’d be free to grab a coffee or something? I just feel like we should talk.”

“Sure. I’ve got some time open. Just let me know when you’re free.” They traded numbers, Kory gave him another sudden and unexpected hug, tried to say something to Jerrie, whose eyes were not budging from the floor, then shrugged and went to say hi to some of her other friends.

The air around them still smelled faintly of jasmine even once Starfire was on the other side of the room. Piper snagged some chips from the table and waited patiently for Jerrie to recover speech. “She’s friendly, huh?”

“She hugged you. Twice.”

“Yep.”

“But…you. You’re not a hugger.” Jerrie frowned. “Why’d she want to make a date with you? Doesn’t she know that you’re gay? I thought everyone knew that about you.”

“It’s not a date. We’re just going to talk. So…she’s very pretty, isn’t she?”

Jerrie’s cheeks were on fire. “If she tries to hug me I’m going to die. I can’t believe I wore yoga pants to a superhero party. I can’t believe Mom was right about something.”

“That’s a little harsh, don’t you think?”

Jerrie turned a deadpan look on Piper. “I’m not accepting feedback on how I talk about Mom at this time, especially not from you. I don’t say anything mean to her face but I gotta let it out sometime. She’s…a lot.”

“Yes, that’s more than fair. Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Jerrie rubbed at her arm. She looked around the room, eyes roving from cluster to cluster of people who all seemed to already know each other. Piper figured there was very little chance she actually wanted to spend the entire night in a corner talking to her brother but he also couldn’t figure out how to help her into one of those clusters without embarrassing her.

“Hey, there you guys are.” Wally walked over to them, Dick just behind him.

Dick greeted Piper with a quick kiss and then stood next to him, turning to face Jerrie and Wally.

“So. On a scale of one to ten, how dead do you think I’m going to be after the thirty plus party guests leave and I’m alone with my wife?”

“I’d say it depends how good a job you do when you clean up the house,” Piper answered. “I handled most of the Christmas party clean up and though it was a nice enough gesture, she definitely had some notes on my work.”

Dick leaned up a little so he could see over heads and muttered some numbers. “Wally, it’s definitely over forty at this point.”

“Forty is a number that is thirty plus. Jerrie, there’s a bunch of really cool kids your age here, y’know. You could go hang out with them if you wanted.” Wally meant it kindly, but being called out just made Jerrie freeze up. He frowned, and tilted his head towards Piper. “Is this really fun for you guys? Hiding out in a corner by the food?”

“Works for me.” Dick reached over to the table and grabbed a slice of pizza. “I’m starving. I had to do a monitor shift on the Watchtower to justify the teleportation for the party, and I have been thinking about greasy take out for hours. Oh, and you. Of course.” He tried to lean in for a kiss but Piper ducked away.

“Finish the pizza first.”

Jerrie giggled. Her eyes drifted back towards the teens, who had commandeered the living room television and were getting ready for a video game tournament. Piper recognized Superboy and Impulse, so he figured the blond girls were also members of Young Justice. He was just wondering if Robin was around somewhere when the boy seemed to materialize from nowhere just behind Wally.

“Dick, when did you get here?”

Wally jumped, then took a step back so that Tim could join their little circle.

“Just now. I didn’t know you were coming to the party too. We could have traveled in together.”

Tim smirked. “I didn’t know I was coming to the party until Kon showed up during my patrol and grabbed me.”

“Jerrie, have you met Tim yet?” Dick asked. She shook her head, her lips pressed tightly together while she fidgeted with the drawstring of her hoodie. “Tim’s basically my little brother, with a few complicating factors like us not being biologically related. Tim, Jerrie is Piper’s sister.” The two Bats communicated wordlessly somehow, and after a moment Tim invited Jerrie to join him and his friends for a Mario Party tournament. She still looked uncomfortable even as she nodded and followed him to the sofa, but soon enough she was sitting between Bart and one of the blond girls, joining in on the game and even using full sentences at a volume her new acquaintances could hear.

Wally and Dick kept talking to each other but Piper’s attention remained on the kids. He tuned his own companions out, filtering through the noise so that he could keep an ear on Jerrie. She wasn’t breathing too fast and she wasn’t fidgeting more than her accustomed amount. Hopefully she was having fun.

“Dude, you good?”

“Hm?” Piper nodded. “Yeah, fine. If any of those teenagers are mean to my baby sister, I don’t care if they’re all superheroes. I will be going to my car for my flute and I will make them regret it.”

“I know those kids, Piper.” Dick wrapped his pizza-free arm around Piper’s waist. “You don’t have to worry about it. Tim’s going to look after Jerrie and make sure she has fun. I mean, unless you wanted her to be a wallflower with you all night?”

“Well, no.” It had been nice to talk to her without Rachel hovering around but no, he didn’t actually want that for the girl.

Dick grinned. “Good. Because I’m determined to secret you off someplace at some point in the night. And I don’t think either of us want your baby sister around for it when it happens.”

“Well, that sounds like my cue to leave…” Wally started to say, but then his eyes locked on Roy’s as Linda let him through the front door. Roy immediately spotted Dick and Piper and, based on the cocky grin on his face, Piper could guess what the topic of his and Dick’s most recent conversation had been. “You know, I could use some pizza too.” Wally reached around Dick, grabbed a slice from the food table, and planted his feet.

Dick rolled his eyes. “Real mature, Wally.”

New Year’s morning was unusually peaceful in the Gem Cities, which made the local and visiting superheroes wonder if maybe the supervillains had all made holiday plans as well. Being better acquainted with them than most, Piper assumed the guys were just too hung over to get into trouble.

Jerrie slept late into the morning, tired out from having been out so late when she wasn’t used to it. She had some new numbers saved to her phone, and hazy plans to visit an arcade with Bart Allen later in the week.

Wally set an alarm so he could get up early and restore the house to order before Linda woke up. His plan was foiled when she was roused by the alarm instead of him. To his surprise and relief, it turned out that her teasing about the size and mess of the party was just that, teasing. They had a relaxing morning restoring the house together, while snacking on the leftovers, gossiping about their friends, and just enjoying each other’s company.

Across town, Kory lazed around in the hotel room she and Donna had gone halfsies on when they’d heard about the party and decided to turn it into an impromptu girl’s getaway. They were supposed to go shopping together that afternoon, and Kory idly wondered if she’d be able to fold her boyfriend’s boyfriend into that plan. Piper didn’t seem like a “shopping buddy” stereotype or anything, but based on what he’d been wearing at the party, he could probably use a shopping buddy himself. She wondered what he’d look like if he wore more flattering clothes. Maybe he’d be more comfortable and less guarded. She was terribly intrigued by the man who’d gotten her lover to open up to a more Tamaranean understanding of romantic relationships, but to her disappointment so far he struck her as polite but aloof. Which was annoyingly Earth-y of him.

And back at Piper’s house, Dick Grayson was having his idea of a perfect morning, snuggled between two redheads that he was crazy about.

Chapter Text

“Did you put her up to this?”

“Hm?” Dick was stretched out on Piper’s couch with a book, wearing an accustomed pair of black jeans that he looked like he’d been poured into, but with one of Piper’s oversized sweatshirts. He laughed when he looked up and saw Piper standing over him clutching two enormous shopping bags that were stuffed to the brim with high end clothing. “No, I did not pressure Kory into taking you shopping. Trust me, love. She’s an ex-model and is more than capable of judging for herself that everything you own is a size or two wrong.”

Piper set the bags down beside the coffee table and joined Dick on the couch. “We were just supposed to be meeting for coffee, but then suddenly Donna was there and the two of them somehow convinced me to tag along on their shopping trip. And even though I detest mindless consumerism-”

“Unless it’s a trip to a music or electronics store-”

“That’s different. I said mindless consumerism. To the point, it didn’t seem polite to decline and then they were both so friendly and interested. Talking to me about fabric types and measurements and color theory. It was overwhelming.”

Dick set the book aside and reached for the shopping bag closest to him. “So does this mean you have clothes that fit now?”

Piper sighed, but nodded. “I’ll be going through my closet later and selecting pieces to donate to the Keystone Out! boutique. You won.”

“Yes!” Dick punched the air, then reached for Piper and pulled him close for a kiss. “Well that was an unintended side effect of introducing my boyfriend and my girlfriend. Otherwise, how’d it go? I assume you talked about me, but what else did you guys do? What’d you think of her?”

“I thought she was very pleasant.” Piper leaned forward and picked the book off of the coffee table. “Stone Butch Blues?”

“I keep seeing it referenced in other books and in the internet discussion boards I’ve been hanging around in. Engaging book, but man is it depressing. I’ll need something lighter when I finish it. And that was a complete deflection. Did you not like Kory?”

Piper frowned, and set the book back on the coffee table. “I just said she was pleasant.”

“Mm hm.” Dick flung an arm over the back of the couch and tapped his fingers against the material, eyes trained on Piper’s face. Waiting him out.

“I didn’t dislike her…exactly. I don’t know. We’re very different people. I don’t think I’d ever seek her out for company if it weren’t for you, that’s all. But she’s nice. She’s very nice, and she’s terribly in love with you. She seems like a wonderful partner.”

“Yeah. I’m a lucky guy in that regard.” Dick must have liked that answer, or at least found it sufficient. He leaned back in for a cuddle, and let Piper talk about the social dynamics of lesbian bars for a few minutes instead of fashion or metamours. But once Piper filled out some historical context that helped Dick better understand the book, he started making reluctant sounding comments about how he needed to get going soon.

“You’re leaving already?” Piper found himself involuntarily curling himself tighter around his boyfriend. “You just got here last night. I’d thought you’d be staying for at least a few days.” He hadn’t brought a bag with him though.

“I’m actually in the middle of a thing with a mob power struggle in Bludhaven right now. It’s all pretty volatile. Honestly, I probably shouldn’t have stepped away even for the day. I bet they get up to some crazy shit over the holidays. Ugh…I’d much rather go up against a conventional supervillain than these guys. There are all these different layers and alliances. At least when the costumed guys team up, it’s still usually pretty straightforward. Honestly, sometimes it’s helpful. You just know they’re going to do half the work for you betraying each other once you escape the first death trap and they start to panic.”

Piper laughed, reflecting on how different the supervillain communities were in Gotham compared to Central. “Back in my day, the supervillains actually always stood by each other up to and including doing time in Iron Heights. And breaking out. I usually helped at least one or two of the guys out with me. Well…let me specify. The core group of supervillains would stand by each other. But you could usually count on Roscoe or Digger to do something spectacularly selfish or stupid from time to time.”

“Captain Boomerang do something stupid? You don’t say.” Dick grinned and gave his head a shake. He dropped a kiss on Piper’s temple and stroked back his hair. “I did want this to be a longer visit though. Any chance I can tempt you into flying back to the Haven with me? You could help me stake out the potential mob bosses…hit up some sleazy bars…show off your new properly fitted pants…”

“Sadly, I’ve got commitments.”

“Break them.”

“Dick…” Piper reached for one of Dick’s wandering hands and halted it by twining their fingers together. “Tomorrow I’m shopping for three different food pantries in the Gem Cities and it does have to be me because it’s a Rathaway Publishing charitable contribution and I’m using the company card. Then I’ve got a board meeting for Keystone Out!, and the day after I’m supposed to take Jerrie to the symphony with my mother. Linda and I are getting coffee in the morning, and while she would definitely understand if I pushed it back, I’d still rather not cancel on her. I’m running Wednesday’s Keystone Out! meeting on internet stranger danger, which I am uniquely qualified to do considering how much more terminally online I am than the other adults. And Thursday I’m distributing winter boots and coats to a homeless camp with a mutual aid group I cofounded. I’m sorry, love. But I’m pretty booked.”

“Yeah…” Dick sighed, and buried his face in Piper’s neck. “Ugh, this sucks. One of us needs to develop teleportation powers, or figure out how to borrow Wally’s super speed or something. If you were just the next city over, we could still see each other while you did all that stuff.”

“Mm.” Piper ran his hand through Dick’s hair, in complete agreement.

There was an obvious answer to the problem, but neither of them wanted to give voice to it. Piper was too well rooted in his community to consider moving, and he knew Dick only wanted so much physical distance from the Bat Family. Bludhaven was an easy commute to Gotham. Whenever there was a crisis, Nightwing was more than capable of swooping in and offering support to his loved ones.

“I should be able to come for a visit next week,” Piper said. “I don’t have much going on after the winter wear distribution and unless there’s a crisis in the cities I can probably keep it that way.”

“Promise?”

Piper sighed, and gave the silky hair another caress. “With qualifications. If it comes down to Central and Keystone being in some sort of peril where Wally needs me for backup, or sneaking away to visit my boyfriend, no matter how charming and perfect he is I am going to have to choose saving lives over the visit, I’m afraid.”

“Well, I’ll tell Wally not to bite off more than he can chew for at least a few days. But yeah, that goes without saying. Hopefully Bludhaven and Gotham can keep their cool for a night or two. I found a bar I’d really like to take you to. They host drag shows, poetry slams, and community nights where they raise money for mutual aid work. Seems like your kind of thing.”

“Aw, look at you. You’ve found the rooms with more queer people than straight people in them, haven’t you?” Piper leaned down for a kiss. “Yes, I’d love to explore that bar with you. It will absolutely take a genuine crisis to keep me from Bludhaven next week.”

“Well then. I’d better get back to work on this mob case. Hopefully I can get the ends of it all tied up before you get there.” Dick made absolutely no move to get off of the sofa, or even out of Piper’s arms.

“Darling? Weren’t you saying something about leaving?”

“…five more minutes.”

Well, he couldn’t argue with that.

“Hey, Piper, can I talk to you for a second?”

Piper glanced up from his computer, and saw an uncharacteristically anxious looking Superboy standing in front of him. They were at Keystone Out!; Piper was in the front lobby greeting kids as they showed up for the meeting while also trying to get an email formatted for Bruce Wayne on programming and resource suggestions for the queer youth non-profits he’d started partnering with in the Gotham area. Superboy was supposed to be helping in the main meeting room.

“Of course. Just let me attach another file and I can set this aside.” Piper finished his email, then closed up the computer. “By the way, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that you’re not wearing polka dots right now. You might be the only person under twenty in the building who isn’t.” He really needed to talk to Paul about that donation and all the headaches it had given him.

“Well, the green and white would clash, wouldn’t it? And since I was stupid enough to volunteer here in my hero persona, I’m kinda committed to staying in uniform.” He sighed, and gave his head a shake. “I did talk to Superman about that, and he hooked me up with a secret identity. I’m going to start high school next fall.”

“Oh. Good luck with that.” Piper wasn’t really sure how to respond. Personally, he’d hated high school. But Superboy was good with people in a way he’d never been, so the charismatic teen would probably manage well enough. And if he did have a difficult time, at least he had one hell of a support system. Piper couldn’t imagine how different it must be to go through life with a family like the Kents backing you up.

Superboy glanced around the room, and tried to wave at a trio of teens as they walked in. The girls waved back, and the shy looking boy they were with went bright red and power walked past them into the main room. Scowling, Superboy lowered his hand. “I still can’t tell what the hell I’m doing wrong. No one ever wants to talk to me. Urgh. Anyway, can we go outside for a minute? I don’t think we really need a greeter right now. Practically everyone’s in the main room and they’re all set up.”

“Sure.” The first part of the meeting was always devoted to some social time, so Piper figured he had a good twenty minutes before he was needed for his internet stranger presentation. He followed the teen outside, and was only slightly startled when Superboy grabbed him and flew him up onto the roof.

Apparently Superboy and Wally had the same sorts of thoughts when it came to personal space. Piper made a mental note to work in a meeting topic about consent and boundaries on a night the kid was volunteering.

“So what’s troubling you, and how can I help?”

“Okay, don’t take this the wrong way. But…everyone thinks I’m gay.”

Piper paused, nodded, and carefully considered his reply before giving it. “I’d…noticed that as well. It tends to happen when you show an interest in gay rights. And where you’re currently volunteering at a queer youth center-”

“Yeah, because Superman said I should, so I can be more involved in the com-damn it. He thinks I’m gay too. That’s why he wanted me to do this, isn’t it?”

“Possibly. So…you aren’t?”

He vehemently shook his head. “Or, I’m pretty sure. I definitely like girls. I guess I’ve never really…well, that’s not the point. The point is, is it wrong for me to be here if I’m not gay? Because I like working here. It’s a really chill way to help people and the confidentiality rule is rad as hell. I know you’re not, like, in the thick of the hero community or anything, but they are really gossipy. Every little thing you say gets around, and it always gets twisted up. I like that I get to relax and not have to worry about every single thing I say and do for a couple of hours a week.”

“I’ve noticed the cattiness of the superheroes from my vantage point and honestly, some of them are as bad as the supervillains.” Piper reflected on the conversation he’d had with Wally where he’d finally come out (after realizing he even had to - he truly hadn’t expected Wally to ever mistake him for a heterosexual). The way Wally had been trying to pump him for information on the sexual orientations of supervillains had left a bad taste in his mouth.

“Yeah, and now that you’re hooking up with Nightwing, your name’s definitely getting dragged around. Beast Boy started a betting pool about how long you two are going to last.”

Piper reminded himself that he was technically counseling a Keystone Out! youth and did his best to keep his feelings about that tidbit from showing on his face. He decided to ignore that and tactfully return them to their original subject. “Well, there’s no requirement that you identify as some flavor of LGBTQ to volunteer here, or even just attend the meetings as a youth. I’m sure you noticed, but a lot of the kids’ labels change over time as they learn more about themselves.”

“Yeah, not to mention names and pronouns. By the way, Lucille went back to Elinore. I don’t know if she told you that yet.”

Piper made a mental note of the change, hoping to cement it in his memory as quickly as possible, and thanked Superboy for telling him. “Well, is that everything? We should probably get back down there.”

“Uh…there’s one more thing.”

Piper had been looking around for some sort of ladder or maintenance exit he could take to the ground level, but the strip mall didn’t seem to have an easy way down from the roof. He politely turned his attention back to Superboy.

“Okay, so, I know confidentiality is taken like crazy seriously here. I get that, and I know you respect it too. But like, where you are dating Nightwing and all, we thought it would be better if I talked to you about this first. So, so, I was telling my friends about this place and, uh…one of them wants to come to meetings. Because he thinks he needs them. But he’s not ready to tell people, y’know?”

Piper nodded. “That’s fine. That’s the whole idea, actually. I promise, I won’t say anything.”

“Cool. He’s going to show up as a civilian, so I can’t act like I know him. If anyone here asks, he found out about the place through you, but you still can’t tell Grayson. Or Flash. Oh damn, definitely don’t tell Flash. That’s like, a guarantee that everyone who’s ever been a Teen Titan or a Justice Leaguer finds out. Well, thanks, dude. This is why everyone wants to wear your polka dots, by the way. The kids are always saying how easy it is to talk to you.”

Piper was pretty sure he’d just done the bare minimum of his volunteering requirements, but he accepted the compliment all the same. Superboy flew him down to the front entrance, and they were just in time to see Tim Drake and Bart Allen walk into the meeting room.

Piper stopped by Gambi’s tailor shop on his way to distribute the boots and coats to the homeless camp. His surface excuse was to see if Paul had any sturdy coats that weren’t moving that Piper could buy off of him at a discount. Truthfully, he wanted to have some words over the man’s use of his leftover polka dot fabric.

“Hartley, it’s so good to see you. Oh, and in such a flattering outfit. What’s the occasion?”

Piper glanced down at his outfit in some confusion. He was just wearing jeans, a sweater, an overcoat, and a scarf. But then, this particular ensemble had been picked out for him by Donna Troy, who was a photographer and knew how to style people. “No occasion. I’m distributing coats over at the camp. I was wondering if you had anything sitting around that I could take off your hands.”

“Actually, I did work up a few things for this little side project of yours. Hold on a second.” Gambi disappeared into a back room, so Piper strolled around the few racks he had set up out front. Gambi still mostly did alterations and custom work, but he had some of his designs out for sale. Piper looked through the couture, wondering if the gowns would be something Kory and Donna might be interested in. Maybe they could help get his name out there.

“Here you are, my friend.” Gambi set two large boxes in front of the counter.

Piper opened the one on top and examined a lovely quilted overcoat made of a familiar looking blue fabric. “James’ cape?”

Gambi’s demeanor slipped from sociable interest to catty irritation. “Well, he hasn’t ordered a new one in over a year, Hartley, and the last time I saw him he was wearing one of those horrid, shapeless jackets that are all the rage. I have to say, if you boys were that interested in updating your looks, I would have helped. I may have made my bread and butter outfitting one side of the super battles, but I’m client driven. I don’t care what you’re using my costumes for - I just want to help you look as fabulous as possible while you’re doing your work. And whoever it is you’re seeing now…” He made a few tsking noises and shook his head.

Piper did have the decency to feel a bit guilty about that. “I just assumed you wouldn’t be interested in doing costuming for the other side. I figured if word got out, you might lose some of your regulars.”

“Well that wouldn’t have been the case, and you might have asked.”

“So you don’t like the bodysuit?”

“Hartley, what on earth does that garish, passing fad of a unitard have to do with your gimmick? There’s nothing fairy tale about it at all. All you’ve retained is the color scheme, and that was our alteration to complement your own personal looks. Very few illustrations of the pied piper of Hamelin have him in green.”

Piper frowned. “I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback about the new costume.”

Gambi laughed. “It suits your figure, my friend, but it has nothing to do with your persona. If you’d like, I’d be happy to work a new design up for you. We can ditch the polka dots and keep it form fitting without obscuring your identity.”

As Paul did have a point, Piper agreed to take a look at some designs, and promised to try to nudge the Trickster into returning for a consultation the next time he saw him. “In the meantime, could you please stop donating the polka dot clothes to the youth center? I’ve got kids calling themselves the Consortium of Evil Gays, and they’re trying to audition to be my henchmen. It’s absolutely going to blow up in my face if anyone on the board thinks I’m encouraging this.”

Gambi covered his mouth as he snorted out a laugh. “I suppose I should have anticipated that. I’ll keep working with my leftover Trickster fabrics instead then. Would that do for your youth center, Hartley?”

Piper was momentarily struck with horror at the thought of his chaotic, hyperactive teenage charges parading around the youth center in imitation of James Jesse’s youthful antics.

“Paul, what if I bought you some bolts of fabric specifically for the Keystone Out! closet?”

After he finished with Gambi and the distribution, Piper drove to Wally and Linda’s partially for the company, and partially because he was exhausted from his overstuffed week and was hoping to avoid cooking and dishes by mooching off of his friends. They had a comfortable house and were always happy for company; so as long as he didn’t get pulled into superheroics, it was a pretty good spot to unwind at.

“Hi, Hartley. How’d the coat and boot thing go?” Linda met him at the door, wearing comfortable clothes but with a pen stuck behind her ear and a file folder under her arm. It must have been a work from home day then.

“Perfectly, actually. We had more than enough for everyone, so some people were able to get extras. But it was a long day. I was wondering if I might join you for junk food and crap TV, or something of the sort?”

“That sounds heavenly, actually. I’m just cleaning up this mess from the kitchen table. Our living room’s been taken over, but we could probably kick the kids out. They’ve had it for a few hours already.”

Piper gave a closer listen to the house, and caught the tones of video game music and exuberant chatter, punctuated by giggle fits. “Is that my sister I hear?”

“Yeah, her and Bart have really clicked. And your dad in particular is pretty hype about her spending more time with us. Who knew the father of a former supervillain would be such a Flash fanboy?”

“Dad’s always been an ass kisser when it comes to any kind of celebrity or fame. It’s not that shocking. But that’s good to hear. “ He lowered his voice a bit, even though there was no chance of the kids hearing them from the front hall. “She’s really needed some better quality friends.”

Linda nodded. “I’ve been giving them space but yeah, from what I’ve overheard, it sounds like her friends from school kind of suck.” She motioned for Piper to follow her to the kitchen, and he sat down on a chair while she tidied up her work papers. “So you’re a little dressed up for hanging out at a tent city. Do you and Dick have plans tonight or something?”

Piper’s face fell. “Why does everyone keep saying that? It’s just jeans and a sweater.”

Linda laughed. “I think you know why everyone keeps saying that, hon. Hm. I’ll have to see if Dick can share his secrets with me. I’ve been trying to get Wally to dress better since we started dating. Have you seen that awful suit he wore when he met my parents? The brown one?”

“…I never noticed anything wrong with it.”

Linda snorted. “You two are absolutely hopeless.”

“Excuse me, Mrs. West? Can I get a drink of water? Oh, Hartley!” Jerrie dropped her formal manner and ran up to the table. Bart zipped into the room just behind her, using his speed so that it almost seemed like he teleported himself there.

“Hey, Piper. You guys want to play some games with us? We can switch to a multiplayer if you want.”

“Nah, you kids have fun. But we’re going to take the TV from you when our food gets here.” Linda grabbed some menus from under a magnet on the fridge and set them down in front of Piper, then continued carting her work supplies off to her home office.

“Ooo, what are you ordering?” Bart leaned over Piper’s shoulder to look at the menus. Once Linda was out of the room, he lowered his voice. “I told Jerrie about the secret gay club and she wants to start going to meetings too.”

“How come you never told me about Keystone Out!, Hartley?” She actually looked a little hurt.

“Darling, when would I have brought it up? In front of Mom while we were trapped in a small space together at the symphony?”

She scowled and crossed her arms over her chest. “I guess you’ve got a point. But we have to figure out a way for me to get there. I think, I think it sounds like I could get some help with, like, figuring out how to tell people that I'm, y’know…figuring out how to tell Mom and Dad. I want to do a better job than you did.”

Piper couldn’t help feeling a little defensive. “I approached them just fine, for the record. They’re the ones who had a disproportionately dramatic response.”

“Yeah, but after you told them you ran away.”

“I did not run away!” Piper hopped up from the chair, and made a conscious effort to get his emotions under control when he saw how startled and even frightened Jerrie looked. He never raised his voice like that when she was around. Clearly, even after all these years, this was still a tender subject. “I’m sorry. You were very young at the time and you’ve heard Mom’s version of events more than mine. But I didn’t run away. I was chased out. I ended up out on the streets and wound up easy prey for an unstable partner. That’s how I fell into supervillainy, and that’s a big part of why I work with queer youth now. I don’t want anyone else to have to go through what I did.”

Jerrie nodded, then lowered her eyes. “I know it was a fight. That’s why I’m afraid to tell Mom’n Dad. And I, I wanted to talk with other kids. Like, about how they did it. Or how they deal with just keeping quiet about it. Y’know? So we gotta figure out how to get me to Keystone Out! with you and Tim and Kon.”

“Oh, I was just there to support Tim, by the by. I’m not gay. Or, I haven’t caught the gay yet. Seems like there’re a lot more gay and bi heroes than we realized though. Did you really hook up with Arsenal and Nightwing at the same time after the New Years’ party?” Bart asked. Both of the kids stared at him with obvious curiosity. 

“How did you know about that?” Piper spluttered. Superboy was right - the gossip in the superhero community really did get around fast.

“Probably my husband,” Linda said, sounding apologetic as she rejoined them in the kitchen. “He saw you three leave together and he’s been a bit whiny about it.”

“A bit,” Bart repeated, rolling his eyes. “C’mon, Jerrie. Let’s see if we can finish our game before the adults kick us out.”

“Okay.” Jerrie’s sad eyes lingered on Piper for a moment before she followed her friend out of the room.

Linda sat down next to Piper at the table and started flicking through the menus. “Everything okay? You look a bit flushed.”

“You know how teenagers have that uncanny ability to casually and unexpectedly jab you right in the unhealed trauma?”

“Do I ever. That’s one of the reasons I don’t voluntarily spend that much time around them. You’re a brave man, Rathaway. Hm. Let’s get dumplings this time. I didn’t manage to get any at the party before they were gone.”

The kids clearly didn’t want to talk about Jerrie’s dilemma in front of Linda, even though she was a proven ally and generally a safe adult to be around. But Piper respected that, so he waited for Wally to get in and for him and Linda to get distracted by catching each other up on their respective days before he pulled Jerrie and Bart aside to help them strategize. They decided to plan a fake arcade day for themselves and then sneak to Keystone Out! once Jerrie was away from the driver.

She apologized for hurting his feelings, which was pretty sweet, and Piper let her give him a hug. “Don’t worry about it, dear. You wouldn’t have known. We’ll have a chat at some point about what really happened when I left home, okay?”

“Okay, Hartley. You…really don’t think they’ll be mad at me, right?”

“No. But just in case I’m wrong, it doesn’t hurt to have a backup plan. You’ll always be welcome to come and live with me, should you need it. I’ll always be there for you, okay?”

That got her to smile again. “Thanks, Hartley.”

She left shortly after that, and, as Bart wasn’t crazy about the idea of hanging around Wally’s house while he was home and Bart’s friend wasn't, he took off as well, leaving the trio with their junk food and crap TV.

“So dude, what are you all dressed up for? You seeing Dick later?”

“Christ, not you too, Wally.”

Chapter Text

The covert plan to get Jerrie to the next Keystone Out! meeting ended up pushing Piper’s visit to Bludhaven back another week, to Dick’s immense displeasure. Piper was upset about the situation himself, but he needed to be there for his sister and Dick begrudgingly understood. They made do with extra phone calls (some of which, Piper could hear Roy or Kory in the background of), and Piper rescheduled some meetings and projects so that he could stay for a full week this time.

The Keystone Out! meeting started a little awkwardly; the kids were initially in awe of Jerrie when they found out she was Piper’s younger sister and spent a fair bit of time giving her the Superboy treatment (silently staring from hiding places). But Jerrie was just as unaffectedly weird as any Keystone Out! regular, and won them over surprisingly early into the meeting. It was nice to see, considering how shy Jerrie usually was when she was around new people.

They were having an arts and crafts night, and as several of the kids were drawing pictures of anime characters the general conversation quickly turned in that direction. Jerrie excitedly chattered along with the rest of them about her favorite shows and mangas, rattling off character names, creator names, and plot details with unpretentious mastery. No longer intimidated by her, the kids gathered around to talk about their favorite shows, trading headcanons about what flavor of queer they felt the different characters to be. As Jerrie and Bart were leaving, Elinore wordlessly approached them, handed Jerrie a cool rock she’d found, and then ran back into the meeting room before Jerrie could thank her.

Piper was relieved that she was fitting in, and found it amusing that the kids had gotten comfortable with his introverted and odd younger sister in one meeting, meanwhile Superboy still couldn’t get them to say more than a few words to him after weeks of determined pleasantness. Bart was getting on a little better than Superboy, though it probably helped that he wasn’t showing up in a superhero outfit. It definitely made him more approachable. That, and his encyclopedic knowledge of video games gave him something he could talk to the tweens and teens about.

He left the Gem Cities with some reluctance, though maybe it was a good thing that Piper wouldn’t be present at Jerrie’s second meeting. She’d probably have an even easier time socializing without her big brother hovering around, even if he was generally well liked by the kids. But he was feeling protective, and anxious to boot. His own period of adolescent self-discovery had ended so poorly, largely because there hadn’t been any adults he could go to for help. Piper hadn’t had any resources like Keystone Out!, and when he’d tried talking to his parents they’d put him out on the street. He needed things to be better for Jerrie. Not only for her sake, but he realized for his own. It would be so reassuring if he could watch this experience play out differently this time. Like a do-over. Jerrie’s queerness didn’t need to separate her from the Rathaways; they could love all of her, and not just their expectations for what they wanted her to be.

Thinking about his sister, worrying for her, and reflecting with bitterness on his past provided Piper with plenty of distractions from how generally unpleasant it was to commute between Central City and Bludhaven. He’d opted for a flight this time, since it was the second fastest way to get there, but the train was undoubtedly much more pleasant (the very fastest way, calling in favors with Wally and getting run directly to Dick’s house, was by far the least comfortable, though having the journey done in seconds was tempting).

His plane arrived in Gotham, and then he caught a train into Bludhaven. After that, he had to take a cab to Dick’s neighborhood, and by the time his feet finally touched the sidewalk he was cranky, with a mild headache and a deep desire to avoid groups of people for at least twenty four hours. If Dick wanted to go out and socialize, he could do so by himself until Piper emotionally recovered from all that travel.

Piper let himself into Dick’s condo and headed for the bedroom, to toss his travel bag in front of the dresser. The curtains had been pulled shut and Dick was lying in the center of his bed with his pillow over his head. Piper set his bag down, then retreated for the living room to let the boy get the rest he clearly needed (much as he’d been desperate to see his boyfriend, he wasn’t about to say no to an hour or so to decompress). He snagged a bag of pretzels from the kitchen and settled onto the couch with a book when a pamphlet and an application on the coffee table caught his eye.

A few minutes later, Dick was roused from his nap by Piper bouncing onto the mattress beside him. “Grayson, what the fuck is this?”

“Mmph.” Dick hugged the pillow tighter to his head and rolled away from Piper, closer to the wall. “M’sleeping.”

“It’s two in the afternoon. That’s pushing it, even for a costumed vigilante.” Piper tried to grab the pillow, and Dick tried to kick him. So Piper tickled his ribs, and he dropped his arms to shield himself. Piper yanked the pillow away and tossed it across the room, then dropped the application on Dick’s face. “Explain yourself.”

“What? It’s an application for the Bludhaven police academy and some information about taking a civil service exam.”

“Yes, I can see that. What the fuck was it doing on your coffee table?”

Dick sat up and groggily rubbed at his eyes, the paperwork falling onto his perfectly sculpted abs (Piper kept his focus on his boy’s face; he would not be distracted by Dick’s tendency to sleep in as little clothing as possible). “It was on my coffee table so I could fill it out and…study. Respectively. I’m going to apply. Uh…Hartley? You look like I just told you I wanted to start stomping kittens and puppies to death for a new hobby. What’s gotten into you?”

“You want to be a cop?”

“Well, yeah. I’ve been thinking about it for a little while now. I need a day job and, y’know. There’s a certain skillset overlap.” Dick covered his mouth as he yawned. He rubbed at his eyes again, and turned a somewhat more alert looking stare on his partner.

“You’re bisexual. You know I’m a queer activist, and you’ve professed to be a history nerd. Please tell me you’ve done even a modicum of research on our community’s history with law enforcement, and then ask me again why I’m disgusted you want to be a fucking cop. I mean for fuck’s sake, didn’t you just finish reading Stone Butch Blues?”

“Hey, it’s not like that. I’d be, y’know, one of the good ones. That helps people.”

“As the entire system is rotten to the core, that’s an impossibility. But you could certainly be corrupted into doing god awful things to society’s most vulnerable. I can’t believe you’re considering this. I can’t fucking believe…fuck.” Piper got up from the bed and stalked over to the bedroom door. He paced around the living room for a moment, too agitated to be still, then started for the front door.

“Hartley, wait.” Dick followed after him, and just managed to grab his arm before he made it out. “It was just an idea. And maybe not one of my better ones. Can we talk? Please? I promise, you are way more important to me than a day job I don’t actually need, okay? Bruce isn’t cutting me off or anything. I just wanted to do something to pay some of my own bills, and I thought…this was a way I could make a difference in my day to day life too. You know, like you do. There’s that look again.”

“Please don’t conflate my work with queer youth and orgs that provide mutual aid for the city’s homeless with what the fucking pigs do to keep us all as downtrodden as possible in our current late stage capitalist hellscape.”

Dick squeezed his eyes shut and let out an almost pained sounding breath. “I’m sorry. I was in Gotham until four working a case with Bruce and Tim, and my brain is fried. Can you please give me the benefit of the doubt that I’m not a…a…capitalist pig apologist until I’ve had some caffeine?”

“I guess that’s fair.” Piper let out another exasperated breath, then stalked over to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. “You know, considering how many museum dates we’ve been on I would have thought that was the natural place to look for a career path, especially considering you’re not actually reliant on the income. And education is an actual community service. I’m just saying.”

Dick followed him to the kitchen and grabbed a mug from the dish rack, a thoughtful frown on his face. “Y’know, I hadn’t really thought about it but you’re right. Working in a museum would be really fulfilling.”

“Mm hm.”

“I’ll look into it.” Dick threw Piper a hopeful look, and when he leaned forward Piper let him get in a kiss.

The gay bars in Bludhaven were like stepping back in time. Covert, seedy, with watery drinks and the feeling that you were doing something illicit by being there. That, and they were clearly all mob owned, though Dick assured Piper that that wasn’t unusual for any bar in Bludhaven. The scene in Gotham was a bit more friendly; they had queer owned bookstores and cafes in addition to bars, and there was even a cat cafe that Dick seemed awfully amused by.

“Do you think it’s connected to Catwoman?” Piper asked, watching the way Dick’s eyes lingered over the front window as they walked past.

“I sincerely doubt it. I don’t think she’d subject cats under her care to customer service work, even to get them adopted. But I could see her patronizing the place.”

One morning, while Dick was sleeping in after a particularly late patrol night, Piper went on a walk by himself around Bludhaven. He’d been invited on the patrol, but since part of the night involved some work in Gotham he’d declined, out of a desire to avoid both his old costumed acquaintances and his new costumed acquaintances on the other side. The Central City Rogues hadn’t teamed up with villains outside of their city all that often, but every time they did attempt mixing with the Gotham personalities it had always ended badly (Piper was particularly invested in never being in the same room with the Riddler again, if he could help it).

Piper noticed an awful lot of depressed looking folks sleeping on scraps of cardboard. The urban infrastructure in Bludhaven was in terrible shape, yet the city had still managed to prioritize hostile architecture. There were very few benches, and the ones Piper did see had those unnecessary extra arms that kept you from being able to lie down on them. There were spikes on any window ledge or overhang that might provide even a hint of shelter from the elements. No food pantries, but an abundance of predatory lenders. The one shelter he found was closed due to a burst pipe, and it was supposed to drop to the single digits overnight.

Dick was still asleep when Piper got back from his walk. He crawled into bed with him and wrapped his arms around Dick’s waist. Dick let out a groggy but pleased murmur, and leaned back against Piper. “Hey…what time z’it?”

“Just after noon. You can keep sleeping, if you’d like. I just wanted a hug.”

“Mm? Something…wrong?” He yawned, but turned over so they were facing each other. Dick traced his thumb over Piper’s cheek.

“I just can’t believe the state of things out there. I guess I’ve been a bit coddled by staying so much in the Gem Cities. I’ve been organizing with other activists for almost a decade now, and we’ve made some real strides in our work. There’s always so much more to do that it never seems like enough, but after a quick jaunt around your neighborhood I suddenly feel a lot better about how my unhoused neighbors in Keystone and Central are faring. Dick…it’s so cruel out there.”

“Yeah. Well, the Haven’s been corrupt as all get out for pretty much its entire history. Anytime the city sets aside anything for programs, it all gets pocketed by someone so the money never gets where it needs to go.”

“I’d say a solid seventy percent of the government programs in my cities are ineffective for those in the most desperate need, but that’s why the community comes together to supplement them. Aren’t there any direct action groups, or anyone doing mutual aid? Or hell, even any church charities? I’ve never loved the strings they attach but at a minimum they’ll usually feed a few people.”

Dick yawned, then nuzzled sleepily against Piper’s neck. “Dunno. Been trying to get the guys who are shooting up all the people first. Figured I’d look into that stuff more when things settle down, y’know?”

“No, I don’t.”

Dick’s eyes cracked open, and he leaned back a little so he could look Piper in the face. “That sounded harsh.”

“Well, I’m upset.” He sighed, and grasped Dick’s hand in his. “Not at you, love. I know you’re doing the best you can and this is obviously how you’ve been trained. But where do you think all of those mobsters’ cannon fodder is coming from? The powerful, evil men in this city need the masses fearful and desperate, barely clinging to survival, to get away with the things they do. If this was a true community of well fed, educated, healthy people with reliable housing, the crime lords and corrupt officials would have lost their most potent resource. They need the average people in their city to be desperate, afraid, and willing to turn their backs on the misery of others to operate the way they do. You’ll never clean Bludhaven up until you tend to the systemic inequality. That’s where crime comes from.”

“I’m not ignoring it,” Dick pouted. “I’ve referred a few folks to the work programs Bruce does at Wayne Enterprises.”

“Oh, you got some of them job interviews. I’m sure that will wipe out the homeless problem.”

“I know that was sarcasm, but what else am I supposed to do? You…have a lengthy answer, don’t you?”

Piper leaned forward and gave him a peck on the cheek. “I’ll make you a reading list and put together some notes for you. But first and foremost, my love, even people who can’t work deserve food, shelter, and healthcare. We are more than our ability to be exploited by the owning class.”

“All right, I’ll put a pause on the queer theory and accept some new homework assignments from you. So, did you still want to go to that…what was it that flier you took was about?”

“Poetry brothel.”

“Right. Are we still doing that tonight?” Dick sat up and stretched out his back. Piper’s eyes followed every slight movement of the lithe young body, and he gave silent thanks that Dick slept shirtless even in the middle of January. “Or did you want to get started right away on my reading assignment?”

“Oh goodness. Tutoring you in the pleasures of queer art scenes or socialist economic theory. Either one sounds like a wonderful time to me, so I’ll let you pick.”

“Hm…let’s do a cozy reading day. I honestly should probably spend the night on rooftops in spandex again anyway, and the poetry brothel would probably run into patrol time.” He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. “Sorry. I was really hoping to have more of this stuff finished up before you got here.”

“Don’t worry about it, love. I’m just happy to be here and spend time with you.”

Besides, he’d picked the option that Piper had wanted him to.

Patrolling Bludhaven could be uniquely disheartening. On the better nights, Dick wasn’t sure if he’d made any tangible difference in his new community. On the bad nights, he was pretty sure he’d made things worse.

Maybe it was better that Piper didn’t want to suit up with him. Crimefighting could be excellent foreplay, as many a rooftop in Gotham could attest, but Dick wasn’t so sure that his new city would work out quite the same.

Dick crawled in through his bedroom window just as the sun was rising, bone achingly weary and disappointed in the lack of progress he was making following leads from dirty cops and low level gangsters. Blockbuster was going to continue to be a few steps ahead of him if things kept going as they were. In his better moments he was sure Bruce would be in the exact same quagmire he currently was, but at moments like this, Dick was one hundred percent sure that he was the problem and it was his own fault if he couldn’t keep anyone in his city safe in any meaningful sense of the word.

Piper was dozing on the bed, a book open on his chest and treacly soft rock lightly playing from a portable radio he’d set up on the bedside table. He sat up while Dick was tiptoeing across the room, with bleary eyes and adorable bedhead. Dick was moving with enough quiet grace that only people with superhearing (and Bruce) could have noticed him. “Go back to bed, Piper. I’ll be collapsing in a heap beside you momentarily.”

“Mmph. No, was, was waiting up f’r you.” Piper rubbed at his eyes, and followed Dick into the bathroom.

He looked so cute when he was sleepy. He didn’t go to bed with the ponytail in, so his fine, coppery hair was hanging in his face and draping down to his shoulders. His eyes were half lidded, and unlike when he was fully awake and (intensely, anxiously) alert, his limbs were actually relaxed.

Dick’s bathroom was perfectly set up for post-patrol care. His first aid kit was waiting on the bathroom counter, and a comfortable pair of black cotton shorts and a fluffy towel were sitting beside the tub. He’d even left a protein bar and an electrolyte drink next to the first aid kit. “Oh…I could get used to this.”

Piper yawned, then slid past Dick and opened the first aid kit. “I just tried to think about what I like to have handy when I get in from this stuff. Are you okay? Did you take any hits?”

“Nothing too bad, this time. I’ll probably use one of those icy hot patches on my back after the shower. Now seriously, it’s a ridiculous hour. Go back to bed. I’ll be right in.”

Piper kissed him, then did as instructed and left him to his shower. By Bat-Family standards, it really had been a light patrol. A couple of icy hot patches for sore muscles, a few cuts to clean and one bullet graze to disinfect and bandage, and he was ready for bed. Dick curled up behind Piper, wrapping his arms around him and cuddling in close. He let out a contented sigh.

What a way to end a tedious night.

“I could really get used to this,” he murmured, not realizing that Piper was still awake. He felt Piper shift, tensing up, and worried that he’d stepped in it somehow.

They really hadn’t had a proper conversation about the long distance, and how it was driving Dick crazy (he assumed it was bothering Piper as well, though it was hard to gauge as his response to most difficult subjects was to be avoidant). But he figured that Piper must know that Dick wanted them to move in together. He wasn’t exactly being subtle, and he was known for being clingy with his partners.

Then Piper resettled, turning in Dick’s arms so he could pillow his head on his chest. “Yeah…this is nice, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Dick freed up a hand so he could stroke Piper’s hair. “G’night, Hartley.”

“Mm…night.”

Dick was a bit surprised, the next afternoon, when he found himself alone in his apartment. Piper’s things were still there, so he could calm the irrational part of his brain that told him that his boyfriend had left him. But his cute redhead was nowhere to be found. Well, if Piper had initially gone to bed at a reasonable hour and gotten a healthy eight hours of sleep (not something costumed types were known for), then he must have gotten bored at some point and gone exploring around the city. He’d done that the other day, and then he’d wandered back around and they’d shared a meal that was breakfast for Dick and lunch for Piper, and gone on with the cute couple stuff from there (well, after Piper had lectured and shamed him a bit for his social politics, but Wally had warned him that that was an inevitability if you wanted to have any kind of meaningful relationship with the guy so Dick wasn’t taking it personally).

So Dick sat down in his living room with his laptop and started poking around various museum websites, checking out the qualifications they were looking for most in their job listings. He’d moved on to reading up on museum studies programs at a few Gotham-area colleges, figuring he’d need at least a certificate to bolster the credits he had from his unfinished bachelors, when he realized that it was actually getting kind of late. He couldn’t imagine what might have occupied Piper for this long and started to worry. Bludhaven was quite literally one of the unsafest cities in the country.

Was he okay? Where the hell had he gone?

Dick tried calling Piper’s cell phone but he didn’t get a response. He started to call Wally, then stopped and set his phone down. “You’re being dramatic. He’s a grown man, and another costume at that.” Piper wasn’t just a superhero; he’d started out on the other side, which meant he had to be used to seedy, dangerous streets (though Dick often had a difficult time picturing that, especially when he’d seen some old photos and realized how silly Piper’s original costume looked). He’d even had henchmen, at one point. Piper was more than capable of looking after himself, and Dick wouldn’t insult him by being a smothering worrywart.

But then it started to get dark out and he still hadn’t heard from Piper.

Dick picked up his phone again and was just about to call Wally when the man appeared in his living room in full costume.

“Hey, dude. I’m on my way to the Bludhaven PD to bail Piper out of jail. You wanna come with?”

Dick blinked rapidly a few times, processing what he’d just heard, then dove off of the couch to get his boots and his keys.

Chapter Text

EARLIER THAT DAY…

Tempting though it was to remain snuggled in the nice, warm bed with his beautiful boyfriend, Piper just couldn’t relax when his thoughts kept returning to the miserable people he’d seen, unsheltered and too downtrodden to even ask for the assistance they desperately needed. The flurries he glimpsed from the window would have been charming if they weren’t an indication of how cold it was outside, and how unfit for human habitation. Bludhaven seemed to pride itself on being one of the most wretched cities in existence, but to not even have an emergency shelter when the temperature was below freezing…

He managed to sneak out of bed without waking Dick (or, fully waking him; he stirred and tried to say something, but he was exhausted enough that Piper soothed him back to sleep without much effort). Piper showered, dressed, and hit the streets, armed with his years of experience and his Rathaway Publishing company card.

His first attempt to render aid set the tone for the rest of the day; gathering unsold bread and pastries from local businesses had always been a quick and easy bandaid for hunger in the Gem Cities, but none of the business owners in Bludhaven would participate. They didn’t want to encourage “those sorts of people” to loiter around their bakeries and restaurants.

Piper put in some calls and found friends willing to overnight him some tents, sleeping bags, winter wear, and blankets. Then he went to a big box store and nearly maxed out his company card for more supplies. Finding a reasonably safe, effective spot to distribute was a challenge, but Piper eventually located a condemned building with a spacious parking lot out front. He just needed to remove a section of fencing to make it accessible, which was quick work with a set of bolt cutters. Once that was done he set up a couple of folding tables, organized the food, blankets, socks, and coats that he’d bought, and then stood on the sidewalk and waved people in. He told everyone who approached to spread the word about the distribution. At least a few of them must have listened, because soon enough folks were lining up in front of the tables, out to the end of the parking lot, around the corner and down the block.

It was a lot of work for one person. Piper considered calling Dick to see if he was awake yet, but he was too busy to step away even for a quick phone call. Besides that, he knew he needed to move quickly.

Really, it was pretty surprising how much food and gear he managed to get distributed before the police showed up.

Piper was a little nervous about being taken in in an unfamiliar city. Trespassing was the sort of thing that could get him in trouble with his parole officer (it was a minor offense but he was far from a first time offender). In Central and Keystone he was something of a local celebrity; besides that, everyone knew he was best friends with the Flash. The CCPD and KCPD tended to look the other way for him when he pulled stunts like this, although he would get some flippant comments about how he could just ask for permission and get permits and the such (and when he had the time to do so, Piper generally did, but sometimes people needed help right now, not in five to seven business days). He wasn’t really sure what to expect from the Bludhaven PD, but he was prepared to suffer whatever consequences were waiting for him.

It was pretty clear the officers had no idea who he was. It was also equally clear that they didn’t approve of his actions, not just for the legality issue that came with the trespassing and loitering, but also because of the nature of the “crime” itself. These people had failed to pull themselves up from their bootstraps, and Piper’s actions were keeping them from suffering the full weight of the divine justice that had been heaped upon them for the moral failing of being poor.

They cuffed him, dragged him out of view of the crowd (who descended upon the tables in a frenzy to grab what they could before the police could sweep the lot), and gave him a good beating before shoving him into the back of a squad car. Piper spit some blood onto the seat and smirked, feeling some twisted nostalgia about being in a situation that had once been such a regular part of his life, but that he hadn’t had to actually experience in quite a few years at this point. The cops were even more annoyed at how unbothered he was, and muttered to each other about how he was going to regret it if he didn’t drop the attitude.

While he was in lockup, Piper reflected that a day or two eavesdropping in the station would probably help Dick immensely with his costumed work. He wasn’t sure he’d encountered a single cop who wasn’t on the take from some faction of the warring mobsters. Since it didn’t look like Piper had a chance of having any of his civil liberties respected (they’d skipped the Miranda rights, refused to tell him what he was actually being charged with, and laughed when he’d asked to use the phone), he ended up having to use some hypnotic suggestion so he could get to a phone and call Wally.

The Bludhaven PD might not have known who the Pied Piper was, but they recognized the Flash and became accordingly discomfited upon his immediate arrival. Wally ran in in full costume, and when his eyes landed on his friend, bruised and bleeding and still handcuffed in the cell for a minor offense, he was irate.

Suddenly, everyone in the building remembered their manners and their police training. Everything was by the book, everyone was so apologetic and helpful. Piper left the building with an icepack pressed over his black eye, and Wally’s arm wrapped around his back, helping him hobble out to the parking lot.

Dick was waiting for them at the car, having rightfully judged that Piper wouldn’t want to be run anywhere at superspeed after leaving jail. “I sleep in for one afternoon and you get yourself arrested?” He looked grim, although it softened to hurt and worry when he got a good look at Piper’s bloodied face. “Christ, Hartley. What did they do to you?”

“You gotta keep an eye on him, Dick. How have you not realized that yet? Piper has an uncanny knack for getting himself into trouble.” Wally helped Piper into the passenger seat of Dick’s car, carefully helping him settle in as he couldn’t quite stifle a groan from his new bruises. “Seriously though. This isn’t Central. What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that there’s a lot of unnecessary suffering in this city, and that if I can do something to help then it’s my responsibility to do so. I thought the both of you operated the same way, don’t you?”

Wally sighed and gave his head a little shake. “Touche, I guess.” He turned his attention to Dick. “I’ll meet you back at your place, but try not to get caught in traffic or anything, would you?”

“Mm, as I have complete control over how much traffic there is during rush hour, I’ll make sure it’s as inconvenient for you as possible.”

“Ugh. I’ll grab us some food while I wait for you slowpokes.”

Piper tolerated Dick and Wally’s fussing with patience for about fifteen minutes, but after that he started to get irritated with them. “You’re all acting like this is your first experience with police brutality. I mean c'mon, it's not like Gotham is known for its abundance of clean cops. Can you cut it out? They barely worked me over.” He shifted his icepack a little and let out a relieved sigh that pulled at his bruised ribs, and issued another pained gasp. “Honestly,” Piper started, already annoyed at the looks of concern. “Your uncle used to beat me up way worse than this when he brought me to Iron Heights. I’m fine.”

“You are not fine, and that’s…something I’m going to reflect on later.” Wally actually looked a little queasy, and Piper reminded himself to tread carefully.

The two of them didn’t really talk about Wally’s dead uncle if they could help it. Wally still basically worshipped the man and didn’t approach his memory with any sort of nuance. Piper had genuinely hated his archenemy back when he’d been a cackling supervillain, but after a mental breakdown and a lot of therapy he’d gained some perspective. He still didn’t like Barry Allen, but he didn’t hate him anymore. And he could even admit that the old Flash had done a lot of good for the world (up to and including dying to save existence).

His showboating hadn’t done very much for the most downtrodden in Central City, but as Piper liked to point out, Allen had kept them all from being blown up, vaporized, thrown out of time, and turned into gorillas on enough occasions that he could overlook some of their differing viewpoints and not chafe too badly when Allen was memorialized as a far better hero than Piper had ever considered him to be.

Dick handed Piper another ice pack for his ribs and set out an array of different pain meds. “I wasn’t sure if you had a preference, so I just grabbed them all.”

“I’m a basic ibuprofen bitch myself.” Piper slipped the ice pack under his shirt and pressed it against his ribs, letting out a relieved sigh, while Dick opened the ibuprofen for him. “Could you put the other one back in the freezer? It’s not doing much anymore.” Piper handed off the icepack he’d gotten at the police station.

Wally was clearly getting ready to say something, but then Piper’s phone rang. Before he could move to answer it, the doorbell rang as well. “Oh, I wonder if that’s my packages.” Piper started to get up, but Wally gently grasped his shoulders and pushed him back against the couch.

“I’ll take care of it. You, sit. Stay.”

Piper rolled his eyes, but he did as instructed. While Wally started running boxes up from the ground floor, Piper answered his phone. “Hello? Oh, thanks, love.” Dick handed him a fresh ice pack and he slapped it on his swollen jaw this time. “Mom? Hi, what is…oh. Wow, you guys noticed that really quickly this ti-no, I don’t think it’s funny…well what was I supposed to do, just let all these people die of exposure and hunger? …Yes, I know there’s homeless people in every city and I know you and Dad already spend a lot of money helping our locals. I do appreciate that…well, I didn’t fully max out the card…Mom. C’mon, be reasonable. M-no, I don’t…you’re not listening to m-ow. Mom, can you yell at me later? Hold on, I’ve got another call. I’ll call you right back. Oh shit, I think it’s my parole officer. Mom, I’ll call you back. Bye.”

Dick motioned to the growing pile of boxes taking up an increasing amount of space in his living room, but Piper turned away from him as he switched to the other phone call. “Susan? Hey…yeah, it’s been an exciting day. How are you? …oh, sorry to hear that. This is well past your office hours, isn’t it?”

“Wally, wait. How many more are there-damn!” Dick tried and failed to grab Wally. But he only had three more trips, and at superspeed it didn’t take him very long. “What the hell is all this?”

“Knowing him?” Wally motioned towards Piper, who was in the middle of a very awkward conversation. “Tents, blankets, sturdy boots, coats, nonperishables, socks, oh, and I think they’re always looking for women’s hygiene products too. Hey, Hartley! Tell Susie I’m gonna follow up with the Bludhaven officers in the morning. I’m pretty sure I can get them to drop the charges just like we usually do back home.”

Piper held his phone away from his ear. “Do you want to talk to her? She sounds unreasonably nervous.”

Dick quirked an eyebrow. “Unreasonably? I think she’s trying to keep you out of jail, Hartley.”

Piper tossed the phone to Wally, and he started walking towards the kitchen. “Hey, Susie. We had a nice long run without having to get on the phone with each other. What’s it been, three, four months? How’re the kids?”

Dick sat down next to Piper on the couch while he slid back against the cushions, feeling bone weary exhausted and wishing everyone would stop badgering him about the arrest. Dick traced his hand down the side of Piper’s face, very gently in light of the fresh injuries. “Hey…can we talk?”

“Do we have to right this minute? There’s actually a line to yell at me over my recklessness. Once Wally’s done talking to Susan, she’ll probably want another crack at me and then I’ll have to call my mother back. Ugh. I’m not entirely sure I wouldn’t have been better off staying in that jail cell.”

“Considering what they did to you after a couple of hours, I’d say you’re definitely safer here with me. Hartley…”

Piper let out a slow breath and turned his head a little, just enough so that he could make eye contact with his boyfriend. “Darling, you’re awfully queasy over a black eye and a few bruised ribs.”

“It’s not that. Obviously, I’ve patched myself up from worse than this before. It’s more so the fact that you didn’t talk to me before you put yourself in harm’s way like that. I could have helped you with this.”

“But would you have? Or would you have tried to talk me into doing something less urgent and far less effective.”

Before Dick could answer (and based on his expression, he did not like Piper’s explanation), Wally zipped back over to them and handed Piper his phone. “Susan wants to make an appointment to see you in person when you’re back in Central. We’re both pretty sure this isn’t going to hurt you - assuming you behave yourself in the immediate future.” Wally gestured at all the boxes and mouthed, “I didn’t tell her about this.”

Piper took the phone, made the appointment, and hung up. Dick and Wally both started to ask him about the boxes when his phone rang again. He squeezed his eyes shut, and took the call. “Hi, Mom…hey, I didn’t hang up on you. I had to talk to my parole officer-well, I was arrested this afternoon…no, I’m not…Mom, Mom listen to-I’m not going back to super crime-Mom. It was direct action. That’s totally dif-will you let me talk?!”

Wally grabbed the phone out of his hand again. “Hey, Mrs. R. It’s Wally. Let’s see if I can put some of your fears to rest, all right? I think Hart might need to rest for a little while. You know what he’s like when he gets all agitated.”

Wally stayed for most of the night. Since Dick still had to go out for some costumed vigilante work (something he was visibly reluctant to do given the circumstances), Wally kept Piper company for a bit. They watched a movie together, and for the first half of it they kept their conversation focused on just the movie. Then Wally addressed the elephant in the room.

“So I think you scared him.”

“He does seem rattled, yes.”

Wally laughed, in a morbidly amused kind of way. “Have you seriously not pulled any of this shit around him yet? Because I think I was friends with you for less than a week before I had to step in between you and some pissed off cops.” Wally pretended to punch his arm, but obviously held back since he couldn’t be sure what parts of Piper’s body were bruised and what weren’t. “You must really like him if you’ve been on such good behavior.”

“Well, yes. Obviously, I love him.” Piper frowned. “He acts outside of the law to help people too. I can’t understand what’s so difficult about this for him.”

“Well, the way me and Dick go about things, people tend to think of us as the good guys. Even though we risk our lives, we’re not at risk of being locked up. And since we’re expected to uphold law and order, if a judge does deem it necessary to put you away, we can only do so much to try to get you out, y’know? Like, we work in kind of a gray area that’s mostly inline with the justice system, Hart. And honestly, it’s not just him who’s rattled. I’ve worked pretty hard to smooth things over for you. I really like how you’re, y’know, not in a jail cell right now. I would love to keep it that way. And these Bludhaven cops don’t know you the way our guys in Central do. Shit, anything could have happened today, dude.”

“Yeah.” Piper sighed and turned his gaze back towards the television. “But there are people with food and tents and sleeping bags who didn’t have them yesterday.”

“Yeah.” It was Wally’s turn to sigh. “So I’m gonna get going in a little while, but could you do me a favor and wait until I get back before you distribute the rest of this stuff tomorrow? The cops here don’t know who the Pied Piper is, but they all seemed to respond to the Flash. If I help you hand the stuff out, I bet we can get it done without any more trouble.”

Piper turned back towards Wally, a thoughtful frown on his face. “You’re not…mad at me?”

“No. I know you dude, and you’re one of the most stubborn people I’ve ever met. I know you’re going to keep going at this until you’ve made a difference and for the record, I’m not opposed to that. I just don’t want you to get your shit rocked by dirty cops and mobsters in the process. I’m here to help, okay? And I’m pretty sure Dick’s on the same page. We’re worried, not mad.”

“Th-thanks.”

Wally grinned. “You’re welcome. Now, your mom is a whole different story. She totally freaked out and I’m not sure how much help I’ll be dealing with that. She said you spent the entire budget for the company’s charity work for the next six months in one afternoon.”

“…which shows how little work they’re actually doing. The budget is carefully crafted to maximize tax breaks without going even a dollar over, so that technically they’re not spending any real money. I have no idea what she’s so mad about. Have you seen their quarterly earnings? Have you seen what the stocks are going for? The company’s fine. They could definitely survive a little genuine altruism.”

“She said you almost gave your dad a stroke.”

“And they wonder where I got my dramatic flair.”

Wally grinned and gave his head a shake. “Well, rest up. I’ll see you in the morning, all right?”

“Sounds good. Wally, thanks.”

Wally very gently clapped his shoulder. “Any time.” He maneuvered around the piles of boxes to get to the door, so Piper turned off the television since he hadn’t really been watching the movie anyway, and eased himself up off the couch so he could go to bed.

Owing to Wally’s presence, the second distribution went much smoother than the first. They did have an audience of pissed off looking cops from start to finish, though Piper couldn’t honestly tell if they were an officially assigned detail or not. At one point he gave them a sarcastically cheerful wave, and Wally smacked his hand down in exasperation. “You already know you’ve got a target on your back. Can you not antagonize them, please? I promised your boyfriend I’d keep you alive if I could help it.”

“I know, I know.” Piper was a little miffed that Dick hadn’t joined them, but his irritation was short lived. When they got back to the apartment, Dick filled them in on what he had spent his morning doing, which was looking into more permanent ways to help the neighborhood.

“Bruce is going to help me acquire a building that we can set up as a shelter, we’re going to get that one with the busted pipes up to code, and we’re going to tackle the food desert situation too. There’s a non-profit in Gotham that focuses on food insecurity that we think we can get to expand into Bludhaven. The funds are there, it’s the staffing that’s a problem.”

“No one wants to volunteer in Bludhaven, huh?” Wally guessed.

“Yeah. So…maybe I put the museum studies programs on the back burner and focus on non-profit administration in the meantime? Anyway, Tim said he can swing a few hours a week and get some high school credits for it. So that’s something.”

Wally was standing near the doorway, still wearing his Flash costume though for the moment his cowl was down. “Well, I’ve put in my volunteer hours for this week. I’m gonna get going. Hart, how much longer are you staying in the Haven?”

Piper gently eased himself onto the couch. He was trying (and failing) to hide from his detective how much he’d strained himself spending the morning on his feet intermittently lifting boxes. “My appointment with Susan is on Tuesday, so I’ll have to fly out on Monday at the latest, I think.”

“Cool. We should take your mom out for brunch or something. She could use an olive branch if you want to stay on good terms.”

“I suppose I do,” Piper said with a reluctant sigh, though he still thought his parents were the ones being unreasonable about things.

Despite the recent excitement, Piper and Dick settled into a much needed restful and cozy evening. They watched a documentary on jazz music together, Piper nestled up in Dick’s arms while Dick played with his hair. Piper offered a few corrections on things the documentary had oversimplified, while Dick noted some historically relevant details here and there that gave the narrative some nuance. It was such a pleasant night. Even though Piper was still feeling some irritation and anxiety whenever he thought ahead to returning to Central City and the storm clouds waiting for him in the form of his parole officer and parents, the actual moment was everything he could have asked for in life. He’d had a productive day thwarting the cruelest expressions of corrupted, unchecked capitalist greed, and now he was trading nerdy anecdotes with his gorgeous, affectionate, compassionate, super-genius partner. The present was very, very good.

That goodness was, unfortunately but typically, short-lived.

Piper’s phone flashed with a few calls from his mother that he ignored. He knew he’d need to call her back, but he wanted to finish the documentary and enjoy some cuddles with his boyfriend before he waded into that. Then he saw a call from his father, which was more rare. Dick noticed the change in him when he examined (but still didn’t answer) his phone. “Everything okay, Hart?”

“I don’t…I don’t know. Maybe it is a family emergency. I should call them back…” Before he could finish that thought, another call came in. “Shit.” He answered the phone immediately. “Jerrie? Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

Dick helped him into a sitting position and turned off the television while Piper had a brief conversation with his sister. When he hung up he looked shaken. “She’s at the train station. I have to go get her. She can’t, she’s a sixteen year old girl. She can’t be alone at a train station in Bludhaven at this hour.”

“She’s here?” Dick jumped to his feet, snagging his keys off the coffee table as he moved towards the door. “What in the world is she doing in the Haven?”

“Looking for us. She came out to Mom and Dad.” Piper felt like throwing up. “I can’t believe it…it happened again.”

Chapter Text

“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have left for so long, not when she needed me. What a stupid, selfish thing to do.”

“Hartley-”

“Dick, are we almost there? I don’t remember the train station being so far away when I took the cab. Maybe I should call Wally. Do you think I should call Wally?”

Dick reached over and clasped Piper’s hand. “Take a breath. We are almost there. We’ll get Jerrie, bring her back to my place, and get this sorted out, okay? You don’t even have the full story yet. It’s still a little early to spin out, right?”

Piper nodded, and gave Dick’s hand a tight squeeze. Perhaps too tight. Dick winced but he didn’t let go. Piper consciously relaxed his grip a little and focused on keeping his breathing even, despite how badly his heart was racing.“You’re right. The last thing she needs to deal with right now is me having a panic attack on top of everything else. I’ll feel much better once I’ve set eyes on her, too. I don’t like the idea of her being out alone this late at night even back home, let alone in a strange city.”

Unfortunately, there was no crying baby sister to set eyes on once they got to the Bludhaven station. Piper confirmed that through his enhanced hearing, putting all his focus into filtering through the noise of a departing train, different conversations, and cars driving past, but he couldn’t hear her. She wasn’t there. Dick walked up and down the platform, visibly calm and focused. Piper tried calling Jerrie’s cell phone but it didn’t even ring. “Dick. Something happened. Her phone, she’s not, she’s not answering her phone and it’s not ringing. It’s not ringing!”

“It wouldn’t happen to be pastel blue with a Hello Kitty charm, would it?” Dick was looking at the ground, or more precisely, the spot on the ground where Jerrie’s broken phone had been tossed.

Piper’s breathing got incredibly fast as his eyes locked onto his sister’s phone. All sorts of horrific scenarios flitted through his mind. “Oh god. Oh god. Where is she? W-we have t-to find her. Oh no. This isn’t real. This isn’t happening.”

“Hartley, breathe. We’ll find her.” Dick pocketed the broken phone, grasped Piper’s arm, and steered him towards a nearby bench. “I want you to take some deep breaths, try to pull yourself together. I need to make a call, okay?” Dick’s eyes were moving around the train station with purpose, looking for something. Reluctantly, Piper let go of his hand (he didn’t even remember grabbing onto Dick’s hand), closed his eyes, and focused. Breathe in. Breathe out. Find Jerrie. They were going to-breathe in. Breathe out.

“Hey, O? Can you access some security cameras for me? There’s a teenage girl who went missing from the Bludhaven train station sometime in the last twenty minutes. Long red hair, about five foot four, round face but overall on the scrawny side. Probably wearing either a Flash museum hoodie or a pink hoodie with cat ears. I can see a few cameras in the station, and there’s a diner across the street that might have something.”

Piper got up from the bench, still breathing a bit shallowly but no longer actively hyperventilating. He walked up to Dick and lightly touched his arm. “Is that Oracle?” he whispered. Dick nodded, attention mostly focused on his phone call. “Huh. Oracle is real.” Given the present circumstances, Piper chose to find that comforting, though the urban legend of the tech-whiz information broker that assisted the capes normally struck him as an unsettling bit of lore.

“Piper, she’s got something,” Dick said. Piper leaned close, though he didn’t really have to in order to overhear the other side of the conversation. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, maybe a distorted voice like in a bad movie or something. But Oracle sounded like an ordinary, if well-spoken, young woman.

“I’ve got your subject on three videos so far, all sent to your email. I’ll keep following, but once they got in view of the diner’s cams the men shoved her into the backseat of a blue sedan with tinted windows. Hm. Partial plate here…one second…looking at traffic cams…and I’ve got a plate. Running that…damn. Nothing. According to the registry, this car doesn’t actually exist.”

“O, do you still have eyes on the car?” Dick motioned for Piper to follow him, and he fell into step. Once they got back into Dick’s car he put his phone on speaker and set it in the cupholder.

“Found it. Unless I’m much mistaken, I’d say they’re heading for the bridge to Gotham.”

“I’m not near a computer so I haven’t seen the videos you sent me.” Dick started driving, also heading for the bridge. “Can you tell me anything about the people who took the girl?”

“Three guys, mid to late twenties. Regular street clothes, no obvious indicators of who they might be working for. Can you tell me anything about this girl? Is there any reason anyone might be looking to abduct her?”

Dick shot Piper a concerned look out of the corner of his eye before answering. “I do think there’s a solid chance this was a crime of opportunity. Young, unaccompanied girls go missing in Bludhaven with alarming frequency, which is something I’m working on. But she also comes from money so it could be for a ransom. And…her older brother’s a costume, so it could be personal.”

“Mm hm, that could absolutely be the motive. Who’s the brother? Anyone we know?”

“Hartley Rathaway, the Pied Piper.”

“The Pied…so Dick, this is your boyfriend’s little sister we’re looking for?”

“Yeah. Hartley’s in the car with me.”

“Of course he is. I’m on speaker, I suppose. Hello, Mr. Rathaway.” She sounded either grimly amused or annoyed. It was difficult to tell from voice alone.

“H-hello, Oracle.” Piper looked down at the phone and then over to Dick, who had his eyes focused on the road. His expression was difficult to read.

“Can you think of anyone in Gotham who might have it out for you or your family? Any information at all would be immensely helpful in narrowing my search.”

Piper frowned and shook his head. “I haven’t worked in Gotham since I was on the other side, and it was only the one time. I don’t think any of them would still be holding a grudge over that. Besides, no one knew Jerrie was going to be here tonight. She ran away out of distress. It had to have been an opportunistic snatching.”

“I’ll keep checking security cameras and looking for records of the vehicle, but my first suggestion is for you to head to the docks when you get into the city,” Oracle said. “If it is a random abduction and not a targeted attack on your family, then the captors are likely looking to traffic her. The docks would be their most logical destination.”

“Thanks, O. We’ll head in that direction.”

“I’ll be in touch.” She hung up, and they drove in silence for a few minutes. Piper tried desperately not to think of all of the terrible things that could be happening to his sister at that moment, and there was only one other thought his brain would latch onto.

“Is Oracle…another ex-girlfriend of yours?”

“Another ex-fiancee, actually.”

“Oh.”

There was a lengthy pause, during which Piper’s phone rang. Seeing as it was his mother, he chose to ignore the call. Until Jerrie was safe, he couldn’t imagine having anything resembling a productive conversation with her. Hell, even after they saved Jerrie, he wasn’t sure he’d ever have kind words for his parents again.

How could they keep making the same mistakes? This was the second time they’d raised a queer teenager. It really wasn’t that difficult to support and love your kid, was it? Supposedly, they’d come around on Piper being gay. How the hell could they treat Jerrie like this after everything he’d gone through with them?

“So...” Piper rejected the call and stuck his phone back in his pocket. “How many ex-fiancees do you have?”

Wally was tied up with the JLA, but Bart met them at the docks. He conducted a quick search while Piper and Nightwing were still changing into their costumes.

“So I did see quite a lot of shady activity but I didn’t find Jerrie. There are some other kids being crammed into a container for a freight ship on the other side of that warehouse over there though. I feel like we should bust that up too, since we’re here and all.”

“Hey, guys. I just got Impulse’s message.” Superboy joined them from the air, touching down just behind Bart. “What’s the plan? Do we have any leads on the creeps who took Jerrie?”

Nightwing checked in with Oracle again, while Impulse caught Superboy up to speed. She’d lost sight of the car but was able to confirm that it hadn’t been heading towards the docks the last she’d seen it.

“Okay,” Dick said, after he’d hung up. “Impulse, I want you to do a sweep of the area O’s already searching. See if you can find something to help her out. We’ll bust up the human traffickers. I assume you’re both in agreement that we shouldn’t be ignoring those kids getting loaded onto a ship just because we don’t personally know them.” Not waiting for a response, he continued. “Hopefully, Impulse and Oracle will have something concrete for us by the time we’re done.”

Piper was nervous that the thing with the container ship was going to lead to a chain of criminal activity, all similarly wretched and impossible to ignore, and keep them too tied up to get back to work on the search for his sister. To his relief, it was a pretty quick bust. There was even another hero already working on the case.

This one was a busty brunette in black and purple (to his amusement, she appeared to be yet another ex of Dick’s). She clearly had experience with distraught youth, so she and Piper hung back with the rescued kids, offering them some comfort and protection while they waited for ambulances and police officers to arrive.

By the time Piper met up with Nightwing, Impulse, and Superboy, they’d moved on to a different seedy part of Gotham. This area more closely resembled Bludhaven in its abundance of mob owned business fronts and nightclubs. Robin and Wonder Girl had joined them, and apparently Batman was getting on the line with Oracle periodically to offer intel, though he was actively working on another case across town.

When he was calm enough to appreciate it, Piper was touched by just how many heroes had shown up to comb the streets for his sister. Jerrie had already made a strong impression on the teens, even though she’d only been acquainted with them for a couple of weeks.

“I’ve got a lead.” Batman’s low, flat voice sounded through Nightwing’s earpiece (he’d switched over to a more secure form of communication after a mostly wordless admonishment from his former mentor, which had been followed by a pointed remark from Oracle that any form of communication she deigned to use was protected in ways the other heroes couldn’t hope to understand). “One of the men in the blue sedan is Aaron ‘Oysterman’ Davies. He works for the Mad Hatter.”

“Tetch’s last known base of operations is the Old Storybook Park,” Oracle chimed in. Now that they were on some kind of official superhero communication channel, her voice was in fact being distorted like a movie hacker.

Dick relayed the information to the rest of their group.

“I’ll take a peek, but if he’s already been busted there then he’s probably holed up somewhere else,” Impulse said. He took off, and reappeared while Superboy was still bitching about the fact that Gotham even had an abandoned storybook theme park for supervillains to turn into bases. “Actually no, they’re still there. It looks like they’re having some kind of party with other creepy supervillains. I saw Toyman, Calendar Man, and Dr. Light there too.”

Piper grabbed onto Dick’s arm to steady himself, as he was wracked with another wave of intense anxiety.

Impulse, Superboy, and Wondergirl flew ahead while the Bats grappled and car hopped through the streets. With little other choice, Piper drove Dick’s car. He got updates on the action through Oracle, who informed him that most of the attendees of Tetch’s party scattered as soon as Superboy flew in through the ceiling. Impulse and Wondergirl rounded up as many participants as they could for questioning, at which point Nightwing and Robin joined the battle.

The action was basically finished by the time Piper pulled the car up to the front gates of the creepy looking former amusement park. He ran along the paths as quickly as he could, every panted breath sending sharp pains through his torso. Finally, he found Dick standing a little apart from the front of a dilapidated teacup ride where some of the kids were zip tying unconscious and barely conscious criminals. Bart was passing out blankets to some teen and preteen girls in skimpy Alice in Wonderland outfits.

“Is she…did you find her?” Piper asked around pained breaths. Dick’s expression wasn’t encouraging.

“She’s not here. Hart…I’m so sorry. We’re going to question these guys again before we turn them over to the police but right now…we might have run out of leads.”

Piper was a little checked out after that. He sat in the car for a few minutes while the others either began questioning the men who were still conscious, or tended to the frightened girls. But then he calmly got out of the car and limped over to them with a flute clutched in his shaking hands. “How’s the interrogation going?”

One of the men spat on the ground as Piper approached. “I ain’t saying shit without a lawyer. What’s with you vigilante pricks tonight? You got us trussed up for the cops. Ain’t you supposed to disappear into the night now?”

Dick sighed, and waved his arm to indicate the rest of them. “That’s about how it’s been so far. You think a little music might get them in the mood for some conversation?”

It was difficult to play with bruised ribs; the injury limited his breath control pretty severely (come to think of it, that’s probably why Barry had always gone for his ribs back in the day). But Piper was motivated enough to push through the pain, and he managed to get the creeps into enough of a stupor to spill everything they knew. Regarding the horrors they had planned for their bacchanal, it was enough to make the superheroes sick to their stomachs. In regards to the location of Jerrie Rathaway, none of them even knew who she was and therefore had nothing to tell.

Dick massaged his temple, and reluctantly turned his gaze back to the Mad Hatter’s guests. “Fine, you don’t know the girl we’re looking for by name. Did any of you see a red haired girl leave with anyone?”

“I saw a red haired Alice. A man in green took her to the Hatter, and the Hatter let him have her.”

“Okay, that’s a start. What else can you tell us about the man in green? Was he tall? Short? Any distinguishing characteristics?”

The music abruptly cut off as Piper clutched his side, nearly falling over. Impulse caught him before he hit the ground. He tried to pick up his flute again but Robin yanked it away. “G-give it back. I can k-keep going.”

“Piper, you don’t look so good. I’m pretty sure Wally’d kill me if I let his friend die, y’know?” Bart muttered.

“I’m not going to die, now give me back my flute.”

Sirens sounded in the distance, and within seconds they were close enough that the other heroes could hear them too. Robin tossed the flute to Nightwing. “I don’t think we’re getting anything else useful out of these goons.”

Nightwing sighed, and reluctantly nodded. “Agreed. I think we need to keep moving while the trail is fresh.”

“What trail?” Piper exploded. “We didn’t learn anything.”

“We learned she’s not here,” Superboy said. “I’m gonna keep flying and play with some different kinds of vision. Maybe I’ll find the perv in green.”

“Do you know how many people live in Gotham-” Robin started to say, but Superboy was already in the air.

“Nope. But I know our friend is out there and I’m much more likely to find her at random if I’m flying around looking for her than if I’m standing around arguing with a bunch of neurotic Bats.”

“For once, I agree with him. Call us if you get anything more substantial from Oracle.” Wondergirl took to the air as well. Impulse made a helpless shrug, then raced off into the night in a blur of motion.

The cops had gotten to the front gates, so the Bats disappeared into the shadows. Dick helped Piper back to the car, avoiding the better lit portions of the walkways and keeping clear of both the cops and the medics. Piper never saw where Robin disappeared to - in fact, he wasn’t taking in much of anything anymore. Dick helped him into the passenger seat, and then got into the driver’s side. There was a long pause while Dick struggled to come up with something to say.

“We’ve still got a few leads to check out. Oracle got Oysterman’s address. Well, his last known address.”

“She wasn’t at the party. How will that help?”

“He might have contacts that could bring us to the man in green. We need to follow up on anything we can.”

Piper dimly nodded.

“Hart…we’ll find her. We’re getting closer.”

He nodded again, still not really in touch with his surroundings.

Dick stroked the side of his face, and for some reason that was the last straw. Piper covered his face with his hands as the breakdown hit him in full force. Dick held him while he sobbed. He knew he was yelling something about how she was dead, he knew it, and it was his fault for telling her to come to him if their parents rejected her too. She never would have ended up in Bludhaven if it weren’t for him.

Dick didn’t say anything to counter his ramblings; he seemed to realize that they weren’t based in any kind of reality. He just held him until he burned out (which was pretty quickly - Piper didn’t have the lung capacity for much sobbing and screaming at the moment). Once he settled, Dick wiped his eyes and held him.

Then Batman’s voice sounded in Dick’s earpiece again. “I’ve just been informed that Miss Rathaway was dropped off at the manor. Alfred is tending to her in the den.”

Jerrie was sitting in front of a cozy looking fire, wearing a borrowed robe and slippers over an Alice in Wonderland dress. She was gripping a mug of cocoa in her trembling hands, which she immediately set down when she saw Piper and Dick walk through the door. She jumped to her feet and ran over to them. “Hartley! I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare everyone. Are you mad? Please don’t be mad.”

“No, darling. I’m just so, so glad you’re okay. Can I hug you?”

“Yeah, I could use a hug.”

He pulled her close, and felt tears slide down his face once more, though thankfully his breathing remained even this time. “Jerrie, what happened? How did you get away?”

“I still don’t really know.” She pulled away from Piper and lowered her eyes, fidgeting with the tie of her robe as she told her story.

“I…um, I was in the car for a long time and then, then the guys they, they brought me to a, um, a room with lots of other girls and there were these people getting us ready. We had to put on these dresses and this gross makeup.” Jerrie’s face screwed up in dislike. “Mr. Pennyworth already helped me take that off. But um. I was supposed to walk around and give out drinks to the guests unless one of them liked me. Then I was going to have to go with that guy, I guess. And this one guest, he didn’t like me but he saw me and said, ‘for fuck’s sake, really?’ And then he grabbed me by the wrist and walked me over to th-the Mad Hatter. And he said he was taking m-me with him and that Hatter had done a-a…faux pas? I guess? Um. So I got in the car with him, and he said he wasn’t taking me all the way back to Central but that this would work well enough. And he brought me here. Oh, um, he also, he gave me this to give to you.” She reached into the pocket of her apron, took out a card, and handed it to Piper.

Piper opened the glossy green card, Dick peering over his shoulder to get a look at the swirly cursive.

Riddle me this - what the hell kind of brother lets his little sister get sex trafficked by Jervis Fucking Tetch? You owe me, Rathaway. Answer your damn phone sometime. -Ed

They opted to spend what little of the night remained at the manor, since everyone was fairly exhausted and the place had more than enough guest rooms to accommodate them. Jerrie borrowed some pajamas from Dick’s old bedroom. She went to bed before Bruce even got back, after reassuring Piper several more times that she really was okay, and would never wander off on her own like that again.

Dick called the Rathaways to let them know their daughter was safe, since Piper wasn’t sure he could handle a conversation with them just then. He showered and changed into pajamas, using the roar of the water to drown everything out. Dick was in a different bathroom by the time he finished, so he put on some tranquil music and climbed into bed to wait for him (and for his lorazepam to kick in).

He must have dropped off, because he woke to Dick soothingly trailing his fingertips down his face. Piper cracked his eyes open and looked up into those familiar, lovely blue eyes. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Dick whispered back. “You should call your mom in the morning. It’s not as bad as we thought. From the sounds of it, Jerrie got herself worked up expecting your folks to freak out, and she ran off while your mom was still processing her emotions. Jerrie got spooked when Rachel started crying.”

“Well why was Mom crying?” He could hear how petulant he sounded, but Piper thought it was a good point.

“She’s scared.” Dick shrugged his shoulders. “You’ve been going kinda hard on the statistics about suicide and bullying that LGBT kids deal with. She said she’s already scared to death most days that her oldest child is going to get vaporized by a supervillain, and now she’s got to worry about her youngest getting hate-crimed. Her words, by the by. So it sounds like it was a miscommunication.”

“Oh.” Piper pressed his lips together, thinking it over. “Mom and Jerrie are prone to those. Well. That’s good, I guess.”

Dick slid down onto the mattress beside him and they turned so that they were facing each other. “You’re still upset. You want to talk?”

“I don’t know. I shouldn’t…it’s good. Right? They’ll talk, and they’ll fix things. Jerrie doesn’t seem too shaken up by the thing with the Mad Hatter. She might not understand the implications of what he was preparing to do to her, which is for the best. We could do some family counseling sessions, if Dad will agree to them this time. I think Mom will. It sounds like…like Mom is at least is willing to accept Jerrie. So it’s all good.”

“Mm hm.”

“…and I still feel like my insides have been scooped out with a rusty spoon.”

“Yeah.” Dick took one of Piper’s hands in his and squeezed it. “Because why couldn’t they work through their shit and do this for you?”

Piper’s eyes fell shut in a grimace and he nodded. “There it is.”

“Yeah. I get that way sometimes when I watch how Bruce is with Tim. He’s still hard on him, harder than I ever want to be on someone I’m trying to mentor. But…he’s better. He listens more. Checks in with him. Asks for help when he needs it. And if he’d been that way when I was Robin, well…anyway. The thing is, the reason he’s that way now is because he learned to do better, and he learned that because of how he messed up with me. You’re the reason Jerrie didn’t really need to run away. You’re the reason they’re going to talk it out. It’s awful that your parents had to hurt you to grow, but they’re also better people and they’re going to be better parents because of you. Not just because they messed up before, but because when you reconciled with them you put so much energy into helping them understand what happened, and getting them over their bigotry. Jerrie’s going to have a far easier time being a gay teen directly because of her older brother’s compassion. And it’s unfair and it sucks but it’s also kinda beautiful.” Dick leaned forward for a tender kiss. “Did that help at all?”

“Yes. Thank you. And thank you for everything tonight. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“You would have kicked ass, but with all of us pulling some weight you had a little more room to feel your feelings as you went, and that’s probably for the best. How are the ribs and the bad leg doing?”

“I think I’m just too tired to even feel how sore I am anymore. Can you play with my hair some more and tell me some lovely stuff about me being a good person until I fall asleep? I think that would help.” Piper shifted a little, and grinned when Dick laughed.

“You make it sound like that last part isn’t true.”

“Well, I find it more believable when you say it for some reason.” He settled into Dick’s arms, and let out a contented sigh as his eyes drifted shut.

“You are a such a good person, Hartley Robert Rathaway. You’ve taught me so much even just this week. You’ve made me a better hero, a better person, and helped me be more comfortable in my identity. I’m so in love with you. And I can’t help being terribly curious about something.”

“Mm?”

“Did you and the Riddler used to date?”

Piper hid his face against Dick’s neck before giving a sleepy answer. “He certainly thinks so.”

“Hart…that kinda raises more questions than it answers.”

“Yeah, that’s his whole thing. Good night, Dick.”

Chapter Text

Randall, a longtime Rathaway family employee, was waiting for Jerrie at the airport. He was in his chauffeur uniform, holding a placard with her name on it. Linda was standing a little aside from him, and shot Piper a confused look as soon as he came into view. “Hey, Hartley. I thought I was the one getting you guys from the airport.

“I did too,” he answered. He’d arranged it with her the same morning he’d bought their tickets. Jerrie remained at his side and lowered her gaze.

“Your parents were quite insistent that I come retrieve Miss Geraldine. They did say that you were welcome to ride together, should you wish.”

Piper smiled sarcastically. “How kind. Well, all things considered, I think I’ll need my own vehicle before I head over to Mom and Dad’s.” He turned his attention to Jerrie. “I think you’d better go with Randall for n-”

Jerrie grabbed onto his arm. “I want to stay with you.”

Linda touched Piper’s other arm. “How’s if I follow behind and meet you there? Then you’ll still have your getaway car.”

“That’s really very sweet, but I don’t want to tie up your entire afternoon.” It was already enough of a pain in the ass dealing with airport traffic and parking, let alone a visit to his parents’ house when he was already in deep shit with them (and they were in deep shit with him as well, not that they cared about his perspective).

“It’s fine. I brought some work with me. If I sit in the car while you’re inside, I’ll have no choice but to actually do it. C’mon, let’s get moving.” She grabbed Piper’s bag and started walking towards the parking lot, since Jerrie was still keeping her tight grip on him.

She remained in a high state of nervousness for the entire ride home, not saying a word and alternating between fidgeting with the cuffs of the new hoodie Piper had bought her at the Gotham airport (her Flash hoodie had been a casualty of the Mad Hatter’s party) and gripping Piper’s arm hard enough to bruise his bruises.

A few days out from his encounter with the Bludhaven PD and Piper was feeling better (the limp was gone, he could take deep breaths if he was very careful about his posture, and the swelling on his face had gone down), but he still looked pretty bad. His pale skin had bloomed some spectacular shades of purple and yellow, and besides that, he’d chipped a few teeth. His smile was going to look a little menacing until he could get to a dentist. He wondered how his parents were going to react. They were oddly squeamish about him showing up with the occasional work injury, despite the fact that they knew full well what he did with his free time.

Randall brought them to the front door and then drove the car into the garage. Linda parked a little ways down the drive, held up a manila folder full of notes, and then shot Piper a thumbs up. He returned it, then turned his attention towards the front door. With a reluctant sigh, he escorted Jerrie into the house.

“There you two are! Well, the traffic must have been more unreasonable than I’d imagined. Come in here this instant.” Despite the fact that she was calling them inside, Rachel stormed out of the living room and was basically on top of them while they divested themselves of winter wear and shoes. “Good heavens! Hartley, what have you done to your face?”

“I told you, Mom. I was arrested in Bludhaven.”

“Yes, but what has that got to do with…”

He put a hand on his hip and raised his eyebrows. “You really don’t listen to me when I talk, do you? Not that I needed more proof of that.”

“Are you implying the police officers simply beat you up for no good reason?”

“Yes. I’m outright stating it, actually. This is how the majority of them operate-”

“Mom, Hartley. Um, is this something, something you need to talk about right now? With me? Or can I go upstairs?” Jerrie was shifting from foot to foot, her sad eyes darting towards the stairwell.

Rachel made a sharp inhale and gave her head a shake. “No, dear. We’re having a family meeting. I need you in the living room with the rest of us. Come this way. And Hartley, I’m sure you must have done something to antagonize them. You’re awfully good at that, you know.”

Piper muttered darkly under his breath about how antagonistic it was to feed people who were starving in the eyes of capitalism’s gatekeepers.

Osgood was actually in the sitting room as well, which was surprising. Given the hour, Piper would have expected him to still be at the office. It wasn’t like him to miss work for something as trivial as a family crisis.

Jerrie tried to sit next to Piper on the sofa but Rachel grabbed her by the wrist and had her sit in an armchair beside her father. Rachel remained standing. It wasn’t an encouraging way to begin their chat.

“Well, dear?” Osgood turned towards his wife. “You’ve got us all together. Let’s have it out, shall we?”

“Hartley,” Rachel began. “I want you to tell your father and I whatever nonsense you’ve been filling your sister’s head with. We need to know why it is she felt like she had to run away to a dangerous, filthy place like Bludhaven, and then we need to make sure it never happens again. And if we can reach an understanding, perhaps you’ll still be allowed to see each other.”

“Wait, what?”

Jerrie’s eyes filled with tears. “It wasn’t Hartley’s fault! H-he just, he was trying to-he saved me, Mom! Mom, it was me. I was bad. Please, please don’t send him away again.”

“Look what you’ve done, Hartley. You’ve gotten her all upset,” Rachel snapped. She walked over to Jerrie and patted her hair. “There, there, darling. We’re going to protect you. It will all be fine.”

Piper closed his eyes and rubbed at his temple. He could feel a headache coming on. “Mom, I barely know what you’re talking about. All I’ve told Jerrie is that I’m here for her, and if she needs me for any reason she’s always welcome to come find me.”

“Well she went and found you in a dangerous city full of degenerates and got herself kidnapped, didn’t she?” Rachel exploded. “Besides that, you tried to turn her against us. You always make everything about yourself, and now you’ve brought your innocent younger sister into your delusions. Making her think we hated you for being gay. It wasn’t like that at all.”

“Really?” Piper scoffed. “So did I just imagine that camp you and Dad sent me to, to fix me? Or that horrid therapist that told me my sexual orientation was hurting you and that it was my job as a fifteen year old to protect my mother’s feelings? Was that in my head? Or what about when you threw out all of my clothes because you didn’t want me dressing like such a faggot in front of your friends.”

Rachel’s face was white, her thin lips pressed together. He’d gotten under her skin - maybe she did remember something of his actual adolescence, instead of what she’d been telling herself had happened. Maybe, in some corner of her mind, she did feel some shame and guilt about what they’d put him through.

But was she ever going to admit it?

“We were a bit hard on you, yes,” Osgood chimed in. “But what’s done is done. We’re talking about Jerrie, now. And her situation is entirely different. For one thing, she’s obviously copying her big brother.”

Rachel nodded. “Exactly. What are the odds that both of you would, would be this way? Hm? You’ve turned her head, and made her think that she has to be just like you. It’s incredibly selfish, but it tracks perfectly. It’s always poor, victimized Hartley, and now it can be the two of you against the rest of the family.”

“What? Mom, you think I’m faking?” Jerrie wiped at her eyes. “I have a girlfriend. You’ve met Inez.”

“And you’ll meet a perfectly nice boy someday, I’m sure. I mean, look at you, dear. You’re such a pretty girl. With a bit more confidence, you’ll do fine,” Osgood said, mistakenly thinking that he was cheering up his distraught daughter.

“I didn’t tell Jerrie she was gay. I’ve just given her the room to be herself around me,” Piper said. “Which, honestly, is pretty impressive all things considered.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Rachel’s gaze hardened as soon as she turned from her daughter to her son.

Piper glared right back at her. “You barely give her the room to breathe. She’s always got one of you or an employee hovering around, making all of her decisions, keeping her under surveillance. It’s been nearly impossible to have an unguarded moment with her since we started talking again.”

Osgood threw his own withering look Piper’s way. “Well of course we’ve had to be careful. Her brother’s an unstable costumed menace.”

“You don’t seem to mind when it gives you an opportunity to kiss up to the Flash. Or how about when I bailed your ass out after those creeps broke in and attacked all three of you? When I’m useful I’m a superhero, but suddenly I’m a menace again. How convenient.”

Jerrie buried her face in her hands and started shrieking. “Stop fighting! Stop it! Stop it! It’s not Hartley’s fault and if you take him away again I’m going to die! I hate you!” She jumped up and ran from the room.

“Darling, wait!” Rachel started after her. She paused in the doorway and threw an irritated look over her shoulder at Piper. “Just look what you’ve done now.”

Osgood climbed to his feet, face impassive but manner distinctly cold. “You should probably get going, son. We can talk about this more later when everyone’s calmed down.”

“Yeah, somehow I didn’t think this was going to be a productive conversation.” Piper stalked out into the hallway and started to put on his coat. He turned around when he felt his father’s eyes on him. “Could you let me say goodbye to Jerrie, first?”

“Your mother and I spoke about this earlier, and we think it’s for the best if you see a little less of your sister. At least, for now. Until things have calmed a bit.”

Piper scowled. “And you honestly think that’s the problem? The fact that I love my baby sister and am willing to support her, no matter who she turns out to be? Fan-fucking-tastic. You two are so predictable.”

“Once again, Hartley. Not everything is about you.”

“If it’s not about me, then why do you want to keep me from her?”

Osgood tried to clasp his arm, but he shrugged away from him. “It’s not forever, you know. The teen years are a trying time. We’ll try again when everyone’s got cooler heads, all right? We’ve just got to think of Jerrie.”

And leaving her with two unfeeling, self-involved control freaks intent on deliberately misunderstanding her was not the way to see a young lesbian flourish in Central City, Missouri. Piper could speak for the ineffectiveness of their methods on rearing a queer child in a conservative area himself. “I am thinking of Jerrie.”

“I know you are. And as usual, you think you’re the only one who knows what’s best. But we’re her parents, and that means making the difficult decisions sometimes. Son…please, try to understand.”

Piper shook his head. “I have nothing productive to say to you right now.”

Osgood sighed. “Well, like it or not, I will be in touch. We still have to talk about your finances. Hartley…son, I do love you.” Osgood was watching him with such sad eyes. He held his hand out - Osgood also was not a hugger but he did like to give hearty handshakes from time to time.

Piper turned his back on his father’s outstretched hand and slammed the door behind him.

“Like, it’s not like it’s just his legacy, that’s all I’m saying. I really don’t care what Wally thinks about it.”

“Okay.”

“Mm hm.”

“But Bart, I do think you might care just a little.”

Piper had just gotten to the Keystone Out! building, and as usual was struggling not to eavesdrop on the hushed conversations the teenagers he knew were having before the meeting got started.

He’d already heard from Wally that Bart was planning on ditching the Impulse identity and moving on to Kid Flash, a move that Piper had mistakenly believed to be natural and uncontroversial. What’s more, it was yet another opportunity for Wally to express some humility, and communicate openly with the kid. Let him know that Wally did actually like him and thought he was growing up into a hero to be proud of.

But Wally had already put his shiny yellow boot in his mouth on the subject, and apparently it was going to be a tender one until Linda, Jay, Joan, and the others could help the two stubborn speedsters come together.

At least he wasn’t the only one suffering from family drama.

“So what about you? Things going any better with your dad?”

Tim let out a bitter sounding sigh before answering. “I was thinking about telling him I was bi, just to get him to back off about the costumed vigilante thing. But I don’t think creating new drama will really help with managing the old drama, you know?”

“No? I use that one all the time.”

“And does it actually help?”

“Uh…well. Hm. Do you think he’s going to back off in time for us to relaunch the Teen Titans though? We need our Robin, dude. Oh, hey Piper.” Bart noticed him lurking by the doorway and waved him over. “How’s your sister doing? Is she getting a new phone soon? I tried calling the house directly but this weird guy named Randall keeps hanging up on me.”

“That’s…a bit of a thing.” Piper shrugged out of his coat and hung it over the back of a chair.

“Aw, nuts. Jerrie’s girlfriend is supposed to come to the meeting tonight. It figures that we couldn’t get her away from your folks.” Bart pouted a little. “You know they haven’t been able to go on any dates or anything. The closest they got so far was dancing in the hallway outside the gym at their last school dance so no one could see them. I know Jerrie was really excited about getting to hold Inez’s hand for once.”

Piper remembered that feeling himself, and felt another stab of anger towards his parents. But he pushed it down and focused on getting ready for the meeting.

Inez, Jerrie’s girlfriend, showed up while he and Yazmin were organizing the snack table. She was a masc looking little lesbian in baggy jeans and a men’s sweater, with bleached blond hair that was long on top and short on the sides. She must have had supportive parents, because with that fashion sense there was no way she was still in the closet. Even the most heteronormative adults had to figure out something was up if they were taking their little girl to get a fade from a barber shop.

Inez lost some points in Piper’s eyes when she immediately started flirting with every femininely dressed girl in the room. Or, every femininely dressed cisgender girl. She gave Elinore a disdainful look before straddling a chair next to Bart. “Hey, s’up? Where’s my girl at? I thought she was coming with you?”

“Piper just said she couldn’t make it this week.”

“Oh, well that’s lame.” Inez pouted, then cast an assessing eye around the room. “Hey, Ashleigh? Is that seat taken?”

Ashleigh’s cheeks went a little pink, but she patted the metal chair next to her and Inez happily took the invitation.

Elinore took the vacated seat. “Is Jerrie okay?”

Bart turned a pointed look on Piper. “Is she?”

“I…um. It’s complicated.” He cast a look around the circle of mostly occupied metal folding chairs. “Look, let’s just get the meeting started, okay? I know we’ve got some new faces here. We’re going to read the guidelines and then do a quick check-in. It’s just going around the room and telling us all what name you’d like to use tonight and what your pronouns-yes?”

Inez’s hand was up. “What do you mean what name you’d like to use tonight? Don’t you just mean our names?”

“Well, some of us use different names here than we do outside of the space,” Piper explained. “And sometimes people try out a few names before they settle on one they like.”

“Like Elinore. She tries a new name almost every meeting,” Bart added.

“Speaking of which, I want to give Patrice a shot night. I think it has a nice ring to it.”

“Oh.” Inez lowered her hand. “In that case…um. I had a name I was considering but uh…like. It’s a guy’s name. Is that…okay?”

“Yes, of course,” Piper quickly assured her (…?), before reading through the guidelines and kicking off check-in.

Superboy walked in while Yazmin was checking in, and immediately distracted the whole room. It was the first time he’d shown up for a meeting not in uniform. Instead of his superhero outfit he was wearing blue jeans, a faded red button up, and a pair of thin rimmed glasses. And he’d cut most of his hair off. He took the open seat beside Bart and gave a self-conscious wave. “Hey.”

“Uh, yeah. So, Yazmin. She and her pronouns. I’m a lezzy. Your turn, Aydin.”

They kept going around the room, and when it was “Inez’s” turn, she checked in as Axel, and brightened when the other kids started using the name without hesitation.

Patrice checked in, and then it was Superboy’s turn. “Hi. Conner. He and him. Obviously you all know who I am, but I’m trying something new and I’m really going to be leaning on the group’s confidentiality rule. What’s said here stays here, right?”

“What do you mean, Conner? Obviously, this is the first time any of us have ever seen you before,” Piper said pointedly, setting the tone for the night. “I’m pretty sure I heard Mattie say something about this being your first meeting, because you just moved across the country to live with some family in another part of Kansas, didn’t you?”

Conner locked eyes with him and smiled a little before nodding. “Yeah. And I’m really glad I found this place.”

“We’re glad you found us too,” Patrice said. “Would you like a neat rock I found?”

“Oh, it was such a heavy meeting. I can’t really talk about it, because, y’know, confidentiality and all that. But just suffice it to say, when you’re already having a bad week the kids will never oblige and hand you a softball of a night.” Piper was walking back from the electronics store and chatting with Dick on his cellphone as he went. The streets were nearly deserted, due to some big sports game, which was more pleasant than ominous in Piper’s current state of overstimulation. He was hoping to shut himself into his house, throw on some music that was ambient and soothing, and spend a few satisfying hours tinkering (normally his computer unexpectedly shitting the bed would have added to the stress of the week, but given how things had been going he was actually looking forward to having a puzzle he could solve).

“So how are things on your end, love? I heard the Teen Titans are starting up again. Are you going to have any involvement in the project…oh. Well, that sounds stressful…how many people died? Love, I’m sure it wasn’t your fault…hold on, I need to find my keys. Look, just because you irritated the mobsters doesn’t mean their resulting hissy fits are your doing…Dick. You didn’t kill anybody. Blockbuster did and it’s not…” Piper finally got his hands on his keys and got his door open. He reset the alarm and kicked his shoes off all while trying to reassure his boyfriend that he was not personally responsible for every tragedy that struck the city he happened to be living in, just because he was the resident superhero.

Then his eyes landed on his computer monitor and he frowned. It looked to be working normally, but he was positive he’d had the blue screen of death when he’d left for the store. “Well that’s odd. Hm? Oh, nothing. Just computer stuff.” Piper set his bag next his desk and sat down. “Oh, I’ve got a message from Dad. Ugh, no I haven’t talked to them since we got back from the airport. I think Dad was right about us needing some space to cool down…yeah, I think I’ll be able to handle myself more gracefully the next time I see them, but who knows? Mom always knows just what to say to set me off and, well…vice versa, I suppose. Hm. Dad wants me to head over and talk. You wouldn’t happen to be available for some last minute moral support, would you?”

He’d said it as a joke, but Dick actually seemed to be taking it seriously.

“Honestly, darling, don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine. I know you’ve got a lot on your plate. Just try to keep some time open for me tonight in case I need to make a pathetic phone call when I get back…okay. Yes, we’ll have to figure out another time for a visit…well, if you can get away from Bludhaven then I’d say it’s your turn to come visit us in Central. Our last citywide attack was actually more fun than traumatic. It had a touch of whimsy to it. Everything was transformed into a dark fairytale land, and apparently Linda and I were hypnotized into attacking Wally. Which is just embarrassing. Do you know how bad it makes me look that I, a hypnotist, got hypnotized? …yes, I’m stalling. All right, I’ll call you tonight and let you know how it went. I love you.”

Piper heaved a dramatic sigh, switched his computer off, and went to put his coat and shoes back on.

Chapter Text

It was dark out. When had it gotten dark out?

Piper rubbed at his eyes and then squinted around the room. His bedroom. He was home. But hadn’t he just decided to go see his dad? Osgood wanted to talk to him about his finances. Probably hold the company card and his charity work over his head to try to get him to straighten out, since he had full access to his trust fund and they couldn’t use that against him anymore (he did have a small salary from the company as well but was perfectly capable of getting along without it). Besides, if worse came to worse, he was a tech genius and a local celebrity with connections. Piper was pretty sure he could always find a way to get by. He didn’t need his parents to support him. He’d never needed them, and they’d always hated that about him.

But finances, they’d needed to discuss finances. So why was he back home? Hadn’t he…

He’d definitely gone over there to talk.

Piper was suddenly wracked with a sharp pain behind his eyes. He doubled over, and waited for it to pass. He felt violently sick to his stomach, and it came on so quickly he almost threw up on the carpet. Piper rolled off of his bed and stumbled into the bathroom. Once he was done being sick in the toilet, he staggered to the sink to rinse his mouth and let out a startled cry when he saw the long strands of fine orange hair covering the basin. The scissors he used to trim split ends were resting on the drain. Piper patted at his head and felt the uneven ends of his hair. What had he done?

He’d tried growing his hair out for the first time when he was thirteen. He’d gotten it just past his chin before his father made him cut it. Then he’d tried again, and once again Osgood had demanded a sensible haircut. But this time he’d used his enhanced hearing to hide from his parents every time they tried to stuff him in a car and get him to a barber shop. He’d remained one step ahead of them for most of the summer, and gotten his hair just barely long enough for a ponytail.

Then he’d awoken one night to Randall holding him in place while Osgood buzzed his hair off. That was around the time Rachel had thrown out all of the clothes he’d picked himself and started buying him khakis and polo shirts. It wasn’t a great period in their lives.

Even though his headache demanded otherwise, Piper reached a shaky hand to the wall and switched on the bathroom lights. The first thing he took in was his sadly shorn head, which still had a few wisps of longer hairs here and there that he must have missed in whatever mania had pushed him to do this to himself. And then he noticed that he was wearing his costume. He had no memory of putting his costume on. What the hell had happened?

Lacking better options, he snipped off the few longer strands that remained, and evened out the rest of it. Well. That was certainly regrettable, but there was nothing else for it now but to grow his hair back out again. Poor Dick was going to be so disappointed. He loved toying with Piper’s hair almost as much as Piper liked getting the nice caresses and pats.

He switched the light off, then stumbled back into his bedroom and tried to remember anything about the previous day. He remembered going to the store, yapping with his boyfriend, leaving to talk to his parents…it must not have gone well. Obviously, if he’d blacked out and replicated one of his old traumas, something had set him off.

Then that sharp pain bloomed again, this time sending Piper down to his knees. He threw up bile onto the rug, then hugged his sides and sobbed as memories started to form.

He’d gone to his parents’ house to talk. And it hadn’t gone well. He’d been so angry. And he’d…he’d…

Piper’s phone rang from the bedside table, but he was too weak to move. His head hurt so much. And he was afraid of what he remembered doing.

“So…I think I blew it with your brother. I don’t think he likes me.”

Jerrie had just taken a bite out of her sandwich, so it took her a moment to answer her girlfriend. Inez plopped unceremoniously onto a chair and started dragging the toe of one her sneakers across the floor. They were having lunch in the band room at school, along with a handful of other queer kids and general weirdos. The band teacher, Mr. Bauers, tended to ignore the withdrawn teenagers who flocked to his room in favor of the cafeteria, which was one of the reasons why they liked hiding out in there. The other cool teacher that was willing to shelter them, Ms. Cronan, always tried to make them talk about their feelings. Jerrie didn’t want to talk about her feelings though. She just wanted to eat lunch without having to worry about a bunch of kids hawking spitballs into her hair.

Inez took a swig of soda. She looked glum, hunched over with her elbows resting on her knees. One of the reasons why Jerrie liked spending time with her so much, even before they’d started dating, was that Inez was very easy to read. She was intensely emotional, and dramatically expressive; her body language and facial expressions were so exaggerated that Jerrie very rarely misunderstood her, which was a nice change of pace. Usually, she felt out of step when she tried to socialize with kids her own age.

“Hartley’s just like that. A lot of people think he dislikes them when he really doesn’t. I wouldn’t worry too much.”

“I wish you’d been at the meeting.”

“Obviously, I do too. It wasn’t my idea to miss it.”

“Yeah, I know.” Inez sighed. “Are your parents still being stupid about everything?”

“Yes.” Jerrie finished her sandwich and rooted around in her lunch bag for her baby carrots. “They don’t want me to call you my girlfriend anymore. They think I’m just confused, and that I’m pretending to be gay to be like Hartley. But I’m not even gay the same way he is. He’s very set on liking men and I…just kind of like people, you know? I like you…and it’s not because of what you look like. It’s because you’re you.”

Inez grinned, and leaned over so that they bumped shoulders. “I like you too, red. Hey, can I tell you something?” She looked around the room and lowered her voice. “I tried something out at the meeting. I asked everyone to use my new name.”

“Oh?” Jerrie whispered back. “How’d it go?”

Inez…or rather, Axel, bit into her lower lip before answering. Her face was a little flushed. “Pretty rad, honestly. I’m thinking next time I might try out the pronouns.”

“When no one else is around, do you want me to do that? Because I will. I don’t mind at all.”

For just a moment, Axel looked incredibly happy, but then his face fell. “Aw, c’mon, Jer. When do we ever get to be alone together? It’d be great if you could but damn…it’s never gonna happen.”

Jerrie stuck the bag of baby carrots back in her lunch bag, zipped it shut, and returned it to her messenger bag. Then she grabbed Axel’s hand and gave it a tight squeeze. “We’ll figure it out. High school isn’t forever, you know. I’m going to go to college in Metropolis. It’s just a couple of years away, Axel. Once I’m in another state, I’ll be able to make my own decisions all the time. I’ll wear whatever I want, and pick out my own food and-and spend time with whoever I want. It’s going to be great. Um. Do you like Metropolis?”

“Not really,” Axel answered, and Jerrie felt her stomach do an uncomfortable flip. Then Axel dropped his head onto her shoulder. “I like you though. I’ll follow you to Metropolis. Maybe I can find a school that’d take me.”

Axel walked her to her next class, which would be the last time Jerrie could expect to see him that day. Their schedules didn’t have much overlap (Jerrie was in a lot of honors and AP classes, while Axel was at the other end of the academic spectrum). Jerrie was considering joining an afterschool club just to have a reason to be away from her house for a few more hours a week, and was trying to get Axel to join too, so they could have a little time together. But they were having a difficult time coming up with a club they both wanted to join; so far Axel had vetoed debate team, theater, chess club, and math club. As the situation stood, Randall (and, once in a blue moon, Rachel) met Jerrie as soon as school was over and brought her directly home.

She wasn’t sure if she was still allowed to spend time with Bart Allen. Her parents had seemed to like the idea when they realized he was Wally West’s little cousin (or, Jerrie thought they were cousins - their family sounded a bit confusing and she’d known them long enough now that she was too embarrassed to ask for clarification). But since Wally and Hartley were best friends, and she wasn’t supposed to spend time with Hartley, she was pretty sure they weren’t going to let her hang out at Wally’s house anymore either.

Once her last class finished, Jerrie switched out some books at her locker and then dutifully made her way to the main entrance of the high school to look for Randall. He wasn’t in the line of cars in front of the school, so she sat down on a bench and took out a book.

A few chapters later, Jerrie realized that it was pretty odd for her to have read that much without anyone from home coming to collect her. She put the book back in her bag and then took a walk around the parking lot, but she didn’t see Randall or her mother anywhere.

“Red, what are you still doing here?” Axel was riding past on his bike but he looped back around and skidded to a stop just in front of her.

“I’m honestly not sure. No one came to get me.”

“Really?” Axel’s face lit up. “Sounds to me like you have a free afternoon then. Let’s go see a movie, or I could take you to a fancy restaurant, or, um…wait. I don’t have my wallet with me. Could you cover and I’ll pay next time?”

Jerrie shook her head. “Axel, you don’t understand-”

“Aw, baby. My new name sounds so good when you say it.”

Jerrie dug her phone out of the pocket of her hoodie. “This isn’t like them. They never forget me, and they especially wouldn’t now when they’re all so nervous about everything I do because of the whole kidnapping thing.”

“The what?”

Jerrie confirmed that she didn’t have any missed calls and then turned her attention back to Axel. “I got kidnapped by a supervillain when I ran away to Bludhaven. Didn’t I tell you about that?”

“No you didn’t!” Axel jumped off of his bike and started walking it next to Jerrie, jogging a little to keep up since she’d started power walking back to the school. “Wait, which supervillain? Was it one of the cool ones? Did you get to talk to them? What were they like? Who was it? Babe, you gotta tell me everything!”

“Hold on.” Jerrie sat back down on the bench and called home. The phone rang a bunch and then went to voicemail. She tried her mother and father’s cell phones, and then Randall’s as well but no one was answering.

Axel sat down on the bench beside her and then waggled his eyebrows. “It’s sounding more and more like a free afternoon. If y’want, you can come back to my house with me and we can watch a movie…and then not watch the movie. If you get what I mean.”

“Axel, not now. I think something’s wrong.” Jerrie jumped up and started walking towards the parking lot. Then she realized that going to the parking lot was completely useless and she anxiously returned to the bench. “I don’t know what to do. I can’t call Hartley because if I’m wrong then Mom and Dad will get madder, and I need them to get less mad at Hartley, not more. Can your mom or dad give me a ride to my house?”

“Doubt it. They’re never home at this hour. You’re really freaking out, aren’t you?” Axel frowned. “Well what about that friend of yours, that Bart kid? Maybe he can help. Do his parents drive?”

“His parents are dead.”

“Oh. So probably not.”

Jerrie wiped at her eyes. “Um. Um. Okay. I’m going to call Hartley. Mom and Dad can’t get mad at him for it, because it’s been an hour since school’s got out and no one came to get me and no one’s answering their phone, so if Hartley’s the only one that answers then that’s their own fault. Okay. That sounds right, right?”

Axel gave a helpless shrug. “If Hartley doesn’t answer, can we go see a movie?”

Jerrie ignored him, and called Hartley’s phone. Like the others, there wasn’t an answer. She looked through her contacts, trying to figure out what to do. Maybe she would call Bart. He had to have some kind of trusted adult he lived with, and if nothing else he might have better ideas than Axel. Then she saw Dick’s name and pressed the call button without hesitation. Dick had written his number down for her right before he’d brought her and Hartley to the airport, and it had been one of the first numbers she’d entered when she’d gotten her new phone.

She wasn’t sure, but she thought Hartley’s boyfriend might be a superhero, too. Mindful of his advice about letting people tell you they were superheroes, she hadn’t said anything yet. But either way, he seemed smart and he made her feel safe. Dick would know what to do.

Dick answered on the first ring. “Hey, Jerrie. I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon. What’s up?”

“No one got me from school and no one’s answering their phones. I don’t know what to do. Can you help me please?”

“Of course I’ll help. Where are you now? Are you still at school?”

“Uh huh. And I’m not alone. My…girlfriend is with me.” Jerrie covered the mouth of her phone and whispered to Axel. “Do you want me to call you a boyfriend or girlfriend? I’m talking to Hartley’s boyfriend.”

Axel shrugged. “Either one’s fine. Jerrie, why don’t you just call a cab or something?”

That thought honestly hadn’t occurred to her. She’d never ridden in a cab in her life.

“Hold on a sec, Jerrie. Linda’s calling me and she almost never calls,” Dick said. “I’ll be right back, I just want to know what she’s calling me about.”

“O-okay.” Jerrie sat down on the bench again and reached for Axel’s hand. He sat down next to her but wrapped an arm around her instead.

“It’s okay, Jer. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“But why wouldn’t any of them be answering? Something’s wrong, I just know it.”

“But Jerrie, you always think something’s wrong.”

“And I’m almost always right about it,” she muttered.

It felt like Dick kept her on hold for ages. But Axel kept his arm around her, and that was actually really nice. A part of Jerrie wanted to hang up on Dick, climb onto the back of Axel’s bike with him, and go back to his house to watch movies and kiss a little.

But she needed to know that everyone was okay first.

“Hey, Jerrie, are you still there?”

She jumped a little, and realized she was nodding in response to a phone call. “Yeah. Yeah, Dick, I’m still here.” Axel snorted, and muttered something about Hartley’s boyfriend being named Dick.

“Okay. I just got off the phone with Linda and she filled me in on a few things. Our friend Jay is on his way to get you from school, and he’s going to take you back to Linda and Wally’s house.”

“What happened? Why are you talking like that? I know something’s wrong. What’s wrong?”

Axel wrapped his arm more tightly around her.

“I’m so, so sorry Jerrie. There was an attack on your house while you were at school today. Your parents are gone…and they think Hartley did it.”

Piper wasn’t a killer. He knew that about himself. That’s the whole reason why moving to Gotham hadn’t worked out for him as a young supervillain, and he’d ended up ghosting Eddie and returning to Central with his tail between his legs. The only person he’d ever “tried” to kill was Barry Allen, which was because he’d known that he was incapable of killing Barry Allen.

Well. There had been the thing with the old mayor. Fucking homophobe. But the effort he’d put into that death trap, and how sincerely upset he’d been when Allen had managed to foil him and save the mayor’s life had been a wake up call. Piper should have just been trying to scare Pinchot; he didn’t really want to kill the man, even if the world would have undoubtedly been better off without another asshole scoring political points off of abusing the powerless. Piper’s breakdown had followed immediately after that stunt, and when he’d finally left Breedmore his archnemesis was dead and he wasn’t sure how he fit into the world anymore…until he’d met Wally.

Yet again, it was Wally who grounded him when Piper’s world was plunged into chaos.

Wally and Linda came to see him while he was being booked, and despite everything, despite Piper’s confession, the security cameras showing Piper murdering Rachel, Osgood, Randall, and the pups, despite the fact that he’d gotten into one of the most emotionally charged fights in a long history of emotionally charged fights with his parents earlier that week, and that Piper had a documented history of blacking out and getting violent when he was under emotional duress…Wally still had faith in him. He believed Piper was innocent. Unflinchingly.

Piper didn’t even believe he was innocent, but somehow Wally did.

Wally’s conviction was the first welcome and necessary seed of doubt in Piper’s mind. His memories of that awful afternoon were hazy, inconsistent, and though visually strong, the emotional core of them was never the same when he rehearsed them. Being a hypnotist himself, and able to plant false memories in others, he realized something was up. Unfortunately, by then he’d already confessed, and the tyrant overseeing Iron Heights, Wolfe, would not be giving him an opportunity to recant his confession.

The beating he received upon entering the prison made the one he’d gotten from the Bludhaven cops seem like a friendly pat down. Piper was in the infirmary for a few days before he was dumped into his cell. He heard Wally and Dick try to visit him and get turned away. Desperately, he put all his attention on following their voices as they were shown out of the building.

Did Wally still believe he was innocent? Did Dick think he was guilty? There was so much evidence against him. He needed to explain. The memories were fake. He knew they were fake.

And these guards, these sadists…he wasn’t sure he would live to see trial at this rate.

Wally and Dick had gone silent. They’d stopped arguing with Wolfe and were leaving. Soon enough, Piper couldn’t even hear their heartbeats anymore.

He was alone.

Chapter Text

For the next few days, Jerrie suffered the indignity of adults talking about her but not with her. Her parents’ sudden and unexpected deaths, seemingly at the hands of her brother, broke her orderly little world into sharp, bitter fragments. There was nothing solid to hold onto anymore, and she felt like she was suffocating.

It’s not that the Rathaways hadn’t come up with a plan, should something happen to them (they had experienced attacks on their lives before - not only had Osgood especially considered it possible, he’d even seen a violent end to his life as likely). Unfortunately, all of their emergency plans had been rendered unusable in the one attack. Obviously, she couldn’t go live with Hartley. Randall and his wife had also been killed. And now all of her relatives in the greater Central City area wouldn’t take her, considering what had happened to the other potential guardians.

For the first couple of days Jerrie stayed at Mr. and Mrs. West’s house, and that was fine with her. She’d been excused from school but it was still physically possible to get there when she was ready to return. She could get to appointments, and she was perfectly positioned to gather news about her brother. As long as she kept her headphones on and kept her expressions neutral, the Wests would say all kinds of things while she was in earshot. She learned that Mr. West thought Hartley was innocent (Mrs. West certainly thought something was up, though she was hesitant to say anything with finality). This gave Jerrie a tender spark of hope, something that would keep her going in the coming weeks.

Jerrie thought Hartley was innocent too, but she was afraid that she was wrong. He’d always been so kind to her, and very gentle. He was so patient about the things that annoyed everyone else, like her needing lot of quiet time, or always wanting to eat the same things and watch the same shows over and over. But that was because he loved her. She’d read newspaper articles and seen TV reports about the things Hartley did sometimes when he got angry, and he’d been so angry at their parents. She’d never seen him yell like that, ever.

At night, camped out in the Wests’ guest room with only a few of her stuffies and a sweater that still smelled like her mother’s perfume, Jerrie worried that she didn’t know her brother as well as she thought she did. She certainly didn’t feel Mr. West’s conviction that Hartley had to be innocent, and she was mad at herself for it.

One morning, Mrs. West came into the guest room with a couple of mugs of cocoa to talk to her about how the rest of the week would go. They were holding a wake for Randall and his wife that night, which Jerrie did want to try to go to (Mrs. West was going with her and said they could leave early if they needed to), and then the wake for her parents was on Saturday, when the rest of her family could fly in from other parts of the country, and the funeral would be that Sunday. The adults had been talking, and they all thought that she should fly back to Boston with her aunt Hazel and uncle Roger after the funeral. Auntie Hazel was her mother’s younger sister. They had a lot in common, which could have been comforting while Jerrie was in mourning but she didn’t think it would be.

Jerrie was clutching the mug of cocoa with both hands. She kept her eyes on the rim of the mug, where powder that hadn’t been mixed in all the way was clumping around the marshmallows. “Why can’t I stay here? I-I’m trying to be a good guest. I’ll change, if I need to. I just need to be told what’s wrong with me first so I can change it.”

“Oh, sweetheart, nothing’s wrong with you. You’ve been perfect.” Mrs. West was trying to sound nice, but if she were really nice she wouldn’t be sending Jerrie away when she needed to be with the people she knew. The ones who were still alive, anyway. “The thing is, a lot of the people who work with my husband have been experiencing tragedies lately. We think it’s a pattern, and we don’t want you to get more caught up in it than you already have. Your aunt has never been targeted for supercrime, and Boston experiences much lower levels of supercrime than other cities its size. We think you’d be safer there until we can figure out what’s going on. And hopefully when we do, we’ll have your brother back and you can live with him. I know that’s what Hartley wants.”

Jerrie’s eyes were very wet. She blinked a few times, to try to keep the tears from spilling over. “That’s why I-I don’t want to go yet. I need to be here. I want to be here for when-when I, he, I…I want Hartley back.”

Mrs. West gave her arm a pat, reassured her again that they were working on it, and then took the still full mug of cocoa back to the kitchen, since Jerrie couldn’t swallow. She left her alone so she could cry and hug her mother’s sweater in peace.

“I think I did. You’re sure that’s what he said? I think I did?”

“Yeah.” Wally ran a hand through his hair. He’d been fidgety their whole conversation, which was starting to make Dick anxious. He got it though. The speedsters were all about action, and not having clear next steps to act on always drove them nuts.“It’s weird, right? Like, when you’re admitting to murder, I feel like usually there’s some conviction in your voice, y’know? Like, you did it or you didn’t. Who says, I think I killed my parents.”

Dick was leaning against the counter in Wally’s kitchen. He’d flown out from Bludhaven almost immediately after he’d gotten off the phone with Jerrie, something he was trying not to have regrets about. So far his presence hadn’t been doing much to help with his boyfriend’s crisis, and he was nervous about stepping away from Bludhaven at what he feared was a critical moment. Blockbuster…was no longer an issue (and he had many regrets about how that saga had ended), but he’d left behind a significant power vacuum that was waiting to be filled, and Dick needed to know how that was going to shake out. Besides that, he was also trying to oversee two shelters and a brand new community grocery store. But Hartley clearly needed him (if he could even get to him), and he knew he was going to be useless for his city if he couldn’t find a way to care for his partner first.

“That warden can’t keep me from him forever,” Dick said. “If he keeps this up, I will pull every favor I have with Bruce to get a fleet of his best, scariest lawyers up to Iron Heights with me.”

“Oh man, please let me come with you when that happens. I have a mighty need to see that monster humbled.”

Dick quirked an eyebrow. Despite Wally’s close friendship with a cop hating prison abolitionist, the man himself worked pretty closely with law enforcement and seemed to have a good relationship with the CCPD and the KCPD. Dick hadn’t ever heard him speak so bitterly about his local LEOs (the dirty cops in Bludhaven were another matter entirely). “So this warden…”

“Is definitely torturing prisoners and lying about it. But he’s well connected, so I’m gonna have to be strategic about how I bring him down.”

“All right. I’ll add finding a way to remove Wolfe from power to my list.” It was already such a long list.

“Speaking of Bruce…what’s his take on all this?” Wally crossed his arms over his chest, his newest wave of fidgeting breaking out in shifting from foot to foot. “I assume he knows enough about what’s going on to have formed an opinion.”

“Bruce’s assessment is that the attack conveniently lines up with the patient history notes from Piper’s stay at Breedmore. The few times he endangered anyone’s life directly, he did have a mental break that included a blackout, followed by uncharacteristically violent behaviors.”

Wally’s face fell. Like a lot of the heroes from their generation, he had a lot of respect for Batman’s abilities. Sometimes, he gave Bruce’s opinions a little too much weight. But in this particular instance, they were actually in agreement.

Dick continued. “So whoever set Piper up did their homework. The attention to detail is, in itself, suspicious. At least, that’s what Bruce thinks, and I’m inclined to agree. Obviously, you’ve known Piper longer than me, but we got very close very quickly. I’ve held him and soothed him while talking over his family issues. He never hated them. He wanted them to be better parents than they were, and he hated how they treated him and his sister, but my impression from Hartley was that he would have sooner taken a bullet for Rachel and Osgood than ever hurt them.”

“Yeah.”

They were silent for a moment, which made the squeaking of the linoleum tiles under Wally’s sneakers sound louder than it was.

Dick’s thoughts turned to Jerrie. He’d only had a couple of interactions with the kid, but he liked her, and he’d been worrying about her almost constantly since their quick phone call (he did feel a warm bit of pride about the fact that she’d chosen to call him in an emergency - when a blunt kid like Jerrie marked you as a safe adult you were doing something right).

“Wally, how’s Jerrie been doing? She’s been staying with you guys, right? I know she can’t be doing well, but is she, like, generally okay?”

Wally let out a humorless laugh and shook his head. “Ah, I’d say she’s doing…bad? She’s definitely doing bad, and I don’t know what to do to help her. I mean, other than finding who really killed her parents and getting her brother out of jail, obviously. Could you talk to her? You’ve always been good with the distraught bystanders. Linda’s been picking up some slack for me there. I got her a new Flash museum hoodie, but y’know…” He gave a helpless shrug. “It’s a lot. She’s going through a lot.”

“Yeah, I definitely want to sit down with her before she leaves for Boston. You said she’s going with her aunt after the funeral, right?”

Wally nodded. “You, uh…going somewhere now?”

Dick had started for the front door, and he was putting his coat back on. “I’ve got a few errands to run tonight. I’ll keep you updated.”

Wally grabbed his arm and gave it a quick squeeze. “Dude, I’m so glad you’re here. Just, with all the shit that’s been piling on lately. The whole thing with the Frenzy virus, and that weird cult that fixated on me, and then Chunk getting shot and Joan getting cancer, it’s just been a lot. It’s been a fucking lot. So thanks for flying out and helping. I know Bludhaven’s not much calmer than Keystone and Central right now, and I really appreciate you being here.”

Dick met Wally’s thankful grin with a hesitant one of his own. Truthfully, he felt conflicted. It really was a terrible time for him to be away from the city that he was supposed to be protecting. Which just meant that the assholes who were targeting the Flash, and destroying a host of innocent lives in the process, were really, really going to regret kicking that hornet’s nest when they were finally exposed. Dick just hoped he could save the man he loved in a timely fashion and get back to work on his own city before anything too dire went down there.

With that in mind, he finished saying goodbye to Wally and then drove his rental car to Piper’s apartment.

Piper’s shopping bag from the electronics store was still sitting next to his computer desk, and there was an unopened energy drink on the coaster next to the keyboard. Dick brought the drink into the kitchen and put it in the fridge, moving on autopilot so he wouldn’t think too deeply about being in his boyfriend’s home when it was frozen in a horrendous moment in time. When he closed the fridge he saw a picture the two of them had taken together at a living history museum outside of Keystone, held in place with a souvenir magnet from the gift shop. That date had been around their one month.

Dick took a deep breath, then returned to the living room. He carefully packed the computer into an overnight box, following all of the meticulous instructions Babs had given him. It was entirely possible that nothing was going to come of her inspecting Piper’s computer, but the fact that he’d mentioned something being odd about his computer the last time Dick had spoken to him, possibly as soon as an hour before his parents had been murdered, was as good a lead as any, and they weren’t going to take any chances.

Once the box was taped up, Dick found himself walking into Piper’s bedroom. He sat down on the end of the bed and felt an ache in his chest. He wished that this was like any other visit, and he’d simply beat Piper home. He could mess around with Piper’s CDs or books, or even just nap, and then Piper would get home and his eyes would do that little crinkle in the corners when he saw Dick waiting there, and they’d talk and tease and make love and everything would just be so perfect and good…

But he couldn’t even talk to Piper right now. And if…when-when they got Piper back…things would probably never be that good and easy again. Piper was a pretty resilient guy, considering everything he’d gone through already, but this was so much to bear. Dick was going to be there for him no matter what, of course. But he was more than a little afraid of what the future was going to look like for them. How long did it take to process this kind of trauma? Lord knows Dick had never actually seen anyone confront grief in a healthy way before, and that was without being framed for the murders and sent to a torture dungeon on top of it. Cut off from all of your support, just stewing in pain…possibly even believing that he’d done it…

Dick covered his face with his hands, took a couple of deep breaths, and then climbed to his feet. This wasn’t helping anything. He needed to get to the store and express the computer to Oracle, then he needed to see if he could track down that tailor that Piper had talked about and maybe even the Trickster. See if he could get some supervillain gossip from the ones that worked both sides. There had to be some kind of trail for him to pick up.

Dick started to walk out of the room but then his eyes rested on Piper’s closet. He smiled to himself, and took a peek inside. The new clothes that Donna and Kory had bullied him into buying were all neatly hung towards the center of the closet, and a pile of old sweatpants and band t-shirts had been thrown on the shelf above. There were two trash bags on the bottom of the closet. Dick untied one of them, and found some of the frumpy shirts and baggy pants he’d enjoyed teasing Piper about. These must have been the clothes he’d been meaning to donate.

Dick ended up leaving the house in a shapeless olive colored crewneck sweatshirt that had bleach stains on the front.

“Geraldine, is this some kind of joke?” Auntie Hazel approached Jerrie as soon as she and Mrs. West walked into the funeral parlor. The wake wasn’t supposed to start for another half hour; they’d arrived early on purpose so Jerrie could have the opportunity to settle in and prepare herself. She hadn’t lasted the full fifteen minutes she’d wanted to for Randall, which didn’t bode well for her intention to stand in the line for a three hour wake. Her knees were already shaking, even without Auntie Hazel snatching the emotional support stuffed unicorn (that Hartley had given her) from her arms.

Mrs. West snatched it right back. “It’s not a joke. It’s just something to make a difficult night a little easier.”

Auntie Hazel’s lips pressed together. “She’s in high school, isn’t she? Dear, you’re supposed to stop carrying those things in public when you start kindergarten. I’m awfully surprised my sister let you get away with that. Then again, she did make the most foolish allowances for you children and look where that-”

“Dearest,” Uncle Roger said as he jogged over to them. “Perhaps now, the circumstances…this might not be the best place for that sort of talk.”

Mrs. West’s eyes had narrowed and she had a tight grip on Jerrie’s arm. “You think?” She handed the unicorn to Jerrie and then walked with her into one of the side rooms. “I’m sorry, hon. I think I have some new appreciation for why you don’t want to go to Boston.” Mrs. West found her a tissue and helped her dab at her eyes, since she was wearing a little bit of mascara. Her mom had always liked when she wore makeup to dressy occasions.

Jerrie had some alone time with her parents, but seeing them in their caskets didn’t bring her any kind of peace. They didn’t look right; her father never would have trimmed his mustache like that, and they’d forgotten his glasses. And her mother’s makeup was atrocious. Jerrie wanted to wipe it off and fix it herself but she was afraid of touching the dead people, even if they were people she loved. She wanted to hug them so bad, but it wasn’t them. They weren’t really there. It fully hit her that they never would be again.

When Mrs. West and Auntie Hazel came in to tell her the wake was about to begin, Jerrie was on the floor in front of her mother’s casket, rocking back and forth with her unicorn covering her face. Auntie Hazel was a lot nicer after that. She stroked Jerrie’s hair, and told her she could leave if she wanted to. But Jerrie knew her mother would have wanted her to stay. Besides, she was going to be miserable no matter where she went, so she might as well do one last thing to honor her parents, especially considering how awful she’d been to them the last time she’d seen them alive.

Jerrie kept her eyes away from the open caskets while people came up to tell her that they were sorry for her loss. Auntie Hazel did most of the talking, and even though she got some funny looks no one said anything about her unicorn. It was bearable when it was just people she kind of recognized; Randall and Carol’s son and one of their grandkids came through, so did some of her dad’s business people. But then people Jerrie really knew started coming through the line.

Her music teacher and her English teacher both came. Mr. and Mrs. Garrick did, with Bart and Conner and Cassie, and then Mr. And Mrs. West walked through together even though Mrs. West had been there the whole time. Mattie walked Patrice and Ayden through the line (Patrice gave her a beaded bracelet she’d made, and she let Patrice hug her). She saw a few cousins that only showed up for big events. And then Dick and Tim came through the line.

Jerrie had mostly been looking at people’s shoes, but for whatever reason her eyes shot up when she realized Hartley’s boyfriend was walking up to her, and something in her snapped when she saw his face while he expressed his condolences. His heartbreak for her felt real in a way other peoples’ hadn’t, like it wasn’t rehearsed, and she remembered that Dick had actually gone through this too. He’d even been younger than her when his parents were murdered. Dick meant what he was saying, and his sad eyes confirmed that.

Without thinking, Jerrie rushed forward and hugged him, hiding her face in his shoulder. He hugged her back, and then gently walked her away from the line and into one of the little rooms to the side of the main one, where the funeral parlor workers had set up coffee and tea. There were other people there, but they gave Jerrie and Dick space. He sat her down in one of the comfy chairs and held her hand.

“I’m sorry,” Jerrie whispered. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m not supposed to, to make a scene. I’m sorry.”

“Jerrie, it’s okay. You can make a little scene, if you want.”

“I don’t know what I want. I don’t…I don’t want to be here anymore.” Jerrie wiped her eyes with her unicorn, and then she started crying harder. One of her cousins got up and left the room, and then a couple more people trickled out. Pretty soon it was just her and Dick.

Dick sat with her for the rest of the wake. He told her some stories about when his parents had died, but he managed to make them funny somehow. He told her how a bunch of his friends from the circus sent him casseroles, since you’re supposed to cook for people when their family dies, but all they remembered was that spinach was significant so they’d put spinach in everything. But it was significant because he’d hated spinach when he was a little kid, and he hadn’t been able to eat a single thing they’d sent him, and then he’d wound up with seven casseroles that he didn’t know what to do with.

Jerrie giggled, and wiped her eyes with a tissue this time. “They were trying to be helpful, I guess.”

“Yeah. And it’s good to keep your focus on that, if you can. Tragedy makes people uncomfortable, and sometimes they step in it when they’re too worried about saying and doing the right thing. In all these desperate attempts not to say or do anything too upsetting, sometimes they can leave you feeling unseen. Has that been happening to you?”

“Boy has it ever. Tonight’s the first time I’ve heard anyone even say my parents’ names since it happened. And I…I mean, they’re gone. So talking about them’s the only way to hold onto them anymore.”

“Yeah.” Dick gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

“What were your parents’ names?”

“John and Mary Grayson. I know, the three of us had pretty boring names, but they’re family names like you and your brother’s.”

“Why’d you pick the weirdest nickname for yours?”

He grinned. “I think you answered your own question by asking it, kid. Nah, I didn’t actually pick Dick. Family name, and Dick was more common for Richard with the older generations. Mom used to call me Dickie-bird though. It gets a little awkward sometimes, but I don’t want to ditch the name they actually used for me, y’know? Plus Richard always sounds so formal.”

“Like Geraldine. Yuck. Um…Dick. Do you…do you think Hartley really did it?” Her voice was so small she barely heard herself.

Dick didn’t even hesitate, and the reassurance hit her before she’d even finished processing what he was saying. “No. And I’m working on proving it.”

Jerrie nodded. “So, so Hartley told me that I’m, um, I’m not supposed to ask people if they’re superheroes too. That it’s like being gay and you let them tell you. But, um…can I ask you that though? Since this is kind of a special situation and all.”

“I don’t mind you asking.” Dick’s eyes slid around the room, confirming that they were still alone, and when he answered his voice was almost as quiet as hers had been. “Yeah, that’s how I really met Wally.”

“I knew it. I could tell you’ve been friends with him longer than you were saying. Oh, and you live where all those detectives are. Thank you, Dick. I feel so much better.” She did, too. Suddenly, she felt warm again and even though her eyes hurt from how much she’d been crying, the soreness wasn’t that bad anymore because she finally felt like the tears might be over for a little while. Dick lived near Batman, and Batman didn’t just punch crimes away. He solved things. If they were helping the Flash, they’d find the real killer and get Hartley out in no time.

Maybe she wouldn’t have to live with Auntie Hazel and Uncle Roger for very long after all.

Being locked up in Iron Heights had never exactly been a picnic. Even when it hadn’t been particularly well run, it had always been a prison. Piper had suffered through his share of unjust beatings at the hands of guards and prisoners alike back in the old days, and the tedium, isolation, long work hours, terrible food, humiliations and general indignities that came with having your freedom curtailed and power over your life and movements handed over to strangers who may or may not have been interested in abusing their powers. But despite all that, he did actually have some good memories of being locked up when he was younger.

He’d gone from being acquaintances with Tricks to being actual friends when they’d been cellmates for the first time. They’d even started a prison zine, and annoyed some of the other Rogues with the things they’d written about their supercrimes. Scudder in particular had taken umbrage with their rankings of best to worst master plans. And once he’d found himself under Captain Cold’s protection, the number of beatings had gone down significantly. Jail was never fun, but with the Rogues it had had some fun moments.

Piper would have given anything to have another of the Rogues with him, but he was kept in isolation. The only people he saw were guards, and they were strictly there to torture him. The lights were always on and his cell had no windows, so he couldn’t track the passage of time. He wasn’t sure how long it had been since he’d bathed, and he was still wearing the same musty costume he’d been arrested in. They gave him just enough food and water to keep him alive, and just enough medical attention so he’d be prepared for any fresh pain that they visited upon him. At this rate, he wasn’t even sure he wanted to live to see a trial.

Where was Wally? Had he given up? Did someone convince him Piper had really done it?

Did Dick think he was a killer?

Most of all, Piper wished he could see a friendly face so he could ask about Jerrie. She wasn’t in any of the fake memories, and he knew he’d been charged with killing his parents and two of their employees, so in theory Jerrie was safe. At the very least, she’d hadn’t been killed with the others. But if the person who’d killed their parents was still out there, would they go after Jerrie too? If everyone thought he was guilty and locked up, would anyone think to protect her? He needed to find out what had really happened, not just to clear his name but also for Jerrie’s sake.

The poor girl was alone. He had no idea if anyone was looking after her, protecting her. Jerrie had such a difficult time talking to people and relating to them. He needed to make sure she was going to be okay.

Piper spent some time lulling the guards into a false sense of security, regarding his condition. He went quiet, sitting in the corner of his cell staring off into space. When they came to check on him, he stopped reacting to them, and they found it a lot less gratifying to beat someone up who just seemed to be disassociating through the experience. He overheard one of them muttering about how he’d broken faster than they’d expected.

As such, he was able to recover a little bit of strength. And when he felt up to it, Piper explored his cell. To his surprise, he found that even though it had been seven years since he’d unscrewed a toilet and snuck out of Iron Heights through the sewer system, whoever had designed the newer sections of the prison hadn’t thought to reinforce the bolts that secured the toilet to the wall. How interesting.

Chapter Text

“You’re a miracle worker, Paul. Truly. Once again, you hit it right out of the park.”

Paul Gambi looked on as his old friend and loyal customer inspected the first of several suits he’d ordered. James Jesse truly was one of his favorite clients to work with; he had garish taste when left to his own devices (something that worked in his favor when it came to supervillain looks), but the man had an amiable temper and was perfectly willing to be guided by sounder minds in matters of taste. This meant that Gambi could essentially design what he pleased; James wouldn’t restrict him to boring, conservative choices in fabric or cut. In fact, he’d as soon wear a barrel and suspenders than a dull brown suit in a dull, safe style (actually, knowing James he’d probably be tickled by a barrel and suspenders).

Besides that, the athletic young man looked good in just about anything Paul handed him, which was rather unfair even if it was fun to make him model.

“This is such a relief. Now that I’ve got a desk job that requires office wear, I was all panicked that I was going to have to completely forsake a sense of style. But this…aw, Gambi…you even worked in my stripes.” James had just unzipped the bag holding the cornflower blue number that Paul had snuck the tiniest of yellow pinstripes onto. “Thanks, pal.”

“Oh, think nothing of it,” Paul muttered, while stuffing the cash payout of non-sequential bills James had given him under his cash drawer (either the new job hadn’t started yet or James was still taking in some side hustles in his old line of work). “Just remember me when you inevitably destroy my work and need to replace it.”

James leaned against the counter and shot Paul an amused, if exaggerated, pouty look. “It’s a desk job, Paul.”

“And you’re you, my boy. I highly doubt you’ll be keeping that active young frame of yours behind said desk. I’ve known you too long, James, and you always do manage to get yourself into trouble.”

“Yeah, yeah. Fair enough. Actually, with that in mind, I was wondering if I could get an order for…y’know, one of my classics? Probably wouldn’t hurt to have one or two kicking around, just in case.”

Paul bit back an exasperated sigh, and muttered to himself about timing. He’d just worked the last bolt of blue fabric he used for the Trickster’s capes into more coats for those shelters Hartley had partnered with in Bludhaven. If James had gotten to him even a week ago, he’d still have had more than enough for a cape or two. “I’ll have to place a fabric order in the morning, but of course. Always happy to have the business-oh, excuse me, sir. I’m actually getting ready to close for the evening.”

A handsome young man with thick raven hair and the bluest eyes Paul had ever seen had just walked into the shop. The man was so gorgeous, in fact, that Paul immediately reconsidered his decision to strictly keep to his business hours. In fact, if circumstances had been any different he would have happily made an exception for this new customer, in the hopes that he’d have a chance to dress him in something that further accentuated the perfection of his form.

At the moment, the man was wearing a somewhat lumpy looking green sweater that was pilling badly on the front and had the collar all stretched out.

“I’m sorry, I probably should have called first. You’re Paul Gambi, right?”

“My reputation precedes me-”

“And it’s on the sign outside,” James said, eyes raking over the stranger with a certain shrewdness. “Dick Grayson? You’re Piper’s new…gentleman friend, aren’t you?”

Paul glanced between the two men, who both looked relaxed enough, but there was an obvious tension that was difficult to put to words. He definitely felt like he was missing something.

“Yeah, I’m Hartley’s partner.” He turned from James to Paul. “I was hoping to talk to you about-”

“Oh, it’s absolutely rotten, what’s happened to the poor boy,” Paul cut in, not sure what exactly was going on but knowing that he didn’t want to deal with any of it right then and there. “Truly. I don’t expect a humble tailor like myself could be any aid whatsoever, but if there’s anything I can do for you, I won’t hesitate to help.” He stuck one of his business cards in Dick’s hand, then grasped him by the elbow and walked him back towards the door. “If you’ll catch me during business hours, I’ll be all ears for you.”

“I guess I’ll come back, then.” Dick stuck the card in his pocket. “In the meantime, if you hear anything while you’re going about your, um, business, that might be useful for us...”

“Oh yes, of course. I have a marvelously accurate memory.”

James threw Dick a chipper wave. “Nice meeting you.”

“Likewise, Jesse.” Dick nodded at him, and then left.

Once the door was shut, Paul immediately locked it while James let out a satisfied little laugh. “So the kid did recognize me. Ah, I thought circus royalty like that was too high and mighty to have time for peons like the Flying Jesses.”

“Or maybe he’s simply aware of his partner’s former associates.”

“Yeah, that probably makes more sense.”

Paul went to close the shutters, and watched as a rented car pulled out of the parking lot. He let out a relieved breath, and then continued closing up the shop. “Do you think that was the right call, James? Perhaps we should have told him.”

“Hey, Pipes was pretty clear about this. When he’s feeling up to it, he’ll seek out his lover boy if he wants to. In the meantime, since there are head games involved I’d say bringing as few people as possible into this mess is the right call. Now I’m gonna grab my suits and get on my own merry way myself. I’ve got a vandalized storage locker to look into before I fly back to the office. Let me know if there’s anything else I can grab for you though, Paul.”

“Of course. And do let us know if you learn anything useful when you’re back at the Bureau. It’s such a shame. We need to find a way to clear him and get him back on his feet. He was doing so well.”

“For once. Yeah, he really was. It was neat, seeing Pipes happy.”

James gave Paul’s arm a pat, promised to be in touch, then gathered up his new suits and took his leave. Once Paul had locked the door again, he hit the lights, then made his way to his back room.

Piper was resting on a cot, having been visited earlier that day by the Rogues’ favorite crime doctor. He was deeply unconscious, hopefully in a dreamless state so his troubled mind would stop interfering with his battered body’s need for rest. Before slipping under he’d pleaded for secrecy. Paul had never seen him so worked up, and it was far from his first time sheltering a client in his shop while there was a manhunt on for them (though to the best of his knowledge, news about Piper’s escape hadn’t broken yet - which made Paul wonder how long the prisoners were typically left in isolation these days. Surely someone must have had to check on him or bring him food or something and see that the cell was no longer occupied?)

Paul checked Piper over, as per the instructions the crime doctor had given him. He appeared to be recovering with suspicious speed, given the state he’d arrived to the shop in, but that was typical of anyone who fell under this particular crime doctor’s care. They’d never ascertained whether she used superscience or had a meta power, or perhaps some combination of the two, but something superhuman was definitely at play. At this rate, Piper would probably be on his feet as though nothing had ever happened in a day or two.

The new costume Paul had worked up for Piper was hanging in a garment bag just above the cot. He’d had such hopes for this one. It would have been such fun, after so many years designing and creating costumes for the villains, to have one for a superhero instead. Alas, it looked like he was still playing for the same old side.

Oh well. Paul Gambi was client-driven. However Piper wanted to use his costumes was his own business.

Dick liked to think that being trained by “the World’s Greatest Detective” he was going to be an active part in getting his boyfriend’s name cleared after he’d been framed for murder. But things really did work very differently in the Gem Cities than they did in Gotham. The Flash’s Rogues were confrontational in an entirely different way from the supervillains Dick was used to, and they ended up exposing their own master plan.

After a mostly useless night trying to gather intel, Dick slept a few hours and then settled in with Linda for a study session. She was going over her class notes, and Dick was reading through some files Wally had hooked him up with from that Rogue profiler, Zolomon. If there was a conspiracy taking out all of the Flash’s allies, then Dick figured he needed to know as much as possible about the people who most regularly targeted the Flash. He was making pretty good progress with the notes when Linda’s laptop suddenly attacked her, spouting extra wires that plugged into her skull and turned her into a comatose lump with glowing green binary code flashing through her eye sockets.

Dick’s agility helped him avoid all of the electronics spouting similar tentacles for an impressive few minutes. He almost made it out of the apartment, but then the security alarm got him. His vision filled with the glowing green code, and then everything stopped.

When he came to again, an indeterminate amount of time later, Wally was standing over him in his Flash costume. Since he was generating the costume directly from the Speed Force now, the suit was pristine, but the eyes under the cowl were deeply shadowed and troubled looking.

“Wally, what the hell happened?” Dick reached out a hand and let Wally haul him to his feet.

“It’s been a day, dude. C’mon, STAR Labs is checking over the folks who got their brains hacked by the Thinker. I’ll run you over.”

“Brains hacked…is that what happened to me? All of the electronics grew tentacles and-”

“Yeah, I know. Vic helped me stop him-”

“When did Vic get here?”

Wally let out a slow breath and grabbed Dick’s arm. “Dick. It’s been a very long day. I just escorted my wife to the lab to make sure the supervillains didn’t do her any irreparable harm. I want to make sure the best friend that I’m currently capable of protecting is also okay. Can I please just run you to the lab, and then after Tina confirms that you’re cool and I’ve settled a few more loose ends, I promise I will indulge that detective nerd brain of yours with a nice long Q and A.”

“Uh…actually, you look like you could use a nap. We can give the Q and A a little longer.”

“Thanks. Now hold on.”

Dick had just enough notice to squeeze his eyes shut and ground himself so that the motion sickness didn’t get him, and he managed to arrive at STAR Labs without losing his lunch on the doctors. Wally’s personal friends, the McGees, ran a few tests on him, and once he was cleared he ended up in a waiting room while they had a private chat with Wally and Linda.

Wally’s mood was significantly improved after that, though Dick wasn’t able to get any details from him.

The three of them went back to the Wests’ house. Linda managed to find an Indian restaurant that was still functioning somewhat normally despite the pile of citywide disasters from the day, and she ordered delivery while Wally changed into comfy clothes and collapsed on the living room couch.

Dick started organizing the files he’d been reading, and weighed how much of an invasive pest he wanted to be about this new secret that Wally had left the lab with. It was an especially teasing puzzle, given what a one eighty it had done on Wally’s mood. Possibly sensing an attack, Wally transparently and effectively distracted Dick with a different personal topic of conversation. “So hey, I learned who really killed Piper’s parents and how they framed him today.”

“You what?” Dick dropped a particularly heavy manila folder of notes onto the coffee table, then swung onto the couch and ended up sitting on Wally’s feet. “Wait, how? What? I was taken out for a single afternoon and you solved the whole case?”

“Well, I didn’t so much solve a mystery as the conspirators jumped me, set half of Central City on fire, tried to murder me several different times in several different ways, and basically told me how they did everything. It was the new Mirror Master. He can use the mirrors to disguise himself as anyone, and with the right gadgets he can give people fake memories.”

“So that’s why Piper thought he did it…” Dick frowned. “Do you think he still…”

“I don’t know, but we’ll find out soon enough. Hunter’s working with some other guys at the office, and once the judge signs off on the release papers we’ll get him back to local lockup. Once he’s away from Wolfe and back with the guys that know him, we’ll have Piper back home in no time. Would have been easier if I’d managed to grab McCulloch and we had the real murderer behind bars, but this is good enough for now. Once we have Hartley back, we can get back to looking for the guys who framed him.”

“Oh my god. Wally, why didn’t you lead with that? Jerk.” Dick lightly punched his arm, but he felt giddy. It was over. He was going to have his boyfriend back, and he’d barely had to do anything. Bless that egomaniacal streak in supervillains that kept them from ever being able to shut the fuck up about their evil-doing. “When we get him out, do you think I can convince him to stay with me in Bludhaven for awhile? A change of scenery might be helpful, considering…”

Linda walked into the room, gave her laptop a wary look, and then sat down on Wally’s other side as he scrambled into a sitting position to make room for her. “I think that sounds like a sensible idea, Dick. I just don’t know if Hartley’s going to take you up on it. I’m guessing the first thing he’s going to want to do when he’s a free man again is check on his sister.”

“Oh, I’d almost forgotten about the kiddo.” Wally rubbed at his eyes. “I should call her. Does anyone have her number?”

“Hold on, Wally. Why don’t you wait until you’ve actually seen Piper first?” Linda grabbed his hand and pulled him back down when he tried to get off the couch. “She’s going to have questions. Let’s wait until we can answer them, okay?”

“I don’t know. I don’t like the idea of leaving her in suspense longer than she needs to be,” Wally said.

Dick gave his head a shake. “I’m with Linda on this. Jerrie’s a nervous kid, and she spins out pretty easily. There’s still so much up in the air right now, and nothing’s really settled. I think she should be the first person you call after you deliver that paperwork to Wolfe and get Piper moved to local lockup.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

So Wally put off the phone call, and the following morning he dropped Linda off at school and then did his rounds, checking up on friends who’d been impacted by the attacks on Keystone and Central. Then he met Dick and Hunter at the KCPD, and they headed out to Iron Heights to get Piper released.

And to their dismay, they discovered that Piper was already gone.

There was one big thing that made living in Boston tolerable, and that was that Auntie Hazel and Uncle Roger didn’t pay much attention to Jerrie. She was a little lonely, but in the absence of people who cared about her she much preferred being alone to being in company with family that resented her (she’d overheard Uncle Roger telling someone on the phone that his retarded orphan niece was mooching off of him and his wife, and that was the moment she decided she didn’t need to put any extra effort into being nice to him). Auntie Hazel found things to nag her about when they were actually in the same room together, usually her clothes or how glum she “insisted” on being, but mostly Jerrie was free to come and go as she pleased. She’d been given a key to the house, she had maps for the buses and subways, and she wouldn’t be starting school again until the fall (by which time her aunt and uncle hoped she’d be back in Central City and out of their hair).

Initially, Jerrie spent a lot of time at the Boston Public Library. It was a big, beautiful old building, and it was quiet and full of books, so basically her idea of paradise. She could use the computers to search headlines for any new developments in her brother’s case, and she could send emails to Axel, Bart, and Patrice (who was thinking of switching her name to Opal). On her good days, she read and wrote a lot of fan fiction. She and Patrice started building a fan website for Sailor Moon stories that Jerrie was writing and Patrice was illustrating (Axel was pretending to read the stories, but Jerrie could tell he was lying about it).

Jerrie kept a copy of the commuter rail map tacked up in the guest room Uncle Roger was letting her use (she got yelled at if she called it her bedroom), right underneath one of the nicer family pictures she’d grabbed from one of the photo boards before leaving the funeral parlor the night of the wake. Hartley was in this one, but since it was old and it also had her parents and Jerrie when she was a baby, no one said anything about her taking it. That had been one of the weirder parts of the wake for her - there were so many old pictures on display everywhere, but Hartley had been cropped out of almost all of them. She’d really had to hunt to find any visual evidence that her brother ever existed, and of course Dick had been the only person to talk about Hartley that night.

When the loneliness did start to get to her, Jerrie liked to trace her finger along the colored lines on the commuter rail map. Boston wasn’t that far away from Bludhaven. There were six different trains every weekday that would get her there, eight on Saturdays and four on Sundays. And if she took the subway to South Station, there were buses to Bludhaven too. There weren’t any direct trains between Boston and Central City, but she could take a train to Metropolis and then get another one to get to Central that way. And there were a lot of buses that went to Keystone. If she needed to, she could leave and find someone who didn’t hate her.

Bart asked her why she wasn’t making any friends in Boston, and she answered his email by saying that she didn’t think she needed to. She wouldn’t be living there very long, so what was the point? Then she asked him if he’d heard anything about her brother, and he didn’t give her a direct answer so she figured either there wasn’t any news, or if there was it wasn’t good.

Sometimes Jerrie checked out a few books and took them to North Station to read them. It wasn’t a particularly nice train station - South Station was much prettier. And it was noisy, so she had to keep her headphones on. But there were a lot of pigeons and she liked watching them. Their cute little bobbing heads made her smile. With how things had been going, Jerrie was quick to latch onto anything that made her smile.

One day she spent so long watching the pigeons that one of the train conductors noticed her and started asking her questions about why she wasn’t in school and where her parents were. Jerrie pretended not to hear him, since she had her headphones on, then got up and walked out of the station as fast as she could. She thought about going to the library, but someone there might ask her questions too. Reluctantly, she went back to her aunt and uncle’s house.

“There you are. Goodness, Geraldine. Where on earth have you been?”

Jerrie took her headphones off. She wasn’t actually playing music, but her aunt got mad if she kept them on in the house. She said it was rude to wear headphones when people might want to talk to you. “I was out reading.” She’d been doing that almost every day since she’d gotten to Boston. Surely her relatives were used to it by now?

“Don’t be smart with me. Come into the den. Your uncle and I need to talk to you.”

For some reason, whenever Jerrie answered a question her aunt always thought she was “being smart.” Jerrie didn’t even know what that was supposed to mean.

She finished taking her shoes and coat off, then dutifully followed her aunt into the den. She’d been hoping to grab a snack from the kitchen and hide in the guest room for the rest of the night, but now her stomach was doing nervous flips and she didn’t think she’d be able to eat anything.

Uncle Roger was sitting in an armchair with the newspaper. He looked irritated, but that didn’t tell Jerrie much because he was always at least a little bit grumpy.

“Geraldine. Tell your uncle right now that your brother won’t come looking for you here.”

Jerrie’s brow creased, and she looked between her aunt and uncle, wondering what sort of mean trick they were playing on her. “Wh-what do you mean? Hartley’s i-in jail. H-he can’t come save me this time. Get me. He can’t come get me.”

Uncle Roger flung down the paper. “That menace has once more slithered his way past the justice system and all the consequences he so richly deserves, and he could be on his way to do us the same way he did the in-laws. I don’t care what the girl says, Hazel. We have to get rid of her. This charity of yours has gone too far.”

“Roger, hush. Let her talk.” Aunt Hazel tried to smile but it really didn’t look right on her face. Her mouth was all pinched and her eyebrows didn’t match the rest of her expression. “Geraldine, dearest. There is such an age difference between you and Hartley, and he was out of touch with the family for most of your life, wasn’t he? Why, he’s practically a stranger, isn’t he?”

“D-did Hartley get out of jail? Is he-I don’t-I, um…I don’t know what’s going on.” Jerrie started twisting the string from her hoodie around her pointer finger. If they weren’t actually going to tell her anything then she really wished they’d stop talking about Hartley. It was so hard not to cry when she thought too long about her brother.

“Yes, Geraldine. We were contacted this afternoon by some detectives from Central City, and it appears my good for nothing nephew is once more on the loose. And your uncle is very concerned that Hartley might come looking for you. But I’ve told him, repeatedly, that you barely even know the man. Surely, he’ll be more interested in-in, oh I don’t know. Fighting other weird young men in those ridiculous costumes, or blowing himself up or something. Hartley’s always been good at getting himself into trouble, but he’s always left us alone, Roger. I really don’t think-”

“You didn’t think he’d hurt Rachel and Ozzie, did you? They never saw it coming either, for that matter. Should have though. That family’s always had screws loose, and they finally paid the price for coddling that psychopath.”

“Hartley’s not like that.” Jerrie dropped the hoodie string and clapped her hands over her ears. “Stoppit, you don’t even know him. You don’t. He’s a good brother. He wouldn’t hurt me.”

“Geraldine, please control yourself. You’re not helping your case,” Auntie Hazel snapped.

Jerrie started rocking back and forth. For some reason, it always helped her when she started to cry. But then Auntie Hazel got up and grabbed her by the shoulders to make her stop. “You need to behave. Don’t you understand? Roger wants to send you away, because he’s afraid that Hartley will murder us the way he murdered your parents. And I need you to tell him that that’s not the case.”

“Hartley won’t hurt us,” Jerrie whimpered.

Uncle Roger snorted. “Oh, well that settles it. Please forgive me, my dear, if I’m less inclined to trust the word of a mentally subnormal child over the law enforcement handling the murder investigation. I will not gamble with our lives like this. The child needs to go, and if you insist on standing by her then you can pack your bags too. Need I remind you whose name is on all the deeds and finances, Hazel? It’s certainly not yours.”

Auntie Hazel’s eyes filled with tears. “It’s Rachel’s girl, Roger. This is the last piece of my sister I have left.”

“That’s none of my business. If you won’t put your womanly ideas aside and focus on the safety of our family, your real family, then it falls on me to make the difficult decisions. I want her packed up and ready to leave in the morning. She can go into witness protection or some such. That’s where she should have been the entire time, if you ask me.”

“Roger…at least give me a day to make some arrangements.” Auntie Hazel brushed her fingers through Jerrie’s hair. “Please. We need to do this properly. After all, think of it. What would people say if they found out we just, just kicked our niece ou-”

“Your niece. The girl is no family of mine.”

Auntie Hazel carefully pressed a tissue to her eyes, avoiding her makeup. “Yes, of course, dear. But will you let me make the arrangements? I’ll call those detectives in Central City first thing in the morning. We can send her somewhere with protection, like you said. Make sure she’ll be safe. She hasn’t been such a bad guest. You’ll let me look after her, won’t you, dear?”

Uncle Roger got up from his chair, crankier than ever. “You have three days, Hazel. If she’s here any longer than that, I’ll bring her to the train station myself and I don’t care a whit where she winds up from there.”

Once he was out of the room, Jerrie’s throat didn’t feel quite so tight. She grabbed onto Auntie Hazel’s hand, but Auntie Hazel pulled away and stood up so that Jerrie couldn’t grab her again. “Please, please, auntie. You need to understand. Hartley didn’t do it. He’d never hurt us. He won’t-”

“Geraldine, please. This is no time for your silly stories. I know you don’t want to believe it but you need to accept that your brother is an evil man. I’ve been doing everything I can to convince Roger that you’re nothing like him and truly, I believe it. You could be such a darling young girl if you would put some effort into it. But this childishness, these whims of yours. You have to let it go and grow up. Hartley killed Rachel and Osgood. He’s unhinged, unpredictable, and cruel. We have to take the threat seriously. I’m so sorry, dear. I’ll do my best to make sure you wind up someplace nice but I…it’s out of my hands. And frankly, it’s your own fault. You’ve been no help whatsoever.”

Jerrie watched her leave the room in an angry huff through wide, saddened eyes. She sat on the sofa for another fifteen minutes, just thinking about her aunt and uncle’s words, going over the conversation over and over again. Her chest felt tight, and so did her throat. Even rocking back and forth didn’t help calm her down.

The next morning, while Auntie Hazel was making phone calls Jerrie slipped out the door with her new Flash museum hoodie on and her backpack crammed with all of her most essential belongings. Her family picture was tucked inside her copy of the Secret Garden, the really old one that had her great grandmother’s name signed in pencil on the front cover, and the commuter rail map she’d had tacked up in the guest room was in her hoodie pocket.

Chapter Text

“So how far along are you?”

Linda looked annoyed for all of ten seconds before she seemed to remember who she was talking to. “Early enough that Wally and I still aren’t telling people, Grayson.”

“Too early for me to say congratulations?”

She pretended to consider. “If you say it really quietly, I suppose that’s okay.”

Dick was absolutely beaming when he bounced across the room to whisper congratulations to her, which made her smile. Linda accepted a hug, and then went back to collecting up the odds and ends from her bag that always wound up scattered around the house. She was supposed to be dropping Dick off at the airport on her way to the library. With all the recent excitement, she’d gotten behind on her coursework and needed to bang out a few papers or risk flunking out of her first semester of med school.

Dick had decided that his usefulness in Keystone had been incredibly limited, and that he was best off returning to Bludhaven. Not only was Nightwing desperately needed at home, but he was also hoping Piper might turn up on his doorstep…well, that Piper might find his way to Dick’s new residence, since the old building had been blown up in a revenge killing. But Piper was resourceful. If he’d managed to break out of Iron Heights in its present state of heightened oppression, surely he could track Dick’s new address down.

And he liked to think that in a state of duress, his boyfriend would be looking for him.

He was also hoping to sneak over to Boston at some point and visit Jerrie in person. They hadn’t managed to get the girl’s guardians on the phone just yet, but the news had broken about Piper’s breakout (the CCPD was soliciting tips from the public), so he figured she must know and probably needed to talk to someone with a smidge more empathy than her aunt and uncle. Hell, if the aunt and uncle were okay with it, Dick wanted to see if he could take Jerrie back to Bludhaven with him. The coconspirators had moved on from targeting Piper so she was probably safe from supervillain attack (or, as safe an anyone ever was).

Wally zipped into the room while Dick was putting his coat on. “You sure about this, dude? You don’t have to take off right this second, y’know?”

“No, I know.” He did get the feeling that Linda wanted her house back though, even if Wally didn’t mind the houseguest. At first Dick had been concerned that he’d done something to offend his friend’s wife but now he figured it was probably the pregnancy. Since Wally’s identity was public she already had to share him with so many people. Dick hoped that once he made his exit, the two of them could scrape together some alone time in the privacy of their home to celebrate their new milestone. “But I’m not accomplishing anything here, Wally. I’d rather go where I can do some good.”

“Yeah, I guess I get it. Keep me updated though.”

“You too. Whoever hears from him first has to contact the other immediately, right?”

Wally nodded, hurt showing pretty transparently on his face. As soon as they’d seen the vacant cell at Iron Heights, he’d fully expected to find Piper waiting for him once they got back to his place. Every hour Piper didn’t contact him seemed to sting more and more. “Well, see you ar-” He was cut off by his phone ringing. Wally answered, and his expression immediately darkened. He’d used the Speed Force to change into his costume before he even finished the call.

As soon as the lightning crackled in the living room, Dick took his coat off and went to unpack his costume instead. “What is it?”

“Nothing you need to worry about.”

“I’m here, aren’t I? I’ll go with you.”

Linda frowned. “You’ll probably miss your flight. Wally, what is it?”

“Grodd.” Wally disappeared from the apartment in a blur of red, scattering Linda’s papers as he did so.

She patted down her hair, eyes wide and frightened looking. “Grodd?! Dick, you’re not really staying here, are you?”

Dick grabbed the bag that had his costume in it and tossed Linda her car keys. “I can change in the car. Can you get me to Iron Heights?”

“I’m on it. Shit, shit, shit. I knew today was going too smoothly.”

Dick’s building wasn’t there.

Jerrie stood on the sidewalk in front of the place where her brother’s boyfriend’s house had definitely been. Just a few weeks ago, when she’d run away to Bludhaven, gotten kidnapped by some bad guys, and gotten rescued by one of Hartley’s friends (a grumpy friend she’d never seen before, but he’d definitely known her brother), and dropped off at Dick’s sort-of dad’s house, she’d ended up having a sleepover at Dick’s apartment too. They’d spent the night at Mr. Wayne’s house, and then the next morning Hartley and Dick had taken her back to Dick’s house, and she’d spent a really awesome day with the two of them before flying back to Central City with Hartley, and then everything had gotten really bad really quickly.

It was difficult to explain, but when she was around her brother and when she was around Dick she just felt like everything would always turn out all right. They were always paying attention and sometimes they noticed when she needed help with something before she even did. They were so nice and patient, and she just felt so safe when one of them was there. If she couldn’t have Hartley back yet, then she at least wanted to see if Dick could help her.

But, as previously stated, his building wasn’t there. There was a big ugly hole in the ground, with an industrial dumpster full of rubble next to it, and a chain link fence to keep people from going into the hole. Jerrie stared at it for a few minutes before the full significance of what she was looking at hit her.

She was alone. She was almost out of money. She was in a dangerous city where she’d already been kidnapped once. Her phone had died on the train ride from Boston. No one knew where she was. And Dick’s building wasn’t there.

Lacking any other clear options, Jerrie kept walking down the sidewalk, though she didn’t know where she was going to go.

By the time Nightwing arrived at Iron Heights the power was out, an invading force of super intelligent gorillas had landed, the most dangerous prisoners had been released from the Pipeline, and any surviving prison guards were in hiding. Wally admonished him, but he also ran him to the infirmary where his friend, Zolomon, was being patched up by the warden that Nightwing wanted to dangle from a rooftop by his ankles.

That asshole was the reason no one could find his boyfriend. His innocent boyfriend.

“Keep them safe while I deal with Grodd. Also, what the fuck are you doing here? I told you to stay away!”

“Well obviously you need back…” Dick scowled at the empty air Wally had just been occupying. “Up. Great. Perfect.” Dick took out his escrima sticks, for whatever good they would do against an actual gorilla, and took up a defensive stance at the end of Zolomon’s cot.

Meanwhile, Piper was still hiding out in Gambi’s back room, and he was starting to recover his strength, physically if not mentally.

If he let himself think for too long then he wound up in a useless stupor, reliving those damn fake memories of killing his parents, the very real memory of turning his back on his father the last time he’d seen him alive, when he’d tried to shake Piper’s hand, or the brutal repeated assaults he’d just managed to escape from. He was terrified of going back there. The fear was paralyzing, enough to send his system into such a storm of panic that he blacked out and came to writhing from the flashbacks.

Piper had suffered plenty during the various periods of incarceration he’d endured during his young adulthood. But this had been so, so much different. The cruelty had always been sort of a by-product of the system before. It had never been such a driving force in his treatment. Iron Heights under Gregory Wolfe existed to punish. Not rehabilitate, not keep the public safe from dangerous criminals. Its primary objective was to hurt its occupants as deeply and thoroughly as possible.

He hoped that once his nerves settled and he started to recover more, that his focus might shift towards something more noble. A desire to see the place closed down, or at the very least reformed. Wolfe needed to be removed from power. No one should have to suffer through what he was doing to people. But at the moment, altruism and the pursuit of justice was far from Piper’s mind. At the moment, he just needed to get away. He needed to put as much distance between himself and that torture fortress as possible.

As much as it killed him to realize it, Piper knew he couldn’t go to Wally. Wally had too much faith in the justice system. He’d encourage Piper to go through the proper channels, and the proper channels would damn him right back to his cell. Besides that, now that he’d broken out he looked guiltier to the general public, no doubt. His days of superheroics were over. By necessity, he was a criminal again.

That meant he couldn’t seek Dick’s help either, an equally painful a realization. Dick had been brought up by the Batman, and they saw themselves as crimefighters in the most sincere usage of the title. Dick might still love Piper, but his loyalty was to the sense of duty he’d been raised with. Like Wally, he’d want to go through the system, and Piper would be delivered right back into Wolfe’s hands.

His criminal connections made the most sense.

Piper did some careful stretches, both to see where his strength was at and also to check in on his balance. He’d taken a lot of blows to the head in the Pipeline, and besides that, the guards who had noticed his hearing aids had taken an especial glee in using them for torture. But as usual, Dr. Kendra had come through. Piper hadn’t used her services since he’d been an actual criminal - you didn’t really need a crime doctor when your bestie brought you to STAR Labs for post-battle patch ups. But like Gambi, she was more than happy to renew her business acquaintance for the right sum.

Thank god his paranoia had resulted in him hiding funds in various accounts for an emergency like this. His therapist had been trying to convince him to do away with all these contingency plans, seeing them as a manifestation of his anxiety disorder and a sort of catastrophizing. But as his life liked to repeatedly demonstrate, just because Piper had an anxiety disorder it didn’t mean he was necessarily wrong to prepare for the worst.

He was able to wire Gambi some money, then he packed up his new costume, changed into some dull, non memorable street clothes, and he slipped out of the shop while Paul was still out.

Piper’s first stop was a small storage unit in Keystone. While walking down the corridor to the one he’d rented, he passed by a unit that was mostly encrusted in a shell of what looked like hardened bubble gum, and figured that James Jesse must have been using the same storage place he was. Thankfully, his own unit was untouched, so he was able to get in, grab his go-bag and a few different sound weapons, and get out again.

When he got to the rental place, he was fully prepared to hypnotize the staff to get a car if he needed to. Mostly, Piper had given up using his hypnosis on humans when he reformed. Consent was important to him, especially in light of how often his own had been violated. But desperate times and all that. Luckily, no one seemed to recognize him, despite the fact that his escape from Iron Heights was very much in the news.

When he sat down in the driver’s seat and started adjusting the mirrors, Piper understood a little more. He barely recognized his own reflection. The brutal treatment at Iron Heights had resulted in a very rapid weight loss, which always sharpened his features. He’d gone through a lot of weight fluctuations throughout his twenties, but had finally seemed to plateau in the last year or so. His face had filled out a little, and he’d finally been putting on enough muscle to feel confident in tighter superhero costumes. Now he was back to looking starkly underweight, just like he had during his early supervillain days. Between that and the haircut, as long as he kept his tinted sunglasses on, there really wasn’t much to recognize him by.

Well. That wasn’t good, exactly, but it was useful.

The last he’d heard, Piper had a few friends in Chicago. It seemed as good a destination as any, and it fit his criteria of having some distance from Iron Heights. With that in mind, Piper set out to look for Trickster or Heat Wave.

When Dick came to, he was in a hospital bed.

He had that floaty, fuzzy feeling that came from recent sedation and a fuck ton of pain medication. It was difficult to even want to think clearly, but out of habit he started scanning the room. He couldn’t see much - his head seemed to be held in place by some kind of brace (fuck - did he have a neck injury?) and one of his eyes was gummed shut. But there were people around. Alfred’s face swam in and out of view, which gave him an instant sense of dread.

The last thing he remembered was backing Wally up at Iron Heights, so he was still in…Kansas or Missouri. Depending if they’d brought him to Keystone or Central for medical treatment. So if Alfred had flown out from Gotham…oh, that wasn’t good.

Dick closed his non-gummed eye and tried to remember what had happened at the jail. Wally’s friend, Zolomon, had already been pretty badly injured. They’d been trying to evacuate the poor guy, and then Grodd had jumped them, hitting their brains with his dizzying rage, and his intention to hurt the Flash’s friends. Dick had gone after Grodd, trying to give Wolfe and Zolomon a chance to get away. But he was pretty sure he hadn’t lasted long against the superpowered, highly pissed off gorilla.

“He’s awake. Oh, master Dick. We thought we’d lost you.”

Dick noticed he was intubated before he tried to speak, which was handy. He cracked his good eye open and swiveled as best he could, trying to catch Alfred’s gaze. Alfred noticed, and gave his hand a gentle pat. “Just rest for now, sir. There’s little else to do. Once you’re cleared by your medical team here, I’ll be seeing you back to Gotham for further treatment.”

He wanted to ask about Wally, if he’d managed to take Grodd down. If Zolomon and Wolfe had gotten out. But he couldn’t talk, and it looked like someone was adjusting his meds. Dick closed his eye and fell back into a dreamless nothingness.

Chapter Text

YEARS AGO

“Can the personal chatter, kid. We’re here to play cards, not swap life stories.”

“Right. Sorry.” Piper stepped out of the hideout to get some air and hide his reddening face. He didn’t know why he was so continually surprised by the rough manners and self centered behavior exhibited by his fellow Rogues. Really, he didn’t know why he kept coming back. He was just setting himself up for disappointment. Repeated disappointment, honestly.

The laughs and digs at him he overheard did nothing to improve his mood. The Rogues mocked each other almost as much as they mocked the Flash - sometimes they actually went harder on each other than their shared enemy. Piper knew he wasn’t really being singled out when they shit on him for being sensitive and insulted him for being gay. They went just as hard on Digger for being gross and incompetent, on Roscoe for being stuck up, on Mark for being oblivious, on Mick for being absent minded, and on James for being one of the most irritating human beings in existence. It would be weirder if no one ever made fun of him.

But that didn’t mean Piper liked it. He’d been doubting more and more lately if this was a group he actually wanted to fit in with. The Rogues were probably never going to be the kind of community he wanted to be a part of, they were just the only one who’d take him.

Not terribly interested in yet another never ending card game where his companions were just going to verbally abuse each other, Piper started walking towards his car but stopped when he heard the quiet continuous puffing of air walkers above his head. He looked up and saw James jogging over to him. “Heya, Pipes! Heading out already?”

“I’ve been here for over an hour already. No one seems interested in talking shop. Or talking about anything worth talking about, so I figured I’d get going.”

“You look a little glum, pal. You sure you don’t wanna hang out? I’ll talk shop with you.” James clicked his shoes off and floated down to ground level, so that he was standing just in front of Piper in the pathway. He was wearing a particularly garish variant of his costume at the moment; the blue, yellow, and orange one. More colors meant more clashing, plus the stripes went in different directions. It was a little difficult to look directly at him now that they were out in the sunlight. Piper wondered how he’d ever talked Gambi into sewing that monstrosity together.

“It’s okay, James. I’m just going to go home and listen to my weekly CD haul.”

“You mean sit around in the dark with whiny music feeling sorry for yourself.”

Piper paused, then turned an assessing look on James. “When on earth did you actually get to know me?”

“Sometime during our last stint in Iron Heights. Sleep in a bunk below a guy for a few months, escape with him at great peril, and somehow you pick up a few stray observations.” James smiled with faux innocence and took a step closer. “C’mon, dude. The day is young and so are we. Let’s go out and rob something, but something fun! Even your hits have been disgustingly practical lately.”

Against his better judgment, Piper found himself interested. “Did you have something in mind?”

Of course he had something in mind. James talked Piper into accompanying him to the Central City Fine Arts Museum. They had a traveling exhibit of antique woodwinds on display on the second floor. Piper was so taken with one of them that he started playing it as soon as James took it out of the case for him. In fact, he got so distracted by the instrument that he never noticed James slipping out of the exhibit hall.

He did notice when the Flash showed up and he found himself battling the scarlet dipshit solo. Piper thought he put up a pretty good fight, considering it had been a spur of the moment heist that he hadn’t done any advance planning for. He threw his usual sound traps at the Flash, and even locked him into a hypnotic stupor for a few minutes. If he’d had reliable backup, Piper probably could have successfully incapacitated the Flash and gotten away after that.

But since he’d been sought out as an unwitting diversion and not an actual partner, there was no one to finish the Flash off while Piper played. The instant he stopped to catch his breath, the Flash zipped over to him, wrenched the pipe out of his grasp, threw it across the exhibit hall, and pummeled Piper in the ribs until he was writhing on the ground, clutching his sides and unable to breathe deeply enough for even a proper gasp of pain.

A couple weeks later, when he’d escaped Iron Heights and made his way back into town, he called on James at his hideout, curious about what it was he’d taken the fall for. It wasn’t a difficult mystery to solve.

James had installed a kitchenette in his hideout complete with all sorts of sugary snacks, a soda fountain, and a long counter that had had barstools the last time Piper had been there. Now, the boring stools were gone, replaced with elaborately carved and painted carousel animals. Carousel animals that Piper distinctly remembered being on display in one of the permanent exhibit galleries on the ground floor of the Central City Fine Arts Museum.

“No hard feelings, right Pipesy old friend?”

“The Flash broke two of my ribs and confiscated one of my favorite pipes.” And of course, he hadn’t gotten to actually keep any of those antique woodwinds.

“Yeah, I saw it on display in the Flash Museum. We could do another team up and go get it for you, if y’want? I do kinda feel like I might owe you a little bit.”

Piper leveled a glare at his sort of friend, turned on his heel, and left the immature villain’s hideout without another word. He retreated to his safe house, sat down in the dark, and put on some sad music for brooding, just like he should have done when James had invited him on that inane museum robbery.

“I need better friends.”

PRESENT

“No, I wasn’t-I was trying to-listen, it’s just-okay, fine! Fine, we will absolutely call you when we hear something-yes, I can appreciate how concerned you are. Okay. Bye.” Wally hung up the phone, let out a strangled yell, and then threw it onto the sofa before zipping in and out of the apartment a few times at superspeed.

Linda didn’t bother looking up from her laptop while Wally was throwing his little temper tantrum, but once he settled down she clicked it shut and set it on the coffee table. “Sounds like that conversation went well.”

“Oh my god. Hazel Emmerton is somehow even more irritating on the phone than Rachel Rathaway ever was. I didn’t think that was possible. Was something in the water where Piper’s family grew up because freaking yikes.” He flopped onto the sofa, pulled the phone out from under him, and then buried his head in his hands. “I can’t believe this. Dick almost died, Hunter will probably never walk again, Grodd somehow didn’t touch a hair on Wolfe’s head while he was mauling my actual friends, Hartley’s still missing, and now we’ve lost his beloved baby sister.” He collapsed backwards, gaze trained on the ceiling. “Everything was going so good right up until New Year’s. I mean, shit got rough from time to time but we always pulled through it. Was I just lucky before? Am I actually sucking at the costumed hero thing? Because I feel like I’m dropping the ball on everything lately.”

“Wally…” Linda sat down beside him on the couch and stroked back his hair. “Things have definitely gotten harder recently, but it’s not your fault. Even Batman said your logic at Iron Heights was sound.”

“And he definitely didn’t want to admit that, considering how it ended.” Wally sighed. “But yeah, assigning Dick to civilian duty to keep him clear of the monster gorilla should have worked. Except Grodd switched gears and decided the best way to hurt me was to hurt my friends. I always hate it when the supervillains notice that.”

“I’m honestly surprised it doesn’t occur to them from the outset that that’s the best way to target people who’ve devoted their lives to helping others.”

“Well. A lot of them are crazy and even the ones who aren’t are still spectacularly selfish pricks. Speaking of being selfish, you’ve heard me bitching about the Cape stuff for days now.” Wally sat up and wrapped an arm around her. “How’s med school going? Did you finish those papers or take that final or…whatever it was that you were stressed about?”

Linda snorted and gave his cheek a peck. “I’m caught up and scraping by. But hon, it’s okay. This Cape stuff you’re stressed about involves my friends too. Feel free to keep bitching. Did Hazel have anything helpful to say about Jerrie?”

“No. It’s everyone’s fault but hers that the kiddo ran away, apparently. Jerrie took a train map with her, so hopefully she’s making her way back here. I should…I’m gonna give Bart a call. We should let Young Justi-Titans. We should make sure the Teen Titans know, since they’re all friends with her now. Hopefully she’ll reach out to at least one of the kids and let them know where she is. Ugh, what a mess. How are they both fucking missing at the same fucking time? Damn Rathaways.”

“Mm, when Piper comes home, we’ll have to bug him about being such a bad influence on his sister.” Linda’s tone was light but it didn’t match her expression in the least. “I really miss him, Wally.”

“I know. I do too.” He hugged her close and breathed deeply, taking some comfort in the proximity of his wife, then reluctantly got to his feet. “All right. Call Bart. Drop by hospital with home baked cookies for Hunter. Quick run to Gotham to see if the Bats will let me visit Dick’s bedside this time or if they’ll chase me off again, then back to the station to see if there’s any news. And hopefully someone will call back by then and tell me where to go to pick Jerrie up. Good luck with your studying.”

“Thanks. Good luck with…just, good luck.”

The Speed Force crackled around Wally, forming his costume, and he ran out of the apartment. Then he ran back in, grabbed the cookies and his phone, and ran out again.

Piper had had a moment of concern, upon arriving in a city he’d never actually been to, that it might be difficult for him to locate Mick or James. He probably should have grabbed their contact info from Gambi’s computer before he’d left.

Well, he knew James was starting a new gig at the FBI of all places (seemed like an odd choice for the Trickster; Piper assumed the abrupt change of career paths had something to do with finding out he was a father and wanting to do something respectable so he could get legal visitation time with his son). But considering he was on the run, Piper wasn’t exactly over eager to break into a government building. He was hoping to figure out where one of the reformed Rogues actually lived and speak to them privately.

Then he saw a plume of smoke emerge from a nearby neighborhood and assumed there was a very good chance he’d find Mick Rory somewhere nearby.

As expected, Heat Wave, in full costume, was extinguishing  the flames when Piper approached him. Piper was also in costume and armed, just in case he’d misjudged his former friend and ended up needing to make a run for it. But Mick seemed happy to see him. As he directed Piper back to his apartment, he mentioned more than once that he’d been following Piper’s story on the news and was worried about him.

“Take it from someone who remembers when you were actually trying to be evil…kid. No one who really knows you thinks you did it.” Mick unlocked his front door, hit the lights, and directed Piper inside.

“I don’t know about that, Mick. I feel like most people were prepared to believe the worst about me.”

Mick took off the hood and goggles of his suit, and Piper did a bit of a double take. Mick ignored the staring, and unzipped the upper portion of the suit, stripping down to a muscle tank and a pair of cargo shorts. Then he went over to his kitchenette and started preparing tea.

Only Piper wasn’t sure he was actually looking at a he anymore. Mick had let his hair grow out, his face looked a bit rounder than Piper remembered, and also he had breasts.

“Um…Mick? You look a bit different than you did in Zhutan.”

“Oh yeah. Guess it has been a bit since we caught up. So surprise, Hartley. Turns out you’re not the only queer Rogue after all. I got lemon ginger or black tea.”

“Black is fine. Um. Name and pronouns?”

“She. I’m a fugly dame but I’m still a dame. And, I dunno. Haven’t settled on anything yet. I’ve just been going by Rory for the moment. It’s got some flexibility, so it’ll work for now.”

Piper observed the broad shouldered muscle-Mommy before him and felt an immediate need to challenge Rory’s assertion that she was fugly. As long as she wasn’t trying to seduce fragile cis-het men, she would be more than fine. “I assume you’ve already started HRT. You look amazing.”

Rory pretended to scowl, but that compliment brought a little color to her cheeks. “Yeah, the estrogen’s been doing more for me than I expected, y’know. Considering how old I am to be doing this. But the fucking stuff, it makes me get cold easier. Other than that though, no complaints.” She grabbed a flannel from a nearby chair and pulled it on. “But we should be talking about you. What’s your plan, kid?”

“I don’t really have one. I have goals. I want to make sure my sister is safe and being cared for, and I want to find whoever actually murdered my parents. But I have no idea how to accomplish anything. I just, I need some calm. My nervous system is shot and I can’t make decisions like this.”

“Well, you’re welcome to hide out with me as long as you need but honestly, Piper, I think running all the way over here was a misstep. You should go talk to Flash.”

Piper shook his head. He accepted his scorching hot tea and immediately set it down on the table. “Too risky. I can’t-I can’t go back to Iron Heights.”

“And you think West’d send you there? I thought you and the guy were besties, weren’t you? Something happen?”

Piper slipped his tinted glasses off and rubbed at his eyes. If he were being completely honest with himself then no, nothing had changed between them. He didn’t have a rational reason to expect Wally to betray him. But a lifetime of mistreatment had shaped him into an anxious, jumpy person who expected the worst possible outcome at all times. He hadn’t been thinking rationally; he’d been reacting with panic.

Wally had always come through for him. He’d vouched for Piper every time his criminal past had been used against him. He flattered Piper’s parole officer whenever necessary, and he’d used his influence to keep Piper out of jail in Bludhaven. He regularly helped Piper deal with the cops at home, too. “You’re probably right, Rory. I should have gone to Wally.”

“Well, not too late for that now. But you don’t have to make any decisions tonight. Rest up a bit. We can contact West in the-something wrong, kid?”

Piper could hear feet approaching the building. He got to his feet and grabbed his flute, poised to attack just as the front door slammed open and James Jesse burst into the apartment with a team of FBI agents, weapons drawn.

“Oh good, you’re both here. I’ve got a proposition for-Mick?! When the hell did you get boobs?”

Rory let out an irritated huff, and Piper couldn’t help an amused smirk despite the fact that an assortment of FBI agents had their guns trained on them. “The joys of being a queer Rogue, Rory.”

“Jesse, what are you doing here?” Rory demanded. “If you’re going to arrest us, just get it over with.”

“No, I was, uh, I’m here to recruit you. Both of you. Oh, fellas, stand down.” He motioned to the agents behind him, and they (reluctantly it seemed) lowered their weapons. Some of them relaxed a little when Piper set his flute on Rory’s table and returned his hands to his sides. “Okay, so, the Bureau put me in charge of a gem of a project, and it got me thinking. Who do I know with the unique talents and history to help me in this particular pursuit of justice? And not only that, who do I know who could do with the government disappearing some nasty little charges against them…and maybe help them out with a custody battle against their absolute shrew of an aunt so they can look after their baby sister…?”

Piper scowled. “Obviously, you have my attention.”

James grinned. “Don’t I know it? C’mon, we can discuss this further back at my office.”

Rory suited back up, so Piper waited with her while the agents returned to their vehicles. James stood in the doorway, idly walking a yo-yo across the floor. “For real though, Mick. You look awesome. How long’ve you had the boobs?”

“She’s going by Rory now.”

“Rory. Okay, simple enough. Hm. I think we’re going to need a sensitivity training or something for the team. And for me. If I’m your boss, I probably shouldn’t be asking you about your rack.”

Rory shot James a flat stare before pulling up her hood and goggles. “You’re assuming an awful lot, Trickster. Piper and I haven’t said yes to your offer yet.”

“Oh, I know. But you’re gonna. Now c’mon, you can ride with me. It’s a swell project they put me on, and I can’t wait to use it to help my old buddies out.” James clapped a hand on each of their backs and walked them out to his car, charismatic smile and easy confidence in place.

Piper had a bad feeling about whatever it was his old friend was going to compel him to do.

Chapter Text

Jerrie sat down on a bench at the Bludhaven train station. Not the one she’d been sitting on when the Mad Hatter’s men had grabbed her - she gave that bench a nasty look before sitting down on the one facing it. She hunched over and carefully counted out the money in her wallet. Then she stuffed it back into the inside pocket of her Flash hoodie and considered her options.

She could use the money she had left to buy a hot cocoa at a cafe and hopefully charge her phone up while she was in there. Then she could call Dick or Bart or Axel or someone and see if they could help her figure out a plan.

Well, maybe not Axel - he was worse at making plans than she was. Plus he hadn’t answered her last couple of emails, and Bart had said that Axel wasn’t coming to Keystone Out! meetings anymore, so no one else had heard from him either. She was worried that something had happened to him.

“Focus,” Jerrie mumbled to herself. She didn’t have enough money to take a train all the way to Central City, but she could take a bus instead. Or she could take the train over to Gotham and try to find Mr. Wayne’s house.

Oh shoot. She hadn’t actually brought her phone charger with her. “Urgh.” How was she so bad at this? Jerrie forced herself to take a deep breath while her eyes filled with tears. She huffed out a few more quick breaths that weren’t sobs, then got to her feet and looked around.

A train conductor nearby announced that they were boarding for Gotham. Okay. It looked like she was going to try to find Mr. Wayne’s house then. With her head down and shoulders hunched, Jerrie shuffled onto the train and sat down in the first open seat she saw. At least it was a window seat. She liked looking out the window when she rode trains or airplanes.

While she was waiting for the train to start, Jerrie gazed out the window at the night sky. There was a weird sort of green tinged light high above the city. As she watched, the light got bigger, and brighter.

And closer.

“So, what are you thinking, Piper? You gonna take Jesse’s offer?”

“It appears to be the sensible move.”

Rory rolled her eyes a bit, and took a sip of her beer before answering. “Yeah. And you’re definitely known for only making sensible decisions.”

Piper very briefly looked up from the backup laptop he’d had stashed in his go-bag, registered Rory’s sarcastic smirk, and then went back to using James’ log-in info to scour through various government servers that he was not supposed to have access to. He’d managed to stealthily lift James’ credentials during their initial meeting, which James had foolishly held in his office. Piper already knew the passwords his old friend liked to cycle through; everything else he’d cobbled together from studying James’ government ID, a few documents lying on his desk, and paying attention to anything he’d pulled up on his computer screen while talking to them.

James had put the two of them up in a hotel room while they were considering his offer to join his new Rogues Task Force. While Piper was checking over the information James had given them earlier that day, Rory  was alternating between pacing, channel surfing, and sighing to herself.

On paper, it was the wise move. Arguably, it was the only move that made sense. James was offering them a chance to not only wipe their criminal records but also give them the resources to take on the Rogues. He’d already compiled quite the dossier on their former coworkers and the newer Rogues, including proof that they’d framed Piper and messed with his memories.

He was keeping that particular betrayal on the back burner for now. Piper didn’t care so much about Blacksmith, whom he’d barely worked with during his villain days, or the new Mirror Master, who was nearly a stranger. He felt anger towards them, of course, and was determined to bring them to justice, but there wasn’t any deeply personal betrayal there. They didn’t know him and he didn’t know them.

But Mark…he knew Mark. At one point, he’d actually classed Mark as a friend. They’d drifted apart after Piper reformed, but he’d never thought there was any bad blood between them. The fact that Mark had been involved in the conspiracy hurt, deeply. And James had some evidence that Len Snart had swept up the rudderless Rogues after Blacksmith’s downfall, so Len was currently working with the supervillains who’d ruined Piper’s life. Len used to be their leader. He’d always behaved like a sort of grumpy big brother to the younger Rogues. Len and James had actually been really close at one point. It stung. Len used to have standards. How could he work with these creeps?

The new Rogues, and apparently even the older ones who were still kicking, didn’t operate the way they had in the old days. They were more dangerous, more reckless, and it was their conspiracy that had taken so much from him. If Piper survived his time with the FBI then he’d emerge as a retired government operative, his parents would be avenged, and he’d have custody of his sister.

He just couldn’t shake the feeling that something about this wasn’t right. For starters, he didn’t trust James. They might have been friends, but that meant very little when you were talking about someone whose entire identity was based on mind games and, well, tricks. Besides, James Jesse was the first person to admit that it was never a good idea to trust him completely. He probably actually was looking out for Piper in his own way, but it wouldn’t be his primary motivation, and it didn’t mean he wasn’t holding important information back. It also didn’t mean that he wouldn’t somehow screw his old friends over if there was something in it for him.

Less importantly, Piper just plain didn’t like the idea of joining up with the feds, especially when he’d made such a big deal about Dick wanting to become a cop. Hopefully, someday he’d be able to reunite with his boyfriend again (god, he hoped Dick still thought of them as boyfriends), and he’d like to be able to meet his eye. Not becoming a cop himself would help him in that goal immensely.

But he couldn’t sacrifice Jerrie’s stability and well-being for a relationship that he may or may not have already tanked.

“I assume you’re signing on?”

Rory nodded. “I could use the fresh start. They’re gonna fast track all the legal stuff for my transition, once I settle on a new name, anyway. And I can get a few more surgeries out of the way. Plus without that record hanging over my head, maybe I could get a real job. Put down roots somewhere. It’s not everyday you get a chance to start fresh like this. I just gotta survive this crazy Rogue War that Jesse’s calling for. I-something wrong, Piper?”

“That son of a bitch.” Piper glared at his computer screen and gave his head a shake. “I knew he was holding something back.” He clicked the laptop shut and stuffed it in his bag. “It’s going to be a no from me. Best of luck though, Rory. I hope James comes through on everything he’s promised you.”

“Piper, what is it?”

Piper pulled on his coat and secured his bag over his shoulder. “There’s an AMBER alert out on my sister. He can’t promise me custody of her - they don’t even know where she is.”

“Huh. Well that’s a pretty significant detail to slip his mind.” Rory got up and started pacing again.

“I’ll say.”

“Piper, be careful, okay?” Rory walked over to him and gave his arm a careful pat. “I don’t think Jesse’s going to take well to you running off on him.”

“If he has any sense of decency he won’t stop me from looking for my sister. But you’re right. I’ll be careful.”

“Just…think about coming back once you’ve sorted that out. You know where to find us.”

“I do. Take care, Rory.” Piper nodded at her, then slipped out of the hotel room and cautiously made his way out of the hotel and out onto the street.

Piper had made up his mind to return to Keystone, find Wally, and trust that his closest friend would work with him to clear his name and help him restore his upended life to some sense of functionality. He’d had no real, rational reason to doubt Wally, after all, and now that he’d had some space from constant pain and horror to breathe, he could remember and appreciate what it had been like to have a steady, reliable friend. Wally was the sort of person you actually could go to when you were experiencing a personal crisis, a luxury Piper hadn’t had for most of his life.

Meeting Wally had been such an important turning point. Having a friend who actually supported him and wanted to see him do well had made such a difference. Wally would help him. Together, they’d find a way to clear his name, find Jerrie, and put everything in order again. It was going to be fine.

He rented a different car, and made extensive use of hypnotic sound fields throughout his journey to obscure his identity from both electronic devices and human memory as he made his way back to Keystone. Maybe James wasn’t going to go after him, but even if he wasn’t, Piper was still wanted for murder and for breaking out of Iron Heights.  He probably couldn’t be too cautious.

At first, when Piper forgot his friend’s name, he thought he was just exhausted from too many hours on the road. He pulled into a rest stop and took a nap, but when he woke up he still couldn’t remember the Flash’s real name. Beyond that, he’d forgotten what his face looked like when his cowl was down. He couldn’t conjure an image of the Flash outside of his costume either, and they’d definitely spent time together out of costume. He’d slept over the Flash’s house, attended parties there, helped him put together furniture and set up his internet for him…but Piper couldn’t remember what the place looked like.

“He did something,” Piper muttered. “What did that fucking…why can’t I remember your name anymore? I know I…” Piper closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. If he hadn’t been so focused on getting to the Flash, there was a very good chance he wouldn’t have noticed his memories being tampered with. Considering he still hadn’t figured out how to get rid of the fake memories he had of murdering his parents, he was extra incensed by having his brain tampered with in such an obvious, invasive manner for the second god damn time in as many weeks.

“You are a fucking hypnotist, Rathaway. How does this keep happening?” Piper rested his head against the steering wheel of the car and let out a strangled shout.

He was friends with the Flash. This one, the new one. He’d been enemies with the old one, but this one…he’d designed tech for him, they’d fought side by side, and he’d definitely been in the man’s house even if he couldn’t recall exactly what that looked like anymore. Piper closed his eyes and rehearsed his memories with pointed purpose as he could feel the sharper details of them being sanded away. There were other people he was losing. Other speedsters, a close friend that was romantically connected to the Flash. He couldn’t picture her or remember her name but he remembered feelings about her - affection, warmth, appreciation for her wit and intelligence. She was empathetic, insightful, funny, clever, and they’d hung out without the Flash being present. But who was she?

Someone else. There was someone else important that he’d met through the Flash. Someone beautiful and smart and funny, someone that Piper had…loved? There was definitely someone there. Someone who’d also been friends with the Flash, so he’d set them up and…the details were slipping through his fingers. Piper could remember his relationship if he really focused, but the parts of it that intersected with the Flash were fading away, and threatening to take all the connecting threads as well.

So much of his life from the time he’d given up supervillainy had been connected to this young man he could no longer remember, and whatever it was that was messing with his brain and trying to rewrite his life was threatening to take something else that was precious to him. But he wouldn’t let it go without a fight.

Piper reached into his go-bag and dug around until he found a small binder of burned CDs. He put one of them into the rented car’s CD player, closed his eyes, and focused.

Music enhanced memory. It brought back vivid details and strengthened neural pathways.

He’d burned this particular CD while in the throes of new relationship warm fuzzies, and each song viscerally reminded him of his boyfriend. His gorgeous boyfriend, who loved going on museum dates, talked queer theory with him, had the bluest eyes Piper had ever seen and the most incredible smile that was always contagious…Piper always lit up when he saw him.

Dick Grayson. He was dating Nightwing. He’d met Nightwing through the Flash.

He still couldn’t remember the Flash’s name or what he looked like, or what the Flash’s girlfriend…? Wife? She was important, but she was already gone and Piper wasn’t sure he could bring that name and face back on his own. He probably hadn’t burned any CDs about his friend’s girlfriend-or-wife.

Piper dug around in the go-bag again until he found a small notebook and a pen. Furiously, before anything else faded away, he wrote down everything he could remember about Dick Grayson. Once he finished he got back on the road and continued on his way to Keystone City. He wasn’t sure where he was driving anymore (frustratingly enough, he knew he’d had an address in mind as recently as the previous day). But the Flash was somewhere in Keystone City and, hopefully, he’d have some answers.

“What do you mean he’s gone? I had men on him. I…god damn it, Hartley.” James dramatically flopped onto his chair and wheeled it away from his desk so he could take out his yo-yo and toy with it. He shot a glare at Rory, who didn’t look nearly alarmed enough about Piper’s disappearance. “Did you even try to talk him out of leaving?”

She shrugged. “Didn’t seem like my place to, honestly. Tricks, it’s not really a job offer if we can’t say no to it.”

James rolled his eyes. “When I first made the ‘job offer’, I showed up with a posse of armed men. I’d sorta hoped that conveyed a certain tone to you guys. Sorry, you…hey, what’s a good gender neutral for guys?”

“I don’t care, Jesse. So what’s going to happen to Piper?”

“Well the FBI isn’t going to clear him of the murder charges, I’ll tell you that.” If Piper was lucky, they’d just be getting his old cell at Iron Heights set up for him.

“But you know he didn’t do it. You have proof.” Rory folded her arms over her chest. “Now I’m starting to think Hartley had the right idea about this.”

James put his yo-yo away, got up, checked that his door was shut and locked, and then turned to face Rory. “Look, the increased metahuman activity in Central and Keystone is not sustainable, okay? By sheer numbers, the cities have more supervillains than Gotham and Metropolis combined, with new weirdos popping in every other day. My instructions are to crack down and get the situation handled, or else. The task force is supposed to clean up the streets, get Rogues behind bars or in the ground, and make an example while we’re at it. I was handed a list of persons of interest, with the instructions to either recruit or target. There’s no third option. Piper either signs on or we’ll have to go after him, just the same as the actual baddies.”

“But…you know that’s not right.”

“Yeah.” James scowled, then turned and faced his office window. “I guess I just need to be more persuasive the next time I see him.”

Meanwhile, on Apokolips, Desaad made a small, pleased hum as his attention landed on that ever-intriguing backwater Earth. So much delicious pain and suffering from those pathetic creatures, so many lowly beings to toy with. And so very many unexpectedly powerful beings to break and remold. He’d just sensed a flicker of something that piqued his interest. A surprising amount of will from an otherwise dismal little man. To resist the work of a being as powerful as the Spectre, this human couldn’t be what he appeared on the surface. Indeed, the more closely Desaad inspected the Earth creature, the more he saw to interest him.

Rathaway had no idea the raw power at his disposal. He was barely using a fraction of his potential, and badly mismanaging what he had tapped into. Desaad could fix that. He would have to break this new toy first, of course, but then, oh the terrible things they would do together afterwards…

Yes, this could be a very fun project indeed.

Chapter Text

Piper's Notebook Entry

You are deeply in love and his name is Richard Grayson but he insists on being called Dick because that’s what his parents called him, and when you’ve known him long enough it stops sounding ridiculous and you stop looking for other names to use instead. You barely have any pet names even.

You met through the Flash, which is probably why your memories of him are trying to slip away. Dear god I know I’ve already lost other people with that Flash sized hole in my mind. Don’t let me lose Dick too. I always figured I’d lose him somehow or other but not this way. Not as though we’d never met. I can’t lose the way he made me feel. I don’t want to lose the memories of loving and being loved like that.

At first we didn’t think it was going to work. I agreed to go on one date because The Flash had been pestering me about it and because the boy was handsome and charming. Handsome doesn’t do him justice, but then, I’m not sure it’s possible for words to capture how magnificently beautiful he is. But still, I had reservations at first because I didn’t expect we’d have much in common and honestly, I didn’t expect him to find me attractive. I figured he’d see me as his buddy’s weird old nerd friend, and we both agreed that this was a case of a straight friend assuming his gay friends would want to date just because they’re gay (the Flash is straight…pretty sure I’m remembering that correctly. Yes, female romantic partner, also gone from memory). But he was lucky or something, because right from the first date there was chemistry.

He’s a nerd too. More humanities than STEM. Likes people, likes studying them and seeing what makes them tick. Learning about cultures, world events. Huge history nerd. Thought about museum work for a career. Traveled a lot when young, performance background? Very charming, good with people. Sets them at ease (beautiful smile - makes others smile - kind eyes). Makes you feel seen, valued, special.

Taste in music…likes folk music. Unfortunate reliance on top 40 radio but will surprise you with a deep cut out of nowhere. Thought about going Goth when he switched to a predominantly black superhero suit and started wearing more black in daily life for fashion reasons, but realized he doesn’t care for the music of the subculture (aside from the Cocteau Twins - puts them on when he’s having trouble falling asleep). Ex boyfriend is in a band (drummer or bassist…think drummer). Band is good, ex is complicated (wait, threesome with ex…? Would like that memory back, please) Does not like ex boyfriend’s taste in music but defends band to the Flash and I think I’ve been sworn to secrecy about that. Dick has a lovely speaking voice but unfortunately he cannot carry a tune. He tried to learn how to play guitar when he was a teenager and it went terribly. Like me, more skill as a listener than as a performer of music.

Has a little brother (??? I think there’s more to the relationship than brother but fuzzing on details). Good kid. Liked him. (14-17 years old, definitely high school - might know Jerrie)

Scary dad. Might not be actual dad. Father figure. Very scary, did not like but respected I think?

Grew up on road, lived in Gotham for adolescent years and young adulthood. Also time in New York and now lives in Bludhaven. Trying to help city. Doing work with homeless, helping with food desert. Takes constructive criticism well.

Doesn’t get mad at me when I get fired up and forget my manners. Thinks it’s cute when I get snarky, not irritating. He doesn’t take cheap shots at me or put me down, ever. Everyone always gets sick of my shit but he was so patient. When things get heavy, we talk it through. I’ve told him about things I’ve always kept quiet from others. He knows exactly how bad it got with Mom and Dad when I was a teen, about what Earl used to do to me, about my breakdown and my time at the hospital. Never judged, just concern and help and love.

He has traumas too. Orphan (Scary dad is not biological dad - definitely father figure). Messy relationships (loooooots of exes). Taken hostage a lot. Survivor’s guilt. Even worse than Flash about feeling like every civilian he can’t save is a personal moral failing. Feels protective about Scary Dad and Brother-who-is-not-brother. Wants to help them but not in enough control of situation to do so. Masks pressure puts self under in public extraordinarily well and is convincing. In private, will open up when able to be honest with self. Somewhat prone to brooding. Could use a good therapist but can’t do talk therapy for superhero reasons. Secret identity.

Very tactile. Loves cuddling. Can use boyfriend as weighted blanket. Sex is amazing - best partner by far in that regards. Always smells nice? Wanted to find out what cologne he uses. Bit vain (but def has reason to be). Skin and haircare routines time consuming. You require specific instructions if he asks you to grab him something from the store because if you bring back the wrong brand he will not use it. Also dresses very well and is frustrated that you do not. He does like your hair though. Actually, the idiot seems to think you’re as good looking as he is. Must be those rose tinted glasses you get when you get stupid about being in love with someone.

He wants to move in together but you don’t know what to do. He doesn’t want to move away from Gotham and Bludhaven, and you don’t want to leave Keystone and Central. Well, you didn’t want to. If you can ever get your life on track again, maybe leaving the Gem Cities wouldn’t be so bad.

I would leave Keystone to keep him. I can’t lose him. I hope these scribbles are enough for now. I’ve read this back already a few times and it helped me sharpen some things. And my CDs are helping. I can remember what he smells like and what his arms feel like around me. His heartbeat. What it’s like to fall asleep beside him (he doesn’t actually snore but of course I can hear his exhales).

Please, please let this work. I need him.

Chapter Text

The explosion didn’t hit until the train was already moving away from Bludhaven. Jerrie irritated the conductor when he came to charge her for her ticket, since she was still gaping out the window at the green light and didn’t hear him right away. He actually got distracted by the light as well and stopped pressing her for her fare money. “What on earth is tha-”

Then the green thing exploded and the train was thrown off the track and into the air. There was a terrible flash of green light, and then as the train slammed into the ground and started rolling down a ditch everything got dark. Everyone was screaming and crying. Jerrie was thrown against her fellow passengers and the sides and roof of the train. She held her hands over her head and cried until it was over.

At first when the train stopped rolling, everyone was still. The screams had mostly given way to groans of pain and panicked sobs. Jerrie was crushed between two passengers, one of whom was quietly moaning. The air smelled horrible, and her eyes were stinging. It would have been hard to breathe even if she wasn’t panicking - the air felt heavy and it reeked of burning.

The train had landed right side up, which at least made it easier to find the doorway in the pitch darkness. Once Jerrie crawled outside there was enough light to see by. On the other side of the river there were lights from the buildings in Gotham, and there weren’t a lot of clouds so the moon and stars did help. But there were no streetlights or windows coming from Bludhaven. There was a sickly green haze and fire.

Jerrie’s legs gave out on her. She sat down on the train tracks and tried not to be sick as her breathing got faster and faster.

“Hey, do you have an adult with you? Are you okay, kid?” A woman who was probably trying to be nice touched her shoulder. Jerrie shrieked as loudly as she could and then got up and started running away from the train and away from Bludhaven. She only stopped screaming because she needed her breath to keep running, and she needed to be as far away from what had just happened as she could get.

Edward Nygma muttered darkly to himself as he wired yet more money from one of his backup accounts to the checking account of a Gotham area substitute teacher/barista. Did this count as blackmail? Was he honestly being blackmailed? Well, she hadn’t actually asked for the money, but she was asking him to spend time with a sixteen year old, which definitely counted as a threat as far as Edward was concerned. Hopefully he’d finally hit on the magic sum that would get this woman, and his supposed child (okay, his definite child - he’d gotten genetic confirmation) off his back.

Of all the youthful indiscretions to catch up to him, a surprise child was the last thing he’d either expected or desired. In fact, this was one of many reasons he generally preferred the company of men. One regrettable night with a partner who’d sworn she was on birth control, and now seventeen years later his precious free time was being encroached upon for “visitation” (well, good luck to them trying to get that through any courts; the Riddler was already supposed to be incarcerated a dozen times over for various offenses so he couldn't imagine any court insisting on giving him shared custody of a minor).

Edward honestly hadn’t given Michele, the child’s mother, another thought until she’d started pestering for contact. Seemed the girl had made herself a costume, started calling herself Enigma, and wanted to follow in Daddy’s footsteps. He was really hoping back child support would deter the pigtailed menace.

Who on earth could mistake him for father material? If they had any sense, Michele and her progeny would be keeping a safe distance.

Oswald was being absolutely insufferable about the whole debacle. He’d mailed Edward a pink diamond baby rattle, which Edward had promptly stuffed down the throat of an Iceberg Lounge employee. He’d left the corpse in the walk-in with a cheery card, and then shut the building back up and reset all of the security measures. Whoever Oswald was using had ripped him off on that install. Not that that was any of Edward’s business.

Hopefully he’d sent enough money this time to get them to stop contacting him. He doubted it though. Unfortunately, it appeared that Enigma was going to require an in-person meeting. She was annoyingly persistent (hm...wherever could she have gotten that tendency to fixate and obsess from?)

Irritated, distracted, and unable to focus, Edward pulled on his coat and went for a walk. It was a nice enough night. Clear. He could even see a few stars despite Gotham’s light pollution. He started walking towards the waterfront, hoping for a breeze that wasn’t tinged with the stink of exhaust.

Edward felt the ground shake and saw the dramatic green flash when the better part of Gotham’s sister city across the river was wiped from the map. He stood still and studied the green haze in the distance with detached fascination.

"Hm. I wonder who's going to take credit for that." Someone with a grudge against Bludhaven’s resident hero, no doubt. Let’s see…most of the big players had taken each other out in recent events. Black Mask was supposed to be encroaching in that direction, but given his motivations blowing the city to smithereens would be counterproductive. There really wasn’t a logical reason to do that to a city you planned to work in, so it must have been a personal grudge.

Wilson, then.” Interesting that Deathstroke had finally gotten irritated enough with his nemesis to dispense with even the pretense of an elegant dispatch and opted to just nuke him. Edward supposed he could have guessed wrong but Deathstroke did seem the most likely villain to go after Grayson in such a fashion. Well, he supposed congratulations were in order for finally managing to wipe out the persistent thorn in his side, though Edward planned to wait until he had confirmation that Wilson was behind the leveling of Bludhaven and that Grayson was actually dead.

God, he hoped Nightwing had managed to slither out of that one. Bruce would be so boring if his favorite sidekick was ever permanently disposed of. Just look at how the man went to pieces every time he lost one of the spares.

The screams of frightened bystanders were starting to get to him. Edward turned his step back towards his safe house.

Upon arriving “home”, he found that the message he’d sent Michele already had an answer. She thanked him for the money, promised to put it towards a college fund for Enigma, and asked what his weekends were looking like in April. Edward nearly growled. He would fill his weekends up as promptly as possible then.

He was going to fix a late dinner and sit down with some light reading but the kitchenette in this particular hideout was in a sorry state. One of the downsides of dispensing with hired henches, he supposed. Echo had been so good about keeping up with the shopping. Maybe he should look into auditioning a new Query and Echo team.

There were now all manner of sirens to accompany the screaming civilians outside his window. With an irritated sigh, Edward put on a pair of headphones before grabbing his coat and a reusable shopping bag.

“It’s interesting that the manor isn’t wheelchair accessible but the Bat Cave is.”

“Interesting is never the word I’ve used for that particular design flaw, but yeah. It’s certainly something.” Barbara wheeled herself closer to where Dick was doing physical therapy exercises in the Cave. The sturdy wheelchair he was using while recovering from Grodd’s mauling was parked to the side while he went through his stretches. Even though his was more of a medical chair than a daily use one like Barbara’s, it had been customized for him, which was a thoughtful gesture that Dick tried to appreciate despite how low he was feeling.

He was definitely recovering quickly - the perks of being young and holding an unfortunate but instructive amount of experience in sustaining and then treating various injuries. But it was probably still going to be another month or two before he was leaping from rooftops. On some days, that bothered him immensely but lately he was more going through the motions on getting himself back to fighting shape.

Dick had been handed a lot of losses lately, all back to back to back. More than half his city was a crater, with a massive body count to match. The supervillain conspiracy that had pulled off the attack had done so while he’d been distracted by a task he couldn’t fully remember anymore, since it had been connected to the Flash somehow and the Flash had been wiped from everyone’s minds by some unknown entity (a disturbing event that Bruce was off to investigate). The civilian he’d failed to protect while nearly being killed himself had gone on to become a dangerous new supervillain, and, to top it all off, things were getting weird between him and Bruce again because of the whole Jason-back-from-the-dead stuff kicking up old, unhealed and unacknowledged emotional wounds.

So he was struggling a bit.

There was also something else nagging at him, some unnamed sadness that he couldn’t put his finger on. He figured that it must have something to do with the mind wipe, though being low in his present circumstances did make sense without any further complications.

On a purely superficial level, the new scars he’d gotten on his torso from super-powered gorilla bites were among the ugliest he’d sustained. Dick really hoped that time would either help him get used to his new shirtless physique or maybe soften the jagged punctures. He knew in a sense he’d gotten off light; Grodd had snapped Hunter Zolomon’s spine. Dick had broken several bones, lost a lot of blood, and suffered a minor neck fracture, but his injuries would eventually heal (thank god the gorilla teeth had grazed organs as opposed to puncturing them). The wheelchair was temporary, as were the casts and braces. He was being a good patient, not pushing himself too hard or fast to get back to full strength.

He couldn’t really take credit for his good behavior though; that had more to do with Alfred’s experience looking after difficult patients.

Dick also wasn’t putting up much of a fight because on some level he wasn’t sure if he even needed to get better. It didn’t seem like having Nightwing around was making much of a difference for anyone. Certainly not a positive one, anyway.

“I like the blue spokes in the wheels. A little on the nose, but it’s nice to give the chair some flair. I let Dinah decorate one of my backup chairs for me.”

Dick finished the last stretch then took some slow, controlled steps to set himself down in his chair. He was mostly using the mobility aid for fatigue, but also to keep from putting too much weight on his tender legs while his bones were still knitting back together. There was a blue streaked black cane waiting for him when he was ready for it. He was very much looking forward to the stairs in the manor no longer being his personal enemy.

It really was fucked that they hadn’t put a chair lift or something on those stairs. Dick wanted to be surprised that Bruce hadn’t installed anything during the whole broken back thing, but then, it was also painfully Bruce to spend the majority of his time in the Cave and the ground floor of the manor without ever noticing the inconvenience of getting to the bedrooms while dependent on mobility aids.

Dick and Barbara had a stilted, awkward visit together where both intelligent, perceptive exes danced around saying anything of significance. Barbara was worried about him and that came through loud and clear, though she hesitated to actually state her feelings. Dick didn’t want her to be worried, but he couldn’t think of a way to assuage her fears, mostly because she really wasn’t wrong. He wasn’t doing well. He just wasn’t strong enough to do anything about it at the moment.

Finally, Barbara grasped his hand and offered him a sad smile. “You haven’t punned once since I got here. Are you going to be okay, Grayson?”

“I’m sure I’ll bounce back eventually. I just…could really use something going right. Like, just a little victory to break up the monotony of getting my ass handed to me in so many ways. Bringing Slade to justice for what he did to Bludhaven, figuring out what happened to the Flash…why I can’t remember my best friend’s name…”

“Finding your boyfriend?”

Dick gave a start. He and Kory had been seeing each other again, casually this time, for a few weeks and he’d had a few hook ups with Roy, but that definitely wasn’t what Barbara was talking about. And his gut reacted to her words before his mind caught up with the flood of emotions. Yes. Part of the reason he was miserable was because he missed someone. Someone connected to the Flash.

Barbara sighed. “You forgot about him too, didn’t you? I almost did as well, except you’d asked me for some help and there was an electronic trail to fill in the gaps in my memory. Based on the, mm, intensity of the conflicting feelings I had when I resumed my search, I get the feeling you two were serious.”

“Yeah.” Dick forced himself to take a steadying breath and tried to remember his boyfriend’s name. He felt like the guy might have had more than one. “…is he another redhead?”

Barbara smirked. “You definitely have a type.” She wheeled herself towards the Batcomputer, so Dick followed after her.

Babs pushed her way past Bruce’s security features with ease until she’d accessed security footage from the manor. She pulled up a specific date and opened a video of a teenage girl sitting by the fireplace in the den with her head down. She was wearing a borrowed robe over a flimsy Alice in Wonderland costume and biting at her chapped lips while she struggled not to cry. Before Dick had a chance to place her, he watched as he and an achingly familiar but nameless man entered the room and carefully approached the girl. The man hugged her while Dick looked on, obvious concern and affection in his features.

Barbara closed out the video and carefully watched Dick’s face, looking for a spark of recognition.

“I forgot him. That’s why I was in Keystone. I was looking for him. Flash and I were both…And…the girl. His sister. She’s missing too.”

“I’m sorry, Dick, but I’m not sure we’ll ever find anything conclusive on her. The last time she went missing, the night the security footage is from, she’d gone looking for you and her brother in Bludhaven and it appears she may have done that again. I’d tracked her to the train station but then…there isn’t much electronic record to work with after what happened. It looks like she got caught in Chemo’s blast.”

“Wow. I’d forgotten she existed until literally two minutes ago. You’d think it’d hurt a little less to know how horribly she must have died.” And it was his fault. He’d failed his city, and he’d failed this girl in particular by fooling her into thinking he was a safe adult that could help her. He hadn’t even been in Bludhaven to die alongside the civilians he was supposed to save. Some hero.

He hadn’t been there. He hadn’t even known there was a supervillain attack he should have been preventing, because he’d insisted on going to Keystone instead, where he’d been worse than useless. He’d been in the way, and then Grodd had used him against the Flash, and now the Flash was gone and that Zoom monster had been created because-

“Grayson, focus.” Barbara snapped her fingers. “At least have the decency to brood on the outside so I can follow your thoughts, if you please.”

“Sorry, that was selfish of me.”

“That was almost a quip. Thanks for humoring me.” She gave his hand a squeeze. “Dick…the last time we ended things, I told you that you’re always going to be important to me whether we’re together or not and I meant that. I still mean it. I know you were hesitant to ask for my help on this, but something prompted you to reach out even though it made you uncomfortable. This man was important to you and…I think it would be good for you if you had him back.”

Dick closed his eyes and nodded. The frustrating haze over memories that he knew were important still wasn’t budging. His best friend was gone, but there was a hole where he’d been. Dick could feel the absence. He remembered working with him as the Flash, and as Kid Flash when they’d both been teens, but everything that wasn’t related to superheroics was gone. His partner was nestled right up alongside that missing friend. “I can’t remember his name, Babs. Even though we just watched that security footage I already forgot what he looked like.”

“Well, hopefully seeing him in person will firm up the details for you. I was pretty close to cracking this before the mind wipes threw a wrench into my workings. I’ve got some classified FBI documents of interest for you, security footage from a few different businesses around the Gem Cities and Chicago, and some indications that he’s making his way back towards Keystone or Central. And I’ll keep looking for the little sister as well. There’s still a chance she might have gotten out of the blast radius. If she’s out there, I’ll find her.”

“You are equal parts terrifying and brilliant, as ever.”

“I’m aware, but thank you. Now, take care of yourself.” The ‘or else’ went unsaid but was heavily implied.

Dick accompanied her to the ground floor of the manor and to the exit. By the time Barbara left he felt he’d managed to reassure her somewhat that he wasn’t going to completely unravel.

She’d gifted him with a reason to keep going, so falling the rest of the way apart would have been unforgivably rude.

Jerrie followed along the train tracks until she got to Gotham. She had her headphones on, even though there was nothing powering them and they weren’t doing enough to block the body shaking noise of the trains that passed by her. She was shaking all over and couldn’t stop clapping her hands together. Plus her shoes were soaked through and her wet socks made her want to claw her skin off.

She must have looked really bad. Once she was on the sidewalk and around people, they kept staring at her. She thought someone might try to talk to her but thankfully no one did. So Jerrie kept walking even though she really needed to sit down. It was late and her legs were aching and her feet were itchy and cold and too wet. But she had to keep moving. She needed to find Mr. Wayne’s house.

Wait. Why was she going to Mr. Wayne’s house? He wasn’t even one of her dad’s good business friends. They barely knew each other. Why would he help her?

Jerrie was so confused, and her head hurt, and her chest hurt, and she couldn’t stop shaking and she just wanted to sit down somewhere quiet. What was she even doing in Gotham? She didn’t have any friends here. There was no one to help her.

Then she almost walked into that man, the grumpy one who’d taken her from the Mad Hatter’s party. He was carrying a bag of groceries and walking fast, weaving in and out of other people on the sidewalk to get by as quickly as possible. Even though they’d almost collided, it didn’t look like he’d noticed her, but Jerrie ran after him and grabbed him by the arm.

The man yanked his arm away and then spun around to face her. “Just what do you think you’re doing, you little-oh. It’s you.”

Jerrie opened her mouth and tried to speak but the only thing that came out was a hoarse sort of squeaking noise.

The man let out a loud humphing noise and looked her up and down. He wasn’t wearing his purple mask this time, but he was wearing a green suit.

“How do you keep winding up here, anyway? Aren’t you supposed to be in Central City?”

Jerrie’s eyes filled and she lowered her head before giving a sad nod. She wanted to go home so badly, but there wasn’t really a home to go to. Hartley couldn’t help her, Axel had stopped answering her emails, and her friends from Keystone Out! were all kids. Besides, they weren’t even supposed to know each other. They couldn’t ask their parents and adults for help without explaining that they’d met Jerrie at a secret gay club. Jerrie felt like there had been some adults she trusted that she’d been trying to get to, but for some reason she couldn’t think of any of them. Maybe the Flash could save her like he’d saved her dad that one time, but how did you even get in touch with a superhero like him?

The man let out an irritated sigh and grumbled something about how he’d already had his fill of sixteen year old girls for the day. But then he gave her shoulder a bracing pat and instructed her to follow along with him. “I’ll get you cleaned up and see if I can make contact with that brother of yours. He’s not great at answering messages but perhaps he’ll change his tune when it involves his sister.”

Jerrie immediately perked up at the mention of her brother. Oh, please, please, please let this guy find Hartley for her. Then maybe things could start going right and she’d be okay again. She tried to say something in thanks but her voice still wasn’t working, so reached for his hand instead.

The man shook her off, and actually said ew. “Keep your grimy little hands to yourself, if you please.”

Jerrie nodded, then picked up her pace to keep up with him.

Chapter Text

“I’m the Flash. I’m the asshole who couldn’t protect my wife from that supervillain…that targeted us…because I’m the Flash. I’m…hoo boy.”

Nope, saying it out loud hadn’t helped Wally get his head together. Quite the opposite, actually.

His mind was ricocheting from unpleasant recollection to unpleasant recollection. The thing he kept coming back to though was that his wife was going to hate him. She already did, in a way, since she’d fixed on the Flash as the target for all of her post-Zoom attack anguish and rage. Once he told her about impulsively accepting the Spectre’s offer to give him his secret identity back and they fixed up her mind wipe, all that anguish and rage would belong to him.

Batman, as was his habit, had stuck around just long enough to give Wally the information that was going to completely torch the nearly contented little existence he and Linda were trying to build for themselves after…after everything had gone so spectacularly to pieces. Bruce didn’t have any helpful tips for actually dealing with the bombshell, or emotional support for his teammate. That had never been his scene. Instead he’d sown the chaos, basically told Wally to deal with it, and then fucked off into the night.

Dick was the Bat he actually talked to…only that didn’t appear to be an option just yet. For one thing, Dick probably didn’t remember he existed. And another, now that Wally remembered Dick, he knew that the guy was going through plenty of his own shit and likely didn’t have any emotional support to spare.

Wally really needed to have a good, honest conversation with his wife. He was just terrified to do it.

While Wally was (quite literally) trying to get his head together, he got pulled into a super crime investigation that was affecting his new job as a police mechanic, since this bastard was bumping off cops. The evidence seemed to point to Captain Cold, but something about that felt off. Cold certainly had no love for law enforcement, but he’d also never resorted to murdering them en masse (so why would he start doing something that drastic out of the blue?) In fact, Cold didn’t typically kill anyone unless his back was to the wall or he was particularly fired up. The evidence was there but the motive wasn’t.

Cold was also tracking down the guy framing him, and Wally ended up battling the new Mr. Element side by side with the seasoned Rogue. The real killer turned out to be a forensic scientist with a superiority complex about his intellect named Petrov, who’d stolen some Rogue tech from the evidence room and was using it to see how many coworkers he could murder while pinning the crimes on someone else. As smart as the guy felt himself to be, framing a supervillain was probably one of the dumbest things you could do in the Gem Cities.

The Rogues all knew each other. Word about that sort of thing got around, and if you pissed off someone with the connections Cold had, well, you couldn’t hope to avoid being turned into a human popsicle for that long.

Case in point, Wally was just on the cusp of bringing Petrov in after a frustrating battle against him and Mr. Element’s gun in a junkyard when Cold zapped him. In the time it took for Wally to escape the ice, Cold shot Petrov through the chest with a giant, jagged icicle.

“Just so you know, Flash. I didn’t kill anyone. Well, except this creep but he had it coming. He broke a rule.”

Abruptly, Cold stopped moving. Wally kept vibrating and just managed to completely escape the ice as an audience of junkyard rats scurried up to them, forming a sort of smelly brown furred perimeter. Something was off, because all of their eyeballs had an eerie green glow to them. Wally zipped over to Cold’s side and took a defensive stance, wondering what else this day was going to throw at him.

Then his bestie approached him from behind a wrecked car, wearing an ominous looking new costume and playing one of his robotically enhanced flutes. He lowered the instrument and his hood, and the green light faded from the rats. “Hey, Flash.”

“Piper!” Wally was hugging him before he was even aware of moving. “Oh my GOD, dude! I’ve been so worried about you. Well, I mean, I wasn’t actually because of the mind wipe, but like before that! Where have you been? What’s up with the rats? This is dramatic, even for you. Oh man. Oh man, it’s good to see you.” Hartley did look kinda like shit though. Seeing him in person was somewhat of a relief, but Wally was definitely still concerned.

“So we are friends. I’d thought so, but things keep shifting. I’m having a hard time holding onto…” Piper tapped his temple. “You did something, didn’t you?”

“It’s…a story.” Some of Wally’s elation gave way to a steadily bubbling feeling of guilt. Piper probably had just as much reason to be as pissed off as Bruce, though Wally had the feeling that the guy was going to be more forgiving than he deserved. No matter what though, there was definitely an awkward and uncomfortable conversation ahead of them.

“Right. Let me take care of something first, and then we’ll catch up.” Piper stepped away from Wally, who abruptly remembered that Piper would suffer through the occasional hug but didn’t actually like them. Other details slammed into place now that he was looking at his friend. He felt some pressure in his skull as the past merged with the invented memories that the Spectre had cooked up for him. Based on how it had gone down with Bruce, Piper was in for the same treatment once they were alone and Wally could take his cowl down.

Piper strolled over to Captain Cold, who was still immobilized from a sound field. “So. You don’t care for it when another Rogue frames you for murder. That’s a rule, is it? I take it you’ll be enforcing that one on your coworkers, then?” Piper removed his glasses and did something Wally rarely saw from him - he made full, unflinching eye contact with Captain Cold, who of course had no choice but to hold it. “They took everything from me, Len. And you’re protecting them. I know you weren’t part of the conspiracy against me, but if you keep working with McCulloch and Mardon then you might as well have been. Out of respect for our history, I’ll let you go tonight. But if you’re there when I find them, all bets are off.”

Piper played a few more notes but Cold still didn’t move. “It’ll wear off in a few minutes. Come on, Flash. I’ve been dying to put a name and a face to these half-formed memories.”

“Piper, uh…I kinda feel like I’ve got a duty here to not just let Cold go. He just murdered someone.”

Piper threw a disdainful look at Petrov’s corpse, frozen in place with an expression equal parts pain and terror, then started walking towards the junkyard’s exit. “He has a message to carry back to the other Rogues. Out of respect for our friendship, I’d appreciate it if you’d let him do it. Besides, Snart will give you another opportunity to put him behind bars eventually.”

“Fair enough. So…another new costume? Didn’t you like, just switch?”

“…I had some constructive feedback and decided to change directions.”

“Ah. And the rats?”

“What? You don’t like the rats?”

“…Just disperse them before we get to my place. I don’t think my wife is gonna appreciate it if we bring a bunch of plague bags into her house.”

“The bathroom is down that hallway. It is the first door on the right. Please scrub yourself thoroughly. You are absolutely filthy and will not be allowed on my furniture unless you meet minimum standards of cleanliness. Do you understand?”

Jerrie gave a dull nod and shuffled off to the door the grumpy man had indicated. When she got out of the shower there were purple pajamas and a set of slippers waiting for her on the counter. The pajamas were nice and soft, and they’d already had the tags cut out of them which caught her attention. Most people didn’t think to do that.

She found the grumpy man in his kitchen. He was stirring a pot on the stove but he set the wooden spoon down when she walked in. “Much better. Are you speaking yet or is that still a no-go?”

Jerrie opened her mouth, then closed it again and shook her head. Her words still weren’t back. They did that sometimes when her feelings got too big, and she’d been so scared and so tired for so long now. Hopefully she’d be able to talk again after some sleep.

The man handed her a small memo pad and a pen. “Here. Use this for now. Well, sit down. I’m almost done with supper. While I finish this up, you can write down what you’re doing in Gotham and tell me how to get in touch with your brother. Once again, Hartley isn’t answering his phone or any of the emails I’ve tried. I even put your name in the subject line this time. It’s unforgivably rude of him.”

Jerrie had written a question on the pad but he was ignoring her, talking mostly to himself as he emptied the pot of boiling water into a strainer and then tossed the noodles back into it. She gave his sleeve a tug once he wasn’t carrying the pot anymore and then gestured at the pad.

“Who am I? Child, are you telling me you didn’t even know who I was when you chased me down outside?”

Jerrie tapped the question with the pen and made an exaggerated frown.

“My name is Edward. I’m an old friend of Hartley’s. You will not call me Ed, Eddie, or anything else unless I give you permission to do so.”

Jerrie scribbled down that her own name was not Geraldine.

“I see we understand each other. Now, sit.” He waved his hand at the table, almost in a shoo-ing motion. “You have to answer my questions now.”

Jerrie nodded, and sat down with the memo pad. While she was writing, Edward finished what he was doing and a few minutes later she had a bowl of buttered noodles and a glass of chocolate milk. Edward had red sauce for his noodles and was drinking seltzer, so she wondered how he knew that she liked her pasta better plain. But he’d definitely guessed right. She passed the notepad across the table and eagerly ate the noodles. She hadn’t eaten anything since she’d grabbed a bagel at North Station, but she’d been too worked up to notice how hungry she was.

Edward muttered to himself while he read over her answer. “Running away from…evil aunt and uncle? Hm…we probably use that term differently. Oh, they call you the R-word. Well, that is heinous. Let’s see…Hartley’s wanted for murder? How did I miss that? Mmhm, on the run, you were trying to find him…well why would he come to Gotham?”

Jerrie shrugged. She didn’t know why she’d picked Gotham anymore either, but she felt like she’d definitely had a reason in mind.

Edward tapped his fingers against his glass, a grumpy frown on his face. “I have to confess, I’m not entirely sure what to do with you. I suppose we don’t have to figure it out right this instant. You clearly need to rest to recover from this meltdown or shutdown. Maybe both simultaneously. Fortunately, I am uniquely qualified when it comes to providing comfort to an autistic in distress.”

Jerrie snatched the memo pad away from him and wrote in big capital letters, ‘WHAT DO YOU MEAN?’

Edward looked down at the paper and then laughed. He stopped when he saw the confusion and hurt on her face. “Miss Rathaway, your parents had you evaluated when you were still in preschool. You were diagnosed over a decade ago, and subsequent evaluations held fast to the original diagnosis. I’ve read the files myself. Thought it might be good conversation fodder, if Hartley ever deigns to answer a letter. Did Osgood and Rachel never tell you?”

Jerrie shook her head. But now that he’d said it, it did make an awful lot of sense. It wasn’t exactly normal to not be able to talk when you got too upset, for starters.

Jerrie had always thought she was just weird and annoying. It had bothered her more when she was younger but over time she’d met other kids who were weird and annoying in the same ways (like Patrice) and kids who didn’t think her weirdness was annoying (like Axel and Bart).

Why had her parents kept her diagnosis from her? If she’d known she was autistic then she wouldn’t have spent so much time worrying about the ways she was different. She could have focused more on the ways she fit in with other autistic kids.

“Well, that’s definitely enough excitement for one night.” Edward regarded her with something that might have been pity. He guided her from the kitchen over to a spare bedroom that seemed to be set up with her needs in mind. The curtains were heavy and blocked out all the light from the busy city outside. There was a white noise machine going to help with the loud noises. There was a soft, warm toned lamp on the bedside table and the big ceiling light had been left off. Best of all, Jerrie’s backpack and her Flash hoodie were waiting for her at the foot of the bed. She dove into the bag and dug out her unicorn comfort-stuffie.

Edward came back one more time to check on her. He offered her a book of crossword puzzles, since that was something that helped him calm down when he was overstimulated. Jerrie grabbed the notepad to thank him but said that she’d be better off with the book she’d brought with her instead. “Understood. Good night, Jerrie.”

Jerrie almost got a ‘good night’ out but it still came out as a squeak. She hesitantly reached out to shake his hand. Instead of pulling away, this time he let her. Probably because she was clean this time. Jerrie smiled brightly at him, then got into bed with her unicorn stuffie and her copy of the Secret Garden, with the picture of her family inside.

“The phone’s all set. It’s going to be twenty dollars a month for the extra line. I want six months up front, and throw in an extra hundred for an inconvenience fee,” Mark said, before tossing an old phone with a cracked screen at the new Trickster.

“A hundred bucks!” Axel exploded. “Fuck you. I’m not paying you an extra hundred just to get a phone.”

“Fine,” Mark said with a sneer. “Go run to your parents and see if they’ll add you back on their family plan then.”

Len walked up behind Mark and smacked him over the back of the head with the butt of his cold gun. He’d just gotten in from some job or other that had put him in a worse mood than usual. Still expecting to be kicked out at any minute, Axel had been trying to give their leader some space. He was extra ticked off with Weather Wizard for drawing Cold’s attention to their conversation. Then something unexpected happened.

Cold actually stood up for him.

“Stop taking advantage of the kid, Mardon. Have some class.” He took a wad of bills out of the inside pocket of his parka and handed it to Mark. “That should more than cover it, even with that ridiculous inconvenience fee. Wait. They make you sign contracts for those things, don’t they?”

“Yes.” Mark’s eyebrows raised as he counted out the cash, which was considerably more than he’d demanded from Axel. He stuck it in the pocket of his own supervillain suit and then tenderly rubbed at the new bruise on the back of his head.

Len turned his attention on Axel, who was already entering numbers into the “gently used” phone from a scrap of notebook paper he’d been carrying around with him. “What name did you use?”

“Huh?”

“On the contract, kid. You didn’t give them your real name, did you?”

Axel shook his head. “I used Axel Walker.”

“But…isn’t that your name?” Mark asked.

“Well yeah, but it’s not my government name.” Axel finished with the numbers, then tried to open the email but nothing happened. “Do we have Wifi at this hideout?”

“We do not, and you’d better not run through my data,” Mark snapped. “That’ll cost extra.”

“A. Walker. You named yourself after Jesse’s shoes.” Len let out a gruff laugh. “Okay, maybe you are his rightful successor. Kid, where’re you going?”

Axel peeled off his domino mask and stuck it in his pocket. “The library, I guess. I thought once I got the new phone I’d finally be able to check my email but you old dudes are living in the pre digital age.”

“Or we just know better than to have service workers come out to our hideout to install the fucking internet,” Evan said, while half watching a news report on the hideout’s television. They’d definitely had someone out to hook up the cable, and Axel remembered the other guys paying extra to make sure the Lexcast guys kept their mouths shut. They could have gotten cable and internet at the same time.

“I feel like I’m gonna regret asking this, but what’s so important about your email? I thought you cut ties with your family and school to be a Rogue fulltime. That was your story when you begged to stay with us in the hideout,” Len said.

Axel felt his face flush a little from indignation. “I didn’t beg!”

The old farts laughed at him. Axel was severely tempted to curse them out, only he’d just managed to get on their good side and he didn’t want to lose favor quite that quickly. After all, they were calling him Trickster more often than Axel now, and even if he was being a prick about it Mark had still helped him get a phone. He had his own room in the hideout to sleep in and work on his gear. Things were starting to take shape and he didn’t want to backtrack.

“You off to email that ‘girlfriend’ you’ve got?” Evan asked.

Mark snorted. “That’s right. Where’s she live again? Boston? Y’know kid, most guys say their fake girlfriends are in Canada.”

“Well my girlfriend isn’t fake, and I’m going to find out if I missed any emails from her. Oh wait. Cold, can I talk to you for a sec?” He seemed like he was in a good mood, so Axel figured he might as well get this out of the way before it passed.

Len crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall. “Sure, kid. What about?”

Axel tilted his head towards Mark and Evan, who were blatantly paying more attention to him than the television. “Could we maybe ditch the chucklekfucks over there first?”

“Watch it, brat.” Mark started to raise his wand arm but Evan grabbed him by the wrist and gave him a pointed look.

Len followed Axel into his room, which he knew full well only gave them the feeling of privacy. Evan had at least a dozen mirror gadgets that could spy on them through the reflective surfaces that Axel’s Trickster tech provided, but at least he could pretend they were alone for a few minutes. Hopefully, the older Rogues would turn their attention back to the television.

He knew he was more of a mascot to the established Rogues than an actual criminal collaborator. He was still working on proving himself, but it was hard. For starters, the guys were all so damn moody. Some days they seemed to like having him around. They would joke around with him, give him advice, show interest in the gimmicks he was working on. Then other days they slapped him around, talked down to him, and acted like they’d been stuck with him. Not as though Axel had been officially invited to join up with them. He wondered how many heists and plots he’d have to work on with them before they started respecting him.

Maybe he should have picked another Rogue to pattern himself after. As cool as Axel had used to think the Trickster was, the guy didn’t seem to command much in the way of respect from other costumed types.

The original Trickster, James Jesse, had captivated Axel when he’d still been a little girl (heh). He’d accidentally gotten tangled up in one of the Trickster’s plots against the dead Flash when a gimmicked rocking horse got delivered to Axel’s birthday party by mistake. Jesse had stolen the horse right from the middle of the party, flying off into the sky and going on to commit armed robberies with it. Seeing the guy flying through the air like that, Axel had been pissed off that he’d lost his big birthday present but he’d also thought the whole thing was ridiculously cool (his lame uncle had tried replacing the rocking horse, but of course the normal one couldn’t fly so there was no fucking point). Axel had decided then and there that that’s what he wanted to be. He wasn’t supposed to be a little girl in a fluffy pink dress and pigtails. He was supposed to be a cool, colorful bandit that got the last word in, flying above them all with his clever tricks and traps that they’d never see coming. He was going to be the fucking man.

But Jesse had given up being a bad ass and was working with dweebs like the Flash. It had left his identity open for the taking, but Axel was thinking more and more that being associated with the guy wasn’t his brightest move. He liked the idea of being clever, handsome, and confident like the Trickster, but he didn’t want anyone to think he was a bootlicking dingus.

“So what’s on your mind, kid?” Len asked, pulling Axel out of his musings.

He sat down on the folding chair he’d dragged in from the main room and hunched over with his elbows on his knees. “Say I needed to take some time off for awhile…would that be okay? Like, you wouldn’t kick me out of the hideout or anything, would you? I’ve got money. I’ve been saving my shares of the heists and I can pay you guys for any jobs I can’t back you up on.”

“We can work something out. Why’re you missing work? Something wrong?”

“I’ve got a…a medical thing.”

Len frowned. “Aren’t you like sixteen?”

“Seventeen. Seventeen year olds get medical things too. I just gotta go get something taken care of, and then I need to avoid heavy physical activity for a couple of weeks and I can’t lift more than twenty pounds for six months. I didn’t ask the doctor but I get the feeling I probably shouldn’t pick any fights with the Flash until the six months is up either.”

“Hmph. This medical thing you need, this have anything to do with you leaving home and stealing large sums of cash?”

“Maybe. I thought you didn’t want to hear my sob story, Cold.”

Len tapped his fingers against the handle of his cold gun while he considered. “I suppose I don’t need too many details. Keep me in the loop though. Double mastectomy’s a major surgery. You need help with anything, make sure you ask. You don’t want the other guys to know what’s going on, that’s fine. In fact, I agree with you on that call. I’ll shut ‘em up if they get too nosy. But don’t act tough. You’re gonna follow your doctor’s instructions and recover the way you’re supposed to, got it?”

“I, yeah. Wait, how’d you know?”

One of Axel’s biggest fears was the other Rogues finding out he was trans. So far they all seemed to think he was just young and baby faced. He was wearing his binder more than he should have, which was one of the big reasons he needed to get that top surgery done because it was getting seriously painful to overdo it like that. And he’d finally started T, so hopefully his voice would change and he might get some facial hair. But he just knew, if the guys found out they wouldn’t get it. They’d never use the right pronouns for him again, if they even let him stay.

They’d given Jerrie’s brother all that shit, and he was just gay. If they felt that way about a guy liking guys, Axel didn’t want to find out how they’d react to a trans Rogue. He knew they’d never see him as an actual man if they found out.

Except maybe Cold. Apparently he was a surprise ally.

“If you can’t lift, I figured it was top, not bottom. But if you need to get that one done too, you let me know and I’ll help you cover for that too.”

“Not what, what the surgery was. How’d you know I was trans? I thought I was passing.”

Len sighed, his expression hard to read. “I spent years working with Central City’s most loud mouthed queer rights activist, and unlike those morons in there I actually listened sometimes when the guy talked. Picked up a few things. You naming yourself, just your regular name and not your costume, was what tipped it over. But don’t worry, kid. Your secret’s safe with me.”

“Right. Uh, thanks, Len.”

“Don’t mention it. Now, go do whatever it is you need that email for.”

Axel jumped off the chair and followed Len back into the main room of the hideout. “For the last time, I do have a girlfriend and she does live in Boston!”

He exited the hideout to the sound of the other guys laughing at him and making jokes about his fake internet girlfriend. Well, fuck them. Someday Jerrie would be back in Central City, and he’d be able to take her around the hideout himself and prove she was real.

Chapter Text

As Wally had predicted, Piper took the whole mind wipe thing far too gracefully.

Since Wally still needed to talk to Linda, they went to Piper’s apartment for their talk. Wally was a bit concerned about going there, considering Piper was still on the run (he was hoping he’d be able to get that cleared up for his friend, but dealing with the mindwipe took precedence at the moment). Piper assured him that with the sound fields he was using, there would be no electronic records of him returning to his home.

“That was yet another thing that should have been a dead giveaway that I was innocent. With my skillset, if I wanted someone dead I damn well wouldn’t have left a recording behind. I installed Mom and Dad’s security system myself. I wouldn’t have forgotten it was there. God, if I had just stopped and questioned those false memories sooner instead of confessing like that…”

“Well, what’s done is done but I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself. I mean, Blacksmith and Mirror Master clearly did a number on your head. Uh…speaking of which. We should get this over with.”

Piper redid his security features behind him, then pulled down his hood and removed his tinted glasses. Wally was about to follow suit with his cowl, when Piper let out a startled shout and rushed past him to his computer desk. “Where the fuck is my computer? What the-the alarm wasn’t tripped. How was I robbed while I was in jail? This is bullshit.”

“Hart, let me do this real quick and then I’ll explain where your computer went.”

“Right. Sorry, focusing. So the memories will come back when I see your face?”

“Yeah, that’s how it’s been working so far,” Wally said. “Well, so far it’s just been me and Batman, but we think it’s a failsafe that the Spectre left in intentionally. Okay, here goes.” Wally lowered his cowl and kept his eyes trained on Piper’s face.

His eyes went wide, and then he took a step backwards and rubbed his temple as his memories started expanding and rearranging themselves. “Oh my god. It’s like we lived two parallel lives at the same time. I can remember…like you were publicly known and not at the same time.”

“Right? It’s fucking weird, is what it is. It’s not…exactly what I…I don’t think I even really asked for this. The Spectre just showed up with my uncle right after I found out Zoom killed my unborn children and I wasn’t, like…I wouldn’t have wanted it if I’d known what he was going to do. I’m so sorry, Piper. I definitely didn’t want us to forget each other. I mean, I even forgot myself. Piper? Hartley, are you okay?”

Piper had gone quiet and his eyes were closed. Upon closer inspection, there were tears sliding down his cheeks. Wally reached out and grasped his shoulder, but Piper flinched away from him. “I-it’s okay. I just, I can remember him without fighting for it now. You introduced us so…so I was losing him too. But he’s back now.” Piper slowly exhaled. “I can remember Dick.”

“Oh my God. He wiped your relationship too?”

“Well, he tried. But it’s there again.” Piper rubbed at his temple. “Oh. I bet Dick forgot me. He doesn’t have the experience with memory manipulation that I do. At least, I assume the hypnotism gave me a leg up. I didn’t lose absolutely everything even before you restored things. Wally, you haven’t talked to him yet, have you?”

“No, Linda’s my next priority.”

“Oh, of course. As it should be.”

“No, Hartley, don’t do that. I’m going to talk to my wife but then we’re going to get this straightened out for you too. You have every right to be pissed at me. It might have been an accident, but I still really fucked you over.”

“You were grieving. It’s…” Piper very briefly met his eyes, and Wally was the one to look away this time. It was hard to meet his gaze when he looked so wretched and unlike himself.

“It’s not okay,” Wally muttered.

“No,” Piper agreed. “But I don’t think it’s your fault. I do think the Spectre caught you at your worst, most vulnerable moment and pressured you into making the decision that he thought was best for you. Ultimately, it might be. But tinkering with this many peoples’ memories…it’s a violation. That’s why I don’t do that anymore, now that I’m old enough to know better.”

“Well, I hope Linda’s as level headed as you are about this whole thing. Uh…since you forgot Dick, I assume you forgot her too?”

Piper nodded. “I’m glad to have her back. Or, I suppose I won’t have her back all the way until she remembers me as well.”

“Yeah. You two were close even without me around. Okay, so I’ll run home, talk to Linda, and then once she remembers you exist I’m sure she’ll be worried as all get out about you, so I’ll come back here and grab you, and then we can start working on getting your civilian life back in working order.”

“And finding my sister.”

“Sister…oh, damn it!” Wally seriously wanted to punch himself in the face. With the superspeed he could probably manage it - making it seem like you were two places at once was one of the first things Barry had taught him back in the day. “She ran away from your aunt and uncle’s place in Boston…we sent her there because we were worried that the conspiracy that came for you was going to go after her too…and then she ran away and I was supposed to be finding her. But then-”

“You forgot she existed. Yes. But now that you remember her, you’ll tell me where my missing computer went so that I can get back to combing electronic records for her. You did say you knew something about that.” Piper started going over his desk, scowl deepening as he cataloged possessions that had gone missing.

“Oh, yeah. Dick thought there must have been something funky about your computer because you mentioned it to him or something on the phone, so he boxed it up and mailed it to Oracle so she could take a crack at it. But they…both probably don’t know that they know you. So actually I’m not sure what they did with your computer.” Wally cringed, then started counting off tasks on his fingers. “Uh…okay, so first I’m going to go talk to my wife. Then I’ll grab you. And then I’ll run to Gotham and ask about the computer.”

“Or you could grab me and bring me to Gotham with you so that I can see if my boyfriend is still my boyfriend.”

“Yeah. Yeah, that works. Okay, just wait here. Seriously, I’m going to freak the fuck out if I come back and you’re gone again.”

Piper made a noncommittal noise as he walked over to his sofa with a large backpack, the kind hikers used, that he’d been carrying around since the junkyard. He unzipped the back and took out a small laptop. “I’ll see what I can get done with my backup computer while you’re gone. I know it’s going to be a sensitive conversation, but please be quick if you can. I am worried about Jerrie and I’d like to track her down as quickly as I-oh.”

“What?” Wally pulled his cowl back up in preparation to run to his apartment but he zipped over to Piper’s side, not liking the sound of that.

“I just, I have a lot of messages. A lot of them are from James, which I guess I should have expected. A few from Rory. And…ugh. Never mind, just go talk to Linda.”

Wally peered over his shoulder at the screen, which was full of tabs of what looked like different email accounts. The inbox currently onscreen showed the emails Piper had alluded to (the ones from Trickster had very angry looking subjects that were mostly in all caps), and a bunch from an ENash. The one Wally’s eye landed on had ‘Have Jerrie - respond ASAP’ as the subject. The next email was from the same account, and the subject was ‘World’s Worst Brother - please get sister ASAP.’

“Piper,” Wally pointed at the screen. “Whoever ENash is, it looks like they know something. Dude, you okay?”

What little color had been in Piper’s face was gone. He clicked on the first message and read it to himself. Wally was able to read it over his shoulder.

‘Hartley,

For the second time in recent memory I have found your younger sister where she oughtn’t have been, unaccompanied and looking for trouble in Gotham City. It is my understanding that, as a resident of Central City, the child should be in another state entirely. I have also been laboring under the impression that you are fond of this girl. If that is the case, you ought to keep better track of her because if this pattern continues I can’t imagine the poor thing will be long for this world. I have taken it upon myself to provide shelter and protection for her, out of respect for what we once meant to each other, but this is a temporary arrangement. I am not now in the habit of looking after children, nor do I intend to make it a habit.

Please come collect the child at your earliest convenience. She is quite distressed. We are staying in the house by the waterfront. I trust you remember it.

Best,

Ed’

“Oh no. Oh god, oh god, oh no.” Piper set his laptop on the coffee table, his breath coming in shallow inhales as he babbled to himself.

“Piper. Who is ENash? Is this a threat? What’s going on?”

“He, I, oh god. I have to get to Gotham. I have to get Jerrie. He’s crazy. If he gets fed up with her, if his mood changes-he could-he might…oh god. When did he send this? How long has he had her?” Piper grabbed the computer again, nearly hyperventilating as he scanned his emails. “Okay, okay, he sent this last night. That’s not-it could be worse. It could be-”

“Piper! Who the hell is ENash?” Wally yelled.

“The Riddler!” Piper yelled back. “The Riddler has my sister. I have to go to Gotham. I’m sorry, Wally, but I can’t wait for you to talk to Linda-”

“Dude, stop.” Wally grabbed Piper’s shoulders, since he looked like he was actually going to march out the door right then and there. “I’m the Flash, remember?”

“Yes. You just did the cowl thing.”

“Right. So however long it takes me to talk to my wife then come back and get you, I can still get you to Gotham City in a fraction of the time it will take for you to get yourself there without superspeed, right?”

The panicked energy drained away from Piper, and he slowly nodded. “I…yeah. Okay.”

Wally frowned. He distinctly did not like the idea of losing sight of Hartley when he had that desperate sort of look on his face. Especially considering how slippery he’d been lately. “That’s it. You’re coming with me.”

“What? No, Wally. You were right. You and Linda need to have this conversation by yourselves.”

“In an ideal world, yeah, absolutely. But you’re not really giving me much choice. Now hold on. I’m not sure if you remember how much you hate moving by superspeed, but here’s a refresher.”

“Wally, wait-”

But Wally grabbed him in a fireman carry and ran off for his apartment, hoping he’d be lucky enough that his wife wouldn’t be in the living room and he’d be able to change them out of their costumes before they got started.

When Linda got back from her study group, she found her husband sitting in the living room talking to a nervous, sickly looking man in wrinkled clothes that didn’t quite fit him. They both jumped up when she walked through the door.

Something about the stranger felt incredibly familiar but she couldn’t place him. It was almost like deja vu, like an itching at her brain that she could almost explain but not quite.

Wait…was that that escaped supervillain that was on the news? They needed to update the mugshot they were using, because he’d aged terribly since the last one was taken. That’s probably why the clothes didn’t fit him, since he’d clearly lost weight, and he’d chopped off most of his hair.

“Wally? You’re home early. Who’s your friend?”

“Yeah, I had the night off. Uh…” Wally got off of the couch. His body language was far from comforting, coupled with the fact that he was looking anywhere but at her face directly. Linda remained standing in the doorway and refrained from removing her coat or her shoes. Whatever the hell was going on, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be involved.

Considering what had happened the last time she’d been in the same place as a supervillain, she wanted that strange, sad looking man out of her living room immediately and then she had some strong words for her husband.

“Linda, we need to talk. Can you come into the other room with me-”

“No, I’m fine where I am.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “What is it?”

“It’s…uh…”

“Wally learned something distressing recently and he’s been struggling to figure out how to tell you,” the supervillain said.

Linda shot him a dirty look. “Well he can just tell me. I don’t know what you’re doing here but you really don’t need to insinuate yourself into my private conversations with my husband. We’ve never had an issue talking to each other before.” If anything, Wally was prone to oversharing with her.

Wally glanced at the supervillain. “I guess I’m just gonna have to do it in here.” Then he turned back towards Linda, who lifted her eyebrows. She knew she was being unfair; Wally looked plenty upset himself. She couldn’t recall ever seeing him this nervous. But this whole ambush was really getting to her. She was still working through the trauma of having been assaulted by a meta human; finding one in her living room after a long day of classes and then a frustratingly unproductive study group had instantly set her off. “Okay, don’t freak out.”

“I promise nothing.”

Wally let out a defeated sigh, then held up his hand. He was wearing a strange ring she was pretty sure she’d never seen before. Then a compartment in the ring opened, there was a reddish blur, and the Flash was standing where her husband had been.

But Wally’s eyes were looking out of the holes in the cowl.

Linda felt a pressure in her head as her memories reformed, and two parallel lives joined together. She remembered the real way she’d met Wally, while covering his super heroics for the local news. That’s how she’d met Piper, too, since he’d been working with Wally so closely at the time. That wasn’t just a strange supervillain sitting on the couch; he was one of her closest friends. She and Wally had been searching for him. Because her husband wasn’t a complete misanthrope who’d been dependent upon her for socialization, only going to her friends and family functions. He was a superhero and all of his people were superheroes too. He was in the Justice League. He’d cofounded the Teen Titans.

Oh god. How had this happened.

“Linda?” Wally was suddenly in front of her, still wearing that damn costume. He hesitantly reached out but stopped short of touching her. “Are you okay?”

“What did you do? What is this? Why do I have two lives in my head right now?” She gestured angrily at Piper. “Why did I forget one of my best friends, Wally? What did you do?”

“He was coerced.” Piper jumped up from the couch but Wally waved him back.

“I made a stupid choice. It’s kinda my thing. I’m not letting Hal take the heat for this. Linda, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what I was doing. It was right after Hunter hurt you and…and our…”

Linda unthinkingly grabbed at her stomach, like she’d been doing so often since losing the babies. It was funny, in a way. Even though she and Wally were married, with a nice house and a good income, she hadn’t really given much thought to motherhood. Right up until she’d discovered she was pregnant, she hadn’t been aware of how much it really was something she wanted. For a short, wonderful time she’d been living in a fantasy of what it would be like, raising their kids. And now, it would never happen. Because of her husband.

Wally was watching her with that adorable lost looking puppy face of his. Usually, it made her want to either tease him or comfort him, depending on the context. But not this time.

Linda shoved him away. “How could you do this, you monster! You’re the reason this happened to me, and then you-you just wiped it all away, made me forget! Why? So you wouldn’t have to live with me knowing what I lost because I married the Flash? How could you…” Linda pressed a hand over her eyes, then ran into the bedroom and slammed the door behind her.

“Linda, wait, please. I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to do it. I didn’t know what I was doing.” It sounded like Wally was crying too. “Can I come in, or should I let you cry for a little-I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to help you.”

Linda started walking circles around the room, pulling at her hair and breathing deeply. She didn’t know what she wanted either, but it certainly wasn’t to hear her husband in distress. After a moment, she opened the door, pulled him in, then shut the door behind them. Wally still looked terrified of touching her, so she initiated the hug.

They both started to calm down after that. Linda hugged him tightly and rested her head on his shoulder. “I love you, but you’re a moron.”

“Yep,” Wally agreed.

“You said something about Hal. He’s a hero too, right? One of your uncle’s friends…oh, that’s shifting back into place. Barry Allen was the Flash and he recruited you as a child soldier-”

“Hey! Kid Flash was not a child soldier. That’s more of a Bat Family thing,” Wally said, dripping with enough defensiveness that she must have hit a nerve. “I got doused with chemicals in his lab by a freak accident and he helped me deal with it. I probably would have killed myself without Barry’s mentoring. But yeah, Hal was the Green Lantern, and then he got possessed, and now he’s the Spectre. It’s…complicated. All of these hero relationships are. I got mind wiped too, and Batman was the one who figured out how to undo it. Everything’s sort of settling back into place but these epiphanies keep coming up. Like when I saw Piper, a lot of memories that had been simmering in the back just kinda shoved themselves into the front.”

“Oh my god, Hartley. What’s going on with-his sister is still missing!” Linda pulled out of Wally’s arms and lightly smacked his chest. “That poor girl. We were looking for her but then we forgot she existed.” She waved at the door. “Go march yourself down to the station. I don’t care if it’s your day off. You have to find out if there’s been any updates on Jerrie while we’ve been in our amnesia fogs!”

“It’s okay, we know where she is. The Riddler has her-”

“How are you going to say ‘it’s okay’ and ‘the Riddler has her’ in the same sentence.” Linda rubbed at her temple. Memories of just how irritating it could be to be the Flash’s romantic partner were bubbling right up to the surface. Wally was an incredibly intelligent, gifted man but in some ways he could be such an idiot.

“Piper and the Riddle go back, apparently. It didn’t sound like he was going to hurt her or anything, but yes, we’re going to leave for Gotham immediately. I just knew I needed to talk to you first. Hon…are we okay?”

Linda rested her hands on the side of his face and gently pulled down the cowl. She leaned forward for a hesitant kiss and then gave her head a shake. “Not yet. But we will be. I still love you, and I know you only did this incredibly stupid thing because you love me too.”

“You’re the most important person to me in the world. I’m so sorry, Linda. For not protecting you. For letting you down. I’m so sorry.”

“I know.” She stopped short of saying ‘it’s okay’ because it wasn’t. It was absolutely not okay for him to unilaterally decide to rewrite their lives. To reach into her mind and change her memories. Linda wasn’t sure there was enough couples counseling in the world to repair that breach of trust. But if it was possible, she desperately wanted to forgive him. Like recovering from Zoom’s attack, it would take time. She definitely wasn’t there yet.

That didn’t mean other people needed to suffer, just because she was melting down. Besides, if anything she could use some alone time to process all this.

“I’ll be okay, Wally. Why don’t you go save that teenage girl while I work on getting my head together?”

“You sure?”

“Positive. Plus, with everything I’m remembering about Hartley, we probably shouldn’t leave him alone too long or he’s going to run off and make things worse for himself.”

Wally scowled, and pulled his cowl back up. “Ain’t that the truth. Okay. I’m going to take Piper to Gotham to get his sister. Hopefully it won’t take too long, and then can we talk some more? I just, I want to figure out how to make this okay. I don’t want to lose you. That was kinda the driving force behind this whole mess.”

“I’ll be here,” Linda said. She kissed him again, then walked him out to the living room.

Piper was pacing by the coffee table, looking incredibly jittery. He paused when they joined him, attention turned towards Linda. “I was trying not to eavesdrop. Is everything okay?”

“No, but we’re working on it,” Linda said. “Oh hon, I’m so glad I have you back.” She rushed forward and hugged him, then stepped back as she remembered how much he hated being touched.

It didn’t look like he minded though. Piper was wearing a hesitant smile, and he reached out to squeeze her hand. “If things ever settle down, coffee date?”

“Absolutely. We’re overdue. Now go rescue your sister.”

Linda gave each of them another hug, and Wally a kiss, and then once they were gone she sat down on the sofa and dropped her head into her hands.

What was it about the Rathaway siblings that charmed Edward so easily?

Despite his insistence that he had no interest in looking after teenage girls (his own or anyone else’s), by the following afternoon he’d decided that actually, Jerrie quite naturally belonged in his custody. Her brother had lost her twice now, so obviously Hartley wasn’t nearly as fond of the girl as he claimed. She was actually a sweet, considerate child, and very good company.

After a night’s rest she’d recovered her ability to talk, and they had an amusing conversation over breakfast about her high school’s chess club (some boyfriend had discouraged her from joining the club, and Edward privately decided to find a way to dispose of the pest - without upsetting Jerrie, of course, since she’d been innocently charmed by the intellectually stifling little slug). Naturally, Jerrie was still nervous and fidgety, given the stresses of the recent weeks. She liked video games so he offered to play a few rounds of Tetris with her, to see if that calmed her nerves.

Not only did the puzzle game calm her immensely but she was actually a decent opponent. She even beat him a couple of times, which was not something that usually happened when he faced someone in Tetris.

After their games, Jerrie required some time alone in the spare bedroom with her headphones and a diary. Edward sat in his own room in a similar state, half-listening to classical music while he composed a riddle for Hartley, on the off-chance his former flame ever did read those emails and come looking for the child. Once that was finished, he picked up a sketchbook and started working up some new designs for Query and Echo costumes. Query came together pretty fast, since he had a model in mind, but he got stuck on Echo, since he didn’t know what the girl actually looked like. Edward tapped his pencil against the sketchbook, then went to get his laptop so he could email Michele.

Chapter Text

There was an annoyingly persistent voice in Dick’s head that sounded something like Bruce, telling him to push through the pain and finish his physical therapy exercises. He’d been out of action for too long, and there was so much to do. His city needed to be avenged, a killer was targeting JL spouses, the new incarnation of the Teen Titans could probably use some help, and on a personal level he’d really like to get rid of the mind wipe that had taken his boyfriend and his bestie from him.

But there was another calmer, more sensible voice that sounded like Alfred. And this one reminded him that he was, in fact, not a meta human, and that if he overdid it he was going to extend his recovery time, not speed it up.

Inner-Alfred out argued inner-Bruce, and he settled into his wheelchair with a weary groan. After resting for a few minutes, he made his slow progress up from the Cave and back to the ground floor of the manor. Bruce was off with the League, investigating the recent attack on Jean Loring, but Alfred was poking around somewhere. Maybe he’d take pity on Dick and keep him company for a little while. He needed something to distract him from the temptation to push his healing body farther than it wanted to go.

Dick had just gotten to the ground floor of the mansion when the bell rang. He took a quick look around, listening for Alfred’s step, then smirked and reached for his wheels. Using his chair pretty irresponsibly on the polished wooden floors, Dick made it to the front door before the butler, almost crashed into it, and had to awkwardly wheel himself in a half circle in order to open the door.

There were two red haired guys on the doorstep, both dressed kind of scrubby and looking the worse for wear. The younger one looked like he could use a nap, maybe, but the older guy was in rough shape and vibrating with anxious energy. For some reason, Dick felt a strong compulsion to hold that one in his arms and croon tender things to him until he calmed down enough to smile.

He squinted at the man. It certainly felt like his body was remembering what the mind wipe had taken from him. But…is that really what his boyfriend had looked like on the security footage Babs gave him? By some quirk of the magic or whatever it was that had messed with his head, Dick immediately forgot what his partner looked like whenever he wasn’t actively looking at an image of him. It was incredibly irritating.

“Shit, I was hoping…” the younger guy started to say. “Uh…any chance Bruce is here?”

“No, he’s away on business.” Dick hesitated for a moment. If he was wrong about this, especially given what had just happened to the Dibnys and what had almost happened to Jean Loring, Bruce was going to kill him. But considering the way his emotions were ricocheting around the longer he looked at those two, he was pretty sure he was onto something. “Far away. High up. In mixed company.”

The younger guy let out a relieved breath. “I should have known you’d put some of this together on your own. Can we come in? I gotta do something but like, not on your doorstep, y’know?”

Dick wheeled himself back. Alfred was watching them from a doorway but when he saw who the guests were he nodded at Dick and then walked off to resume whatever it was he’d been doing when the bell rang (hopefully baking - one of the best parts of being stuck in the manor again was the food). Dick showed the guests into the den, and once they were settled he locked his wheels and then fixed an inquisitive look on them. “Based on the way my insides are squirming around, I know I know you guys. But for some reason I can’t seem to access those memories.”

The older one nodded his head at the younger one. “His fault.”

“That feels right.”

“Hey,” the younger guy snapped. “You just defended me to Linda!”

“I was trying to help you save your marriage. I have no compunctions about saving you from your own follies when it comes to my personal relationships.” He paused. “I do still think the Spectre took advantage of your grief though.”

“So you are him,” Dick whispered.

“You remember me?”

“Not really. But I feel something. I’ve been trying to figure it out and it’s been driving me crazy. I don’t know you but I know I miss you and I have no idea how that even works.”

“All right guys, well once I…huh.”

The younger guy stopped talking, because Dick had unlocked and wheeled himself towards his lover, who’d also gotten up from the couch and approached him. He knelt just beside Dick and for a long moment they just stared at each other. A warmth spread through Dick, the shame and anger at himself that he’d been struggling to keep at bay for the past few weeks quieted to a manageable whisper, and suddenly he felt like himself again. He couldn’t picture the nights he knew he’d spent cuddled up to this man, but his body had a sense memory of arms around him and long hair tickling his cheek, which made him think the unflattering haircut must have been recent. Hopefully he could talk his nameless lover into growing his hair out again. Dick was aching to run his hands through what was left of the man’s hair, pull him close, kiss him senseless-

“Guys?”

Startled, they both turned their heads to face the other redhead. Dick had gotten so caught up in the sudden swell of emotion that he’d forgotten the other guy completely. “Sorry.”

“No, don’t be. That was adorable, actually. Like something out of a movie. But hold on.” The guy held out his hand, wadded up red fabric popped out of his ring, and while Dick blinked he changed into a Flash costume. Then he took his cowl down and Dick recognized Wally West.

And then he had to lean back in the chair and rub at his face as his memories started changing. It didn’t hurt (almost every muscle in his body hurt thanks to his workout, so he knew the difference) but it wasn’t pleasant. Feeling dizzy, he locked his wheels again so he wouldn’t topple over.

“Wally, what the fuck did you do?”

Piper smirked. “That’s what I said.”

“God, Hartley…” Dick grabbed his arm and tried to pull him closer, but he was already right at his side. Short of crawling onto Dick’s lap they weren’t getting much closer. “Oh my god. Oh, I’ve missed you so much.”

Piper being Piper, he looked surprised by that. “It’s been so long, and your mind was wiped. I’d half expected-”

“How long are we going to have to be together before you stop assuming I’m going to dump you? Even when I can’t remember you I love you.” Dick kissed him, and he did actually slide out of the wheelchair and onto Piper’s lap as they clung to each other.

Wally stage coughed but they ignored him. They’d been separated for so long, even before the mind wipe. Wally could give them a few minutes before he brought them back to whatever unpleasant aspect of current reality was waiting for their attention. At the moment, he was going to enjoy being wrapped in his boyfriend’s arms again, even if they were bonier than the last time they’d done this.

Then Wally coughed again and muttered the word ‘sister.’

Piper ended the kiss but kept his arms wrapped tightly around Dick. His cheeks were flushed, which was a nice look on him. “I’m sorry, Dick. We’re not just here to fix your memory. Jerrie-”

“Went missing again. That’s right. Babs and I were trying to work on that, although someone made it harder than it should have been by making it so that we could only clearly remember her when we were looking at the notes she compiled before the mind wipes.” Dick threw a sarcastic smile Wally’s way but the barb wasn’t satisfying - the guy looked pretty miserable about the whole thing. He decided to hold off on any more jabs until he had more information about the circumstances. Piper had said something about the Spectre, a namedrop that carried an undercurrent of desperation and dread.

Then Dick remembered his last conversation with Barbara. That she’d traced Jerrie to the Haven the night of Chemo’s blast. He sucked in a sharp breath as his insides tightened. The joyful reunion that he’d so desperately needed was going to be completely shattered when he told Piper what had most likely happened to his sister. Dick squeezed him tighter, steeling himself up to give the bad news, when Wally cut him off.

“The Riddler emailed Hartley, saying that he had Jerrie and to come pick her up. We just checked out the place and it’s clean. I almost thought Hart misread the email-”

“I absolutely did not! He told me exactly where they were-”

“I know! I said ‘almost.’ But yeah, then we found this.” Wally handed Dick an envelope that he’d taken out of his jacket pocket before changing into the Flash costume. Reluctantly, Dick finally let go of his boyfriend so he could read the small card inside.

“Riddle me this: When a girl slips on ice, why can't her brother help her up? Answer: He can't be a brother and assist her (a sister). Dearest Hartley, upon further reflection it seems terribly irresponsible to release this sensitive, fascinating child into your care. Don’t trouble yourself any further regarding Jerrie; we’re like two peas in a pod. Best of luck with your legal troubles. -Ed.” Dick finished reading the card, then heaved himself back into his chair, seeing as the conversation was only going to get more awkward if he had it while straddling Piper.

Piper seemed to feel similarly, since he took a seat in one of the armchairs by the fireplace. He kept his head down, eyes averted. Wally remained standing, but he shifted from foot to foot with anxious energy.

“Look, I don’t know the guy as well as either of you…” Here Wally paused and pointedly looked at Piper, for all the good that did since he had his eyes trained on his wringing hands. “But this seems kind of out of left field for him. Why would he kidnap Jerrie?”

Dick frowned. “Yeah…other than occasionally moonlighting with puzzle toys, he doesn’t really associate himself with kids. I mean, as someone who fought him while I was still a kid, I got the impression he finds them irritating. Hartley, I know I didn’t press you about this before but maybe you should tell us about your history with Nigma. Just, it might give us something to work with here.”

“There’s honestly not much to say,” Piper mumbled. “When I was still an up and coming villain, I got frustrated with the Central City Rogues and I tried relocating to Gotham. I got some bad gossip about Ed and thought we might hit it off so I reached out to him. While I was still trying to get to know him he got obsessed with me, and I didn’t notice how creepy he was getting because of all the love bombing…and I was pretty stupid about guys when I was twenty. Okay, very stupid. Anyway, um, when I-while we worked on a project, I realized that we actually were very different sorts of villains. I mean, I never actually wanted to hurt anyone but he…well, so yeah, I panicked and I…I left. Len and Sam helped me deal with him until his interest was piqued by something else and he moved on. We were only together for a week.”

“In Riddler time a week is a pretty strong commitment,” Dick said.

“Tell me about it,” Piper said, dripping bitterness. “He’s been reaching out to me periodically ever since but I’ve never responded. I…the whole thing, it was such a mistake. It was a terrible miscommunication.”

Dick reached over and grasped his hand. “It’s okay, Hart. No one’s judging you. Wally and I have made more than our share of stupid mistakes in our love lives too.”

Wally opened his mouth, thought better of it, and then gave his head a small shake. “Yeah, we’ve definitely both fucked up. But wait, so you left the Riddler and he was still hung up on you, right? So that’s probably a good thing then. He wouldn’t want to hurt your sister if he thinks he’s in love with you, right?”

“That’s the thing though, Wally. He just hurts people,” Piper said. “He’s not in his right mind. He doesn’t even seem to notice when he kills people sometimes. That’s what scared me. He murdered one of his henchwomen, and then a few weeks later he asked where she’d gone and had to be reminded that he was the one who’d done it. H-he killed one of my old friends. Gabrielle. We’d had a falling out, and I vented to him about her and after he did it…he said it was for me. Said it was a gift.” Piper let out a full bodied shudder. “Ed might think he likes Jerrie right now, but that could change at any time. We have to get her back.”

“We will.” Dick squeezed Piper’s hand. “I’m not really in fighting shape just yet but I have some contacts I can reach out to for intel. While I’m doing that, I’ll get you some addresses you can check out, and I’ve got a list of aliases he likes to cycle through. Oh, and definitely see if you can get a meeting with the Penguin. Penguin and Riddler are kinda friends but they also kinda hate each other. If Riddler’s done something bitchy recently, Penguin will send you in the right direction with enthusiastic glee.”

“Sounds good. Oh, what about Catwoman?” Wally asked. “I thought she worked with Riddler sometimes too, and isn’t she currently on good terms with…I hit a nerve, didn’t I?”

Dick took a deep breath through his nose and forced himself to unclench his jaw as a series of memories came back to him all at once. “I’m fine. Just realizing that my ex-mentor is even more of a hypocritical douche than I remembered. ‘Don’t date reformed supervillains, Dick. You’re not just compromising your own secret identity, Dick. You’re compromising all of us.’ God fucking damn it, Bruce.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yeah, Catwoman’s frenemies with Riddler too, but they might not be talking just now because Bruce fucking unmasked himself to Selina, and I’m betting Nigma would be salty as fuck over that. Anyway, I’ll see if I can get in touch with her too. She might be able to help. For fuck’s sake, she’s not even reformed! She works with us sometimes but she’s still a wanted criminal.”

Dick started wheeling himself back towards the Cave, still grumbling under his breath. Hesitantly, Wally and Piper trailed after him.

Jerrie couldn’t believe what a good time she was having living with Edward. If she wasn’t still worried about getting in touch with Hartley, it would have been the most relaxed she’d ever been in her entire life.

He taught her so much about how her brain worked. Being autistic meant she had to take care of herself differently than people who weren’t autistic, and since her parents and her aunt had always tried so hard to make her act like everyone else she’d spent the first sixteen years of her life anxious for reasons she hadn’t fully understood. But Edward let her rock back and forth, carry Sparklehorn with her wherever she went if she wanted to, wear ugly clothes if they felt better, eat whatever simple foods she wanted, and he never, ever turned on the big ceiling lights. He didn’t mind if she wanted to listen to the same song ten times in a row (but sometimes he asked her to put on her headphones when she did it), and he liked it when she went on and on about her favorite books and TV shows. Then he would tell her about a book he was reading or a movie he liked, and they’d take turns, and it was just like how having a conversation was supposed to be. Because why would you want to talk about something boring when you could talk about Fruits Basket?

Edward told her about hyperfixations, a term he didn’t personally like because he felt that it was just how anyone ought to approach the things that interested them. “How interested in something can you possibly be if you don’t crave to learn everything there is to know about it? I can’t imagine going through life without curiosity, can you?” He liked puzzles, games, and linguistics, and so spent a lot of time reading up on his interests, writing riddles, and playing games. Jerrie wasn’t sure if her interests counted but he quickly assured her that they did. “What are your passions, Jerrie? I’ll expand the house’s library accordingly for you.”

That was another thing. They’d moved out of the pretty house by the waterfront for some reason. Jerrie liked the new one - it was in a quieter part of the city, which was nice. But she’d liked being by the water too. There had been a lot more pigeons and seagulls to look at.

“I like music-” Jerrie started.

“Everyone likes music. Besides, that’s your brother’s hyperfixation. Are you sure you’re thinking for yourself?”

Jerrie pressed her lips together and looked down at her lap. “You know, Mom and Dad thought I was faking being gay because they thought I was copying Hartley. Maybe we just have a lot in common because we’re brother and sister and he was the only person who ever listened to me all the way. I know I listen to music really closely and spend a lot of time thinking about it and learning about it, and maybe it is because it makes me think of Hartley, but that doesn’t mean it’s not also me.”

“I’m sorry, Jerrie. That’s perfectly true.” Edward steepled his fingers together as he considered. “Is there anything else though? Any hobbies or interests you have that are just your own?”

“Let’s see…I like manga a lot. I’m running a Sailor Moon fan site with one of my friends from Keystone. I really, really, really like Sailor Mars. She’s pretty and tough and she doesn’t cry all the time like me and Usagi do. And, um…do birds count? I like birds.”

Edward nodded. “Birds count. In fact, I have another friend who is highly interested in birds. Oh, shoot. Actually, I’m not positive we’re on speaking terms at the moment, but as soon as I sort that out I’ll see if perhaps we can visit one of his houses. He has a large collection of all sorts of exotic birds, more elaborate than any zoo-”

“I like pigeons. Pigeons are my favorites.” Jerrie bounced a little in her seat, thinking about how cute the pigeons at the train station were, and how happy she always got watching them bob their heads while they walked around looking for food. “Did you know that they’re not wild, they’re actually feral? Pigeons were domesticated, but then people didn’t need them anymore and they just-they just released them. So now they’re drifting around and they stay near where people live because I think they kinda remember that they’re supposed to be pets. That, that people are supposed to be protecting them but they…they don’t. Y’know. Anyway, I just like them a lot and yeah, people did always say that was weird of me. I tried to bring a pigeon home with me once and Mom yelled a lot. She didn’t usually yell at me but she said I was going to get a disease and she made me put the pigeon back. I wanted to name her Brenda. She had pretty feathers and I just know she was supposed to be a pet.”

“O-oh.” Edward was silent for a moment. “Well, I’m not sure how interested my friend is in pigeons but I can still ask. Either way, we’ll secure you a Brenda.”

Jerrie smiled. She wanted to hug Edward but he didn’t like hugs so she squeezed Sparklehorn instead. “Thank you. I really mean it. I was so lucky to bump into you that night, and then you’ve been so nice to me ever since. I don’t know how to ever pay you back for everything but I’d like to try.”

“There is actually something I could use your assistance on.”

Jerrie perked up, and listened while Edward explained about his surprise daughter. Edie was the same age as Jerrie, but Edward hadn’t known about her until a couple of months ago. He didn’t like the idea of being a father and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to get along with a teenage girl.

“But you get along with me.” Jerrie hugged her unicorn a little tighter. “Or, I thought…I thought you did.”

“Well that’s just it. I changed my mind on the subject when I found you,” Edward explained. “You see, it occurred to me that even though I don’t enjoy the company of the average teenager, it is possible for me to get along with an unusual one. And where Edie is my child, even though I haven’t raised her, perhaps it’s possible that she’s inherited some of my qualities. I’ve decided that I’d like to meet her, and see if she’s as interesting and pleasant as you. If she’s even half so, she’ll be wonderful company for us, don’t you think?”

“You think she might be autistic too?”

“It does run in families.”

Jerrie pouted. “That’s not fair. How come none of my family was then? Mom and Dad always tried so hard to make me normal-”

“Common. Bland. Unexceptional. Please, use the appropriate vocabulary for what you’re describing.” Edward got up from the armchair he’d been sitting in and started walking around the room. Just like Jerrie liked to rock back and forth, he liked to move around when he was thinking. “I’ve invited Edie to stay for the weekend. I’m thinking of it as a sort of trial run. If she’s interesting and well behaved, perhaps she can stay on. It would be something, to have a constant companion I could rely on. And I do hope that she’ll appeal to you as well. In the best case scenario, I’d hope that the two of you would feel like sisters towards each other.”

“Well, if she’s as nice as you and fun to talk to I probably will.” Jerrie felt her face heat up as something else occurred to her.

If Edie was pretty, and she was nice and easy to talk to and didn’t think Jerrie was weird…maybe they could be girlfriends? Axel seemed to be done with her, and she wasn’t sure if she was ever going to get back to Central City at this rate anyway. It had been so long since she’d heard from Axel that she’d stopped even checking her email. He’d probably started dating one of the prettier girls from Keystone Out! and just never gotten around to telling her. Jerrie had been trying not to think about it too much, since all it did was make her sad and she couldn’t even get any answers about it.

But Axel wasn’t talking to her, and that was probably an answer all on its own. People never did actually tell her when they didn’t want to be her friend anymore, they just left.

Maybe Edie would be pretty, and nice, and she wouldn’t care about things like being sent away even though you couldn’t control it.

Edward asked for Jerrie’s advice in setting up the guest bedroom for Edie (that must have been why they’d moved - this house had more rooms in it than the one by the waterfront). Since neither of them knew much about Edward’s daughter, they were really doing a lot of guessing. But they set up a comfortable room, and Edward listened to Jerrie’s suggestions about decorating. They had lunch together, and then Edward went out for work. Even though he talked a lot about himself he still hadn’t told Jerrie what it was he did for work but she thought it must have something to do with writing. He spent a lot of time at his desk writing things down on little green cards.

Jerrie took a walk to a nearby park and spent some time watching the pigeons, and really thought about how they made her feel. While she was focusing on them, a bunch of them came over and started perching on her. She started breathing deeply and her eyes drifted shut.

She felt so warm and safe. It was so different from how things had always been.

When Jerrie opened her eyes, she stared in wonderment at the birds. There were so many pigeons now. In addition to the ones on her shoulders and lap and the top of her head, there were pigeons crowded all around the park bench she’d been resting on. Their eyes were glowing with a pale blue light, and they were all cooing softly and watching her. Every pigeon in the park must have found its way over to her bench.

She probably should have been scared but she wasn’t. Jerrie grinned and started petting one of the ones on her lap. “Oh, look at all the friends I’ve got now. Hello, dears. I don’t have anything for you to eat but is it okay if we’re just friends and we sit together? I think it is. Oh, you’re all so nice. Thank you for keeping me company while Edward’s away.”

When it started to get dark out, Jerrie said goodbye to the birds and promised to come back for another visit. She knew she was mostly talking to herself, but while their eyes were glowing blue they seemed to understand her. As soon as the blue light went away they started acting like normal pigeons again.

Edward was already home when she got back, but he was in his study with his headphones on. That meant that she could sit quietly and read a book or something, but that he didn’t want anyone to talk to him just then. He said it was an important part of regulating himself after having to be out in mixed company. Jerrie went into her room to get a notebook, thinking she’d work on her next Sailor Mars story for the website, but she let out a pleased gasp when she saw the floor to ceiling wrought iron birdcage that now took up nearly the whole wall of her bedroom. It was fitted up perfectly with every supply she would need for her first pet pigeon, and there was a stack of books on the bottom of the cage all about taking care of her future pet.

She grabbed one of the books and her headphones, hugged the book to her chest, and then danced over to Edward’s study to sit with him in silence for the next two hours.

Axel had two emails from Jerrie and that was it. They were both pretty old, but one of them had some pictures attached. They were mostly of some ugly birds on a dirty concrete floor, but there was one picture that Jerrie had taken of herself. Her hair was down and it was flying all around her face. It must have been a windy day - her cheeks were red and she was wearing a scarf. Axel printed out the picture of Jerrie and tucked it into the pocket of his cargo pants, then he emailed her back.

He thought about ignoring the fact that he hadn’t been in touch for over a month but decided that no, he probably should do a little groveling.

The Rogues had been ‘giving him tips’ on how to talk to girls, but so far all he’d picked up from them was that he should do the opposite of whatever they said. None of them seemed to have very good love lives (Len paid for his company, so Axel wondered where the hell he got off trying to give anyone else advice). Mark had some moves, but girls didn’t seem to put up with him for more than a night or two, so that probably had more to do with the fact that he was kinda hot than anything he actually said or did. At any rate, they would probably tell him to play it cool and not look weak or whatever, so he figured opening with an apology was the right move.

Hey pretty girl,

Sorry I haven’t been around. I’ve had a crazy couple of months. I moved out (long story - hopefully I can tell you about it in person soonish) but don’t worry, I found some cool guys that are letting me stay with them. They can be jerks sometimes but mostly we’re tight. I have my own room so you can come and stay over if your aunt will let you. We could watch a movie together… ;)  XP

I miss you. I hope your aunt and uncle aren’t being too shitty. Maybe I’ll head out to Boston and pay em a visit. Pull some pranks n see if I can change their mood for you

Oh yeah and I’m getting my surgery. I just handled the last details with my roommate and he said he’d help so I’m all set. After I recover I’ll swing out to Boston so we can hang out. I’m not in school anymore so I have nothing but time. But like I’m not a bum I swear. I’m working too. But not right now because TOP SURGERY wooooooooooo their gonna be GONE BABY. I’m gonna be so hot, you wont even recognize me anymore babe. You’ll be like ‘who’s that hottie over there - THAT’S AXEL NO WAY I’M SO GLAD I’M DATING SUCH A HOTTTTTTTIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE’

Well maybe not cuz you’re classier than me. I really miss you, Jerrie.

Write me back soon? Or call me. I have a phone again.

Kay, bye!

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Yeah, that was probably the opposite of something Mardon or Snart would write. Axel hit send, then logged out and headed back to the hideout so he could tape Jerrie’s picture up by his workbench.