Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hal just wants to go home.

Is that too much to ask for?

Really?

Hal is a firm believer in allowing people to go home if they would rather collapse in their bed for a good nights rest rather than getting thrown around some stupid city by slimy and sticky aliens who cover everything else in the same slime and stick as they screech and yell nonsensically about what he guesses is world domination or something of the like.

But nooo!

He can't leave, because he made the grave mistake of committing to the fucking bit by wearing green jewelry and a space suit and now he's not allowed to skip out!

Even when everything is sticky and slimy and wet and ew!

Should've stayed in space. Away from all the goo and the people.

Or he should've stayed in the air force. Away from all the super-shit and the people.

Hal makes a construct of a giant middle finger and punts it at a group of the sticky bastards. He's pretty sure they're called The Qarrig or something like that. Doesn't make them any less punt-able, though.

The Empress girl— who Hal had heard of once in the context that she was retired now— snorts at the sight. Before she brandishes her blades and teleports into the fray of de-centered Qarrigi and cuts them down. As one does, of course.

"Empress. Limit fatalities!" Someone— Red Robin— orders over comms. Hal can see him on top of some sky-scraper, looking down at the Qarrigi with a calculating tilt to his head. He sounds dejected— as if neither of them really care about his orders in the slightest, but he has to keep up his facade of 'golden boy' in front of Spooky.

"Yeah, yeah— how about you hit the slimy fuck behind you and let me do my shit?" Empress responds, grunting as she cuts off the arm of an extraordinarily brave Qarrig. Hal can see Red Robin slam his staff backward without even looking. Right into one of the oversized eyes.

The Qarrig screams as it falls down the sky-scraper, an arrow embedding itself in its leg— pinning it to the side of the building— a couple feet from the ground.

"Heh— nice one, A," Empress laughs, absentmindedly throwing another alien through the shop window beside her. Arrowette chirps a quick 'thanks' in response.

Batman grounds out a rough, threatening 'chatter', effectively silencing Hal's only source of enjoyment.

Party pooper.

Hal— and the Young Justice kids— fight in dejected silence for another twenty minutes or so, only giving orders and warnings to other heroes as they kick and punch and teleport and fly and shoot and holy shit these children are fucking feral.

Hal fucking loves them.

"Red Robin, someone is attempting to access comms via your systems," A mechanic voice announces over the grunts and the slimy sounds of flesh and metal hitting goo. Oracle, probably.

"One of my back doors?" Red Robin grunts in question, throwing himself off of a different skyscraper as he throws some disks at more Qarrigi. Wonder Girl catches him before he becomes a pancake on the ground, dropping him off in the middle of a different gooey mess, apparently used to the borderline suicide attempts.

"Yeah. 'State Secrets'?" Oracle answers, question evident in her tone, though she doesn't outright question the way Red Robin works.

Smart.

The kid does not like that.

Probably because of the whole 'O-M-G he's insane' thing, though Hal was in space when that happened, so he could be dead wrong. Apparently Wonder Girl joined a cult!

There's a cacophony of snorts and whoops from the Young Justice members for some reason. Hal doesn't address this, too busy caging a couple Qarrigi before throwing the box over to Wonder Woman for her to deal with.

"Let her in." Red Robin says easily.

There's a click, followed by some irregular beeps that are probably a code or designation or something, followed by another beep and a mechanized voice saying access granted, though it isn't Oracle's voice.

"Good morning my minions!" A soft, cheery voice greets them over the comms, way too hyper for the situation.

"Mornin' Suzie!" Young Justice echoes back, varying levels of excited and tired.

The voice Hal guesses belongs to this 'Suzie' person cackles excitedly, before gathering her breath and speaking again. "Are we having a dance party?"

The other heroes— consisting of the Justice League, the Titans and some bats who were bored or something— are all eerily silent as Young Justice reacts.

Empress, Impulse and Superboy cackle and whoop, whilst Red Robin, Wonder Girl and Arrowette groan and mutter 'oh no's under their breaths.

"Suzie, you cannot be serious right now." Wonder Girl orders, almost desperately.

Suzie laughs again. "'Fraid I am. Tradition holds, miss Wonder."

A net arrow flies past Hal's face as Arrowette replies, "Like, everyone is here right now. What the fuck S?"

Hal really wants to question what this tradition they're talking about is. He bets it's fun, and something Bats would totally disapprove of. Which honestly kinda makes Hal want to join in.

Red Robin grumbles for a couple seconds, causing Impulse and Superboy to start pleading about tradition and pinky promises and 'don't be a little bitch, Rob'. "Only one." He acquiesces eventually, throwing another alien over to Empress for her to …maim.

And look— Hal is not very good with people. Especially not with bats. But he's like 78% sure he sees Red Robin smile through his grumbling.

Or maybe Hal is just sleep deprived. Who even fucking knows anymore?

Wonder Girl sighs, "Pick your jam, dearest DJ," She says, smile much more audible in her voice.

There's an echo of clearing throats as something clicks on the other end of the line.

Hal thinks that maybe the DJ part was meant literally.

He also thinks he was right and this will be fucking awesome.

There's a barrage of loud knocks, and almost immediately Superboy and Empress start throwing out 'eh-eh's like it's their fucking profession.

There's a very audible sigh— and a squeal of excitement— heard over the beat of the drums before Red Robin launches himself off of another building, toward more Qarrigi as he and the rest of the young superheroes start singing.

Yes.

Yes Hal is going to enjoy this very much.

"Like sugar on my tongue, tongue, tongue,"

The children sing, punching their way through Qarrigi as if absolutely nothing is amiss.

"Your body is so sweet, sweet, sweet,"

"Invite me if you come, come, come,"

"It's all I want to eat, eat, eat,"

Nightwing— who'd started vibing to the music almost immediately— abruptly stopped, as if remembering that Young Justice are kids and his baby brother is the one singing this song with them.

Hal can basically feel the absolute mind-fuck he's going through right now.

"Tell your mama" The boys screech, not even focused on the song as they coordinate attacks with each other perfectly.

"Tell 'em, what" The girls roar back, beating through Qarrigi as if they have better things they could be doing right now.

"Tell your daddy" The girls follow up.

"Tell 'em, what" The boys sing.

Hal is fucking amazed that they have roles in this shit.

And, as he watches Red Robin jump onto Superboy, wrapping his legs around his waist as he jabs a Qarrig behind his back, before allowing himself to drop down to street level as if it's not three fucking stories whilst all of them are still singing, ("Tell them bitches what you know, what you heard about me, uh-huh") Hal kind of thinks he doesn't need to buy concert tickets for that one show anymore.

This shit is leagues better.

And free!

"Tell your mama," The boys sing again, out of breath and out of tune. Echoed by the girls.

"Tell your daddy" The girls sing, winded and grunting. Echoed by the boys.

Impulse is standing on Superboy's shoulders, throwing Red Robin's discs at more aliens.

Arrowette is on Wonder Girl's shoulders, shooting cold arrows that freeze the slime-based creatures in place.

Red Robin is on Empress' shoulders, teleporting between groups of Qarrigi, both slashing with blades.

"Tell the world! Tell the world!" They all howl, like over dramatic little shits.

"Like sugar on my tongue"

"Can I steal that from you"

The kids disperse almost as quickly as they came together, appearing on different places around the battlefield with impressive speed, acting as if absolutely nothing just happened. As if absolutely nothing is happening.

"Are you from Harlem?" Impulse, Red Robin and Arrowette sing.

"Make your arms and legs shake" Superboy, Wonder Girl and Empress sing, almost over them.

Impulse, Red Robin and Arrowette take the uh-huh that comes after that sentence.

And the uh-huh following the line "Give me a slice of cream, is it your birthday?" Sung by the other three heroes.

And the uh-huh after "I got a brush, give me your walls, and I'll paint"

Hal almost relishes in the choked-off sounds of the older heroes, the ones related to these devil-children. And he would, really, but he's too busy being drowned in goo to really enjoy the moment.

"Don't need no air, I stay down there 'till I faint," Superboy, Wonder Girl and Empress sing, each fighting off their own horde of slimy demons from space-hell that don't deserve to make the whole city sticky.

"Girl, I'm dead," The other three sing back, almost laughing as they do.

They sing another verse of 'tell your mama's and 'tell your daddy's almost distractedly, like they're not even aware that the sounds are coming out of their mouths.

Arrowette shoots down a Qarrig sneaking up behind Black Canary almost lazily, offering a quick nod when Dinah waves in appreciation.

It's the Suzie girl who sings the dragged out 'Tell the world', allowing her friends slash teammates slash who even is this girl, anyway to catch their breath for a quick second as they fight against the thinning waves of Qarrigi.

But then they're right back to the "Like sugar on my tongue, can I steal that from you? Like sugar on my tongue"

"Can I steal that before I go?" Suzie sings, cackle audible in her voice.

There's another round of quick beats.

"You wanna eat me up?" Superboy sings, plucking Green Arrow from the corner of a building just before he's able to get cornered by two Qarrigi, dropping him off the next roof over.

"You wanna be my friend?" Empress follows, embedding one of her blades in one of the alien's eyes, pink goo trickling down and mixing with all the other goo.

"You wanna get me up?" Wonder Girl adds, sounding tired but amused, knocking two Qarrig head's together before letting their unconscious bodies fall onto the street with a plop.

"And never be locked in?" Impulse cackles, the sound echoing around the city as he flits through buildings at the speed of light, absolutely delighted.

"I wanna take you down," Arrowette mutters, an arrow knocking a Qarrig off balance and off of the side of the building they were climbing.

"You wanna be my friend?" Red Robin grunts, kicking an alien into one of its companions, away from himself and the civilian trapped underneath a crumpled coffee cart.

"No, no, no, no, no," Suzie sings happily, audibly basking in her success even if Hal has no fucking clue who she is or if he ever even met her.

Suzie is also the one who sings the following "Oh-whoa, oh-oh"'s, the only time the heroes sing being quiet mutters at the end of their string.

"Girl, I'll eat you up"

"I'll eat you up"

"I'll eat you up"

"Huh, lemme just taste it" The kids say.

"Ain't got a cuff or nothing (eat you up)" Their voices are barely audible now.

"I promise I'll take you out on a date"

"Just trust me (eat you up)" The kids finish, music having tapered off.

Suzie sighs contentedly on her end of the comm line, a giggle escaping her throat. "Thanks! Bye! Call me tomorrow!" She chirps, all cheery and excited, before a click and that same pattern as when Suzie joined the comm line, accompanied by another beep and the same unknown mechanized voice saying connection terminated.

For a while, not a word is said over comms.

No instructions, no warnings, no nothing.

Only grunts and clashing and other background noise.

And then, "So we were able to decipher The Qarrigi message. Apparently they wanted to learn earth customs and heard of many valiant fights. Their language has been programmed into your translator's, if you'd like to clarify that fighting isn't fun for you guys," Cyborg.

When they're eventually all packed up, forming a distracted semi circle in the middle of some cross-section, all covered in goo and slime, all exhausted and in pain, The Qarrigi having apologized profusely, establishing a proper connection with earth before boarding their ships and returning to their home planet, Hal fucking laughs.

Because the slime and goo and pain was absolutely worth that fucking concert.

Hal is so glad he committed to the bit.

He's also still a firm believer that these children are abso-fucking-lutely insane.

Chapter Text

Due to some recent backlash regarding the Titan's latest clash with the United States Military (they needed a jet, okay? Not all of them can fly, Senator.) and the overall dislike of the Teen Titans since the four leftover Young Justice members joined and kept their chaos from before— the Justice League tasked the two hero teams with the making of a PR video, touring Titans Tower.

Apparently it'd show they're humans too (dude, seriously?) and endear people to them more.

And… it did.

There was just a very different reason behind the recent popularity spike.

Namely the four Teen Titans members that are part of the reason the video had to be made in the first place.

Cyborg had sent it over to the Watchtower's computer with a message that it just needed to be reviewed for any oversights before they'd publish it.

Of course, the people who were on Monitor Duty when it was sent over were Oliver and Barry.

And, of course, they'd watched the first four minutes before deciding that it was fine, telling Cyborg as much, because they found it boring.

So, that's why they're all here now, reviewing the PR video together, as a team, because of the outrageous reaction's it'd been getting online.

Why did they let teenagers do this themselves? Don't they remember?

One of their PR representatives— Rick, nice guy, very professional— had flagged multiple comments online, ranging from 'dude that tower looks fucking awesome' and 'valid's to 'holy shit what the actual fuck was that????' and 'YOU CANT JUST CUT IT THERE!! IM CALLING MY MOMMY' sending it to the Watchtower's monitors with a message to review the video ASAP.

Clark had overheard Lois and Jimmy talk about writing an article surrounding the video, but Batman had called an emergency meeting to the Watchtower before he could understand what it was about.

Looks like he's about to find out.

"Are we all settled?" Diana questions, breaking up the chatter. She's in lounge wear, the woolen sweater Bruce had gifted to her after she'd commented about the cold one time. Diana hadn't even been cold, she just commented that one of their witnesses looked chilly with the recent temperatures.

(It's her favourite sweater and she wears it all winter.)

Everyone answers Diana with chipper 'yes ma'am's and 'let's get this over with's and 'always'. And a grunt, in Bruce's case.

J'onn presses play on the already loaded up video, the lights automatically dimming a smidge before audio starts playing from the room's speakers, together with the faces of Raven, Starfire, Beast Boy and Superboy II appearing on the big screen.

Jon had said something about Damian and the claim that he is 'above such a childish waste of time'. Jon had complained about it for a week before forgetting it ever happened, rather enjoying the prospect of his next playdate with Damian.

The first half of the tour goes fine, the viewers being led through the (public) entrance whilst Garfield explains that there aren't many other heroes at the tower at the moment of filming, just some other Teen Titans they might be able to find.

Eventually they go up to the hall of heroes, where Raven goes on to explain that this is where they honour their fallen heroes. All the plaques with real names are covered with black, silky cloths, hiding the identities of the fallen.

Every statue is brought into frame, leaving no one out, though they don't linger in the hall very long.

Clark understands. The reminder of fallen friends and allies is never a fun one, rather icing something over in your heart for you to relive part of that grief until it warms back up to that numb feeling.

After showing off one of the communal kitchens (an excuse for Garfield to grab more snacks) and explaining why it's so messy "People are constantly coming in and out. People with enhanced metabolisms and hungry teenagers who don't understand the concept of not warming fish in the microwave,"

That's when the Justice League understands the public's reaction to the video.

Jon leads the camera up to the entertainment rooms, completely ignoring the strewn around clothes and the abandoned pizza boxes, opting to show off all their cool games and playing a game of ping pong with Garfield.

Starfire tells the camera they also have a multi-game court on the training levels, where they'll be heading later, before Raven shows off their board game shelves, loaded with boxes upon boxes of different types of games.

They even include a quick montage of them playing Uno. (Raven won.)

It's then that Garfield leads them all to the theatre room, which has a light burning outside, showing that someone is inside playing a movie.

"The Wondrous Girl spoke of seeing a movie with 'her boys' tonight!" Kori announces excitedly, pushing open the door and waltzing inside without a care.

The rest of the tour-guide-heroes follow Kori inside.

Then they stop short. Because, yes, Cassie is indeed watching a movie with her boys, but they're also all screeching.

Or sobbing.

The camera's microphone isn't able to pick it up all that well because of the sheer volume.

Clark knows it may sound weird to others, how the boys are claimed as Cassie's, and not as their own people. He found it weird too, when he heard the term the first couple times.

Nothing will make it any less accurate, though.

Those boys are hers.

Her team, her friends, her people, her soulmates.

Hers, and hers alone.

They'd gotten fear-gassed, one time on a mission— some Scarecrow goons having sold the canisters to a wannabe rogue for some extra cash— and when anyone tried getting close to any of them to administer an antidote, Cassie pounced. Feral and protective. Eyes wild.

Bart had eventually come down fast enough to keep Cassie calm as Diana administered her an antidote, allowing Cassie to do it for Tim and Conner.

Even after they were all back in their right minds (or as right as they can be) they were still inseparable, clinging to each other like they were the others' lifelines.

He's pretty sure he remembers seeing Cassie carry Bart— who was wrapped around her waist, nose snuggled into the crook of her neck— whilst Tim was pushing his way under her arm, clinging onto her desperately.

Conner had played it off like he was fine, though Kal had seen him rush toward their side once he thought they'd turned the corner fully.

In the video, they can see Wonder Girl rather clearly in the corner of the plush couch, clinging to a shaking black haired boy in her lap, easily guessed to be Robin. Robin's foot is being clung to by an auburn-haired boy, who's standing in front of the couch with the most performative sorrowful stance Clark has ever seen on the Impulse, packet of Twizzlers clutched in his fist like a lifeline. On Impulse's other side is Superboy I, on his knees as he grasps at Impulse's arm, clinging to it in an awkward hug, Twizzlers pressing into his cheek uncomfortably.

J'onn pauses the clip.

Clark is extremely glad for the reprieve it gives his eardrums.

"I can see what caused the internet's reaction…" Arthur murmurs, trailing off into a confused silence.

"50 bucks says it'll get worse," Hal proclaims, holding out his hand to the man.

"Worse how?" Ollie asks, reaching for his wallet. Dinah catches his arm and sends him a glare, hissing; "You'd have know if you reviewed the footage,"

Ollie's hand sinks back into his lap, dejected.

"We'll discuss after we've seen the situation." Bruce growls, nodding at J'onn to press play once everyone had quieted down.

The video plays again, and after a few seconds the microphone has stabilized, picking up the sounds of a movie underneath what is now definitely identifiable as sobs coming from the young superheroes.

"Nothing but the truth now!" They all screech, voices broken and sobbing, and raw from previous screaming and all the crying.

"Nothing but the proof of what I am!" The camera focuses on the theatre's screen for a second, allowing the viewers to see the movie that's being watched. A box of text lights up in the top left corner, crediting the movie and the song and claiming absolutely zero ownership. Five stars flash in the bottom right.

Clark hears the emphasis on 'what' loud and clear, a piece of his heart breaking off and sinking into the bottom of his stomach as if it was a rock.

"The worst of what I came from"

Conner's cries sound as if they're projecting more than just the song's lyrics. As if he's crying about being part Lex Luthor, or all the bad parts he got to see from Kal rather than all the good Clark tries to be, of all the good everyone puts on his name.

Clark regrets how he handled Conner's introduction, he regrets because it made them both worse people and now there is still no way for them to bond properly.

Their relationship is tainted. Wrong.

Conner deserved (deserves) a father, no matter how uncomfortable Clark may have been. He didn't deserve Clark's cold shoulders and harsh words. He didn't deserve to be thrown away.

At least Lex already had the evil part going for himself. Conner didn't have to expect him to be kind.

"Patterns I'm ashamed of"

"Things that even I don't understand"

Arthur hands Hal a crisp fifty dollar bill, grumbling, though his expression is one of pure enjoyment.

Hal looks elated.

"I tried to fix it"

"I tried to hide it"

"My head was twisted"

"My heart divided"

The kids' sobs come back in full force, making them unable to keep singing along to the movie.

Clark is certain this is less about the movie and more about them.

About their lives.

He doesn't dare comment on it.

The young woman in the movie sounds much better than them. Though that may be because she's a professional, and also not sobbing her guts out.

"The scars are part of me" Tim manages to sing, sounding absolutely wrecked.

"Darkness and harmony"

"My voice without the lies this is what it sounds like" Tim howls, voice wavering.

Bart is the next to have steadied himself, or maybe they've already assigned themselves parts, like they did during the alien battle.

"Why did I cover up the colors stuck inside my head?"

"I should've let the jagged edges meet the light instead" Conner continues after him.

"Show me what's underneath" Cassie cries, clutching a limp Robin to her chest.

"I'll find our harmony" She promises.

The 'our' is a deliberate change, making the song theirs rather than the movies'. Promising her love to her boys.

"DO SOMETHING REF!" Bart screeches, slapping Conner upside the head with his Twizzlers before jabbing the packet into his face and starting to chew.

The girls in the movie keep singing.

The kids on screen keep sobbing.

"We're shattering the silence! We're rising! Defiant!" They sing together.

Barry snorts, remembering all the chaotic and stupid things these four and their other friends got up to in their Young Justice days.

Defiant indeed.

"Shouting in the quiet" Conner screeches.

"'You're not alone'!" Cassie adds.

Tim's hair disappears behind the couch, voice coming out muffled from where he's most likely pressed it into Cassie's stomach; "Mom, I wanna go home,"

"So we were cowards"

"So we were liars"

"So we're not heroes"

"We're still survivors!" They all wail, clinging to one another and the couch and the Twizzlers for dear life.

"The dreamers, the fighters"

"No lying, I'm tired,"

"But dive in the fire and I'll be right here by your side" Clark isn't sure how it happened, but the teens are all in a heap on the floor now, a shaking cuddle-pile of sugar rush and sadness.

It's a painfully them thing to do.

And listen— Clark? He loves the Justice League. He trusts them with his life, and he wouldn't have it any other way, even in their stupidity.

But he also knows he'll never have what those four have. He'll never know these people as well as the children know each other.

The camera pans to the others' faces, varying from open-mouthed shock to tired acknowledgement. The clip cuts off there, and the tour continues in front of the gym as if nothing just happened.

Batman makes them watch the whole video to the end to ensure that there's nothing else causing the public's reactions.

There isn't.

It's silent.

Eerily so.

Then, Hal shifts. "They're definitely more humanized to the public…" He comments.

Clark face-palms.

Bruce lets his head fall onto the table in a show of truly not caring anymore.

"Next time, watch the video to the end, or send it to someone else who you trust will," Dinah says, looking directly at her husband and Barry.

Barry fidgets.

"Should we… check up on them?" He asks.

In unison, Clark, Bruce and Diana all snap their heads up, postures straightening.

"Yeah, I'm gonna—"

"I should call—"

"I don't even know where—"