Fic: Falling Into Bed - V | DCU | Booster/Blue Beetle | PG-13 | 5/?
Title: Falling Into Bed - V
Fandom: DCU
Pairing: (this section) Booster Gold/Blue Beetle II
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 641
Summary: (this section) Since Booster managed to save Ted from the past, things have settled down. It was only a matter of time before Ted found out about the scandal Booster got into during "52".
Disclaimer: DC and WB own it all. I own nothing. Darnit.
Author's Notes: This is the fifth in a series of ficlets written for several Valentine's Day challenges. This one didn't make the cut for either, since it has no V-Day references, but I couldn't *not* include it. ^_^
Falling Into Bed - V
Standing silently in the doorway, Michael watched Ted absorbing one of the hundred or so year-old video exposès on Booster Gold's fall from grace. It was a particularly nasty piece, the reporter calling him the worst kind of fraud, a charlatan with no hope for redemption, an unforgivable disgrace to the superhero community and humanity at large.
Worst still, it was all true. The faked rescues... well, it hadn't exactly been his shining moment. Ted, of course, was bound to find out about it sooner or later.
Which made Michael's chest and gut ache with fear. Ted had forgiven him for past mistakes before, and often, but this... he didn't know how his partner would take it that he'd become such a... a lie after his death. Ted certainly wasn't giving him any clues, yet, anyway, just kept watching the video report over and over, hands laying on the console, unmoving.
God, Booster couldn't even be sure Ted was breathing at this point, he was so still!
All he could do was watch. And wait. And listen to himself giving his careless, evasive responses to the reporters again and again.
He was pretty sure he wanted to throw up.
Finally, after some egregiously interminable length of time, Ted pressed the button to stop the video, pausing it on a rather unflattering shot of Booster as he'd tried to flee the cameras, his face down-turned and still against the onslaught of flashes, eyes not nearly hidden enough behind yellow goggles.
“Michael,” he said quietly, acknowledging his presence behind him.
“Yeah?” Booster managed, his own voice hoarse with what he could only call sheer terror. If he'd gotten Ted back, only to have him-
“I'm sorry.”
Booster's train of thought came crashing to a halt. “Wh-what?”
Ted turned in the chair to face him, eyes crinkled around the edges with sadness. “I'm sorry. For leaving you.”
“But... but that wasn't your fault. It was my fault. All mine, for not coming to help you when I could. And it was my fault that I fell into old habits like that after you were gone. Everything they said about me was true.” God, don't let him hate me, please! he anguished, hands clenching into fists at his sides.
Ted just shook his head through Booster's self-deprecating admission. “No. No. It...” He paused a moment, pressing his lips together in a frown. “I don't think I'd have reacted any better if it had been you that was killed. Look how well I handled it when you almost got blown up!”
Staring, mouth hanging open, Michael just didn't know what to say. That certainly hadn't been what he was expecting by a long shot.
“I forgive you, Michael, if that's what you're afraid of not hearing. Don't think I could blame you if I tried.”
“Y-you forgive me?” was all Booster could get out, not bothering to hide the hopeful pitch to his voice.
With a sigh, Ted rose from the chair and stepped close to his partner, taking Booster's hands in his, forcing his fists to relax, fingers twining together. “Of course I do. How could I look at that expression-” he gestured over his shoulder to the image still on the screen, “and not forgive you, you big doof?”
If Ted said anything else, Booster couldn't hear it past the blood rushing in his ears, the sudden soaring of his heart at the way Ted was looking at him. Adrenaline and want sped all the way to his toes. “I... I think I want you in my bed right now,” he breathed.
“Come on,” his partner grinned and chuckled, eyes sparkling, “let's go celebrate how much I'm not mad at you, and how very much I am not dead.”
Booster couldn't lead him to his bedroom fast enough.
* * * * *
Fandom: DCU
Pairing: (this section) Booster Gold/Blue Beetle II
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 641
Summary: (this section) Since Booster managed to save Ted from the past, things have settled down. It was only a matter of time before Ted found out about the scandal Booster got into during "52".
Disclaimer: DC and WB own it all. I own nothing. Darnit.
Author's Notes: This is the fifth in a series of ficlets written for several Valentine's Day challenges. This one didn't make the cut for either, since it has no V-Day references, but I couldn't *not* include it. ^_^
Falling Into Bed - V
Standing silently in the doorway, Michael watched Ted absorbing one of the hundred or so year-old video exposès on Booster Gold's fall from grace. It was a particularly nasty piece, the reporter calling him the worst kind of fraud, a charlatan with no hope for redemption, an unforgivable disgrace to the superhero community and humanity at large.
Worst still, it was all true. The faked rescues... well, it hadn't exactly been his shining moment. Ted, of course, was bound to find out about it sooner or later.
Which made Michael's chest and gut ache with fear. Ted had forgiven him for past mistakes before, and often, but this... he didn't know how his partner would take it that he'd become such a... a lie after his death. Ted certainly wasn't giving him any clues, yet, anyway, just kept watching the video report over and over, hands laying on the console, unmoving.
God, Booster couldn't even be sure Ted was breathing at this point, he was so still!
All he could do was watch. And wait. And listen to himself giving his careless, evasive responses to the reporters again and again.
He was pretty sure he wanted to throw up.
Finally, after some egregiously interminable length of time, Ted pressed the button to stop the video, pausing it on a rather unflattering shot of Booster as he'd tried to flee the cameras, his face down-turned and still against the onslaught of flashes, eyes not nearly hidden enough behind yellow goggles.
“Michael,” he said quietly, acknowledging his presence behind him.
“Yeah?” Booster managed, his own voice hoarse with what he could only call sheer terror. If he'd gotten Ted back, only to have him-
“I'm sorry.”
Booster's train of thought came crashing to a halt. “Wh-what?”
Ted turned in the chair to face him, eyes crinkled around the edges with sadness. “I'm sorry. For leaving you.”
“But... but that wasn't your fault. It was my fault. All mine, for not coming to help you when I could. And it was my fault that I fell into old habits like that after you were gone. Everything they said about me was true.” God, don't let him hate me, please! he anguished, hands clenching into fists at his sides.
Ted just shook his head through Booster's self-deprecating admission. “No. No. It...” He paused a moment, pressing his lips together in a frown. “I don't think I'd have reacted any better if it had been you that was killed. Look how well I handled it when you almost got blown up!”
Staring, mouth hanging open, Michael just didn't know what to say. That certainly hadn't been what he was expecting by a long shot.
“I forgive you, Michael, if that's what you're afraid of not hearing. Don't think I could blame you if I tried.”
“Y-you forgive me?” was all Booster could get out, not bothering to hide the hopeful pitch to his voice.
With a sigh, Ted rose from the chair and stepped close to his partner, taking Booster's hands in his, forcing his fists to relax, fingers twining together. “Of course I do. How could I look at that expression-” he gestured over his shoulder to the image still on the screen, “and not forgive you, you big doof?”
If Ted said anything else, Booster couldn't hear it past the blood rushing in his ears, the sudden soaring of his heart at the way Ted was looking at him. Adrenaline and want sped all the way to his toes. “I... I think I want you in my bed right now,” he breathed.
“Come on,” his partner grinned and chuckled, eyes sparkling, “let's go celebrate how much I'm not mad at you, and how very much I am not dead.”
Booster couldn't lead him to his bedroom fast enough.
* * * * *