..||-impulsive-||..

      “how far into the future are we talking        here though? am I gonna be an old        person with all these teens using slang        I learned ahead of time?”

she was teasing of course, maybe the future slang would come into use sooner than later with bart using it so freely now.

she caught onto his stuttering but didn’t point it out, didn’t even frown at it. maybe it was a speedster thing? maybe they stumbled over their words when they tried to slow down. nonetheless though, she nodded, smile on her face, ollie had told her to stick to the watch tower for the weekend but what kind of teenager would she be if she didn’t rebel and sneak out with a boy?

      “oh yeah definitely, we could head to the        mall or an amusement park or better yet        a water park!” 

it wasn’t an ideal situation. trying to  interpret what the word-mixing-up and the butterflies in his stomach and his heart beating faster all at once was difficult for him. he’d have to talk to wally about it later, but he was pretty sure it was signalling the beginnings of a crush.

oh no.

      “nah-ah-ah. can’t tell ya that.                                        spoilers----”

with a cheeky grin and his heartbeat pounding in his ears, he speeds around behind her and swoops her up bridal style. he might as well take advantage of this happy-go-lucky, sporadic persona he’s got going for him. maybe eventually she’ll meet the real bartholomew allen.

Wolf didn’t like that look on his friend’s face. He wanted him to be happy, and that most certainly wasn’t happy.

          “ How about neither of us be sorry,             and we grab some food? I could             go for some serious chinese food. “

      “...Yeah. Okay. We’ll go       grab some Chinese food,       head over to the Garricks’,       and watch a movie. Good,       ol’ fashioned sleepover.”

It was the least he could do to make up for what he’d said. And Wolf was willing to let it all go all for a bit of food.       Now THAT’S a good friend.

             She was still looking down at her hand when he moved up to her.     A small gasp fled her lips and she blinked in surprise at the  sudden  feeling of him  taking her fingers in his own.

          Cat tilted her head up to listen to him, mouth forming an O as he explained.  Sure, it still made no sense to her,     but it didn’t really matter.  Even if he had  gone  incredibly  in depth, she wouldn’t have understood.

He was still staring at her  hand, turning it over and over, as she was looking at him-- which was quite deliberate. A little part of him had hoped her  attention would become focused on him... but he would pretend not to  notice.

That’s just the way he is.

            “Believe me, I won’t. Y’know,             Robin tried explaining it to me             in heavy detail the other day and             I just had to stop him and say,             ‘You know what? Let’s keep it             S I M P L E. Many universes             exist for each every possible             outcome. Mind explosion. End             of story.’ Say no more, kid. I             get it in more ways than one.”

As he spoke, Sheri tried to remember what she’d done with the rest of her belongings. Her purse and phone she’d brought in here… But she left her heels and blazer out in the tv room-kitchen area. Hopefully they’d still be there when they got out. Last time Wolf got ahold of her jacket and she had to have M’gann scold him for it.

She turned to him and grinned. “I do know. That’s why I offered. Y’know, have Wally tell you about the one time he came to a party of mine with the rest of the team and nearly ate all the food there. I’m just so lucky that my kitchen at the time was always stocked with a lot of food. But I swear on my own magic that I thought Connor was gonna kill him that night, oh my God.”

      She gave a slight snort at       the memory and walked       out of the training room       with the newest speedster       close behind. Today was       probably a good day for       Italian. That always went       over well with the rest of       the team.

      He couldn’t help but laugh at        that. “Ah, that’s Tim for ya.       Tim, Timmy, Tim-Tim. He tries       so hard, y’know? Almost TOO       hard.” But, of course, Sheri       probably already knew that.        Tim got the try-hard thing from       both Dick and Bruce; in fact, all       of the Batkids had it. 

Pfft, “try-hard”. In their little family, it was like some sort of genetic trait. Even though... Wait, were any of them related? Bart didn’t think so. Anyways--

      “What--?!” Something that was       like a snort mixed with a chuckle       shot from him, and the giggling       speedster quickly brought both       hands up to his mouth to cover       up his laughter.             “Pfft, my dear old cousin AND             his girlfriend AND everyone              else definitely neglected to tell             me that wonderfully crash story.             Jeez---- How is that something             you just keep to yourself? I bet             Wally was MAJOR feeling the              mode if even Supey was pissed             at him. Holy horribleness, Batman--”

Hands in his pockets, Bart followed close at her heel. He didn’t want to seem too clingy, but at the same time, he also didn’t want to get too far away from her. 

     “Crash? Yeah, I guess it’s kinda       like that. Awesome, cause       otherwise I’d be totally slagged,       and that’s never fun.” Terry did       seem relieved, time traveling was       not exactly his area of expertise after all.

Honestly? He probably  asked Bart, because at least he knew who the speedster  was. Yeah, he knew this time’s current bats, but that was an area he’ll have to tread carefully. 

      “Nonono. No telling of secrets.       What kind of a person would I       be if I let something like THAT       slip? A horrible one, mind you.”       It was so good to see that look       of relief cross Terry’s face; Bart       wanted the guy to trust him.

Future kids had to stick  together, y’know.

      “Well, like I said, I’ll do my best,       Ter-Bear,” the speedster laughed,       giving a shrug of his shoulders.        “Where d’you wanna start? Gotham?       Keystone? Central? Happy Harbor--?”

He’s a small kid— she’s not even sure exactly why she chose to just lean all over him, but he was a good guy. A nice one, despite the fact that he was kind of a wild card on the team. he certainly had a good heart. And that was always worth something.

Sheri sighs again, trying to figure out where to start. Probably best to start at the morning. Mornings were always when things went downhill.

      “Well, first my alarm didn’t go off       this morning and I missed an important       board meeting at the company. You       can imagine how that might’ve gone       over with the big wigs. Then, I tripped       down the stairs delivering some papers       to my mom which was just wonderful.       I burned my leg when I spilled scalding       hot coffee on it. I didn’t eat lunch because       I was trying to make up for missing the       meeting.

                    I hit my head getting into a taxi,                         I lost my best lip gloss because I tripped getting out,                             I broke my StarkPhone after throwing it in frustration,

      “----whoa. Talk about feelin’       the mode.”

The list of bad things kept getting longer and longer, and, frankly,  Bart didn’t think that her day could get any worse. He really wished that he could make it better in some way; that he could cheer her up. Doing SOMETHING would be better than doing NOTHING. 

But what could he do?

    “Huh. Well, you’re not the first       time traveler I’ve met. 

      “Oh? Not the first?       Well then, I MUST       be the best you’ve       met----

          “ I’m not mad…You just startled me, that’s all. “

That wasn’t all, but Wolf didn’t want Bart to feel bad. He was still his friend after all. It wasn’t his fault.

      “You... sure?”

He felt pretty horrible, actually, and he feels even worse upon realizing there’s nothing he can do to keep the hurt look off of his face.

Oh, he’s totally feeling the mode.

Nope. He’s not going to move on.

         ❛ hey, i wouldn’t be standing here still if i was mad.            you know, i may LOOK like the big guy, but I’M            not as scary.

       sure babs, you’re not as scary.

       honestly, sometimes she could be worse than he can be. but, sh.        let’s not talk about that. she really would rather not think about how        much she’s like her boss man right now.

      “Okay, okay. But you’re       NOT as scary? Pffft----       You’re maybe, like, one-       ninety-ninth less scary        than him.”

So, yes, you’re still scary.

          “mhm, bart is definitely easier            to say, so bart it is then.”

oh yeah, having been blasted would’ve been pretty bad. probably wouldn’t have felt like a walk in the park, that’s for sure. cissie thought over his use of the word mode for a moment. jaime had explained it to her, crash was good, mode was bad…right? 

      “yeah---- yeah, you’re getting       the hang of it. good t’see that       SOMEONE around here is        keeping up with the future       slang. you’re gonna really       need it some day, i tell ya what.”

okay, so his little slip there may have been from  watching too much king of the hill, but maybe she didn’t notice. all is well.

but, oh, the thought of khaji da blasting her---- seriously unpleasant. and... why?  well, besides the initial  “being-blasted-by-khaji-da- is-bad” and so on and so forth... he liked cissie. a lot.

and that was a fact that could essentially cause him a lot of trouble if he acted on it. who knew how a crush could affect the future?