disturbed child

…on the cheek.

Sid was not doing her a favour with no need for any kind of payback, except that he was and he couldn’t help finding it enjoyable. The Outreach program seemed like fun at first, maybe something he could mess around with and maybe benefit from money wise or at the very least some food.

But in the short time since he’d settled in New York the program had become something he liked to hang out at. Not volunteer, he wasn’t volunteering, he was just chilling out and occasionally helping with meals, general filing or cleaning up after communal meals that took him a split second when it took someone like Shuri hours. But not volunteering. 

Bouncing on the balls of his feet, Sid dipped back from the cupboards where he had stored the last of the plates after cleaning and drying, he turned to bid farewell to his new companion- not friend, Sidney has no friends- when to his surprise Shuri managed to catch him off guard.

Sid blinked at the polite kiss on the cheek and the thanks that followed.

“Yeah well... Um... Don’t get used to it, gumdrop” Sid told her, hands moving by his sides as if he wasn’t sure whether to cross them like a Disappointed Dad or rest them on his hips like a No Nonsense Mom. 

He pointed to the door, ignoring Shuri’s infectious laughter.

“I’m going now bye” But by the time he’d finished talking, he was already across the block, cutting himself off at ‘I’m go-’.

“Despite whether you prefer ‘Fred’ or not, my name is Xander. Xander Wilde, if you wish to address me as anything else that’s fine but you would be incorrect.” He murmured, still quite uncomfortable with the other’s presence. 

He tried to move around the man again and Sid leaned in closer to him again. Making a lot more eye contact than he would have liked. After a few moments the creep spoke again and Jeremiah’s eyes widened at the name he had called him. Jerome. He knew of his brother? More importantly, he was mistaking him for him. 

“No, no, I’m not-” He got out but before he knew it, the man got him against the wall. Faster then he could blink and Jeremiah let out a gasp. Listening to him go off. “I- I do not know what you’re talking about!” He said to him quickly. “I’m not Jerome! I swear, I’m his brother!”

With a heavy scowl and a sound better suited for an angry cat than a Human being, Sid’s hands moved to grab Jeremiah’s face: forcing the other to look from side to side as the speedster inspected the other’s features closely. 

He looked like Jerome. But didn’t move like him, or talk like him.

“Jerome is a performer” Sid seethed out, almost tempted to believe the other man’s claims. “You’re pretending. You can’t anymore Jerome, you can’t trick Sidney anymore- Sidney knows better now!”

The monster released Jeremiah’s face and spun around, practically vibrating with frustration as one voice in his head seemed to argue with the other. One vehemently reasoned that Jerome was tricky like that, Jerome never stopped pulling jokes on people and this was easily one of those... But another voice, cool and collected like Lillian’s when she talked Sid down from his fits of rage or psychosis, pointed out to him that this man’s face bore no marks of mutilation. While Sid remembered Jerome without them, back at the asylum, but he knew fro Jerome’s public antics since that the man was badly scarred from a cause Sid only knew rumours about.

With violent speed Sid turned around again and pointed a finger close to Jeremiah’s face. “Why do you have no scars? Your face is suppose to be cut up”

@stillpenguinking or @jeremiahvalska who knows

Shuri was still watching her group of kids from the Outreach program when one of them seemed to have wandered off. Rody was seeming to really be a trouble-maker, not that she really minded all that much. He was just a kid having fun now that he had the opportunity to do so. 

When she finally spotted Rody, he was running back to her with a bunch of prizes in his arms. He tripped, and she stepped forward to try to catch him or at least help him up from the fall. However, before she could do anything, Rody was standing up straight again, with everything back in his hands.

She had seen the blur moving, and she followed the movement back to Sid. She smiled brightly, intrigued by his abilities. “You never said you could do things like that the last time we met.”

Unconsciously Sid’s back straightened at the sight of a familiar face, a person who had been nice to him when they had last met. Part of him squirmed uncomfortably at the thought of anyone seeing him performing anything close to an act of kindness, least of all Shuri.

Self conscious and with an air of false nonchalance Sid shrugged one shoulder. “It never came up before”

Discussions about housing and potentially volunteering to help didn’t lend itself to talking about abilities he had. He enjoyed them but the manner in which he received them was violent and traumatic, and overall something he wanted to avoid addressing: and from what he had gathered of Shuri in their previous talk she was hungry for knowledge and would have asked him. Sid wasn’t sure if he could have lied about it. Oddly Shuri fell right into the age bracket that Sid felt most protective of... an age where he was most vulnerable and had no one protect him, so he felt compelled to protect others of that age as a weird form of reflection.

Or whatever it was the dumb psychiatrist had said.

Sid pointed to the kid, who ran up to Shuri with a grin annoyingly big. Being caught being nice made Sid want to trip the kid up now just to rectify his mood.

Barbara’s reason for visiting the circus was born out of curiosity. The last time she’d been near Haley’s was back in Gotham, and she found it a little strange that it had now traveled to New York. It was like everything from the old city she used to love was haunting her — from the people that now resided here to the entertainment that used to make crowds flock to one place. But still, she managed to raise a smile as she watched a man drop his corn dog on the ground. 

She thought she was alone until she heard a voice that startled her. Barbara really didn’t enjoy people sneaking up on her, and considered taking her shoe off and hitting the person with it. Barbara Kean the Queen. She hadn’t heard that nickname in years. “Where did you hear that name?” she asked, whipping her head around to look at the young man standing beside her. 

He was familiar, yet she couldn’t place his face. His smile was almost childlike, and she found herself smiling back at him. “I don’t recognise you,” she admitted, but she didn’t feel as defensive as she had when he’d first snuck up on her. There was no need to be on guard around anyone these days, considering the power she had. “You look far too youthful to have been from Arkham.”

Lightly, Sid bumped hips with her and grinned widely.

“Got a young face, that and I was one of the kiddies there” Sid picked off a chocolate bar from a stall they passed nonchalantly. Always hungry, always wanting sweet treats. “I heard it’s illegal now, or at least not how it’s done. Adults and kids are kept a part now: wild huh?”

Gotham was well behind the rest of the world in how it went about things and Arkham was a prime example of that. Sid hadn’t kept up to date on the asylum since leaving but had noticed that other similar establishments weren’t as corrupt and based on abuse rather than care. It almost made him jealous.

“I remember you because- Hm. Everyone knows Barbara Kean” The speedster whistled, like she was a legend. “But also because you made creepy laughing boy leave me alone. Ya know, that Jerome guy who terrorised the city when he came back to life? Hard to forget him either”

Sid trailed off, thinking about the man in question, before snapping out of it with a sudden smile again.

Ugh a Circus in town, all he wanted was some food.  Ya after fighting as that creepy Furball or Furby whatever it was.  He need to eat the circus food, and that’s basically all he wanted was food.  “Some one just move out the way I’m fucking hungry, so where the fuck is the food stands here?”

Sid whistled as he circled around the stranger.

“Ooh, that’s a lot of swearing buddy. Might want to watch that tongue around so many kiddos” The younger man gestured to a handful of children near by, inclining his head at the stranger with a sickly sweet smile. “But I do recommend the toffee apples, they’re fucking delicious”

Then he winked at him.

When a stick of cotton candy was waved in front of her face, Harley turned to look at the person offering it to her. She’d never seen him before, and she had heard that taking candy from strangers was dangerous… But they were at a circus! He probably had no malicious intentions, so she took the stick from him with a grateful smile. It was very nice of him, but she was sure that he hadn’t been holding the cotton candy a few seconds ago. How curious. 

Pinching a piece of the sweet treat between her index finger and thumb, she ripped it off and popped it into her mouth. “Thanks, pal. Yer like a cotton candy fairy godmother… Or father, I guess.” A mischievous smile spread across her face when he mentioned that it was free, and she nudged his shoulder with her own. “Yer a guy after my own heart,” she chuckled. “Everythin’ is better when ya don’t pay fer it. I’m Harley, by the way.”

The man brightened at the nickname, enjoying that the woman seemed as carefree as he liked to be. Meeting other people with an almost childlike glee in them was refreshing to say the least: usually people got so grumpy, and not that they weren’t fun, it was far nicer to find kinship in whimsy.

“Fairy godmother’ll do, who needs a wand when you got this” He wafted his stick of candy floss as if casting a spell. “I’m Sid, nice ta’meet’cha Harley. If you want anything else for free just let me know, no one’ll notice a thing unless we want them to.... You know I used to come to this same circus when I was a little kid? Not been for years though, I didn’t even know they were due here”

So far everything seemed as normal as any circus was, and she had managed to get an overall view of the area of the circus she was at. And at the time she had considered to move somewhere else, Ecco was stopped by someone talking to her.

Turning her head, she looked over at the source of the voice, the mans appearance undeniably taking her by surprise, it having been quiet unexpected. “I came alone, thought I’d see if it was worth inviting my friends here.—or if it would be a waste of our money.” 

Unexpectedly Sid clapped his hands together once, and then gestured to the circus as a whole with a broad smile on his face. 

“Waste of money, sunshine” The speedster declared loudly, waving at a stall holder who glared, having overheard the offensive claim. Dropping hands to hips Sid sighed and looked down at the woman again, leaning in close to whisper in a conspiratorial manner. “Just break in and steal anything you want, none of these people gonna notice a thing over all the pretty lights and candy floss”

To demonstrate he seemingly reached behind him for something, zipped in what to regular vision simply looked like a crackle of static around the young man, and in his hand he held an apple on a stick covered liberally with toffee. 

With the circus in town, Remy decided to take full advantage of the opportunity, which meant swiping everything he could get his hands on. Of course that always landed him in trouble, and now he was being chased around the circus. As he turned a corner, he thought of a quick solution. He grabbed someone near him and tried to kiss them as the people ran by. It was the perfect cover.

Sid watched the events unfold as the stranger rounded the corner, swinging like a pendulum and rose his eyebrows as the man’s hands reached out for him: a lack of focus on the man’s face telling Sid everything he needed to know about how aware he was of who he was choosing. 

The speedster made a curious hum as the stranger got ever gradually closer, lips puckering and spend a few milliseconds debating on whether to zip away from this impending assault or not.

This should be interesting. Sid had thought in a bored tone. Deciding to let the random man kiss him.

And you know what? It was.

Back when he was little Sidney with anger in his eyes and barely made a sound through chapped lips that instead chewed on the ends of his sleeves, he’d known that face.

He’d changed far more than she had in the last ten years since the first time he saw her, growing up from a tiny child into a skinny young man and that didn’t even include the mousy hair turning white and blue eyes turning cold, but she looked much the same. Poised, electric blonde and with lips curved into a smile sharp enough to cut down an empire. She looked just like the same queen who took over the asylum with an edge of hysteria in her eyes and a dozen men willing to bend over backwards just to get her to glance their way. 

Sid remembered how she had told him to buzz off and stop staring. Right after she made nasty Jerome leave him alone.

Sidney had liked her, and Sid suppose that meant he liked her too.

“Long time no see” The young man chirped, zipping up beside the woman who looked like a beacon in the hoards of regular people attending the circus. “Barbara Kean the Queen” 

“Vaguely.” He replied. Scrunching his nose with disgust. There was something about Sid that upset him. He reminded him greatly of his brother. Down to him calling his brother ‘mother’s favourite’. “I can.” He muttered. 

He took another step away from the man when he touched him again. Why did he have to touch him so much? When he started describing Oswald’s type his eyes widened a bit. “Whether I like him or not is none of your business.” He said, his voice calm, though he was clearly disturbed underneath it all.

He rolled his eyes when he the other called him Fred. “If you must know, my name is Xander.” He said, wondering if it would even help.

“Xahhhh-n Darr” Sid dragged out annoyingly, pretending to test the name on his tongue. He wrinkled his nose and shook his head. “Nope. I prefer Fred”

Sid leaned in closer again, staring Jeremiah in the eyes and reveling in how disturbed the other looked by him. Seeing him even further up close, Sid’s once teasing expression closed off to one of thought. He’d assumed that Fred only looked familiar because he had seen him floating around the irritating little toilet brush known as Cobblepot but there was something about that eye roll... that expression on that face pinged a note of recognition from before...

“Jerome?” Sid whispered in a quiet voice.

He knew this face. Sid never forgot faces and he never forgot the people who’d tormented him in that past.

“You’re not Fred, you’re not Xander” Icy blue eyes narrowed, and by his sides Sid’s fists started to clench. “You are Jerome. You threw Sidney’s Peter in the trash. You ripped up Sidney’s star...”

In one quick zip, Sid backed Jeremiah up and pinned him to the wall with a hand each side of him. The velocity of the zip had his fists crumbling the brick work.

The little boy was running along through the crowds of people with all kinds of stuff he’d won on the game stalls bundled up in one arm: all topped off with an ice cream in his spare hand. From the speedster’s perspective everything went in slow motion. The boy’s foot catching on a displaced brick in the ground, his little body lurched forward and his plethora of prizes flying out of their precarious stack and into the air. Sid even saw how instinct had the kid letting go of his ice cream to catch himself as the ground came ever closer.

Eh what the heck, who was gonna see when everyone was too distracted by the everything else? Sid thought, sighing at the sight of impending disaster.

The white haired man zipped and the world crashed back into real time. The little boy’s face became a mask of shock as instead of the smash of ice cream and unforgiving ground meeting his face, he was suddenly righted again with all his prizes once more stacked in one arm: this time in a far more suitable arrangement than before. 

Sid stood in front of the child, who looked up at him perplexed and blinking, and stole a layer of ice cream off the top of the kid’s cone with his finger before handing it back. When the kid grinned at him, paying him thanks, Sid wrinkled his nose and flipped him off to the child’s shock.

Stephen honestly wasn’t sure why he was here. Maybe seeing what civilians perceived to be magic will put some sort of humor back in him. He needed something fun after all of this mess he’s been through. He went over to a stage, seeing a man doing some magic tricks. He chuckled, rolling his eyes. He leaned over to the person next to him, not really looking to see who they were. “If he has magic, then I don’t.” 

The younger man prized his eyes off the performer when another spoke to him, finding himself level with the stranger and rose his eyebrows. He narrowed icy blue eyes at what sounded like a golden opportunity for some fun.

“You could do better, huh?” Sid asked, quirking his head at him. He patted the back of his hand to his new companion’s arm nonchalantly. “I’d like to see that, why don’t you go up there and show him up?”

He liked the idea of seeing someone get embarrassed, especially someone who seemed to just be making money off mimicking people with genuine remarkable abilities. If what this stranger was saying was true then Sid would rather watch whatever show he could put on than the plain pretender.