Words Im Normal Abt

- The Truth (and Other Nebulous Things)

“Extra thigh protection,” Barbara claimed.

“You’re just upset that Impulse tugged on my skirt before you could,” Tim huffed.

“Impulse did what?” Dick asked, tone pleasant.

Somehow, his pleasant tone of voice was scarier than his angry one.

Tim decided that Bart’s life was more important than his own embarrassment, and so said: “That isn’t the point.”

“It could be the point,” Dick replied evenly.

“Stop it, Boy Wonder,” Barbara ordered. “He’ll never tell you anything if you act like this.”

“I never tell Dick anything anyway,” Tim commented.

“Are you done changing yet?” Barbara questioned. “I don’t hear any clothes rustling, so I’m assuming-“

“Let a guy stall, jeez,” Tim grumbled.

“You can stall by explaining what Impulse-“ Dick began to suggest.

“I’m done!” Tim exclaimed”

Riz is quiet.

Secretly, she hopes he can’t hear the jealousy that drips off her words, hopes her tone was light enough to not reveal too much of the black bile she tries so hard to keep in her chest instead of her throat. She’s looking at her hands, picking at a hangnail, and Riz is so quiet. It lingers there, long enough for the ridge of skin to catch under the nail of her thumb and rip, long enough for a drop of blood to emerge and trail along her cuticle in a sort of mesmerizing semi-circle.

Long enough the Kristen feels the part of her that can’t look at him to break against the part of her that has to look, has to see his reaction, if he’s sick of her, if he’s finally tired of her inability to say anything without tacking in a joke.

So, she looks.

Riz is staring at her, sharp, analytical eyes probably seeing into the deepest parts of her. Kristen wonders what he finds there. She could never ask. It’s so much, Riz’s stare, so serious and intense. He is a harsh little guy, and Kristen never feels more secure than when he’s got his attention trained on her.”

-all I want is for you to be alright

Something in him relaxes at that. It’s still his Jason. Sweet Jason, who likes to read and feed the stray cats, who teases his brothers.

Jason, who gets so angry that he burns people alive.

Roy pushes the thought away and presses a kiss against Jason’s head.

He turns the page. He doesn’t think about the faint smell of smoke, still clinging to Jason’s hair.”

-Not supposed to bleed this way

-The leading cause of death for goblins (is an adventuring party)

Cassie had gotten a record player from her mom one year on her birthday. Tim came over and they spent all day stopping into old vintage shops, flipping through records and discussing Pink Floyd's best albums.

Jason smiles like he’s remembering something, just like she is. “He hated green beans and his room was a mess because he controlled every part of his life, and that was the only space he could let go… one time I asked him how electrical currents worked and two hours later I was getting a lecture on quantum mechanics.” Jason laughs again, and so do some people in the crowd. Cassie thinks she can hear Cissie’s familiar giggle. Jason’s face goes somber again, and he nods, swiping at his eyes before he shoves his hands deep into his pockets.

"Tim was my brother, and I love him, and I never told him that, not enough. Oh, and his eyes, they're blue.”

The world fades, after that.”

“You’re not making it sound appealing.”