you_tried | IC CONTACT

I didn't want to have to get anyone else involved, [Jaime mutters, voice low and resentful. Maybe that's a problem, but nobody had to get involved for Guy, and nobody had to get involved for that other Lantern. Most things, he can handle on his own -- it's just the prep work and the aftermath he needs help dealing with. He hadn't bet that this incident out of all of them would have spiraled out of control.

He had hoped that maybe Hal would take him at his word, and not gone to the worst possible conclusion. The idea of having to go up to one of the other heroes and ask them to vouch for him seemed to be a ludicrous one in the moment when Hal seemed to do nothing more than snap in his direction, but now?

Maybe he can't handle this one on his own.]

Wally was there, so he talked to him too. Could've gone worse. [He winces a little.] Could've gone a lot better too.

[ The thought of Wally handling things doesn't give Booster a huge amount of confidence, but he's not about to point that out. ]

Weren't you just telling me how we shouldn't have to handle stuff alone?

[ Booster arches an eyebrow in Jaime's direction. It's a different situation, but the point stands. So they're not officially teammates — so what? They're friends, aren't they? ]

I won't butt into your business if you don't want me to, but I'm offering because I want to help. Not because I think I have to, or whatever.

[ Maybe he can't do a lot here, but he can do this. He can try, at least. ]

This is different, [Jaime says sourly, but only because he's still feeling sulky and contrary, and it's a lot safer to be a kid around Booster than it is around Hal - or around Wally, who had already stuck his neck out for him. He's not thinking clearly enough to feel bad about his hand in making Hal and Wally's relationship get - hopefully temporarily - blown to pieces, but he will later.

He doesn't want to admit that a big reason why Hal gets to him so much is that he's worried that one day, somehow, Hal will be right. It's easier to get mad about being punched. Tipping his head back onto the armrest of the couch, Jaime folds his hands over his stomach and wrinkles his nose.] Okay, maybe it's not.

[What a thing to come back and bite him in the ass. He blinks up at the ceiling, and contemplates his current plan of just avoiding Hal for the rest of forever and hoping he doesn't come after him again. It's a pretty attractive sounding plan, but not exactly a long-lasting one. Ignoring it hadn't worked out for him this time, after all.

Finally, quietly, he asks,] You think it would actually help?

Sure. [ Well... Booster winces a little. Sticking up for Jaime is one thing, and it's the right thing to do. Succeeding at sticking up for Jaime is another thing. Will he just make the kid look worse by association? ] Maybe. I dunno. I'm not exactly his favorite person in the world. But—

[ Wait a minute. ]

Look, I'm from the future! If you went totally nuts and tried to take over the world or something, I'm pretty damn sure that would've come up! And I know, I know, spoilers are cheating, but if it gets him to shut up I don't care.

Really?

[He tries to keep that strain of hopefulness out of his voice, but he can't stifle it entirely. He had been worried enough back home, sure to be as careful with his powers as possible, being here had only exacerbated matters. Knowing what Bart had gone through, seeing even the briefest moments of his dream... how could he not be paranoid? How could he not give Hal's words at least a little bit of weight? He rises again, propping his weight up on his elbows.]

So, like -- you knew about Hal doing the whole supervillain thing too?

Edited 2015-02-27 18:08 (UTC)

Not... exactly. I mean, I could've, if I'd asked Skeets, or if I'd paid attention in history class, but I was a terrible student, and...

[ Sigh. Shut up, Booster, you're making this more complicated than it needs to be. ]

Look, I only really started paying attention to this stuff after— after Ted. When I realized I could've stopped a lot of things from happening, if I'd known. [ He looks away, expression pinched as he picks at a stray thread in the arm of the chair upholstery. ] I still don't like to ask about all the details, cause it kinda makes me feel creepy, but trust me. If there was something majorly wrong with you in the future, Skeets would've said something.

[ Hopefully. ]

[That's not that reassuring, overall. Skeets hadn't said anything about Ted dying, or else it wouldn't have happened, right? If Skeets wouldn't say anything about Booster's best friend, then why would he mention anything about some kid Booster hardly knew? Because they didn't know each other back home, not really.

There goes that relief.]

If you talk to him, you might not wanna use the time travel argument. It's, um... not that convincing? Not without Skeets around.

Urgh.

People get mad at me when I don't know something, people don't believe me when I say I do know something...

Can I yell at him anyway?

Hey, I'm just saying. Dude doesn't need any more ammunition than he's already got. I can hear him now -- that's not proof! He's just got you fooled so you won't check in the first place!

But I mean, if you wanna yell at him, go on ahead. I'm not -- it's not worth it to tell a lotta people, honestly, but I don't mind him knowing that you know.

[Who else was he going to go to?]

... well. Uh. Thanks.

I'll try not to yell. But if he deserves it I'm definitely going to.

He'll probably deserve it.

[He's still sour. He's going to be sour for a while yet.]

I mean, I've already yelled at him. And I don't do that!

[He sounds almost offended that Hal made him lose his temper. How dare he. That's even worse than attacking him!]

I admit, it's kind of hard to picture.

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