mostlyajerk | A Whole New World

"Scars are your thing? Stick around then, I'm going to be covered in them." Reverb took a deep breath and then pulled himself forward a little so he had easier access. He closed his eyes and winced as the needle went in but made no noise, feeling the thread wind through his skin. "I would give you the usual warning of 'if you gossip about me, I'll rip out your vocal cords' but we both know you're smart enough not to do that but I'm obligated. So don't."

He had to do that, to offer the out for them to behave because otherwise Zoom would ask why he killed another henchmen and those talks were never fun.

"I wouldn't do that even if you weren't who you are. I don't out people." Hartley focused on what he was doing rather than what Reverb was threatening him with. Or not threatening but actually threatening. Same old, same old. "This one might not leave that big a scar. Just four stitches, if you can manage to take it easy, it might not be so bad. I'll bandage it and then you're good to go."

"I'm not worried about that, I'm worried about you saying something stupid that will piss me or Rupture off and then one of us will end you." He didn't care if he was outed. What was there to out? He was a guy. Big fucking deal. He didn't feel the need to specify why Rupture would be so pissed off but he doubted he needed to. Rupture was his loyal partner, they'd work together as long as anyone could remember. "Good. Your debt is repaid for saving your moron."

"I'm not an idiot. What would I say about this to piss you off? You're a guy, so the closest thing I could say that would piss you off would be that you're an annoying guy." Which he was, not that he'd go beyond implying it. Instead he applied a bandage and hoped that this would heal well, because Axel needed to be safe. "I know that he's a liability. He's a moron, you're right. We'd both be better off if he wasn't here to be a bother."

"Because people are stupid and they don't grasp that I'm a guy so sometimes I have to beat it into their heads and usually I get very carried away. Last time, Rupture accidentally crushed someone's skull doing it." Reverb laughed in the least pleasant way, clearly amused by his brother's exploits but then, they always had fun together. "All metahumans have to be in our little band of merry men and you know, your moron would have flown under the radar a lot better if he hadn't made that joke to Zoom when he was first recruited." He just had to make a silly nervous joke that Zoom had taken note of. Now he knew who he was and that was never a good thing.

"Axel makes stupid jokes when he's nervous and Zoom terrifies him." Of course. Zoom terrified everyone. Hartley decided to leave it at that, but it was the first seed. He'd get Axel and them all out of here, to the safest place possible. Then he could decide what to do and how much to risk. "I'm not about to become an idiot, I've been with trans guys, they're guys, you're a guy, I don't differentiate. Not that I'm saying I want to be with you." Great turn of this talk. "Just that I think of you as just as manly as before."

"Are you sure you don't want to be with me? I hear I'm a good fuck but I'm an awful boyfriend. I feel there's some biased to that review but just a forewarning." Reverb smirked and adjusted his glasses, pulling himself to his feet and grabbing his shirt off the floor. He pulled it back on and gave Hartley an amused look, slipping his hands into his pockets. "Same level of manly but also same level of annoyance? I love how much you can't stand me. It's fun."

"I can't stand my life and you're the closest figure even remotely responsible for how it's going. It's irrational, but my anger has often been irrational." Hartley shrugged and leaned back on the couch, looking at Reverb and smiling briefly. No one ever really stayed at his place. He couldn't even remember off the top of his head when he'd last had someone here. Probably Axel at some point. Maybe when he'd been here to pick up Jerrie. It sometimes seemed like it was just yesterday and other times as if a long time had passed. A distant memory. He'd been a different person then. "But if it helps, I'm probably a worse boyfriend than you."

"I'm fine with anger. It's a passionate emotion, I like passion. You don't have to love someone to be with someone." What? He hadn't gotten laid in a while and his options were very slim, he was fine throwing that potential out there. He hardly expected much of a response to it, Hartley really didn't seem to like him. At all. "I don't know. I forgot to call my last girlfriend for two months. The boyfriend before that, and I use the boyfriend term lightly, I dumped during sex." Reverb sighed in a bored tone. "He just wasn't very good at it."

"I controlled the mind of the person I loved, because I lost my temper and I needed him to understand. He understood and he dumped me, so at least that worked out." Hartley honestly didn't even understand that they were talking about a real possibility and not just swapping stories. Sad and awful stories at that. "The last time I tried to get anywhere with someone, you called me in before I could get past making out."

"Was that someone Axel?" What? Logical assumption. They were clearly exes and it was obvious there had to be a good reason why they broke up and that one sounded like a pretty solid one. No use even speculating. "We have a lot of work today, fucking and dating are low priorities as long as you work for Zoom." Too much work, never any time to do anything else. Whenever he had a chance, he tended to go for it if he had a sure thing. "I'm sure you can pull easy enough."

Hartley didn't answer that question. He didn't want to talk about this and it was obvious enough. No, he wasn't over it, he wasn't sure if he ever would be. But Axel was happy, Mark was good for him, good for Jerrie. This family being happy was more important to him than anything else. Definitely more important than his own happiness or safety. "Why are you so sure of that? Last I checked, you didn't know how I look. Or were you lying about that?"

"You know me, don't you? Know my power? And you honestly think I don't know what you look like. I've seen you in here." He tapped his head with a playful little smile. He vibed Hartley a while ago by accident and once he did, it was never an accident when he did it again. It was a good way to get a read on people, to explore their potential. Like he said before, he always had to read ahead. "I've seen what you look like in more than one Earth. You're a looker, Hartley Rathaway."

"...because that's not invasive at all." Hartley felt the familiar anger and he pulled his hood off, since it made for a better gesture than slapping Reverb, which was his first thought. Smug little bastard. More than one Earth? Dear Lord, he didn't even want to really think about the implications of that. "You spy on me in the shower also?"

This made him pretty much propositioning him a lot less impersonal.

"No, why would I do that?" Rolling his eyes, Reverb reached up and removed his glasses, nothing he was entirely fond of but given how sulky Hartley was getting, it seemed only fair. He looked at Hartley and shrugged his shoulders idly, not really caring if he had to seem sincere or not. "I wanted to see what you looked like and it wasn't very hard to find out so it seemed pointless to resist checking. Besides, it's really your fault I know."

Well, it took two to vibe. "You touched me first. I can't help what I see."

"Pretty sure you can help checking me out in 'multiple words'." Not that he knew that for sure, but it sounded like something rather purposeful. Damn, Reverb had nice eyes, not that that was the thing to focus on. "Why do you wear eyeliner when you always wear your glasses anyway? I mean, your game's on point, I'm just wondering. Seems like a waste of effort." Whatever, it wasn't as if there really was any chance of winning at this point.

"I was curious. Don't you ever wonder what you're like on a different Earth? I was curious how consistent meta abilities are." Apparently very, usually abilities were the same and often the same people had them, it was rare that someone wouldn't have them if they had them here. "Because when I remove the glasses, people take note of how nice my eyes are. Like you just did." And no, he didn't need to vibe that, he just knew that because hell, why else would he bring that up? "Jealous?"

"I'm not even particularly fond of me here, I doubt any Earth would show me something I want to see." Hartley wasn't sure what to really make of this at all. "If he's happy, I'd envy that, if he isn't, I'd have more proof of being a fuck up and I'm quite done on that front." Hartley arched his eyebrows, mostly glad that the mask still obscured him and his eyes for the most part. Wishing it would also hid the rest of his face, because the last thing he needed to do was blush. "Of your eyeliner game? Not really. Not my style, I need more colour with my skin tone."

"Is that why you're blushing? Trying to get more tone. I like it, it works for you." Reverb put his glasses back on and then moved towards the window he'd entered. "I'm not suggesting or asking anything. All I'm saying is that we have the same job, we have flexible hours around each other and you have my number. If you're ever bored and want the delusion of this being something more, I'd happy to play pretend." Reverb had no intention of falling in love or anything but he was a pretty guy who clearly had interests. Yes, he was playing with that.

The delusion of this being something more.

Hartley didn't think Reverb could have hurt him this much if he had actually been trying to. He put his hand down on the couch, remembered when he'd sat there with Axel and they'd joked about spending their lives together. He knew that would never happen now, would probably have never happened regardless. What he really wanted now was to be alone and distract himself and hope that the blood would come out of his couch.

"I've settled for nothing instead of nothing much."

"Sounds boring. Enjoy your nothing."

Reverb shrugged and no, he made no attempt to talk to him about his baggage, see what was wrong or make a strange attempt to get him, he just shrugged and ducked back out of the window. "Call me if you ever want nothing much."

A Whole New World

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