voice post; anon location

[backinakidflash]

These

things are

still glitching, yeah? I

should repeat ever

ything four times

to

make sure

it gets

out, but that'd make

it take

four times longer

than

normal.

Voice post

cause somebody

thought it was a

good idea to

make me sit

through The Ring.

The static

creeps me out.

Everybo

dy see

how

Dumbass went and Mal

ef

icent'ed up the joint?

Is there

something that

I never

got taught? Some rule

about

how when you

take

over you

have to

make the HQ

look

like an

evil

HQ? Interior Design

for Superv

illains 301. I mean. Seriously. Wi

th the black

and the spikes.

It's

like a vid

eo game.

Check

that.

It IS

a video

game. And I've played

about

17,000

versions

of it.

That's the

giant ass

dungeon

that you can't get into

until

you're leveled

up

. It's Bo

wser's Ca

stle.

It's

Ganon's Tower. It's

Ice

crown Citadel, and

I'm in

full 245s.

I know

where this is

gonna go. Can't miss

it, because

Dumbass made

it look

like Evil Vegas.

So we

walk

or

waltz or

storm or

sneak

into the

castle and

avoid

the lava

and the

fire and the falling

shit that's

always there. Always. Falling. Shit. Note to

self:

helmet. Get to the

throne room

and duke it

out,

only they take a

helicopter

or trap

door or

leap off the

balcony

because the

game's not

over yet.

Anybo

dy

want to

catch

a cultist and fi

nd out where

the escape route

goes so

we can

cut

that one off?

Or they

tell us where

he really

is. Cause it ain't

under the

neon arrow

sign saying

"Evil Overlord Lives

Here." Don't

tell me

that

video games

aren't

educa

tio

nal.


Look. I

know you're

pissed. Maybe I deserve

it. That's

not even a real

maybe

. I already told you before

that I'm a

moron. So could you

at least spell

out what I did

wrong?

I kissed you. You

freaked.

You

kissed me,

and I

was still

stuck on the freaking?

But then you

act like it's fine and you

came back to

sleep over. I dunno what

I coulda

done different, but I

obviously did

something wrong so. I'm s

orry.

Comments

action;

[everylittlegirl]

[Hayley heads immediately for Bart's place. Although the post was from a cafe, she knows he might be home already. If not, she'll wait. Maybe Kon was right and they she shouldn't have been avoiding him, but she never thought he would do this.

Her entire body is tense with anger, hands balled in fists at her sides as she knocks. Talking about things is bad enough, but publicly broadcasting it goes too far and she's not okay with that at all.]

action;

[backinakidflash]

[Bart is returning from the cafe when he sees Hayley knocking on the door, and he comes to a full stop about 10 feet behind her. She does not, in fact, look happy. Not even mollified.

Well, he's ripping off the band-aide anyway. He might as well go through with it.]

I'm here.

action;

[everylittlegirl]

[Hayley rounds on him as soon as she hears his voice, storming the few steps to close most of the distance between them. She keeps her volume low, but is doing her best to yell at him as much as the quiet will allow.]

What the fuck are you doing? Telling the whole turtle about our problems instead of just showing up and demanding I stop avoiding you like a normal person? What exactly were you hoping to accomplish?

action;

[backinakidflash]

[Of all the times to nail the reaction. Bart blinks at her fury for a second and then shakes his head.]

I was going for 'non-confrontational'. Turning up and demanding is usually how I get into arguments. And I know that you don't think metahumans should tell anybody how to be, so that's already two strikes on that idea. Third's that I'd kinda... rather not have the conversation in person. Maybe you were too busy avoiding me to notice I was avoiding you.

[He shrugs slightly and finds it's easier to look at her forehead than her eyes.]

Besides. I encrypted it. I didn't know it wasn't working.

action;

[everylittlegirl]

[Uncharacteristic of her normal control, Hayley wants to scream. Instead, she just holds up her hands in a gesture as if to stop him right there, dropping her eyes to allow herself a moment to breathe. When she looks up again, her outright anger has been reigned in, pulling at the edges of her expression but not overcoming it.]

I don't care about the glitching, [She replies as calmly as she can manage, misunderstanding his comment on the encryption for a comment on the consoles' recent quality or lack thereof.] I care about you not, in fact, encrypting it.

[Hayley becomes suddenly self-aware, glancing at the empty streets around them.] Can we go inside and talk about this please?

action;

[backinakidflash]

[His mouth opens to start refuting that, but the request to go inside is a good one, given that he was very recently publicly calling Malicant a dumbass.]

Sure. [Bart heads past her and unlocks the door, stepping inside and holding it open. That's about as long as he can hold his tongue though.]

I did encrypt it. I used Rob's encryptions. I haven't used Jor-El's since the whole... thing.

action;

[everylittlegirl]

[She immediately follows him, stepping past him and inside once the door is open. Then she turns to look at him again, giving him the chance to speak before she freaks out some more. There are really just too many things to yell at him for that she has to focus on one at a time. First the lack of encryption, then his avoiding her, then the kiss, then his calling Malicant out - or maybe that one could go above the whole relationship drama.

His words only serve to confuse her and it shows on her features.] What do you mean you encrypted it? It was the same as the rest of your message.

Re: action;

[backinakidflash]

No, it wasn't. Or. It wasn't supposed to be. I know how to encrypt things, y'know. I do it all the time. Maybe not as often as I should, but I know better than to tell the whole city everybody's secret identities. Or who I've been kissing.

[Bart flinches a little as he speaks.] Especially when it's part of the same rant 'bout Malitron.

action;

[everylittlegirl]

[She grimaces at his remark. Hayley considers. Although the end result is the same, it's not exactly like she can blame him for doing what he could within the confines of his knowledge. She sighs and lifts a hand, running her thumb along the crease between her brows while simultaneously hiding her expression for a second and the fear that accompanies it.

When she drops her hand, Hayley appears to be tapering off in her anger, exasperated but less inclined to yell. Her gaze doesn't meet his, fixed on an irrelevant point on the wall behind him.] Okay. I'm going to assume you didn't mean to call me a moron and that that was just a trick of the system, like the whole you broadcasting our issues to the entire city thing was.

So, fine. Do you have something to say or should I go?

action;

[backinakidflash]

I didn't say you're a moron. I said I'm a moron. [Even the glitching was against him, and Bart had no way of proving it to her. Like everything he said, it had all been unscripted and off-the-cuff. There were no cue cards to produce that would prove that he'd said anything but what she'd heard. He was screwed, but maybe not badly. She wasn't storming off.]

Yeah. I'm sorry. For - whatever I did. Just let me know what I'm apologizing for so I don't go doing it again.

[He knows that it's a terrible apology, but he has to try, anyway. Avoiding her takes a tremendous amount of effort. He'd like it to stop. He doesn't have enough close friends that he can afford to waste them.]

action;

[everylittlegirl]

[She believed him. It would be unlike him to call her a moron and him calling himself one, while not entirely normal, seemed to fit with the kind of things he would say. Hayley was about to wave it off when he continued and she tensed slightly. Her arms crossed without conscious thought, still staring at that blank spot on the wall.

She was silent for a time that stretched between them. While she tried to hurry her thoughts, knowing each moment for her was an eternity for him, it was difficult.]

I know I freaked out, but.. you basically said you kissed me for no reason and then promised me you never wanted to do it again. I thought I was doing the right thing kissing you back, but whatever, I figured it out. I was way off base and that's not what you wanted and you were just trying to let me down easy.

[She frowned at the wall.] So now we get to pretend nothing happened and try to be whatever we were before. Friends, I guess? You don't have to apologize, but don't expect me to be all overjoyed about me being an idiot and making another huge mistake.

[Admittedly, not quite attacking Superman huge, but still pretty terrible. Especially now that it was broadcast to anyone willing to listen.]

action;

[backinakidflash]

[Oh look. They hadn't run over this topic from every horrifically awkward angle yet.]

No specific reason. Not one with thought behind it. You haven't known me long enough, but I'm not exactly overloaded with foresight here, OK? My codename used to be Impulse. It fit really well.

[He sighs a little. This is getting off track, and there's so many topics as it is.] So it wasn't exactly no reason. And - I'm pretty sure I promised never to do it again or something like that. [It wasn't the same thing. Close, but you could fit worlds into the gap.]

You didn't make a mistake, and I didn't stop being your friend. Wouldn't, even if you had. It takes a lot. I've been slammed into a dump truck by Kon. Uh. Well, I have. He hasn't done it yet. I hate time travel. Anyway... I'm not sure where the breaking point is, but it's high, OK? So always assume friends.

action;

[everylittlegirl]

[Hayley sighed with renewed exasperation, dropping her hands down to her sides again. Her fists uncurled, her posture remained stiff. She finally looked over to him, her frown never lessening. His clarifications weren't helping anything. In fact, they were making the whole thing worse.]

Bart, do you want to be friends or.. not-friends? [She asked awkwardly, trying to take Kon's advice and talk it out.

Hayley wasn't sure that she could play friends with the ambiguity sticking around and she would be disappointed in herself if she let the opportunity pass without even giving it a shot. Dating was a thing normal teenagers did, after all. Besides, she didn't want to lose him, for a lot of reasons, most of which she knew were kind of selfish.]

I mean, well, you keep explaining all these things and I can't tell if that means you really do want to just pretend it never happened or if you actually want to maybe try and see how it goes but you're just saying you don't because.. I don't actually know why you would, but..

[She lifted both hands to wrap around her neck, elbows pulling together awkwardly in front of her chest.] Please just tell me so I can stop talking.

action;

[backinakidflash]

[Bart starts at the question, genuinely concerned that it's whether or not they even want to be friends anymore. They might not have been as communicative lately, but he'd never considered saying 'forget this, it's too complicated'.

The rest of what she says relaxes him somewhat, but he's not sure if they're playing on the same field.]

Don't call it not-friends unless that's literally what you're asking, do I wanna not be friends? It's confusing. The answer is no if that is what you're asking. Friends is a minimum, OK? For me, that's like the least I wanna be.

I keep screwing this up. I want you to be the one picking, not me. I'm not saying I don't. I'm saying... I don't know how to say what I'm saying. [He knew what he was trying not to say. There'd been this... vibe to something she'd said about her dad, and Bart didn't want to touch it with a 10-foot-pole. He didn't want to be the one to define things because it didn't feel right, but they couldn't both default to the other's decision. That she was almost choking herself to get through the conversation was a bad sign. Wasn't it?]

Because I dunno if I'm right, and I'd rather be wrong, and I'm no good at not saying things. And who says I want you to stop talking? I missed talking to you.

action;

[everylittlegirl]

Sorry, words are.. hard. [She offered with a light smile, trying to hide how deeply uncomfortable she was with a facade of lighthearted fun instead.

If Bart was paying close attention, he might notice the shift, that her actions suddenly seemed more deliberate and that her expression was painted on. Hayley was now playing the role of normal teenage girl because it was easier than trying to be herself. She was suddenly much more at ease.]

I meant to be like, so articulate. [She chuckled slightly, dropping her gaze and then looking up to him again.] It's.. not really something either of us can choose, unless the other agrees.

[Slowly, hesitantly, she stepped forward to close most of the space between them, coming to stand only a foot or so away. She looked up at him, a confidence in her expression that wasn't there a moment before.]

I don't understand.. What do you hope you're wrong about?

Re: action;

[backinakidflash]

But I'm gonna agree. So... what's so hard about telling me what you want? I thought you were bossy. Full control of the situation. It's yours. I'm like gift-wrapping a chance to tell me what to do, and you're not doing it. So. I guess that means you want friends? I can do that. I swear.

[It would be better that way, he told himself. Losing a friend wouldn't hurt so much.

When she came closer, she didn't look nervous or scared. Certainly not like anyone who'd been through that, not anywhere in the same zone as traumatized. He was way off the mark with that assumption.]

Nothing. It doesn't matter. [He wanted to cringe at the terrible word choice when it hit his own ears and had to remind himself that the only reason why it didn't matter was because it didn't happen. If it had, it'd matter, but it didn't so it doesn't. Everything's fine, and he needs to stop pretending to have any great insight.] Just me being dumb. I used to think baby powder was made out of babies. This is nothing.

[Video]

[tactile_telekinesis]

[Kon shows up cringing, the feed is frozen for a moment but he's talking. That was painful though and even with the frozen image for the time it was up should tell Bart that something is wrong.]

▓ude, if that was mea▓▓▓▓or someone then ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓s up, it was▓▓▓ private.

Voice;

[backinakidflash]

[It's like Wheel of Fortune for the blind, figuring out what's being said.]

Uh.

Pl

ease tell me

you mean

the stuff about

Dumb

ass. I don't

care

who hears

that

.

[Video]

[tactile_telekinesis]

[There's a small success as he shakes his head without it glitching.]

No, I'm talking ▓▓▓▓ letting every▓▓e know you kissed ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓.

Voice;

[backinakidflash]

[Well shit.]

That was

n't suppo

sed to

be public. I en

crypted it

to Hayley.

[Video]

[tactile_telekinesis]

[Raised brow and slight tilt of his head.]

Hayley? You ▓▓▓▓▓▓ Hayley? Hope ▓▓▓▓ doesn't see this then or I got ▓▓▓▓▓▓lin' she's gonna be pis▓▓▓.

Voice;

[backinakidflash]

She's already

pissed, m

an. It can't get

worse,

yeah?

[A pause.]

Crap onna

shitstick

. I'm so toast.

[Video]

[tactile_telekinesis]

It ▓▓▓ always get worse with ▓ girl ▓▓▓▓▓▓ mad.

Nice knowing ▓▓▓.

Voice;

[backinakidflash]

This

time I

don't wanna

boring fun

eral, OK? Just stuff

my body

with explosives and p

itch it

into Dumbass's ba

ckya

rd.

[Video]

[tactile_telekinesis]

Promise!

▓▓▓▓ love it.