Young Justice One-Shots (Book #2)

Companion #1 (Bart Allen)

[Art is not mine! Credit to JustFrantic_]

Requested by: Feketealkony16

Keys:
- Y/N: Your Name

Word Count: 3,644

Warnings and/or Pre-Notes:
- There will be a second and third part out within the next couple of days

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     "Are you excited for your surprise?" M'gann asks as she ushers me down the hallway. Kaldur lets out a soft sigh as he walks next to me. I don't know why but Conner has demanded that I'm never alone with M'gann.
     The whole Conner hates M'gann situation has not made this 'new life' any easier. About a week ago I woke up in my pod like I did every day. Unlike every day, Lex Luther was not the one to wake me up. It was a big man that looked a lot like me. He said his name was Conner and that he was going to give me a new life. That did not sound fun.
     Once I was let out of my pod, I attacked him and the other people with him. Just like Luther told me to do if something like that ever happened.
     The bluebird man managed to pin me down with some green rock thing. It reminded me of the same rock Luther would use when I failed a test. It hurt a lot and he kept apologizing which only seemed to make it hurt more. Apologizing is something Luther never did which is why I think it hurt more. I don't know why. How are you going to hurt someone and then say sorry? Just don't hurt them. Or don't feel bad for doing it.
     I still don't like the bird man. I have learned his name is Nightwing. My name is Experiment 203, but Conner likes to call me Y/N. I do not like being called Y/N, but Conner doesn't yell if I let him call me that.
     Conner talks a lot about weird things. He told me he used to be like me and now he's a person. He says I'm not a person yet but one day I will be. That doesn't make sense to me, but Conner explained it as me starting to feel emotions and have thoughts all by myself instead of Luther doing it for me.
     He talks a lot about being angry and asks me if I'm angry all the time. I am angry sometimes. About Luther hurting me and messing with my head. About not understanding stuff. About Nightwing hurting me. About knowing things but not knowing what they are. I know what a chicken is, but what's a chicken? When I think of the word, an image appears in my head but what is it? What does it do? Why is it a thing?
     "No, I don't like surprises," I answer M'gann, causing her smile to weave a bit. I don't know why that would upset her. If anything, it should upset me. Surprises usually end with Luther hurting me and telling me Superman is making him do these things. Conner says that's a lie, but I don't know. It's hard to tell who's really lying to me.
     "You'll like this one," Kaldur says in his smooth tone. His speech reminds me of Conner's. They're both even and calm unless Conner is mad.
     M'gann comes to a halt in front of one of the doors, falling from her floating to stand on her own feet. She's making small noises of excitement as she knocks on the door. "Hello!" She cheers once the door is opened.
     "Hello," Nightwing says, his head sticking out of the door frame. "Y/N," he says, smiling at me softly. Dumb bird man. I nod at him before turning my attention away. Birdman makes me angry. Conner says to breathe and count to ten when I'm angry. It never works but I try it anyway.
     "Y/N," Conner says, shoving Birdman out of the way to take his spot in the doorway. "Close your eyes and come here," he orders, grabbing my arm to tug me forward as he wraps his other hand around my eyes.
     I obey, snapping my eyes closed as I let him pull me around. He constantly tells me not to obey everything I'm told to do and then gets mad if I don't listen to him. I've decided to just do as I'm told and deal with Conner being mad about it.
     I feel uneasy as I'm being tugged around. I don't like not knowing what is going to happen. I think that's why I miss my pod. I always knew what was going to happen. I would wake up, Luther would test my powers if I failed - I would hurt if I did good - I got chocolate, then I would go back to sleep. I never know what's going to happen here. However, when I do bad here, Conner or Nightwing talk to me instead of hurting me. I don't get chocolate when I do good; I just get more talking.
     My body comes to an uneasy stop when I bump into Conner. His hand drops from my eyes to my shoulder, his other one still present on my arm. "Open your eyes," he says, shaking my body softly.
     Once again, I obey, snapping my eyes open. It takes me a second to adjust to the lightening in the room. The lights and noises here are a lot different than my pod. It upsets me; to hear everything, everything being so bright all the time, everyone touching me all the time. It makes my eyes, ears, and skin burn. Conner says to just focus on one sound at a time and it'll make everything else sound quitter. It takes me a second, but I manage to focus on Conner's heart. Hearing it beat usually makes everything else seem less in my face.
     My eyes fall forward once I get my senses to calm down. Sitting on the bed in front of me is a boy. He is a very small boy. He looks a little taller than me but way shorter than Conner. He also looks skinnier than me. Honestly, he looks skinny and scrawny. "My surprise is a boy?" I ask, looking up at Conner.
     "We were given a... companion for you," Conner answers, moving both his hands to my upper arms. Conner starts rubbing them like he usually does when I'm confused. Supposedly it's supposed to bring me comfort. It does not.
     "So, a pet? You said humans are not pets."
     "A pet?" Birdman - er - Nightwing asks, glancing between Conner and me. "Bart isn't a pet. He's a... companion." He's careful with the word like he's not sure if he should use it or not.
     "So... a pet?" I repeat, continuing to look at Conner.
     He shakes his head a bit with a small smile on his face. "Why do you think he's a pet?"
     "You call Wolf your companion and Wolf is, well, a wolf, which means he's a pet." I can feel the anger bubbling up with my confusion. If this boy is not a pet, why call him a companion? Are pets not companions? If they're not, why does Conner call Wolf a companion? What even is a companion?
     "That makes sense," Con says, starting to massage my neck instead of petting my arms. This does help, he should do it more often. "A companion is a person or an animal you spend time with or do stuff with. I spend a lot of time with Wolf, and he goes everywhere with me, so he is my companion."
     Oh, that makes sense. "But I spend my time with you? Doesn't that mean you're my companion? Why do I need a different one?"
     Conner sighs softly, bringing his other hand up next to the one already present on my neck. His hands are soft and warm as he massages my neck muscles. "You need someone other than me to spend time with. You need a friend, someone to learn about the world with you. That is what Bart is going to do. You can't spend your whole life with me."
     That doesn't make any sense, but okay. Conner knows what's best. "What is a friend?" I ask, turning back to this companion of mine. His hair is brown with a tint of red. It looks very floppy, like Wally's. His eyes are green, which I find good. A lot of people here, me included, have blue eyes, so the green is a nice change of pace.
     "A friend," Kaldur starts, "is someone you have a bond with. Someone you love and trust that isn't family or a boyfriend."
     "Who says I would want a boyfriend?" I ask, turning my attention to the older man.
     "If you want a girlfriend, that's fine too. You can love who you want to love," Con says, dropping his hands to my shoulders and squeezing them softly. That is not what I meant and something I don't understand. I'll have to ask about it later.
     "Lesbians are hot - ow!" My companion starts but ends up whining in pain when Birdman smacks the back of his head. "I was kidding!" He says, rubbing the spot as he glares at his assaulter.
     "Be nice," Nightwing hisses, crossing his arms over his chest. "We are going to leave you here to watch a movie with Bart, okay?" That does not sound fun. I don't want to watch a movie, and I really don't want to watch a movie with this stranger.
     I stay silent, staring at Nightwing and his dumb idea. Conner's hands go back to my neck, continuing to massage them like he had earlier. "You don't have to watch a movie. We can find something else for you guys to do," Con whispers into my ear, his hands a little rougher than earlier. I don't think he likes the idea of us being alone either.
     "Can we make brownies? Batgirl showed me how to the other day," I ask, looking up at him.
     His eyebrows are pushed together, and the rest of his face is scrunched up, but that all melts away at my question. "Ya that's fine," Conner says, his hands falling off of me completely. "Do you want to make brownies, Bart?"
     "Hell ya! Food is always a yes!" My companion says, jumping to his feet before continuing to jump around the room.
     "He moves a lot," I point out, looking at Conner again.
     "Bart is a speedster like Wally, so he'll probably move a lot, like Wally, if not more so." Great, so I do have a pet. I'm going to have to take him on walks like Artemis does with Wally when he gets too excited.
     The boy ends up hopping his way in front of me. He's still bouncing as he looks at me. "Hello! What's your name?"
     "Experiment-" Conner nudges me in the side to cut me off. "Er - Y/N, I guess," I whisper the last part but still get another nudge from Con. Stupid super hearing.
     "What a pretty name. Let's go make brownies!" He cheers, grabbing my hand and pulling me along behind him. Small shocks escape from his fingertips and race over my fingers. It feels weird having his fingers laced in mine, having small shocks being passed through him. I'll have to ask Artemis if this is usual or not.
     The group of older heroes walks behind us, exchanging soft words. None of them are really interesting, mostly just 'how cute's and 'this will be good's. Now and then Conner says something along the lines of 'I don't like this'.
     Eyes turn toward us as Bart drags me into the common room. Whispers are again passed, most of which I don't understand or care about. "So, how do we make brownies?" Bart asks, letting go of me once we're in the kitchen.
     "Um... I got to find the recipe book first." Once the words are out, Bart races around the kitchen, swinging open cabinets as wind whirls around the two of us. Within seconds, Bart is in front of me, holding the book Batgirl showed me the other day. "Thank you," I mumble taking the book from him. He watches intensely as I flip through the book, looking for the recipe we need.
     "Now what?" My not-pet asks, pacing between my left and right side, causing my nervousness to spark.
     "We need to collect the ingredients." He stands there, staring at me blankly. That doesn't help my nervousness. "In the cabinet over there," I say - pointing at the corner cabinet next to the stove, "Should be sugar, flour, cocoa powder, vanilla, and baking powder."
     Bart nods, rushing around again to collect everything I told him to. Some of the flour fluffs out as he rushes around, causing himself to be coated in it. I smile a bit at the newly ghosted speedster. He coughs before focusing on me with a lop-sided smile. It reminds me of Wally's smile. "Note to self, do not run around with flour." He laughs at himself, making me giggle a little too.
     "Batgirl says flour gets everywhere so that would be a good idea," I answer, turning my attention back to the recipe book. My chest feels weird when Bart smiles at me and I don't think I like it. "In the silver cold box should be eggs and butter." Once again, he speeds around, collecting the items I've listed.
     "Refrigerator," Kaldur says, glancing at us from the living room. "Sometimes people call it a fridge."
     I hum and nod at the water breather. I'll have to remember that. I repeat the word in my head a couple of times before going back to the book. "We need to 'preheat the oven to three hundred and fifty degrees," I read aloud, reaching forward to add the saltshaker to the pile of items.
     "And an oven is what?" Bart asks, scanning the kitchen.
     I sit for a moment, scanning the kitchen too as I try to remember what Batgirl did. "I think it's that thing," I answer, pointing at a white box. Unlike the 'fridge' thing, this 'oven' thing is short and long. I walk over to it, looking it over. "Ya, it's this thing," I repeat, trying to remember what nob Batgirl used. I think it's the middle one. It has to be, the other ones only go up to eight whereas this one goes up to five hundred. I turn the nub until the little line is pointed at the three hundred and fifty.
     "We need dishes now, ya?" Companion asks, nodding his head to himself before starting to snap open cabinets again.
     "Yes, we need two white circle things," I say, trying to remember what M'gann told me they were called.
     "Bowls?" He asks, holding up one of the circle things.
     "Bowls?" I echo.
     "Ya, these things are called bowls. We need two of them?"
     Bowls. Bowls. Bowls. "Yes, we need two." I look back at the recipe, scanning over it for different dishes it needs. "We need a pan. What is a pan? Is it that black square?" I ask, turning towards Batgirl.
     "Yes ma'am," she answers without looking away from the show being played on the picture box. "It should be in the drawer under the oven."
     Once again, Bart grabs the dish for me. "What else?"
     "We need a..." The word escapes me, so I pretend to hold a bowl and swish my hand around like I'm stirring.
     "A bowl? We already have a bowl."
     "No! The... The thing," I say, swirling my hand faster.
     "Oh! The thing!" He says, starting to open drawers before he finds the big plastic stirrer.
     "That is a spoon," Nightwing says, a bit of a laugh being covered by his words.
     "Spoon," Bart says, dragging out the 'o's. "I knew that I just couldn't think of the word."
     "Sure, you did," I mumble, looking over the steps.
     "I did too! It's not like you knew the word either," there's a pout on his face as he crosses his arms over his chest.
     "I grew up in a glass tube hidden in a basement, what's your excuse?"
     My companion's smile falls some before it's back to covering his whole face. "I just forgot the word." His heartbeat picks up a bit, but it's hard to tell why. Most of the time it happens when people lie but Wally's heart is always super-fast so I'm sure Bart's is the same way.
     I hum as I recheck the recipe. "So, we need a clean-up paper dipped in butter."
     "Clean up paper?"
     "Clean up paper," I say, pointing to a roll of them on the counter next to him.
     Bart grabs a sheet of it, moving like normal for once today. "And just... dip it into the butter?" I nod as I recite the next steps to myself. I keep an eye on my companion as he rubs the paper over the butter. "Now what?"
     "Use it to coat the pan," I answer, pulling one of the bowls closer to me. I can feel Bart's eyes on me as I pull over the ingredients. "We need the different size things."
     "The what?" Bart asks, setting down the cleaning paper before he starts messing with his hands.
     "The things," I say, starting to unstack pretend thingies. "I don't know what they're called."
     "Measuring cups," Conner says, walking into the kitchen and pulling open a drawer. He sets the stacking cups on the counter before digging through the drawer again. "And you'll probably need measuring spoons."
     "Spoons," I whisper to myself, stretching out the 'o's as Bart did earlier.
     "Spoons," Bart mimics, scooting closer to me. He pulls to food book towards himself, reading over it. "Sugar," he mumbles, pulling the bag closer to us. "We need the one cup," he continues, pulling the stacking cups towards us as well. He struggles to get the ring off for a while before I pop it open like Batgirl showed me the other day. "One... two," he mumbles, dumping two cups into the bowl.
     "What a second," I say, pushing the flour away from him. "Batgirl says to add the sugar, vanilla, eggs, and butter together and then mix everything else in another bowl."
     "I don't know. That's not what the book says," Bart voices, holding the book up so I can read the steps.
     "Ya but I trust a person more than a piece of paper," I shoot back, adding the butter and vanilla in before looking at the eggs. "I don't know how to break an egg."
     "I don't know either. It can't be that hard, right?" Companion says, opening the egg holder. "How many eggs do we need?"
     "Four."
     "Four? That seems like a lot," he says, starting to count out the eggs.
     "I don't know, that's just what the book says."
     "What did Batgirl say?"
     I think about it for a minute, picking up one of the eggs. "I think she used four." We sit in silence for a while as I try to remember how Batgirl broke them open. "I think... we just tap them on the side," the words come out soft, but Bart still hears them. He takes the egg from my hand, the shocks from earlier aren't there this time though. I watch as he taps the egg against the bowl until it starts to leak. He repeats it for the rest of the eggs.
     "I want to stir it," Bart says, taking the spoon from my hand.
     "Stir it slow, we don't want more stuff getting on you."
     Bart laughs at my comment as he starts - slowly - stirring the mix. As he works on that, I add the remaining ingredients to the second bowl. "Okay, now pour that bowl into this bowl," I order, pushing my bowl closer to Bart's. Once again, he obeys, and pours his mix before using the spoon to stir it all up.
     "Now what?" He asks, looking up from the bowl to me.
     I hum again, reading over the steps. "We pour the mix into the pan," I answer, pulling the pan across the countertop. My companion tips his bowl, letting the mix plop into the pan as he uses the spoon to push out what's left behind. "It needs to be flat," I tell him, taking the spoon from him to level out the mixture.
     Bart's foot starts to tap, filling my ears with the paddling sound. "How long until they'll be done?"
     Once again, I glance at the recipe page. "Thirty minutes after we put it in the oven."
     "I'll put it in the oven," Conner says, making quick paces back into the kitchen before taking the pan from the countertop.
     "Thirty minutes is like forever!" Bart whines, shifting his weight between his feet.
     "It's not forever," I correct, starting to put our supplies back in their places. Bart paces around me, rambling about something as I work on the clean-up.
     "Y/N?" Bart calls, pulling me out of my mind bubble. "Did you hear me?"
     "No."
     "What should we do tomorrow?"
     I think about it for a minute, the cold from the silver cold - er - fridge helping me focus on my thoughts. "I would like to see a chicken," I finally answer, closing the door now that I don't need the temperature to keep my thoughts straight.
     "What's a chicken? Where do you find a chicken?"
     "I don't know, that's why I want to see one," I answer, watching as Conner walks back to his spot in the living room.
     "There's a farm right outside of town. I'm sure the farmer would let you see his chickens," Kaldur says, a soft smile on his face.
     "Well, I guess we're going to see chickens tomorrow!" Bart cheers, once again bouncing around the room. I am happy, I get brownies and I get to see a chicken with my companion tomorrow. I think I will like having Bart as a companion.