Fic: Life in Manchester 2/3. Bart/Tim. PG.

[museofspeed]

Title: Life in Manchester 2/3
Fandom: DCU
Characters: Bart/Tim, Carol, Steph.
Prompt: fanfic100: 2. Middles. wtf27: High school AU. au_abc: School. dcu_freeforall: 30. Clairaudience.
Word Count: 1800
Rating: PG
Summary: Steph gives advice, Bart hugs, Carol plots, and Tim is Lois Lane.
Author's Notes: Second part of Life in Manchester! First part was here! Thanks again to julius12 for betaing!



"I'm such an idiot," Bart moaned, resting his forehead on the table.

Steph was wearing a black wig and sunglasses. She'd told him to call her Beth Green. "I know that," she said. "What exactly did you do this time?"

Bart shook his head and didn't say anything.

"Come on," Steph said. "It can't be that bad."

"Uh huh, it totally can be," Bart said.

"What did you do?" Steph asked. "Spill your secret identity to the whole city already?"

"Dude, Manchester totally doesn't count as a city," Bart said.

"You didn't."

Bart sat up and glared at her. "No, I didn't! It's worse."

"Bart, come on."

"Look, so you know how I told you I have no friends in Manchester?"

"Uh huh."

"Well I kind of made one."

"That's good!" Steph said.

"Nope," Bart said. "Cause he hates me now."

"Why does he hate you? You're hyperactive and annoying, but not really hateable."

"I kissed him," Bart said miserably.

"Oh, Bart."

"I know! What if he doesn't like me back? I mean, Ithinkhedoesbutmaybehedoesn't and maybe hedoesn'twanttomove too fast!"

"Look, is homosexuality just completely accepted in the thirtieth century or something?"

Bart looked at her and scratched his head. "Homo-who?"

"Homosexuality. You know, guys liking other guys?"

"Oh. You guys give it a special name? That's so weird!"

"So everyone accepts it? Just like that?"

"Sure," Bart said. "There's nothing weird about it. Why?"

"Look it's, uh, not that accepted in this century. I mean, there are a lot of people who are cool with it, and it's getting more common, but….oh, Bart. This could be bad."

"What?" Bart said. "Why? I don't get it! Why would people care? That's just dumb!"

"It's especially bad since you're in the South," Steph said. "Manchester's probably pretty conservative, right?"

"I guess. Maybe?"

"Look, even if your friend does like you, he's probably not going to admit it. And he probably isn't comfortable with you right now. But you've got to talk to him."

"And say what? Sorry for kissing him? I already told him that!"

"You've got to convince him you're not gay!"

"Gay?"

"That you only like girls!"

"That's so dumb!"

"Do you want to be absolutely miserable for the rest of the school year?"

"Come on, it's not like they can beat me up!"

"There are other things they can do," Steph said. "Trust me, it would suck."

"Oh," Bart said. He rested his head on the table again. "Why does life suck so much?"

Steph shrugged. "Tell me that when you figure it out. Hey, look," she grinned. "It'll be okay."

"I'm gonna die," Bart said.

"You're being overdramatic. Hey, SB and I were gonna meet up and hang out or something next weekend. Want to come? We make a pretty good team."

"I thought you said we make a terrible team and we were gonna be the death of you?"

"Yeah, well," Steph shrugged. "We got the job done."

"Cool," Bart said, sitting up again. "Sure, I guess I'll be there."

"Great, meet at the Justice Cave, okay?"

"Sure," Bart said.

Steph's cell phone rang.

"Sorry," Steph said. She picked it up. "Spoiler? Okay, I'll be there soon. Bye." She hung up. "Gotta go," she said. "See you next weekend?"

"Yeah, totally!" Bart said. "I guess I should go talk to Tim."

"You do that," Steph said. "And don't worry, I got the bill. We are, after all, talking about business. My boss'll cover it."

"Cool, thanks!" Bart said. "Bye, Ro – Ste – Beth."

Steph sighed. "By the way? SB doesn't know who I am. And I'd prefer to keep it that way for now. So be discreet, okay?"

"Right, I'll be so discreet even you won't know who you are!" Bart promised.

"…good luck with that," Steph said. "Go talk to your guy."

"Kay. Thanks!" Bart grinned and vanished in a blur.

He changed into costume as he ran and screeched to a halt outside of Tim's house. Then he changed out of costume in a flash and knocked on the door.

An elderly woman opened the door. "Hello?" she said.

"Um. Hi." Bart fidgeted. "Is Tim home? I'm uh, I'm his friend. From school."

"Come on in, dear," the woman said. "I'll go get him for you."

"Okay." Bart walked in and looked around. Tim had a really, really nice house. The woman brought him into the sitting room and bustled away.

After what felt like ages even though Bart knew it was only a few minutes, he heard voices in the hall.

"…but Mrs. Mac, my friends all know better than to disturb me before three!"

"Two in the afternoon is a perfectly reasonable hour to come calling, Tim. Now go on in. I've got work to do."

"Yeah, yeah," Tim stumbled into the sitting room.

Then he saw Bart and his eyes widened.

"Hi," Bart said in a small voice.

"Uh, hi," Tim said. His hair was all rumpled from sleep and he was still wearing his pajamas. Bart wanted to kiss him again, but Steph's words were still ringing in his head.

"You boys have fun," Mrs. Mac said, walking off cheerfully.

"Did I wake you up?" Bart asked. "I can come back – "

"It's okay," Tim said. "I was going to wake up soon anyways."

"Oh," Bart said. "I, um. I'm sorry. I'm a total idiot."

"It's fine," Tim said. "Actually, I – "

"No, course you're not whatsitcalled, uh, gay. I'm not either, I mean. And I, uh, kinda had a weird hallucination and thought you were a girl for a minute?"

"Oh," Tim said quietly.

"Cause that's, uh, like, wrong, right?" Bart winced. "Guys like girls, not guys, right?"

"Right," Tim said. "Totally wrong."

"But uh, I'd like it if we could, like, still be friends, y'know. I promise I won't think you're a girl again."

"Oh, good," Tim said, not sounding particularly happy about it. "Yeah, that's…that's good."

"So we're cool?" Bart asked, smiling again.

"Yeah, we're cool," Tim said. "Friends. Right."

"Great!" Bart grinned and hugged Tim tightly. "I was really worried you hated me but I'm really glad you didn't and is this okay, friends hug, right? It's not gay?"

"Um." Tim blinked. "Yes?"

"Cool," Bart said. He hugged Tim again.

"Yeah, cool," Tim said.



After Bart left, Tim ran up to his room and called Carol.

"Hello?" Carol said.

"I think Bart just dumped me," Tim said.

"You two were dating and you didn't tell me?" Carol said.

"No!" Tim said. "He just – you know how he avoided me all last week?"

"Yes?" Carol said. "Speaking of which, I haven't forgiven you for the whole not telling me what's going on thing."

"I'm telling you now," Tim said. "Bart – you know that day he fought the entire school?"

"Uh huh," Carol said.

"Well, he kissed me."

"That's great!" Carol said. "Just…randomly?"

"Yes, but then he ran away."

"Oh."

"And I didn't see him for the rest of the week."

"That could partly be because he's got a lot of other friends now."

"Yeah, but today he showed up at my house and told me he'd thought I was a girl because of hallucinations and that being gay was wrong."

"Ouch," Carol said. "That's...incredibly unbelievable."

"I know! But what am I supposed to do?"

"Do you think he's going to keep avoiding you?"

"No. He said he wanted to still be friends and he hugged me. Really hard."

"He sounds like he's in denial," Carol said. "Except the hugging hard thing doesn't quite add up. If I didn't want someone to know I was gay, I probably wouldn't be very touchy-feely with the same sex."

"I know!"

"What did you do?"

"What could I do? I just agreed with him!"

"You are such an idiot, Tim," Carol said. "That was the perfect time to tell him that gayness is totally natural and that you're okay with it!"

"But what if he's, like, an ultra-conservative Christian or something?"

"He's atheist," Carol said. "We were talking about it. Actually, it doesn't make much sense that he'd be homophobic. He seemed really liberal on everything else."

Tim shrugged. "People are weird."

"We've got to figure this out," Carol said. "I think he probably does like you but he's scared about it."

"Great. I've got a mutual crush on a closeted gay homophone."

"Come on. We've got to help establish that you aren't actually homophobic. Let's take him to see that new movie. But I'm A Cheerleader."

"You made the team? I thought for sure you weren't ditzy enough."

"I did, but I quit," Carol said. "But I'm talking about that lesbian movie. Worst comes to worst, we can pretend to be disgusted too."

"Right, okay," Tim said. "That sounds like a plan."



On Wednesday, Tim and Carol walked home together. Bart still hadn't joined them for Chess Club, though he said he'd be able to come to their next meeting on Friday, and he'd agreed to go see the movie with them. Preston was coming too. Tim was curious what his response would be as well.

"If only I hadn't taken your queen," Carol said.

"What?" Tim said.

"Your queen! It was such an obvious trap! But I fell into it like a rookie!"

"Oh, you're just pissed because I broke your five game run."

"Just wait for next game," Carol said. "Your ass is mine."

"Oh, I'll bet. I've been reading Bobby Fisher."

"Read it a month ago."

"Did all the little puzzles?"

"Oh yeah."

"Damn. Well, I'll still win!"

"Ha!" They turned to cross the street. Carol smirked. "We'll just – "

"Watchoutmoverightnoworyou'llberoadkill!" someone shouted as Tim and Carol found themselves suddenly deposited in the grass on the other side of the road.

"Bwuh?" Tim looked up and saw a gangly kid in red and white spandex. With huge feet and wild brown hair.

"Hi!" the kid said. "I'm Impulse, the fastest kid alive! I'll be doing hero stuff around here now."

"We don't have supervillains," Tim said. "Not that you should leave!" he added hurriedly.

"You look familiar," Carol said.

"Dunno why," Impulse said. "I've never met you guys before. Um. I've got to follow that van! It had White Lightning in it. She is a supervillain, by the way," he said, glancing at Tim.

"Oh," Tim said. "I've heard of her. She's here now?"

"Uh huh. I gotta go. Um, don't do drugs!" Impulse vanished in a blur.

"Wow," Tim said. "He was hot."

"Yeah, yeah, go jump out a window, Lois Lane."

"Hey, I like Lois Lane's work! And she married that other reporter, Clark Kent, for your information. Not Superman."

"My point stands," Carol said smugly. "You got a crush on a superhero!"

"Still, he did look familiar," Tim said. "Can't quite place him."

"I'm sure it'll come to us," Carol said. "Shall we stay to the crosswalks until we get home?"

"Good idea," Tim said.


Next!