#Bart 'pretty boy' Allen strikes again

[corner-stories]

bathed in the light of the greenhouse

Rose Wilson. Bart Allen. Watercolor Paintings. Gardening. Pots of White Flowers. 1184 words. (ao3.)

For the last few months, Bart Allen had been tending to the greenhouse in Titans Compound. 

The place had started as a home for all of Kory’s flowers, some from this planet and some not. But when the Compound was left in the hands of the next generation, Bart found it in himself to care for the plants. He was surprisingly diligent about watering every flower or tracking every berry as it grew. Perhaps someone in his position — a person capable of breaking the sound barrier in a single step — could see the beauty in things that needed time to grow. It was certainly not the strangest way to teach a person the concept of patience. 

Also for the last few months, Rose Wilson had been taking up art as a hobby. 

While she was lightyears away from having her own wing in the Louvre, Rose found comfort in watercolors and gouache. It started with her doodling in her notebooks in the midst of Titan meetings, then blossomed into sketchbook paintings and charcoal drawings. She freed herself from the concept that her art had to be “perfect” or “proper,” allowing herself to smile every time she broke out her brushes and half-pan set. What mattered to her was never the color remaining inside the lines, but if what she created made her feel something. 

And somehow, the greenhouse became Rose’s favorite place to paint.

In the pages of her sketchbook were countless interpretations of peonies, lilies, and plants she couldn’t even name. She often sat on an upside-down bucket as she sketched, inked, and painted her pieces, utilizing brush pens and her trusty watercolor kit to get the job. 

And more often than not, Rose wasn’t alone as she worked.

Bart would often tend to the plants as Rose painted them. Unsurprisingly, the team’s resident motor-mouth chatted her ear off as she tried to apply a softer shade of cyan to the petals of a forget-me-not. He spoke about whatever was on his mind — college applications, family adventures, or that time Kon entered a Superboy Look-Alike Contest and lost. 

Rose was only half-listening as Bart watered a bush that was meant to bare strawberries. For a reason he didn’t know, the poor plant was struggling to keep up with its siblings. 

As Rose let her painting dry, she looked up and noted how rare it was to see Bart to be so calm about something. He was standing on a step ladder as he watered the hanging planter, talking to the plants they were puppies that just needed a little pep talk to stand on two feet. 

Rose looked forward and took in how Bart looked when tending to the plants. As per usual, his hair was a mess of reddish-brown curls, the strands of which hung gently on his forehead and framed his bright eyes. Even with Bart approaching the end of teenhood, he still looked as boyish and pretty as ever — the only difference seemed to be that he was getting taller. 

Speaking of which, Rose wondered just when this little “growth spurt” of his was going to end. The concept of Bart potentially being tall didn’t sit well for her for petty reasons. The part of her that loved toying with him was unprepared for the possibility that he could tower over her in the future. Another part of her also hated being reminded that she wasn’t that tall in the first place and could very likely remain where she was for the rest of her life. 

Fortunately, Rose managed to distract herself from the reality of her height by looking at her now dried watercolor painting. Grabbing a black marker from her pencil case, she carefully outlined her creation to give it a cleaner look, which was admittedly one of her favorite parts of the process. There was just something so satisfying about putting the final touches on a piece that she absolutely reveled in. 

Once her painting of a forget-me-not was done, Rose gave it a final look before smiling and turning the page in her sketchbook. She then looked around for the next thing to draw. 

By now, Bart had finished watering the strawberries and had moved onto other things. Rose saw him picking a pot full of flowers, then walking towards her end of the greenhouse. He was only a few steps away from her when she realized that he was holding a bundle of white roses, fresh and in bloom. 

Rose raised an eyebrow at him, causing Bart to do the same. It only took a quick glance at the flowers in his grasp for him to realize what she was reacting to. Clearly, the situation was unintentional, but that didn’t make it any less… serendipitous. 

Bart smiled and his pretty eyes practically lit up. “Fitting, isn’t it?” 

Rose’s mouth remained in a flat line as she crooked her head to the side. “That’s one way to put it.” 

The irony was that Rose herself wasn’t too fond of her namesake flower, even the ones that reminded her of the shade of her hair. To be frank, her favorite flowers were actually lilies. 

While Bart continued to beam and savor the moment, Rose got a better look at the scene in front of her — Bart Allen standing in a greenhouse, holding a pot of white flowers, all while dirt clung to his hands, face, clothes, and even the curls of his hair. For a reason Rose couldn’t understand he seemed to be on cloud nine, whether it be because he was in his happy place or the humor of the scenario had yet to wear off. 

Yet as Rose looked at him, she raised her left hand and stuck out her index and middle finger. 

Bart's smile wore off and was replaced with a look of mild confusion “Whatcha’ doin’, Rose?”

Rose kept her hand up and used the l-shape of her fingers to frame the sight in front of her. More and more she was able to imagine the image of Bart Allen holding a flower pot being immortalized in her sketchbook. 

“Could you stay there for a second?” asked Rose. She grabbed a pencil from her case and held it over a fresh page in her book. 

Bart looked amused and decided to play along. A more subdued grin came onto his face as he straightened his back. If he was getting painted like one of Rose’s french girls, then he hoped that she could get his good side. 

“Okay, just like this?” 

Rose nodded and held up her book. “Yeah, just like that.” 

She spent a moment taking in the sight of her teammate’s hair, eyes, and pointed jawline. Under normal circumstances, Rose would make a sarcastic quip or crass dig about his boyish looks, but seeing him now bathed in the light of the greenhouse, she was compelled to appreciate the moment as is. 

As Rose began sketching Bart Allen holding a pot of white flowers, she was happy to have a reason to be around him for just a bit longer. 

[myundeadgayson]

DC Street Racing AU — Bart Allen’s Backstory

alright, i know practically nothing about cars. i’ve also never even seen a Fast and the Furious movie, but SOMEONE has gotta fill the void on lack of DC Street Racing AUs, and i’m gonna do it. (if there are some out there though, please let me know! i can barely find ANYTHING, and i’d love to see stuff for this kind of AU!)

so,,, i’m just saying,,, the Teen Titans and Young Justice Crews as Street Racers.

we’ll start off with the characters that sent me into this spiral in the first place: Bart Allen and Wally West.

again, i know practically nothing about this kind of stuff. i know nothing about street racing, or cars, but i’m just saying… i really love imagining Street Racer!Wally being Bart’s inspiration for wanting to race.

even though Iris was never approving of Wally’s racing (she’s supportive, but extremely concerned for his safety), Wally would occasionally bring Bart along to the races that he’d have with friends. sometimes Bart would sneak his way into going without Wally realizing, but either way, Bart would come along.

after years of growing up and watching Wally race, Bart decided he wanted to race too. (note: to save myself a headache since this is No Powers AU and Time Travel doesn’t take place, we’re just gonna pretend that Barry and Iris adopted Bart. i want to say that his parents were close family members of Iris and Wally. perhaps one of the parents was another cousin of theirs, but both Bart’s parents ended up dying in some sort of accident. since then, Bart’s been living with Barry, Iris, and their newly born twins.)

i have so much more to say about this AU, but i want to warn you because this is about to be a VERY long post. however, if you wanna know Bart Allen’s Street Racer AU backstory and more about Wally (and his racing group, The Titans), please read more!

      (TW: small car accident — completely non-graphic, no injuries involved, everything is okay, but it does happen)     Bart’s been interested in racing for YEARS. ever since he was a kid, he’s always craved to know what it’s like — to feel the wind in your hair, the rush of adrenaline in your veins, the feeling of your heart racing as you watch the speedometer go up and up and up. the exhilaration filling your lungs as some part of you realizes “this is dangerous”.

he wants those feelings. he wants that experience that makes Wally’s eyes light up like there’s pure lightening rushing through his veins.

he wants to go Fast.

when Bart was thirteen, Wally let him sit in the driver’s seat for the first time.

Wally didn’t let him drive it, of course. Bart wasn’t tall enough yet to reach the petals even if he wanted to, but he was excited nonetheless. Wally had laughed at him as he grinned, asking how to work everything.

the car wasn’t on — Wally wasn’t dumb enough to give him even the slightest chance of trying to start it. it was a good choice. Bart would be a liar to say that he wouldn’t have instantly tried to drive it. instead, Wally let Bart mess with the gears and pretend he was in a race of his own. he’d adjust the mirror to try to see himself. he was too short to fully be seen in it, but if he sat up tall enough he could see his eyes.

years later, Bart would do the same. he’d look into his reflection and see his eyes, sparkling with that same determination that he had all those years ago.

Wally had explained everything to him. Bart started off by eagerly pointing at things (like the gear, the numbers, and all the weird symbols he could see) and ask questions, and Wally would answer every one. Wally explained other things too, like what made Wally’s special car better for racing than some random car. Bart hung on every word, trying his best to imagine all the pieces, even if he didn’t know what some were at all. he tried to commemorate every bit of information to memory bc maybe one day, he could make himself a cool car too.

the first time Bart actually drove a car was a disaster.

he was barely fourteen. it was hardly even a few months after Wally had verbally explained to him how to work a car.

no one expected him to put that knowledge to use so quickly.

somehow he got ahold of Iris’ keys. he would never explain how he got him (they were RIGHT THERE on the counter. how was he supposed to say no when they made it so easy?), but somehow it happened.

his joyride didn’t last long enough. for a short moment though, he was beyond excited to be beyond the wheel. after lots of adjusting the seat and awkwardly shuffling to sit as close to the wheel as possible to be able to see over the hood, Bart started to drive.

he managed to get down the street. he was a little slow at first. the car wobbled in an unsteady line as it trudged down the road at barely 10mph. Bart’s eyes flickered constantly between the road and the mirror, his small hands gripping the wheel like a lifeline.

the anxiousness he felt subsided as he reached the end of the neighborhood. there was no sign of Iris in sight, and he managed to drive just fine. stunned laughter bubbled from his lips as his eyes flickered back down to the road ahead— he was doing it! he was really doing it! he was driving!

with a newfound confidence urging him on, he turned onto a connected street to keep going. he started pressing on the gas pedal more, trying to gain some speed. the car started going from a slow crawl to a decently safe speed. Bart started pressing down on it harder and harder, going faster and faster. he remembered laughing in delight. the windows were cracked halfway, allowing the air to rush in. it tousled his hair, and for a moment he felt like he was flying.

until he wasn’t.

he hadn’t really considered the thought of other cars. he hadn’t considered a lot of things actually, such as the fact it was the middle of the day and people would be driving.

he didn’t crash into anyone, but it was a close call. when he started getting closer to the main road and noticed the cars zooming across, he panicked.

he hit the brakes. he did what Wally said. he didn’t slam them, but he was still going too fast. the cars were getting closer! Bart pressed his foot door harder and finally, stomped on the brakes altogether.

he yanked the wheel away from the road, shutting his eyes tight.

the wheels spun. he went off the road into the grass, tire skidding rough tracks across the grass and dirt. he didn’t hit a car, but he did hit the stop sign at the end of the street.

it was a miracle he didn’t get hurt, or worse. he ended up a bit banged up hitting the wheel and the seatbelt yanking too tight, but he was overall fine. unfortunately, Iris definitely wasn’t happy.

Bart didn’t drive for a long while after that.

occasionally, Wally would still take him on drives though.

some of Bart’s best memories are riding in the passenger seat late at night. along barren backroads and empty highways, Wally would race through the streets. with the windows rolled down, the two of them would laugh, voices carried through the wind that whipped their hair like reckless flames.

under the passing lights, Bart would grin wide and holler his excitement into the night sky without a care in the world.

the world would need to try pretty hard to catch them.

Bart would also get to attend a few of Wally’s races. it isn’t as often as he used to with Iris and Barry watching him more closely, but he still got to go some times.

he’d only really watch Wally race against friends.

they called themselves the Titans. Wally said the name wasn’t planned, it just happened to stick. Bart assumed it was more because as time went on, they really did become like the titans to beat if you wanted to prove yourself as a racer.

it was who made up the team that once surprised him.

Dick Grayson, Wally’s best friend of many years and infamous son of Gotham’s Bruce Wayne, was the unofficial leader of the group. The Dick Grayson, with his car as dark as the night. the darkness of the car was only disrupted by a few brilliant blue decals. the most memorable one was always the striking blue silhouette of a bird on the hood. (“Nightwing,” Dick affectionately called the car.)

Koriand’r, an incredibly kind woman with hair that was almost more fiery than Bart’s own. her car was a vibrant purple with flames racing along the sides as if it’d caught fire. (“they call me Starfire”, she told him once when caught him fawning over the car, awed as ever. “i like to imagine that if i drive just fast enough, i can see flames.”)

Victor Stone, who indulged all his questions and answered every single one with the same enthusiasm. he’d lost an arm to an accident, but replaced it with an amazing cybernetic one. his designed his own car to have similar robotic style. incredibly futuristic and constantly updated with the best parts he could find. (“someone called me Cyborg,” Victor told him once while working on the car. he let Bart sit in the garage with him, occasionally offering whatever help he could. “i think it was an insult at first, but the name sort of stuck, kind of like with the Titans. so i made it my own.”)

and at last, Garfield Logan, the youngest of the group. with his dark green hair and toothy smile, Garfield was always quick to make him feel welcome and make him laugh with an endless amount of dumb jokes. his charisma and bright personality showed in his car. like his hair, it was a deep green. when he turned it on, the underneath glowed a neon green. black pawprints walked along the sides towards the end of the car. (“they’re actually tiger pawprints,” Gar corrected him once, looking excited as ever to explain. “there’s a few other animals too. i wanted it to look like the animals were really here, or like maybe i’m the animal? i dunno. i told everyone to call me Beast Boy, so i guess this would be my beast.”) they had another friend, Raven, that never raced with them. dressed in black with dark hair that he swore shone purple in certain lights, Raven was much more quiet and reserved than the rest of the group. Bart enjoyed her rare company, despite it being more of a companionable silence. he’d take it none the less. sometimes if Bart was able to hang out with Wally and the group outside of racing nights, he’d occasionally he’d bring along homework, a book, or a comic to read if Wally was meant to be busy at some point. he’d end up hanging out in one of their apartments while they were busy, and sometimes Raven would be there. they’d quietly read in each other’s company, never having to say a word. he’d asked Wally once why she didn’t race too. Wally had only laughed. (”we’re lucky that she doesn’t,” Wally told him, “if Raven raced, we’d all be doomed, trust me. you should never underestimate her.” Bart figured that meant that Raven was an undeniable part of the group too. he hoped he’d see her race one day.)

all of them were amazing, but Bart was a little stunned by each of them had their own unique style. they all had their own story and reason for being inspired to race. the one thing they all shared though was that same spark in their eyes Wally had.

needless to say, Bart would try to spend as much time with them as possible to try and learn from them.

his dream was to race, but his other dream was now to become just like them. he wanted to be a Titan.

he was too young at that time, but he would aim to prove that he could be good enough to join them one day. he would be a Titan.

or at least, he’d be close enough to being a Titan, he’d decide upon meeting a few other faces around his age, but that’s a story for another day.             ...and that’s all we have for now, folks!

if you’re wondering why i chose only those Teen Titans, i didn’t want to make the group too big. i originally considered the OG Young Justice group, but found that i really wanted to save Superboy (Conner Kent, my beloved) to be apart of Bart’s friend group later. (not to mention, i REALLY wanted to talk about Street Racer! Kori existing in this AU. Beast Boy’s another favorite that i just HAD to include, thus we have the animated Teen Titans team, just with Wally and Dick having the same kind of friendship as kids like in YJ.)

let me know if you want any more from his idea! i’d love to know what you guys think of all this so far. if you ever want me to talk about anyone in particular, please feel free to ask! i’d totally be up to come up with more ideas! i’d also love to know if anyone has any thoughts about other characters might be like from this AU!

i really just came up with all this on the fly, but i’m honestly becoming attached to this AU already, so i’d be more than excited to talk more about it!

thanks for reading!!

[sweetwriting]

Tim Drake Positivity Week - Day 3: Intelligent or Badass

Category: Gen

Genre: Humor/Fluff/Drama

Fandoms: DC Comics, Teen Titans v3

Continuity : Post-Crisis/Pre-Flashpoint

Summary: Because Tim being a badass mostly comes from his intelligence. (It’s also what makes him such a dork)

Word Count: 848

AN: I am very proud to announce that I managed again the “around 1000 words or less” goal that I have for weeks like these.

To read it on AO3

Tim was getting tired. He had to focus all his mental capacities in order to even start thinking about his next move.

Sadly Conner wasn’t helping him (of course he wasn’t), all he did was make noise. So much noise. And Tim needed to focus. He was this close to trying to throw his best friend through the window…not that it would be of any help, but maybe it would silence him for a few seconds.

One breath.

Alright. He could do this. He signed to Cassie, giving her his order and she moved through the tiles, following his command. She ended up face to face with…oh no he hadn’t thought this through. Trash talking. He could only hope Cassie wouldn’t take the bait. Other than that nothing happened and Tim was thankful for small miracles.

Then his opponent moved. Tim had not planned for that. To be fair his opponent was getting a lot better when it came to planning. If he didn’t know better he would have thought Ulysses had something to do with it. But Tim could take him and he was going to. He wouldn’t lose this. He couldn’t lose here. He stopped, breathed deeply to try and calm himself down.

He moved.

That was it. Two tiles forward, one tile to the left.

He had done it. He was almost there!

A beam shot out of the tile and Tim managed to avoid it through a backward somersault. Luckily it was a classic move and neither he nor his opponent could leave the tile. While his opponent had known to expect it he had been so wary of what Tim would do he had barely paid attention and was almost taken out. While Tim would have preferred it if he had been, it did make things more interesting. And now that he was distracted, Tim could make his real move. He knew he wouldn’t get any other shot so he drew his staff as quickly as he could, sidestepped backward, to the right and struck his opponent to the head so he could then bend his knees in order to sweep the other’s legs out before bringing his staff back to his own shoulders. Finally, he brought the end of his staff back in the opponent’s chest to make sure he wouldn’t move.

“AND THE BLACK TEAM WINS!”

Tim felt his heart almost give out. They had won. Was this what elation felt like? Probably. Or maybe not. After all, if Tim had ever felt elation, it was that time…scratch that, those times when someone came back to life. But it didn’t matter here. They had won! And now he was ready to face his team, a huge smile breaking his face. He was going to turn around and then they’d with all they had —Okay at this point they were just using excuses so they could party- but before he could, he felt Cassie and Conner collide with him and project him toward the leader of the white team. Of course, Conner had thought to use his T.T.K. to soften the fall (because his mothering tendencies were seriously going off the charts lately, he had bought Bart a Flash teddy bear when he learned about some of his nightmares) but it didn’t mean Tim hadn’t gotten the wind knocked out of him. He looked down to see the boy he had fallen upon pout when Conner started talking to him.

“C’mon Bart, Celebrate with us! You almost always win, it’s a nice change!”

“Idon’tcare! Myplanwasalmostperfect! It’s not fair”

And now Tim would swear he could almost feel Kiran hovering next to them, forcing herself to not confront Bart. And that was the true Power of Bart Allen, of his pout and his whining. Tim forced himself to focus on his friend and replied, as gently as he could when pressed between a speedster who seemed to want to do nothing but move and two heroes with super-strength pressing against his back.

“You’re right, ”almost“ perfect. And you know that one of my specialties is to find holes in perfect plans. Plus you should be proud, it was the only move I could pull and it required striking while you were distracted. I swear you’re already almost a better strategist than I am.”

At this compliment, Bart’s face lit up so fast Tim almost gave in to the urge to hug Bart (which they were kind of already doing anyway through the sheer weight of the two muscle brained heroes above him. At least until he heard Cassie grumble “not that it’s hard, you literally always use the same plan pattern”. Which now made both Bart and Tim pout (though Tim was not pouting. He was glaring because he was mad. Not pouting).

Still, it had been a fun afternoon and it had even helped Tim work on his strategy skills a little. Also, Bart was seriously a fast learner. It was extremely impressive. And as far as Bart-made-up-games went, Human Tekken Chess was definitely one of his favorites (Fire Bowl, however, was not and he hoped it stayed buried in Kory’s garden forever).

AEN: This one was pretty fun to write. I tried not to go too far into Tim’s mind or this story would have lasted for years.