The Gold Standard

michael jon carter aka booster gold. all verses (except CW). non-mutuals welcome, comic chars only (no OC). written by shibe.

[allamericandisaster]

thebluebeeb:

     Ted tsks.

     “Sap,” he says fondly as he presses another kiss to Booster’s hipbone. Booster’s hand presses gently against the back of his head, and Ted laughs again before licking his lips, running his hands up Booster’s thighs and letting his mouth get guided onto Booster’s cock.

     He doesn’t really have very much practice doing this– one drunken, fumbling experience in college (mostly just for the novelty of the situation) doesn’t really make him a blow job expert– but he gives it his best regardless, hoping that his enthusiasm will make up for his lack of skill. Ted drags his tongue down the underside, back up to flick over the head with a light, tentative touch and oh man, the sound that Booster makes is so encouraging. He glances up at his best friend while sliding his mouth down to the base, nose brushing against soft blonde curls, and the way that Booster arcs his back and whimpers makes him moan around his dick and have to reach down to grind his palm against his own erection to relieve some of the ever-mounting pressure. Ted pulls his mouth back to swallow and catch his breath.

     “God,” he whines as he pumps his fingers over Booster’s cock, free hand sliding up the side of his ass to squeeze at the firm muscle appreciatively. “How am I supposed to get anything done ever again when I have this–” he gestures with a hand down the line of Booster’s body “– view permanently seared into my brain?” Ted leans back down to lick his tongue up the side of Booster’s dick. He hums, “goodbye, productivity,” and slides his mouth back down.

It’s not the most artful blow-job of Booster’s life, but it’s still the best one by far.  Ted takes his time, almost with an air of reverence.  It’s a good thing it’s slow-- if the pace were any more demanding, he might come before he gets a chance to return the favor.

“Pretty sure my view is better than yours,” he moans.  Ted looks up at him through heavy lidded eyes and hums, pausing for a moment to just suck on the head of his cock.

Booster wants nothing more than to close his eyes and let his head fall back onto the bed, but he has to keep watching.  He can’t quite believe this is real.

[allamericandisaster]

thebluebeeb:

     Ted lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

     “I.. die,” he mumbles, staring at Booster’s shoulder. It’s not like he didn’t suspect. 

     “Okay, this might be weird, but that’s actually one of the better scenarios I imagined.” Ted runs a hand through his hair and chuckles nervously. “I thought, like, that we maybe had had a huge argument and stopped talking to each other.” It probably speaks a little too clearly about how much he values Booster’s presence in his life that he’s relieved that he’s dead in the future instead of something getting irreparably broken between them. Maybe he should see a psychiatrist. “This is.. fixable.”

     Maybe.

     Possibly.

     Ted scrunches up his nose. No, he’s not going to condemn Booster to a long and lonely future; he’s not going to be the reason for his best friend’s life-long depression. He feels the determination flooding through his whole system, sobering him up a little and making him lean a little closer into Booster’s shoulder and stroke his chin thoughtfully.

     “You said the universe won’t.. let you? Save me, that is.” Ted scrunches his eyebrows. “That doesn’t make any sense. The universe isn’t, like, sentient.” He waves his arm in a vague gesture and the back of his hand whacks Booster in the chest. “Unless I severely piss off some cosmic entity in the future, which, y’know, me being me, possible.. there can’t be some kind of rule saying that I have to..” he swallows “.. die.” He tilts his head towards Booster. “It has to be a matter of cause and effect. Like, something that I do before I, uh, die, changes the timestream, or something.”

     Ted plants his hand on Booster’s arm and squeezes. “We just have to figure out what those effects are,” he points up one finger, “replicate those effects so that the timeline is happy,” another finger, “but do it in a way that I don’t actually, y’know.. die.”

     He can see that he’s not making that much sense based on the expression on Booster’s face, so he tries to clarify. “Like, what’s the actual result of me dying, to the timeline? Could be a few things, but I’m betting the thing that needs to happen is that people actually think that I’m dead.” Ted shrugs. “It might be as simple as just- convincing the people who need to think that I’m dead that I’m actually dead.” Ted smiles thinly and bumps his shoulder against Booster’s arm. “Fake blood, slowing of bodily functions, etcetera etcetera.”

“Believe it or not, I’ve done that before,” Booster says, considering.  “Faked my own death, not yours.  But that was a little easier done.”

He purses his lips and frowns.  “Let’s just say your death was a little... messy.  We wouldn’t be able to fake it with a low heart-rate.”

It was closed casket, actually, at the funeral.  Booster swallows hard at the memory.

“And even then,” Booster continues.  “You’d have to be in hiding for the rest of your life, if we need people to believe you’re dead.  Do you really think you’d be okay with that?”

He meets Ted’s eyes.

“It would be a lot to ask of you.”

[allamericandisaster]

thebluebeeb:

     “Well, in that case–” he grins and pops the button on Booster’s pants “– I better get you out of these before you ruin them.”

     And then he tugs down the zipper, slips his hand inside and curls his fingers around Booster’s cock. He pumps his fingers, catches his thumb on the head and smears the precum back down the side and Booster’s whole body sways towards him in encouragement, lips parted in a perfect ‘o’ and eyes half-lidded and dark, gaze focused on where Ted’s stroking him between them. Jesus, he looks so good.

     “God, look at you,” he exhales reverently, free hand curling around his back and brushing against the base of his spine, neck arching to press his lips to the side of Booster’s throat as Booster shivers against him. He can feel Booster’s thighs trembling on either side of him and suddenly his hand isn’t quite enough, he wants more–

     Ted gently flips them over before Booster can get a word in. He presses another kiss to Booster’s lips and follows the line of his jaw down to his collarbone, mouthing at the overheated skin as he pumps his fingers along his cock. The sounds Booster is making are sending little jolts straight to his dick, and he has to reach to unzip his pants to relieve a little of that uncomfortable strain.

     His mouth gets all the way to Booster’s bellybutton and he pauses to glance up at him, chin resting on one perfect ab. Booster’s eyes are blown wide, chest heaving, hips straining upwards and Ted has to bite his lip from making a super embarrassing noise at the sight of him. He glances towards Booster’s dick, back to his face, back to his dick. Ted licks his lips. Oh yeah, it’s happening. But first, while he’s down here..

     He presses a soft kiss to Booster’s hipbone and laughs under his breath when his hips twitch upward. The fact that he can reduce Booster to this shivering mess is really doing wonders for his ego. Ted presses him back against the bed with one hand and tosses him a cheeky grin.

    “Was there something you wanted?” he teases, pressing another kiss right above where his cock is straining against his abs.

“You,” Booster breathes.  “Just... you.”

As much as it’s killing him to see Ted’s face-- Ted’s mouth-- so close to his cock, he thinks he might be content to just have Ted tease him like this forever.  It feels right.  Ted’s shooting him a mischievous smirk, which is so Ted, and Booster is so happy he thinks he might burst.

He reaches out and runs his fingers through Ted’s curls, humming with pleasure when Ted leans into his hand.

Then he gently pushes Ted further down.

[allamericandisaster]

thebluebeeb:

     Ted snorts, face still hot but the embarrassment quickly fading to something warmer, something that makes him arch his spine and press up into the warm contact of Booster’s hands with a satisfied hum.

     “No,” he laughs, fingers trailing down Booster’s chest until he gets to his sternum. “I don’t think I even own moisturizer.” He swirls his thumb in a circle over Booster’s nipple and grins at the tiny sound that Booster makes. Ted hums thoughtfully. “It might be from when I burnt off all my chest hair last week fiddling with that new K-engine prototype.”

     He glances down at Booster’s hands on his hips, back at Booster’s undeniably besotted expression, back to his hands. Ted takes a deep breath and props himself up to let his shirt slide off his arms. He tosses it onto the floor somewhere and turns his attention back to the beautiful man on top of him. Ted tugs him back down for a kiss and can’t help the moan that gets caught between their lips as their bare chests brush together. God, he’s so hot. His hips buck upward of their own volition, and Ted gasps when his dick brushes against the noticeable bulge in Booster’s expensive dress pants. The last of his timidness fades away when he realises that he did that. To Booster.

     “Unh–” Ted forgets what he was going to say, every thought drowned out by the feeling of him grinding upwards at the same time Booster grinds down. “Jesus christ, Boost.” His hands have somehow found their way to Booster’s lower back and he can stop himself from sliding them down to grab at that firm ass as he mouths at the skin below Booster’s jaw.

     “Okay, I know I said I wanted to take my time with you, but..” Ted tugs at the metal clasp of Booster’s belt impatiently. “You’re making it kind of difficult, looking like that.”

Booster laughs and leans back so Ted can unbuckle his belt.

“I’m having a hard time disagreeing with you,” he says, fumbling with Ted’s belt while he’s up.  “I guess we’ll have to put ‘sweetly, slowly making love’ on the to-do list.”

His breath stutters when Ted rubs him through his pants.

“Ah, spoiler alert?” He manages to say in almost a normal voice.  “I usually go commando, so...”

[allamericandisaster]

thebluebeeb:

     Ted hums thoughtfully.

     A pattern. Is that what he has? Before.. lately.. Ted can only really recall ever thinking about it back in college, and even then it was only once or twice- mostly at parties, and mostly while drunk. But now, his thoughts are only focused on.. one guy in particular. More specifically, the one to his left, looking decidedly uncomfortable as he aggressively spears the food on his plate.

     Maybe it’s just Booster? Booster is basically a super model, after all. He’s just objectively very attractive.

     Absurdly attractive.

     Honestly, no one person has any business looking that good.

     Maybe he’s just.. Boostersexual. It’s not like he was hit by that attraction the moment he saw him. It snuck up on him, grew on him with every new piece of information learned, every moment spent together, until he woke up one morning, years after they first met, after a decidedly gold-tinged dream and realised that he was well and truly fucked.

     What Booster said finally hits him and he blinks, startled.

     “Wait–” he said that he just- tried not to think about it? Even though he’s known this whole time? “You never..?”

“Ah,” Booster says, feeling his cheeks turn very pink.  “No, I’ve never--”

He wrinkles his nose.

“It wasn’t exactly an option for me when I was younger, and then I came here and I just...  I’ve done a lot of looking, I guess.  But no touching.”

He shoves his forkful into his mouth.  

[allamericandisaster]

thebluebeeb:

     “I am a bug of many talents,” he mumbles into the side of Booster’s neck, nose brushing under that patch of skin right below his ear. There’s something about the way Booster sinks into the embrace with his entire body, how his shoulders relax for the first time since he first saw him, how Booster’s fingers dig into his back and hold on like he’s afraid that he might disappear if he lets go, that makes his eyes sting, makes his chest tighten unpleasantly and his arms wrap around Booster tighter to tug him closer against his chest.

     Because whatever it was that caused Booster to travel back, whatever future Booster came from– they apparently can’t do this. Booster had to come back in time to get a hug from him, and no matter what situation caused that, it’s almost unbearably sad. Not because the longer the night goes on, the more likely it seems that whatever tragedy occurred in Booster’s life is almost certainly linked to him, but because Booster had to travel back in time. To get a hug. Does he really not have anyone that can give him a goddamn hug?

     Booster makes a soft noise into his neck and clutches at him even tighter in a way that makes his heart twinge unpleasantly and that– okay.

     He can’t deal with this.

     Ted can’t actually accept a future in which Booster is so goddamn sad and alone that he has to time travel decades into his past to get a fucking hug. 

     “Okay, that’s enough.” Ted pulls back and grabs Booster by both shoulders. The despondent expression in his eyes just reaffirms his determination. “I need to– fix this.” He gestures at Booster as if to say all of this.

      “You need to tell me what happens that turns you into– this.” He brushes his thumb against the side of Booster’s neck and squeezes his fingers around his shoulders.

     “And you and I are going to fix it, okay? I don’t care what kinda rules we have to break. We’re the blue and gold; that’s what we do.”

Booster takes a shaky breath and downs one of the shots on the table.  He looks at Ted, opens his mouth to talk, shuts it, and knocks the second shot back.

“Okay,” he says.  “Okay, um... I can’t give you all the details.”

He’s a little relieved that Ted’s on his side of the booth, because that means he doesn’t have to look at him for this part.

“You die, Ted.  I can’t tell you how, or why, or when.  But you--”

Booster clutches the empty shot glass, cupping it in both hands.

“And I tried.  I’ve tried everything I can think of of to stop it from happening.  But the universe-- the time stream?  Won’t let me.  So what I need is a way to bring you back from the dead.”

He dares to look back up at Ted.  “You got anything in your big brain for that?”

[allamericandisaster]

thebluebeeb:

     Ted smiles, face probably bright red and ridiculous looking. “I’d like that.”

      He takes another large forkful of creamy kale and shoves it in his mouth. Mulligen or no, the air between them is still awkward, the quiet clinking of silverware against plates the only noise that interrupts the stilted silence. Ted finishes off his plate, glances at Booster, and sets his fork down decisively.

     It’s already awkward, might as well ask him now—

     “Uh, so– I have a.. question for you.” Ted glances around nervously, wipes his sweaty palms on the his jeans. “You don’t have to answer if you’re not, uh– comfortable.. answering.”

     Ted clenches his eyes closed and has to physically stop himself from banging his head against the table. God, why is even thinking about saying this out loud so difficult? Okay, so many he’s never articulated this particular thought to anyone before, and maybe any thoughts he had back in school were carefully repressed for fear of them being turned into additional swirly fodder, and maybe, just maybe, some tiny part of him is still afraid of what he dad would do if he ever found out he was even thinking about this kind of thing, but his dad is a douchebag whose opinion isn’t important, and he really needs to get over that irrational fear of rejection, and–

     – he needs to stop having a mini-crisis while Booster is still waiting on him to ask his question. Ted takes a deep breath and shakes his head a little.

     “It’s just– you’re the only one I can really ask about this.” Ted blinks and raises his hands defensively. “Not because you’re–” Ted blushes “– but, um, because you’re my best friend and I trust you and I’m sorry if this is, like, overstepping but I’m just confused and have been for a while now and I thought you might have like, some actual helpful.. life experience.. above the level of Yahoo Answers, which is the only thing that popped up on Google when I was trying to figure out–”

     He might be rambling. Ted takes another large sip of wine and clasps his hands on his lap.

     “Um.. I just wanted to ask you– how did you know?” He shifts his weight back and forth on the chair, face bright red and whole body feeling vaguely sweaty. “That you– you know.. swung both ways?”

“Oh, Jesus,” Booster says, putting his fork down.  “I’ve never really... It’s not something I’ve ever talked about with anyone before.”

He thinks for a moment, eyes darting back and forth as if he’s scanning through a physical tape of his memory.

“There’s not like... a specific event?”  Booster says, finally.  “I mean, I was always attracted to girls, so I just assumed that I was straight?  But there were these weird moments, sometimes.”

He picks his fork back up and fiddles with the kale.

“Like, this one time in my senior year, I was hanging out with the football team.  There was this other guy.  I don’t even think I remember his name.  He was a year below me.”

He stabs a sweet potato chip.

“Anyway, we were talking about something, I don’t remember what, and he was looking up at me and I just... felt like I wanted to kiss him?”

He can still picture it in his head: the washed out mall lighting, the tinny pop music playing in the background, and the sick lurch of his stomach.

“And then it was gone, and I tried not to think about it.”  He shrugs.  “But you can really only have those kinds of thoughts so many times before you realize there might be a pattern developing.”

But that’s all they were.  Thoughts.  That’s all he’s allowed them to be.  He doesn’t even know if it technically counts as “swinging both ways” if you’ve only intentionally opened the door one way.

[allamericandisaster]

thebluebeeb:

     Ted’s so distracted by the feeling of Booster’s bare skin under his hands, by the way that Booster’s tongue is sliding against the roof of his mouth, that he almost doesn’t notice him unbuttoning his shirt until the back of his knuckle brushes against his belt. His fingers snatch up Booster’s once again, and he tugs his mouth away to glance down at Booster’s ridiculously perfect abs. That burst of anxiety flares up in his stomach once again.

     “Um, I should- warn you, I mean–” Ted huffs and squeezes Booster’s hand, voice tight and embarrassed. “I’m not– you know I haven’t been as, uh, active since my heart thing, so don’t expect–”

     Ted cinches his shirt closed with his free hand and looks at him helplessly, teeth digging into his bottom lip. God, the way the moonlight is hitting Booster’s body just accentuates every perfectly sculpted muscle, every inch of that beautifully tanned skin in a way that makes Ted look like coagulated pudding in comparison. He lets out a sigh and rubs at the back of his neck.

     “I mean, let’s just say I’m not getting any modeling deals in Japan anytime soon,” he tries to joke.

“I know things changed since the--” Booster tilts his head, not understanding until he does.  “Oh.  Oh.”

He frowns and rolls them over so that he can sit on top of Ted’s hips.

“Listen, you,” he says, sternly tapping at Ted’s collarbone with one index finger.  “I like your body no matter what shape you’re in.  When you were more muscular, I thought it was hot.  When you gained all that weight, I still thought it was hot.”

He runs his fingers down Ted’s chest, past all the hair, to his belly.

“I love your freckles and your stretch marks and--”  

Booster pauses.

“Holy shit, your skin is soft, Ted.  What the fuck?  Do you moisturize?” 

[allamericandisaster]

thebluebeeb:

     “Sorry, sorry.” Ted grins sheepishly. “I have a curious mind that doesn’t know when to quit. I’ll stop asking questions.”

     Suddenly, there are more shots on the table, and Ted clinks his against Boost’s before tipping it down his throat. The glass tips over when he plops it back on the table, but Ted can’t bring himself to care. He glances up at Booster from under his eyelashes.

     He still looks miserable, and Ted immediately feels like shit. What is he doing? His best buddy needs someone to cheer him up and here he is, being greedy and trying to fish for information about his pathetic, non-existent love life while Booster gets more and more depressed.

     He’s sliding under the table and popping up beside Booster before he can really think about it. Ted twists to his side and holds open his arms.

     “Okay, come here. You need a hug.”

“Yes, give me that good shit,” Booster groans.  

He goes in for a hug and can’t help but melt when Ted’s arms circle around him.  God, Ted is so soft and warm and he smells good.

“I just want you to know,” Booster says into Ted’s shoulder, “that you are literally the best hugger in the world.”

He inhales deeply and exhales deeper.

“Good shit,” he repeats.  “This is what I came back for.”

[allamericandisaster]

thebluebeeb:

     Ted snorts.

     “Are you kidding me? Me and Babs? That’s not even remotely a spoiler.” Ted plops his head in his hand and waves his arm vaguely. “She’s way too good for me.” He scratches at an itch below his left ear and shrugs. “Besides, I don’t– she’s just a friend.” I have feelings for someone else, he doesn’t say.

     He doesn’t mention the sudden wave of helplessness that washes over him when he realises that Booster said dated. Past tense. Does that mean that he’s dating someone else in the future? Or that he never got the opportunity to..?

     So many questions. Ted decides right there and then that time travel– time travel sucks.

     “But– I have to be settled down with someone in the future, right?” He leans forward in his seat and tries not to look too pathetic. It’s not like he’s lonely. He has friends. He has Booster.. even if he can’t go back to Booster at the end of the day, or wake up with Booster in the morning, or reach out right now and hold his hand like he desperately wants to, or wrap around him like an octopus and refuse to let any bad thing happen to him ever.. Booster’s still the best friend he’s ever had– or ever will have, probably. It’s enough. But it could be more, he can’t help but think. What if where Booster’s from, what if it is more?

     “You can just answer yes or no.”

     Ted’s not sure if he succeeds in keeping out the disgustingly hopeful tone out of his voice as he stares at the spot right above Booster’s collarbone and taps his fingers against the table, anxiety churning in his gut.

“Please don’t, Ted,” Booster says, screwing his eyes shut.  “I can’t.  You know I can’t.”

He waves the waitress over and orders another round of shots.

“Or at least wait until I get too drunk to censor myself.”

Not a good idea, he thinks to himself, but frankly, neither was coming back to see Ted.  Might as well continue.

“Can we go back to the light banter?” He says, trying to smile.  “I did come back for cheering up.”

[allamericandisaster]

thebluebeeb:

     “We can do whatever you want,” Ted gasps, spine arching into Booster’s body instinctively as he mouths down the side of his neck. “Just don’t stop– doing that, oh god.”

     Booster’s fingers find the top button on his shirt and Ted moans as Booster’s lips find his collarbone. Another button pops, then another, and that’s when Ted’s self-consciousness remembers to rear its head and he grabs at Booster’s hand on top of his second-to-last button and twists their fingers together, heart pounding in his chest.

     The little tilt of Booster’s head makes him look so, so good in the dim light of his bedroom and Ted hides his nerves by tugging him back up for another round of kisses. This is good, Ted thinks as he threads his fingers in the back of that overly-conditioned blond hair. Safe. Not horrifically embarrassing for him and his decidedly under-conditioned midriff.

     His tongue curls around the underside of Booster’s and the little moan that Booster makes has Ted flipping them over before Michael can get a word in, one hand dragging up the front of Booster’s shirt and the other plucking at the buttons of his vest. He manages to get the vest open and then starts working on the last round of buttons between him and Booster’s gloriously tanned 8-pack. Ted makes a noise of frustration into Booster’s mouth and pulls back with a light nip to his lower lip.

     “It’s like you wore a three-piece suit just to spite me.” Ted pops open the last button with an elaborate flourish and a wink. “Fortunately for you, I’ve always been good with my hands.”

“Criminally good with your hands,” Booster says, taking the opportunity to lift himself up on his elbows to get a better look at Ted.  He’s flushed and smiling and still wearing a shirt, goddammit.  

“Hey,” he keens, reaching out and just brushing Ted’s exposed chest-hair with his fingertips.  “Come here.  I wanna touch.”

Booster wriggles up to a sitting position and pulls his unbuttoned dress shirt off, which was basically hanging loosely off his arms anyway.  

He grabs at Ted’s shoulders and hauls him in for a slow kiss, licking his way past Ted’s teeth and just barely grazing the roof of his mouth.

He tries again, blindly, to unbutton Ted’s shirt.

[allamericandisaster]

thebluebeeb:

     “Yeah,” he chews his food thoughtfully for a moment and swallows. “I missed this.” He traps the missed you in his throat before it can escape.

     He misses a lot of things about their JLI days, if he’s being honest. It’s pretty telling that even now, almost a decade later, whenever he thinks of home his first thought is always for that tiny, barely-furnished room back in Paris. Coming up with their next prank on Guy, the disastrous educational movie nights for Booster and Tora, catching glimpses of Booster lounging around the kitchen in nothing but those ridiculously tight silk boxer briefs–

     Ted clears his throat. What was he saying? “Well, what’s stopping us from doing this more often?” He snaps his fingers. “We could have dinner whenever we want. Or just– y’know, hang out. We’re, arguably, two adults with means of transport, be it teleportation, beautiful flying insect, or soon-to-be-totaled gold convertible.” Does that sound too needy? He really doesn’t want Booster to think that he’s lonely all by himself in this oversized apartment.

     He’s not.

     … he’s not.

     Ted taps on the edge of the table. “Uh, I mean– I still need a lot of.. instruction.” Ted scrunches his face up. Why did that come out like an innuendo? Jesus christ. “Cooking instruction.”

“You need instruction on a lot more than cooking,” Booster observes.  And then-- because the two of them are awful and apparently incapable of having a normal conversation like adults, he realizes his own accidental innuendo.  “Like organization, I mean-- Not-- Sexually or anything, I’m sure you’re fine with-- If anything, I’m the one who would need--”

He covers his eyes and groans.

“Can we call a mulligan on this conversation and start over?  Yes, I would love to hang out with you more and teach you how to cook.”

He takes another large mouthful of kale and quietly wishes he could chew himself into oblivion.

[allamericandisaster]

thebluebeeb:

     He knows that Booster just means that in a friendly, best-friends-forever kinda way, but that doesn’t stop him from having to chug the rest of his drink to hide the sudden, furious blush on his cheeks. God, why does Booster have to look at him like that? The room spins a little when he sets his drink back on the table and snorts at Booster’s proclamation. 

     “Oh my god, yes.” He scoops up another nacho and points it at Booster for emphasis. “Do you know just last week he– honest to god– asked me if I knew what I was doing.. when I was tracking an IP address.” Ted waves the nacho more intently. “An IP address, Booster. Something that I’ve been doing since I was seven. I mean–” he waves both of his arms in the air “– how condescending can you get?”

     “Granted, he might still be pissed from that prank we pulled on the Bat Plane last week.” Ted grins and means to knock his knee against Booster’s thigh under the table but lack of coordination turns it into more of an awkward rub. He leans forward excitedly. “Do you remember? With the blue and yellow car paint—?”

“Oh man, that was last week for you?”  Booster laughs.  “Wait until you see what happens next month.”

He grabs another nacho and munches on it much less delicately than earlier.

“Ted, he’s probably just mad because you’re smarter than him.  The only other person he knows like that is Oracle.”

A large swig of beer.

“I can’t believe you never dated her.”

He pauses.   

“Oh.  Uh.  Spoilers.  Sorry.”

[allamericandisaster]

thebluebeeb:

     “I don’t–”

     Booster’s mouth on the patch of skin right below his jawline erases all coherent thoughts from his other than yes and more. God, why did they wait so long to do this? His hand drifts down Booster’s side, over sleek material of his jacket and then- around, and down until he can finally– finally– grab a handful of that ass that’s haunted his dreams for years now and tug Booster until he’s pressed flush against him.

     “I don’t care,” Ted groans as he rocks his hips forward. “God, just– okay, hold on, I’m not doing this quick n’ dirty against a wall. I have standards, thank you very much.” He catches Booster’s raised eyebrow and laughs, shaking his head. “Okay, I don’t have standards, but..” he nips at Booster’s bottom lip with a small, fond smile “.. I wanna take my time with you.”

     And with that, he hooks his arms under Booster’s thighs and hoists him up with ease. He snickers into Booster’s neck as he walks them towards his bedroom, pausing to press Booster into the hallway wall and mouth at his neck when the heat from his body proves too much for his shattered patience. They finally make it into his room, and he uses Booster’s back to close the door behind them and presses him against it with another kiss. One hand fumbles with Booster’s tie, but after a few seconds of ineffectual twisting of his fingers Ted huffs, tugs his mouth away and reluctantly lets go of Booster’s ass to use both hands.

     “However much I love this suit and the bad, bad things it does to your, uh, physique, I’d love it even more if it was on my floor.”

“Are we really, really sure about the up against a wall part?” Booster says, breathless.  “Because, and I’m just gonna throw this one out there, you lifting me up like that is kind of the hottest thing in the world.”

When Ted just growls and pulls at his tie again, Booster laughs.

He slips his jacket off, letting it fall to the floor, and pushes Ted back to the bed.  They fall onto it together, still breathing heavily.

“Okay, my turn,” Booster says, gently loosening Ted’s bow-tie.  He pauses and kisses the exposed skin of Ted’s neck.  “God, I want to do this so slowly.  Can we?”

[allamericandisaster]

thebluebeeb:

     Ted winces. He can’t believe he forgot about Michael’s sister. Granted, it was a long time ago, and he barely knew her (he thinks he spoke to her maybe one time- and that was more of an incoherent gurgle- when he had wandered over to Booster’s mansion for some beers), but still.

     “Sorry,” he rubs at the back of his neck with a grimace. ”Here I am supposed to be making my best bud forget his shitty day and then I go and dig up painful memories.”

     Ted nudges Booster’s second shot towards him. “Here, drink that.” When the amber liquid is gone Ted reaches out and taps his hand to get his attention.

     “For the record— as usual, you’re selling yourself short. It’s obvious that whatever..” Ted waves his hand vaguely “.. time traveling job you’re doing is important, and that you’re trying your best to do the right thing, even when it’s difficult for you.” Ted puts his hand on his cheek and smiles. “I think that any kid who looks up to Booster Gold– the real Booster Gold– has their heart in the right place.”

     Ted takes another sip of his beer and leans back against the booth with another smile. “I’m just proud that my best buddy is still fighting the good fight after all this time.”

The alcohol is finally starting to hit Booster’s brain.  He feels sort of lightheaded and fuzzy.  

Ted, sitting across from him with his hand on his cheek and an adoring smile, has never looked so wonderful.

“I love you, man,” Booster says, grinning.  “Seriously.  You’re the best person.  You’re the best anything.”

He leans forward and jabs the table with one index finger.  

“Fuck Batman.”

[allamericandisaster]

thebluebeeb:

     Ted purses his lips and tries really hard to pretend like that tiny brush of Booster’s mouth against his didn’t just rattle him beyond all recognition, or that the vivid mental image of Booster peeling his clothes off didn’t just cause his entire body to break out in goosebumps. God.

     “Seeing as your place is located outside of time and space and also prowled by a very grumpy control-freak, I’d say mine is the safer bet.”

     And their faces as still so close, and Booster looks so, so unbelievably good, that Ted really can’t be expected to resist the temptation to tilt his head to the side, angle his neck back and kiss him; so he does.

     He’s entirely too glad that the place had cleared out when it did, because he doesn’t want any witnesses to the sound that Booster makes just then. That’s his sound, thank you very much; that soft, pleased noise that gets lost somewhere between their lips gets carefully memorized and packed away into his long-term memory. Ted tangles his fingers in the back of Booster’s hair and moans as their tongues brush together, gasps as Booster presses up against him from knee to mouth and oh god, they really need to get out of here.

     Ted tears his mouth back and feels all the blood in his face rush back southward at the look on Booster’s face, at the way his eyes are dark and his gaze hungry just for him. He tugs at Booster’s collar with a whine. “Ok, you’re going to have to teleport us because I don’t think I’ll survive if I have to drive all the way back to my apartment with you looking like that.”

“I don’t know what’s worse,” Booster says, fiddling with the controls on his wrist panel.  “That you assume I have your apartment on speed-dial, or the fact that you’re right.”

He grabs Ted around the waist to make sure they teleport together.  With a lurch (and his stomach will never get used to teleportation technology, never never never), they find themselves standing in Ted’s living room.

“Couch or bed?” Booster asks eagerly, leaning forward and recapturing Ted’s mouth in his own.  God, how had he not been doing this before?  Past him is an idiot.

“Personally, I vote for up against a wall, but it’s your place.”

[allamericandisaster]

thebluebeeb:

     Ted’s eyes follow Booster as he swoops into the room carrying two loaded plates. He hopes Booster’s doesn’t notice that there’s quite a bit more than two glasses-full of wine missing from the bottle. Booster sets their plates down and Ted catches a whiff.

     “Dude, that smells amazing.”

     He tugs his chair out and plops down, fork in his hand and mouthful on his tongue before he can even think about doing it. Ohh–

     “So ghurd.” He swallows and washes down the next mouthful with a sip of wine. Ted reaches out and pats Booster’s arm in praise.

     “Honestly, Boost. This is incredible.” He pops three sweet potato chips into his mouth and grins at Booster as he chews. His eyes drop back down to his plate as he scoops up another bite and it hits him, again, just how lucky he is to have someone like Booster in his life. Ted’s face feels hot again, his tone shy and embarrassed.

    “Uh, I just wanna say– thank you, again. I know this isn’t exactly your idea of a good time.” He rubs at his neck and smiles at Booster, self-deprecating and a little bit helpless. “Nothing quite says boring like a heart condition.”

“Dude,” Booster says, picking up his fork.  “Are you forgetting all the robo-life-support suits you made me?  Are you kidding me?  Of course I can do a little cooking for you.”

He digs into the creamed kale.  It’s surprisingly good.  Leaves have never tasted so good without salad dressing.

“No, sorry, I meant to say: you owe me forever and ever.  No take-backsies.”

He grins at Ted.

“Besides, it’s nice to hang out with you and just eat dinner.  I feel like we haven’t hung out as much as we used to in the JLI days.  Probably because we’re not under the same roof anymore.”