sheâs a poor little meow meow. she was born in a wet cardboard box all alone. sheâs suffered more than jesus. sheâs misunderstood. sheâs a silly guy. she experienced the horrors. she did all those crimes. she has done nothing wrong. she deserves to kill. sheâs the most interesting girl in the world. i didnât say a name, but she popped into your head, didnât she?
(For @shovitch , I've been stuck on this fic for so long, and there's no Kyle in this snippet, but it's one of the better written portions, and you were so nice to remind me that there are other Guy Gardner fans out there, so maybe I'll get inspired after posting this....Here you go, luv. <3 )
Summer 1989
He is nine years old and the days are eternities.Â
Every day he runs out after breakfast and stays out until sundown; no one knows where Guy has been all day, but no one worries too much, neither. Bobbyâs big brother Joe pitches to all the neighbor kids all day, and even though Guy canât really hit too good, Joe calls Guy âCharlie Hustleâ and cheers for him when he runs around the basepath like a maniac. Later, Joe gives Guy Pete Roseâs Winning Baseball, and even though itâs a book for grown ups, Guy slowly makes his way through the whole stinkinâ thing.Â
When Dadâs not working heâs out with Mace, taking him through football drills. Thatâs okay though, footballâs boring. Guy borrows VHS tapes of the â75 and â76 World Series games from the library. He starts running to first base after ball four, and everyone laughs at him, but screw those guys because bookinâ it to first on a walk is exactly what Charlie Hustle does.Â
Just before school starts, Guyâs mom looks up from her book after dinner and tugs at his shaggy hair.
âWeâll get your haircut tomorrow.â
âCan I get it how I want?â
Dadâs still out with Mace.
She swallows a little wine and looks back down at her book. âSure, baby.â
He pumps his fist and darts in to kiss her cheek, dumping his dishes in the sink. Star Trekâs on in just a minute. âThanks, Mom!â
He brings Pete Roseâs baseball card with him to the barbershop the next morning. When he shows it to the barber, his mother looks over his shoulder, Thatâs really what you want? but sheâs got a smile with it too, so he nods excitedly and starts telling them both about why Pete Rose is his favorite player, except maybe for Brooks Robinson, but even Pete Rose thinks Brooks Robinson is in a higher league than anyone else ever, and Pete Rose can play just about any position and heâs so good that he was intentionally walked in game three of the World Series in 1975, bases loaded, you know, thatâs how much of a threat Pete Rose was, they couldnât take a chance. What a great team that was, Joe Morgan and Johnny Bench, but Pete Rose, boy, he always plays to win. He once said heâd walk through hell in a gasoline suit just to play baseball, and the barber laughs even as his mom tells him not to say âhell.â
When they get home, his dad looks right at him for the first time all summer.
âWhat the hell happened to you?â
Mom turns around from the kitchen sink. âHe likes his hair that way, Rolly.â
âItâs stupid. It looks like we canât afford to get him a decent clip.â
Guy pipes up. âItâs like Pete Rose wears it, Dad. Itâs cool.â
âOh, itâs cool, is it?â Dad grabs a beer from the fridge and heads to his recliner by the tv. âYou donât see your brother goinâ around in a faggy haircut just to be cool. You know where your brother is now?â
Guy waits for the answer.
âHeâs out drillinâ his footwork so he can play a real manâs sport.â
His mom turns back to the sink. âHe likes baseball, Rolly.â
âYouâre turninâ him into a sissy.âÂ
Guy stays near his mom when Rolly leaves. She sighs, looking him over with her hands in the soapy water. âMaybe itâs best if we change it, baby.â
He clenches his teeth at the unfairness of it all. He knows to a certainty that Mace cuts his hair like Joe Montana, and itâs definitely âjust to be cool.âÂ
âI donât care what he thinks.â
She nods as if she already knew what heâd say. âJust try not to set him off again, okay?â
He goes upstairs in his room to flip through Winning Baseball. He hears Mace slam through the front door just before dinnertime. When he comes upstairs to change, Mace pokes his head into Guyâs room and snorts, pushing his dumb, sweaty feathered bangs back. Girls had been coming around a lot more recently; Mace seemed to have skipped the awkwardness of puberty and went straight to Chick Magnet.Â
âThatâs pretty bad, Guy.â
âShut up.â
âYouâre gonna get the shit beat out of you at school.â
âPete Rose doesnât get beat up.â
âI hate to break it to you, but youâre not Pete Rose.â
âYou used to like baseball too, you know. Iâm not stupid, I found your old baseball cards.â
Maceâs face pinches up. âItâs just a little kidâs game.â
âNo itâs not.â
âWhatever,â Mace hesitates in the doorway. âLook, I know you donât care what people think, little brother. But, believe me, lifeâs gonna be a lot easier if you start.â
Guy shakes his head, biting down on his cheek. âSo what, be more like you? Dadâs little soldier?â
Mace stares past Guy to the 8x10 glossy of the â66 Orioles hanging over his bed Mom had found at a garage sale.Â
âIt might help.â
âI hate him.â
Mace doesnât say anything, doesnât look at him. âYouâre too young to understand anything.â
âI understand heâs a drunk and heâs an asshole.â
That gets Maceâs full attention. âShut up.â
âNo,â and for some reason Guy wants to cry, but he pushes it all down just a little bit longer.
âYou donât remember how he was,â Mace pinches his nose. âLifeâs not a baseball game, Guy. Itâs more complicated. People getâŠthey get hurt, or sad. They get fired. Forgotten about. You justâŠyou donât get it.â
âHe hits Mom.â
That gets Mace to flinch, which feels kind of good.
âHe doesnât mean to.â
Guy feels a hot flush all over, and suddenly his chest is tight, his throat is tight, and his face is wet, his eyes blurry. âI hate this family.â
Mace stares at his feet. âI know.â
Mace tells him heâd better clean up for dinner, and he does. Theyâre quiet at the table until Dad makes another jab at Guyâs hair. Mace cuts in and asks Dad about how great Joe and the 49ers were looking this year, and how theyâd go all the way, no question. How it was a shame that the Colts look like crap, thatâs what they get for moving away, and would they ever get football back in Baltimore? Surely, surely they would, no doubt about it. It just makes Rolly mad that the whole goddamn city had to suffer just because a couple greedy Jews got bored and decided to swap a few franchises around. Goddamn Irsay and his goddamn LA Rams, goddamn shame to see the Colts in Indianapolis of all places, who the hell thought that up?! Mace just nods his head along, shooting Guy little glances, making sure his little brotherâs not about to screw up dinnertime again, upset Almighty Dad by speaking or tipping over a glass of milk or something.
The first day of school a sixth grader tells Guy he looks like a retard.Â
âTakes one to know one, chucklehead.â
âWatch your mouth, Opie--â
Guy charges him, puts his head into the kidâs gut real hard, but the kidâs a lot bigger and after a few seconds Guyâs wrestled to the ground, his arms pinned, the jackass sitting on his chest until Guy can hardly breathe.Â
Three weeks later nothing is better, and Mace keeps telling him itâs only going to get worse in middle school and Donât get a reputation as a weirdo now, stupid. So Guy asks his mother to take him back to the barber, and she doesnât even put up a fuss like he expects: it must be that bad.Â
When the barber asks him what he wants he just shrugs and swallows and tells him he doesn't really care all that much. His mother says sheâs always liked it short because heâs got âsuch a nice bone structure,â whatever that means. The barber gives him a flattop, short and clean all around.
It doesnât take too long. âSee, now thatâs a haircut. I could set my watch to that haircut.âÂ
His mother laughs, such a rare sound, and the barber keeps rolling, âWe got a young Johnny Unitas right here. You play football, kid?â
Mom pets him on the head, and he feels about five years old. âHe likes baseball.â
âMickey Mantle, then. Olâ Mick always kept a clean look too. Real timeless.â
Guy hates the Yankees.
Heâs quiet in the car. His mother tells him he looks very grown up and keeps a hand on his knee the whole ride home.
my secret santa gift for @s-e-v-e-n-24 !! they asked for "guy hurt/comfort" of any flavor so i made a comic about guy being hit with some sort of alien fear toxin. this entire comic is based on the guy gardner 1992 run which introduced guy's childhood and the lobster monsters who retraumatize people.