so long, problems

" trouble ? no way. you're only in trouble if you get caught. " jack napier jr. hermes harper child of joker roy harper high school student at paragon academy

[hismessishermes]

zoe:

“You sure? Because you don’t sound sure.” Zoe could’ve just told Hermes what it was, but this way she got more truth out of him. Let her find out about things she never would’ve otherwise. Truth was, the kid was good at what he did. She admired the tenacity. Not the lying to her.

“ sure... ? ”

he repeated with a gulp. holy shit. this was scarier than his previous gang. at least the adults there just used him as their entertainment and thief. getting beaten’s definitely easier than lying to zoe. trying to act far more confidence than what he actually has, hermes stood tall and repeated his words,

“ yes. sure. ”

[hismessishermes]

years of living in the streets of gotham had forced hermes to learn its most important lesson: look after number one. it meant that he had to be independent, selfish, fight tooth and nail, survive. it also meant that his almost 2 years of living with the harper’s and roy’s bigger family still has him hording food, sleeping lightly, stealing, and more. which was why it was against his very nature to do what he’s doing today.

it’s three am and even thieves should be asleep by now but... he had dreamed. he wasn’t a dreamer. there were no thoughts of having a family, living a normal life, being happy, etc. that entered his sleep since the age of four. his dream, when he did dream, were of a clown, the same clown that kidnapped him as a kid because he had laughed too loud, grinned too wide. a clown that kept insisting that he was his son, because of his smile and the madness in his eyes. a clown that he’d been forced to be paranoid about, to watch out for bear traps, toxic spills, and more.

hermes gulped as he stared at the window in front of him, knowing from the look of the living room that he was in the right place. he could have went to roy or lian or haley or linnea but... there’s that insistent blurry memory of his mom that had him going to dinah ( @canvrycry ) instead. pressing his body against the window frame to keep him from falling, the young thief tried prying open the glass for a few minutes before deciding to knock softly. a huge part of him scared of waking her up, yet too selfish to give up on his need of having someone who could beat up the clown around him.

[hismessishermes]

piper:

“Good. I can’t get caught again.” Piper didn’t often get caught, but she couldn’t risk it. Not with Asher catching her last time. Besides, this way, she could be watching the cameras while the kid went in.

“Yeah, I can do that then. Easy.”

“ ya got c-caught ? ”

he didn’t know that fact. hermes frowned, immediately contemplating on the consequences of paragon’s security knowing that someone tried entering and stealing already. there’d probably be a tighter security, and how do they know if what they’re looking for is still there. messing his curly white hair, the young teen sighed before nodding, accepting the job still.

[hismessishermes]

lian:

Lian does love Hermes, considering him as family. They were siblings, and she wouldn’t let anyone else say anything different. She cares about him, and maybe that’s why she looks after him sometimes. She was reckless in her own way, but the archer was still young really. She smiles while being patient for them to decide. “McDonalds sounds perfect.” She agrees as she links their arms together. 

a small panicked squeak escaped him at the touch, eyes wide and wild, until he realised who was touching him. right. hermes tries to be quick in acting cool and collected, relaxing his shoulders, glancing somewhere else, and stopping his instinctive attempt to get away. it’s been a year of being adopted, almost 2. he should be used to it but it’s contradicting with his idea of not getting used to anything he gains in being a harper, in case they get bored of him.

[hismessishermes]

linnea:

           “ fuck.” she picked up speed as she saw him start to skip stairs. she knew that was a recipe for disaster and didn’t want him t get hurt because she had spooked him. unfortunately her worries had come true, panic flooding her when he slipped and fell on his ass. “hermes! are you okay?” now she was starting to skip steps, trying to get to him faster. once she caught up, linnea didn’t bother hiding the concern that appeared on her face. “ are you hurt? “

“ yeah.. ”

he mumbled, fully occupied by the pain in his arm to talk properly. the palms of his hand continued to rub against it, while his fingers played with the skin torn off. it wasn’t that bad. sure, it’ll definitely bruise but its better than bear traps, discipline, or gang initiations. at her second question, he glanced once at her before looking at his elbow, pointing out the obvious. 

“ you skipped steps... roy said not to. ”

[hismessishermes]

zatanna:

❝  hey  ,  babe  !  ❞   gods  ,  hermes is her god-grandkid  .  it makes her feel  .  .  .   OLD  .  especially after having just celebrated her birthday   (  thanks dinah  .  thanks ollie  )   .  but their family is the mistress of magic’s family  ,  as well  .  and she’s delighted to have any of dinah’s children  ,  or grandchildren  ,  approach her about the tricks of her trade  .  

she’s practically beaming up at the male in the tree  ,  mystical eyes glittering  .  ❝  magic  ?  it’s absolutely teachable  !  i’ve been putting on shows my whole life  .  actually  ,  i teach orphans magic sometimes  .  ❞  she’s crossing her legs and whispering under her breath  ,  the backwards incantation for levitation that has her floating up to the branch beside him  .  ❝  money from a hat  ?  i  think you’d be great at that trick  .  ❞

there’s a mixture of surprised, excited, and suspicious in his tone. not a lot of people would call him great at something, even if that ‘something’ was thievery. in fact, the amount could probably be counted in one hand and still have some fingers to spare, and if he was counting before roy found him, that number would be zero.

“ yeah ? ”

brown eyes stared at the ground below him, unsure how else to respond to her kind words. he could deal with criticism and beatings, by calling them stupid fucks or other names and trying to fight back, but this...

“ uh... zat-... ms. zatara ? wwwhy d’ya ssstill... job.. if you c-can get dough by magic ? ”

[hismessishermes]

roy:

He’s asking too many questions at once, he knows - but he can’t help it, he worries about his son. paragon was a big shift for all of them but so much of this was new for Hermes, it’s no surprise he’s not exactly reacting with the most enthusiasm in the world.

“One year isn’t enough, but..” He pauses for a moment, tilting his head to the side. “We could always take another look at your classes, try ands pick some things that will be easier for you?” Roy knows it’s still going to take time for Hermes to adjust, but if he can make it easier somehow he will.

A slight frown spreads across his face as he watches his son. "What else has been.. challenging? Maybe I can pull a few strings, make some changes.”

when roy told him that a year of this torture called school wasn’t enough, the frown in his face deepened, clearly showing how upset he was at the news. but the idea of roy trying to help him... hermes’ gaze drifted from the ground to his face, eyes wide in shock, and a hesitant grin on his lips ( grinning makes him look like that creepy clown in gotham— which is why he rarely grins or smiles ).

so this was what normal kids have, huh ? an adult who helped them with their problems instead of calling them an idiot fuck up... pretty cool. he knows that he shouldn’t get used to it, in case the whole adopting thing starts to get boring for his ‘family’ but he’ll savor it while it lasts.

“ uh... nothing ?.. i mean dorms sssuck but.. i c-can deal wwwith it. ”

[hismessishermes]

zoe:

Zoe didn’t really care about Hermes skipping classes. Keeping him out of trouble for her was more focused on keeping him from being arrested or in serious trouble, not a detention or two. If anything, she was trying to keep the school from using his parentage against him. She shook her head.

“No, not that. Aim higher.”

fuck. fuck. fuck. hermes could barely resist the urge to either hit himself on the head multiple times in hopes of becoming unconscious or to run as far away as possible. what the fuck did he do that pissed zoe off ? well, for starters, a lot. but which one ?

“ stole some wwwallets ? ”

please be wallet stealing. please be wallet stealing.

[hismessishermes]

lian:

“Food would be awesome. What do you feel like eating?” Lian asks with a smile as her focus wasn’t on her clothes anymore. She didn’t care about something so minor, and hanging out with Hermes sounds more fun. Luckily she did have some money on her to cover this, so she isn’t going to worry about that either. 

“Where should we go? My treat.”

“ uh... ”

right. there were choices. even after a year of living in the harper home instead of the streets, hermes often forgets about the ‘normal’ things, that he permanently lived somewhere, that people ate 3 times a day, that they also slept everyday. a huge part of him was still clinging to his roots, both expecting to go back to them someday and knowing that without them, he was this nobody that people wouldn’t care about. eyebrows furrowed close together, trying to remember any cheap restaurant.

“ mcdonalds ? wwwould that w-... be ok ? ”

[thelaziestmotherfucker]

Carlos + Dude

[hismessishermes]

piper:

“Can you do it?” she asked, not entirely sure he could or would.

“Yes, if you help me I’ll make sure you’re passing. Anything too high and your teachers will notice, but I’ll fix them.”

“ mhm... yeah... ”

he did it a lot back in gotham as a means for survival, either to steal from strangers to feed himself or steal for a gang to get their protection. this would probably be easier than anything done in that fucking city.

“ don’t c-care... ‘bout grade. i j-just wwwant to get to... uh... next level. ”

[hismessishermes]

roy:

“Don’t worry about me, kiddo. I’m alright.” Roy assures him steadily, resting a hand on the boy’s shoulder. He knows Hermes is still adjusting to the new life he has with Roy and the family, and he knows that takes time. Whatever that means for the kid, Roy is proud of him for trying, for working on adjusting to a life he never expected to find. If the worst thing Hermes has to deal with now is that he’s not used to being cared for.. well, Roy feels like he’s doing okay. He hopes he is, at least.

He pats the boy’s shoulder before letting his hand fall back to his side. “So.. how are things going? You’re staying in the dorms, right?” Roy pauses, his smile fading a little. “Is it going alright, staying with the other kids?”

shrug, a nod, and another shrug were hermes’ answers to that barrage of questions, hands burying deeper inside his yellow hoodie and lips pressed to hide the scowl wishing to form. shrugs meant a lot of answers in his body language, it could mean ‘maybe’, ‘i don’t know’, and a lying ‘fine’.

he's unsure how to answer roy properly. school sucked, classes sucked, dorms sucked, people sucked, but he had to suck it up and keep quiet. his only reprieve was that one ally he gained that was willing to change his c to f’s and turn them all to c’s, making sure he pass the year, in exchange for stealing something.

“ do i have to... go to ssschool next year ? isn’t... whu...-one year enough ? ”

[hismessishermes]

roy:

“Okay, I guess that’s fair.” Roy says with an amused grin on his face, taking one final look to see what’s in his eye before abandoning it altogether so he can turn his attention to Hermes. He wants nothing more than to help the boy settle into this family, to understand that despite the challenges he’s been forced through he can still have a shot at a good life. And Roy knows that’s going to take some time, and.. that’s okay. It took him some time come around to the idea of family, too. “It’s alright, I don’t think I need to get it checked. It’s probably just an eyelash or something.”

“ ... good. ”

hermes nodded, glad about his statement. he didn’t know shit about medicine or sickness. he could only remember being sick when he was young. but since he was a kid living in the streets, he was forced to work through it all, his only mercy being the prostitutes in gotham’s red light district, who gave him their closets to sleep in. as long as he could ignore what’s going on outside.

what he did know about sickness, is that it was fucking scary. it could be something normal like a cough and boom, someone who slept beside him in the streets is dead. he didn’t really want that on roy. not when he was giving him food and shelter, not when he’s being kind.

[hismessishermes]

zoe:

Zoe folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow at Hermes. Her expression was unimpressed. She didn’t want to spook him, but it was difficult to keep him out of trouble. “Which do you think?” she asked, guessing that there was probably more than one thing going on. That seemed typical of the young man.

“ uhh... ssskipping c-class ? ”

that was his safest bet. everyone knew that he skipped class. especially the boring ones ( which was most of them ). and why wouldn’t he skip ? he didn’t really have a proper education and he only got into high school via age and his ability to memorize everything given to him. not that he could understand what he learned or remember it now.

[hismessishermes]

lian:

“I must have cut through my shirt when I was crafting some new arrows this morning.” Lian shrugs, although this was one of her favorite shirts. “I’ll have to cut it into a crop top now.” She adds on as she looks at her brother with a smile, stepping closer to him. “What do you want to do today?” She asks since she has always liked the two of them spending some quality time together.

“ i dunno... ”

shoulders lifted as he shrugged, eyes drifting away. what did normal people do in their free time ? for him, he’d usually look around for a new place to steal or go to a crowded area and con people into giving him money. but that’s not right ?? or so his new gang family tells him.

“ umm... maybe food ? ”

food was a safe choice. probably.

[hismessishermes]

lian:

“It’s nothing, my shirt just ripped.” Lian says as she’s tugging at the fabric, looking at the damage done. Her gaze looks up at who was standing in front of her. “I’m sorry, now, what were you saying?”

“ wwwhy ? ”

he’d forgotten what he was talking about, before seeing the rip, before pointing it out with a stuttered ‘what happened’. hands buried deeper into his hoodie’s pockets, trying to calm his worry. ripped clothes often meant bad things back in gotham. a gig gone wrong. a fight. a bad man. he knew paragon was heaven compared to the streets but it didn’t stop his worry.

[hismessishermes]

roy:

“What? Come on, after all this time, this is what you class as me being weird?” Roy says with a short, kind laugh as he turns back to the mirror to take one last look at his eye. He’s long since gotten used to Hermes’ stutter - he knows one day his son will find a way to stop it, but for the time being he’s trying his best and as far as Roy’s concerned that’s what matters. He also knows it’s better now to draw attention to it, so he continues on talking as normal in hopes that Hermes will feel comfortable enough to do the same. “Trying to get something out of my eye, it’s been bothering me for hours.”

“ ... w... weirder than usual. ”

hermes quickly corrected, recalling everything he’s had to deal with since his adoption a year and several months ago. back in gotham, he would have classified the crazies dressing up in costumes, the new drugs rolling in the streets, and more, as weird. but this whole ‘family’ thing... definitely weirder than what he’s used to.

“ people have a... um... thing ? for that, right ? ..doctor ? ”