Vlogger Gary, annoyance at first sight.
Happy birthday! I know I’m very badly late but I still hope you enjoy this a little!
For the rest of you, consider an AU where Zari wasn’t the only one whose timeline got changed by Heyworld.
Ao3
“John!”
Someone grabbed his am, and he spun around as Gary called his name again. The other man looked stressed out and panicked, even more so than he usually did.
“What, Gary?” he snapped. Neron and Tabitha were gone, Nate was back, and the world was safe. There was no reason for him to be this anxious.
“The timeline’s changing,” Gary babbled as everyone continued to celebrate and cheer around them. “And because of that, my timeline is changing. Rip recruited me from the future. I’m a kid right now, somewhere out in that crowd, and I’m about to disappear and I’m scared.”
It was a lot to process in a short amount of time, but John shook his head.
“You’re not gonna disappear,” he promised, grabbing Gary into a tight hug. “You’re gonna be fine, you hear? You’re going to be fine.”
“Of course, I’m fine!”
John frowned as he was pulled back from the hug. For a moment, he drew a blank on the man in front of him. Then he remembered exactly who he was. Jeffery Green, but JJ to anyone he ever met. He worked at a museum in the future and had been picked up with the Tarazi siblings when Kuasa was after their totem. An obscure mixture of brains and chaotic energy that had saved everyone’s lives time and time again, not to mention a close friend to John.
“You saved Nate, man!” JJ cheered, slapping him on the back.
John grinned, but still felt like something had been lost in all this.
~~~~
“I can’t believe you talked me into going on this with you,” John grumbled as he walked down the hallway with Behrad. “You could have gotten anyone else- Ava, Nate, JJ?”
“Dealing with the team, my sister’s ex, and refused to go as soon as I mentioned the word influencers. You’re my only available hope of sanity tonight.”
“You wanted to come to this, Behrad,” Zari reminded him from the front. “You always keep asking what the big deal with these is all about. Now I get to show you around my life and people can hear how my little brother is an awesome superhero.”
Behrad glared. “You’re not telling anyone about that.”
“Are you sure? Because people would love to-”
“I don’t want to be on display, Zari. You know this. That’s why we went on the ship-”
John tuned out the sibling bickering as the sound of muffled music grew louder. They had been fighting a lot more since Heyworld had reignited Zari’s desire to be in the spotlight. The attention and the documentary crew that had been on the ship gave her a taste for it again. She’d been off the ship more often now to film videos or attend events like this one. JJ was even struggling to keep her aboard, and he was always the one with ideas that made her want to stay on the ship.
Things had been different since Heyworld somehow. It wasn’t the attention or the documentary crew or Ava moving in and Mona leaving. Something had changed and John couldn’t figure out what it was. It felt as though someone was missing, but no one else seemed to notice it. Although Gideon did have a problem with some phantom data, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary besides the feeling that something wasn’t quite right.
“And here we are,” Zari waved at two doormen. “This is going to be fun.”
The doors were opened up to the trio, who entered behind Zari. The whole room was lit up in purple and music pulsed around them. Huge banners advertising eyeshadow or something were on every wall along with a massive one from the ceiling. So many people filled the room, all standing out in some way. It nearly overwhelming just standing there without engaging.
Zari, however, was unaffected. This was her world, after all. “Come on, go mingle. I’ll find you when it’s time to go.”
“Is there a bar here?” John shouted to her over the music.
“Yeah, over there, I think.”
“Great, bye.”
John followed in the direction that Zari had gestured, squeezing through the throngs of people clustered together or dancing. When he finally got there and asked for whiskey, the bartender looked almost relieved. Probably pleased he didn’t have to make some fancy ass drink like the ones he’d seen some people with. Who the hell needed a color-changing cocktail with a glow stick in it?
“Haven’t seen you before,” someone said as he accepted the whiskey.
John turned and nearly rolled his eyes at the man taking a seat next to him. Clearly, he was one of these influencers JJ had been so desperate to avoid. He was wearing a turquoise suit over a gold shirt and had two studs piercing his right eyebrow. Behind the glasses with frames matching his suit, dark brown eyes loaded with eyeliner looked him up and down. This wasn’t just an appreciate glance, but one that seemed to be trying to profile him.
Something tugged in John’s gut, but he wasn’t sure what it was. Probably disgust of being cornered by an influencer or celebrity or whatever the hell this guy was. “First time. Came with a friend.”
“Anyone I might know?” the man pried as he accepted a glass of something that smelled like lavender and was the color of daffodils.
Now John rolled his eyes. “Zari Tarazi.”
“The Dragon Girl?” the man gasped. “Is she finally coming back into the spotlight? I’ve missed seeing her around. She always adds such class with events like this. And you said you were a friend? Lucky!”
John shrugged as he took a drink. He guessed they counted as friends. “I just came for the moral support. I take it you must be part of some circus with that suit?”
The man snickered. “Cute. I’m in the entertainment business too. I’m Gary. Maybe you’ve heard of my videos? Probably more of the spooky ones than the makeup tutorials. You know Beyond Our World? Exploring unsolved mysteries and other otherworldly events.”
“Definitely not,” John shook his head. “You cater to the conspiracy theorists, huh? Good for you.”
“Actually, the ‘Green Beans’, which my fans love to call themselves, have all kind of viewpoints when it comes to conspiracies,” Gary told him. “It’s the interest that brings people in, not their beliefs. Interest is what always brings people in to see the videos.”
“So how much in your videos is fake?” John asked. “You make up evidence to get people to believe in the things that go bump in the night, huh?”
Gary scowled at him. “How dare you, when you haven’t even seen anything I’ve-”
“I don’t need to see a thing,” John snapped, getting out of the seat and facing the man. “And you know why?”
Gary sat there, no emotion showing on his face.
“I know because I’ve seen it all. Ghosts, demons, villains raised from hell. I’ve walked in the shadows. They’re real, but no one ever believes in it. If they did, they’d all be panicking. There wouldn’t be a party. So I don’t need your content. You have nothing.”
Now Gary stood up. He had only an inch on John, but John was struggling to look him in the eyes when he noticed the hideous lime green loafers.
“I have enough,” Gary told him. “I don’t need you to bring me down. Sorry, Zari’s friend.”
He walked away into the crowd. John watched him go and finished the rest of the whiskey. The funny feeling he’d had before was back.
“Now is not the time for you to be standing around like some hapless idiot!”
John clenched his head as the words, his words echoed in his ears. Something flashed in his head. Trying to hold Neron off with magic and shouting at someone. It was Gary, except looking more like he was with the government. He looked hurt and distraught.
That wasn’t right though. He’d called JJ an idiot and the other man had taken a swing that knocked him out. They’d buried the hatchet about it and moved on. But now that…didn’t feel right at all.
“Hey,” a hand slapped him on the shoulder as Behrad came up beside him. “We’re leaving.”
“Yes,” John exhaled and turned to face the other man. “Please, get me out of here. Where’s Zari?”
Behrad pointed to where his older sister was heading for the door. “She’s got a head start.”
“Then we better catch up.”
They started off in the direction Zari was headed, unaware that they had a tail.
~~~~
“You okay, man?”
John glanced over to see JJ entering the library. As he did, he flickered for a brief second, appearing as the normal version of that Gary guy. He recoiled in confusion and JJ frowned at him.
“Definitely going to take that as a not okay. Was it that influencer party?”
“Yeah, something happened there. Picked an argument with someone. At least it was an open bar.”
“Exactly why I avoid those things,” JJ snapped his fingers at John just as Zari walked by. “Not even for you, my dearest Zari!”
“You’re worse than Behrad,” Zari stuck her tongue out as she joined them. “So you got into a fight? Spill!”
“It wasn’t a fight. I just disagreed with him peddling lies and exciting conspiracy theorists.”
JJ got a funny look on his face as Zari leaned forward. “What did he look like? Did you get his name? Real or screenname, I can clap him on CatChat.”
“It’s not worth it. I just felt funny around him.”
“Ooooo,” JJ hopped up to squat on his chair. “Was he a demon? An Encore? An alien?”
Zari smirked. “Or did you have a crush on him?”
“But monsters, Zari! Look at all the fugitives we’ve met in the past year!”
“But feelings, JJ. Even John has them.”
Thunk!
All three of them went quiet at the sound above them. John held a finger to his lips and started looking at the ceiling. JJ climbed out of his chair quietly and started examining the ceiling as well. Zari also was helping and had decided to start recording. Everything was silent, until there was a series of thumps that went across the ceiling and out the door. The trio looked at each other and then ran after the noise.
They made their way down the halls of the ship, following the sounds into Mick’s room. He wasn’t there, which was probably a good thing. John looked around the room for anything that they could use, but JJ had already found a crowbar and was prying off the cover. As soon as it fell onto the ground, John climbed on Mick’s chair and peering into the open airduct. There was nothing one way, so he turned in other direction.
He only saw the bottom of the shoe a moment before it smacked him in the face. John dropped out of the airduct and lost his footing on the chair. He felt himself crash downward and another body come tumbling out to land on him. It was gone after two seconds and JJ was helping him onto his feet while Zari screamed about a stowaway.
John stumbled out the room and saw a flash of green disappear around a corner. He hurried after it until he caught sight of a familiar lime green. When he turned the corner, John stopped to see Mick holding that influencer Gary tightly as he tried to squirm away. He must have followed them back to the Waverider from the party.
“This is all real!” Gary was screaming, his hand still flailing about with a phone in it. “I found proof of…something. If I die, tell my cats I love them!”
John strode forward and grabbed the phone away from him. “This is all fake, just like him.”
Gary glared at John. “It’s not enough to insult my work to my face, but now you do it on my videos?”
“Shut up!” Mick ordered them. “Who are you?”
“Wow, really? Maybe you two are aliens if you don’t know Beyond Our World?”
“If you’re as annoying on it as you are right now, then I’m glad I’ve never heard of it, Larry,” John smirked.
“It’s Gary! Gary Green, you asshole!”
A shrill scream came from down the hallway before Zari ran up to join the crowd. “You don’t know Gary Green?!”
Gary looked up. “Zari Tarazi?”
“Mick, you can let him go,” Zari told him. “Guys, Gary Green is one of the biggest vloggers. He does the most amazing videos for true crime and supernatural stuff, plus a few make-up ones. We did a collab once. It was awesome”
“Zari?” JJ called out. “Is everything okay?”
“It’s fantastic!” Zari squealed as JJ came around the corner. “JJ, you have to see this. It’s Gary Green!”
JJ froze once he got a glimpse of the man Mick was now letting go. “Gary?”
Gary gaped up at him, his mouth opening and closing for a few moments before he finally was able to speak. “JJ?”
John turned to him. “Do you know him?”
“Nope!” JJ turned around, but Behrad had come up to join them and he ran into him. “Oh, come on!”
“What’s going on?” Behrad asked. “JJ? Zari? John?”
“He snuck on the ship,” John pointed to Gary. “He’s some celebrity or whatever.”
“I have a very successful brand and channel!” Gary pouted.
“He’s the male version of Zari,” Behrad muttered.
“I know you meant that as rude, but it’s true,” Zari nodded. “But how does he know you, JJ?”
JJ mumbled something.
“What’s that?” John asked.
“I said he’s my brother,” JJ repeated. “This is my brother, Gary.”
Everyone was silent, taking in the information. No one was really sure how to react to the new information connecting JJ to their stowaway.
Zari deciding to snap a selfie with a confused Gary was probably not the most appropriate though.