when you think of me

My name is TED KORD. I am the second man to call himself THE BLUE BEETLE. I tell myself there will be a THIRD. And I hope whoever he or she may be, they do BETTER at it than I have.

[teddork]

@lantcrnlight

HE DOESN’T KNOW HER-- knows her by her uniform and her affiliation to the league but he doesn’t know her. not in the way that he knows bruce or diana ( or clark, oh god, poor clark-- ). but right then, none of that shit matters. he holds a hand out, hovering over her shoulder- not quite touching her, not wanting to make her uncomfortable- and he asks with genuine concern, “you doing okay, kid?” 

[teddork]

BARBARA GORDON:

@teddork | starter.

     “ ted !! ” the panicked edge to her voice tapers into something of a desperate relief when she hears the call go through. she grips her phone tightly, hand on her head as she hunches over her desk. ted, booster, and rani had been at the forefront of her thoughts almost immediately. the lines were down all over and it had taken some tweaking from barbara to even get some sort of service up again and that wasn’t even on her comms yet. “ oh ted, i’ve never been so happy to hear your voice. you – you’ve seen … metropolis.?? ” she can’t quite form coherent sentences as of yet, but the point stands. 

THE SHARP INHALE CRACKLES over the line- not knowing how incredibly fucking reassuring it would be to hear her voice until that very second- and he leans against the wall for support. “barbara?” he breathes shakily, a hand moving to swipe over his face as he tries to regain his composure. ( god, he had been trying to get ahold of someone- anyone- and to finally hear a familiar voice, to know that she was okay-- ) his head nods and it takes him a moment to realize she can’t see and he says in a thready voice, “it’s good to hear you too, babs. god, it’s-- it’s really good.” her question has his breath hitching again and when he speaks, it’s panicked and rushed- the words tumbling over one another, “i-- yeah i’ve-- i’ve seen it, god, i’ve-- i left them. i-- i had a board meeting in chicago, i left yesterday, i--  babs, i left michael and rani in metropolis. i left them and-- and the lines are down, i can’t get ahold of anyone, you’re the first--” his voice cracks and ted takes a second, screwing his eyes tight and trying his best to shut out the sounds of the frantic airport around him. all flights were grounded how the hell was he going to get home? ( never mind his home was ash-- all he could think about was getting back, he had to get back and find michael and rani. ) “you’re the first-- you’re okay. god, i’m glad you’re okay, that would have really, really sucked.”

[teddork]

LIKE/COMMENT for an event starter from a stressed bug boiy!!

[teddork]

MICHAEL CARTER:

MICHAEL knows it – knows the way his brain works, and the way ted can read him like it’s nothing. he wishes maybe he didn’t react like that, react so badly to criticism. he leans into ted, as ted comes up behind him and he turns slightly so that he can lean his head onto ted’s shoulder. “are you sure?” he asks, eyes widening slightly. 

the patterns have him shivering in delight. “i won’t – they cost far too much anyways, i shouldn’t have spent that money on them in the first place.” he admits, turning to look at ted again. puts a hand through ted’s hair and smiles before leaning in closer. the kiss to just under his neck has him shivering again. he moves so he can catch ted’s lips with his own kissing him softly. before he pulls away to meet his eyes, “okay. that’s – okay. as long as you think people won’t – won’t think i’m a joke.” he mutters the word like it’s the worst curse he could think of. “you like looking at me?” he asks, before bumping his nose against ted’s to kiss him again. “i love looking at you.” his hand slides from ted’s hair to the stubbled cheek and he smiles, “you look good with this stubble.” before he bites into his bottom lip, obviously holding something back. a question.  

“NOPE, I’M ONLY TELLING YOU THIS TO EASE MY CONSCIOUS,” comes the easy and teasing quip, lips brushing against michael’s skin and he shakes his head, “yes, i’m sure. i only lie to you sometimes, this is not one of those times.” ted has to bite his tongue to keep from telling michael once again that they had money, it was okay if he spent money on himself every once in a while. ( has to remind himself once again that michael and he grew up worlds apart- ted has no idea what it feels like to go without like michael did and old habits were hard to break. ) “for how good those look on you, i think you can forgive yourself however much you spent,” he murmurs, eyes slipping closed and a contented hum leaving him at the hand in his hair. 

THE KISS FEELS SO NATURAL but fireworks still explode in his gut and ted wonders for the 50 millionth time why the hell they had waited so long to do this. “i promise you that will be the furthest thing from everyone’s mind. they make you look like walking, breathing sex.” the bump against his nose lifts the corners of his mouth and he hums against michael’s lips in the kiss, “mhmm.” the kiss breaks and ted’s eyes roll, a good natured grin pulling at his features, “you always have to one up me, i swear to god.” the palm is warm against his cheek and ted leans into it, brows lifting and shoulders shrugging slightly, “i look like a hobo with this stubble. you’re just biased.” the arm wrapped around michael’s chest moves and ted’s thumb brushes against the trapped bottom lip, gently freeing it from where michael’s teeth had it trapped, “what’s up, doc?”

[teddork]

AKILA:

     THIS is an odd man. Akila watches him stumble over his words for a few seconds, mouth a thin line despite the humor he might be trying to inject. Or perhaps he’s not and that really is all the advice he can offer. Nonetheless. “ I would rather not deal with the whole of the Justice League. It is a headache I plan to avoid at all possible. ” Still, she blinks, seemingly unamused when she adds, “ But if I took such advice, you would be the first I’d implicate. What is your name ?? ”

“OH SURE. i mean, you cause a little havok- a little, just a little though- and end up getting to talk to... batman and not wonder woman, that’d be a bummer.” of course, ted would pay good money to see batman and this woman try and have a conversation. it would probably just be a lot of glaring and thin lips and short patience but still. she asks for his name and he doesn’t hesitate, keeping his voice and face as impassive and natural as possible when he answers, “guy gardner.” 

[teddork]

VICTOR STONE:

“you know what, thank you for your input, but i think i got it,” he said, shooting ted quite the look over his shoulder. his irritation was mostly compounded by the fact that…well, no, his cookies were definitely not supposed to look like this—burnt. sad and burnt and all melded together like he’d taken a blow torch to them. “i don’t need your sass, i need you to beat some more eggs in a bowl so i can make a better batch.”

“I MEAN... I WANT TO BELIEVE YOU but also they started out as individual cookies and now they’re just...” ted cuts himself off at the look, hands going up, “yup, got it. you’ve got it.” he reaches for the mixing bowl and the carton of eggs, glancing at the recipe on the counter before reaching for an egg. “just-- mayyyybe we need to adjust the heat and time, that’s all i’m saying.” 

[teddork]

MICHAEL CARTER:

“YEAH, i mean i read it in magazines too.” booster looks at himself again, tilting to look at his back. he knows ted is teasing him, but it doesn’t matter. booster hates hates looking like a joke. therefore the idea of it has him actually nervous about what he’s wearing. “maybe i should just never leave the house. i hate those stupid bootcut ones, and the straight leg ones are too 90′s. obviously i could get some slacks but i need something more casual. however i won’t be wearing sweatpants in public. sweatpants? more like give up on life pants!” he tries to say it in a joking matter but, he knows how it comes out. he’s pushing the jeans off, as soon as ted tells him they aren’t doing any favours. “god i have to burn these.” he mutters and folds them up putting them onto the dresser. he moves to sit on the bed beside ted in his light blue t-shirt and black boxers, before looking back at him. “i hate those pants.” 

TED SEES IT in the split second after his mouth closes and before michael speaks. watches it play across the other’s face and he wishes more than anything that he could just reach out and snatch the words back from the air. sure, he’s known for years that michael is vain but that’s only the surface of the turmoil that briefly flickers across the other’s face. he lets michael talk- rant- and watches him when he sits on the edge of the bed. ( way to go, kord. ) ted grunts as he pulls himself up, shifting until he’s pressed against michael’s back, pulling the larger man to lean against him, hooking his chin on his shoulder and ted’s legs dangling on either side of michael’s. 

"DON’T BURN THEM,” he murmurs, his arms moving to wrap around the other- one sliding around his waist, his fingers tracing nonsensical designs against the warm skin where the shirt has ridden up and the other across his chest, holding him tight against him. “i might actually cry if you burned those jeans. you have no idea how insanely good they make your ass look.” he rubs his stubbled jaw against michael’s shoulder before turning to press a kiss just under his ear in apology, keeping his lips there to murmur, “i mean, i definitely love them off but that has nothing to do with the pants themselves and more to do with the fact that i just really like looking at you.” 

[teddork]

CONNER KENT:

“ what do you know, man ?? ”  kon demands, despite the fact that ted is absolutely, totally right.  it’s not supposed to look like that.  kon’s going to blame the shotty stitches in his jacket on his too-large hands.  “ ma never taught me, she just fixed it when something happened. ”

“WELL I KNOW that looks like edward scissorhands tried to sew up your jacket,” ted retorts with an upward arch of his eyebrow. of course, the second that he gets an actual explanation ted feels like a complete tool. lips press together in a line and he lifts a hand, beckoning the younger man over to the desk he proceeds to dig in. random spools of thread are tossed on top of the desk- mostly various shades of blue- before ted makes a small exclamation ‘aha’, pulling a spool of black thread out. “take off your jacket.” 

[teddork]

JAIME REYES:

@teddork

The thing is, Jaime’s not crazy about being left alone some days. When it’s just him and the scarab alone in his apartment his thoughts tend to spiral in unhelpful ways, and Kahji Da thinks that it has license to say whatever it’s been holding back, which is definitely not helpful in any way. Rather than thinking and thinking until he’s paralyzed by it and can barely haul his ass out of bed to do Beetle stuff, he usually just hangs around Ted’s lab for longer, takes him up on his offer to have diner with Michael and Rani. 

Today he’s hanging around Kord Labs because he woke up with that feeling in his stomach, and he’s bent over a textbook in his lap and half paying attention to whatever Ted is saying to one of his employees, something about the beetle cave or whatever he’s calling it these days. He looks up after she walks out and raises an eyebrow, smirking. “Are you repping me or yourself with that t-shirt?” 

THERE ARE A FINITE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE in the world who know that ted kord used to moonlight at the blue beetle. outside of the hero community, only a small group of men and women- all employees of kord, all dear friends- know ted’s secret. ( and really the only reason they know is because he could not hide a multi-million dollar hideout as well as he thought-- people go snooping when you’re dead, he found out. ) it wasn’t the worst though. it meant that he had some of the most brilliant minds in the world to collaborate with, to help advise him. 

MELODY WALKS OUT OF THE LABS and ted lifts a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, trying to banish the headache that was trying to brew between his eyes. the other’s voice has him turning, a smirk pulling at his mouth, “uh, first of all, i’m genuinely offended you would ask that. your mom aside, i’m definitely your biggest fan.” 

[jakeyjohnson]

#me at the gym

[teddork]

BARBARA GORDON:

       she huffs, fiddles with the mess of parts spread out at her desk and levels ted with a look. it’s been quite the day. “ then what’s it supposed to look like, mr.kord. obviously i must have neglected to go over that small detail. ” always gotta bust out the sarcasm.

UH OH. DANGER, WILL ROBINSON. ted knows the look coupled by the ‘mr. kord’ that he is treading some dangerous waters. with most others, ted would not have hesitated to correct the mistake but this was babs-- babs who was as smart ( if not most times, smarter ) than he was, babs who he respected enough not to be the smart ass in the room. ( the long and the short: the babs who did not deserve his shit. ) his head shakes and he leans back in the chair, away from the parts his fingers were practically itching to put together. “never mind. must’ve been looking at it weird.” 3...2...1... the chair creaks as he leans forward and his words come out in a rush, fingers pointing along with his words, “this should be here. but that’s it.” he leans back again, hands up in surrender, “that’s it-- i swear.” 

[teddork]

GARFIELD LOGAN:

“You would know better than I would.” Gar shrugs as he pops back into his normal form after his best attempt at a beetle. “I don’t like doing insects, I feel creepy and crawly for hours afterwords, you don’t just get over suddenly having like a million legs. Plus unless they provide you with super cool armor they aren’t worth much in a fight.” 

“You think I should try like–movie monster sized insects? I wonder if I could…” 

“THAT WAS MY ATTEMPT at... gently telling you that you were doing it wrong,” ted says before a shiver crawls up his own back. honestly, he didn’t blame garfield-- he wouldn’t want to shapeshift into a bug either, no matter how much his own image as a hero was shaped by one. another shiver makes its way up his back, accompanied by a quiet ‘guh’ at the thought of having a million legs. creepy, crawly indeed. 

“... would that not be worse? i mean, i would think that creepy, crawly feeling would be super sized if you did a movie monster bug.” 

[teddork]

AKILA:

    “ I DIDN’T – at first. ” She towers over most others and regularly uses it to her advantage. Regarding the man with narrowed eyes, Akila crosses her arms and adds, “ You must know something though, yes ??  ”

OH. GREAT. of course, she pulls herself to her full height, crosses her arms against her chest, narrows her eyes and he can’t help but reminded of barda. “oh. right,” he says, his own arms moving to cross against his chest, mouth pulling down at the corners as he puts on a show of thinking it over, “nnnnnah-- no, no, i don’t think i do. i mean, other than if you cause some sort of trouble, at least someone from the justice league isn’t too far away. could always... find trouble? make trouble? but not too much trouble-- and if anyone asks, that was not the advice i gave you.” 

[teddork]

MICHAEL CARTER:

BOOSTER turns to look at him with an eyebrow raised, “these are the style now, ted!” he nods towards his jeans, he moves to show ted his ass. “skinny jeans aren’t that bad on me are they?” before he pouts at him, “should i just take them off?” 

“IS THAT WHAT THEY TOLD YOU? they were in style?” it’s said teasingly and he leans back against the bed, rolling over on his side to prop his head up on his hand. his head tilts and his face pulls almost as if he were criticizing the look. no, of course skinny jeans did nothing but make michael’s already insanely long legs look even longer. and this brand in particular did everyone on earth a huge favor and cupped the other man’s ass-- nay, framed his ass. framed it up like a piece of art you’d put in a gallery or a museum. “just terrible. you should never wear those anywhere but this house because i’m really the only one who will appreciate them,” the second question has a corner of ted’s mouth curling up and his shoulders lifting in a shrug, “i mean, they’re certainly not doing you any favors on....” 

[teddork]

BEATRIZ DA COSTA:

@teddork​

“you, sir, are coming with me.” there is not a single fragment of wiggle room left in either her grip or her tone as beatriz bonilla da costa marches out of the apartment with one ted kord in hand. the last eight years have been a whirlwind of pain, and chaos has become a part of bea’s every day life. so naturally, hauling ted’s ass–along with rani, because leaving her unattended would be completely irresponsible. obviously–out of the apartment he shared with booster and she had no business entering without knocking–another bad habit of hers. the list is long–is a no-brainer. “we have a lot to talk about. and i need coffee. –goodmorning, rani, queridinha.”

“I WAS MAKING COFFEE,” comes the almost plaintive whine as he’s pulled from the apartment, rani’s hand clasped in the hand not being yanked off by bea. it’s not like this isn’t a song and dance that he’s come to know-- this isn’t the first time bea has just waltzed in and pulled him out the door. a hand lifts to swipe at his face, trying to brush the last dredges of sleep clinging to his eyelids away while rani pipes up from his side, ‘good morning, aunt bea!’ ted leans against the elevator wall as it starts to bring them down, his words coming out muffled from behind his hand, “why can we never talk in my apartment? where i don’t have to wear pants if i don’t want to? why are you always making me wear pants when i don’t have to, bea?” 

[teddork]

AKILA:

       “ YOU – tell me, where am I to go if I am seeking out Wonder Woman ?? And for the love of Ra, no, I am not joking. Do not ask me if I am. ” She’s had one too many people on the street look at her as if she were mad for ever asking such a thing. It’s been too long of a day.

HE WAS DEFINITELY GOING to ask if she was joking-- but that look had him biting his tongue. literally. “uh... heh, what makes you think i know how to find wonder woman?” he totally did know how to find wonder woman. a quick lil’ call on the comms or to oracle to figure out where in the world is diana prince and he could have her answer. if that wouldn’t completely blow his secret identity. 

[teddork]

“IS IT SUPPOSED TO LOOK like that?” the question slips out of his mouth before he can stop it-- maybe it was none of his business but he was curious. his head tilts slightly, brows furrowing and he waits a beat before, “i’m pretty sure it’s not supposed to look like that.”