From Mars, With Love - Commentary - Pt.2

[shankie]

Continued from Part One...


Part Two: Singularity

They didn't see each other every day, but it didn’t feel like being apart; they were anything but.

Sometimes it was while they were working, and they'd gossip to themselves about everyone, sometimes exchanging glances, but only talking aloud in conversations with others, or work things. To the outside observer, they imagined it seemed like they weren't getting along.

But, as often as they could, they just soaked in each other's company.

There was a huge chunk that was snatched out from right here; initially, Wally’s a big exhibitionist, and he and J’onn have sexual adventures all the way through the London tube system. Ahem.

I thought that was fun, but, it wasn’t appropriate for this stage of their relationship.

Not a week after they first made love, J'onn was on the Watchtower overseeing and endless stream of chaos that didn't let up until well into the next day, and left him drained. During Wally's hour for lunch, they curled up in his apartment listening to Wally's head buzz about a ballistic analysis and if a bullet hole found in a painting was the first shot, or after the one in the floor. It could mean the difference between the third, killing shot, being accidental or in the midst of raging intention. He didn't especially like guns, but their effect always captured his attention. J'onn, living as a detective as he did, understood the disconnect from bodies as people; they wouldn't be able to do their jobs always lost in mourning their death; finding their killers was more useful, and would do far more for the dead than tears.

But J’onn was always better at keeping his feelings restrained, such a difference from the spectrum of wild reactions Wally had to everything; sometimes, he made Wally feel incredibly young. Comparatively, he was, of course.

There was a clearly defined difference between thoughts as Wally had always known thoughts to be, kept to oneself, and projected thoughts. Not just thoughts; perceptions, feelings, ideas. Wally wasn't built for it, so it was slow to be mastered, but he got plenty of practice. Not so much if they were busy; but in a spare moment, he would be there.

Setting the tone for how the link is working at the moment; like a series of gradients between them, fluctuating in strength or focus much the way minds wander.

Now that they’re back in the real world, Wally has to sort out how to juggle that mental traffic with his other mental traffic. He has good help.

It made up for the fact that J'onn was so busy, and difficult to find much time with, coordinating the League, diplomatic affairs, a detective's caseload, and occasional rest. Usually, their time outside the Watchtower was only few stolen moments.

Frequently, Wally’s day would be interrupted by a frustrated J’onn unleashing some of his grievances with red tape and politicians with their motivations and stonewalling.

This man simply will not listen! How can any being be so dense?

He’s a senator. He needs to consult his astrologer before he makes a decision.

I can only wish that were true.

You never know.

Illustrating the mutually beneficial nature of the relationship; what sort of thoughts one would have, in a frustrated moment, if they could instantly communicate with their partner.

After a few times of J’onn gliding into Wally's room on the Watchtower so they could nap together, Batman let on that he knew exactly what was going on. He buzzed Wally's com, and asked him to come down to one of the science labs. Wally was reluctant to cut short his time curled up in meditating Martian, but the Bat rarely took no for an answer. J'onn woke up a bit and gave him a knowing look before he left, but didn't let on.

J’onn doesn’t actually sleep; he meditates. In later removed scenes that may be taken from later, Bruce actually visits him to meditate, and Wally buzzes around in the other room, but doesn’t participate.

In comics canon, Wally actually bought into this New Age scam, and was meditating on a daily basis; but after that, he was never really shown to. Even Max Mercury, who is the zen master of the Speed Force, will commune with the Speed Force in meditative fashion; but when he’s introduced to yoga, he hates it. I couldn’t see the DCAU Wally being quite that zen, even under these circumstances.

The second Wally stepped into the lab, he paused against the door as it slid shut behind him, and shot Batman a glare.

"The room is telepathically shielded."

"Yeah, I noticed," Wally said irritably, which made the Bat squint narrowly at him.

"If you hurt him, I'll be very upset.”

Bruce gets very passionate about defending J’onn. His line about trusting him with his life, to Etrigan, were some of the most heart-felt in all of Justice League. That was very fun to play with, because it brings out a whole other side of Bruce.

"No, see, when you care about someone, you're supposed to be nice to them, not threaten their friends."

Batman glowered from the workbench, then unexpectedly relaxed, looking almost apologetic. For him, anyway.

"He's been through too much already."

"I know, believe me." He shivered and rubbed his arms, even if it was as warm as ever in the climate-controlled artificial environment. "Did you really need the gadgets and the drama?" Whatever it was blocked out any trace of J'onn, and it was quickly becoming discomforting and a little painful.

Echoing back to the first major cut-off during their initial journey to the moon, Wally’s shown to have developed a mental and physical dependency on J’onn. He’s not a total wreck, or losing it, but he’s very uncomfortable.

Seeing this was part of Bruce’s intention for shielding the room; he wanted to know just how deep the relationship went, if Wally would even notice or not. He trusts J’onn, but he also understand how people can get when they become attached to someone, and wanted to know for himself if this was going to be a problem or not.

He relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief when Bats flicked a switch on a console next to him, and he was back again, having been shaken out of his meditation.

"Fascinating."

"What is, Mr. Spock?”

Batman grunted, but liked his thoughts to stay where they were.

You've intrigued the scientist in him.

Wally grinned as he returned to find Jess in little Flash-print silk boxers with the waistband rolled down, a black sport bra, and little white socks.

Jess has become the persona that J’onn takes on private, when he’s not himself in his true form. She’s what a possible ideal woman for Wally would be like, and creates a kind of balance; their relationship, by it’s nature, has Wally on the receiving end. Because of his species being so different from humans, J’onn doesn’t see human gender in the same way, but he gets that it often puts Wally in something of a female role.

He’s also a bit more playful as her. :D

"So it's like that, is it?" He got on the bed and began crawling up to her, pulling the cowl off and smirking mischievously, that he’d picked up on Wally’s occasionally wondering what it’d be like to have sex with Jessica in the control room. One of many random desires that tended to flicker through his mind. I think we'd have a small problem with all the security cameras up here.

I'll have to see what I can do about that for the future.

Wally licked her chest down between her breasts, nipping at one of them a little, then sat back and pointed with a grin.

You have an idea!

Perhaps.

You do! What is it?

J'onn revealed nothing, and Jess just grinned at him. She flipped him on his back easily, stripping off the top of the uniform, running her hands over his skin, already sparking with J'onn's magic. Wally reached out, but J'onn remained mysteriously distant.

I want you to be surprised.

Her arm turned green and her fingers became pliable, stretching out around the back of his neck and rustling the fine hairs, shifting slowly back to himself as Wally felt J'onn sliding under his skin round the base of his skull.

What are you doing?

You’ll see.

Wally's body suddenly shuddered down to his fingertips with a sharp jolt that turned into tingling warmth radiating through him from the inside out.

He writhed helplessly as J’onn played his nervous system like a violin, every cell singing in pleasure as he made high, breathy noises. Wally arched up as it reached a crescendo and he blacked out for a second, regaining his senses to find he’d lost all the feeling in his toes and J’onn wrapped around him, in that almost formless way he did sometimes, reaching out little tendrils so he could feel more of him, caressing gently along his muscles.

Mixing how J’onn would think of things, and transmuting it into more human images in Wally’s mind. This is definitely my favourite way of doing that; comparing it to music. I think about the most powerful and emotional Classical and concert pieces, overlaying the tone of sweet strings in a single note, and pleasurable sensations. It also is like J’onn’s actually playing him that way, which is… just an irresistible image to me. A very alien, but intimate, way of making love.

J’onn tangled their minds together, Wally’s racing madly through J’onn’s serenity, and he realized like remembering that music was just how he thought of it, silent strains that reverberated through him in the listening.

Everything you think is so poetic.

I haven’t been a poet in many centuries.

You’ll have to teach me Martian so I can understand them better.

He only could in those moments they’d shared the entirety of their beings, but Wally’s human mind couldn’t retain all the knowledge of him, and he could only remember that J’onn’s poetry was beautiful in a way that couldn’t translate into English properly, but J’onn did his best for a while, until Wally thought he’d rather just hear it in Martian, even if he couldn’t understand the words, they were sent with the images behind them, like paintings over the twisted shapes of the language.

Wally woke up the next morning fluent in Martian, and over the course of the day J’onn began thinking in it again, something he’d changed since they’d been together.

That afternoon, he startled Superman by snarling in it at the computers, the guttural sound of their profanity more expressive and cathartic that way; but he hadn’t realized he’d done it until he noticed Supes staring at him like he’d grown another head.

Wally learning Martian just seemed right to me, in this context; but in general, is a weird thing. I don’t even think Batman knows Martian. It’s another thing that makes their relationship unique, among all others in their world; there’s no one else like J’onn to have this kind of relationship with a human, and there’s no one else that can speak Martian; just the two of them and the Green Lantern rings, now that the White Martians are back buried in the ground.

“What was that?”

“Stupid thing won’t do what I want.”

I totally love Wally not getting what Clark meant at first. After building up all this deep mental stuff, I really just had to put in a reminder that he hasn’t changed who he is, just how he is.

“I got that part.”

“Oh! Yeah, it was, uh, Martian.”

“Since when do you speak Martian? I thought all you knew was English and some bad Spanish.”

J’onn was laughing in the back of his mind.

J’onn does a lot of smiling and laughing when people can’t see. I liked bringing that out, how he really is a happy guy, just reserved.

“It’s a recent thing.”

“Oh.” Wally was ready to explain everything to him, but he’d taken just that as enough of an explanation and gone back to what he was doing.

It wasn’t a secret; they just didn’t mention it because nobody asked, J'onn being very private and Wally inept when it came to talking about this sort of thing. J’onn was picking up vibes that people who knew them well thought something was up, but were contenting themselves to gossip about it instead of asking, which people tended to do a lot up here. All-seeing Batmans aside.

It was Shayera that was next to say something.

I hadn’t done much with Wally and Shayera’s relationship before, and this seemed like the perfect time to start. They’re the reckless ones in the group, and it’s had them bond in brother and sister kind of way, like Wally once mentions in JLU.

Wally and J’onn had been in the cafeteria right after Wally got off monitor duty, and had been eating at a table to themselves, arguing about one of J’onn’s comments at a League press conference that afternoon. That they didn’t cater to any one government over another; Wally thought it was obvious to anyone looking that they most certainly did, being at the US President’s beck and call half the damned time. J’onn didn’t see what else he could have said differently.

You’re the diplomat, figure it out!

They ate without any more projecting thoughts on the matter, and it didn’t take long before Wally finally conceded the point, rolling his eyes and letting the diplomats do their diplomat-ing without some costume with more power than brains butting in.

That’s an absurd thing to believe.

Well, you’re absurd!

Wally stuck his tongue out at him and went to tackle his soup.

How would Wally and J’onn argue? Something like that.

A later, removed scene went into how they would have a big fight; because openness is about trust and mutual understanding, they would close off to each other, and merely put up telepathic silence over something they couldn’t reconcile.

I’m sure it’ll happen eventually, if I write it or not; every relationship has it’s bumps and conflicts.

Shayera appeared at the other side of the table just then, looking at them with amicable accusation.

“What’s up?”

She looked at Wally sideways, then pulled up a chair and leaned over the table. “I have to know.”

“Huh?”

“I know you’re talking. What in the stars are you up to?”

Up to? Like, a coup or something?

Something like that, far as I can tell.

Did you know she was watching us like that?

She watches everyone more carefully than most would believe.

She frowned and her feathers ruffled a little. “You’re doing it again! J’onn, you never do this, so it has to be big.”

Wally’s very expressive when he talks; big hand gestures, dramatic facial expressions, even with a mask. I can only imagine that someone paying attention could tell when he was overtly communicating with J’onn.

I also describe her as very bird-like sometimes, starting with the feathers. Her wings are real, and part of her; I can only imagine they react to her emotions like the rest of her would.

“Define big,” J’onn deadpanned.

“It’s not like you think,” Wally said, kicking him under the table. “There’s no conspiracy.”

“No conspiracy,” she echoed flatly.

“We’re just sleeping together,” J’onn said, and Wally cackled, slapping his forehead.

“I thought that was my line.”

And they become the Two Stooges there for a second…

Shayera looked horrified. “Right here, in the cafeteria?!” she whispered urgently, and Wally broke down in howls of laughter, hugging his aching sides as J’onn clarified that they weren’t having some kind of Martian brain-sex in public.

A story about trust and understand is the perfect place to put misunderstandings. Heh.

J’onn using his powers for unseen exhibitionism is also kinda a fun cliché that I didn’t play with; so I just threw it in like this.

Wally thought it was a fantastic idea, though. J’onn was intrigued with his little exhibitionist streak, and promised to do something with it later.

Reassured that there was nothing big going down in the League, or that little misunderstanding, she softened and looked as if she was considering that. “So… you talk to each other a lot like that?”

Occasionally, Wally got frustrated that he couldn’t just beam information into someone’s head when he needed to answer questions like that. Something he’d picked up from J’onn, who found it so much easier to do it, if not for the aversion non-telepaths had to that sort of thing. And now that he knew how it felt, he understood completely.

“It’s like, different than that,” Wally said, twisting his hands and circling them around to demonstrate complicated, interwoven, together, constantly shifting from barely a presence to shared experiences. He didn’t have quite the eloquence to string it into a coherent sentence. “All the time, kinda.”

J’onn had a flicker of concern, but Shayera was one of Wally’s closest friends; he wouldn’t lie to her.

That’s not what I meant.

I know, I’m just saying. Er, thinking.

Another, minor, example of how J’onn and Wally’s link can cause conflict as well as understanding.

“I’d go insane,” she said certainly. “Even someone like you J’onn, in each other’s heads all the time? We’d fight the entire time.”

“Do we fight all the time?” Wally asked, looking at J’onn.

“Every relationship has its difficulties. Not particularly often.”

“It helps that it’d be difficult to misunderstand each other.”

Shayera looked fascinated by it, looking raptly curious. “So you aren’t just sleeping together,” she said, as if it would be hardly noteworthy by itself that they were having sex.

Shayera’s a bit of a liberal wild-child. I don’t think she’s going to be very judgmental or make a big deal out of people sleeping together.

“It’s more like, um…”

“A relationship.”

“You know, a relationship relationship.”

“Not only physical.”

“Mostly mental, even when, you know,” Wally said, poking his index fingers together.

Later on, when J’onn wasn’t around, Shayera pulled him aside and whispered, “so, what’s it like? The sex, I mean. I’ve always wondered that, but I never wanted to ask him.”

“Well, sometimes he’s a person, and we, you know, do that.”

“But not always?”

“Sometimes… we’ll be the same person, like, together, and he does this thing that’s just incredible,” Wally whispered knowingly, “it’s hard to explain, but now I totally understand why the Martians were so peaceful and happy. If they weren’t fucking constantly, they’d have to be deranged.”

A very colourful way of explaining things, but I think of Wally and Shayera talking to each other like that; very bluntly, in a way that might get other people blushing or surprised.



* * *
Part Three: Saturday

You’re quite certain you don’t need any assistance?

J’onn, light of my life, please. If I can save the world, I think I can handle repainting my apartment. As if you could just leave in the middle of monitoring two different missions to help your boyfriend redecorate.

This section was written just to be fluffy, happy stuff about their everyday life.

I knew after this I was going to do something with the idea of the link having negative side effects, and wanted a little more of the carefree first; even if that ended up being much more light-hearted than it started out as.

Wally grinned to himself and rubbed at a smudge of paint on his cheek. He’d signed the lease on the new place a week ago, and still hadn’t let J’onn see it. He wanted it to be a surprise; twice as big, with plenty of space for him to have his treadmill somewhere other than the living room, and a proper kitchen. Things that had never bothered him before, but J’onn had this infectious streak of domesticity that, usually, he didn’t express. Wally wasn’t particularly domestic, and was hardly even domesticated, but the satisfaction of the paisley wallpaper vanishing for a pale orange in the living room was nice.

J’onn picks up things about this, of course; so it’s not entirely going to be a surprise…

Is it wise to paint a room orange?

Oh, what would you know about interior design? You used to live in a fancy igloo.

It was a very tastefully appointed igloo, and the design was far superior to crude human dwellings.

And boo-ooring. Wally ran the roller through the paint and began running it along the wall with the tacky noise it made, half-listening to a weather report on the radio.

I’ll bear it in mind the next time I fall through a shoddy floor.

It’s not the landlord's fault you’ve been eating too many Oreos.

I believe it was you who finished off four boxes last night.

Lovers playfully poking fun at each other. I couldn’t resist that, either.

He caught a flash of J’onn hurriedly warning Shayera of more opponents attempting to flank her, and began painting faster as he absorbed his state of mind, until a minute passed and he was finished, and wiped his forehead as he looked at his work appraisingly. It was only then Wally realized he hadn’t been doing any of it at super-speed until then. Huh.

The plastic drop cloths were left on the floor, but Wally tidied up everything else, and ran back to his old place, that he’d still not packed up. Not until he was finished, which was both a reason and an excuse not to do it yet.

He put on a pot of coffee and went for a run through the city, to nothing more eventful than waves and shouted greetings at him as he passed until he came across a woman in a business suit and her broken-down Mazda stuck on the bridge. He helped her fix the problem, and advised her to stick to American cars in the future, much to J’onn’s amusement.

You’re not busy anymore. Wally smiled to himself. Come down to Earth for a while. The weather’s fine.

And the company.

J’onn didn’t use the transporter; he flew, whenever possible, when there weren’t pressing reasons for immediate transportation, or traveling with others. He loved the beauty of space, it’s vastness and deafening silence that had, for a very long time, echoed his own soul. Distant stars lost to the brightness of Earth when approached from space, looking like a perfect creation of a cosmic artist, white clouds swirling over mottled blue and shining.

Wally loved at him and skimmed along the top of the river, reaching down to run his hands along the waves stopped in their path by his speed, like glass sculptures. The sun was bright and warm, and the city sparkled behind the trees and parks on the riverbank on one side, docks on the other, circled by sailboats catching the wind. A fisherman began to wave from his small aluminum boat with his free hand, and Wally slowed down just enough to return it and wish him luck. He loved Central City, because it was beautiful and alive with familiar faces.

Those two paragraphs were just to highlight different perceptions of Earth; Wally can’t fly, he sees it all from the ground, always on a personal level, and eventually began seeing it from space and above, as a whole. J’onn’s an outsider who saw Earth first as a whole, then in increasing detail. They see it’s beauty differently, even with J’onn’s deep appreciation and love of humanity.

He arrived just after Wally did, and was immediately tackled; Wally hung down his back, with his arms wrapped around his neck and giggled in his ear.

I adore the image of Wally hugging around J’onn’s neck, grinning, just short enough so his feet aren’t touching he ground.

I don’t suppose I could bribe anyone to draw that..? XD

You’re in a good mood.

High off life. There's coffee.

Wally kissed his cheek and grinned as J’onn’s body shifted and now, instead of dangling, he was holding onto his true form on his feet.

How long until I get to see your creation?

Soon. And when you put it like that, I feel like Dr. Frankenstein.

J’onn chuckled and shifted so he was now facing him, and gave Wally a proper kiss. His mouth was different than Wally’s, but it could still push his lips open with his own, the touch of their tongues making his groin tingle and twitch, warm and moist and probing.

He held Wally strong and gentle, and levitated up a bit, then laid himself out in the air so Wally was lying on top of him. Wally laughed and curled his legs underneath him, and leaned on arms crossed over his chest, and J’onn ran his hands along his body still clad in the thin uniform.

Playing with flying; I love that. :D

Then he looked serious and kept his thoughts to himself as he reached a hand around behind Wally’s ear, and he could feel the tingling of J’onn’s molecules reaching into his, igniting his cells pleasantly as they passed, and all the hair on his head stood on end.

You’re thinking about Batman. You’re worried about him. Wally leaned up a little more, and tilted his head to one side curiously. Why?

He’s more dark than usual. Projecting such… cold. I believe something has happened, but I’ve had no opportunity to speak with him privately. J’onn’s fire-shaded eyes were full of unmasked concern.

I would think it would be really hard, to be around someone you’re close to, and know something’s really bothering them, not knowing what that is, or how to help…

Wally kissed the place where he didn’t have a nose.

You worry too much. He’ll be okay, but I think everyone needs someone to talk to. You’re such a sweetie.

Wally never stops surprising me with how goddamn cute he can be, so, yeah… ::laughs::

J’onn smiled and kissed him again, and it grew quickly passionate again; Wally pressed his groin against J’onn, and they began to melt together. He sighed as sparking warmth spread all over his skin, and his muscles began all twitching as his nerves were flooded with raw pleasure.

Slowly, at first, and spreading everywhere, around his ears to the tips of his toes. Wally was inside and outside, feeling himself through J’onn’s acute senses, exploring his responses, buzzing with the cerebral way he felt pleasure, in his mind and spreading to his physical form with it’s growing intensity.

They were a sun going supernova, until J’onn’s touch ebbed away to strokes, surrounding Wally as their minds curled together.

This scene has a lot of fire imagery and language, for one that’s very slow and loving in the sexy. I think of it mostly coming from J’onn’s angle, with Wally in costume, with the hair… being like he is, that would be an image that could make him think of fire. Beautiful and dangerous. ;)

John had just finished a particularly trying case, a female murder victim found in an alley next to a bar; high traffic, no witnesses, hardly a shred of evidence. But the guilty party had returned to the bar, once he thought the heat was off.

After that, it was only a matter of convincing him to confess.

Jess’s article had finally been published, and they were anticipating buying a copy in the morning.

They realized they were craving ice cream, cookie dough with chocolate fudge.

Trying to get across the feeling of just opening sharing and being aware of another’s thoughts and feelings so quickly and completely; the actual content of that kind of sharing I could go on at great, detailed length about, but it was mostly the feel of it I wanted to get across. And, another strong ‘they’ idea.

They pulled apart, and Wally went to go get a gallon tub, returning with it triumphantly, and all kinds of caramel and chocolate sauces and sprinkles for it. They sat at his counter, J’onn shifting into Jess’s body with an Avalanches jersey on over a pair of jeans, and Wally changed into jeans and a t-shirt, switching a classic rock station on the radio as he passed through the living room.

Jess hummed along to the radio as they dug in, and Wally moaned at the first bite, smothered in both chocolate and caramel, like making love to his taste buds.

They ate until there was nothing left, and Jess licked caramel off her spoon as Wally rubbed his stomach contently.

“This is nice,” he said.

She licked a spot off his cheek and grinned.

Normal alongside the alien; that’s how I wanted to end it, to emphasis that’s really what it’s all about. A complex situation they’ve made into something fundamentally simple. Both of them incorporating something completely different themselves into their lives in a very big way.

The licking is also a nod back to the very start, with fruit-juice. Through everything, it’s always about what happened between them on the moon.

As I’m writing this, my dove is cooing, calling for a mate, but he’s indoors and nobody will ever answer him. That’s so tragic, isn’t it?

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