Preston Lindsay - Blog Posts

liking bart and not knowing his best friend preston is wild

I know I know but I don’t know much about a lot of characters I like the only reason I didn’t know about Preston is because I didn’t read the comics yet

Again and the last time hopefully

Again

Because I forgot Preston just found out who he is

[ Concept: Bart uses the Camcorder Preston gave him to leave Preston a message vlog style that he’s given after his death, cause the concept was there but never touched and I want Preston to know his best friend didn’t just disappear. ]

Bart sets up the camcorder on the top book of the stack on his desk, angling it to face the chair he had sat in front of it. It was the one Preston gave to him, and he finally figured out what he wanted to record. A little memo for Preston to find.

He flips open the screen and presses the power button.

The video starts with Bart’s arm still outstretched to the camera, tongue stuck between his lips as he fiddles around with the controls. “Oh. The red means it’s on, right? Shoot!” The clip cuts to static for a few moments before it’s back again and this time he’s in his chair.

“Got it to work! Man, technology here is so confusing. Nothing like from my time.” He shakes his head. “Hey, Pres. you may know me as Bart, or daredevil Allen. If you’re seeing this, well, I’m guessing I’m not around anymore. But that’s okay! I probably went out super cool.”

“Man, where to start. I guess I wanted to tell you my secret but I didn’t know how. Max says I have to keep it hush hush but. I dunno, I don’t want to. Not from you.”

“Carol knows, though she kinda figured it out. It was an accident really, I ain’t never been too good at this secret identity stuff but here goes. I am Impulse.”

“Saying that finally is… wow. I’m sure you have a lot of questions so I’ll try to go over everything in this before i run out of space on this rinkidink camcorder you gave me. Er, no offense.”

“The Flash is my Grandpa and second Flash is my second cousin, once removed. I was born in the year 2980. Crazy, right? That will probably make some stuff I did or said make sense now, huh?”

It cuts again, this time to him upside down in the chair, back on the seat and feet kicked up in the air. “I want you to know you’re my best friend. Which is why I’m tellin you all this.”

“Max isn’t really my uncle, but he is my Guardian after Wally… anyways, he’s got superspeed too but he like, never uses it. Lame. He just coaches me on the sidelines. And Helen, she’s great! Like my big sister. She’s Max’s daughter but doesn’t have powers.”

“Oh! Y’know my dog, Dox? He’s got super intelligence! Not entirely sure how…”

“The first superhero I was friends with was Grant. Er- Damage. He’s cool, you’d like him a lot. I haven’t seen him much nowadays.”

“I’m on a new team now. ‘Young Justice’ they call us. Awful name, right? Like hellooo, we’re trying to get out of our mentors shadows. I’m not even a sidekick!”

“I met Rob on a skii trip before we met in the masks, can you believe that? He’s smart. Like Carol. I hope they never meet or we’d be doomed!”

“There’s superboy. He’s kinda like the block-head jocks at our school but he has moments where he’s okay.”

“Wondergirl is awesome! I saw her pick up a car a few days ago. Wish I got it on camera for you, you’d love it.”

“Secret and Empress are really cool as well. Secret is like, super nice and matches my energy. I don’t know if you’d know who Empress is, she just joined us, but she’s got a sword! Won’t let me use it…”

“There’s Slobo, he’s a pretty rock and roll kinda punk, pretty sure he’s goth or somethin. One of them head-whippin’ screamers we hear on the banned radio stations.”

“There’s this girl, Arrowette. She’s like, my superhero best friend. Or maybe I just befriend blondes.” He pauses a moment and looks up at the camera. “You’re still my number one, though.”

“Even with all these heroes and powers, you, Carol, and Roland are… different. I dunno how to describe it. It’s like… you’re normal, and treat me like I’m normal, y’know? We’re just kids when it’s us. No responsibilities.”

Bart goes quiet and the tape cuts again to him stacking cards into a tower. “I’m not really sure what I’m expecting to happen to me. Max says I’m ’danger deficit’, whatever that means. I just want you to know that.. I’m not really gone? If I have to go away for a mission somewhere far away or if I fall through a wormhole, you’re still my best friend.” He huffs a sigh, the breath knocking down his cards.

The next cut shows him juggling a rubix cube, bouncy ball, and boomerang. “Did you know I have a brother? Yeah, me neither. Remember that time my mom visit? Well, she’s from the future too, like me. She told me she had another son named Owen who’s in this century too. Think I’ll ever get to meet him?”

“I never met my dad but I heard lots bout him from Mom and future Grandma. He was killed right after I was born by my other grandpa. Sprocked up, huh?”

“There’s my cousin Jenni! You remember Jenni, right? She was my partner for the talent show last year. Her hero name is XS and she works with superheroes in space! It’s awesome, right?? That’s where I met Brainy too. He’s kinda mean but in a funny way.”

He’s back in his chair again, chin propped on both his palms and legs kicking out under him. “Grandpa says he doesn’t believe in me. Wally says I’m annoying and negligent. All I wanted..” he shakes his head and covers the camera with his hand.

He’s up again, this time wearing his Impulse suit, holding his arms out like he’s showing off. “Cool, huh? Batman named me Impulse, though he said it was a warning. He’s kinda a stick in the mud, but the whole ninja stuff is cool. Too strict for my taste though, I wonder how Rob puts up with it.”

“I guess I don’t have much else to say. I hope you get this someday and I’m not making a fool of myself, talking to a camera for nothing. Don’t tell Max. I’ll see you later, Pres.”

The video ends.

[ Just some small practice writing snippit I wrote with adult Bart/Preston ]

It’s always the little things in life that remind you of what you miss the most. For Bart, it was the sunrise.

It’s trivial, something that happens every day, but no matter how early he has to be up, he’s always right there watching the sun come up over the horizon. Sometimes from different places around the world for a new angle or view.

No one really notices, or if they did no one asked why. Bart does a lot of strange things that are inexplainable, people stopped questioning him a long time ago. But staring at the sun coming up? That was special, something only for himself.

That’s how it started anyways. Later on he did more and more things for the same reasons, but again, nobody asked. Well, not until now.

“Where did you go this morning?” Preston asks into his next bite of eggs over the breakfast table. Bart was distracted pouring himself a glass of orange juice that it caught him by surprise.

“What?” He didn’t need to hear it again, he knew what Preston was asking, but it was jarring having someone call him out on it. He’d been doing this same routine since he was 15, and only now was it actually spoken aloud.

“It’s just, you got up super early and left for half and hour.” Preston ducks his head, embarrassment seeping into his voice as he adds. “Not that I was keeping track of you like a weirdo, I just woke up when you went out.”

“Oh.” Bart mutters with baited breath. They sit in more awkward silence before he actually caught up to his thoughts. He’d never actually sat down and explained this, but if he was going to trust anyone with this, it was Preston.

“I was watching the sunrise.” Bart smiles a bit and picks up his glass, sipping slowly at it.

“You got up that early just to watch the sunrise?” Preston gapes at him like he couldn’t comprehend what he was hearing. “Is that some kind of daily ritual from the future I’m not getting?”

Bart chuckles and sits down in the chair opposite of the blond, tangling their legs under the table out of habit. “Sort of? I’ve always done this. Growing up in Virtual Reality, I never had real people or experienced real things, like feel the breeze or smell the fresh air. I didn’t even know that I was missing those things until Grandma rescued me.”

“For a while I had the mindset of being in virtual reality. I didn’t find things dangerous cause there was always a reset button before. I took things for granted.” He chews on his lip with a furrow slowly creasing his brows. Preston reaches across and twines their fingers, squeezing his hand comfortingly with a reassuring smile.

Bart answers back with his own smaller grin, falling a little bit more for this blond idiot. “I never knew my parents, not until mom came and brought me to the future with her for that short time.”

“I remember that.” Preston recalls quietly. “You two were practically twins, I was so shocked when I met her.”

“You were also starstruck.” Bart chuckles, stroking small circles into Preston’s hand with his thumb.

“Only because I was a closet case with the biggest crush on you. I was presented with a girl version of my best friend who I was in love with, my head made weird connections.” Preston grumbles, kicking Bart’s shin under the table.

“Right.” Bart smiles fondly, nudging his foot back. “Anyways, even if I couldn’t be with her long, and I likely won’t be able to see her again, she’s.. She used to call me sunshine. Watching the sunrise is like my way of holding on to her memory.”

Thing go quiet again, companionable silence instead of the awkward interval. Preston had that calculating look in his eyes and Bart watches him think, committing every detail of his face to memory like he could lose that too.

Preston lost his mother when they were kids too, in a way, if you could consider her a mom. It wasn’t the same situation but Bart could tell that he understood. Maybe that was the reason he felt so comfortable telling this to Preston, he got it. He met Meloni, and not many people had got that chance before she had to go back to their time and ward off the evils of that world.

“Can I go with you tomorrow?” Preston finally asks, and the surprise almost threw Bart back.

“You want to watch with me?” No one’s ever done that, how would that even go? Would it be the same? Would that give it a different meaning? So many unknowns and yet all Bart could do was nod with a shy smile.

The next morning they both got up and left in total silence, still in their pyjamas. Bart carried Preston out to the cliffs, his favorite spot for watching, and they sat in the dew covered grass waiting for the sun.

“You know, I bet she looks at the sun too and thinks of you.” Preston says randomly after some time. Bart stares at him with absolute wonderment, his vision going blurry as they watered.

“Yeah.” Bart smiles, wiping at his eyes and turning his head to catch the first rays of light peeking through. He was right, watching it with someone did give it different meaning.

<3