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In retrospect, it must’ve been really painful for the rest of the team to witness the constant “will they-won’t they” between Sam King-Sandsmark and Danny Wayne-Kent. They’ve been dancing around their blatantly obvious playground crushes on each other for what feels like eternity, from the day they met even.
Sam, the newest Wonder Boy; tall, buff, handsome for his age on the outside, sweet, adorkable autistic mythology nerd on the inside. Popular at his private school because of his sports skills, and it carries over onto the third generation of Young Justice. But a total blushing mess with Danny, the newest Power Boy; short and sweet farm boy, a total cutie and matches a lot of Sam’s interests. They’re inseparable when they’re together at Mt Justice.
Take this late afternoon, the pair along with Trixie Allen (Blue Bolt, the eldest, a speedster, troublemaker), and Troy Hyde (Aqualad III, built like a great white shark if it had the personality of a dolphin) were all situated in the training room. A large circular room mostly made of steel save tor the rocky ceiling, where metallic and magnetic training dummies were being reduced to pieces by Danny. The young hero tossed them around with his enhanced telekinesis, which made up for the reduced power of his standard Kryptonian powers. He is a powerhouse, and Sam watched in awe from the sidelines.
He was leaning forward on the bench, grinning wide and just so full of adoration for his best friend (and crush). The other two watched in awe as well, but in retrospect it was obvious to them that Sam was head over heels. Trixie especially, ever impatient, kept groaning. As soon as Danny was done kicking butt, the last robot falling to a fatal swing of Danny’s telekinetically enhanced staff, Sam was on his feet and rushing on over.
“Danny! That was incredible!” he said excitedly, leaping over the disassembled body of one robot, as it slowly put itself back together with magnets “Oh my gods, I love every time you do that spinny trick”
“Thank you! My dad taught me that! Took a few tries, kept whackin’ my head, hahaha” Danny replied happily, rubbing his temple where he likely whacked himself. He was only ¼ Kryptonian, which gave him enough durability to take a hit, but doesn’t mean he won’t feel it.
“Well, it’s more along than my lasso skills, hehe…” Sam said, self-deprecating himself… again. He is a gold medal archer and gymnast, pretty awesome hand-to-hand, but a lot of the Wonder Woman trademarks he’s sluggish in. He’s got bracelets for deflection but it might be easier to just dodge, his throw with the tiara is improving, and the lasso is just horrific.
“Nah-uh, I think your lasso skills are gettin’ darn great, I reck'n” Danny disagreed, still smiling up at him, and always determined to lift Sam’s spirits. He has been improving with help, he’ll admit. He just looks at what others can do, and just his mind can’t help itself from comparing. He was grateful for the encouragement, especially from such a cute boy.
“Aw shucks, Danny, that means a lot coming from a cowboy” Sam said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly, and looking away to hide half his blush. He could’ve sworn Danny was doing the same, hiding his face a little now.
“I ain’t no cowboy, hahaha” he replied shyly with that infectious giggle Sam loves. It made him laugh alongside him. It was like they were the only people in the room, ignoring the eye rolling and groaning from the sidelines. Trixie had enough and shouted.
“Oh my god, will you two just ki-“
The door opened, followed by the quick yet heavy clanking footsteps of the teams android caretaker (or babysitter), Red Tornado.
“ATTENTION YOUNG JUSTICE!” his metallic voice boomed into the room “WONDER WOMAN REQUESTS YOUR IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE, GET MOVING TO THE BRIEFING ROOM”
“A mission? Oh heck yes!” Trixie said excitedly, before zooming out the room in a blue, white and black blur. Troy got up and did his best to catch up to her, as did Sam and Danny after their butterfly spell was broken by the android’s sterile bossy voice.
Trixie was already at the computer, loading a video chat by the time the other three approached the old-fashioned computer set-up. Old-fashioned by superhero headquarters standards, it wasn’t as flat or chrome. The feed on the large screen blinked to life, and the digitized face of War Woman.
“Mom?” Sam said, not expecting her. His beefy blonde mother was somewhere around Themyscira at night time, judging by the Ancient Greek architecture in the background, and a few Amazons running in the background.
“Hey, I think you guys are ready for an urgent mission” she started rather sternly, clearly a little panicked as she looked around behind the camera “Queen Diana’s Lasso of Truth has been stolen from Themyscira, we suspect a harpy given the rules and eye-witnesses, but no harpy works by themselves…”
It was a dream come true. Sam had been waiting for a chance to prove he’s ready for Wonder Woman-type missions, retrieving an artifact that valuable was a surefire way to get that. Maybe even get his own lasso, as Danny said he was getting better at his simple glow stick one.
And impressing his crush, best friend and teammate in the process? Even better. Just as long as he doesn’t actually tell him he likes him, in case he ruins everything between them. He doesn’t have much else.
The team of 4 (as of now) wasn’t that experienced, a couple major wins under their names, they wouldn’t have been the first call. But as Cassie continued to explain thoroughly:
“… However using the scrying pools, old-fashioned I know, but the oracles revealed the thief is in fact the minor god Pothos, who’s now situated somewhere in Happy Harbour. Waiting for what is anyone’s guess, but it’s obviously nothing good” Sam’s eyes widened at the thought of taking on a god, minor or not, the word had weight “All the major teams are preoccupied right now, the thief picked a perfect window, but it’s up to you to track it down and return it. We’ll be arriving soon, but there isn’t a moment to waste. Find that lasso, and decide for yourself if taking on the thief is worth the risk. Wonder Boy will know what” Cassie nodded to her son through the screen, knowing his obsessive knowledge on the subject well. She has listened to many a ramble by him at the dinner table.
“Awww… I wanted to be leader…” Trixie groaned quietly to herself in the chair, pouting, but Sam ignored her. It was the right call deep down.
“Thanks mo- War Woman, we’ll get on it, don’t worry” he said confidently, smiling eagerly at this opportunity. Cassie nodded in approval, filling him with serotonin.
“Be careful Wonder Boy, all of you” she told him calmly, forgetting briefly for a moment there were more people there than her son “Keep it simple, good luck” she shut the screen off to black, and the team wasted no time formulating a plan of search, and possible attack.
The mission was supposed to be simple as War Woman suggested; rescue the famed Lasso of Truth, maybe fight Pothos. Sam explained gods lose power when on mortal ground, minor gods especially, but are still no pushovers.
It would’ve taken a long sweep of the town from the air and the ground to find the thing, a glowing needle in a glowing haystack. Danny texted his dad to ask, and he responded that there was a mini device somewhere that tracks magic. Luckily Trixie Allen found it and dusted off the old gadget. Everyone thought it’d be useless considering Sam and Troy Hyde possessed magical possessions. But the device, shaped like a sundial meets a cooking timer, was pointing directly at a direction away from them.
Trixie took off in a blue electrical blur, leaving the three boys trying to catch up. A minute later, just as they left the beach entryway near the mountain, they heard over their ear-pieces:
“Yo, boys, found the location thanks to the clock thing. Meet me at that fancy seaside hotel, perrrronto!”
“That’s on the other side of town” Troy gasped, turning in the direction, pointing to a faint glowy building in the distance “The big fancy one right? With the spotlights “Why on Earth would it be there?”
“Maybe this god needed somewhere nice to sleep for the night?” Danny guessed, before shrugging at himself “Whoever they are, they got the cha-ching or super powers, and aren’t good at hiding”
“And we have no time! Let’s go!” Sam said impatiently. The sooner they’re done, the sooner they reap the benefits. But “soon” was a tough sell at this distance with no sentient alien bike like their parents' team. Where was that thing anyway?
“We should fly, it will get us there faster” Danny suggested, holding out his hands for each of the other two boys to hold on to. Sam blushed a little, liking that plan a lot. Troy shook his head.
“You two can go ahead, it’ll be faster if I swim” he replied, pointing to the beach right next to them. He was a tank of a boy, but could swim like a torpedo. Almost as fast as Trixie on land or Danny in the sky.
“You sure? I can carry you both” Danny insisted, but Troy refused again.
“I know, it’ll just be easier” he replied, turning to go but not before whispering to Sam “You got this” with encouragement. He was probably the only person Sam has confided to on this subject. Sam tensed up a little because of course Danny heard that. He has super hearing, and was a couple feet away. Troy grinned before running towards the crashing waves, disappearing in between one as if he was sucked into a vacuum.
“What was that about?” Danny asked Sam cautiously, who did his best to act cool.
“Nothing!” he replied quickly, in probably the least cool way he could’ve possibly said that. Especially to the cloned son of one of the World’s Greatest Detectives, and the guy who can hear heartbeats lying.
“Hmmm, riiiight” he said, unsurprisingly unconvinced, but he let it go for the sake of the mission. They were both officially in last place for the mission Sam was over the moon about. He grabbed Danny’s red gloved hands, and let himself be carried up into the air to his destination. He did not receive his mother’s ability to fly, or his biological surrogate father’s, but he was enjoying not having it for the time being. If it meant holding his crush’s hands as he carried him through the sky above the sparkling city lights. Danny looked down a few times, probably anxious if Sam was still attached, and every time he would blush when they made accidental eye contact. It was getting really weird between them, and neither wanted to say anything, especially during this quick trip across Happy Harbor.
The sun had just begun to set. It wouldn’t be long before everyone there would be blessed with the most beautiful orange sky known to man. The quicker they get this done, the sooner they could all enjoy it with their praises. The boys landed nearby the hotel in an alleyway across the street, where Trixie was waiting impatiently. Troy was approaching her at around the same time, somewhat dripping wet.
“Took ya time” she groaned before cutting to the chase immediately “Ran around the building a few times, doohickey was pointing to the room top floor back corner away from us”
“Okay, so how do we go about this?” Sam asked Danny, who just looked confused as heck at them all all.
“Why are you askin’ me?” he asked.
“Cause you gotta have your dad’s brains in that thick head of yours” Trixie answered for Sam “My plan was to run in and out, but I have no idea what we’re in for”
“What’s Pothos god of, again?” Troy asked Sam, currently thinking of his own plan, or at least reminding everyone that they are dealing with Greek gods after all. Something every Wonder Woman has had major tassels with.
“I told you, Aqualad, he’s one of Aphrodite and Ares’ sons” Sam sighed before thoroughly explaining “He’s the god of longing, yearning, desire, regret, basically he’s the god of unrequited love and crushing” Trixie let out a laugh.
“So…what, he’ll make us sad? I have no such regrets, I can take him” she turned to leave but Sam grabbed her arm to stop her before she could do something really stupid (as per usual).
“He may be a minor god, and on Earth no more powerful than your average magic user, but we gotta be smart-
“I got it!” Danny exclaimed excitedly, finally thinking of an idea. When it was time to actually share it, he nervously explained “It’s actually kinda simple-ish-maybe, definitely bad… okay first, we set off the fire alarm-“
“What!!” Troy gasped in shock, and Sam was surprised too. Everyone knows Danny was the boy scout of the group, at least by comparison to everyone else, especially Trixie who was eagerly eating it up.
“Now we’re talking, Danny-Boy” she giggled devilishly “Let’s make smoke a god out of the walls, hehe”
Sam was surprised the plan worked, and he felt an even greater admiration for Danny than he did before. He took a risk, and it paid off.
“You’ll be a great leader someday, Power Boy” Sam said to him as they watched from the window, as the hotel finished evacuating to the front as they waited for the firefighters to arrive. Among those residents was definitely someone who didn’t dress the same. Long curly black hair and this thick sleeveless vest, and black tactical pants. He just had this aura about him, Sam felt all his bottled up feelings for Danny amplified just by looking at this stranger.
The pair hurried to join Trixie and Troy at the correct room, 513. The magic-detector dial was pointing right at it through the door. Only problem it was locked with an old fashioned key instead of a key card. Trixie phased through it with no problem, smugly opening from the other side. Before the others had even stepped foot into the door she was already zooming around the relatively small, yet pretty fancy and high class room, opening every draw and door she could find.
“Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. No-“
“Found it” Sam said quickly, spotting the mystical artifact almost immediately the moment he looked up, cleverly but thoughtlessly wrapped around the small chandelier in the middle of the ceiling. The lights distracted from the slightly glowing aura.
“Power Boy, go get it” Trixie told Danny, who nodded and flew up to fetch it, carefully trying to maneuver around the clumsy mess it was placed in. He wrapped it around his arm, going as fast as he could, before he managed to free it entirely from the chandelier. It glowed bright in his hand. He floated down onto the bed, and showed it to Sam.
“Ta-Da” he announced proudly, and Sam eagerly reached out to touch it. He knows his mom’s lasso of lightning well, but this was THE Lasso of Truth. Wonder Woman’s iconic weapon (well the first and second Wonder Woman’s weapon. The third, Donna Troy, carried a silver one of Persuasion). Despite the limited window they had to escape, he got chills coiling his fingers around the golden rope. Too caught up in the awe of the moment to even process the power in his hands. Or rather the power that would be put on him if someone so much as asks.
Trixie Allen, being a notorious troublemaker and impatient as heck, would ask… and did.
“Quick, Danny, how do you feel about Sam?” she asked point blank. Troy’s mouth was agape, and Danny and Sam looked at Trixie with shock. There was a reason why they couldn’t trust her troublemaking tendencies. Danny couldn’t fight the lasso’s power, and Sam braced himself for the worst.
“I-I have the biggest crush on you Sammy, like, I think about you all the time, I love spending time with you. You’re so handsome, and talented, and awesome, and sweet, and you’ve got nice…. uh, nice everything!” Danny sputtered out, like he had no regrets whatsoever in anything he was saying, it was the whole truth “I’m just really scared of asking you to… to, ah- ya know, go on a date or somethin…”
“Sam, how do you feel about Danny!” Trixie interrupted quickly. Sam had been feeling over the moon and overwhelmed that whole time, listening to his best friend, his longtime crush, say the same things he was feeling every day. It was exhilarating, and he felt liberated enough to just blurt it out also.
“I like you too, Danny, so so much. You’re the cutest, the prettiest boy I’ve ever met. Truly, you’re perfect, I wanna be your boyfriend so freaking bad! I just got scared too, I didn’t wanna ruin things my best friend”
Once he was finished, he let out a sigh of relief now it was all out there. All it took to get over his own anxieties was a magical golden lasso they were sent to retrieve.
Months and months of silently and impatiently pining for the other ever since the two boys met at that Titans reunion party. Sam had spent that time thinking of his best friend in ways that surprised him, and all just creeping out of his lips whenever he met up with him. Danny was just so loveable in every way, it drove him crazy. He was so happy he felt the same, and he wasn’t pining for nothing. He could do anything he wanted.
And all they needed was a friendly push from a very impatient teammate.
“Clearly not scared anymore, bro, you weren’t even holding the darn rope!” Troy revealed while trying to mask his laughter. Sam looked down and realized at some point before his whole spiel he had accidentally dropped his part of the lasso in shock from what Danny was saying. He turned to Trixie in alarm.
“You knew?!” he and Danny told her in unison.
“Yeah, but you were zoned out and I was tired of you two dancing around each other every week, acting like you weren’t crushing HARD on the other. It was exhausting” “So now, since you two have finally admitted it, you two can be sickly sweet boyfriends for us to suffer around. Love wins!”
“As do I” came a voice from the door. The super-tweens turned to see the young man who was impatiently waiting outside the whole time. Long curly black hair, thick sleeveless vest, black tactical pants, giving an aura of pure angst only found in indie singers. He looked like one too.
“Pothos” Sam acknowledged him “Why steal the lasso?”
“Exactly what you just did right now. The lasso will grant me the ability to expose the truth between unrequited lovers, too cowardly to admit their feelings” the minor god replied without even needing the lasso, Sam supposed he felt he was too righteous to lie “With the truths revealed, mother would be sure to supplant my brothers powers for mine. They will understand the sorrow I feel every day. Thanks to that lasso, I now have one less tear to s- OOFT!”
Pathos fell over as Trixie had ran around behind him as he monologued, and kicked his knees in. The god snarled, and summoned his bow from nowhere, along with a bolt of black energy. Troy saw the open bathroom door, and summoned a stream of illuminated water to the hilts of his hydro-blades (or whatever he wanted them to be). This time just a simple punch of water to send him flying back out the door. Trixie ran after him, but she got sent flying backwards by some unknown force. Even as a minor god on Earth, he still retained his strength. He armed his bow again, and Sam unhooked his from his back, just in time to quickly destroy the incoming dark arrow with own.
They armed their energy arrows again, standing at a standstill. Both drawstrings were pulled back, it’d only take a slip of a hand to send it flying. Both Sam and Pathos’ eyes were on each other, studying their next move.
“How quick is your redraw, kid? Artemis and the fake god Apollo gifted you well with their talents, but I’m no slouch either” Pathos told him, while eyeing the others “Would you be willing to risk your friends hearts, or yours? Undo what you’ve said? Just give me the lasso, and forget we crossed”
“Can’t do that. Wonder Woman is counting on m- us” Sam replied defiantly.
“And we’ll never surrender to a footnote” Danny added rather snarkily on his part. Pathos was pissed at that. Sam didn’t know he had it in him. He looked at him in admiration, but it was all Pathos needed.
He fired his black energy arrow, right at Danny. Sam couldn’t think to aim in time, he instead just leaped in front of Danny, and took the hit for him. He fell to the ground, Danny squealed in shock.
“You giveth, I taketh-“ Pathos was immediately interrupted as the other two beat the utter crap out of Pathos. Danny rolled Sam over, who only felt a brief flash of pain roll over his body, before seemingly evaporating. If anything, the fall to the ground hurt more. Danny was relieved when Sam sat up, who looked at himself, feeling his torso for any signs of pain.
“What happened?” he asked himself, just as Pathos was shunted to the ground by Trixie and Troy. The blue speedster had grabbed the lasso of truth, and wrapped it around the minor god’s neck.
“What happened to Wonder Boy?!” she demanded, one boot on his back. Pathos winced as he tried avoiding the truth, but it seemingly burned to refuse.
“I- my bow… makes people hide their love, leading to sorrow and regret… he was supposed to- supposed to forget he did… and all the more difficult to get it back…”
“But… I still remember?” Sam told him, before turning to Danny, smiling wide and proud “Danny, can we go on a date? Do you wanna be my boyfriend?” he didn’t need the lasso to say that, he was so happy now that the giant wall between them was down, even if it was obvious in hindsight that the wall was made of glass. Danny seemingly agreed.
“And I don’t need no Lasso of Truth to make me say yes!” he replied, even with the same wording. They practically shared a brain cell anyway whenever they were together. So their future together should be more than interesting. Both of them giggled together, and feeling high on courage, Sam leaned up and pecked Danny on the lips. Danny was taken by surprise, but leaned back down to catch another, longer kiss. His lips were soft, and comfortable on his, despite Sam fighting the tight smile from interfering. They completely forgot they had an audience, even when two of the other three occupants groaned.
“Uck, they’re gonna be more annoying than ever” Trixie sighed, however Troy was smiling fondly at the pair.
“But it’ll be so worth it…” he said happily, smiling at Trixie who reluctantly began to agree. Pathos was fuming that his whole god-scale plan had been foiled by a bunch of tweens in tights. All because he picked the wrong place to stay at in his supposed getaway. Where he was going, how he was going to achieve his plan, was a conversation for later with the more experienced heroes. And possibly using the same weapon he was trying to steal.
“How?!” he demanded, still with the lasso wrapped around his neck and struggling under Trixie’s blue boot. Sam and Danny stopped their kissing to get off the ground. They weren’t tall, but at this perspective with Pathos on his knees, they were now in a place of dominance. Sam had been wondering the same question for himself amidst his time with Danny. He did have one theory that just came to him.
“Fairytale logic, I suppose” he replied with a shrug, before reaching down to hold his new boyfriend’s hands “I knew I had to save Danny because of my super obvious feelings for him. Washed out your washed up powers” he grinned smugly down at him.
“Now we better call Wonder Woman, or your mom to get here asap” Troy suggested, looking behind him towards the open door. They may have gotten away with the thumping from their fighting before, but it wouldn’t be for long if anyone comes looking. Sam nodded and pulled out his flip phone from the small satchel on his back where he holds his bow. Just a little message to his mom to come to Happy Harbor asap, if she wasn’t already given the report was sent out. Knowing her, she’d be here within a few minutes if she wasn’t busy fighting hydras or something.
“In the meantime, I say we play truth or dare with our new friend here” Trixie suggested devilishly, tightening her grip around the lasso. Pathos looked terrified, as he probably should be. Sam felt bad for him, he just wanted approval, just like him. But he knew stealing was wrong, especially something as famous as the Lasso of Truth. Troy was happy to agree to that plan, Sam wouldn’t mind some fun with it while he still had it in his possession. He wouldn’t be seeing it for a while after tonight.
Danny had a brilliant suggestion for that plan as he bashfully raised his hand.
“Um, can I be dared to kiss Sammy some more?” he asked, already clearly addicted and it’s only been two. Sam laughed (Trixie groaned again), as he grabbed his hips and spun him around for a dip. Danny giggled almost hysterically, and not just because he was ticklish all over, something Sam plans on exploiting more often.
“Always accepted” Sam answered happily, before leaning down and doing just that.