Work is the curse of the drinking classes

[iamresponding]

Who| Closed to Rich and Hal
What| The two get a very much-needed beer after "In Brightest Day"
Where| A dive bar on Earth
When| After In Brightest Day, before Tinker, Tailor, Hero, Spy
Warnings/Notes| N/A

At some point, Rich planned on getting a post-fight beer with Vance and some of the others, too, but he and Hal had something in common after this recent mission with the Lanterns: getting completely dickpunched by their proteges getting righteously screwed over.

And between Rich getting his face burned off and Hal having to resist brainwashing, they hadn't gotten through unscathed either. Rich's face was finally healed up and only a little worse for wear -- the skin-regenerating tech had messed up his old scar a bit and made it more noticeable, but other than that, his ugly mug was back to what it used to be.

It still had sucked.

So, a beer. Just the two of them.

"So," Rich said slowly, as the bartender passed him his Silverale. "That was a thing."

Comments

[iamresponding]

"Are we really going there with this conversation? 'He can change'? Are we really going there?"

Rich shook his head in disbelief.

"If he got it together, what? He'd turn himself in for multi-murder and spend the rest of his life in the deepest darkest cell someone could find to put him in? Because that's the very best he deserves."

If he sounded mad, it wasn't really at Hal. He was mad for Hal. He was mad for Sam and Dipper, too.

"What is there to 'get together'? We're not talking about some mixed up kid taking a gap year to 'find themselves.' This is a guy who decided he was going to break a 14-year-old boy you cared about just to have something to rub in your goddamn face."

[ringslinging]

"He can change. I'm not saying he's going to, I'm not saying he doesn't deserve any of that for what he's already done, but -"

Hal shook his head. "Maybe he will, maybe he won't, but I know he's capable of it."

[iamresponding]

"Oh my God, you actually said it."

He actually said the exact words.

"Of course he can -- anyone can -- but he's not going to. No one that does that to a kid is going to second guess anything they ever do. No one who infects someone who's supposed to be their friend with a mind-altering fear parasite is going to second guess anything they ever do."

What in the Blue Blazes was going on with this? If this guy was Hal's archenemy, why was he talking about this like someone talking about a bad relationship? Like he was...battered. It reminded him a little of --

Oh.

Oh.

Hurt was hurt. He'd seen hurt in the eyes of a friend before. He knew what it did to people, especially on a repeat basis.

He also knew that explaining what he thought he was seeing in a way Hal would accept wouldn't be easy.

"Who else does he have to hurt for it to make him a lost cause, Hal? What else does he have to do to you to make it wrong enough?" Rich shook his head. "And why do you think so little of yourself that you don't see he's already done too much?"

[ringslinging]

Rich didn't get it.

Not that Hal could blame him for being angry. Hal was pissed off about all of it, it was just that -

He'd known Sinestro at his best, and he didn't want to think that man was gone, for good. If he gave up on that, then he was giving up on quite possibly the only person he'd ever felt understood him completely.

How was he supposed to explain that?

[iamresponding]

Hal explaining it with words was probably asking too much. But Rich tried to get him to explain anyway.

"Why? Why are you holding on so tight to that whole thing? It's healthier to just...let it go. He's just another perp. Just another psycho who chose to take a wrong turn and doesn't care enough about anyone else -- yourself included -- to turn back."

He frowned, thinking about his own friends. He thought about Gamora, killing a bunch of people he'd ordered her to interrogate just for the hell of it. He thought about all the times she'd been violent towards him. Maybe it wasn't entirely her fault, thanks to the Phalanx, but that didn't mean their usual rapport was all that healthy, either.

So, as much as it killed him, as much as he'd loved her, he'd let her go. Because maybe he didn't think the most of himself but he still knew he'd deserved better. He'd wanted more out of life.

"What is it you're looking for from him, that you want from him, that's worth more than what good people could put in your life? Because it is worth more. You're still looking to him for what could be when he hurt an innocent kid and almost took something you already had -- something better."

Rich didn't know Dipper that well but the kid obviously cared about Hal. Looked up to him and admired him. Liked him even though he sometimes clearly thought he was a little ridiculous.

Any kind of real affection and caring from Hal's real friends was worth more than anything that psycho was capable of.

"And if you really are looking for something there -- why do you seem to think he's the only one you can get it from?"

That was how these things worked, right? People just needed to hold on, think someone would change, because they felt like they couldn't do better, or get something better elsewhere.

[ringslinging]

"It's not like that, it's just..." He made a vague handwaving gesture, like he was trying to pull words out of midair, that just turned into an order for another drink halfway through.

"We went through a lot, before he went off the deep end. And I know how good he could be. I can't just give up."

[iamresponding]

"If he's capable of all this, the person you thought he was never really existed, Hal. That means that was just what he looked like, not what he was."

An image. A lot of people projected an image of decency.

"And it's not your damn job to save him from himself. It's his job. His responsibility. And it's not going to happen. He doesn't deserve you bending over backwards trying to get him to stop."

You're too good for him, Hal.

[ringslinging]

"Maybe not."

The next drink arrived. Half of it was immediately demolished.

Maybe was about the most Hal was committing to, at least tonight.