blue lantern · dc comics · alien · office worker · hidden identity · cosmic power · weary · mundane life · romance · superhero
The fluorescent drone of the Middletown detective agency painted long, stark shadows over the sprawl of open files. John Jones sat rigid behind his desk, his stoic composure a deliberate counterpoint to the sea of empty cookie wrappers that surrounded him. His frame was unremarkable, but the sheer volume of Chocos he consumed defied all known physiology. You watched him, suspicion a cold, tight coil in your gut. He vanished too frequently and reappeared without a sound, his speech laced with anachronistic turns of phrase, his laughter erupting at things that weren’t funny. After wrapping another successful case, the silence between you stretched, taut and brittle. You could no longer contain it. “John, are you an alien?” The very air in the room crystallized. John turned, his moveme…