#Mostly is because he wants to protect his brother... But also because his mind got a bit fucked up

[bokettochild]

So last year (I can’t believe it was last year), @cheatsylu posted art for the LU Gift Exchange. It was a role reversal of Warriors and Mask/Time where Mask/Time was the older brother and Warriors was the literal little brother. Absolutely adorable. Especially when you ignore the implications involving Cia. So my distraction question is this:

How do you think the chain would react to always-little-brother!Warriors and very-protective-big-brother!Time/Mask? Especially the other Links who were kids when they started. Personally, I think Sky would cry. Then he learns about Cia, then he gets pissed. Honestly, all of them would be pissed once they learned about Cia, regardless of Warriors’ age.

The art, which is so adorable:

I do remember seeing this! The art is so precious honestly!

In a world where Warriors, like so many others, was a literal child soldier, I imagine Cia's desire to possess the hero likely was a little different, but she still wanted to keep him with her, as in the end, it's heavily implied that what Cia wanted in the long run was a companion who was immortal, or at least who always reincarnated, since as an immortal she was always alone. A child would just mean that he's got longer still to live before she has to go find the next incarnation, y'know? So yeah, still creepy witch lady, but now she's trying to manipulate him into loving her like, maybe as a mother or something (especially since it's quite likely she can't have children and maybe desires that as much as she desires love)

Cue baby Warriors trying to navigate this new world of battles and fighting, but without all the joys and puzzles of dungeons and their cool items and prizes (which I imagine actually softened the lives of many other child heroes because they got to keep their sense of wonder, even if they did have to fight a lot and be scared).

I think he'd be an exceedingly flighty child, and highly distrusting towards any and all adults, much to the chain's distress. That said, in such a world, if Tune and Mask were still part of the war, I think he'd have learned to trust them as he is "big brothers", so meeting Time and learning he's just Mask but all grown up would make it easier for him. He adores Time, and Time adores getting to, sort of, give another kid their childhood back, even if it's just in small ways, like letting Wars' play with his (non-transforming) masks, pulling pranks on the rest of the chain, and running off and exploring together.

I think the chain as a whole would be horrified when they learnt what Wars went through, and given that he's a child, he doesn't have the filters to just... not tell them. once it comes up he's spilling almost everything out there, and Twilight and Sky both had to go wander off and cool off somewhere else lest they frighten him.

As for the other child heroes, I think they'd also be horrified, but not to the same degree. Like, Cia basically was trying to kidnap and adopt him, which is arguably not as bad as being sacrificed or thrown in a dungeon, at least in their minds. Were her methods horrendous? Yes, but their villains did similar, so while they feel bad for the kid, they're not all that shocked, and mostly would try to focus on befriending him and sharing their own experiences instead.

With Wars as a child, I can see all of them doting on him, but especially those who were in similar shoes. like, yes, Sky and Twi would be trying to big brother, but they would very much be overpowered by the squad of former child heroes who know both how this works and what is needed and now have experience on both sides of the situation, and so can handle everything a bit better.

Wild and Rule are teaching Wars about what it means to leave the path, to wander, to explore, something he wasn't allowed to do because it made him vulnerable to attack, and going anywhere without clear directions and a guardian is very new to him.

Legend's so ready to teach him about puzzles and dungeons and cool new items, and just let him go ham with trying new things.

Four introduces him to the Minish, tells him all their stories and watches the wonder spark in his eyes for the first time in years

Wind and time are just glad to see their little brother cutting loose for once, and they're there to support and encourage his forreys into the world of wonder that the rest are offering him.

I think Twi and Sky would be very protective and wary about letting him get up to stuff, just trying to keep him safe, but it would very much just remind him of being back home and under surveillance all the time "for his own protection" so he'd be cagey around them and less willing to connect until they ease up (which Time ensures that they do, eventually)

So yeah! That's how I think that'd go!

[bewitched-hours]

Hey, pssss, down here... can we have (platonic!) headcanons of Two Time having a teen sis in her early teens?

I STARVE for platonic fics/headcanons on this site

*vanishes*

Not used to platonic requests but I'm happy to do 'em!

As requested, reader gets She/Her!

Let's start with Pre-Forsaken, you were probably dragged into the cult by your older sibling but you didn't really care much about it at first.

You grew devoted to the Spawn mostly to make them proud but because you're in your early teens, you tended to be quite shy and awkward.

It was no surprise that you were practically glued to Two Time's side(I imagine they'd also be a bit protective over you) and only befriend any of Two Time's friends.

Azure was quickly one of your favourites. He made Two Time happy and sometimes went out of his way even to make sure you got something too which made you come out of your shell more and help him with confessing to Two Time.

While the two were dating, you took to calling Azure "Big Brother" because you believed wholeheartedly that him and Two Time would end up marrying. Let's just say Azure could barely hold his tears the first time because he was touched you'd see him as part of the family already.

There's not many options for you since- Early Teens in a cult- but if you did ever show interest in someone, Two Time tried to be supportive of it but will only really support it fully if the person is also in the cult for obvious reasons. (Azure would secretly give relationship advice and tips to help you get more confident)

Moving on; You definitely knew about them sacrificing Azure. It tore you up mentally because you were confused but tried to twist the event in your mind to make sense with how you viewed your sibling. Which was as a good person.

Surely there was a good reason for Azure being sacrificed... Did Two Time get a vision from the Spawn? Did Azure betray the cult? But he wouldn't do that... But why...?

When you wanted to confront Two Time about it, they were nowhere to be found. Not even other cultists knew where they were and you started to isolate yourself. Maybe you did something? Maybe there was something you missed? But Two Time wasn't the type to act before talking, you hadn't known them like that...

So you weren't sure if it was for better or worse when you two reunited in such a hellish realm. You didn't dare to question them or cast doubt over their words despite what the other survivors tried to warn you of. You simply made sure not to let them near any knives and held onto them protectively to keep them calm.

You were surprisingly overjoyed seeing them on their second life for the first time. Surely this was proof that they were truthful on Azure's sacrifice having been necessary!

But... Why was Azure a killer..? He was the one being sacrificed, why hadn't the Spawn gifted him too?

At least Azure allowed you to be left as LMS and tried to make sure your death was quick. Lest the Spectre does even worse to you than any of the killers could...

But back to Two Time!

You began sleeping in their cabin pretty often, praying together and finding yourself subconsciously worrying that they might disappear again if you don't stay by their side for longer. Not like they minded their little sister being so clingy and still a believer at heart. It just meant they raised you well!

Anything you'd like to request/ask? Check out my pinned post first and I'll be happy to write up whatever you want!

[velvetdolor]

Siren’s ATEEZ Fic recs!

hi friends! as ateez is my ult group and reading fanfiction is my comfort hobby, i wanted to share some recommendations because there’s so many talented writers here on this platform. it’ll be nearly impossible to list every single one i’ve come across but these are what i’ve gathered recently thus far! a lot of what i’ve been coming across are seonghwa, wooyoung, and yunho fics, so this is mostly a collection for these members by coincidence. there’s also a san rec in here! hehe

starting off strong, we have @faerouzia with their newly released dark fantasy, third age au seonghwa fic. the author’s provided playlists, moodboards, and really went above and beyond in cultivating a world i could feel palpably. this fic is severely underrated and i definitely encourage people to go an read it, especially if you’re a dark fantasy geek like me. here’s the fic link to Kingdom: At Grim’s End. the series is also listed as 21+ so please be mindful and MDNI.

next, we have a wooyoung hurt/comfort oneshot by @hjsmermaid. despite it being a shorter passage, it’s so well written that it honestly provided it so much meaning. i cried while reading because it reminded me of what love felt like when i was 17, and it was such a moving piece. i believe this fic doesn’t have any age warnings and there’s nothing for minor’s to be wary of reading other than mentions of smoking nicotine/cigarettes! it’s based on troye sivans song, strawberries and cigarettes which i also loved so much. here’s the link to the fic.

@captain-joongz fic deserve you is a seonghwa fic that also has a sequel, wonderful nothing. this was an unquestionably SEXY read. i’m a sucker for fics/stories with darker themes but do take note of the warnings before reading. seonghwa in this role is the reader’s brother-in-law… i was salivating. 18+ fic, so this one isn’t for you minors~

@armpirate like we were had me sitting in a dark room contemplating every love i’ve known in my personal life. it’s moving, heart wrenching, and stained with uncomfortable yearning. san was written as a character i could see as a genuine representation of a man who despite his flaws and misdeeds is the one who got away. this author also has many other fics on this platform i think people should check out! (18+)

@kitten4sannie is a staple for ATEEZ fics on tumblr. they’ve released a new fic, new light that’s a super spicy read based on an aged up!yunho who’s also the readers next door neighbor. i loved every second of reading it after work, because reading absolutely NASTY smut is the equivalent of having a cigarette as a treat. (for me at least, please don’t smoke y’all.) (as you’ve probably gathered, this is an 18+ piece!)

I’ve been O B S E S S E D with @peacheeeliz wooyoung smau, casual. now it’s never a safe bet to assume anything about an idol and their private life but i can definitely imagine wooyoung having commitment issues irl lol this take on it tickles me in all of the right ways and i always enjoy seeing the author’s update notifications (18+ series!)

@matzrionette has written an extremely dark circus au, master of puppets. i believe this is the remastered addition and it’s plot is something i haven’t seen anywhere else. it’s well written and is a seonghwa/yunho/reader fic! love seeing a double pairing, esp a seonghwa/yunho one. please be sure to read the series warnings, as this is a dark fic, but for those that enjoy darker and intricate plots—this is for you and it definitely was for me. (18+!)

heat of the night, by @onlyforwoosan is a seonghwa racer au… y’all this takes car sex to another level in the most delicious ways possible. there’s something about a semi-rugged man who doesn’t hesitate to protect the woman he loves but is also absolutely nasty and drives fast cars. (i hate car guys irl but not online from a distance so this is perfect for me. match made in heaven!

that’s it for now! i’ll start posting fic recs here and there. i’m also doing major blog housekeeping so i can arrange it to be a lot easier to navigate for any visitors! ٩(^‿^)۶ i’ll probably arrange it by tags so that people could find designated posts a lot easier via the search bar and my cleaning should be done by the end of this week. (hopefully)

here’s a link to my masterlist!

i’ve also released three new fics all ranging in theme from art apprentice au’s, ancient vampire x poker player au’s, and a stupid-but-gifted friend group, religious horror fic about exorcists lol. if that’s ur thing pls check it out, like, and reblog! <3 (all of my series are 18+ only, since i chronically write smut. i’m so sorry to my babies.)

for the thrill of the hunt is an ancient vampire seonghwa x ancient vampire reader x prey/poker player wooyoung fic! it’s a smut comedy with some fantasy undertones and backstories in knighthood lol. it’s also a short series, with plans of having special one shots based within the same universe.

fatal attraction is a art apprentice seonghwa x muse! reader x mentor! yeosang fic. it’s a complicated accidental love triangle spanning the timeline of a decade. this is 18+ and a two part series.

my newest fic, devil’s catch has been one of my favorites to write thus far. it’s literally my baby. it’s an ot8 x reader with a major focus on the hongjoong x reader pairing about a group of special grade exorcists trying to fight against the impending doom of the apocalypse. relationships get complicated and it’s going to be a packed, dark plot. this will be a longer series with a plan of at least 10+ chapters, but hopefully not 20 lol.

until next time friends!

[knyontop]

bowers gang hcs?

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PLEASE SEND MORE BOWERS GANG REQUESTS GUYSIGHHSIBJHSIHGJ

Ft: Henry bowers, Patrick hocksetter, Victor criss, Belch huggins.

Tw: dark stuff remember its the bowers gang!!!

Henry:

・Henry is the most aggressive and just mean😭

・you give him one wrong look and your already a target for him.

・depending on how much he hates you is how far he will go.

・He deff has some doggys!!!!

・hes a dog person confirmed ^_^

・he has two dogs, both are German shepherds (cant think of any names so just make them up..)

・hes had sex with like five girls, maybe even more. But they dont mean anything to him he just needs a good fuck every once in a while.

・he mostly goes for nasty bitches (thats all there is in darry) but if hes lucky there will be one sweet, innocent girl he can corrupt. (He has a thing for the innocent ones)

・Henrys favorite color is red im confirming it :3

・he stays out late so he doesn’t have to go home to his shit dad, he hangs with his friends but he also likes his alone time.

・when he was younger i just know he loved trucks😭

・a truck is definitely his dream car💪🏻💪🏻

・Henry doesn’t like loud children and he doesn’t like crowds because its so annoying trying to get through and its loud as hell.

・he is not scared to get into a little kids face and tell them to shut up and if they really push it he might slap em’ on the head.

・i feel like when he was younger he definitely wanted a sibling he wanted a younger sibling to hang out with and make into like a mini him just someone he could protect and hang with. (He still kinda does)

・anger issues, daddy issues, asshole issues, what do you expect?

・henry bowers getting therapy when??

・bro looks at himself in the mirror and just admires himself bc he knows hes hot😭

・AS HE SHOULDDDD

・i would like to say hes pretty good at skateboarding like i just have an image of him when he was younger with his little crew and there just skating☹️☹️

・but he thinks he doesn’t have time for it anymore, only on rare occasions he does it. (Vic still skates often tho)

・but yeah henry bowers is pretty fire🔥🔥

Patrick:

・the most sadistic and cruel like we all know that.

・bro is just born this way no sad backstory nothing😭

・I imagine that its just him and his mom, and his mom is a sweet angel while hes just the devil.

・his dad left after he killed his little brother, and Patricks okay with that. Never like his old man anyways.

・he has some type of caring for his mom I mean like deep deep inside somewhere you will find a little care.

・he does not care about your race or sexuality at all like the only thing he will care about is if your a girl because he believes that men are better than woman.

・little patrick was like, “MOM GET BACK IN THE KITCHEN!”

・complete menace smh.

・but yeah he doesn’t care he just calls you slurs and stuff because he loves humiliating people😭 the rush he feels it gives him a feeling of what its like to even feel something.

・he doesn’t have a favorite color, he thinks thats stupid and childish. Like who gives a fuck? (I DO☹️)

・no filter. Speaks his mind.

・”Fucking whore.”

・evilest laugh EVER.

・”if i laugh during a fight run” ah💀

・deep deep down he has a soft spot for his little gang and his mom, deep, deep, deeeeeep down.

・he wants to feel things he just doesn’t, so, feeling that rush of excitement or sexual energy or desire helps him feel emotions and he doesn’t care if its bad at least hes feeling it!

Victor:

・hes the smartest like he got those straight A’s in elementary🙏🏻🙏🏻

・i just know hes a cat person like he holds in a coo when hes those little furballs☹️

・has two siblings >3< a little brother and a little sister!!!

・and hes a pretty decent big bro to.

・took them to the park, helps his little sister tie her shoes, but just bc there his little siblings doesn’t mean hes not afraid to get rough with them. Hes in the bowers gang for a reason.

・hes like the stereotypical bully, pinning people down shoving them a little bit maybe a little beat dowm mocking and teasing his victims.

・never to far ig…

・Victor’s favorite color is green, yeah pretty obvious ik ik☹️☹️

・he cuts his own hair!!! Hes pretty smart when hes not being a asshole.

・i feel like if he wasn’t a bully he would have so much potential.

・buttt anywho he has old note books that he used to journal in when he was younger he thinks its stupid now that hes older. (I promise its not)

・he likes making Henry proud because i mean hes his leader why wouldn’t he want to please him?

・he grew up in a srict household, when he was 8 he realized rules are stupid.

・they are all little shits omds.

・he used to want to be a cop but look where he is nowwww..

・woops!

・funfact: hes pretty good with kids sense he has little siblings, he just doesn’t have a lot of patience.

Belch:

・most empathetic, his actor even said he was more human than the others he was not as evil as the others.

・i feel like hes a 100% mamas boy he hates his dad, his parents split up so he takes care of his mom behind the scenes.

・he has one little sister which she is the exact opposite of him like literally shes just a sweet little bundle of joy with her taller and bigger intimidating older brother next to her with his arms crossed.

・might be a better older brother than vic ngl😪

・now im not saying hes gentle or nice hes still an asshole hes not a good person im just saying hes nicer than the others.

・he intimates kids, shoves them around, never anything as bad as henry gets with his strength.

・Belch likes to make people intimidated, he feels strong. He feels good.

・belch is a dog person but he thinks cats are okay, but definitely a dog person.

・hes got a little pug <\3

・which he keeps his pug ten yards away from patrick because that pug is his baby.

・to any of patricks fat jokes hes like “Im big boned asshole!”

・close enough welcome back eric cartman.

・I feel like his favorite color would be blue or orange.

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I had fun making this :33 PLEASE SEND MORE REQUESTS FOR THE BOWERS GANG!!

[silverwhittlingknife]

So you're a go to source for all things Dick&Tim bros and you tend to write primarily from Dick's POV. So, odd question, but if you were to summarize their relationship from his POV in FIVE panels which panels would you pick? Keeping in mind that one specific aspect of their relationship that you love needs to be clearly represented by each panel (loyalty, trust etc). I hope this is a fun challenge and not an annoying question so if you don't want to answer that's cool! Have a wonderful day!

No more talk. The same thoughts run through two minds... (SotB 29) / You're my equal. My closest ally. (RR 1) / I can't stop thinking how much I rely on him. (GoG 3)

25 Feelings Dick Has About Tim

This was such a kind ask & a cool challenge which I totally failed; here are TWENTY-five panels of Dick's POV on Tim sdfdsfds Look, I got carried away! Marcia and Cindy! The boys!!

OKAY SO BEFORE I GET TO THE PANELS A FEW NOTES:

WARNING THAT THERE ARE SOME NEGATIVE EMOTIONS IN HERE because I love conflict but but but you gotta remember those are not the final word!! They are complicated people and sometimes they get mad at each other BUT ultimately their relationship is so hugely important in both their lives & they love each other and rely on each other so much -!!! <3

Also I have CONCLUDING THOUGHTS at the end about what Dick's POV leaves out (mostly: a lot of Dick defending & protecting & supporting Tim, which Dick does instinctively but isn't very self-aware about most of the time)

I have loosely organized my list into 5^5 format (5 categories with 5 examples each!), so if you want to skip to a relevant one, here are the categories!!

Below the cut:

I hate him and find him infuriating (#1-5)

On second thought, he's endearing & fun (#6-10)

Grief is complicated & he's all tangled up in mine (#11-15)

I love him & think highly of him (#16-20)

I rely on him & though it's hard for me, I trust him (#21-25)

I hate him and find him infuriating (#1 - 5)

1) He thinks he’s so smart and can psychoanalyze me and Bruce, but he doesn’t know me at all, he should get lost (New Titans 61)

2) He thinks he’s so smart and can psychoanalyze Bruce but he doesn’t know Bruce at all, he should get lost (Gotham Knights 26)

3) He is so nosy about stuff that is MY business (Robin 0)

4) He sounds like an insincere suck-up half the time... but okay, fine, if you push him he's got a sense of humor about it (New Titans 65)

5) I'm sure he's a better vigilante than me. It's my fault for being a failure, but I resent him anyway. (Nightwing 9 - Dick's having a nightmare)

On second thought, he's kinda endearing (#6-10)

6) He worries too much and gets anxious so easily, but it makes him fun to tease (Robin 67)

7) I'm not that competitive - okay, so maybe I'm a little competitive, I gotta make sure he doesn't get a swelled head (Prodigal)

8) I'm supposed to be his favorite! It is not cool for him to be fanboying over my not-girlfriend's not-boyfriend!! (Birds of Prey 19)

9) We have fun together. I can kick back and relax when it's just the two of us. Plus I get to boss him around a bit. (Prodigal)

10) He’s always trying to reassure me, and I guess it's a little comforting, but also he doesn’t really get it. Or me. He makes excuses that he shouldn't, because he doesn't understand that I suck. (Nightwing 64)

Grief is complicated and he's all tangled up in mine (#11 - 15)

11) He reminds me of everything I try not to think about. Sometimes the memories are so strong it hurts to look at him. (Batman 441)

12) WHY IS HE BEING IMPOSSIBLE ALL OF A SUDDEN??? THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING (Nightwing 139)

13) We're the same. He says all the things I don't let myself think about. It's like arguing with myself. (Nightwing 139)

14) He thinks he gets to tell me what to do but he doesn’t, fuck him (Battle for the Cowl)

15) Life sucks, so what. I sucked it up so he should too (RR 1)

I love him and think highly of him (#16 - 20)

16) He’s the closest thing to a brother I’ll ever have.  If someone hurts him I will hurt them harder. (Nightwing 6)

17) I can't handle the idea of losing him. (Nightwing 97)

17) He’s so good and I’m not. I'm afraid I’m bad for him. (Nightwing 110)

18) He’s better than me, and it’s kind of a relief because I know no matter what he’ll be okay. (Gates of Gotham 3)

19) In my head he’s the responsible one.  (Gotham Knights 10)

I rely on him, and though it's hard for me, I trust him (#20-25)

20) I know I have to trust him but I'm afraid he'll make the wrong choices and get hurt (Nightwing 139)

21) I'm sure I know what he should do because I see myself in him - not that I can take my own advice, but he should (Blackest Night 3)

22) I trust him.  When I’m losing my grip on things, he pulls me back. (Gotham Knights 10)

23) I want him to trust me (Red Robin 12)

24) He can tell when I'm lying. Sometimes he sees my weaknesses better than I wish he did. (Detective Comics 874)

25) He’s always there when I need him. (Teen Titans / Outsiders Secret Files)

Final rambling thoughts:

TIM: Uhh, okay, so I'm just skimming this list - do you really trust me? you're not just saying that? - but anyway, I'm confused because you left some stuff out? Like some stuff that's kinda important? DICK: No? I think I got everything? TIM (starts counting on his fingers): The time I was having a bad day but then I called you. The time I got captured by Two-Face but then you saved me. The time I fell off a train but then you saved me. The time I fell off a building but then you saved me. The time I fell off a different building - DICK: I feel like you're trying to make some kind of point but I'm not sure what it could be.

SO THE THING IS, I put 25 panels in here and not a single one has Dick catching Tim when he’s falling!!! But I think that's a central motif of their relationship from Tim’s POV, not Dick’s. I love Dick, but in some ways I think he is spectacularly un-self-aware.

And I think he especially has a lot of blind spots about Tim. He kinda intermittently gets that Tim admires him, and he enjoys it in a playful I-get-to-boss-you-around way. But Dick tends to consistently underestimate all of his own good qualities & skills, and he meets Tim at a point in his life when he's especially down on himself & his abilities. And so he's unable to see his own influence on Tim, & therefore unable to fully understand a lot of Tim's priorities and loyalties and motivations, because you can't actually understand Tim without understanding Dick's impact on him. There's a fascinating moment in Bruce Wayne: Murderer when Dick's completely blindsided & upset to discover that Tim doesn't entirely trust Bruce, even though this has been a definitive fact of Tim's whole thing ever since he showed up with his Batman needs Robin theory, and Barbara has to actively remind Dick of the obvious-to-everyone-except-Dick fact that a lot of Tim's loyalty is to Dick, and Tim loves Bruce but feels free to be more wary of him. (And to give Bruce credit: this is not something he ever begrudges.) But anyway Babs points this out, and Dick manages to sorta process it for about five seconds, but he cannot actually accept it into his worldview so instead he discards it at the speed of light and goes off and has an argument with Tim instead sdfsfdsf

All of Dick's virtues - Dick's kindness at the circus and Dick's determination to fight through grief and Dick's rigid sense of morals and Dick's vigilante skills and every time Dick has ever backed Tim up or listened to him or protected him or saved him from something or just been casually kind to a stranger in Tim's presence etc etc etc - all these things loom really large in Tim's mental story of Who Dick Is, and What Dick And Tim's Relationship Is. Tim meets Dick before he meets Bruce, trusts Dick more than Bruce, aspires to be Robin instead of Batman. And so in Tim's default version of the story, Dick is the super-special and admirable hero and Tim is... nobody in particular, a tagalong outsider who's barely managing to be a hero, not part of Dick and Bruce's family and not part of their story, who, if he's VERY LUCKY and tries REALLY HARD, might be able to fight his way to proving himself and offering something to Dick that Dick will value, if Dick doesn't get fed up with him first.

But that's not Dick's version of the story!!!

Dick's version of the story is almost the exact opposite, a story where Dick's an outcast failure black sheep who's screwing up everything he tries, and meanwhile Tim is The Sudden New Perfect Robin Who's Better Than Me And Probably Bruce Loves Him More And Probably They Gossip About What A Loser I Am, mixed with a complicated edge of Tim Thinks He's So Smart But He Doesn't Know Me/Us At All. Dick gets much more attached to Tim over time, and Tim gets unnervingly better at the know-it-all psychoanalysis so then Dick gets to have complicated feelings about him being right instead of just annoyance at him for being wrong, plus Dick's relationship with Bruce improves a lot, so Tim stops feeling so threatening. But Dick never fundamentally changes his basic theory of their relationship in which Tim is highly impressive and capable, and Dick is not so much.

And so asking Dick about Tim is kinda like if you asked George Bailey to tell you about Harry Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life; like, you'll be there for five hours while he tells you how great Harry is, and how accomplished Harry is, and how he doesn't really get how or why Harry does the things he does, and maybe George does feel a little resentful or jealous sometimes, but that pales in comparison to all his admiration and trust for Harry who he loves so much, who's better than him in so many ways, and he's not gonna openly gripe but secretly he can't help but feel sometimes like he's such a failure in comparison to Harry, a perfect person who emerged fully formed from Zeus's head with all the virtues and also all the accomplishments, etc. etc. etc. --

-- and he will not actually remember the part where he changed and saved Harry's whole entire life unless you literally send him to an alternate timeline in order to force him to remember it. <3

[couturewinx]

Special shoutout to @daylighted

Dean sits on his bed in the dorm playing with the phone in his hand, flipping open and closed mindlessly. He had just gotten off the phone with Sam to find out he had gotten in another argument with John. He was worried and even wanted to drive back but Sam urged him to stay, ‘enjoy college’ he said. His eyebrows furrowed staring at the wall blankly, his abandoned assignment sat on his desk waiting for Dean to give it some attention.

But his mind is occupied with his family, and what is happening back home. But also the guilt of being away from Sam not there to protect him if the argument got gnarly but also feeling like he was moving away from the lifestyle. The hunter’s life. He still has his now small hunter collection with him but that’s stuffed underneath his mattress. His room is messy with both dirty and clean flannels scattered all over the room, empty beer bottles sat on the desk. His wall covered with some timetables of the school year, mostly when the good parties are.

But also the photos of him and Sam on his bulletin board, various pinned over, capturing the love and happiness he has for his little brother. And that one photo in the corner him and John, he was slightly younger in the photo. He is smiling widely at the camera looking happily into the lens, and there is John in the corner. Like he’s trying to avoid the picture his face turned away from the camera looking disinterested of both the camera and his son. Dean used to have a photo of him and John that was taken before his Mum died, and you can see the shift in John, looking happy, fulfilled.

But he had to take it down because it reminded him of the pain his Mum’s death caused, and how drastically it changed his father and his relationship with him. But now a larger photo was in the middle of the board. Taken in the courtyard of Stanford the warm coloured leaves surrounding him, you sat on his lap holding the camera, while Dean had you in a soft headlock kissing your cheek smiling. The photo reminding him of the love he had found at Stanford but also what he could choose over hunting. Since he knows he can’t bring you into the lifestyle.

But it also makes him feel guilty, how he was able to be happy away from his family, emotions he’s not familiar too. But also betraying his father, of not being the heartless guard dog he was ultimately bred to be over his childhood. The soft knock on his door snaps him out of his conflicting thoughts. He sighs softly of throwing his phone on his bed before opening door.

To see you standing there with a smile on your face holding up some greasy fast food you know he loves. He smiles widely and pulls you into the room hugging you and closing the door, “hi baby” he kisses you softly while holding the back of your head. Your giggles fill the room as you pull away kissing his cheek, before walking to the desk setting the food down.

“Dean, you said you had done this” you hold the blank assignment up eyebrows raised, Dean laughs softly “it’s stupid anyway, I’ll do it later babe don’t worry” he answers while taking it out your hand and setting it down. He then takes your hand pulling you down on his lap as he lays down you yelp as you go down on his lap. He holds you close to his chest as you reach for the greasy fast food back. Hours pass back of you guys eating the food and drinking the beer talking, as a chick flick plays in the back. The one Dean fought hard not to have it play but complied eventually since he can’t argue with you.

You guys had decided to go down to walk around the courtyard as the sun began to set. His hand wrapped in yours tightly, with you guys walking around in your pyjamas with his leather coat wrapped around you securely. You step on the crunchy leaves revaling excitedly to Dean as you explain it to him. He watched you softly the warm orange lasting a warm spotlight on your face, highlighting each of your features. You ramble mindlessly as he stares at you. He begins to think how he now believes there is something more out of hunting, how he is allowed to feel. And how he would gladly choose you over his father and hunting. Before then softly wrapping his arm around you kissing your forehead. “Let’s head back”

The fluff goes crazy

@deerlysacred @deansbite @beauswhore @beausling @sunsbaby @cowboysandcigarettes @upsidedean @honeyryewhiskey @dulcescorderitas @s4wdvator @prttyinpink7 @starzify @vmiina @soldiersgirl @soangelbaby @whisperingdaze @j2archives @deansbite

[rr-after-dark]

okay okay but imagine this

barba who fucks u, carisis little sibling, cause he wants to catch sonnys attention, make him jealous.

its after hours and u r bent over his desk as he just rails u, and... sonny comes in.

Summary: Defense attorney Rafael Barba uses you, ADA Sonny Carisi’s baby sister, to get back at him during a case. And then your big brother walks in on the two of you.

Tags/Notes: Barba x Reader, Carisi x Reader, oral sex (reader receiving)

Content: Fem!Reader (sorry i know i try to be gn but), mentions of kinda stalking, possessiveness, manipulation, fauxcest (?), Rafael is revealed to have increasingly fewer morals, and a little anti-rollisi as a treat for just logan

A/N: So uhhh this is definitely kind of incest but you’re adopted? fauxcest? idk you’re not related but I do say “big brother” and stuff so if you’re not comfy with that, here’s the door no judgement: 🚪but idk this lowkey sucks shit anyway so whatever and also ur kind of annoying sorry :// also i literally did not even reread this

Word Count: 7k

Nobody had been surprised when Mr. and Mrs. Carisi started fostering teens once all their own children had moved out of the house. They loved kids and they wanted meaning in their lives. What did surprise people, especially their biological kids, was when they adopted you, making you an official member of the Carisi family (though you kept your last name, the only relic of your deceased parents) and the new apple of their eyes.

You’d always been troubled, of course, after years of bouncing around the system, and it didn’t stop just because you’d been adopted by a good Catholic family. You still struggled in school and swore like a sailor and pretended you never smoked weed all while being a sensitive, vulnerable kid. The biggest bright spot was that your new ‘big brother,’ a cop with a cocky smile and a chip on his shoulder, had been protective of you since day one. He was still in college when they adopted you, so he stayed over at his parents’ place most weekends in his old room. He’d drive you to school on his way to work so you didn’t have to take the bus, stand up for you when older kids treated you like shit (nothing like a grown man with a gun on his hip to make a teenage boy run away), and always made sure you had what you needed. 

All of that meant you were much closer to him than your ‘sisters,’ who were even older and who rarely visited and never tried to include you in conversations, writing you off as too young and inexperienced to join in on their talk about careers and relationships and adult responsibilities. Mostly because of Sonny, though, you like to think you’ve done a pretty good job making yourself a respectable adult. You’ve got a full-time job, your own apartment (with roommates, but still), and a bank account with more than $50 in it for the first time in a long time. The only issue is that you’ve bounced from boyfriend to boyfriend, never finding one who met Sonny’s strict standards for you. His approval meant the world, so you kept on trying.

Rafael Barba’s by far the best boyfriend you’ve ever had. He stops by your work to drop off flowers on his way into the office, he never forgets or cancels date night, and he makes you feel like you’re worth everything in the world. You’re certain that he’s the one Sonny will finally like enough to accept. It never even crossed your innocent mind that maybe Sonny never liked your boyfriends because he was jealous.

Your mom’s practically dancing around the kitchen as you and your sisters help her prepare Thanksgiving dinner. They’d all brought their own sides, too, and the whole house smelled of garlic and butter and goodness. Nieces and nephews sprinted around the house with happy shrieks while your dad sits in the living room with the husbands watching football.

Sonny arrives after everyone else – without his fiancee, Amanda. She’s been a mainstay at family events for a few years now and everyone feels her absence but nobody says anything. Sonny plants firm kisses on your sisters’ and mom’s cheeks and then pulls you into a warm hug. You notice he holds onto you extra tight this year; things have been rocky with his Amanda lately and seeing you always makes him feel better. He gives your forehead an extra kiss, his hand still on your lower back, and asks, “How’s my baby sister, hm? Been a few weeks since I’ve gotten to see you.”

Before you can answer, your mom’s lilting out, “Y/N’s boyfriend is coming to dinner tonight, so it’s safe to say she’s doing well, I think.”

“Oh yeah?” Sonny clenches his jaw briefly as he digs in the fridge for a beer. Once he pops it open and sips it, he gives you a prying gaze. “Finally someone worthy of meetin’ ma?”

You beam, unable to conceal your excitement at the idea of your family embracing the suave, sexy man you’d come to adore over the last few weeks. “Yeah, I think so.” You check your phone and smile at a few texts from him; you love having a man who isn’t afraid to double or triple text you. “He’ll be here in half an hour; he’s wrapping up at work now.”

Sonny’s eyes narrow. “What kind of psychopath works on Thanksgiving?”

You nudge him in the ribs. “Didn’t you have court this morning, counselor?”

With a conspiratorial glance, he smirks. “Yeah, but I have an important job.”

Mock-offended only because you fully expected Sonny to be standoffish and protective, you reply, “What makes you think he doesn’t?”

He mutters, “Because all your other boyfriends have been losers.”

Your dad enters the kitchen, too, and drops a hand on Sonny’s shoulder. “Don’t be rude, junior. I feel good about this one.”

Sonny grumbles and swigs his beer. “Your good feelings let Gina marry a dud. That’s not gonna happen to Y/N if I have anything to do with it.”

With an eye roll, you excuse yourself, “I’m gonna go get dressed. Mom, I’ll come back and set the table in a minute, alright?”

She waves her hand dismissively. “Go, go, get all dolled up.”

You hear Sonny mumbling something about how you shouldn’t be dressing up for some asshole as you cross the house. Upstairs in your old bedroom, which they’d kept exactly the same, like Sonny’s, you rummage through your suitcase for the outfit you’d brought. You’re staying for the long weekend and mainly packed ugly pajamas to lounge around in while your parents wait on you hand and foot. But you brought a showstopper for tonight. For Rafael, really. Not too much for a family dinner but enough to drive him crazy. A cozy, oversized sweater to appease your family’s more conservative side but a tiny, tight skirt to encourage wandering hands in secret moments and beneath the table.

A shy knock on your door pulls your attention from touching up your makeup. “Y/N? It’s your sunshine.”

You roll your eyes; he only goes for that particular nickname when he’s trying to be cute and sweet and pathetic. Angling for sympathy. You open up the door with pursed lips. “What?”

He steps into your room and closes the door. If nothing else, it was nice of him to knock on your bedroom door instead of coming through the bathroom of the jack and jill suite you shared like he did when he was being extra annoying. “C’mon, sweetheart, don’t be like that with me.”

You shake your head and continue getting ready, slipping on a pair of sheer black over-the-knee nylons with lace details at the top. Sonny’s addicted to watching your legs move. “I won’t be like that if you won’t be like that.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Sonny huffs, “Like what?”

“Dom,” you say seriously, putting away your things and finishing off your outfit with a pearl of pearl earrings. “I don’t want you to be an asshole to him. I know you’re my older brother, but you don’t always have to do the whole ‘bad cop’ routine. I want you to like him. I’m an adult. Treat me like one for once.”

Sonny sighs heavily. Even if he knows nobody will ever be good enough for you, he definitely doesn’t like to cause a frown on your pretty lips. “Okay, fine. Go ahead and tell me about the bast- guy, then. What do I need to know so I can play nice?”

You squeal and sit down on the bed next to him, your shoulders brushing. “He’s great, I promise. He treats me really well. Always pays for me, opens doors, shows me off to his friends.” Dreamily, you add, “I swear every word out of his mouth is more romantic than the last one. And, fuck, he’s so sexy. Like, his hands are-”

“Spare me the gory details.” Then, after a beat, you watch his eyes rove across your body in a way that feels anything but fraternal. Quietly, he asks, “And he, y’know, satisfies you?”

You snatch a pillow and bash him with it. “Sonny!”

He throws his hands up, snickering because he just said it to bug you. “That’s important in a relationship! I need to know you’re gettin’ taken care of.”

Cheeks turning deep pink, barely concealed by your foundation, you punch him on the arm, put on a voice that one-ups his, and decide to lie just to get him off your back, “You really wanna know? Fine. I always finish first. Usually more than once. He’s very good with his hands and his mouth and his dick is-”

“Okay, Jesus! I concede.” Sonny’s cheeks are even redder than yours and he stands up straight, cheating his body away from yours. He prays to god you can’t see his dick straining against his slacks. “He sounds great, kiddo, I’m glad you have someone who, ah, who takes care ‘a you.”

The truth is that, like all the guys you’ve been with, Rafael mostly gets you off by fucking you, not taking much time for foreplay. But that’s what you’re used to, so that’s what you take. You stand up with a laugh and try to keep your tone casual, blasé, as you add, “The only thing you’re not gonna like-”

“Here we fuckin’ go.”

“Dominick Carisi! Holy fuck, he’s not a murderer.” You shove him hard on the arm and sigh, “It’s just that he’s a little older than me.”

“A little?” He knows you well enough to know you don’t mean a year or two. “How much older are we talkin’ here, kid? Five years? Ten?”

Sheepishly, you cross the room to stand against the door, ready to get out of there. “I dunno. He’s, like, a few years older than you, probably.”

“Older than me?” Sonny storms over to you with fury in his blue eyes. He presses his hands to the door, trapping you between his arms. Something unfamiliar rockets up your spine as you see his taut arms on either side of your head. Matched with his aggression, it’s confusing the feelings in your stomach. “What the hell does a guy that age want to do with you? You’re a fuckin’ child!”

“Oh my god,” you protest, exasperated, “I have a bachelor’s degree and a 401k; stop treating me like a baby.” More than a little venomous, you add, “And stop acting like a pathetic jealous boyfriend. You’re gonna interrogate me about my sex life and then call me a child? You’re gross.”

At that, Sonny startles back, realizing he’s pinning you against the door, and curses under his breath. He runs his hand through his silvering hair and calms himself down with a deep breath. ‘Gross’ isn’t exactly the worst insult you’ve ever thrown his way during your heated arguments, but he knows how accurate it is this time around. Gently, pinching the bridge of his nose, he whispers. “I’m sorry. Really, I am. I’ll be nice, okay? I promise.” Taking your hand in his, Sonny touches your chin to make you look at him. You both hate fighting with each other even if your tempers match. “Forgive me, doll? Please?”

Looking into his puppy dog eyes, you sigh and say, “You know I can’t stay mad at you, sunshine.”

He wraps you up in a hug, lifting you off your feet until you shriek out a laugh, and kisses your forehead. “Thank you. Let’s go and help ma set the table, alright?”

You nod and head back out to the family behind him. In the chaos of your family, you find routine in setting out the plates and glasses just the way you know your mother likes them. Sonny, of course, follows just behind, correcting your askew silverware and rearranging centerpieces because he does it the nicest. Even you can admit that.

Before long, a knock at the door snaps you to attention. Your siblings give a low ooooh like you’re heading to the principal’s office, but you just roll your eyes, too excited to see Rafael to mind their teasing today. You practically skip across the house to the front door and fling it open, feeling Sonny only a few spaces back, ready to pounce. At the door, Rafael’s standing on your front porch in a terracotta three-piece suit, the details all cream and gold, perfectly tailored to the occasion and his strong frame. His salt-and-pepper beard is neatly trimmed and he’s got a pricey-looking bottle of wine under his arm. The picture-perfect boyfriend.

As soon as he sees you in that tiny skirt, he can’t help tugging you onto the porch with him, away from prying eyes. He kisses you hard, free hand going directly to your ass, and you melt into his commanding grasp. From the first moment, he’s known exactly how to touch you. As he nibbles up your neck, not hard enough to leave any trace but definitely enough to get you going, he groans, “God, baby, you’re so gorgeous.”

With a girlish grin, you giggle, “Hi, Rafi. You’re not so bad yourself.”

He hugs you close and sighs, “Mmm. I’m nothing next to you.”

You take a deep breath of his woodsy cologne before untangling your bodies. “Thanks for coming today. I know Thanksgiving’s kind of an intense ‘meeting the family’ date.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he replies easily, placing another kiss on your cheek. Then he takes another look at your outfit, noticing those sinful stockings for the first time, and he’s back on you. Because you’re on the front stoop, the curtains drawn and your family clustered inside, you let him grab hungrily at your body, fingers skating underneath the skirt’s hemline as his heavy breaths drive you absolutely crazy. Against your ear, he murmurs teasingly. “Of course, we could always skip this thing and go fuck in my car.”

You giggle against his lips. “Mmm. Tempting, but I t hink my brother would come looking for me.”

“Of course,” Rafael replies, dipping down to kiss you one more time before giving you a cute wink. “Your big bad brother. Come on, let me go and charm him into submission.”

When you turn around, you bump into Sonny waiting in the doorway. Watching. A little startled by his presence, you laugh, “Speak of the devil. Dominick, this is-”

Sonny eyes Rafael up and his voice is darker and meaner than you’ve ever heard it. “Counselor Barba. What are you doing here?”

Rafael’s expression is softer, smirking. As his left hand settles possessively on your waist, Sonny watching his every move, he reaches out his right hand. Sonny shakes it; you don’t notice the way they crush each other’s grips. “ADA Carisi. Good to see you outside of the courtroom.” Then he looks down at you and chuckles, “You never mentioned that your brother works at the DA’s office.”

Of course, Rafael knew that already. He’d seen your picture on Sonny’s desk months ago when they sparred over a minor case and had casually looked over your social media profiles back then because, well, you were cute and he was only human. When it became clear that Sonny would be his opponent on one of the most high-profile cases of his career, he’d gotten familiar with your schedule, slowly deciding that there was no better way to get in the prosecutor’s head than to toy with his baby sister.

On the exact opposite end, you know they’re both lawyers, but it never even occurred to you that they might know each other. Rafael’s firm is out in the Bronx defending wrongful convictions and Sonny’s some fancy government guy in Manhattan. In your mind, they occupy completely different worlds. You ran into Rafael randomly at the Bronx zoo, bumping into you as he picked out a present for his godson, not even close to the courthouse or the precinct you associate with Sonny’s career. But there’s a tension between them that you read right away that feels deeper than your brother being protective.

Through clenched teeth, Sonny eyes Rafael and confirms, “You’re dating my baby sister? You?”

You furrow your brows and cling closer to Rafael, searching your brother’s face for an explanation. “What’s going on?”

Rafael squeezes you and kisses the side of your head, soothing your nerves slightly, and lies, “Just your classic defense lawyer versus prosecutor animosity.” He gives Sonny a challenging look. “I’m sure by the end of the night we’ll be fast friends.” He gives you a smile and caresses your cheek, every gesture oozing with affection. “After all, we both love you, nena. Right, Dominick?”

You smile and give Sonny an expectant glance and a little nod to encourage him. He looks between the two of you, feeling his stomach turn with disgust, and forces a grimace for your sake. “Sure, Rafael. We’ll get along fine.”

You squeal happily and drag Rafael deeper into the house to meet your sisters and parents. It doesn’t surprise you that he’s effortlessly charming with your mom and just the right amount of masculine with your dad. Your sisters oooh and ahh over how smart and put together he is. By the time you all sit down to eat, you’re absolutely glowing from being on his arm (and from a few heavy-poured glasses of wine he hands you, always topping off your drink without asking).

The whole evening, Sonny’s lying in wait for a moment where he can corner Rafael and strangle him to death. Or at least interrogate him. He’s torn between his desire to protect you and his desire to make you happy. His absolute disdain for Rafael Barba and his better nature to give him the benefit of the doubt. He’s only ever seen Barba as a sleazy, slimy defense attorney with a mean streak and a knack for exploiting the legal system, but it’s not like Sonny knew him personally. Work Barba and boyfriend Barba might be completely different animals. At least he hopes that’s the case.

Over the course of dinner, though, he gets the sense that Barba’s exactly the man he thought. He schmoozes your mom with a heavy dose of compliments and talks about sports with your dad like he actually watches them, which Sonny knows for a fact he doesn’t. It’s like he’s done research to make each of your family members tick, from somehow magically knowing Gina’s old college roommate to making Bella tear up with some speech about the beauty of forgiveness and motherhood. It’s all so rehearsed, so calculated, and Sonny’s disgusted by the fact that you don’t see it. 

The thing he really doesn’t like, though, is how handsy Barba is with you. During dinner, with your boys sitting on either side of you, Sonny watches how Barba’s free hand is always on your thigh, way too far between your legs for him to be comfortable with. After, you help with dishes and he stands behind you, arms around your waist, resting his chin on your shoulder. Sonny’s jealousy forces him to wonder what it must feel like to have your ass pressed up against him instead. Once the family’s moved into the living room, Sonny notices how Barba follows every time you get up, his hand possessive on your lower back or between your shoulders.

And he’s shocked most of all by the fact that, when you leave the room with Barba, all the rest of the family does is gush about how wonderful he is. Your dad would’ve killed any of your sister’s boyfriends for touching them like that, but for you, the baby, whatever you want is what makes them happiest.

It comes to a head when, after your sisters and their families have left, Rafael kisses you long and deep and says, “I think I’m turning into a pumpkin. I’m going to get ready for bed, but stay up as long as you want, nena.”

You smile up at him, catch him in another kiss, and reply, “I’ll be up in a minute, just gonna finish my wine.”

He kisses your forehead. “Perfect.”

As soon as he’s up the steps, Sonny’s voice drops low and dangerous; you’d seen him reach for his gun alongside that voice plenty of times. “Ma, are you fuckin’ kiddin’ me? You’re lettin’ some stranger stay under your roof with your daughter? Whatever happened to your-”

Dad smacks the back of his head and glares. “Don’t talk to your mother like that, junior. Rafael’s a good man and he knows our rules.”

Sonny’s hands curled into fists at his sides. “C’mon, dad, you know he’s gonna go up there and-”

You sigh as the fight continues, not wanting to listen anymore, and head upstairs without another word, leaving your unfinished wine behind. You feel Sonny’s eyes on you until you’re out of sight. Frustrated, you push open the door to your old bedroom – and find Rafael reclining on your small bed half-naked, in only his boxer briefs, playing with a skimpy, lacy pink thong you’d been planning on showing off to him tonight after you showered.

Once you’re in the bedroom, your stress melts off at his teasing gaze. “Are these an early Christmas gift for me?”

“Yeah, I think you’d look incredibly cute in pink lingerie.” You raise an amused eyebrow at him and climb onto the bed, straddling his lap and not caring that your skirt hikes up. “And why are you snooping in my suitcase?”

Rafael takes you by the hips and pulls you close, his fingers greedily running up your thighs. He lies effortlessly, “I was looking for some conditioner, amor. I thought you’d be more than thirty seconds so I figured I’d have a shower. Didn’t realize mine was empty.”

“You can shower in a minute.” With an accepting nod, you sigh and nestle into his shoulder. “I’m sorry Sonny’s been so…well, you know.”

Rafael tilts your chin up and cups your cheek. “Don’t worry about it, baby, he’s just being a good big brother.”

“He’s not,” you sigh, annoyed. “He’s being…I don’t know. Weird.” You cut him a curious look, not sure how much to pry. “You know each other, right? Why doesn’t he like you?”

Rafael shrugs nonchalantly. “I’m a defense attorney; he’s an ADA. We’re natural enemies.”

You giggle as he pushes you backwards, running his hands up underneath your sweater and beginning to massage over your unlined bra. But you try to focus as he touches you. “C’mon, I can tell it’s more than that. I’m not stupid.”

Rafael suppresses a laugh at that; if you weren’t stupid, you wouldn’t be here about to get fucked by him, blindly going along, believing his kindness, not knowing he was going to be gone before the night was up, leaving you spent and heartbroken just to get under your brother’s skin. He bites at your earlobe, trying to distract you, as he explains, “We have a case coming up against each other. You’ve probably seen it on the news already; that rapper the state is accusing of all kinds of bullshit.”

“Got it,” you breathe out as he tugs your sweater off and bends down to mouth over the tops of your breasts. “I’m sure he’ll get over it.”

Just to lay it on thick, he pauses and adds, “If I’d known he was your brother, I wouldn’t have intruded on your family dinner. I would’ve-”

“Don’t say that,” you whine, rolling your hips upward for more attention. “It doesn’t matter who my brother is; I want you to be here.” When he hikes up your skirt and shoves your panties to the side to expose your wanting pussy, you gasp out, “Need you, Rafi.”

“Is that so?” He chuckles against your lips, practically tears off his bottoms, and plunges his cock inside of you. You’re so turned on that you take all of it easily, breathless but knowing it well. “How about we stop talking about your brother and start talking about getting you off?”

You nod into his strong bicep as he starts to fuck you in earnest. It’s way too easy to get you to stop looking at whatever he doesn’t want you to. You’re too desperate for attention, for love, to ever question him when he’s taking you like this. You’ve made it so simple for him to get ‘caught’ fucking you so that he can shatter you into pieces and leave your perverted brother to clean up the mess he’s made. He knew Carisi would be so angry at him that he’d be distracted enough to lose just because of Rafael’s presence in the courtroom.

A soft knock on the door steals the moan from your throat. Sonny’s voice follows and blush shoots up to your ears. “Mom and dad went out to a movie; they wanted me to tell you before I head out. Can I get a hug to say bye, doll?”

Barba’s still unrelenting inside of you, his hand over your mouth, and he doesn’t stop as your eyes dart over to the door. He’s smirking devilishly as he calls back, “She’s, ah, indisposed at the moment. I’ll tell her to call you tonight.”

You hear the pained sigh in Sonny’s voice. The sound of him makes your pussy clench around Rafael and you pray he doesn’t notice. “C’mon, kiddo, I know you’re in there with him. I get that you’re mad at me, but-”

You accidentally let out a muffled moan against Rafael’s palm when he angles just right against your G spot. Sonny definitely hears it. His voice catches in his throat and white hot rage blanks his vision. Before you can even wonder if you remembered to lock the door, Sonny’s pushing it open and slamming it shut behind him.

You make eye contact.

You, skirt shoved up around your waist, a man’s hand over your mouth, your makeup smudged, your hair mussed. Him, anger written in his furrowed brow, sleeves rolled past his forearm, features contorted into something like a snarl. Rafael, above you, thumb firmly on your clit, fucking you senseless, moments away from making you cum.

Time slows to a stop, each beat of your heart feeling like a full minute. All you can do is watch as your brother barrels into your bed and harshly shoves Rafael off of you with a harsh growl of, “Get your fuckin’ hands off her.”

You let out a shriek and scramble up the bed to cover yourself as Rafael tumbles to the floor with a harsh thud. Sonny’s shoving Rafael’s clothes at him and creating a physical barrier between the two of you.

“Relax, Carisi,” Rafael spits as he struggles to his feet, “we were just having some fun.”

They’re chest to chest and you can barely breathe as he replies, “She’s not some toy for you to screw with.”

You try to speak, to protest, to calm things down, but it stifles in your throat when Rafael laughs, “She’s made an awfully good way to screw with you, though, hasn’t she?”

The floor drops out from under you as you realize exactly what this is. What you’ve been. A pawn in his game. Just a new type of courtroom strategy.

Sonny’s voice is made of ice. “You used my baby sister. She had no idea. She trusted you.”

“She didn’t exactly ask many questions,” Rafael chuckles, wiping spit from his lip. No shame on his face, he adds, “For such a supposedly smart girl, she was pretty easy to-”

Sonny snarls and grabs Rafael close by his shirt. “You don’t get to talk about her like that.”

“Sure I do.” Rafael sneers, “You’re mad because I touched her, but it’s not because I disrespected your sister.” His eyes are mean and cold and he’s smirking. “It’s because I beat you to it.”

Sonny clenches his jaw. “I don’t know what you think you’re talkin’ about, Counselor Barba, but you need to get the hell out of my house before you regret it.”

“Like you’d ever-”

Sonny’s fist collides with Rafael’s nose – sharp, pointed, quick. A single hit informed by a decade as a cop. Rafael staggers back. Blood streams down, staining his shirt, and he draws in a sharp hiss. He lifts his shirt to his nose and sighs, “Good luck hanging onto your license after assaulting opposing counsel.”

Sonny steps behind him and shoves him forward, toward the door. “Good luck hangin’ onto your life if you stay in this room another goddamn second.”

And Rafael’s gone.

At the same time, you realize the Rafael you thought you knew never existed in the first place.

With your bra somewhere on the other side of the room and your skirt up around your waist, you fold over yourself and cry. Your arms are wrapped around your chest and you feel so small and ashamed. Tentatively, Sonny walks over to you and touches your shoulder. He’s worried that you’re freaked out by what Barba said, especially being mostly naked, so he treads lightly. “Do you want me to leave you alone? Or should I-?”

But you grab him, tug him down next to you on the bed, and curl against his chest like you have a thousand times before. “Please don’t leave me alone.”

“Never,” he soothes as he wraps long arms around you, wholly enveloping you like only he can. As soon as you feel his comfort, your tears turn into sobs that make your body shake. Sonny holds you close and kisses the top of your head, trying so hard not to think about the way your bare breasts feel against his chest. “No, c’mon, y/n, love, don’t cry. He’s not worth it.”

You know he’s right – you should be angry, not pathetic and weepy – but you can’t help it. There’s still that small, vulnerable side of you that’ll always exist underneath your skin. So he holds you until it subsides, your tears drying up and leaving your lips and cheeks such a lovely red. Your cheeks turn even redder when you realize how naked you still are. You snatch up a blanket, pull it around your chest, and give a bashful smile. “You’re the best, Sonny.”

He wipes the tears from your cheeks with his strong hands. “You know how it is; if you need me, I’m here for you.”

You lean forward again so he’ll hold you more, which he does happily. After a minute, you murmur against his shoulder, knowing you’re staining his shirt with makeup, “I always need you.”

“Doesn’t seem like that much anymore,” Sonny laughs softly. “You’re all grown up now. Don’t need your mean big brother to fight your battles.”

“Clearly I do,” you snort and give his hand a quick squeeze. “Thank you, Sonny, for always watching out for me.”

He presses his lips to your forehead and sighs, “That’s what I’m here for.”

You hold onto his shirt a little too tight and ask with a wobbly tone, “Stay over tonight, sunshine?”

Sonny sighs, voice fraught with regret at what he’s about to say. “I’m supposed to go over to Manda’s and-”

“Forget I asked,” you dismiss with a wave. You try to offer up a brave smile. “I’ll see you for Sunday dinner anyway, right?”

Sonny pauses. He looks at the softness written all over your face and can’t resist giving in. “I’ll stay, baby girl. If you need me, I’ll stay.”

You pick at the skin by your thumbnail. “What about Amanda?”

“She won’t miss me,” he sighs. “You’re my girl anyway, right? At the end ‘a the day, I need to be there for you a lot more than I need to grovel for her to forgive me.”

Your brows furrow; Amanda’s always been way too critical of Sonny. To you, he can never do anything wrong. “What did you do?”

“She hasn’t told me yet,” he jokes, trying to change the topic. There’s a little bit of an edge to it, though. There always is. He pats your thigh, letting his hand linger, and says, “Let’s get you ready for bed. Y’need some rest after all that bullshit.”

With a sigh, you nod and hop out of bed. Sonny politely averts his eyes as you find your bra and tug it back on followed by shimmying your skirt back over your butt. That’ll do for now. You open up the door to your shared bathroom, his bedroom on the other side of it, and shake your head. “I just don’t know why I always go for men who just- who just wanna fuck me and then get rid of me.” As he follows behind, you look over him like you might find the answers in his eyes. “What’s wrong with me? Don’t I deserve better than that?”

Leaning on the countertop next to you, Sonny’s on the verge of tears as he says, “Don’t ever doubt yourself like that. You deserve to know what it’s like to have sex with someone who actually cares about you. Who isn’t just usin’ you. You deserve everything good, kid.”

You sniffle, mascara still running down your cheeks as you gaze at him with red-rimmed eyes. “I really thought I had it this time. Love, I mean. Respect. I thought he-” You sigh and huff at yourself. “God, I’m so stupid.”

“Hey, wait,” Sonny protests. He catches your wrist and says, “You’re not stupid. Assholes take advantage ‘a you because of everything you’ve been through. They see how sensitive you are. How sweet. How good. But that doesn’t say anything about you, got it? It says somethin’ about them that they think it’s okay to hurt you.”

You try to sit with that, holding onto Sonny’s praise with everything you have. After a quick, gentle touch to his face, you grab a makeup wipe and roughly remove the mask you’d put on for yet another man who’d never treat you the way you wanted to be treated. Sonny watches as you wash your face until it’s pink and clean.

With your hair down and your skin fresh, you go back to the bedroom and rummage through your suitcase, grabbing a pair of soft lounge shorts and a ratty old NYPD tee that Sonny had given you when he left the force. This time, you turn around to change, and Sonny drinks in the view of your back as you unhook your bra and tug on the familiar shirt without it holding you back. He can’t bring himself to drop his gaze when you bend over to peel off your stockings. He gets an ever-so-brief look at your pussy when you touch your feet and the sight goes directly between his legs. Clearing his throat, trying to sound casual, he stares unabashedly at your ass as you wiggle out of that too-small skirt and into something cozy.

“There we go,” you sigh and turn around, “back to myself.” Finally, you look at him with a sad little smile and shrug. “Who was I trying to fool, anyway? Nobody’s ever gonna want me like that.”

It’s too much.

He can’t bear to watch you, so effortlessly beautiful and kind and sweet, disparage yourself for another second. In a few long strides, he crosses the bedroom, takes your face between his strong hands, and kisses you without hesitation. Shock bubbles up in your chest and widens your eyes, but it softens quickly as you begin to melt. His lips are more tender than you’ve ever felt. A barely audible whimper falls from your throat and pools in your gut. You step onto your toes and let your hands go to his chest, feeling the strong muscles underneath his clothes.

But, despite your obvious want for more, Sonny doesn’t push. He pulls back. He presses his forehead to yours and closes his eyes. With a shaky voice, Sonny admits out loud for the first time, “I already want you like that, doll.” Brushing your cheek with his thumb, he murmurs, “I swear, baby girl, you’re so worth it all. You’re worth everything. I wish- I’m sorry nobody’s been able to show you that before.”

“Show me,” you whisper, desperate and needy. You take his large hands in yours, dwarfing your little fingers, and place them at your waist. An invitation. “Show me what it’s supposed to be like.”

Sonny drags in a long breath. He’s never been so tempted by anything; he’s reciting the lord’s prayer when he hasn’t been to mass in a decade. His voice is gravelly and mournful. “You don’t mean that, kiddo. I shouldn’t’a done that. Kissed you like you’re not my- I’m sorry. We shouldn’t-”

You cut him off with a kiss so soft it’s barely a breath. Then you tell him, “Don’t let my heart get broken twice in one night, Sonny. I need you.”

When  you say that, every dam inside of Sonny breaks. His hands tighten on your waist and then slink around to pull you into an embrace. “Oh, love. I’m so sorry.”

You breathe in his sharp, masculine cologne, letting it steady you. “For what?”

“You just needed me this whole time,” he breathes, looping his arms underneath your ass. He hikes you up off your feet and you cling to him as a giggle boils from your lungs. Nobody’s ever swept you off your feet so literally. He spins you around, drops you on the bed, and bears down on you in one fluid motion. His lips go to your neck and you whine for more, so much more, as he says, “I’m sorry for not givin’ it to you sooner.”

He kisses you again. You can’t believe how different it is from kissing any boy you’ve been with before. His lips aren’t frantic. It doesn’t feel like he’s just killing time to get from one thing to the next. To push you forward.

Sharing breath with you, he promises, “Gonna treat you so good, baby. The way you deserve. Nobody’s ever gonna hurt you again.”

Still feeling the sting of Rafael’s actions from earlier, you mutter, “You can’t promise that, Dom.”

His look is deathly serious when he pulls back. Sounding possessive and intense and warm and adoring, he assures you, “If we’re doin’ this, then we’re doin’ it all the way. You’re movin’ in with me and I’m gonna take care ‘a you.” His hand is on your neck but it’s not threatening or controlling; it’s grounding. It’s a foundation. “No more Amanda. No more boyfriends or hookups. If you’re mine,” he repeats, “nobody’s ever gonna hurt you again.” He slips down and removes your sleep shorts. When he spreads your legs and finally gets a full-on look at you, his voice is so thick with arousal it makes you squirm. Once again, he insists, “I’m gonna take care ‘a you, baby girl. You’re never gonna worry about anything.”

Then he drops down to your pussy, musky and ripe from already having sex once tonight, and inhales deeply. Consuming you. You expect him to be ravenous, to take, but he’s not. He’s so slow. He noses along your inner thighs, kissing lightly and activating the nerves on your soft skin. It’s almost ticklish but not quite. Spine tingling. His hands drag around your hips and waist, drawing you close, worshipping your every inch.

By the time he actually puts his mouth on you, you’re done for. A loud moan billows out of you and Sonny smiles into your cunt. “That’s right, angel, lemme hear how good I’m makin’ you feel.”

No sooner are the words out than he’s back on you. His tongue is mature and experienced and it’s clear there’s nothing on his mind other than getting to explore the depth of you. He’s gentle on your sensitive, swollen clit, keeping his tongue nice and flat and slow. Somehow that’s a thousand times hotter than if he fucked you hard and fast likes you’re used to. By not rushing, he’s showing you just how much he wants to be there. This isn’t about getting his dick wet; it’s about making you his.

When he slips two of his slender fingers inside of you, your whole body arches and tenses. Fuck fuck fuck. He curls his fingers back toward himself, right against your G spot, knowing how to stroke it firmly to make you roil. “That’s it, doll.” He smiles up at you, lips slick with your wetness, as you buck onto his fingers. when he touches his thumb to your clit, adding just the right amount of pressure, you whine loud and true. He praises, “Just like that. So good for me. God, your pussy’s pretty. Beggin’ for as much as I’ll give her.” As he kneels back down again, he says, “You’re beautiful, baby. I’ve gotta taste you when you cum.”

Now accompanied by his fingers, Sonny takes your clit once more. He’s thorough and sweet, only getting faster and harder until he finds the exact pitch and tempo that has you moaning and writhing to every single touch. And then he keeps you there. Not a single change to rush you through it or keep you away so he can fuck you. No, he works on your pussy like it’s a case, checking every box and leaving nothing unturned.

Warmth tightens in your abdomen and Sonny groans against you, feeling the contraction of your cunt around his fingers. He doesn’t let up at all, working you through it, making sure to give you every second of pleasure he can. If he’s going to blow up his own life for you, it’s going to be worth it. When you cum, shattering apart, he clings to you, savoring the new rush of sweeter slickness that coats his fingers as you clamp down over and over. He can’t wait to feel that same sensation around his cock, milking him dry.

Sonny brings you slowly back down to earth. When he removes his fingers, you sigh out heavily at the lack of fullness. You miss him filling you in any way you can get, even as he props himself up on his elbows to kiss you. Still breathless, you kiss him back, tasting yourself on his tongue, and grip his hair and beg, “Fuck me, Sonny.”

“I don’t usually bring condoms to holiday dinners,” he chuckles, clearly struggling to resist you. He can feel the heat radiating from between your legs against his clothed thigh. “Next time, love, I promise.”

You sigh, but you know he’s right because he always is. Soft and sure, you reply, “I like the sound of ‘next time.’”

“Oh, there’s definitely gonna be a next time,” he says with a lopsided grin that only comes out when he’s blissfully happy. He peppers kisses over your face until you’re laughing, too, and tells you between them, “When I leave in the morning, I’m breakin’ up with Amanda, pickin’ you up, and never lettin’ go again.”

For some reason, you feel like crying. His tenderness unravels everything you’ve been holding onto. A little tentative, you tell him, “I love you, sunshine.”

“I love you, y/n. You’ve got no idea how much.” The reply comes so quickly and effortlessly you have no choice but to believe it. Sonny turns on his side and holds you close so you can nestle into his chest, breath finally slowing and relaxing. “Your heart’s done bein’ broken, baby. I’ve got you now.”

[dark-lord-of-awesomeness]

He becomes a beehive, or an ant hill, dealers choice

Starts out small with barely any bugs but can grow by having his bugs do, bug things?

He can exert his will on them to give them orders

Hmmm. I like it.

I'm gonna go withhhhh....... beehive. Because I like bees:). Warning, I am not an expert, so don't quote me on any of this

Hmmmmm. HmmmmMMMMMMMmmm.

Gonna say this started because Stan either tries to honey pot someone or steal actual honey, then got yelled at for dismissing the hard working bee and got cursed in a curse gone wrong. I like that second one, so thats whats happening here.

He was supposed to become a bee and learn to appreciate the work put into making honey, and instead became a tiny behive with a few bees to go along. Well the witch did not want a beehive controlled by a person who'd probably grow it into a hostile hive, but also didn't want to destroy a perfectly good beehive, so they dumped Stan in the woods and washed their hands of him.

For Drama I'm gonna say Stan's tiny hive is inside his car. The witch drove it into the woods and dipped, and now Stan's stuck as a hive with a tiny swarm that he has loose control of.

Can't do much at first, but he can sorta see through his bugs eyes and control them, but there's not a lot he can do with what he has, and even if he could he has no idea what could fix him. Definitely gets a few of his bees killed before backing off and letting them pollinate like bees do, moping and watching the world through bee eyes, before he realizes he's growing, and the amount of bees he has is too.

Every hive has a queen, and so does Stan. He also has a brief freak out about him being the hive and there's bees in him and one of them is making more bees. Where did they come from? Does this mean something? Should he be freaking out more?

Well there's nothing to be done about it, might as well get this bee factory going. Works to find flowers for bees to pollinate, avoid predators, and gets enough bees to open and close the car doors for extra protection against bears or anything else that would love to eat a mostly exposed bee hive. After it happend at least once and Stan's got truama about pieces of him being eaten and if that means he's missing limbs now, or not because he is bigger than he started.

Lots of existentialism happening with him here.

Eventually gets a rhythm going as the hive with the most intelligent bees outside the giant magic bees further in the woods. He can employ tactics and has has defenses set up as his hive grows, and eventually manages to charade himself more stuff by trading his excess honey with the local gnomes. They can't help him with the curse (or don't care to and just like the access to easy honey, he can't tell), but they can clean his car up for easier hive expansion and fix his heater for when winter hits. Do that thing were if bees get certain foods they make flavored honey, but do it on demand and can mix things up.

All and all, it's a pretty sound business he's got set up! Sure his hive mind has made it so he's lost sight of himself in pursuit of survival and managing all his bees, but he's warm, safe, has lots of food for the winter and his bees are like his buddies :)

Which means Ford shows up to ruin it of course :)

Ford, hearing about the hyper intelligent beehive, goes to check it out (and buy honey), sees the giant hive inside his brothers car, and decides that maybe he should do something about the wild bees in there, intelligent or not.

Also he's not freaking out. He's very Fine. So is Stan, and he'll prove it by getting the bees out ao he can go through every inch of it and look for where his brother went.

Leaves, comes back equipped with new beekeeping knowledge, a homemade smoker of some kind, a makeshift new hive and plenty of bee protection gear.

Stan, who was at first very happy to see Ford then frustrated when he ran off before could try charades, is now freaking out. Because Ford is removing the bees, and Stan is not the bees

He's the hive, and he has no idea if taking his bees somewhere else will sever that connection, and if it does what that means for Stan. Or if Ford moving pieces of Stan over to the new hive will transfer Stan or anything that might happen from Ford tampering with him

Battles it out with Ford, Stan's bees getting drugged and dropping left and right, and at no point does it ever occur to him to write a message with bees. He's chosen violence here, and is losing badly. Watches his swarm get dropped, sees Ford yank the door open, then has a horrified thought about all the hard work he's done over the last few months being flushed down the drain as he either dies here or has to restart wherever Ford dumps him.

The heavens sing as Stan actually breaks his curse by himself, realizing the value of hard work (probably not the way the witch intended, as Stan's honey making gig was definitely illegal in some capacity).

Ford watches the inside of his brothers car flash, and then Stan is there, laying across the back seat, covered in honey and bees and clutching his head as his connection is cut off and he's no longer a hive mind. Flops over while Ford stands there, staring at him, muttering about how happy he is to have all his limbs and how he thinks Fords drugging carried over from the bees to Stan because he is way to calm right now. The remaining bees lose whatever coherence they had and act like normal bees, and Ford smokes them before scooping the queen off Stan's sticky hair and grabbing some of the remaining honey combs and puts it in the makeshift hive he brought.

Fords ready to wash his hands of whatever nonsense this is and shake Stan for answers, but his brothers not cooperating until his bug children are moved to a new home. Doesn't Ford know Stan fed and cared for these bugs? They're Fords nieces and nephews, show some care. Won't leave until every bee is in the hive and it's relocated somewhere away from his car

Like Fords yard.

Then it's them, Stan drenched in honey with so much dirt and leaves stuck to him awkwardly trying to 'haha weird' his way out while Ford doesn't want to touch him due to how gross he is but will tackle him if he has to.

[fancyfeathers]

Daughter reader that is keen on physical affection!...Just not to the boys in the family. Her mother? Absolutely! Stephanie? Yes! Cass, Kate, and Barbara too. But the men and boys? No. I fear they would be very disappointed and force it. To which Daughter!Reader would probably yell "Get off me I didn't give consent!!!!" so Cass can wrestle her out of any grip. Since it's cannon in mostly all DC storylines that Cass is stronger than Bruce I would like to think that makes her Mother!Reader and Daughter!Reader's favorite out of all the family. Because Daughter!Reader thinks, maybe, just maybe if she cries enough Cass will keep her from the other "siblings". Possibly also convince Stephanie to let her go to a park or something fun! Then the boys are just stuck watching from the shadows as Daughter!Reader somehow creates a cuddle pile consisting of herself, Stephanie, Cass, Kate, and- Barbara??(They still don't know how she got all of them to agree but kudos I suppose.) Of course lastly Mother!Reader sitting comfortably in the middle. Thank you for reading my ask! - 🐈‍⬛ Anon

Yandere Batfam w/ Wife/Mother!Darling & Daughter/Sister!Darling Masterlist

YES! OMG YES!

Like the boys, Cass and Stephanie completely view themselves as Daughter!Darling’s sisters and Mother!Darling’s (adoptive)daughters. There is just something about mothers, daughters, and sister relationships that are different than with fathers and brothers.

Sure they all would still be protective of them but when they see Damian taking his overprotective behavior too far to where he threatened a boy she kissed or the punishment she got for getting in a fight and breaking the helpless narrative Bruce and the joys have on her, they all are a little perplexed. Sure, they couldn’t never stand a chance with the threats that the Bat Family faces during the night and that is why they needs to keep them safe, but protect her from kissing a classmate or from getting in a fight with a bully, things that are bound to happen? Absolutely not, sure a serious relationship is something else completely and she should tell one of them about a bully, but they can’t treat it like a Joker level threat.

Also I love the idea of Kate being like that cool aunt figure to Daughter!Darling (even though she is like her first cousin, once removed). Like sure she has unhealthy tendencies towards her but you know, she treats her like her age, takes her prom dress shopping when she is a Junior and Senior (and then proceeds to sneak her out to drive her to said prom, cause like hell Bruce would let her go because she would have date), take her and the other girls out to movies, and probably teach her to the fight with the help of Stephanie and Cass (basic self defense, maybe a bit of hand to hand combat, but only to defend herself when no one was there yet, nothing on their level).

One of the only times Daughter!Darling would willingly let the boys show her physical affection is when she was sent to stay with Dick as punishment for getting in a fist fight with one of her classmates, that ended up in her not being allowed to see her mother and not allowed to leave Dick’s side. So at night she share a bed with Dick, and since Barbara and Dick are dating, when she was over this meant sleeping between the two of them.

But then when she is back at the manor and let’s say Tim makes the mistake of resting his head on her shoulder and wrapping his arms around her waist when Cass was home because it only took one scream for Tim to be grabbed by the collar and thrown to the ground and has to watch as Cass picks her up and carries her away while she signs thank you to Cass with one hand and flips Tim off with the other.

That brings me to my next point, Cass definitely teaches Daughter!Darling sign language. In my mind Cass can speak, just not well because of her birth father and his training and such, she just prefers to sign and so Daughter!Darling learns, saying she wants to make Cass most comfortable. In reality it is to sort of bump up her relationship with Cass, make allies. Cass knows this, it’s written in her body language, but the two get to spend time together so she does not really mind.

Then Stephanie and Barbara are like those two really fun big sisters (honorary sister for Barbara). They will pick her up from school early, along with bringing Cass along, saying she has a doctor’s appointment or something, and leave Damian at school and just text him when he calls a million times wondering where his little sister is and just…

“Oh we took her out early, sisters’ day.”

Do they get in trouble for it later, sure, but they take her out to get her nails done, lunch, a movie, a run to get candy that she’s not allowed to have because Bruce is a whole other level of protective that he won’t even let her health be put in the slightest bit of risk. They hide the contrabands in their bags and no they can’t be checked because they come up with different excuses each time, the most memorable being from Stephanie that she started her first period and their bags were full of products for her. Then after that they had to fake stain pads with red food coloring so that if anyone looked in the trash they wouldn’t get suspicious, but everyone knew it was a lie because they all are practically detectives, but once or twice wouldn’t hurt as long as the brothers got affection as payment for not telling Bruce.

Then just like sisters, they are there when she goes through a really, really, really bad and messy break up, like her boyfriend turned out to be a horrible person, obsessed with her,,, and may or may not have been a member of the Court of Owls and almost sent a Talon to kidnap her.

Ya… it was bad.

Right after this, Bruce and the boys are more worried about securing the manor so nothing can get in and take her along with ways to keep her hidden away so no one would be able to find her.

Then when Bruce is going to her room to tell her about Tim’s idea that they are going to do of putting a tracker in her spine which could also track her vitals and-

He just stops in the doorway when he sees his daughter crying while being held by her mother, the two of them wrapped up in a blanket with Cass brushing her hair, Kate doing her nails, Barbara wiping away her tears with tissues she has on standby, and Stephanie runs into the room while carrying a stash of candy and junk food in her arms. Bruce looks at his wife who is holding their daughter while she gets doted on and just looks him dead in the eye…

“I was just like her when I broke up with you for the first time when I called off our engagement… she’ll be okay, after all I was before you came back.”

The door gets shut in his face by Kate when she finally tea he is there, telling him too come back later when she feels better.

[gwyniefawn]

THIS IS KILLING ME.

I picked up tbhk in 2021 thinking it was a silly monster of the week style supernatural comedy. Oh my god, how AidaIro has tricked me. I should have turned back before I got too invested, but tbhk is a part of me now, I think I’d die without it.

IVE BEEN SOBBING FOR THE PAST TEN MINUTES AT MIDNIGHT OVER CHAPTER 120!

Spoiler warning for chapter 120 (read it if you haven’t already and suffer with me):

After chapter 119, this world’s Kou and Mitsuba were basically killed in the red house, once again proving that those two can literally never be happy. When Kou said he’d die for Mitsuba in that one chapter, I don’t think this is what he meant.

But when he says he can’t help them go back, I can’t figure out if he’s talking about Mitsuba or the fact that he’s stuck in the red house. Probably both, as he says something later which implies he’s talking about Mitsuba.

Mostly the red house though, as shown in these panels. Which hit me really hard for some reason.

I started sobbing when I saw these panels though,

Just look at his face, there’s something about the shading and detail in his face which captivates you. Watching the one character who is so fixated on trying to have everyone live die was so heart wrenching.

The parallel between this panel and chapter 118 is killing me. In that chapter, Mitsuba and Kou talk about their bad dreams, ones of the old world where Mitsuba is dead. They don’t want to accept that any of those dreams could be real, promising to each other to live their lives to the fullest, only accepting the dreams as real if they failed to forget.

In this chapter, Mitsuba and Kou were never able to live a life where they could ignore those dreams, almost immediately getting killed. So to Kou, he now had to accept those dreams, with their new reality becoming the bad dream he tells Nene to forget.

This panel also killed me.

He’s clearly talking about Mitsuba, who else could he be talking about. Again showing just how much he means to him. Again, it reminds me of the chapter where Kou talks about dying for Mitsuba, showing that he’ll always be there for him, even in death.

I also want to just talk about poor Nene, look at this panel:

This is the second time that one of her only living friends has had some connection with death, but this is the first time one has straight up disappeared before her eyes. This whole ark has Nene being tormented by death and loss and I hate it.

I wanna touch on Teru quickly. I’ve never loved characters with his type of personality before, but I think this ark has completely changed my mind about him. First, there was that face he made talking about his mother being alive, and then him being forced to exorcise his own brother. Which must have been devastating to Teru, considering that his whole motive is to protect his family, the two he has left. I think this is some of the most emotional we’ve seen in Teru. And I’m crying again

I spent like 30 minutes at midnight typing this out because once again AidaIro has delivered a heartbreaking chapter, and I need to talk about it.

Oh my god, I was so busy crying yesterday I didn’t realize his and Mitsuba’s corpses were in the well.

[stellaspectral]

Now for my second request: I don't know if you're comfortable writing love triangles (the first one was kinda a triangle too but well…) but this time I would like a 2007 Raph x Reader x Leo where they both fall in love with her at the same time and she has to choose who to be with in the end (let's make their relationship in that movie even messier and with another thing to argue about! I love drama!😈). This triangle started before Leo went to South America but back then no one ever knew about anyone's feelings and they were all just acting like normal friends. Then Reader was just as disappointed and angry as Raph when Leo didn't want to come back and stopped sending them letters (the reader received also secret personal letters addressed only to her and Raph realizes from this that Leo might be interested in the Reader romantically just like him), and Raph and her got really close and bonded because of that. Reader was also the first one to find out that Raph is the Nightwatcher and offered her apartment as a second shelter when he wanted a place to sleep, be away from his brothers or just hang out with her. During this time Raph also thought about confessing his feelings to her but here comes Leo back from South America to complicate things again! (I love 2007 Leo just as much as 2007 Raph I promise, that’s why this is a love triangle. I genuinely can’t choose between them). I’ll let you choose how you want the story to end again (who will the Reader choose? Will Raph and Leo kill each other? Find out next episode lmao) and I apologize again if my English is not the best!

A/N: Oh-ho-ho *rubs hands together* I love myself a juicy, tense love triangle 😈 But ya’ll are getting both versions of the ending.

Enjoy! 💖

Collateral Hearts (angst)

💙 2007 Leonardo/Female Reader ★ Raphael/Female Reader ❤️

CWs: Angst, love triangle, themes of abandonment, sibling conflict, jealousy, brief descriptions of fighting and injuries, multiple endings (you choose!). All characters are aged-up.

Before Splinter sends Leo to Central America, back when the four brothers were still a fractured—but whole—unit under the city. You’re there, woven into the fabric of their strange, hidden lives.

You train with them, spar sometimes (mostly with Mikey, who doesn’t mind losing), patch up scrapes after patrols, and share greasy pizza on movie nights in the lair. Even then, there’s an invisible current pulling you towards two specific points in this constellation of brothers.

Leo. His gaze often finds yours across the room—intense, analytical, yet softened with something unreadable when it lands on you. A shared glance during Splinter’s lessons, a quiet question about your day that feels weightier than it should. Looks that linger just a few beats too long. Not that you minded.

Then there’s Raph. A tumultuous, rough sea of energy. But around you, there’s a specific turbulence—a protective warmth that flares unexpectedly when someone gets too close. Even one of his brothers. He’s the one who walks a little closer when you navigate the darker tunnels, the one whose shoulder bumps feel more deliberate than accidental.

But you’re still friends. Allies. Confidantes. That’s the story you all stick to, the safe label taped over a box of much more complicated feelings.

Then Splinter made the call. Leo must go to a foreign country for a year of leadership training. The thought of his steady presence vanishing left an immediate, aching void. You saw the conflict in Leo’s eyes, duty warring with reluctance. He promised to write, his gaze pausing on you for a fraction longer than on his brothers.

He kept his word, at first. Letters arrived addressed to the lair. You gathered with Donnie and Mikey to read them aloud. Leo’s careful script detailed grueling training regimens, encounters with unfamiliar wildlife, and the strange beauty of the jungle. Donnie and Mikey would talk about the letters, but Raph—he only listened. Jaw tight.

Especially after you started getting letters only for you.

In these, Leo was different. More personal. He shed the leader persona. Asked about your life, your classes, even the most mundane details. Shared doubts, frustration, moments of quiet contemplation he’d never voice to his brothers. He recalled a joke you made months ago, mentioned dreaming of sparring with you, specific conversations you had late at night.

It all sent a confusing jolt through you, making your heart beat faster, chased by a prickle of guilt. You still keep the letters hidden, tucked away in a shoebox under your bed. But you had a feeling Raph already knew about them, even without him having to resort to snooping around.

Then the letters stopped. All of them. Silence stretched from weeks into months. Worry festered, then soured into a shared bitterness, particularly between you and Raph. He often paces, slams his fists into the punching bag harder than necessary, his already short fuse burning down to nothing.

“Guess Fearless Leader’s too good for us now,” he snarled one evening, smacking the bag hard enough to break it. “Suppose he found better things to do than write to his family.”

You nodded, the shared sense of abandonment a bitter taste in your mouth. “He could at least tell us he’s alive,” you murmured, picking at a loose thread on your shirt. “Or that he’s okay, or … something.”

The disappointment became a strange, potent glue. You and Raph gravitated towards each other. You trained together more often, pushing each other, the physical exertion a release for the pent-up anger. For hours, you would talk. Sometimes in the lair, other times huddled on your fire escape, sharing frustrations about Leo, about the team falling apart. Everything.

You see past Raph’s rage, glimpse the aching vulnerability beneath the shell, the deep-seated fear of not being enough. He sees your disappointment, your confusion, your own quiet hurt.

One night, when you were walking home, you heard the unmistakable sounds of a scuffle. Not the usual mugging, but something more brutal. You peeked cautiously around a dumpster—and there he was. A figure clad in armor taking down a group of thugs with terrifying efficiency.

The Nightwatcher.

Your breath caught. But there was something familiar about the way he moved. After he disarmed the last thug, he turned, glimpsing you in the shadows before vaulting onto a nearby roof. And you knew who it was.

Raph had started sleeping all day, becoming distant—almost as if he was hiding something from everyone. But you didn’t confront him immediately. The next time he appeared near your neighborhood, though, you didn’t hesitate and called out his name. He froze on the fire escape opposite yours, silhouetted against the moon.

Then he pulled off his helmet, his eyes locking onto yours, full of defiance and exhaustion.

You simply gestured towards your open window. “Come in. Before someone sees you.”

Your apartment became his haven, his second shelter. A place disconnected from the lair. He crashes on your couch sometimes after rough evenings of vigilantism and you tend to his wounds. Other nights, he just shows up, shedding the armor—but not the weight on his shoulders, needing a place to just be, away from his family’s expectations.

You listen. You don’t judge.

Over time, your bond deepened. You see the way he looks at you when he thinks you’re not watching, a mixture of longing and frustration. A comfortable silence often settles between you now, charged with unspoken desires that flicker in the periphery of your awareness. Becoming stronger by the day.

By the time Leo’s been gone a year, you and Raph are practically inseparable, a constant presence in each other’s lives that has evolved beyond mere companionship.

Tonight, Raph sits on your closed toilet, his armor piled haphazardly in the tub. He still breathes raggedly, the adrenaline from his patrol slowly leaving him. You sit on the edge of the tub, dabbing carefully at a gash above his brow ridge with a cotton pad.

“Hold still,” you murmur as he flinches from the sting of the antiseptic.

A low grunt escapes him, but he obeys, his gaze fixed somewhere on the linoleum floor. You’re used to caring for his wounds, but something feels different this evening. There are more cuts, deeper bruises blooming on his knuckles. And he’s quieter than usual, the typical simmering anger replaced by a raw exhaustion that seems to seep into the very air around him.

You reach for a butterfly bandage, peeling off the backing. Your fingers brush against his rough, green skin as you position it over the cut on his forehead. He doesn’t pull away. Instead, his head tilts slightly, his gaze lifting from the floor to meet yours.

The proximity is suddenly overwhelming. You can see the flecks of gold in his eyes, the slight tremor in his hands resting on his knees, the way his throat works as he swallows. That look is there again. Your breath hitches.

The silence stretches, filled only by the distant hum of city traffic and the frantic thumping of your own heart. It feels like standing on the edge of a cliff, the ground shifting beneath your feet. Years of friendship, shared grief over Leo’s silence—it all swirls between you, threatening to tip you over the cliffside.

He leans forward almost imperceptibly, his rough knuckles brushing against your knee. The contact sends a jolt, sharp and warm, straight through you. His eyes search yours, questioning, demanding something you aren’t sure you can give. Images flash through your mind: Leo’s steady gaze, the careful script on his hidden letters, the confusing warmth they’d sparked. Guilt pricks at you, sharp and unwelcome.

Raph must see the flicker of conflict in your eyes. The intensity in his gaze wavers, replaced by a familiar frustration, which is quickly masked. He pulls back slightly, breaking the spell. The air rushes back into your lungs, leaving you feeling shaky.

“Thanks,” he mumbles, finally breaking the silence. His voice is rougher than usual.

“Anytime, Raph,” you reply, your voice steadier than you feel. You stand up, gathering the used cotton pads and wrappers. The moment has passed, the fragile connection severed. But the echo of it remains, hanging heavy in the air.

He finishes wiping the lingering grime from his face and arms, avoiding your eyes now. “Donnie’s been askin’ questions,” he says abruptly. “Where I go. Why I’m so beat up all the time.”

You nod, busying yourself with tidying the small bathroom counter. “What have you been telling him?”

“Same old crap. Extra training. Fell down some stairs.” He snorts, a humorless sound. “Mikey just thinks I’m sleepin’ all day ‘cause I’m lazy.” He pauses, then adds, quieter, “Easier that way.”

He stands up, stretching gingerly. The movement pulls the muscles taut across his shoulders and back. He’s still Raph—volatile, protective, a storm contained within a powerful frame. But here, in the relative safety of your apartment, the cracks in his armor show. You see the vulnerability he fights so hard to conceal, the fear of abandonment that fuels his anger.

He goes to collect his stuff. As he passes, his hand brushes yours again, lingering for just a fraction of a second longer than necessary. Then he gathers the rest of his gear, gives you a nod, and slips back out the window, melting into the pre-dawn gloom.

You stand there for a long moment, listening to the fading sounds of his departure, the silence of your apartment feeling both emptier and more complicated than ever before. You go over to the couch, sinking into the cushions. Exhaustion finally begins to claim you. The emotional whiplash of the evening, coupled with the late hour, makes your eyelids feel like lead weights.

You don’t bother changing; you curl up, pulling a throw blanket over yourself. Your thoughts drift, a jumbled mess of green skin and intense eyes—

—then the sudden, shrill ring of your phone jolts you awake. You blink, disoriented; you must have dozed off. Who would be calling at this hour, anyway? You fumble for the phone on the coffee table, checking the caller ID: Donnie. Anxiety spikes. He rarely calls, unless it was urgent.

Had something happened to Raph on his way back?

“Donnie?” you answer, your voice thick with sleep and apprehension. “Is everything okay? Is Raph—”

“He’s back,” Donnie’s voice comes through the line, cutting you off. He sounds breathless, wired, a mixture of disbelief and frantic energy buzzing through his words. “He’s back. Leo’s back!”

The world tilts. You bolt upright, the blanket pooling around your waist. “What? He is?” The words are barely a whisper. Leo. Here? Now?!

“Yeah,” Donnie confirms. “Splinter’s with him now. It’s really him!”

You feel as if someone punched the air out of your lungs. The nearly year of silence, worry, frustration, anger. And the comfort you’d found in his absence with Raph—all of it crashes down at once.

Leo was back.

You grip the phone tighter. “I … okay,” you manage, the words feeling inadequate, hollow. “Okay, Donnie. Thanks for … telling me.”

You hang up, the phone slipping from your suddenly nerveless fingers and falling to the floor. The silence in the apartment roars back, louder than before, saturated with the impossible news.

Leo. Back.

The two words echo in your skull, bouncing off the walls of your mind. Back from the jungle, back from the silence. Back from the place he’d occupied in your memory, like a photograph tinged with resentment and a persistent ache. He was supposed to be a ghost, a problem deferred, a complication locked away with those hidden letters.

Not anymore.

Your heart hammers against your ribs, a frantic rhythm completely at odds with the numbness spreading through your limbs. You stare at the opposite wall, unseeing, the pattern swimming before your eyes. Just minutes ago, the world had felt compressed, focused down to the charged space between you and Raph in your bathroom.

That moment now feels like a scene from someone else’s life, blurred and distant.

Raph.

A wave of something akin to panic washes over you. Raph, who had just slipped out your window. Raph, who had listened to you rail against Leo’s abandonment. Who had shared his vulnerability with you. Whose frustration and longing had been so palpable. How would he react?

Donnie’s call meant the news was already spreading through the lair. Would Raph feel blindsided? Betrayed, even, by the universe suddenly dropping his long-lost brother back into the mix just as something fragile and tentative was solidifying between you?

Guilt twists in your gut. Not just for the hidden letters anymore, but for the intimacy you’d shared with Raph, forged in the crucible of Leo’s absence. Did you build it all on a foundation of shared resentment? Was the comfort you found in his presence just a reaction, a way to fill the void Leo left? Or was it something real, something separate, something that now felt impossibly complicated?

You push yourself off the couch, pacing the confines of your living room. Your thoughts race, colliding like billiard balls. Leo’s return changes everything.

You wonder what Leo is like now; a year is a long time. Would he still be the same thoughtful leader? Or would the jungle have changed him, hardened him? Why come back now, without a word? So many questions, and the thought of facing him, of navigating the tangled web of unspoken feelings, makes your head spin.

Two brothers. Two intense, complicated connections.

Before, the choice felt hypothetical, distant. Leo was gone, a memory wrapped in unanswered questions. Raph was here, solid, intense, a growing certainty in the chaos. But now, Leo is back—and the choice is suddenly very real. You close your eyes, taking a deep, shaky breath. You have to choose your next move.

And you have no idea which way to turn.

Just like that, the fragile bubble bursts.

The reunion in the lair is strained, fraught with tension. The arguments start almost immediately, old wounds ripped open, new ones inflicted. Leo tries to step back into his role as leader. But Raph bristles under his command, the resentment now fueled by more than just brotherly rivalry.

Those old wounds aren’t just reopened; they’re ripped wider, doused in the salt of the past year’s bitterness. And you? You’re caught squarely in the middle.

Leo seeks you out, his gaze earnest, apologetic. He tries to explain the silence, the overwhelming nature of his training, the isolation. “I messed up,” he admits, “not writing. And not writing to you, especially, is unforgivable. Being away, being alone … it made me realize things. What I’d left behind. Who I’d left behind.”

His eyes plead for understanding, for a return to the tentative connection forged through those hidden letters. He’s the prodigal son, the steady leader trying to find his footing, reminding you of the intellectual spark, the shared ideals you once admired.

Simultaneously, Raph’s presence becomes fiercely territorial. His jealousy is no longer a subtle undercurrent; it’s a tangible force field. A possessive hand landing on the small of your back when Leo approaches. Standing deliberately between you and his brother. His voice drops to a low growl when Leo addresses you directly. His glares are daggers.

He reminds you, wordlessly and sometimes explicitly, that he stayed. He endured the silence with you. And more than ever, he seeks refuge in your apartment; being in the lair is physically unbearable for him now. “Can’t breathe down there with him acting like nothing happened,” he mutters, collapsing onto your couch.

The arguments between the brothers escalate, and you know, with a sickening certainty, that you are part of the fuel for their fire.

You hear snippets: “Stay away from her, Leo!” “You think I didn’t notice how close you two got while I was gone?” It tears you apart, watching them fight, knowing your feelings are a wedge driving them further apart. The pressure builds, an unbearable weight on your chest.

They both corner you at different times, the words tumbling out.

Leo finds you on the rooftop, the city spread out below. “I know this is complicated. But what I felt then, what I tried to tell you in those letters—it wasn’t just about missing a friend. It was more. It is more. Coming back, seeing you … it confirmed everything the jungle taught me about what truly matters. I want a chance to prove I can be the man you deserve, the partner I should have been all along. I messed up big time, and I’m so, so sorry.” His eyes search yours, full of hope and regret.

Raph confronts you in your apartment after another explosive fight with Leo. He paces your small living room like a caged tiger before stopping right in front of you, his eyes blazing.

“I can’t do this anymore. Watching him look at you, talk to you and pretend like he didn’t just abandon everyone, abandon you. You know me. All of me.” He takes a ragged breath, the vulnerability stark on his face. “Is this real? What’s been growing between us? Tell me. I need to know if I have a shot, or if I’ve just been fooling myself.”

Your heart feels like it’s being ripped in two different directions. But you must choose. Closing your eyes, you take a deep breath …

Do you invite Leo over?

Or Raph?

💙 LEO ENDING 💙

The faces of both brothers flash behind your eyelids.

Raph—the raw, protective energy, the shared struggle through the lonely year, the fierce vulnerability he showed only you. The palpable connection forged in late-night talks and frustrations, the almost-kiss in the bathroom. Choosing him felt like picking the present, the tangible, the fire that burned bright and hot right beside you.

But then there is Leo. The quiet intensity, the exchanged glances that spoke volumes before he ever left. The thoughtful leader who, even in his absence, reached out through letters, revealing a depth of feeling that had resonated long before Raph became a constant presence. His apology felt genuine, steeped in the weight of his realization.

Choosing Leo feels like picking a path started long ago, interrupted but not erased. Like choosing the steady mountain, the man who saw you clearly even from afar. The guilt over the shared intimacy with Raph while Leo was gone gnaws at you. But the foundation with Leo felt older, deeper, somehow more right for you, despite the hurt his silence caused.

Maybe the bond with Raph, as intense as it was, had been born more of circumstance and shared abandonment than a true meeting of souls. It’s a painful thought, disloyal even, but it felt true. Your heart aches for Raph, for the pain this would inevitably cause him. You know his reaction wouldn’t be quiet or easily managed.

But you couldn’t base your future on preventing his anger, nor could you deny the pull towards Leo that had existed long before the complications arose.

With trembling fingers, you retrieve your phone.

It rings twice before he picks up, his voice cautious. “Hello?”

“Leo,” you begin, your own voice barely a whisper. You clear your throat, trying to sound stronger. “Can … can you come over? To my place. Now.”

There’s a pause on the other end. Then, quietly, “Yeah, I’ll be right there.”

Hanging up feels like sealing a door shut.

You stand in the middle of your living room, wrapping your arms around yourself, bracing for the conversation to come, and the inevitable fallout that would follow. The weight of the decision settles heavily in your gut, a mix of terrifying clarity and profound sadness for the friend you were about to wound deeply.

Later, a soft knock echoes through the apartment. Not the impatient rapping Raph sometimes used, but a hesitant, measured sound. You slide open the window, seeing Leo looking uncertain, his wary but hopeful eyes searching yours.

“Hey,” he says softly, stepping inside when you gesture him in.

The air crackles with the history between you, the year of silence. You lead him to the couch, but neither of you sits immediately.

You turn to face him, needing to get this out. “Leo, I …”

He holds up a hand gently. “Let me,” he says, his voice earnest. “Before you say anything. I need you to understand. Going away—it wasn’t just training. It was … breaking myself down. Splinter knew I needed it. I was becoming rigid, losing sight of what mattered. The isolation was brutal. At first, writing helped. Writing to you especially helped. It was the only time I felt … normal. Connected.”

He takes a breath, his gaze unwavering. “Then it got harder. The training intensified, the self-doubt … it became overwhelming. I convinced myself I wasn’t worthy of leading. That silence was easier than admitting failure, even in a letter. Especially to you. I thought I needed to come back whole, fixed. So I shut you out. It was cowardly and selfish, and I regret it more than anything.”

He looks around the small apartment, his eyes lingering on the couch. “I know things changed while I was gone. I see how close you and Raph got. And I don’t blame either of you.”

Tears prick at your eyes, a mixture of relief at his honesty and residual pain. “It hurt, Leo. The silence. We thought … everyone thought something had happened. Or that you just didn’t care anymore.”

“I always cared,” he says, his voice thick with emotion. “Being away, especially being silent, only made me realize how much I cared. About my family. About …” He pauses, his gaze locking with yours. “About you. Those letters—they weren’t just letters, not for me. They were me trying to hold on to the most important thing I’d left behind.”

You finally meet his gaze fully, seeing the sincerity, the regret, but also the steady conviction that had always drawn you to him. “Raph …” you start, the name tasting like guilt on your tongue.

“I know,” Leo nods, his expression pained but resolute. “This is going to be hard. For all of us. Especially for him. But I needed to tell you how I feel. And I needed to know …” He trails off, waiting.

Taking another deep breath, you finally make the choice concrete, speaking the words aloud. “I needed you to come back, Leo.” It’s not a perfect declaration, but it’s the truth. “What I felt before you left, and when I read your letters … it’s still here. Underneath everything else that happened this year.” You step closer, the space between you shrinking. “It’s complicated. And I’m scared. But … it’s you. Always has been.”

A wave of relief washes over Leo’s face, so profound it seems to physically lighten him. He reaches out, his hand hovering for a moment before gently taking yours. His touch is warm, steady. It feels different from Raph’s rougher, more demanding touch. It feels like coming home, albeit to a home that needs serious rebuilding.

“Okay,” he murmurs, squeezing your hand gently. “We can figure out complicated. Together.”

Understanding passes between you. This is not the end of the struggle, but the beginning of a different one. There will be shouting matches in the lair, hurt feelings, tough conversations. Raph’s reaction looms large and ominous. But in this moment, standing in your apartment, hand-in-hand with the brother you chose, there’s a fragile sense of hope, a quiet determination to face whatever comes next, side-by-side.

The path ahead is uncertain, likely painful, but for the first time since Leo’s return, you feel like you’re finally facing the right direction.

You stand there for a long moment. His thumb brushes gently over your knuckles, a small, grounding gesture. You watch the movement, then lift your gaze back to his eyes, which are filled with the look of someone who had almost lost something precious and was only now allowing himself to truly believe it might still be within reach.

He hasn’t let go of your hand, and you find you don’t want him to. He takes a step closer, the space between you shrinking until you can feel the subtle warmth radiating from him. The air feels electric, just like it had in those stolen glances years ago. But amplified now by everything that has happened since. His gaze drops briefly to your lips, then flickers back up to meet your eyes, a silent question asked.

Your breath hitches. This is it—the culmination of those letters, the late-night thoughts, the ache of his absence, the confusing swirl of emotions upon his return. The guilt over Raph still lingers, a dull ache in the background, but it’s overshadowed now by the undeniable pull towards the man standing before you. This feels … inevitable. Right.

He lifts his free hand, slowly, and cups your cheek. His touch is comforting, though slightly calloused from his training, but infinitely tender. You lean into the contact, your eyes fluttering closed for just a second. And when you open them again, his face is closer, his expression soft.

He doesn’t rush. He simply tilts his head, his gaze holding yours until the last possible moment, before closing the remaining distance. The first touch of his lips is soft, hesitant almost. Tentative as if testing a fragile ground after an earthquake. But then, as you respond, pressing back gently, the kiss deepens.

It isn’t explosive; it’s a slow burn, infused with a year’s worth of longing and regret. Tasting of relief, of apologies accepted. There’s a quiet strength in it, a steadiness that mirrors Leo’s very core. It’s like finding shelter after being lost in a storm, a sense of clicking back into place. Months of worried silence melt away, leaving only this.

Him.

When he finally pulls back, it’s only slightly, resting his forehead against yours. His eyes remain closed for a beat, his breathing a little unsteady now. You keep your eyes closed now too, savoring the closeness.

“You have no idea,” he murmurs, his voice rough with emotion, “how long I’ve thought about …” He doesn’t finish the sentence, didn’t need to.

You open your eyes to find him watching you. You reach up, tracing the line of his jaw. “Me too, Leo,” you whisper, the admission feeling momentous.

He smiles then—a genuine one that reaches his eyes, crinkling the corners. It holds the weight of your past.

And the hope for the future.

❤️ RAPH ENDING ❤️

The faces of both brothers flash behind your eyelids.

Leo—the steady gaze, the potential promised in those hidden letters, the man you thought you were waiting for. His apology felt sincere, his explanation plausible. Choosing Leo feels like picking up a thread from the past, acknowledging a connection that had deep roots. Like choosing the calm harbor, the thoughtful partner.

But then there is Raph, who stayed. Weathered the storm of Leo’s absence with you. The one whose rough edges soften only for you, revealing a fierce loyalty and a depth of feeling that resonates in the here and now. The almost-kiss in the bathroom wasn’t just a fleeting moment; it felt like the culmination of a year spent leaning on each other, seeing each other’s true selves laid bare by frustration and vulnerability.

Choosing Raph feels like picking the present. Leo’s return feels like an echo from another time, while Raph is the solid, breathing reality right beside you. The bond with him isn’t just a placeholder; it has grown into something strong and vital on its own merit. Choosing Leo now would be betraying not just Raph, but the truth of the past year.

Your heart aches with a different pain—the sadness of letting go of the ‘what if’ with Leo. The knowledge that you are choosing a path potentially filled with more immediate conflict, given Raph’s nature and existing tensions. But the thought of turning him away after everything feels wrong, a denial of the connection that has become your anchor.

With trembling fingers, you retrieve your phone.

He answers on the first ring, his voice tight, guarded. “Yeah?” Like he was expecting bad news.

“Raph,” you begin, your voice steadier than you expected, fueled by a sudden certainty. “Can … can you come over? To my place. Now.”

There’s a sharp intake of breath on the other end, followed by a loaded silence. Then, rougher than usual, “You sure?”

“Yeah, Raph,” you say, the conviction solidifying in your chest. “I’m sure.”

“On my way,” he grunts, and the line clicks dead.

Hanging up feels like sealing a door shut.

You stand in the middle of your living room, wrapping your arms around yourself, bracing not just for the conversation. But for the intensity Raph would bring back with him. The weight of the decision settles, heavy but clear, a choice made for the present. For the man who had stood by you, fire and all.

Later, there’s a familiar, slightly impatient thudding sound at your window—his usual way of announcing himself. You slide it open, and Raph vaults inside. He stands there, filling the space, his eyes narrowed, searching yours, braced for impact.

“So?” he asks, his voice low, challenging. Ready for a fight, or maybe just protection against getting hurt again.

You don’t hesitate. You walk right up to him, stopping just inches away. “So,” you echo softly, meeting his intense gaze. “Leo came looking for me. He apologized. Explained things.”

Raph’s jaw tightens, a muscle flexing. He doesn’t look surprised, more resigned. “Figured.” He looks away, before muttering, “Good for him.”

You reach out, placing a hand gently on his arm. He flinches slightly but doesn’t pull away. “Raph, look at me.” He drags his gaze back to yours, his eyes guarded but showing a flicker of the vulnerability you know so well. “What happened this past year. Between us. It wasn’t just because Leo was gone. And it wasn’t just filling a space. It was real. Is real.”

His breath hitches. The guarded look cracks, showing the desperate hope beneath. “Don’t mess with me,” he growls, but there’s no heat in it, only a raw plea.

“I’m not,” you insist. “Yes, Leo’s back, and it’s … complicated. I won’t lie. I had feelings for him before he left. Those letters—they confused things. But you were here. You saw me through it. We saw each other. What grew between us …” You inhale a shaky breath. “It’s you, Raph. You’re who I want.”

For a moment, he just stares, processing. Before he lets out a ragged breath, a sound heavy with a year’s worth of tension, frustration, and longing finally being released. He closes the small distance between you, his hand coming up to stroke your cheek. “You mean it?” he whispers, his voice thick, searching your eyes for any hint of doubt.

“I mean it,” you whisper back, leaning into his touch.

He exhales. “Thought I lost you…” he murmurs. Relief washes off him in palpable waves as he pulls you closer, wrapping his arms around you tightly as he buries his face in your hair. It’s a desperate hold, almost as if he needs to physically feel the reality of your choice.

You hold him back just as tightly, feeling the rapid beat of his heart against yours. This is it. The choice made. The path chosen.

And it won’t be easy. Leo’s return has already guaranteed conflict. The brothers are fractured, and this may deepen the cracks before any healing can begin. Raph’s possessiveness and temper will be tested, as will your patience. But here, wrapped in his arms, feeling the undeniable strength of the bond you forged in the loneliness, it feels right. It feels real. You chose the fire, the storm, the beating heart that stayed.

And together, you’ll face the fallout.

The two of you remain in an embrace. You can feel the tension slowly ebbing out of his shoulders, replaced by the sheer force of his relief. He holds you like a lifejacket, like you’re the only solid thing in a world that has just tilted violently off its axis and is only now beginning to settle.

Finally, he loosens his hold just enough to pull back slightly. His hands move from your back to frame your face, his thumbs brushing rough calluses against your cheekbones. A touch that is both possessive and tender. His eyes search yours with an intensity that robs your breath.

“You sure?” he asks again, his voice low and gravelly, needing the reassurance one last time. Because it isn’t a question of your feelings anymore, but of your understanding of what this meant—what choosing him entailed.

“I’m sure, Raph,” you breathe, meeting his gaze without flinching. You raise a hand, covering one of his, pressing his palm more firmly against your skin. “This. Us. It’s real.”

That’s all it takes, the last shred of restraint in him snapping. With a low growl deep in his chest, he claims your mouth. The kiss isn’t gentle or hesitant. It’s demanding, a raw outpouring of a year’s worth of pent-up longing and frustration. It’s the heat of the forge, the pressure of the dam finally breaking.

His lips are firm, insistent against yours, moving with an urgency that borders on overwhelming. But it feels undeniably right.

You kiss him back with equal fervor, winding your arms around his neck, pulling him closer still. This isn’t about forgetting about Leo or erasing the past; it’s about embracing the present. The tangible, fiery reality of Raphael. The kiss deepens, tasting of relief. And beneath it all, the undeniable taste of him. It’s grounding and exhilarating all at once, a confirmation that the intense bond you’ve built is exactly where you belong.

When he finally breaks away, you are both breathless, foreheads pressed together. The air is thick and charged between you. His breaths come ragged, his chest rising and falling rapidly. He doesn’t pull away completely, instead keeping you caged gently in his arms.

“Mine,” he rasps, the words possessive but stripped of its usual anger, spoken like a statement of fact. A prayer answered.

You don’t argue, don’t make a move to escape. You just nod, a smile touching your lips. “Yours,” you agree, planting a chaste kiss on his cheek.

A rough chuckle escapes him. “Good,” he grunts, pulling you back into a secure hug, burying his face in the curve of your neck.

The storm isn’t over. Leo is back, and the fights are inevitable. But here, secure in Raph’s arms, feeling the unwavering beat of his heart—you know you’ve chosen the eye of your storm.

And you wouldn’t be facing it all alone.

[asha-dasha]

TELL ME UR DIOMEDES HEADCANONS ... all of them (also I like your epic trauma studies fics btw)

Hhhhhhmnnnggggg all of them would take soooooo long I am thinking about Diomedes 24/7.

- Comaetho wanted a baby sister and was DEVASTATED when Deipyle and Tydeus were like "here's your brother!" she still complains about it when Dio is especially annoying to her

- the first time he actually heard about what Tydeus did at Thebes (a lot of what he hears is filtered through mentors or his mother), he was 12 or 13 and he threw up.

- speaking about Tydeus eating brains, Diomedes sometimes gets really queasy around raw meat, this mostly goes away after Thebes because he's scene real guts and gore

- as a kid, did NOT understand the concept of tact. He would say anything that comes to mind, the first time he meets the rest of the Epigoni (probably around age 10 or so, he called one of them ugly). He's been beat up enough to develop some sort of filter

More below the cut :))))

- hhhnnngggg he has autism lets just get that out of the way and his special interests are horses and fighting and adrenaline rushes

- when hes not in an adrenaline rush, he gets overstimulated pretty easily but has learned to mask very well

- in Thebes, he truly found himself. He became a man there, which is why he gravitates toward battle

- Every calculated action he makes, he views as an offering to Athena way of showing that he won't disappoint her like his father did

- he loves a hater, loves to be a hater. this is why he gets along with Sthenelus and later Odysseus, aka the biggest haters he knows

- Diomedes LOVES to sleep, it's his favorite hobby.

- he is not a morning person or a night person do not wake him up

- I'm so serious he loves his beauty sleep so much he will sleep 10 hours easy if you let him

- he and Athena dont speak much when it's just the two of them. They gesture and grumble, very rarely do they actually speak.

- scared of a man who has everything to lose (Hector). When people are hopeless they get sloppy but calculated people are so much more deadly

- DESPISES Paris because he's babied by his family, Diomedes was forced by his mother to swear an oath to avenge his father when he was too young to even know what that means, why should Paris be protected? His mistakes got them all here

- I think Diomedes and Antilochus would have been war besties but Antilochus is too loud for him (odysseus talks a lot but is rarely loud)

- after he injuried aphrodite and ares he had a panic attack that Athena would hate him, it took Odysseus and Athena's reassurances to calm him down

- not my hc its from "A Thousand Ships" by Natalie Haynes, but he and Odysseus make faces at each other during war meetings when others aren't looking

- jokes about being odysseus's eromenos, odysseus hates these jokes

- doesnt sleep well post-pallidium

I have more but these are the ones from the top of my head, Im currently writing a Diomedes goes to Ithaca AU fic so I have more but idk which ones I'll use.

[originalwinnercheesecake]

Wish list for CBS ghosts season 4

Make Patience a recurring antagonist for at least 2-3 episodes before that story gets resolved and she gets regulated to a background character.

Patience character to be 50% good religious farm girl, 50% crazy witch. She also needs to have a wicked(ly cool) ghost power

More of Isaac loving dinosaurs

More solo development for Isaac

More of Isaac and Hetty's awesome friendship

No Nigel for a while. I do not like him. He did a lot of things in his and Isaac's relationship that are textbook abusive partner behavior.

I think it is about time for Jay's restaurant to start up, and I would like that to actually become pretty successful/profitable. Mostly because I would like Sam and Jay to have a bit more disposable income to do things around the manor, and I know the B&B is unlikely to become super busy next season (unless the show is ending , which I really do not want).

The difference in treatment between the above ground ghosts and basement ghosts to be addressed. I know after season 3 that they aren't going to move them all up stairs. But it would be nice if Sam and Jay could like furbish the basement , and then more Basement ghosts than just Nancy got invited to come upstairs for games or discussion.

Just to be clear I still want Nancy to keep making her frequent visits up stairs and hang out with the man 8. I just also would not mind seeing Stuart or another nameless basement ghost standing or walking by in the background on the occasion.

Explore Pete's power more. He does not need to hop on a plane and go across the country or anything, but let him keep going out into town and having adventures. Also let him keep going on dates with other random ghosts outside of the house.

I know that Pete&Alberta will probably happen at some point in season 4. The thing is though while that ship was cute in season 1, the way the ship was handled in season 2 soured it like milk to me. Both characters need a lot of development, and separate explorations of what they want out of a relationship, before I can ship them again.

H-Money is still a couple I kinda like. I do not expect them to get back together in season 4 (Please not another season that is fully devoted to coupling up all the character), but I would like them to start scheming together again. Let them figure out how to interact together as friends, and build a stronger foundation to eventually, in season 5 maybe, try again.

I have heard people suggest that Pete's power could maybe be extend to getting the other ghosts through the barrier if they are like holding onto Pete's hand. I want this. Now I know Sass will want to visit a Pizza Hut, and Issac a dinosaur museum, but I would say the most important thing to do with that would be to take Thor and Flower over to the Farnsby manor to visit Bjorn and his girlfriend Judy. It would also be cool if there was a lesbian ghost living there they could set up Nancy with. Since Nisaac is on a "respite" and queer representation (preferably healthy queer representation) is important.

Everyone remember in season 2 when we learned about Flower's super protective, formally MIA, army vet brother : Rob. You remember how the show's staff said they would love to have Rob come to the B&B for a visit, and were already considering actors who could play him? I want this episode. Also if you cannot directly tell Rob his sister is a ghost on the property, then can Trevor or Alberta use their powers to help Flower send a message to Rob. To say that she still loves him. I cannot deal that both siblings spent like 50 years thinking the other hated them when neither did. It is to sad.

It would be cool if we could also have Ira visit once too. I know Flower did not love him like she did Michael or does Thor, but he was still someone who was a big part of her life for a while, and knowing her cannonly had a large impact on his. Maybe we find that while he has done charities in her memory, trauma over watching her be killed by a bear has also lead him to sponsor bear hunts or poaching. Flower is horrified. Then Sam and Jay have to spend his visit looking for a way to convince him that is not what Flower would have wanted.

Four standard episodes for each season are a Halloween episode, an episode where Bela visits, one where Stephanie wakes up, and one where Crash appears and is slightly relevant. I have no idea what to do for an episode with Crash, but for the others

-Ghost animals on Halloween

-Home theater night for ghosts and guests on the night Stephanie wakes up, complete with all the drama of set up and shenanigans that going to the movies encores.

- Bela is broken up with Eric, she does not even like him. This time her and Jay's parents come with her for the visit. Bela wants all the latest gossip surrounding the ghosts, but they have to tip toe around the parents. Jay's dad does not fully support the B&B even without the knowledge that it is haunted, and Sam does not want to give her mother in law another reason to suspect that she might be crazy.

Owning back to the "Can Pete take the other ghosts off the property" theory, can Thomas Woodstone be a ghost who died visiting a neighbors property. We have no reason to see Elias again since he has decided to stay put in Hell. But Thomas reappearing could be interesting for both Hetty and Alberta. If he does show up though I want the twist to be that he is actually severally cognitively impaired (think Lenny from oMaM)... I mean the man was from an inbred family, played with lead based toys as a baby, had a cocaine addict mom, and a father who was a lot of things. He could not have been all there. Also address more on if Earl ever actually cared for any of the people he was two timing (again development that needs to happen to make Alberta want to go from dating an Earl to a Pete).

A Sasappis based episode that is not his death story. I feel like he needs at least one more episode exploring what his life alive was like, to be appropriately gutted when we learn about his secret death.

Actually maybe we can hold off on Sass's death and Hetty's ghost power until season 5. let's keep the element of mystery in the show for a little longer.

[sparklingmusicofstars]

Hamefura : Is Millidiana a good mother ?

Well my answer is obvious : not at all. I think she is an awful mother.

I have a lot of reasons to think that :

1.She doesn't think of her daughter's happiness

When Catarina got engaged to Geordo we saw that she was happy at first, like her husband but then she changed her mind after Catarina became more wild. The reason is simple, unlike Luigi she was never happy for her because she was going to marry someone she loved but only because it means that she could brag about her daughter most likely becoming the future queen and gaining more power for the Claes family. She doesn't care about whether Catarina loves Geordo or not. And now she doesn't want Catarina to marry into the royal family, not because she is worried about her daughter having a hard time or not loving Geordo, but because she is scared that she would bring shame to her because she is not a perfect noble lady. And when Catarina goes on a trip for the Ministry instead of being worried and asking her to be careful she only told her not to do anything weird during it. (And no, being dense and not realizing that Geordo loves Catarina isn't an excuse for being selfish)

Also she doesn't want Catarina to travel for a reason very different from her husband. Luigi is worried for Catarina because he is protective towards her and doesn't want to let her to her own devices. While Millidiana isn't worried for Catarina (or at least she doesn't show it at all) she is just worried that like she said “the shame would eventually find its way back to me" which is an awful thing to say to her child. She doesn't even hide the fact that she is ashamed of her daughter and is a very self-centered person.

2.In Fortune Lover she is very cruel towards her children.

Yes, I know what you want to say "she thought that Keith was the illegimate son of her husband" BUT I don't know if it's the case for everyone but If I think my husband has cheated on me I would go giving him a piece of my mind instead of taking it out on the poor innocent child. She's not 5 years old. Of course she is not forced to love him in one day but she can at least try and if she can't do that then just leave him at peace. Moreover she was not only mean to Keith but also to Catarina. In FL she didn't seem to really care about her daughter and only taught her to hate her little brother and let her bully him because it was what she wanted. She also raised her to be proud of her status and being very aware of the norms of nobles. I personally think that FL!Catarina was actually a loving girl who only wanted to be loved by her parents, she didn't have a picture-perfect family while growing up because of the misunderstanding between her parents, she really loved her father but her mother was distant towards her so maybe she was scared that her mother would hate her if she wasn't mean with her little brother since they seem to have become closer after that. Of course she was also resentful towards Keith because his arrival almost broke her family but I don't think it was the main reason.

On this picture we can see that Catarina looks like nothing but an adorable little girl who loves her father.

So my theory is that the reason Catarina became a villainess is mostly because of her mother. After all most of a child's personality is created by their environnement, nobody was born bad. (of course it's not the only reason)

In other words FL!Catarina was just an innocent little girl who suffered from a lack of love because of her parents' relationship.

3. She prefers Keith and doesn't hide it.

In the novel it is explicitely mentionned that Keith is by far her favorite child, because he has better manners than Catarina. She clearly thinks Catarina has nothing going for her. Normally you are supposed to love your children uncondionnally, they don't need to do anything to earn your love.

She also let Anne mostly raise her daughter in hamefura and only talks to her to teach her about the manners of a noble. How do you want a child to be at ease with you if all you do when you meet them is screaming and scolding them ?(especially for an entire night, to the point she had bags under her eyes) Now Catarina is close to traumatized by that.

4. She thinks very lowly of Catarina

In LN5 when the mothers of other nobles said that Catarina was called a saintness at the academy she immediately think it's a mistake and that they are talking about Keith (which is already very mean) that it was impossible Catarina was a saint. But she also thinks Catarina is "devilish" while everyone knows that she is incredibly kind. Her words in LN1 when she described her were also very awful

"Even the single daughter born of my body has turned out to be such a terrible child!"

It's really not a good thing to say in front of your 8 years old daughter. (because, yes Catarina was in the room) I would be very hurt if I was her. Also when Keith disappeared she immediately thought it was because he thought taking care of Catarina was a burden to him because she was too unsufferable and that he hated her just because the servants said Keith looked a bit depressed after talking to Catarina lately. And since Catarina has very low self esteem she immediately believed her and felt very guilty. While Millidiana WAS the one who told Keith to keep an eye on Catarina and he did because he loves her, everybody knows that. (And no, being dense still not make that forgivable)

EDIT : She is also quite stupid : Who on earth run away from home when they just don't like taking care of their sibling ?!! (Except in this sibling is REALLY a demon) Even FL!Keith didn't do that. She never thought it was a bit extreme of a solution ? And Keith is not stupid either, he knew that if he had asked her to stop doing it, she would have let him do it. Or at least talk to Catarina. Moreover she thinks Keith is doing it only because she asked him to, while he is doing that because he loves Catarina. (And she is the only one who never realized that)

She also thinks that she is

"so problematic, that she often wonders where she went wrong in bringing her up."

which is also a very horrible thing for a mother to say.

Or also "An appreciation society? For that devilish daughter of mine? Who could appreciate that monkey ? Are they sure it is not Keith they are talking about ?"

5. She doesn't support her daughter in anything.

When Catarina asks her parents if they could come to the festival of the academy of magic while her father couldn't because of work, her mother didn't come because she was ashamed of Catarina. I think that in the anime they thought it was too sad so they changed that but when Luigi said that it was a shame that Catarina wasn't in the play, she only said that it was for the best because she would definitely find a way to ruin it. Not a very nice thing to say when your child is doing her best to do a good play with her friends.

6. She is making her daughter's inferiority complex getting worse

Honestly I'm very angry everytime Millidiana says that Catarina isn't worthy to marry a prince. She is worsening her complex and makes Catarina even denser because it makes her think the same. She thinks nobody could love someone like her. I don't understand why Millidiana does that to her own daughter, she is acting like the other noble ladies who want to marry Geordo. Although she knows how it feels to be envied and insulted by nobles to the point where you think the same as them, which is exactly what happen to Catarina. And still she is not helping her, or at least she does it in a very bad way. Moreover in LN3 we saw that hearing the kind of words Millidiana always says to her daughter made Selena very sad and depressed while to Catarina it's just her day to day life at home. It shows clearly that to any other girl than Catarina those words would really hurt and even traumatized someone. Not because Catarina is strong enough to endure insults and painful words means that she deserves them.

7. Catarina thought that her mother wouldn't pay for her ransom if it was too high.(the worse)

When Catarina was kidnapped she was sure that if the ransom was too high her mother wouldn't pay. Which is incredibly dreadful when you think of it. Catarina, who is always optimistic about everything thought something like that. To be honest I also thought that since she really gave off this impression. I felt really sorry for Catarina at this moment, moreover her family doesn't have any money issue so it would just mean that she thinks that her daughter isn't worth paying a high price to save her.

Conclusion :

So, to me Millidiana is an horrible mother and I'm glad mine isn't like that. The anime and the manga gave this a funny and light tone so we don't understand it at first glance and Catarina is so innocent that she doesn't understand most of the time when her mother says or do something bad or she doesn't care. I know it's also a matter of personality so Millidiana is not forced to be very sweet to Radea Ascart's extent but she should at least try to be kinder. There were moments in the series where I was seriously wondering if she even loves Catarina. And I think it's the case at the end, but at the very minimum.

Like usual it's only my opinion and you are free to feel what you want about it.

[devil-howl]

I saw the wet, pathetic CreatureTM under the rain Vergil art post the other day circulating and thought what if he somehow got magicked back into a child and he's just Like That, and Dante has to deal with A LOT of scratching and biting (Hell, I think the only way he can stop him from running away is by taking Yamato hostage) just to try and fetch his brother until Vergil realizes that's Dante (Demon scent, I think) and just- clings to him like an overzised opposum and hisses to everyone else XDD

Meanwhile if Dante was the one magicked into his child self he'll be the most passive, small and quiet kid in existence, Vergil gets all his protective demonic instincts ON but is totally confused why Dante doesn't act like a baby demon (As he thinks he should) Poor Nero has to break to him how to care for a human child meanwhile Dante internally is:

'This people are so nice, too bad they hate me because I'm cursed and Evil and want to kill me with hammers rn'

wow this one got lost.

Both their behavior hinges if they remembered their trauma. If they DIDN'T remember, Vergil would be relatively mild mannered but disinterested in people. Dante wants to PLAY. Throw him for the LOVE OF GOD. Into something soft ideally.

If they didn't, they switch completely.

Vergil would be the violent one. He needs to protect himself. No one else will. Stabbing anyone and everyone EXCEPT Trish [at first he would think it's Eva, but unless she played it off perfectly, he is going to see her as an imposter and stab her too]. But if it's Dante, he's at first going to be confused. Lost. Why is his brother so big, but he's so little? He's meant to be the big brother. But questions fade. He only feels safe in Dante's arms. Not next to him, not in his lap, not on his back or his shoulders. Dante needs to actively be holding him for him not to be lashing out. And you're right! He would just hiss at everyone else.

Dante becomes quiet, and scared. Won't even talk... or maybe he can't. Mostly hiding and not wanting to bother anyone. Even having Vergil around only slightly helps his mood. If Vergil isn't there, he's just going to leave. Not feeling wanted, or useful. He spent most of his childhood wandering, trying to survive, but also trying to not bring awful things to everyone around him. He'd just sit around his far-too-old big brother a lot. quiet. It's uncanny to see that Dante becomes a mute child, but it seems that trauma does still do a lot to a child's mind. Changes them.

I don't know if Dante even thought people hated him though. I think it was more I shouldn't be alive. I should be strong. I need to be strong, and... maybe I should find a ditch. Lie down and let the worms eat me. If I can do that, I can take a nice blanket... I don't deserve the comfort of a warm blanket, but as long as I'm not a problem anymore, it's okay. I'm sorry for taking this from someone else, but I just... need to die, so I won't hurt anyone anymore.

He never ends up acting on it, but he cries himself to sleep for his weakness in failing to do the only thing he thinks he should do.

[marvelfanfn2187a113]

Russell Shaw & Daughter!reader headcannons

Requested by Anonymous

(I included a bunch of gifs because why not)

- Your mom isn’t in the picture; either she died or it was just some one-night stand, but either way Russell is on his own

- He’s a flirt, and a really bad one at that, but he tries to keep it to a minimum around you (mostly because you make fun of his pick up lines)

- On top of his pick up lines, you also make fun of his eating habits (because sriracha on fries is a crime)

- He doesn’t like help for anything, generally—he thinks he can do it all himself. But if you need help, he’s always right there.

- No, but really he will take no help for anything. He’s literally come home shot before, and the only time he let you patch him up was when the wound was on his shoulder, and his half a dozen attempts to stitch it up failed. He didn’t flinch once the whole time, assuring you that he was fine and even apologizing for “making” you clean him up (even though you all but had to beg him to let you help).

- He doesn’t want to be anything like his parents—he thought his dad was crazy, and his mom all but kicked him out after his father mysteriously died. Russell wants to be better for you.

- He’s still a military man, though, so he can be prone to tough love sometimes.

- He teaches you some basic self defense, but nothing too serious, and he won’t let you touch his guns. You’re not sure if it’s because of all the crap his dad made him learn, or because of his military history, but it doesn’t really matter—when he makes up his mind on something, it’s impossible to argue. He’s determined that you don’t need to learn what he knows—he can protect you just fine on his own, and he does.

- He never had much family connection after his dad died—he joined the military and was too scared to look back—so he’s very protective of the only family he really knows; you.

- He gets into trouble sometimes working freelance jobs (being ex special ops comes with a certain set of skills, as well as a tendency to get bored of civilian life), and when he‘s in danger or working you usually get shipped off to stay with one of his old army buddies. Your life is full of motels, long car rides, shell-shocked soldiers and their families, and sometimes weeks without seeing your dad; but you know it’s just because he wants you safe.

- “I’ll see you when I see you,” is what he says every time he leaves, and no matter how many times you hear it, it still makes your heart sink every time.

- You’re well travelled—Russell likes overseas jobs, and when they don’t seem dangerous he lets you tag along.

- When he’s home, he is (or tries to be) 100% there. He doesn’t want you to see the soldier side of him, which usually means he’s in denial about his feelings.

- He is annoyingly observant—if something’s wrong, he’ll see it immediately, and he won’t let it go until he knows what’s on your mind.

- He’s soft-spoken, especially around you—he isn’t quick to snap, and he isn’t one to yell either. Actually, it’s when he gets real quiet that you know you’re in trouble.

- When he tries to reunite with Colter, he doesn’t bring you. He says it’s because they’re gonna look for a missing friend, and it’s dangerous, but you know it’s at least partly because he’s scared. He doesn’t know what Colter will say, or if he’ll forgive him, and he’s not ready to bring you into the mix just yet.

- If you ever get caught in the crossfire (threatened or kidnapped) on one of his jobs, he goes full soldier mode, and everyone better get out of his way. He won’t listen to threats, reason, or even his brother—he’s gonna get you back, and he’s gonna do it his way. No matter what.

- You’ve seen him go full soldier exactly once—when you got kidnapped, and he had to save you. You’d never seen that side of him, and it was the most terrifying thing you’d ever seen. But you weren’t scared of him; you knew he’d never direct that side of him at you. But you were definitely scared for the kidnappers.

- The difference between how he talks to you and how he talks to Colter is astronomical—you watched him after he saved Colter from kidnappers one time, and he bragged about it for weeks, sometimes calling up his little brother just to gloat. The time he had to save you from kidnappers, though…

- He was gentle as a moth with you for days, all hovering and soft words and assurances that you were safe. He apologized to you what felt like a hundred times. He blamed himself for putting you in danger. He watched you like a hawk, wouldn’t take a job for weeks, wouldn’t do anything until he was sure it would never happen again.

- You knew at least part of his gentleness was because he was worried that you were scared of him. You’d watched him shoot three people (in self defense—they would’ve shot him or you if he hadn’t shot first) point blank range in the face, and the anger rolling off of him was palpable. Then he’d turned his blood stained face to you, and saw something that shook him more than a job had for years; fear. The danger was gone, and all that was left was your father wielding the gun that had just killed three men, and you were scared. He had never dropped his gun faster, and the fear in your eyes quickly turned to relief, but it didn’t matter—Russell had still seen it, and it would haunt him for a long time.

- Of course he didn’t scare you—he was your dad, and he would die protecting you—but watching the man who made you waffles in the mornings blow away three men was jarring.

- But you let him do what he had to—you let him dote on you and stay home from work and hover over you—because it made you feel better, too; it made you feel safe.

- You started having nightmares after you got kidnapped, and Russell let you sleep in his bed. During those days, you noticed he had PTSD nightmares, too, so he would wake up in the middle of the night and just hold onto you. Even after you stopped having nightmares, you kept going to sleep in your dad’s bed—he thought he was protecting you from your nightmares, and you let him think that, because he would never accept your help if he knew that’s why you were doing it.

- He always tells you that one day he’s gonna get out of the life. That the two of you are gonna get a house, and he’s gonna open a brewery. But there always seems to be one more job, so you aren’t holding your breath. You know that he wants it, and that he’s trying to give up the dangerous life, so that’s enough for you.

- You don’t get to see him as much as you want, and the two of you had fought over it several times. But you saw how the arguments wore him down, and you saw how fidgety he got when he tried to settle down, and you saw how much the distance from you was killing him. You saw how he was tearing himself apart, trying to find a balance with what he needed, so at some point you stopped fighting him, and just decided to cherish every little moment you got with your dad.

Taglist (I know it’s not spn but it’s Jensen so…)

@nyotamalfoy @mrvlxgrl @chocorade @aestheticdaisies @inlovewhithafairytale @that-wannabe-vangoghgurl @casmustdiee @987coley @deadlymistletoe @wayward-impala83 @whump-loverz @johannelis2302nely @studiogrimm810 @tell-elle