#Tim is not sure what's is wrong with him but is probably harmless

[lochlogie]

Just read your post on Saxon's sexual hangups and how you see him in the next 20-30 years or so. You think he can't be Tim? Even after losing a substantial amount, they will still be millionaires. With some game and money (hope he does decently in his career), he can have wife-kids-dogs-picket-fence. At his age, a lot of men act like that and I am not saying it's good. Except whatever he had with his brother, rest is very common when I look around I know many Saxons. Inherently is he bad? Looks like he cares about his family, looks like he can take responsibility, he wants to work. These men are fuckbois in 20s even 30s but eventually do have long-term relationships. He may probably cheat and stuff, and divorce-remarry but isn't that standard too? As long as he doesn't have an affair with his own brother I don't see anything eccentrically wrong with him. Sure, I won't date him or won't want my friends to date him either.

I think Lochlan will figure out things in life well once he goes to college, he may get into a couple of toxic-people-pleasing loops, to be able to have a committed relationship by his 30s.

I don't think one single sexual drugged encounter will affect either of them. But I could be wrong, what kind of repression is going into this is difficult to say.

Why is Tim aspirational though? Like the whole point of the Ratliffs' story is that he's not? That money does less than nothing to pave over the gaping chasms in their souls?

Like the endgame for Saxon being living a white picket fence lifestyle with a wife and kids... I mean sure it could happen, he may even want it and work on himself enough to get it... but why is that the best possible ending for him? What if he ends up partying with twinks and getting his ass eaten by leather daddies? What if he learns to love himself first of all?

Like what is wrong with Saxon goes far beyond "having an affair with his brother." I think you view him as just a normal dude when Saxon is very much not. And that perturbs me. "He's just a guy who works hard and provides." I'm not interested in regressing gender norms thank you very much.

Is Piper living a less fulfilled life because she's apparently disinterested in sex or long term relationships? Because her endgame is spiritual enlightenment instead of hitting arbitrarily defined milestones set up for her by the society she's not happy living in?

I don't know though, if I had sex with one of my sisters I think it would affect me for the rest of my life. But you may be right, if Saxon (or Lochlan either) doesn't process this event and learn how to accept it and move on, his only other option will be repression. He kind of does have to just keep living his life in that regard. I personally do not know (and it is impossible to know) how long Saxon and Lochlan would be able to stay apart, not to repeat themselves. I'm not Mike White, and I don't even know if he intended for these characters to have full life stories.

But I think that if he does repress for years and years, it will be impossible to contain perfectly, forever. It will leak out and affect other aspects of his life. Whether that manifests as infidelity, or some kind of substance abuse, who knows. Unlike you, I don't see an endless cycle of unstable marriages as that banal or harmless 🤷‍♂️

[nelkcats]

Danny decided to be a janitor at Gotham's private school. Mostly because he wanted to annoy the students by making them think that he was just a poor tired man and later have a dramatic revelation about him being a retired hero (he watched too much Spiderman), well, that and the fact that he needed a job where they didn't ask for a background check.

Of course, Tim immediately realized that something was wrong with the new Janitor but doesn't rat him out because he thinks he's just a meta hiding on Gotham and he can call Clark later. He regrets that decision when the Joker tries to kidnap the school (as normal) and the janitor, panicking, freezes the entire school, including Tim.

In Danny's defense, he hates clowns and will react to any clown around with aggression. Jason approves the weird Janitor.

[your-regular-toast-enjoyer]

if ur taking request what's ur headcanon on yandere damian with cinnamon roll!reader

Yandere! Damian Wayne x Cinnamon roll! Reader

Damian Wayne x reader or Damian Wayne/reader

Yandere!Damian Wayne x reader or Yandere Damian Wayne x Reader

Word count: 2257 words

TW: GN reader, Yandere, imprisonment, adult Damian Wayne (inspired and mostly based off of Damian in Batman beyond & Injustice 2: Gods among us), obsession. Other than that, there's no s*x or anything of the like.

Damian and you probably met through one of his brothers. Maybe you were a vigilante in training and they were the ones being your mentor. Or maybe you had been an old classmate of Tim’s. Whatever it was, I can imagine they introduced the two of you. Damian wouldn’t have usually walked up to someone like you, he had diluted himself into thinking he was only interested in the sarcastic and semi-stoic type of person. Yet, when he met you, the two of you just instantly clicked, like something in Damian’s life just felt right for once. 

The green-eyed man was overwhelmed with this feeling at first, being mean to you in the beginning, to cover up for the fact that he genuinely enjoyed your presence. However, when you didn’t fight back with him and instead just asked if he was doing alright, if he wanted to talk about whatever was bothering him and if there was anything you could do to cheer him up, he suddenly felt as if it was simply wrong to ever be rude to someone like you. You were just so genuine and it almost made him burst into a million pieces, he had never met someone like you. There was certainly no one like that at the League, and most others seemed to just be out for their own gains, whenever they inquired about how he felt. It was simply a fate he had resigned to, given that he was indeed Bruce Wayne’s only blood child and thus the one who would inherit the majority of his assets. 90% of the people he interacted with were all out for his wealth and fame… but not you. No, you simply cared… for some odd reason that Damian couldn’t discern.

He would certainly remain suspicious of any underlying malignant intentions to your actions, but slowly he started to feel more comfortable in your presence. You seemed to genuinely care for him… and while entirely strange to him, he ate it up. And who could blame him? It felt nice being cared for on such a profound and thorough level. There was nothing he liked more than hearing you inquire about his safety, it made him feel like he was finally being appreciated for his personality and not just for being a wealthy socialite or for being the Robin, and a damn good fighter. 

I can imagine that the two of you would spend a lot of time together after Damian came to the revelation that you were actually great company and he started to consider you a friend. He would let you pet all of his pets, from Batcow to Jerry. Heck! He’d probably sometimes just plop Alfred the cat on your lap so that you’d be forced to stay longer with him. “Come on! Y/N! You can’t just push Alfred away! Hear how he’s purring, look at how happy he is with you! It’d be a borderline crime to disturb him!” … He would definitely guilt trip you into staying. If you’re afraid of one or even all of his pets, no problem! He’d spend hours and days slowly conditioning you to the more harmless ones like Jerry and Alfred, and if you really don’t want to be near them, he can accept that… for a while, at least. Eventually, he will force you through a slow and careful conditioning process, so that you can at least be near them without feeling threatened.

Other than being with his pets. Damian would also make you sit as a model for him, using your cinnamon-roll nature to guilt you into sitting still for anywhere between half an hour to half a day just so he can get the portrait just right. Sure, he could’ve made the portrait in half of the time he keeps you there, but he enjoys your presence and this is a good way to make you stay around him for an extended period of time, without one of his brothers or his father bothering him. 

It would take him quite a while to become yandere, and even longer to fall in love with you. He is satisfied with the amount of control over you, which your personality allows him to gain. However, when it happens, it doesn’t happen separately. It happens all at once and it comes down on both of you hard. 

Perhaps, if you’re a vigilante sidekick for one of his brothers, it happens when you’re on a mission together and you end up in mortal danger. Maybe you gave the enemy a chance for redemption, which they promptly used to attack you, or perhaps it was simply an accident which landed you with a gnarly injury. If you’re not a vigilante, but rather a civilian, maybe it was simply that you were caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and ended up on the wrong end of a rogue’s weapon, making you injured. Whatever it was, it was at this point, that Damian realised that he was deeply in love with you, that he couldn’t live without your sweet words and comforting gestures. It was, however, also at this point where the green-eyed vigilante realised that he had to become more protective to protect you.

With Damian’s newfound protectiveness came a certain possessiveness as well. He would sit at your side for days at the hospital, holding your hands and cooing sweet words in your ears. When anyone outside of the medical staff showed up, however, he would turn ballistic. Especially, if it was Tim or whichever other brother who had mentored you, he blamed them for your injury and vowed to never let them near you again, just in case they hurt you. He’d try to keep these outbursts away from your line of sight, but he might slip up and do it right in front of you. In which case you may or may not scold him, if you do, he’ll pretend to take it to heart, but in reality, he’s planning on how he can get rid of whoever disturbed the two of you. In Damian’s eyes, the best way to keep you safe was to keep everyone else away from you.

When you were finally signed out of the hospital, Damian would not only pay for all bills involved, but he’d also take you to his home, rather than your own. He claimed that this was the best way to let you fully recover, as he would be available 24/7, and not only that, but Alfred would be available to do all normal chores within the manor, that you would’ve usually had to deal with yourself, like cooking and cleaning. Even if you protested, Damian would manage to convince you that it was indeed the best decision… he paid for your medical bills, after all, why don’t you just let him take care of you?!

While at the manor, Damian would be with you most of the time, except for when he’s out as Robin. As a matter of fact, if you are a civilian, this will be the point where Damian reveals his secret identity to you. He’s already sure that the two of you will marry, so why wait with the big revelation, when he can simply get it out of the way now? Obviously, this knowledge would make you trust his judgement more if you weren’t aware of it before. How could you not? This is the Robin! Crime-fighter extraordinaire! Surely, he would never want anything bad to happen to you, right? Besides, he’s also Damian, a dear friend of yours. Those two combined would probably fool you into believing his good intentions for longer.

If you’re a university student, Damian would force your teachers to either film their lectures for you or teach over the internet, lockdown-style. Yeah, as a Wayne, he has that type of power, most colleges and universities are on the Wayne’s payroll, so they often feel obliged to give in to any demand coming from the family, in fear that if they oppose, they’ll lose their funding. 

As you stay at the manor, I can imagine that you’ll be sleeping in Damian’s room, on a separate bed, next to his. Thus giving him better access to nursing you back to health. It was a pretty bad injury which you received, after all. Your placing has the added advantage(… disadvantage?), of giving you a front-row seat to watching Damian slowly bring in your stuff to his room, practically moving you in without your consent. 

Damian will slowly start to drop hints about the true romantic nature of his feelings towards you. Bringing a rose, gifting you a whole bunch of stuffed toys and practically anything else he can come up with to win your favour. He’ll constantly make small contained comments about how he adores your soft personality. It will take a while for him to build up the courage to confess to you. You’re probably almost ready to go home when he drops the, “I love you more than life itself, Y/n” bomb. 

If you accept his feelings, he’ll move you in immediately… not that there was much left in your own home anymore… but still. He would be cocky and spread the news to the entire family within the hour of your “yes”, and the entire vigilante community will be aware within the day. Yeah, he likes to brag about you. Who would have ever thought he’d be able to pull someone like you? Certainly not him! It probably wouldn’t take him too long to propose and get married to you. The Al Ghuls are known for being intense romantic partners, just look at how Talia acts with Bruce! 

If you do not accept… Oh boy! Damian will chain you to his bed with a pair of handcuffs around your ankle, the other end fastened to his bed post. He’d threaten to kill your family if you reveal your newly made prisoner status to his father, brothers or Alfred, and he is most certainly not kidding. He does blame your family for your injury as well. Why didn’t they protect you better? Especially since he found himself so capable of exactly that! You will never leave that bed for more than half an hour or when you’re eating supper with the rest of the family, not until you finally accept his feelings, at which point he’ll act as if you said “yes” in the first place.

Married life with Damian as a cinnamon roll would be delightful, even though he’s a yandere. He’d protect you at all costs. Someone was rude to you? Dead. Oh! You felt hurt by something someone said, if they’re not online, they’ll be gone within the hour. If they are online, he’d take the time to comfort you to the best of his ability… which is admittedly limited… Actually, come to think of it, I actually doubt that he’d let you have access to any online forums, at least not without his supervision. He doesn’t want you to get emotionally hurt by the anonymous pricks that could lurk there, after all. Other than that, he’d do everything to channel his soft side. Cuddles? He’ll do his best not to get restless or flinch. Cooking together? You betcha! But he will be the one handling the knives, he doesn’t want you to get hurt. Movie nights? Absolutely! You get to choose the movie, as long as it’s not a scary one which might frighten you… also, he would roll you into a blanket burrito quite often, especially when watching movies… he just really likes seeing you wrapped up in layers of soft cloth, it makes him feel comforted to see you so… safe? Also! Damian would definitely make sure that you remain healthy! At least 8 hours of sleep and a healthy diet! … The biggest downside is that you will only be interacting with Damian and maybe Dick, Bruce and Alfred… maybe Jason, but definitely not Tim. Yeah, you’ll be kept away from the paparazzi as well. They’ll know that Damian is married, but to who? They have absolutely no idea. 

In conclusion… Damian will keep you safe and sound, at all costs, your personality will be mostly to blame for this mentality of his, but it is also the thing he loves the most about you. He will kill, maim and otherwise hurt anyone who tries to get between you, even his own family. No one will ever hurt you again… because no one will ever interact with you again, except a few select people. Your family will be entirely removed from your life, Damian doesn’t consider them safe. Safety becomes Damian’s prime goal concerning you, someone so sweet and genuine should never experience the hardships of life and he will make sure that you’re protected and right within his grasp 99% of the time, excluding his nightly escapades, where he trusts Alfred to keep you safe… the man was an MI6 agent in his youth, after all. The fact of your possible imprisonment will be a secret between the two of you… and possibly Dick, who would never go against Damian’s happiness, no matter who got hurt… if you ever try to tell Bruce or anyone else, Damian will do anything to keep you and I mean anything… I wouldn’t advise telling anyone. Just keep quiet and enjoy being very safe and very loved by the one and only Damian Wayne.

A/N: Yes, you can just ignore this, it's mostly for the user who sent in the request.

Thank you for this idea! I hope you like what I did with it! It was a bit rushed and short since I finished this up before school, but I've honestly never written about a cinnamon roll reader before, didn't even have one in mind, (maybe with the exception of my teen titans! reader x Yan! Damian Wayne), I always try to make my readers more of a sarcastic and savvy one, but I hope this turned out okay and that you enjoy it!

[whaleofatjme1920]

Oh god please, more cheating and angst (hoodie? Tim? 👀👀👀) Idk u just write it so good and my aching heart feels better oddly because of it. I fuckn love angst djsjsjjdjdjd

Full Moon and Being A Horrible Person

[Masky X F!Reader]

[Warnings: language, physical cheating]

[AN: i love angst too]

The full moon makes us do weird things, it’s been well documented. From the people bouncing off the walls to inducing labor, all the way to making us make questionable decisions, the full moon is to blame, not him.

It was a full moon when he caught the eyes of a woman with dark, sweet chocolate colored eyes. She looked so beautiful under the lights of the bar, yellow illuminating her skin like it was gold.

She’d been flirting with him across the bar the entire night. Wry smiles, tapping her fingernails against the glass, twirling her dark hair and giggling when he caught her eyes and by extension, her attention.

“You know Reader isn’t gonna be happy with your behavior,” Hoodie had lightly chided him before downing more of his beer. “Why don’t you let me take over? I haven’t-”

“No,” Tim laughed, pushing at his best friend’s shoulder. “It’s harmless flirting,” he finished, watching Hoodie’s expression from the corner of his eye.

“If Reader was doing this, would you consider it harmless flirting?”

Kate excused herself from her conversation with one of the ladies from the booth behind the table she and her group shared, then turned her attention to her group leader. “He has a point,” she said, grinning when Hoodie leaned over the table to high-five her.

Tim rolled his eyes and began to lazily swish his drink. “It’s nothing, I promise.”

“You mean to say you haven’t emptied your balls in a few weeks and you’re desperate,” Hoodie deadpans, breaking his blank expression when Kate loudly laughs.

“Again, he has a point,” Kate smirked. “C’mon, let Hoodie or Toby take this one. Neither of them are in relationships and are less likely to get attached.”

Tim raises a brow at Kate. “Attached? What does that mean?”

Hoodie shares a look with the woman across from him who nods at him to explain what exactly she means. “She uh,” Hoodie awkwardly sips at his beer before biting the bullet completely. “C’mon man, you have an addictive personality. Pills, cigarettes, Reader…” He trails off before Tim hisses and punches Hoodie’s shoulder, roughly. Hoodie only barks a laugh and raises his hand up in submission. “I’m right, I’m always right!” He manages to choke out through remaining giggles.

“Can we just drop it for now?” Tim growls.

Kate rolls her eyes and then pulls a face to Hoodie, who stifles his laughter just barely before she turns back to her conversation with the ladies from the booth behind her. She’s up and out of her seat following a group of them to the other side of the bar, giggling and laughing as a woman with short pink hair holds her hand and weaves her through the crowds.

Hoodie feigns innocence before standing up. “I’m gonna find Tobes, who knows what he’s doing. Tearing up the dance floor, maybe?”

Tim watches as his best friend shuffles out from his seat, beer still in hand as he disappears into the sea of people. He sighs and crosses his arms over his chest. His dark eyes scan the bustling room full of bright, rainbow colored strobe lights and too loud music only to catch a glimpse of the full moon outside. It’s tinged pink, and seems to blossom the longer he looks at it. Due to where they’re currently at in the city, he can’t see the stars - much too much light pollution. A sigh is about to escape his lips when he feels a hand brushing over his, pulling him from the light of the full moon and onto the woman he’d been flirting quietly with all night.

“Never thought I’d get you alone,” she says, voice sweet like honey and smoother than silk.

Tim thinks about his words, his group’s chiding before mentally shrugging off all responsibilities. “I know, right?” He replies, voice low and deep, something charming and sweet.

She grins like the Cheshire Cat before playfully biting her lip. “I’m just passing through here,” she begins, “maybe we could… Have a few more drinks then head back to my hotel room?”

Tim feels a slight blush come to his cheeks before swallowing it back down. He smirks, leaning into her presence. “I’d love nothing more.”

The two of them knock back a few more drinks, the woman mostly choosing fruity things and Tim sticking to whiskey. Their touches become more and more bold, and their words more lusty and obscene by the moment. He has her sit on his lap and he whispers all the nasty things he wants to do to her and she gobbles it up, giggles and soft licks to the shell of his ear driving him up a wall.

And then, he follows her to her hotel. It’s a tangle of lips smashing against lips, hearts beating in sync and hands grabbing in the most inappropriate of places. Her clothes lie on the floor before getting covered up by his, her body following in suit.

Tim takes her. He drinks her in full and has her seeing the stars that were once only gazed upon by you. He touches her in ways you’ve never been touched and allows her to touch him in ways he’d always claimed were ‘too much’ for him.

When the deed is done, he’s cuddling her much like he would cuddle you, cigarette in his mouth and bliss on his face.

Tim stayed the night.

The next morning, he’s so groggy that he doesn’t even realize he’s still got her lipstick stains on his skin. He gets back in his car (failing to realize his group had to either walk back to the temp or hitch with someone else), and heads back to the only true home he’d ever considered.

It’s a few hours to your place, but he makes it, and that’s all that matters. Your car isn’t in the driveway, so he lets himself in. A quiet stumble to the bathroom and he sees he looks like a mess. The weight of what he did to you begins to sink in.

Tim turns the shower on and strips off his clothing - the clothes still linger with her perfume before he hops in and begins to furiously scrub at his skin. Tears well in his eyes. How could he do that to you? What kind of common sense was he lacking in that moment?

He continues to scrub, slowly coming to the realization that he’s going to do whatever it takes to hide this from you - you can never know. It was the light of the full moon, people always act crazy when the moon is in that phase, and he was drunk, like really drunk.

Excuses, excuses.

The water stops right when he hears the front door open. He hears your voice. You’re greeting him sweetly, like you always do.

He takes in a deep breath. You can never know.

It was only inevitable that you’d find out, though he’s surprised you went as long as you did without knowing. Tim hid it from you for months, and he probably could’ve kept it longer if he didn’t come with you to Target when you asked. You’d always been a fan of late night store runs, and he hadn’t gone on one with you in a while… What harm could it possibly do?

A lot. A lot of harm that surfaced the truth.

“I should’ve cuffed you when I had a chance!” The woman giggled as she came up beside you as you looked at the early Halloween decorations.

You raised a brow. “Excuse me?” You looked over to your boyfriend, whose face had gone pale. “I think you have the wrong…”

“You’re a lucky girl, y’know that?” She continued, brushing off your words. “He took me to the moon.” Her voice was so sultry and decadent. “Hope he takes you to the moon as well,” she says, her fingers trailing Tim’s arm.

He pulls away from her. “W...Who are you?” He says, attempting to sound confused.

The woman pulls a face before looking in between the two of you, her dark eyes glancing and putting together the pieces. Instead of being embarrassed or ashamed, she chuckles and begins to take off again. “I did you a favor, honey,” she calls over her shoulder, hips swaying as she turns down another aisle.

You don’t want to admit it, but now you know why Tim’s been so weird lately and nicer than usual. Sure, Tim is a sweet guy, but his behavior the past few months has been OVERLY nice, and now you know why. “What was that?” You ask, eyes narrowing and tears welling.

“Nothing, let’s just pay and get out-”

“I wanna go home.”

Tim moves to rest his hand on your shoulder, but you recoil as if you’d been burned.

A huge argument ensued when the two of you got back into the car, lots of harsh words were traded. He tried reasoning with you, he tried telling you how much he loved you, he tried everything in his power but he’d ruined a good thing.

You ended up pulling over on the side of the road, slamming the breaks, tears in your eyes and turned to him. “Give me the key to my house.”

“What? No-”

“Give. Me. The. Key. Tim,” you hiss, punctuating every word with stronger venom. You held your hand out.

Tim sighs deeply and reaches into his pocket, pinching the bridge of his nose as you harshly snatch the key from his awaiting hand. “It’s not like that, you know I love you-”

“Is that what you’re calling it? Cheating on me and then lying about it for months?” You rhetorically ask, growling and seething further and further. You feel rage wracking your system as it exhausts you further and further. You can’t bring yourself to look into his eyes, because if you do, you’ll melt.

“I’m telling you, it was to protect you,” he attempts again. “Let’s just, let’s just go home and-”

“Get the fuck out of my car,” you say, drawing in every remaining and residual strength you have as hot tears scald your cheeks.

“You don’t mean that-”

“I do.”

“Reader, baby please-”

“Get the fuck out of my car,” you repeat. You squeeze your eyes shut, shake your head and then turn back to the road. “Do it before I do something stupid.”

Tim feels his heart shatter, cracking on impact as it falls deeper and deeper. He shakily runs his fingers through his hair before sliding out of your car, slamming the door shut and watches as you drive off and out of his life. He wants to scream, or cry, maybe both at the same time? He’s not entirely sure yet. He just knows his world is crashing down and there’s nothing he can do about it.

He betrayed your trust and broke your heart all for one singular night of passion.

The emotionally distraught man looks up at the moon, finding no solace that it’s full again.

[analviel]

BAD BAT: an old thing I found in one of my notes, just wanted to share, not gonna continue it at all, I have no idea what I had planned for it.

Tim needed to do something.

Anything.

Anything but sit in front of the Bat-computer, staring.

Oh god.

Oh, god.

Tim needed to do something. Now.

But he couldn't because blood was rushing in his ears and his mind was sluggish, a desperate attempt to protect himself as his world crashed around him not for the first time.

This time, he didn't, wouldn't, have Batman beside him.

Because Batman-

Because Bruce-

Tim stared and stared and stared and all the evidence stared back.

The face of Richard Grayson, Jason Todd, and Timothy Drake stared back.

Robin stared back.

And of course Tim's mind had already made the connection, had already completed the picture, had already matched it to reality and filled in the blank spaces he hadn't even been aware was there.

Oh, god.

Combined with his sickness that had him benched for the night and the sudden, shocking, knowledge that Batman had killed his parents, had killed Robin's parents, Tim staggered to his feet and off his seat, socks slipping on the cool cave floors as he stumbled towards the nearest bin and upended his dinner. And lunch and breakfast and the other dinner until he was left dry heaving and crying in the Batcave over the stink of his vomit.

Oh, god.

Tim needed to do something.

Tim needed to start thinking of what to do.

The action was easy, instinct, trained. Retrieving one of his Robin storage from his jacket, Tim scrambled back to the computer to fumble with sticking it in, copying the entire file and all the incriminating evidence.

Methodically, he returned it back to its previous encryption, erased the backdoor he made, and burned every hint that he'd even come anywhere close to the file. So very, very aware of the chill of the cave, cold fingers digging in his inside, and senses peaked for any presence in the cold, cold cavern.

Now what?

Tim stared at the black of the screen of the Bat-computer and missed the light.

Shock, he distantly thought. He was in shock.

Robin- Tim stared down at the gold chip in his hand. So tiny. So harmless. And now it contained everything that could make or break.... a lot of things. A lot of people.

Oh god. Where was he going to go?

Oh, god.

Did he want to go?

Because Batman-

Because Bruce-

Bruce is Tim's father. The only father he's left.

And-

And maybe he's wrong.

(Denial.)

Maybe someone was trying to frame Batman. To turn his own family against him and what kind of son was Tim if he let himself be fooled so easily.

This couldn't....

This couldn't be right.

Tim took a shaky inhale.

Shook his head.

But if it was right then his current train of thought was all wrong.

Tim....

Tim was always left with the hard decisions wasn't he?

This wouldn't be the first time and he had the sinking feeling it wouldn't be the last.

So with an exhale, Tim yanked himself into the backseat of his mind and let training and objectivity slide in the slot of the driver.

In Tim's hand was evidence that Bruce Wayne, his adoptive father, had orchestrated the death of Dick's, Jason's, and Tim's parents deaths.

And just putting those in words, even just in his mind, almost had him with the knee jerk reaction to crash his mind just to stop thinking about it.

Now Tim didn't know what to do but he, undoubtedly, had to do something. Anything.

Well, anything that hopefully wouldn't get him killed by the man he considered his father-

Bad Tim. Don't think about that. Not now.

Later.

Who was he supposed to go with this information?

Alfred?

..... Tim didn't know. Everything he knew about Alfred said that the man would've never condoned this if he knew.

But everything Tim had known about Batman said the same.

Tim was too scared to be wrong and maybe even more afraid to be right.

Oracle? No.

Babs was a badass but she was vulnerable to Batman. She might be able to help, distanced from the situation as she was, certainly would be able to make better decisions than Tim currently could, but Batman could get to her -and it was easier to think Batman than Bruce- and Tim didn't want anyone hurt, least of all her.

Wether this was real or not and regardless of the growing part of him that wanted to shut it all out.

Tim was running out of time.

His mind was working against him.

And wasn't that a chilling thought because suddenly the word brainwashing and reprogramming-

Not now, Tim.

The sound of footsteps, faint and purposeful, was like a shot through his chest.

Tim stuffed the stick in a skin coloured garter pocket wrapped around his calf.

"Master Timothy- My goodness, young man."

Oh yeah. He didn't just feel sick, he probably looked the whole shebang.

He turned and he was vaguely glad that he didn't need to fake a smile or what when Alfred crossed the distance between them with a pinched expression, because he really didn't think he could put up any expression other than shock. And that he could barely hold up as it slowly gave way to despair and- and just an amalgamation of emotions he couldn't start even naming much less dealing with.

Alfred rested a hand on his forehead, "Young man, how long have you been down here? It seems your cold has worsen. Hardly a surprise when you spend your time down in this damp basement."

Who was he supposed to go to?

Tim had only a handful of options.

Alfred, Barbara, and-

And Dick.

Oh, god, did Dick know?

He tilted to the right and Alfred caught him, lips pursed. Everything feels like it's trapped behind murky water.

"I think that's enough. Go up to your room now and rest, Master Timothy."

Dick would've warned him, right? If Dick had known, his big brother would've told him, right? He wouldn't have let this happen.

Dick was-

His big brother.

Dick wasn't his only brother. Wasn't the last option.

Jason.

Oh. It's weird to attach that label to that name.

Weird.

Not bad.

The older boy -man? he's never quite sure what to call them, neither word sounding right- never really acknowledge him as such, it was probably beyond presumptuous for Tim to think of him like that even in the quite of his mind, but....

Tim's head shot up, almost headbutting Alfred.

"You're right, Alfred. I'm- I'm going to go up."

He ignored how weak his voice sounded and moved away from the butler towards the manor, just barely managing not to break into a run.

Then he was breaking out into a run once he's out of sight, past the many rooms and halls of the Wayne manor, and throwing open the door of his room. Without a single pause, he picked up random semi-presentable garments off the floor and wiggled out of his pyjamas to put them on, digging around his closet for the black box containing his customised watch to strap on his wrist, and grabbing his skateboard, a sticky note, and a pen on his way out.

Tim slapped a 'do not disturb, sleeping' note on his door. Fifty-fifty that the warning would be heeded, every second would count.

Tim turned on the micro computer in his watch as he snuck out of the manor and past the grounds, using the shadows of the night and his innate predilection for stealth to his advantage.

~*~

A banging on the door had Jason grabbing a gun, Kori standing at attention, and Roy training an arrow at the window.

They were in one of his safe houses in Gotham, a short stop to pick up some supplies, patching each other up from their latest mission, before they're going straight back to the base.

No one should be knocking on this apartment.

Jason exchanged glances with the others and slowly approached the door-

"Please! Jason, I know you're in there! Please, please open up! Please, oh god, please open up!"

Robin.

He'd know that voice anywhere, practically his largest trigger for the Pit Madness-

He sounded desperate. In fact, if he was hearing right through the hardwood, the boy was practically sobbing.

Already knowing who it was, and feeling a trickle of worry in the back of his head despite himself, Jason sped up the rest of the way and pulled the door open to see Tim Drake in all his civilian teen glory. Pale, red rimmed eyes, and choking on his breath.

Out of his armor.

Defenceless in front of Jason.

Not Robin.

The boy didn't even wait for an invite, stumbling inside and grabbing the door out of his hands and slamming it close behind him.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing kid?" Jason growled, letting all his menace fill the air.

Roy raised an eyebrow.

It was strange to see Jason being like this with a kid.

But Tim Drake was different.

No, not really. Jason was just a hypocrite who didn't do what he preach and wasn't actually all that better from those scums he put bullets in.

And Tim- Tim just stared.

So miserably it was the only thing keeping the green at bay from flaring as it usually did around his replacement.

That and the fact that, this time, if Jason was going to do something, he'd have to look Tim Drake in the eyes.

"Did- did you know?"

The question was so quiet he almost didn't catch it with his thoughts still swirling.

Jason blinked, "What."

And Tim sobbed, sliding down to the floor in a breakdown and Jason's mind blanked.

And for the first time in a very long time, Jason thought where was Dick?

(The last time he thought that, he was in a warehouse and a crowbar was falling on him.)

"I-" Hands came up to wipe at the tears in vain, "It was my fault. If I didn't- dad, and mom, they- and Bruce-"

Tim made some sort of keening sound and, yeah, he wasn't going to get anything out of the kid in his current state.

And Jason was hyperaware of his teammates behind him, waiting for his lead.

Jason dropped in a crouch barely an arms length away. The kid didn't even flinch, didn't make any indication that he was aware in how much danger he was currently in.

His cheeks were flushed and he was sweating in a way that had Jason suspecting that his temperature was higher than normal.

"Kid.... Tim...." it was a challenge to keep his voice at least not aggressive. The boy choked on another sob, blue eyes purple in the dim lighting as he looked at him, and oh, fuck, he was hyperventilating.

Jason needed him present.

And there was only one sure way he knew to do that.

"Robin. Calm down." He said in that exact same pitch he did.

But to Jason's confusion and actual rising concern, rather than freezing and gradually falling back to trained breathing, Tim paled -how that was even possible with how pale he already was, Jason didn't know- and reeled back in horror, chest stuttering.

Shit.

Jason watched him.

He shook his head, but at least his eyes seemed more present now, "Don't- don't call me that, please."

Well, if he hadn't already thought so before, now he knew with certainty that it was Bruce that got his Robin running towards his homicidal predecessor.

Go figure.

"Hey, kid. Tim. You need to calm down. Mainly, because you're not gonna get out whatever you came here to tell me or whatever, and partly because I ain't promising I'm not gonna get violent if you keep wasting my time."

.... It was exactly what he wanted to say, but as usual, something in him got a bit complicated. Not quite regret.

But closest he was probably going to get.

He felt that around Tim a lot.

Tim hiccupped, finally falling back on training to shove aside the hysteria. Then he pulled himself to his feet, eyes staying locked on Jason's and completely ignoring the two.

He presented him with something gold and Jason looked at it with a raised eyebrow as he straightened himself.

"I-" he cleared his throat, "I don't know- Just. Jason, you need to see this- no, I mean, you need to leave Gotham, immediately, and then read it. Everything. Don't- Don't come back until you do, please. That's-"

He ran his hand through his hair the second he was sure Jason wasn't going to drop the stick, looking torn between being as far away from it as he could and snatching it back.

He exhaled a gust, deflating, staring at the older boy morosely, sparing a glance at his friends.

"I don't know what to do, Jason. I- I don't have anywhere else to go. I don't think...... I don't want to think anymore, please. I'm sorry. I could be wrong, I'm probably wrong, I'm being stupid and just overreacting and- and I don't know what to do when I get back. I don't know if anyone else knows, if Alfred-" his voice hitched, "Or, Dick, or- or Superman, I just. I just don't know-"

Jason watched the teen practically break in front of him and in a split second decision, he telegraphed his actions.

And pulled Tim Drake into a hug.

"Calm down. Calm down. Breathe."

He didn't coo, and his voice wasn't designed to be soothing. It was almost a demand actually but it worked and Tim stopped babbling and after a few minutes of complete silence and Jason's hand awkwardly drawing circles on his back, their breathing were in sync.

"... Thank you." Tim said to his chest, and fuck, the kid was short and so fucking small how did he not bleed out-, "Thank you, Jason. I'm going to go- go home now."

And because, well, he didn't really know what else to do, Jason agreed and sent him out, letting him go back to the manor.

He'd regret that later.

~*~

Dick stared at his phone with a frown, worry churning in his gut.

3p.a.;bst¿!

Seemingly a random keyboard smash text from an unknown number, but was actually one of the many protocols of the contingencies his little brother absently rambled about during late nights hanging out, one of the many codes he'd memorized, not quite humoring Tim since anything was possible, but not one he'd ever worried about in their immediate future.

Batman was compromised and likely going after Dick for whatever reason.

And okay, yeah, Dick was concerned but not harried, since if it was really bad then another protocol would've been activated. Mind you, the Batman being compromised was truly something to be concerned about, but it seemed whatever was happening didn't pose the risk of Bruce dying.

That said, Batman was compromised and last Dick knew, Tim was with Batman.

And now Dick had no choice but to trust that Tim knew what he was doing and was somewhere safe for them to regroup.

Not that it stopped the familiar stone in his chest whenever he worried about his little brother -little brothers.

Dick grabbed his emergency pack and prepared to leave, for Nightwing to disappear while they fix this.

Sorry about the big block but I'm... trying to figure out how to do the read more thing on mobile.

[paladin-of-nerd-fandom65]

Little Robin and Momma Bird

 In honor of First Day of Spring 2021 which for comic fans is the birth date of Richard John-Grayson Wayne, Member of the Flying Graysons, Bruce Wayne’s Adopted Son, Barbara Gordon’s classmate, Wally West and Roy Harper’s best friend, Princess Koriand’r’s true love, the first Robin, The Boy Wonder, Leader and founding member of the Teen Titans, Nightwing, Protector of the City of Bludhaven, Renegade, Ex Apprentice of Slade Wilson, Agent 37, Big Brother to Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Cassandra Cain, Duke Thomas, and Damian Wayne, in varying times and places Father of Mar’i ‘Nightstar’ and Jacob ‘Jake’ Grayson and above all else and beyond all those titles, son of John Grayson and Mary Elizabeth Lloyd Grayson; here’s what I hope is something short and sweet. 

 Now with long intro out of the way, the following is dedicated to @mothnem @lightdusk96 @hood-ex @thattimdrakeguy @tarisilmarwen @fireflyxrebel-writes @nightglider124 @nyxqueen97 @wisegirlandseaweedbrainforever @arabian-batboy @meara-eldestofthemall @robxstar @bluerene and so many others for being my friends in light of this occasion. Please like, comment and especially reblog for any corrections and constructive criticisms. It’ll be very appreciated. 

  Please Enjoy....  

 The sun gleaming and bright rays shone through the small trailer window, lighting the small bedroom with many bright colors of its own decorated throughout. The beige carpet, still an ever bit of simple yet practical use of being the floor, was littered with small shapes of varying sizes, almost all being made of plastic. In particular, these spread out toys were action figures, representing the recent phenomena of spandex clad and awe inspiring individuals that are the ‘Superman’ from Metropolis and the rest being merely the few robotic and unnatural opponents he faces in protecting the oppressed and those in need. The resident of this small bedroom was for all accounts a fan of Superman, something not too unprecedented given the caped champion’s crusades in correcting the wrongs and dangers Metropolis and the larger world face the best he can ever since his first day to the public. 

   And given these are action figures of Superman, it shall be of no surprise said resident was indeed very young; a small acrobat of the famous Haly’s Circus currently asleep and softly snoring away in this room’s bed, blankets draped and covering almost every part of him, even his face. It’s his 7th birthday as of today, this wonderful first day of Spring. Now if only something or someone can get him awake to enjoy such a day. That’s where a certain Mrs. Mary Grayson enters our picture. 

  As she gently pries open her son’s bedroom door as to not awaken him, clad only in a grey t-shirt and black pants as used for pajamas last night, Mary carefully trudges across the beige carpet towards the bed being occupied by said son. Sure, both her and him have slept in until nearly 9:30 am as of now since their family group, the Flying Graysons, have a day off from practice for today, but frankly had Dick remembered that today’s his birthday from earlier, he would been by now sneaking into his parents’ neighboring room, awaking them both his father John and her up about said day, probably  the best he can think of for a gentle reminder. But due to recent influx of performances across the West Coast, Dick lost count so now it was Mary’s turn to gently remind him and in the best way she knows how. 

  As Mary’s bare feet carefully skirt around the action figures spread across the floor, even picking some up along the way (maybe reminding Dick to next time pick up his toys before bed will come in later tonight), she eventually reaches her son’s twin sized bed and the red, green and yellow pattern blanket that draped over the little guy overnight. In her right hand was a blue fine point marker pen with washable ink while her left gently leans to one end of the blanket where a small tuff of black hair sticks out. Gently caressing her left hand the black mass, Mary can hear a content giggle coming from under the blanket, no doubt her son feeling the familiar, loving motion John and her regularly do as parents can. On normal moments this happens, Dick would playfully push the hand ruffling his black hair away. This time, he just simply lightly giggles in his sleep. Mary was sort of banking the hair ruffling being enough to awaken her son to this bright and beautiful first day of Spring. As soon as her hand though stops with the affectionate ruffling and once more snores are heard coming from Dick, her lips turn into a soft yet mischievous smile; it was time for Plan B. Sure Enough, when looking over to the other end of the blanket and seeing her son’s own two feet, so far socked but with her there not for too long. That marker in her hand has its cap screw off. 

  On some occasions when she was basically passed out from a long night on the trapeze, Mary wold wake to find the soles of her feet with scribbles and doodles all across, most of them featuring the Flying Graysons logo prominently. She almost immediately knew the culprit behind such drawing but often times just leaves it be and even walks on her two feet with drawing and all since the marker ink easily comes off so it was overall no big deal. Besides, her son was just having some harmless fun so why would she dare try ruining that; sure she was strict on some parts of his behavior but this ain’t one of the them. Now though, as she lightly tugs the two socks off her sleeping son as to not awake him, revealing two velvet soles and the ten toes and with her marker in hand, it was time for payback if you may. 

  Starting with lightly drawing smiley faces on his big toes, Dick’s reaction was almost immediate as a slightly louder giggle comes from the blankets and his toes clench. Mary briefly backs off the marker until the toes relaxing and using her free hand, she lightly grabs unto the big ones, leaving his feet still. With that, she can proceed with the rest as sure enough, various other faces across his other toes are drawn along with flowers and even an elephant on the arch of his right foot. As for that last one, the giggling had reached its loudest and looking upward, Mary couldn’t help but smile at the results. Plan B was a success, Dick was awake and laughing his head off due to the scribbling.

   “Momma!” he yells between hearty giggles, “That tickles!” 

   Mary grins a bit, “Oh really?” 

  She continues with that elephant on Dick’s right foot, now holding him still with arm entrapping his ankles tightly, making sure he can’t pull his feet back from that blue marker as it continued its path. Though Mary notes that even then, Dick wouldn’t want to. He had not once told her to stop, indicating that he was enjoying this instead. Frankly, after a long time doing this to her, she couldn’t blame him. All Dick does on his part is lay his head on the pillows, the blankets off of him, allowing Mary to see him clad in a similar style of PJs to hers only with the coloring being a blue t shirt and grey sweat pants instead. To the left of him was his precious stuffed elephant Peanut; ever since being first given that on his 4th birthday, he keeps it close to him whenever going to bed. All this time afterwards, Mary still hasn’t been able in getting her son a second stuffed toy like Peanut much to her disappointment but hey that’s a thought for another time, she has one more spot to draw before she can move on for the rest of the day, the arch on Dick’s left foot.

  At first, Mary thought of drawing the Flying Graysons logo for the finishing touch but instead opts for a more casually yet fitting wording. With that in mind, her blue marker makes contact with the velvet of her son’s arch and starts its ink dripped path. By now, the 7 year old was still in full hysterics over his Momma’s drawings but he will admit, at least it was better waking up from his trapeze swinging dreams like this rather than the sun’s rays shining on him as it usually happens. Finally though, he feels the marker stop and opening his ocean blue eyes, sees his mother put the cap back on. Putting the marker away in her pocket, Mary places a soft kiss on her son’s forehead while giving him another hair ruffle. This time, now fully awake, Dick gently pushes her hand away. 

  His blue eyes meet his mother’s own blue eyes and a wide smile stretches on his face. 

  “Thanks Momma” he chirps happily in Romani Chib. 

  Another motherly kiss, this time his cheek, “You’re welcome, Just wanted to make sure you didn’t forget about your special day today, My Little Robin” 

  As Mary stands and makes her way back to the door, Dick stretches his arms, letting out a yawn from his mouth doing so. 

  “Breakfast will be ready in 5 minutes” Mary states with a warm smile on her face.

  “Cereal, Momma?”

  “Any type you like that we have of course” 

  “I’ll be there soon” Dick says, a wide grin on his face. 

 Mary has a humming giggle of her own before making her own to the kitchen to no doubt prepare her son and her’s bowls for the day. Though of course, they were just getting started. 

  Dick swings his feet to step off his bed and begin trudging to his breakfast, he briefly wonders on what his mother drew on him before putting the marker away. As such, flexing his leg to where he can see the soles and toes of his two feet, Dick smiles of all nice stuff Momma left. Indeed, there were flowers on the balls of his arches, goofy faces on each of his ten toes, what looks like a circus ball on his right heel, a trapeze bar on his left heel, a short yet cute elephant on right foot’s arch and at least the words on his left arch. 

‘Happy 7th B-Day Little Robin, Love Momma’ 

  Now that was love from a mother alright. Dick certainly will never forget this. Now to get the table without stepping on his toys on the floor. 

[theinsanecrayonbox]

Fairly Odder: episode 10

ok, wth is that. no really, i pause the start to get some early thoughts before starting the full ep to narrate my thoughts as i watch, but really what is that

you recolored Remy for Nate (so they are biologically related?????), and Roy is terrible looking, like you used a flash doll maker that was FOP themed. oh ra i have to reference that to draw him don’t i? nope, not doing that! i draw Tim wrong all the time, i’ll draw Roy wrong too. that is just...no. and WHY?? every other illustrated person was at least canonical; these two chars weren’t. why are you drawn? is that why  the Tad and Chad poster (yes i’m still hung up on that!) was illustrated because that’s a default in-universe for some reason? just...why????

Nate has monopoly money

heh love the peanut gallery in the secret service suits.

the Dimm Factor? is this a rebranded Dimmsdale’s Got Talent? i mean, it’s been like...however many years the inconsistent math says...oh wait that episode was a Chloe one, maybe in this timeline that show never existed. yeah ok, that’s better than trying to math.

Shiny Teeth!? kinda too late for that reference.

pfft ok this is Boy Who Would Be Queen levels of wishing

7 min in and we get the theme. weird, didn’t feel that long...then again i harped about the illustrated campaign posters a lot so it was all a blurr anyways

eh...kinda cheaped out that they just painted Roy like a puppet instead of making one. also NOW you remember the “can’t unwish your sibling’s wish” rule huh? seemed a-ok to do that with Codzilla. but lemme guess, Roy can’t unwish it cause he’s not a real boy anymore now right? yup, apparently that’s a rule. i guess that does make sense, seeing as vocal swap wishes have to be made by the voice that started it.

wait, we have a blue fairy (aka a fairy “licensed to work on puppets”)? her name is Brandy-Lynn...and Cosmo’s ex-girlfriend???? when did that happen??? did Momma Cosma set that up? did she approve? everything we’ve learned so far seemed to suggest that she set up all his dates and Wanda was the only girl he dated that she didn’t do that with. and she’s gorgeous...ok...but Cosmo had other girlfriends??

pfft the duck and swam costumes. this is a call back within itself. wow show.

huh you know kids, if the “you can’t use fairy magic to win a competition” rule was in effect, that would be an easy way to fix your puppet problem...or it should make him clam up/go lifeless since in Odd Ball Tim wasn’t allowed to use the magic to score the winning basket. so...there’s still time for that to kick in i guess, seeing as this was the preliminary and not the official competition i guess.

wow, they’re threatening to horribly dismember a child on this children’s show. sure he’s a wooden puppet, and it’s a threat to be turned into chopsticks, but still. threatening horrible dismemberment and murder of a child. nice.

pft Roy is Pinnochio. (hm...should Superverse Roy be a construct/simulacrum)

THAT’s Brandy-Lynn? 

uh...huh...well, she’s purple not blue, so cool. and she’s the taller fairy model...like Star and Twinkle, and she has a lightning bolt earring...was she made to match them? but they were robots...who are puppets...holy cow, is THAT the connection?? did Momma Cosma commission Star and Twinkle from Brandy-Lynn? probably not, idk, kinda grasping at straws. still, more fairy lore so...neat?

well this episode was fairly harmless. we got a new fairy, we got terrible and confusing illustrations. we still don’t have an explanation for Nate’s relationship to Remy. moving on!

[pixie-dust-and-pain]

Anarchy

It wasn’t supposed to go this far, it was only meant to be a harmless game. An interest intended only to keep her satisfied until she latched onto the next new thing, but he’d crossed the line. Now, she was willing to do whatever it took to bring him to his knees before her. Now, she was going to topple him down from his throne, and throw down his sparkling crown of glass, and show him that glass was made to shatter. She was going to wreck his carefully crafted tyrannical system, pull it apart brick by brick, and leave both it and him vulnerable to the core. She was going to prove to everybody that had placed even an ounce of trust in him that they should’ve condemned him all along. She didn’t care if she wasn’t queen, but she wasn’t going to let him succeed in being the king. She was going to declare anarchy. 

Warnings: slight sexual innuendo

I wrote this during class

(I haven't used Tumblr that much yet so I'm not aware of the layout of general fanfics, so please do enlighten me)

Chapter 2

She closed her eyes, absentmindedly tapping the wooden desk with her fingertips as she waited for Slughron to move onto her table. He was currently chiding Olive Hornby for not cutting her leaves the right size and having chopped them too big. She rolled her eyes, annoyance prickling at her as she frowned in his direction. The old coot had already wasted half the class praising Tom Riddle. Surely, he could cut short his ravings and move on now.

Finally, he moved onto her desk, and peering at her result, he arched a brow. He seemed confused for a second, before a satisfied grin made its way onto his lips. “You are a natural, my dear. The ingredients were rather simple and watered down, I didn’t think that a student of your age could’ve made such an advanced potion. I must say, I hadn’t expected this much, but well done…” he trailed off, probably indulging himself in fantasies of how having two top-students from his house would be a bonus.

She smiled politely at Slughorn, a satisfied feeling pooling in her. The moment he left, however, her eyes drifted to Tom Riddle, and she smiled at him in cruel content. He glanced at her, a bored expression occupying his face, and turned back to his book. It wasn’t much, but she didn’t care. She’d gotten his attention, at least.

She didn’t know why she was doing this. Truly, it was a lot less productive than her other occasional indulgences. But he’d been Hogwarts’ best student for far too long, and she was getting tired of having his praises sung every time she entered a room. She’d been surprised at the amount of self-control she had, especially since she had managed not to slap a person every time they spoke his accomplishments and prided herself for her restrain.

She wasn’t one to engage in academic excellence. For what she had planned, wasting her time on good grades, paying attention in classes that teach her about topics she already knows, and obtaining useless knowledge was unnecessary, but she had to admit, it did feel good to be the top of the class, even if it was just once. 

Her eyes wander to Riddle again, and this time, she stares. She wouldn’t lie to herself by admitting that he wasn’t conventionally attractive, he had, after all, made her blush a time or two, but he was just so perfect it was odd. Surely, nobody could be that flawless. And so, she’d dug, scraped together pieces of information, observed him through the shadows, noted how his “friends” seemed to cower before him, and how they used to turn pale after an accident or even a lousy slip of tongue.  

It had been easy for her to do so. She was a nobody in the castle, insignificant, and weak. She wasn’t exactly “under the radar”, but she wasn’t the sort to be suspected. She was sweet and innocent and weak, and an overall shame to Slytherin. She didn’t care much of it, her reputation, the bullying it caused, it was all a trivial matter. They were small consequences as opposed to the advantages she’d gained. Sweet and gentle girl she was, how could she ever cause anybody any harm? And thus, she’d been granted access to the restricted section, occasional visits to the forbidden forest (with a professor, naturally) and an immediate exclusion to suspicion every time something went wrong.

She’d worked hard to build up her image as the harmless little damsel in distress, and the teasing and exclusion from the general Slytherin body was a small price to pay. It wasn’t that they didn’t like her (they adored her, actually) but that Hogwarts ran on a hierarchal system, and the rulers of the system seemed to have it in for her and her so-called “disgrace” to the Slytherin house, and so everybody who seemed to be more than a mere acquaintance to her was immediately shunned. She supposed it had something to do with her open acceptance of muggleborns, but she couldn’t seem to bring herself to care.

She steals a glance at him again, and he wasn’t even looking in her direction, far too immersed in his book to care. Or, at least, that was how he made it out to be. She knew he cared; it would be ridiculous if he didn’t. She smiled to herself, basking in the knowledge that she’d gotten his attention.

But she’d done so much more than just that, hadn’t she? She couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face. She’d upstaged him.

~*~

“Ellison,” a smooth voice says, pulling her out of her trance. She snaps the book shut hastily, casting a non-verbal spell to change its name and prays that he doesn’t notice.

“Hi?” She offers, smiling awkwardly. She hadn’t thought this far, really. She’d just expected to be confronted by one of his cronies or to have him send her annoyed glares now and then. Total confrontation? Well, that was a bold step.

“May I join you?” He asks, gesturing to the empty seats next to her. She nodded, still keeping the awkward smile on. He should’ve realized by now it was a desperate cry for help.

It was an awkward silence after that, interrupted by only the occasional turning of page. It’s odd, and she pauses, paying the utmost attention to the boy next to her. He doesn't seem to realize that she has stopped, and if he does, he makes no move to acknowledge it. It's quiet, and she realizes that she's the only one who's been turning her page all this time. "Are you alright?" she finally asks, raising a brow at him.

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"Well, you haven't turned your page once since you've gotten here, and seem to be having trouble with-" she peers over, and raises a brow, “-the acknowledgements,”

"And you've paid all that precious attention to me instead of focusing our on your," he pauses and squints at the title, "Kamasutra,"

She doesn't have the shame to blush, and only silently curses herself for not paying more attention to what she’d renamed the book as, "Look, Tim-"

"Tom," he sharply corrects.

"Whatever, I don't want any trouble. And it wasn't me who asked to sit next to you, now was it?” And honestly you just sitting there like a statue is creepy,”

“How did you do it?” he asks finally, leaning back into the chair and studying her. She has to admit, his undivided attention feels nice.

“Do what?” beat you in potions? Then defense against the dark arts? She doesn’t voice her thoughts out loud, and gets up and shoves her items hastily into her bag.

“Make the potion,” he says. It’s a clever dodge.

She smiles wryly at him, “I’m not that much of a dunce, Riddle,”

“Well, you haven’t exactly made your abilities clear before, have you? How the sudden change?”

“I’m late for class-”

“It’s lunch,”

“Even worse, then.” She tries to leave, but he grabs her wrist. His grip is painful, and she wonders how dire the consequences would be if she twists his hand.

“I don’t take well to being ignored, Ellison,” he says, his grip bruising and his eyes glinting. She doesn’t feel scared, then, only more aware. It was a dangerous game she was playing, and Tom Riddle could, if he wanted, hurt her. It was an intoxicating feeling, knowing that what she was doing had the potential to be life-threatening if she wanted it to. She hasn’t had the sweet taste of danger in so long, it feels freeing to acknowledge it again.

She smiles demurely, the picture of submission, and twists his wrist in reply as she wrestles her hand out of his. The only sign of him being pained by the even tis his sharp intake of breath.

It’s like gambling, this strange interest of hers. It has obvious consequences, but it’s just so entertaining. She walks out of the library, glancing only momentarily at the spot he’d grabbed her. She can see his fingerprints, a bruising shape on her wrist, clearly visible. This was going to be fun.

[janekfan]

IF you are still taking prompts...would you consider something precanon with Jon and Tim? tim's been trying to befriend an isolated/lonely researcher jon that no one's a fan of, sees him sick or being bothered by someone or any one of our usual terrible scenarios and is immediately like 'is anyone gonna take care of this man??'

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27650999

Tim flipped his pen around in his fingers, internally cheering when he executed the trick shot over his thumb, and kept an eye on Research’s newest recruit. The tiny man, stuffy and pompous and peculiar, had only been with them a little over a week and from day one Tim marked him as a challenge.

He would become this angry and diminutive fellow’s best friend, so help them both.

Currently, one Jonathan Sims was balanced on the tips of his patent leather brogues, stretching up for a volume he could never hope to reach and Tim, seeing his moment of opportunity, allowed his shadow to fall over him as he easily retrieved it for him.

“Tim. Tim Stoker.” He gave over the book along with a beaming grin and an introduction, holding a hand out for him to shake and lifting a brow when all Jon did was glare skeptically at his open palm, arms tightening around his prize.

“Sims.” Imperiously, with the slightest lift of his chin. “Jon. Thank you for your assistance, Mr. Stoker.” If Tim had been quicker on the uptake, he would have replied with the customary that was my father, but as it was he found himself faced with the stiff line of his back as he walked swiftly deeper into the stacks.

He was awkward and prickly, for sure, there was no getting around that, but knowledgeable and worked hard at his job, harder than Tim currently was anyway with this quest to focus on. Jon kept his head down, literally, at his desk he was nigh folded in half for most of the shift, not even stopping for lunch most of the time unless something broke his hyperfocus and he caught sight of the clock. No wonder he was so scrawny, just skin and bone beneath his crisp starched shirts and prim jumpers. So Tim began leaving snacks behind; a piece of fruit, bottle of water, cereal bar, a bit of chocolate, and it gave him no end of amusement each and every time Jon noticed. Feet up on his own desk, Tim would watch Jon glance around, ignoring the irritated looks of their coworkers while he tried to puzzle out who kept doing it and the first time he actually took a bite tasted of sweet, sweet victory.

Time passed, Tim finally convinced Jon to call him by his first name and was soundly told off for attempting to call him Jonny. He learned of his preference for tea over coffee, that he was raised by his grandmother, and feared spiders absolutely, having been the unfortunate recipient of a harmless office prank. It was no secret that Jon was not well liked and didn’t seem to care. He became the butt of many a joke and impersonation. That posh accent, put on or not, was too good to pass up and his lack of social acumen didn’t help his case even though he was smart as a whip and picked up any slack by virtue of staying late.

“Bags under your eyes are looking heavy today.”

“Hm? Oh, Tim.” Jon rubbed a knuckle under the rim of his glasses. “Yes, I. I haven’t been sleeping well.” He dropped into his chair heavily, pressing fingertips against his temples and massaging them.

“Take a sick day. You’ve put in enough over time.” Jon craned his neck, blinked up at him with a confused look, as though he were trying to figure out a difficult puzzle.

“M’alright.” Mumbling, the wood grain suddenly seemed very interesting. “You should get to work though.”

“Whoa! Not my boss there yet, Jonny-boy!” It elicited a familiar, nettlesome response and put Tim’s heart at ease. Jon probably was just tired.

“Oi, you daft twit, watch where you’re going.” Tim turned the corner on his return from lunch to find Jon scrambling amongst a sprawl of papers, frantically trying to collect them up.

“S’sorry, I’ll help--”

“Done enough, sod off.” Jon froze, muttered another apology and handed off the pages he’d gathered together.

“You alright?” Sidling up to him, Tim did him the favor of ignoring the trembling line of Jon’s mouth. “Guy’s just being a prick ‘cause his wife’s leavin’ him.”

“Fine, m’fine, Tim.” And in a moment he was, back at his desk and pointedly thumbing through a file and pretending to cross check his notes.

The next morning was no better and Jon arrived under the wire, hair unkempt and tie just slightly crooked. Very unlike him and this time he watched as Jon let his head tip forward for a few seconds, bracing himself on the arms of his chair before retreating into the forest of bookshelves. If left to his own devices, Tim was sure he’d end up ticking the librarians off again. He tended to leave a mess in his wake when searching for what he needed and when he didn’t reappear by noon, Tim went off in search of him, expecting to find him leafing through some manuscript or another and instead discovering him cross legged in the shadows, eyes closed, head tipped back and resting on a shelf. There was a short stack of books pertaining to his research by his knee but his hands were empty and still in his lap.

“What’s wrong?” Jon made a vague gesture. “Headache?”

“Mm. Didn’t mean to, to...uh.”

“End up on the floor?”

“Mm.

“You should go home.” The very suggestion drew his features into a frown and he cracked open dark lashes just enough for Tim to catch a glimpse of glassy brown.

“I’ve barely worked here a month, I. I can’t. I can’t skive off.”

“You’re ill, Jon. That’s not--Look, look.” Tim crouched beside him. “It’s okay to call off sick.” It had the opposite effect, and Tim had to steady Jon after he struggled to his feet with his armful of books. “Jon.”

“No, no. I’ll be over whatever this is by tomorrow.”

Tim sighed. Jon was, in fact, not over whatever he’d come down with, and was now stifling a series of wet, breathless coughs in the crook of his elbow, unaware of the dirty looks the other researchers were throwing his way. The harder Tim tried to make him see reason, the harder Jon resisted, insisting that he was fine, it was allergies or something else but he wasn’t feeling ill enough to miss work.

“I’m holding you up as we speak.” Sluggish, Jon’s eyes tracked Tim’s arm from where it was attached to his shoulder all the way down to the firm grip he had on his bicep to keep him from listing even further.

“Jus’...bit dizzy…”

“Yeah, that’s not a good thing.”

“I can, I can still do my job.” And Tim wasn’t quite sure who he was trying to convince. “I can.” Tim allowed him his arm back, not commenting on his barely controlled fall into his desk chair or the soft groan of pain that ended in another fit, weaker than the last.

“I know you can, I just want to see you take care of yourself.”

“Why?” Bloodshot eyes narrowed in suspicion and Tim didn’t know what to make of it.

“We’re friends?”

“We’re not.” Tim didn’t let it discourage him or take it personally. Clearly, Jon wasn’t well, was trying to convince himself that he was, that he didn’t need help. Besides, Tim looked on the bright side, Jon didn’t sound completely sure.

“Alright. Well, as your not-friend, I’m advising you to at least make yourself some tea.”

“I’ll take it under advisement.”

“Christ, Sims!”

“I, I’m sorry, let me, let me help.”

“You’ve done quite enough.” It seemed to Tim that wherever Jon was lately he was in some sort of trouble and when he veered into the breakroom to check on the situation his heart went out to the Lilliputian researcher. Jon had dropped and shattered a mug full of hot water, apparently splashing the man currently yelling at him. Tim took in his trembling hands, the flush high on his vacant face, and the unbearable vulnerability, feeling those big brother instincts rise like a tide. He caught him up again by the arm, drawing him away from the mess and the mumbling.

“You’re like a furnace, buddy.” Gently, with a cupped hand, Tim lifted his jaw and tried to catch his slippery gaze. The heat cradled in his palm was scorching.

“M’not.”

“Now you’re just being contrary.” He led him away with his fingers just at the small of his back stopping at their desks long enough to gather up his things and call for a cab. He balked, hesitating before stepping in and Tim encouraged him with another careful push, helping him back out again when his knees threatened to give. Guiding him inside the flat he dropped their stuff by the door and looked around with a pensive hum. “Next time we’ll go to mine.” Under his breath. Jon’s was cold and not well lit, sparsely furnished with a second hand couch and mismatched tables. It was clean if spartan and somehow very Jon.

“Tim?” Thready, tired, sinking into the couch where Tim deposited him.

“Hey, there. Back in a tick. I’m gonna get you that tea.” Assuming he had any. Assuming he had anything at all. But there was a bottle of paracetamol on the kitchen counter beside an open box tea and a bottle of honey. “Take these, drink this down.” Dimly, Jon followed his instructions, tugging at his buttons and Tim shooed him away to change, surprised when he returned in soft, overlarge clothes. For as prim and proper as he tried to be at work, Jon was a complete bum at home. “Should go to sleep.” Petulant, Jon shook his head, flopping back on the couch and wrapping himself up in a knitted throw like a burrito. “Why not?” This side of his coworker was so soft and unexpected and Tim couldn’t stop himself.

“M’not tired.” Soft, unexpected, and childish.

“Uh huh.” Tim ordered in, something spicy and brothy, and praised Jon’s progress before tugging him, cajoling him into lying his head in his lap. Bad telly droned on, half lidded eyes blinked slow, and Tim was reminded painfully of nights and weekends and mornings spent this exact same way with someone else. Someone gone.

“Why’re you doing this?” Tim dug his fingers into unruly curls, grinning stupidly when Jon melted like a scruffed cat.

“We’re buddies, buddy.” Jon laughed, just an exhale between parted lips.

Mid afternoon the following day Tim proclaimed his work done, confirming it when Jon’s cactus like demeanor made a reappearance with all his fussing. After inputting his number into his cell phone himself, he ruffled already sleep mussed hair, smirking at Jon’s futile attempt to set it right.

“Call if you need anything.”

“I will.” Tim knew he wouldn’t, but it made him feel better anyway. It was the weekend. Jon looked miles better, and he was set up for success with all his tea and meds and snacks within easy reach. Leftover soup waited in the fridge for him to heat later. “Stop fretting, Tim.” But he could hear the thread of affection buried under all the exasperation.

And if he was imagining it, well. He was ever an optimist.

Monday. And Tim was sat on the corner of Jon's desk shoving chocolate digestives into his mouth and rifling through his notes having already ignored one request to leave off.

“You don’t have many friends, do you Jon?” Jon pushed his glasses up from where they’d slipped down the bridge of his nose and selected a biscuit for himself.

“Never needed many.”

“Do you have any?” Jon snatched the pages out of his hand and brushed away any stray crumbs, offering Tim a shy smile.

“I’ve you, don’t I?”

[funsizearsonist]

I have a confession to make

I really don’t know that much about batman. Or any of the batfam tbh. I reblog stuff about them sometimes bc I think they’re cool but I really haven’t seen like. Any of the source content. but here’s some stuff I’ve picked up

- Batman/ Bruce Wayne is just a Tired Dad (tm)

-He’s got ptsd and doesn’t know how to handle it so he adopts children and helps them and sort of?? lives vicariously throught them?? like taking care of his traumatized child self but actually it’s other traumatized superpowered kids

- Jason Todd/ Red Hood is more like,, anti- hero?? Like he carries guns so he probably kills people which is frowned upon but he’s actually totally still part of the famthey just act like he isn’t

- Also he like?? Died? He was beaten to death with a crowbar?? But now he’s alive again?? And im pretty sure it was one of the villains who did some magic-y stuff to revive him??? idk im probably wrong

- Tim doesn’t sleep.

- theyve al been robin at least once im pretty sure? like Dick is Original Robin but now I think he’s Nightwing? Idk im bad with their names except I know Jason is Red Hood

- Alfred is the most badass. Period. I don’t care if they’re vigilantes 

- Also Commissioner Gordon is a Tired Dad

- He has a daughter named Barbara who was like a vigilante also  but now she’s in a wheelchair I think

- And I think she’s a hacker now?

- Damian is like Bruce’s kid by blood I think

- but like the rest of them are adopted or like basically adopted at this point

- there’s also a Stephanie and maybe a Cassandra?? idk there’s some girls in there and they’re cool

- There’s a lady named Selina who’s Bruce’s age and he’s in love with her? but I don’t they’re together

- The Joker is like a complete bitch 

- But Riddler is cool and like harmless? even tho he’s supposed to be a villain?

- I have no idea what’s up between the batfam and the Teen Titans

- just. so many. Shenanigans.

so yeah there’s probably more but I think that’s enough for now! Let me know how I did! Also I would probably die for them even tho I barely know anything abt them

[oh-for-fic-sake]

My Mothers Recipe Book

You see your bosses true colours and quit.

Masterlist

warnings:swearing

A/n: so here is my next Bruce Wayne one shot hope you like it xxx

Taglist: @125bluemachine125​

My Mothers Recipe Book

Alfred sighed walking into the master bedroom tray carrying two large coffees and a few sheets of paper printed from the computer. He was not looking forward to this. Not one bit he had managed to keep the boys quiet about it for the time being but now was the time, there had been...articles online from uncredited news outlets which he knew both you and Bruce avoided with a passion things could be said online which couldn't be printed, cruel and vicious things. But this time they had slipped up big time and he had a name. There had been personal things mentioned in these articles, things that only someone close to you would know at first this online tabloids scoop had been harmless or coincidence, stating the area where you grew up, school you went to and your previous apartment then it became more personal silly things at first, favorite brands, hangouts previous jobs and qualifications and where you work now that caused a few problems now you had to be picked up after shifts by either him Bruce or Dick. you'd mentioned that it had become worse somehow they knew where you were most of the time when you were out on your own places become overrun with the paparazzi having to be picked up by Dick from your favorite take away joint a few days ago when out of nowhere there was camera's everywhere then the next day horrid articles over your nonexistent weight gain and the 'cravings' for the pregnancy that also didn't exist. But this....this was worse probably the worst article to come out, it was an article on how your parents died and how you took on Jack... Going in to detail on how you 'blamed superman' for their death, which could blow up in everyone's face. Alfred was livid but vindicated this time their source was named accidentally he had managed to print it off before it was corrected, a statement was already being circulated that this was fake news, you did not blame anyone for the death of your parents and this was the doing of a vicious woman trying to cause you trouble. Thankfully Clark had got wind of it and was already working on something to help. But Alfred will not be settled until everything was cleared up in the courts. Sighing he opened the door to the master bedroom you was curled up in bed tears streaking your face Bruce was trying to comfort you but Alfred could tell he was furious.

"I suppose you have seen it? then I am already on it I've taken the liberty to have a statement sent out that you don't blame anyone for their passing, Mr Kent is also already working on something to show the truth." Bruce nodded stiffly you just sniffed rubbing your eyes making Alfred  gripped the tray tighter this was not going to be easy to say.

"Who? WHO WOULD DO THIS?" you threw the tablet down on the bed Bruce tried to calm you down

"We will find out who sweets I promise-" Alfred crossed the room placing the tray down then lifted the paper

"It was your boss Y/n" you and Bruce snapped your gazes to the Englishman

"What- How do you know?"

“She was named as their source then it quickly changed I managed to print it off before it was changed tho...I have been watching these articles, Damien and Jack found them just after your kidnapping at first it was harmless but then it got more and more personal here see for your self this is the first one they put up before they corrected it" you took the paper from him with a shaky hand glaring there in black and white was your bosses name as there close source.

"Why would she do this? you know what don't answer that I'm going to work" you strode past the two men Bruce followed you over to the dresser.

"Sweets we can handle this-" you turned abruptly to him making him flinch when he saw your face you was seething

"I know that I'm going in to talk just talk  and there is something there that I need t pick up before anything happens nothing more I promise"

"I can come with you-"

"Bruce honey you have to be at the tower today I will be fine....okay I will be calm but shes done a lot of damage here, I'm getting death threats on twitter! she doesn't get to breeze through this no fucking way shes going to look me in the eye and tell me why!" Bruce nodded knowing that you wasn't going to let this go.

"Alfred can take you....take Tim just in case" you nodded pulling your pajama top off ignoring the way Alfred shielded his eyes with the article just in time making Bruce scoff

"Tim why whats he gonna do?....oh yeah I forgot" you quickly slipped on a black pair of leggings and oversized sweater and left the room calling for Tim to get his ass out of bed.

"I will look after her sir and I will have eyes on the whole thing" Bruce nodded"Thank you Alfred I know you will take care of us you always have" Alfred smiled at him leaving the room with your coffee taking to the kitchen. twenty minuets after Bruce left you was in the back of the rolls Royce sitting wound up Damien was as stiff as a board next to you Jack had tagged along to looking just as angry fists clenched, Tim was supposed to come but once Damien heard what had happens he had....insisted Tim tried to reason with him but...apparently when it come down to it Damien is the one in the family not to fuck with as Tim had backed down pretty fast and by pretty fast you meant as soon as he looked into the younger boys eyes.

"Boys please relax your making me nervous, we are just going to talk I want answers"

"That’s such a bitch thing to do tho, to bring mom and dad into it..." you looked to jack he was as sad as he was angry it made you worse...you were out for blood today no one fucks with your family. Damien was worrying you, he was quiet calm and you could feel waves of....well you didn't know what it was but it was making you want to run ad hide from him yourself, killer instinct or just pure unadulterated wrath and violence coiled tight in the small teen your blood would have run cold if you hadn't been so angry yourself.

"Dami? you alright there bud?" he turned stiffly his eyes said it all he was not alright he was pissed biting at the bit to fuck this woman up. Shit. you didn't have all the details but you know Damien was raised to be , well putting it bluntly a killer and from little bite you heard he was pretty good at it.

"I'm fine, this woman how long have you worked for her?"

"Shit its gotta be five years nearly six" Damien nodded then looked back out of the window you was here her car was out the front. you took a deep breath seeing the barrage cameras out the front all of them held one of the cafes takeaway cups in hand.

"Would you like me to pull around the side?"

"No I am not afraid, I wont let her see me run its time to grow up...If I want to be with Bruce this is what it means,I have to let them know me and I will stand on my own two feet" Alfred faltered stopping the car you cleared your face and before the butler had a chance to get out to open the door you were out of the car Damien and Jack close behind the Alfred who tried pushing to catch up as the paps smothered you. You bit your lip moving forward willing them all away as it got to much then Damien locked his hand in yours squeezing Jack held your arm, you locked eyes with them and smiled you wasn't alone. With a deep breath you turned around abruptly holding your head high and spoke clearly to the manic reporters who was shouting questions waving and yelling to get your attention.

"EXCUSE ME! that's better I apologize for shouting like that, I just wanted to get your attention, I promise to answer all your questions in a few moments but I've left something important at work and would appreciate you allowing me to pick it up first if that's okay with you" You felt a burst of confidence when you managed to get their attention quieting them one man scoffed

"What are you going to get?"

"My mothers recipe book" they all looked stumped a ripple of whispers surrounded you all

"How do we know you'll come back out?" you blinked looking at the other man who had asked and then nodded to the car

"My rides out here I wont be getting far without it" they all quieted down nodding letting you pass. Alfred stood a little stumped the confidence you had used he hadn't seen before he quickly jogged to catch up behind you entering the cafe. as you made your way in you headed straight for the kitchen Alfred lingered by the door making sure the small hidden camera in his jacket had a clear shot of what was going to happen in the small kitchen. as you walked in you noted that your boss was milling about the kitchen you smiled like nothing was wrong and walked over to where your mothers hand written recipe book was and tucked it into your bag .

"Y/n where are you going with that?" you faced her smiling

"Oh Damien likes the blue berry marzipan muffins so going to try and convert it into pancakes that way Alfred technically whine about muffins for breakfast." you said motioning to Damien who looked at you confused but nodded anyway you winked at him, then handed your bag to Jack who was standing behind Alfred.

"Ooh they would be good tell me how they turn out and we could do them here" you laughed a little at the woman, she had no idea

"I might just do that, tag you in twitter or face book...Bruce was talking about me getting my own shop around here after I made some at home" she looked at you from the top of her eyes 

"Oh really?" you laughed and leaned forward

"Yeah but you know me no head for business...but I have got a head for other things you know I'm an overthinker its quite good actually I can figure things out pretty quick" sensing something was wrong she gulped and stopped doing the order forms leaning on the counter

"Is everything okay?" you moved a little and leaned back crossing your arms letting you smile fall into what must have been a nasty face as she swallowed

"I don't know how about you tell me" she laughed nervously trying to wave you off

"What do you mean whats happ-"

"Why did you do it?"

"Excuse me?"

"How much did they pay you? I hope it was a lot." you said looking around the kitchen slowly as if really seeing it for the first time, falling apart tiles, a tap that leaks, flickering light and dirty grout could do with being ripped out and starting again.

"Do what?"

"You know what? that articles online I know it was you" she laughed shaking her head

"I haven't done any articles I think your getting a little big headed aren't you? not everyone cares about you, " you nodded slyly

"They didn't tell you did they? you were named yesterday in the one about my Parents" the color drained from her face and she stuttered.

"Wh-what?! they said they wouldn't do that!" you stood tall smirking at her the smug feeling didn't last long as you realized this woman who had been like a second mum to you had betrayed you, literally put a price tag on your trust and sold it.

"So you have been giving out information about me...gossiping about me to the tabloids..Why Why would you do that?" she had the decency to look a little ashamed of herself.

"I'm sorry, they offered money for an interview when I was seen at the Restaurant with you...At first it was harmless and I thought I could ramp up business if I let people know where you worked...it escalated from there" you closed your eyes trying to calm yourself down Damien growled loud at the woman but you placed a hand on his shoulder pushing him back a little.

"Escalated your damn right it escalated You gave out my old address! what if me and Jack was still there and better yet why was you telling them where I was? they followed me for days! and rumors of pregnancies?" She flinched going to walk around the center island in the kitchen making to hug you but you took a step back, eyes searching hers for remorse but all you saw was the panic of a woman caught out.

"Do you know I had to talk Bruce down from that one he wasn't even angry that he was the last to know! he was over the moon that we might have a child on the way and I had to break his heart and sit him down in our room and explain to him I wasn't pregnant that it was a lie! only to find out it had come from one of my closest friend's. Do you know what its like to do something like that to someone you love? to upset them like that he was crushed ...And if that wasn't enough you had to bring up my parents! you didn't even know them and you know how I feel about the whole thing and about superman!" she shook her head

"I know you don't blame him for their death, I never said you did I swear I just said that you still found it hard without them here, that you wished they were here to see jack grow up that's all I swear" you shook your head.

"I'm sorry but I don't believe you...these five years how much was it worth? you put a price on my trust..." she ran a hand threw her hair huffing anxiously

"I'm sorry I never meant for it to go this far...I needed the money" you laughed "You needed the money nearly eleven hundred a day goes in that till and you needed the money? sorry if I don't buy that." she got defensive looking you up and down

"Well its not like you would understand" you shook your head

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Well we can’t all be sugar babies like you? I've got bills to pay you know rent , tax water that kind of stuff you going to tell me if someone wanted a few comments from you for a few thousands dollars you wouldn't do it" you clenched your jaw, Damien growled at the woman trying so hard not to pounce her.

"No I wouldn't have because we were friends!....Is that what you think of me? a sugar baby?"

"Well that seems to be your claim to fame doesn't it? fucking a billionaire then suddenly you've been given everything? the poor orphan girl who heroically took on her brat brother, one night on your back and your set for life. House,money boyfriend rewards for loosing your dignity no class at all!" you froze that hurt, the venom and spite in her words

"No class...It would seem I have more then you. I haven't ever done anything to you, so all this came from what jealousy? having the paparazzi follow me spreading rumors? for what a few more coffee sales and a bit of revenge? because I got everything you'll never have, A Family and someone to share my life with.... That’s very sad" you moved to got to the door  she smiled nastily no point in her continuing with the nice girl act now she had shown her true colors. "you know your not famous? walking around like you are but your not" you smiled widely at her leaning in.

"No I'm not truly famous...but I'm more famous then you, I quit by the way and I do hope you have money for a lawyer because this is slander and invasion of privacy"

"You've got no proof it was me." she said snidely

"Oh but I have, a recorded confession smile your on camera" she froze knowing she was utterly fucked you smiled and leaned in to her ear.

"I am going to sit back and watch you fall, you tired to destroy me and my new life and failed but most of all you hurt the ones I love so now I am going to destroy yours, I’m going to take you to the cleaners, your going to lose everything" she gasped no one fucked with your family she hurt you but more importantly she hurt Jack and Bruce and she was gonna have to have deep pockets to settle this one cos you was out for blood. You did one final sweep of the kitchen wanting to rub salt in the wound.

"You know...I always liked this place...Think I will buy it once you go bankrupt after our court battle" she stood there mouth agape as you turned walking through the door. Jack and Alfred was let you pass then quicker than you could register you heard a loud shout turning you saw her charge at you making to attack you but Damien was to quick for her capturing her throwing her back you winced hearing her back hit the metal counter in the kitchen

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY MOTHER!" you all froze as he shouted not knowing what to do Alfred nodded his head in Damien direction.Get him out. you placed a hand on his shoulder he panted shaking he was angry very angry then looked at you

"Dami, thank you but we have to go now okay? come on Dami go to the car for me please"

"Are you hurt Ummi?" you shook your head not understand what he called you, or why Alfred had gasped so loud at it but didn't care all you wanted was to calm him down and get him out of here.

"No honey you stopped her before she could get to me"

"A-are you mad?" you smiled at him shaking your head again

"Of course not, you protected me just like you said you would now come on out to the car that's enough excitement for one day"and you looked at Alfred he knew what you was asking and nodded he had caught that on film thank fuck.

"She isn't your mother you little brat!" you somehow managed to pull Damien from the kitchen behind you.

"Shut your fucking mouth!!" you you shouted at her livid ushered the others out taking a few breaths as you walked out into the crowd.

"Boys in the car, Jack you got my bag still?" he nodded but Damien was quiet as you pushed him thought the crowd stopping half way taking a deep breath this had to be done, you had to get used to the public side, dick had said something the other day making you stop and think, if you don't interact with these people then you cant ever prove them wrong, you wont be able to ever stand up for yourself and that's what you had to do.You cant let Bruce do this for you all the time, not anymore.

"I'm going to make a statement are you all ready?" most nodded getting cameras ready for pictures and holding out recorders.

"I'm am sure you have all been listening and reading to recent rumors circulating about me in recent weeks. I have been following these myself tho had to be discreet about it, you see these rumors have been started by someone I was close to and I wanted to try and find out who, this is why I have been quiet about it.Last night there was a typo in the article about my parents passing nameing and shameing this woman,she has been handing out details of my personal life, selling my information and been telling lies one of which cause heartache for both myself and my family and has caused many problems for me in the past weeks telling online papers and paparazzi my location anytime she knew. this is a woman who I considered a dear friend and who I have worked for for the past five nearly six years I came here today to confront her, she has admitted to me today about her behavior and revealed to me and my family today that it was done out of spite and jealousy and also thought she would make more money if customers knew I worked here and would come in to try and get a glimpse of Bruce in the cafe. Today I quit my job here and over the next few days will take action threw the courts. I don't not blame anyone for the death of my parents at all, they heard the threat the world was given just like the rest of us but still chose to got to metropolis for their anniversary, they ignored the warnings and paid for it with there lives they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. And no I am not and have not ever been pregnant, this particular lie of hers caused myself and Bruce a lot of heartache which I can not forgive her for, The address she gave out as my residence is not my home any longer I moved nearly six weeks ago so please stop going there I'm assuming the new tenants would like a rest, I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to end these things but I just wanted to clear the air and explain to you exactly what was happening" there was a few chuckles echoing across the crowd person shouted out

"So do you Hate superman or not?" you laughed

"No of course I don't, he has done a lot for us even saved myself once a long time ago and I am forever great full to him for that, I am only sad that he has been dragged into this woman's lies and I can only apologize for that I'm sure he has more important things to worry about.Now if that's all I'd like to get going...Its a bit chilly out here and I'm sure the boys are getting board in the car." you turned and headed to the car and amazingly enough they let you, opting to take photos of the cafe you smiled smugly as Alfred pulled away speaking

"Well she wanted fame now she has it" Jack laughed

"Yes something like that....was that alright? I've not done it before on my own...Oh my god what if Bruce is mad? do you think he will be mad I did that? What if I said to much or not enough or-"

"It was perfect miss Y/n you explained yourself with dignity and respect, you were straight to the point and covered everything Bruce wont be mad if anything I think he will be extremely proud of you for handling it the way you did." you sighed and slumped

"Oh thank god all I was thinking was 'be like Bruce, be like Clark, be like Bruce, be like Clark" Alfred through his head back a little laughing and Damian shuffled closer looking down fiddling with his fingers

"You okay there Dami?" you watched Alfred tilt the rear view mirror

"I-I'm sorry I called you mother...and Ummi it wont happen again" you sighed dragging him towards you.

"Hey,Look Damien Your father and I are really serious you know that right?" he nodded slowly waiting for you to rant at him.

"And Because we are serious ...we have already spoke about you boys and this...Mother issue, I would be delighted if you called me mother or mom or u-ummi? but you don't have to...But if you do then I would be so happy, so so happy. But as far as I'm concerned we are a family already either way so you call me what you like okay? and that goes for your brothers to." you watched as Damian's face lit up he looked so young.

"R-Really you don't mind?" you shook your head pulling him in for a hug. Once you all got home you moved everyone into the kitchen and started mixing batter for muffins using your mothers cook book

"Are you really going to make me some blueberry and marzipan muffins?" you nodded to Damian

"Absolutely you liked em right?" he smiled nodding sitting at the counter watching you and Alfred zigzag across the kitchen like a well oiled machine the boys including Tim and Jason sat watching nibbling on the left over marzipan.

"Tim flick threw that book and find coffee walnut muffins" you called out as you placed the current batch of muffins in the oven Tim was quick to take the book from the side and look for the recipe.

"Coffee walnut? that's different for a muffin?" Alfred asked you smiled nodding

"Yep when mum found a flavor combo she liked we had all sorts of it thought Tim would like it... that book there is every Cooke family recipe its why I had to get it quick before all this kicked off" Jason peeked over Tim's shoulder.

"All that fuss for a book?" Jack smiled slyly

"Yeah but more then that...everything in the cafe was mum’s recipes, all the baking anyway without that book they don't have nothing they never made copies, can't make nothing that's why when we took it she asked for it back, she probably hasn't even realized yet. My sister is a bitch never ever piss her off y/n has destroyed her business with out lifting a finger!" they all gasped then laughed loud.

"Holy shit! you go girl!" Jason high fived you making you giggle

"I see now why dad calls you mama bear your scary" you frowned

"He still calls me that?" they all nodded humming you blushed you didn't know that, you looked up as Bruce came through the door dropping his coat on the floor pushing past everyone you frowned thinking something was wrong until he swooped you up into a long kiss pressing you against the counter making you moan the boys cringed and left the kitchen fast.

"EWW THEIR GONNA DO IT NEAR THE MUFFINS!!" you laughed pulling away

"And what was that for Mr Wayne?" Alfred cleared his throat moving to mix the new batter

"Saw the footage then sir? I told you to wait until later to view it we all know you cant help yourself when she gets... what was it again Mama bear?" you whined throwing a tea towel at Alfred making him smirk

"Yes Alfred I did and I'm afraid I'm going to steal her away its urgent" he said a smile in his voice you sighed

"Urgent huh?" he smiled hoisting you up onto his hips making you gasp feeling him grind his erection onto your core

"Oh yes very urgent, urgent enough in fact that I had to cancel the rest of my meetings and probably have a few speeding tickets in the post" you laughed loud at him

"Oh my god!" he quickly spun around making his way to the stairs

"FOR FUCK SAKE PICK A ROOM AND FUCK!!! STOP WANDERING AROUND!!JACK TELL YOUR SISTER"

"FUCK OFF TELLING MY SISTER YOU TELL YOU DAD HE'S THE ONE RUNNING IN WITH A BONER TIM!"

"STOP FUCKING YELLING!!" you rolled your eyes as they continued shouting and screaming at one another.

"You gonna parent them or no?" Bruce shook his head wincing as Jason screeched indicating that someone had hit/pushed/jumped on him

"A little preoccupied Sweets maybe after I've sorted you out....Besides Alfred wont let them kill each other" you laughed as he made it to the top of the stairs and rounded the corner hearing Tim's scream of

"FINALLY OI! THEIR OUT THE KITCHEN QUICK!" and multiple footsteps running back to the kitchen where the baking was happening .

[black-streak]

Little Pistol - Nothing Personal

Chapter 2

First Previous Next

It'll be a minute before Tim is actually introduced here, by the way. Mostly because I'm not 100% certain who exactly I want him to be affiliated with and how he'll operate yet.

Which reminds me, I'm opening that to a vote that I'll post tomorrow. It's open to all, but anyone tagged in this should expect to be tagged onto that as well. I would like your input, please.

LP Taglist

@zalladane @moonlightstar64 @amayakans @elmokingkong @queen-in-a-flower-crown @karategirl119 @dreamykitty25 @danielslilangel @melicmusicmagic @xahriia @sassakitty

Permanent list

@naoryllis @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen @my-name-is-michell @maribat-is-lifeblood @dast218 @novicevoice @shizukiryuu @princess-of-fangirls @bigpicklebananatree @pirats-pizzacanninibles @abrx2002 @breemeister @darkthunder1589 @thestressmademedoit @severelyenchantedwonderland @isabellemasen @multi-fandom-freak0221 @fantasyloversblog @bzz75 @cloudiedraws @jardimazul @orbitsvt @gingerdaile @sotheresthatthought @kadmeread @novaloptr @unabashedlyswimmingtimemachine @crazylittlemunchkin @18-fandoms-unite-08 @tiny-goddess-of-chaos @ladybug-182 @toodaloo-kangaroo @the-alice-of-hearts

~---~

The next battle came as a stark contrast to the normal. Chat still flirted, still tried to get close, but he kept fighting, kept helping even when she ignored him. Then, the most amazing thing happened. She got hit after getting distracted by one of his comments and instead of yelling at him for it and being pushed off in turn, he turned to the akuma. Without a word from her, he stopped his comments and went after the cursed object with a single minded focus she'd never seen from him before. Within ten minutes with minimal help on her part, he was presenting her with the blackened hair tie of the victim. 

"A token, m'lady," he bowed, but kept his eyes downcast.

"Thank you, Chat," she managed to get out in her surprise, taking the item and working her magic on it and the city alike.

"I'm sorry," he murmured at her side, "I distracted you and got you hurt. That's my fault."

"It is," she agreed, not wanting to lie and say it wasn't, but also fighting back her urge to comfort him, "You'll do better next time," she stated.

"Much better," he promised, peeking up at her in hope of forgiveness. She swallowed back her instinct to grant it.

"Good," she nodded and took off back to school.

…

She spent most of the school day comparing his attitude this time to the last akuma attack, startled to realize what a difference a single conversation could make. She did that. She managed to make him change. Sure, she was injured, but only the once and he even said he was sorry! Took responsibility for his mistakes. That was unprecedented. She couldn't help but wonder how much pushing it would take to stop him completely. To incite obedience. Not that she planned to push it to that level, but it was a curious thing.

As she pondered on the logistics of such an act, just for the fun of it, she stepped out of the classroom, intending to head out for the day, she noticed Chloe shooing Sabrina off. Probably to act on some offhanded whim of the blonde. Marinette can't help the niggling thought of how she could change that as well. What words would it take to set Sabrina free? What made Chloe tick? 

As she passed Alya, the reporter talking to Nino, or rather, at Nino, she thought of how to switch the roles. How to encourage Nino to express himself more openly. To be comfortable in his own skin enough to confidently express it. 

Her grin grew as she planned out exactly how each encounter went down, coming up with on the spot ideas and improvising at a drop of a hat for whatever response they might have. It reminded her of the thrill of figuring out a particularly difficult lucky charm. Plus, it was perfectly harmless to consider right? As long as she didn't act on it. And even if she did, it would benefit them all, so really, it didn't hurt to consider.

And if the outcomes were as good as Chat's were, even better. If she went through with it, that is.

…

A week came and went and as did another attack.

Chat waited until the akuma was caught and purified to flirt, ensuring she never became distracted by him or anything else for that matter. He called out any incoming projectile, caught her attention anytime anything happened that she might've missed. Took another hit for her. That frustrated her, but the rest was a needed reprieve from the stress of akuma's past. And then he started flirting.

"Chat, what are you doing?"

"Well surely, I've proven my dedication to you, m'lady. I figure we might celebrate?"

"You've proven nothing of the sort," she stated, head tilted in confusion.

"I did to! I made sure you weren't harmed, I took the attack seriously, I even apologized and caught the akuma for you last time!"

"That isn't proof of love, Chat. That's basic human decency. I would do that for any hero or civilian for that matter. If that's a show of devotion to you, I'd hate to see how you treat people you're indifferent to," Ladybug countered, lips pursed and eyebrows pinching in.

"I'm perfectly nice to people I don't know," he defended himself quickly.

"Oh," her expression swiftly morphed, eyes widening into a look of taken aback surprise, "So you treat strangers well, but those you care about are lucky to hear an apology from you? Thank kwami I'm a ladybug then, I guess."

"That's not what I meant, of course I apologize when I'm in the wrong," he backtracked.

"So you think last time was the only time you messed up with me," she clarified.

"Well no…" Chat hedged, looking down again.

"You've barely proven that you don't hold malicious intent towards me. Don't push your luck, kitty. Black cats don't have any," she stated, taking off to leave him alone with his thoughts once more.

…

Arriving home, she dropped the transformation, collapsing on her chaise and shaking her head, "I can't believe I said that. Oh my gosh, I actually said that," she stared off into the distance.

"Neither can I. That was very harsh of you, Marinette, I'm disappointed in you," Tikki spoke up from her knee where she sat glaring with a pout on her face.

However, instead of immediately groveling as she normally did, Marinette's eyes sharpened as they snapped to the creature, sick of the treatment she'd received from the goddess since she first implemented this new tactic, "Was anything I said a lie?"

"No, but you could've said it in a nicer way," she insisted.

"When has carefully and nicely ever worked with him in the past?"

Tikki opened her mouth, but Marinette swiftly cut her off, "Never. It always ends with you chastising me and me apologizing for something that wasn't my fault. Nothing ever changed. But this, being direct with him, it works. He's changing, finally," she felt relief in letting this out, especially in the face of someone so hypocritical in her expectations on her compared to that of her so-called partner.

"Marinette, you can't just change people into who you want them to be!"

"I'm not changing him. I'm telling him what I see and how I feel and he is reacting to that information how he sees fit," she corrected, eager now at the prospect once more.

Tikki frowned, considering this point, "That's technically true… I still don't like it though."

"It's okay Tikki, you'll see soon enough," she reassured.

…

As day shifted to night, she pulled out her tablet, checking for any news on her new favorite hero.

Nothing to discover today, though she did start making a few sketches of his suit, looking at possible redesigns. Adjustments or details that could be made to improve the overall look or functionality. Granted, it looked very functional already. 

She was startled to discover that even she wouldn't change much in that aspect. It became blatantly clear that he designed the suit to accommodate him perfectly, playing up his strengths and drawing away from any potential weaknesses. It only further her admiration and assured her of her choices. 

…

The next attack came sooner than expected, Hawkmoth apparently deciding he had more free time than them. As though that hadn't been obvious from the beginning. Surely, they knew that from the start and didn't need this reminder. Didn't the man have a job or something? Could he get back to it, please?

Speaking of, Chat was doing a remarkable job of trying to follow a purified white butterfly off into the horizon, wanting to please her by taking the hunt for the villain to heart. As though she hadn't tried that already. 

You'd think he hadn't listened to a word she'd said before the way he retraced her own work over again. Rolling her eyes, she let him humor himself, waiting until he came back, tail tucked and ears flattened, to admit his failure.

Sitting down, she relaxed into her spot. This was going to take a while.

…

It was three am and she had pulled up the newest article on her Robin. She still hadn't found his official name, but she thrilled to see new pictures of him, though still shadowed and from such terrible angles. Apparently he had more recently been seen working alongside another. Something he hadn't done before as far as the city of Gotham knew, still so ignorant to him being their very own wonderful Robin. She couldn't really be bothered to look further into who he was seen working with, but something in the back of her mind twinged as her heart stuttered to know he was willing to fight alongside another.

Closing up the window and shutting down her tablet, she fell asleep with a smile.

[spookymultimedia]

A Summer to Remember Ch 5

[Tim pov]

I walked up to Ned Flanders after breakfast and looked at him from a few feet away. He was in the kitchen working on the morning dishes, just humming to himself. It was cute. He really was a sweet man. I wasn't sweet like him. I was bitter and tired. Helen tells me I'm a pessimistic person and how I tend to see the negative side of things most of the time. I hated early mornings and usually grumbled instead of talking. Mornings were just too early sometimes. I liked to keep to myself and had a distaste for casual conversations. They felt anything but casual for me. There's uncomfortable lulls and I never know what to say. In conversation everything is unpredictable and I never have the right words. On the pulpit it's different. I've planned out what I have to say. I know what to expect for the most part. Everything is controlled. I like control. Is it selfish to prefer a little less chaos in my life?

       But somehow over the years I've grown used to Ned. Of course sometimes I don't feel like talking, but sometimes he just has to worry and talk on and on about something that's not that big of a deal and sometimes I have to step in and put him into perspective of what really matters. He's a nervous person. He can't help it. We're only human.  We both have our flaws; he's probably a more likeable person than I am though.

    So how on earth can such a kind, optimistic, genuine person have feelings for someone like me? It was surprising. Unpredictable. But I didn't mind this surprise. It was a new discovery of this friend I've come to like. Really when I think about it, it's no surprise that he's gay.

     I walked up closer to Ned and looked at him. I tried on a smile for once,

      "Good morning."

He gasped at me then smiled, "Reverend. I didn't hear you; you scared me. Goodmorning. "

     "I'm sorry." I frowned awkwardly. I really was that quiet, huh. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel better." He shrugged. He didn't sound confident. 

   "I'm here for you." I smiled again.

"I know you are." Ned smiled warmly. There was something about Ned that made you feel good. He could make you see how temporary worldly troubles are and made you feel like everything would be ok. 

      "Ned, are you going to come out to us as a group this morning? I think it would make for a good discussion. . .if you're comfortable with that of course." 

      He thought for a moment before he nodded. "Yeah, I'm comfortable. I trust all of you." He smiled at me looking happy to have some support. "Tim. . .why did you walk off like that last night?"

  I just shrugged, "I don't know." I didn't have a good answer. I just didn't want to be there anymore, I had felt confused last night. What was sexuality? What was mine? I was straight, right? But how did I know that? It was all too overwhelming to process. I wasn't sure where to start. 

     "Oh. .ok." Ned looked down thoughtfully and looked at me again. "Should I bring up how I feel about you?? I'm sorry, I should just get over it  .  . .I should. .I'm sorry." He rubbed his hand on his arm nervously. He was tense. He should relax more. 

     "Ned it's okay, it just happens sometimes. It's up to you if you want to talk about it. . you don't have to though." 

        "Okay. I'll catch ya later then. I better go wash up." He walked off. 

         If it was up to me I'd just have both of them, Ned and Helen. Maybe something in me felt curious. I wanted to see what dating Ned would be like. I winced, confused. Why was I thinking like that? Did I have feelings for him?? That's not how marriage works. It is between a man and . . . No I mean, it's between two people, not three or more. But why not? Why was it that way? If I made Ned happy and chose to be with him that would mean I'd have to leave Helen, I love Helen. I've been through everything with her. We've had our highs and lows. We even came close to breaking at times but we stayed strong. I can't just end that now. But what if I do nothing and regret it forever? What if I end up wanting Ned more than I realize? Was this something I was seriously considering?? I felt sick.

        "Timothy?" 

      I flinched and turned to see Maude. "Oh, it's you." I sighed out relieved. I was jittery at the moment. It didn't help that I had just drank coffee. 

        "Are you alright?" She cocked her head.

"Yes." I said firmly. ". .why?"

        "You were staring at the wall?"

". . .mm yes." I walked off, again, for no good reason.

[Ned pov]

     I sat there waiting for morning study.

I stared at the fireplace that was always lit. Helen always complained to Timothy it was impractical and only made a mess. No one really knew why he always had it lit. He just likes setting fires for some reason. My chest was feeling just like that fire; restless, warm and tense. What if Helen hates me? What if I lose her friendship? What if I ruin everything? I took my hand and gently fiddled with my other hand, pulling at its fingers nervously. It was a bit hard to breathe. Maude sat by me.

       "Hey. You ok? You look tense." I looked down at her and shrugged. "He asked me to come out officially to you all and. . well, I'm scared of how Helen will take it." I muttered. She held my hand and I took it.

       "Well I'm here for you. I always will." I nodded and took a deep breath.

"Ok."

     Soon Timothy and Helen joined us and sat down. He opened up with a prayer and looked at me, "Ned, would you like to share an enlightening discovery you've had recently?" 

        I nodded but didn't say anything for a moment.

      "Well?" Helen asked, a bit confused and impatient. 

       He put up a hand, "Helen, please." He looked at me kindly, "Take your time Ned."

     I swallowed. "I'm- I'm gay. I'm a gay man. I. .I like men." My voice shook.

Helen shrugged, "Is that all? I thought it was something serious."  I wasn't sure what to say to her. She wasn't upset. That was something.

        "And the Lord understands you and loves you Ned, there's nothing wrong about you at all." Tim confirmed to me once again.

Should I tell her more? The truth would come out eventually, I might as well say it. 

       "Helen . . .I . . .I need to confess something that's been on my heart."

         She looked at me puzzled, "What?"

I opened my mouth trying to find my words.

     "I'm sorry. . .I just- I- I hope you can find it in your heart to understand." 

      "Okay. ."

       "I fell in love with your husband.  . .I didn't mean to. I didn't do anything with him I promised but I've just been having these strong feelings and I know it isn't right. . ." I felt a tear run down my face. She should just yell at me, I deserve it. I was shaking. 

       "Oh. . Oh .Ned. I understand. . .it's okay. I forgive you. It's just a harmless crush. I don't blame you. He really is a nice man." She smiled up at Tim and petted his back. Ridiculous jealousy itched at the back of my head. I wanted to hold him too. Why can't I have him?! I want him!! I need him. These bitter thoughts left me with a bad taste in my mouth. It was unlike me to feel so jealous. 

"Yeah. . ."

      "I'm glad you could be honest with us,Ned." 

      I stood up, "I need fresh air. . ." I made my way outside. I felt like I could throw up. 

     "Are you ok?" Tim stood up. Stop caring about me, it hurts. I kept walking and ran until I was in a meadow. I layed down. The bugs were going to be everywhere in my clothes. It didn't matter, I'll run to the showers soon. I started to cry. I was just so overwhelmed and stressed I couldn't help it. I felt dizzy. Emotions were burning me alive. My heart was yearning for something that was forbidden. He wasn't mine. He'd never be mine. The thought upset me like a spoiled child who was told no. I felt stupid. 

       After a minute I stood up. Maude looked at me from outside the meadow. She was only a couple feet away. "What's wrong?"

"I . .  . I want to be alone right now."

She nodded, 

          "Okay. . .we love you." 

  "I know. I love you too."

[Maude pov]

I walked back to the cabin and found the Lovejoys still by the fireplace, 

      "He wants to be alone right now."

"Hmmm. ." Timothy looked at the floor looking distressed, "This is my fault I shouldn't have pressured him. I should have let him talk on his own terms." He ran his hand through his hair. "Did I say something wrong?"

            "I don't think so?" Helen replied. She put a hand on his back. 

   "You're very supportive,Timothy." I sat by him. 

        "Thanks Maude." He smiled but still seemed worried. "He's not hurting anyone. I don't feel offended or betrayed at all." He paused before looking at Helen. "Are you?"

She shook her head, "No, he was only being honest. I don't feel upset. I don't see any issue with Ned having feelings really."

         "Doesn't it bother you a little that we're married?"

         She shrugged at him, "No. . .I mean I am a bit surprised. I don't know." She looked over at me and walked over to where I was sitting. I was staring at the floor thinking.

    "Everything okay?"

            I wanted to be honest with her but I wasn't ready. I was still anxious. I just shrugged. 

     "Why don't we go for a swim? Will that help?" 

       I smiled and nodded, "That would be nice. It's so humid out here." I stood up and gave her a hug. She hugged me back, she always did. Her hugs were firm and sincere. God, I could feel her chest under my head, they were so soft and nice. After a couple minutes I let go and left to change into swimming clothes.

       I found Helen at the "beach" and sat in the shallow water with her. I sighed at the cool water, this was nice. Helen's hair was already dripping on her shoulders. 

     "Feel better?"

      She looked down at me.

     "Mmhm."  I leaned on her shoulder and smiled. The shore's waves beat against our legs washing small rocks off and onto us. I picked up a smooth olive grey rock that looked pretty and looked it over. Helen started to skip stones across the water. Or at least she tried to. The most she could get were two skips and when she had she looked over at me with huge eyes, "Did you see it?" She said proudly. 

                          "Yeah I did." 

 For a few moments we were peacefully quiet until she spoke up, "Maude?"

                  "Hm?"

      "Have you ever kissed a girl?"

I tensed up slightly, was she suspicious??

  "No. . ."

           "Oh. ." She sounded a bit disappointed, it surprised me. Why?

    "I have once."

I sat up and looked at her, "Really?" I gave her a look that begged her to tell me more. 

      "Yeah . . I was in 10th grade and I there was this all girls sleepover at my house. Me and this one girl thought it would be funny to kiss. I dunno, we just wanted to make a scene I guess." There was a giggle and blush in her voice. I smirked, "I'm not surprised."

     "Well, we did it. And we made out because it just kept getting attention and I dunno I was just young, it was just too fun. And well I . .I kinda liked how her mouth felt against mine and how her chest felt against me . ..But I was young." She shrugged.

          "So?"

"So I . . .I just like men now." I could swear she was trying not to look at my wet shirt where my boobs were. She played with her hand in the water and looked down.

      "Are you sure?"

She shrugged, "I don't know.  .I mean. I just thought it was something all young girls went through." 

              "A phase?"

"Yeah. ." 

            "Well, do you still like girls?"

"Maybe.  .  .? Isn't that weird?"

       "What?" 

"That I'm- that I might sorta maybe still feel attracted to women while I'm married?"

           "Mmmmm I don't think so."

"But I love Timothy."

           "I think you can find them nice to look at and still be committed to Timothy, Helen. I forget what the word was. Umm. . .bisexual I think?" 

         "Oh . . ."

"That doesn't mean you're gonna go around kissing other girls. You're committed and you just happened to like girls too. It makes sense."

       "But.  . .what if I do want to kiss other girls?"

     "I . .I don't know." I blushed. Was she thinking about what I thought she was thinking about?? I got butterflies everywhere.

"Do you?"

         ". .Yeah.  . ."

       She leaned slowly towards me, testing the waters. I stopped thinking and met her in between. I pecked her lips and she pecked at mine. Her hands rested at my waist. Something in me woke up. It was an aching desire to get closer to her. To get more of that sickly sweet sensation I was feeling that felt so nice. I poked my tongue into her mouth, and she cracked open for me to feel and explore. I kissed her deeper and felt her cheek with my palm. It was a wonderful feeling. After a minute she broke the kiss and looked at me, her face was flushed pink. "Helen . .Helen, you have to tell Timothy about us." 

     "It was just a kiss.  . I mean friends kiss sometimes right?"

           "Usually no. . .not like that." 

She thought it over in her head, "God, we've made such a mess." Despite her stress her hand played with my hair, my head leaned against it. 

        I gave her a long look and before I knew it we were on each other again. Her kisses were hastey but deep. Intense but soft. I got into her lap and felt her hand pet at my back. One of my hands rested on her chest. It was soft, it was so soft. I wanted to grab at it and play with her . . .but that wouldn't be ladylike of me. So I resisted. I pulled out and rested on her shoulder to catch a breath. "Helen you're pushing your luck, what are you gonna do if he finds us like this?? What if he's upset?"-

     I looked over at the sound of footsteps and found Timothy standing there. I quickly moved off of her. "Reverend! I . . .we. .we got- it got out of hand. .I'm sorry. Please don't be mad." I teared up feeling scared and hugged myself. 

                "Helen.  . ?" There was hurt in his eyes. "I- I didn't realize you felt this way."

        "Timothy I'm sorry. . .I still love you, I mean it. .I'm so sorry, can we talk about this?"

       "I understand." He walked off solemnly. 

[binbogummy]

for the rqs can you write about how the habitians would react to Boris after the events of the Habitait?

• I'd imagine the process of settling into town, befriending ex-habiticians and opening his flower shop takes a good 3-4 months from the night he left the Habitat. With the help of Kamal and the Flower Kid, that is.

• There were a good few habiticians that didn't have too much of an opinion on Habit. During their time at the Habitat Dr. Habit was nothing more than the unseen overseer of the place. A lot of people never even got to meet him until after everything went down.

• The people with the weakest opinions on him being Lulia, Marv, Questionette, Mirphy, Dallas, Jerafina, Gary and Borbra. As far as they were concerned they couldn't care less about the guy.

• That was until they either found out about what he did to FK or the rumor of it got around. Then even the people that once held him in little regard began to speak his name with contempt.

• I headcanon that Boris didn't originally live in the town that the all of the Habiticians came from. It was just near to where he decided to build the Habitat. Thanks to FK's insistence he ended up staying around and before he could begin looking into finding a place of his own, his temporary shack up with Kamal became a permanent thing.

• During Habit’s first few month settling into town, he was met with cautious whispers and awkward side glances when he went out in public.

• It was a bit of a challenge to convince Boris to go out on the town with you at first. He already felt bad staying in town. He figured the townsfolk probably wouldn't appreciate him sticking around after the ruckus he had caused and he wasn't completely wrong.

• The only way Boris was ever going to settle in smoothly was if you did your best to keep up your friendship and help show other people what a big harmless softie he really was. If you of all people would vouch for his character then they had to give him a second chance.

• That brings us back to the people that actually got to know Habit or knew quite a bit about him. His resolution with them would have to be a little more personal

• Those people being Tiff, Randy, Gillis, Rondo, Trevor, Nat, Trencil, Parsley, Jimothen, Millie, Petunia, Tim Tam and Wallus.

(Ayyy, gonna put this one under the cut cause I can't help but make everything unreasonably long)

• Tiff never disliked Habit, which is what made it so hard for her to turn him down when he'd begin crying. It was a pretty easy for the two of them to make up. She trusts your judgment and Habit congratulates her on moving forward with her music career, admitting that he always loved her voice. She even sings one more round of Eeny Meeny Miny Molar up on stage just for him.

• To Gillis and Rondo he's always going to be their weird ex-boss but there aren't really any hard feeling. Gillis is still a little bit frightened of him but Gillis is frightened of a lot.

• Randy...well, it takes awhile for Randy to get over the whole pickle thing. Randy was probably the only Habitician Boris didn't want to apologize to. Sure he'll apologizes for almost stealing his teeth but not for telling him he shouldn't smell like pickles. You might even have to calm Boris down when Randy once again brings up that he smells like loose change (the nitrous oxide smell took a while to go away).

• Maybe take him aside and explain that while the whole smell thing was silly, it seemed to mean a lot to Randy and while he might not have meant it, Boris did offend him. They're exaggerated personalities seem to clash but they're little feud eventually fizzles out into an almost friendly rivalry.

• Then you have Trevor. Just prove to him that Habit is not a vampire and he'd be good to go. Just wanting to steal teeth is way less interesting than turning everyone into an army of the undead. Trevor will rant to anyone and will usually go to Boris because he knows that he'll happily listen, even if he has no idea what the kid's talking about.

• You and Nat had become pretty good friends since leaving the Habitat and when you'd mention hanging out with Boris she'd roll her eyes and punch you. "Why do you still hang out with that guy? Didn't he like, yank out a bunch of your teeth? Not that that it matters to me but like...really?"

• Surprisingly, Nat's not one to hold grudges and her criticism of him actually seemed to come from a place of worry. It doesn't take much to convince her (or at least half convince her) that it was fine and before you know it, she's actually okay with you inviting Boris to tag along the next time you hang out

• Boris is intimidated by her. She gets a kick out of that but she's playful about it. Getting to know him makes her realize how much he reminds her of her dad. If that's a good or bad thing she's not sure.

• Speaking of which, the look on Trencil's face when he caught the three of you together. He knew Nat had invited you over for a sleepover and was heading to her room with popcorn for the two of you.

• Gently knocking on her door and stepping inside when he heard a cheeky 'Come in'.

"My îngeraș, I brought you and y/n some-

• The large green man definitely stood out against the bright pink bedroom. Boris sat crisscross applesauce on the floor at the foot of her bed, you were sitting on the bed behind him attempting to braid his hair and Nat sat on the floor beside him, holding one of his large hands on her lap and filing his nails (claws?). "Oh, thanks, dad. Just set it on my desk, well get to it in a sec." She said not looking up from her work. You echo her thanks and Boris offers a nervous smile and wave.

• Trencil doesn't even saying anything, setting the bowl on the floor and backing out.

• The first time Trencil saw you outside with Habit he heard what sounded like a shriek and turned a corner to see Boris holding you up in the air and spinning you around. If he'd waited a second longer he might have seen that the two of you were laughing but you were quickly snatched and sheltered behind a rather tutelar looking vampire.

• It takes Trencil awhile to warm up to Boris. After hearing about what went down at the Habitat he didn't want him anywhere near his friends or family. He was opposed to your decision to keep him around and even more dismayed when Nat began to warm up to him. He probably even pulled Boris aside at one point to threaten him against hurting either of you.

• Still, the more time he spent reluctantly getting to know the real Boris Habit, the more his annoyance began to fade. They finally had their first real conversation one day when Boris complimented the flowers he had growing outside his house. Things begin to turn around from there and when Boris opens his flower shop Trencil becomes one of his regulars.

• Habit still isn't the type of person that Trencil would usually get along with but he couldn't deny that his daughter was right about them having a lot in common.

• The only thing Parsley knew about Habit during his time at the Habitat was that his dad worked for him. He offered to help you press charges on Habit after you got back to town on the night of the big event... while Habit was standing right beside you. No? Alright, that's your choice, kid. Overall doesn't have much of an opinion on him.

• Then you have Jimothen. Voted 'Second Most Likely To Deck Habit In The Face' (right after Petunia). What kind of weirdo rips out a kid's teeth?! The first time Boris walked into his lounge back in town, he probably asked him to leave. Even if you come in together, it's gonna take some convincing to get him to serve Habit. Seeing your hopeful smile as you try to talk him into letting Habit stay makes him feel guilty and he eventually gives in. "You need to pick better friends, champ"

• Part of this comes from the fact that he feels like he could have done something to stop Habit. He feels dumb for having worked for him and not catching on sooner than he did. But hey, if you were so determined to forgive the weirdo than maybe he could too.

• Millie, Petunia and Tim Tam all disliked him from their time at the Habitat. Every time Boris would come down from his tower he would be jumped by Petunia. It got to the point where even now, just seeing her sets off his flight or fight response.

• Tim Tam would routinely sneak into his office and steal things.

• Millie just hated seeing his stupid face all over the Habitat. Probably vandalized more than a few posters with marker mustaches and devil horns. Pabit also freaks her out.

• I feel like I covered their reaction to the newly reformed Boris pretty well in this post!

• Boris's flower shop even becomes a regular hang out spot for the three of them when they're bored. He always has snacks ready for them and offers to drive them all home at the end of the day.

• Finally, there's Wallus. Remember how I said that Wallus seemed genuinely afraid of Habit? Yeah, there's a reason for that.

• During his time working for Habit he was very blunt right off the bat about how weird he thought Boris and the Habitat was. Unfortunately for him, due to this, Habit wasn't attached to him like he was to Kamal. So when Boris would get angry at him, he took to being straight up mean to Wallus since he wasn't worried about scaring him off like he was with Kamal. It was probably pretty similar to the way Boris would talk to FK in the game. Saying threating things with a big fake smile that only made it creepier.

• Wallus didn't even bother to meet up with everyone back in town after the big event and went straight home. Kamal got a text from him later that night asking if everything went okay. Kamal could only glance at two sleeping figures in his living room before replying with a "Yeah, I think it did..."

• Wallus and Kamal hang out regularly and for a while Wallus would bend over backwards to avoid running into Boris. Which was hard since Kamal and him were living together. He Showed up one day to drop something off and Boris answered the door. The guy literally booked it down the street and Boris chased after him which probably didn't help the situation. After cornering him, Boris finally realized that this probably wasn’t a very good idea and quickly got to apologizing. He rolled with it though and took the opportunity to finally apologize for everything else as well.

• It was the first time they'd seen each other in months and once Boris finished his rant there was nothing but silence. Wallus knew from Kamal that Habit had gotten better but seeing it now he almost couldn't believe it. He's genuinely impressed by how hard he was working to become a better person.

• The two of them never really become friends but at least they both finally got their closure. After that Wallus no longer avoids him and the two even make awkward conversation when they run into each other.

• It takes Boris a while to settle in but it's all worth it. The way people would wave at him when they saw him on the street, the way Jimothen had everyone’s usuals memorized and even the way Petunia would do her little "parole meetings" with him when you brought her along on your visits. It all made him feel warm and fuzzy inside.

• The people he had once chalked up to being lost causes and the person he actually stole teeth from, they were more of a family than his actual family ever was.

(Thanks so much for the request! Next one wont be so long I promise!)

[magicrowiswritingstuff]

Batboys: The personalities of the boys’ significant other

After some feedback I received I really wanted to write more headcanons though I wasn't sure about what. So I decided to write about the boys’ s/o as a guide for future headcanons and as an idea for you all. All headcanons about the batboys will be written with these personalities for the s/os in mind unless stated otherwise. (I tried to make them all very different ... Did I succeed? You decide.) _________________________________

Dick Grayson:

You are the most chill person Dick ever met. It takes a lot to make you irritated since you accustomed to just ignoring the people that are acting disrespectful towards you. If they feel the need to take their anger out on you let them. You don't care. Though, that person is now definitely dead to you. However, you don't let them know since silence is the most frustrating punishment. Often you just politely smile at whoever said something inappropriate and walk away. Because of that you seem really sweet and harmless at first glance but when somebody disrespects the people you care for? Oh, somebody has to hold you back because you get furious. Dick and you get along great. Always have and always will. The first time you met it just clicked and the two of you knew that this person would never leave your life again. Sometimes your families think that the two of you have full on conversations in your thoughts because suddenly one of you chuckles or smiles without given cause. And they were absolutely right. You know Dick and he knows you so well, you often just know exactly what the other one is thinking. You were so close there was nothing and no one who could tear you apart. The two of you had a silent agreement to strengthen your relationship even more, nothing that was ever said out loud but understood either way: No secrets. You tell the other one everything, or at least everything that concerns them too. Secrets are the easiest way to destroy a relationship because it quickly leads to jealousy. And since there weren't any secrets between you two there was no jealousy. Well except for one. The biggest secret Dick had to keep from you caused him much distress. But when he finally told you who he was you were relatively chill. At least on the outside. A thing you two also do is trying out hobbies of the other one to search for something to do together. You drag him along to the stuff you like to do and he does the same. One day you sat down with him to brainstorm some ideas which lead to him suggesting dancing lessons.

"You can dance ballet?!"

You were surprised but knowing his background in the circus and as a highly gifted gymnast and acrobat it kind of fit. However, you convinced him to try out standard partner dances with you. Disco fox, Cha-cha-cha, Rumba, the typical Waltz and even the fast Jive or energetic Rock 'n' Roll, you tried it all. And one place were the two of you show off what you have learned are the galas Bruce often hosts. To say you didn't enjoy the open mouthed stares would be a lie but you had to thank Dick for that because he was an excellent leader which made it so fun to dance in the first place. Your life changes completely after Dick revealed to you that he was Nightwing. You seemed chill and definitely didn't freak out the way he predicted but you were scared, you were concerned and you were worried. And you still are. You had known that something was up by the bloody shirts you sometimes found in the laundry but you thought that after his reveal he wouldn't just continue throwing them into the basket in the bath room without a word. The first time you found one again you grabbed it and walked into the living room to confront him.

"Why don't you come to me when you get hurt?" "Because it happens almost every night?" "WHAT?!"

After a long discussion you finally managed to convince him that even though you weren't as great as Alfred, you could definitely stitch him up better than he could. Many months later, you often stayed in the manor and not your apartment when Dick had to go on patrol and sometimes you assisted Alfred or helped with the wounds, Dick asked you if you would like to help the team permanently. You declined. You didn't want to be a vigilante yourself or have an alias.

"I'm just (Y/N) and I'm here because I love you and not because it's my job."

However, you continued to help them whenever you could. Just not as another vigilante but as yourself. _________________________________

Jason Todd:

When you tell people that this brooding, though looking guy wearing a biker jacket lurking over your shoulder protectively is your boyfriend they usually don't believe you. And when you tell them that he's actually the biggest softy they don't believe you either and on top of that you get an angry look from him. The cliché of 'opposite attract' really is true, at least kind of. You're just appearing to be so sweet, innocent and introvert that for outsiders it doesn't look like a match. And you really are like that but you two still prove them wrong every time with great delight. You and Jay still share many similarities though. They just weren't visible for anyone who didn't know the two of you well enough. Jason is a sucker for books and movies and so are you. The best time you had with him are when you sat beside him in bed, drinking hot tea and silently reading together or talking about the latest movie you two watched. Theories, feedback and recommendations are always shared in an animated discussion with lots of laughter. You could talk with him about books and films forever. Jason still maintains the tough bad boy persona in public but you don't care because you know what lies underneath. For you he acts as cheesy as he wants to and shows his soft side. You're dead if you tell someone that though. At first he didn't even let his family know about his softer side and denied it whenever they would tease him about it because let's be honest he is helplessly in love and it shows. You found it adorable, his little pout while a blush slowly tints his face red but he still held onto his persona. After a while he stopped, just shrugged with his shoulders and owned it.

"Fuck it, it's true."

You appreciate it deeply but understand that he not necessarily wants strangers know about his soft side. However, that doesn't stop you from saying it anyway. It's not like they believe you. To show your appreciation even more you try out new things because you want to be more outgoing with him like going to parties with friends or the galas hosted by Bruce. But since you are a full-blood introvert you quickly get exhausted by the people constantly surrounding you. Clinging to Jason, your rock in the sea, you often feel guilty and like you are holding him back. The moment he notices your abashed state he immediately suggests leaving.

"We don't have to leave just because I feel tired." "Babe, we are leaving because I can't stand looking at these snobs any longer."

While a smile grazes your lips, Jay grabs your hand and flees the scene with you. Giggling you let him drag you along. He would never embarrassed you in front of other people or tease you about the things you feel insecure about. But when you two were alone in your apartment or Jay's room in the manor he will tease you and just let loose and have fun. He will tickle you until tears spill out of your eyes because you are laughing so much. Only then will he stop, leaning over you and watching while the last breathy giggles leave your lips. You really were his soft spot and he was your pillar of strength. The first time you drove with him on his motorcycle you were absolutely terrified. Clinging to him, chest pressed against his back and with closed eyes you let it wash over you. But then he slowed down and quickly tapped against your knee. Slowly you straightened up and dared to take a peek. And you were awe-struck. Gotham was wrapped into a dark blanket, the street was only illuminated by the streetlights and neon signs. It was absolutely breathtaking. Lifting yourself from him you looked around, mouth hanging open. After that you were beaming with excitement whenever he would pick you up from work with his bike. Another part of you that kind of fitted into the cliché of 'opposites attract' was that you really dislike violence. You couldn't handle it. Even watching the news was sometimes too much. That of course made Jay rather nervous. He was Red Hood after all and even though he wasn't that violent anymore it was still a part of his reputation if it bothered him or not. And after he then had to reveal himself to you he was even more anxious. He couldn't lose you. A few days after the incident you made him sit down with you and talk about it. He explained everything and you understood immediately. You still didn't approve but you also didn't judge. In fact you told him you were proud of him for changing for the better. You couldn't have lost him either. After all he was the one who could set your mind at ease. He was the only one who could make you relax after a busy day when your thoughts were running wild. Without him you would lose yourself. You were like fire and ice. You just completed each other. _________________________________

Tim Drake:

You are very playful and Tim would probably also say 'clingy' though not in a bad way. Normally you were rather extroverted and attention loving. Going out, meeting new people and sometimes even talking to strangers. But with Tim? A chill night in is all you need. You don't have to go out to have fun, sitting on his bed you two can talk for hours. Your also are very supportive. You mean, if not him who will keep track of his coffee consume?

"How many cups of coffee did you drink already?" "Today or in the last ten minutes?

You try to get him to stop drinking too much coffee and go to bed instead. If you have to you drag him into bed you do it because A) he really needs it by the bags under his eyes and B) you love to cuddle with him. What you absolutely love to do with Tim is to cook together. He's often 'too busy' to get some real food so when he leaves his computer he grabs the first edible item from the kitchen he can get. 

"You need some real food in that stomach, come on."

Often people think that the two of you are both the biggest computer geeks but you don't really get it. You know how the essentials work like turning it on and opening the browser. But the stuff you see Tim do is another language you couldn't understand. You also weren't so big into video games until you met him. Now you secretly train so you would be able to beat his ass for once in smash. He was surprised when he lost. And you were hooked. Video games were fun! And a big plus: you and Tim could do it together. And now that you are trying to step up your game you became 'at least somewhat challenging to play against' (Quote by Tim). It only encouraged you even more to better your game skills. But one thing you geek out with him form the very beginning are old technological devices. After you had found the old Walkman and tapes from your mother’s past you two sometimes sit on the bed and listen to them. It was just such an interesting experience to listen to music that way. You love to annoy him. When he was busy working on his computer you think about what to do to get his attention. Your favorite: asking him silly questions.

"Why can't you just stop it?" "Because you are just so adorable when you answer them so seriously."

You love to tease him but you are the only one who is allowed to. You are at least equally protective as Tim himself. When Damian and Tim fight you still sometimes laugh about it but you are always on Tim's side and step in to defend him if you feel you have to. Damian respects that. On days when you two couldn't met up someone always ends up calling the other one. Over FaceTime you speak to one another until you almost fall asleep. After Tim's secret slipped he sometimes calls you when he had duty in the cave and needs some company. You were the one to suggest that and even though you are always very tired the next day because of the lack of sleep you still enjoy it. Sometimes you fall asleep during the call and when you wake up Tim lies in his bed, the call still running and the phone kept upright by a pillow so you could still see each other. _________________________________

Damian Wayne:

If Jason and his s/o are like fire and ice you and Damian are like fire and fire. Or at least you are the fuel to his fire. You two bicker constantly and sometimes your families really wonder if you love or hate each other. Of course it's the former; your bickering is always in a playful manner. It's only teasing without ever hurting the other one intentionally. If you two have a real fight, which is uncommon, it's solved rather quickly. And if it escalates you hold on, get some distance and talk about it later when both of your tempers cooled off. You are a handful sometimes. Very adventurous, not taking any shit from anyone and to phrase it in Damian's words 'mindless and reckless'.

"Who thinks it is a good idea to balance on the railing of a balcony?!" "I do."

But when you are alone with Damian you inner softy shows. Very chill and affectionate. You almost seem like a completely different person (But to be fair it’s the same with Damian when he’s alone with you). He is the one you care for most and you don't want to lose him. So you cut back and try to be more 'responsible'. Damian is very serious in general but especially about everything he cares about and you don't want him to worry too much. But what the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over, right? So if you once again do something reckless you just have to make sure to not let Damian know about it. It’s just incontinent for you that he almost always figures it out. But your reckless stunts definitely don’t happen that often since the two of you got together (though you still wonder around at night). You really want to be the best version of yourself and he supports you but keeps it within bounds. He still loves you for you and doesn't want you to change too much. You appreciate that deeply and support him in the same manner. You and Damian knew each other long before the two of you became a couple. You were friends, then best friends before becoming a thing so you understand and know each other completely. You know about the other's insecurities, hopes, dreams, boundaries, secrets, feelings, mannerisms. The list goes on. He trusts you the most which makes you an indestructible team. Nothing can tear you two apart or bring you down. Life never gets boring when you're with Damian. You're always trying out new stuff or the hobbies of the other one. However, that often ends in a contest because you both are very competitive but always in a healthy, supportive way. If one of you struggles too much the other one gladly helps. When you attend partner competitions ... no one has even the slightest chance of beating the two of you. Speaking of competitions, you have a self-declared mission to make Damian flustered. Because perfect Damian Wayne never stutters or is in a loss for words but he just has to look at you sometimes and you are a blushing mess. It's just not fair. For now you couldn’t declare a victory so you continue on with it. Something has to make him flustered you just have yet to discover it.

Your favorite activities with Damian were always the ones that get your adrenaline pumping. But sometimes it was nice to just sit down on a blanket in the park and read or draw with him. Especially since both of you were absolute nature spirits. The best dates were always the ones you spend outside since neither of you could stand being trapped in a room for too long or when he visits you in the night still dressed as Robin after a long day. Then you two would just sit on the fire escape and talk. You can talk with him for hours on end about any topic or their deepest, darkest secrets and neither of you ever feel embarrassed. Or he would secretly sleep over at your place. Snuggling together on your bed you love to run your fingers through his dark hair and feel him relax under your touch.

One thing though he will never let you try is becoming a vigilante yourself. No matter how often you ask or annoy him he stays stoic. He curses the day you figured out he is Robin.

"Maybe if I'm-" "No."

He won't even argue with you. No discussion, that’s an order, you stay at home. But he trains you and already trained you before you figured out who he was so you knew how to defend yourself since he can't force you to not wander around at night despite his constant nagging and warnings. One time, and even though Damian says he was going easy on you, you know you kicked his ass during training. And he knows it too but he won't ever admit that he underestimated you in that split second. But by the smile on his lips he had while you had him pinned down on the floor you knew he was proud.

[awhitehead17]

Universal Signs

Chapter Eight / Previous Chapter

Also on AO3

A/N: The rating has changed! It was general but is now teen. There is a bit violence and hints of blood towards the end of this chapter. Its nothing too graphic but just in case here's the warning if that makes you uncomfortable. 

Enjoy! :D

Tim wasn’t sulking. He wasn’t! He was just pouting in the common room on his own as he thinks through recent events. That’s all. No sulking involved whatsoever.

Okay so maybe he was sulking.  

His arm was irritating him. Underneath the bandage his skin itches and he has to forcibly stop himself from scratching at the wound. He scowls at the ceiling as he slumps back into the plush couch he was sat on. He can’t believe a cat spat at him and burnt his arm. Out of everything he’s encountered so far, that cat-like creature is probably the strangest things he’s yet to see. 

The aliens did tell him to not get too close, but in his defence they neglected to mention that the creature could spit over seven feet away! How was Tim supposed to know that? He saw the creature, it looked cute and fluffy and he wanted to pet it, then Kon-el found him and dragged him away. The alien’s reaction to the creature just made Tim more curious about it.

After grabbing food Tim found the cat again but kept his distance. It looked harmless and it even resembled his brother’s cat back home. However things went wrong when something spooked the creature and caused it to get nasty. In a matter of seconds it went from cute and cuddly to vicious and evil. It hissed and then spat at Tim before darting away and disappearing into the trees.

Thankfully he had quick reflexes and was able to cover his face with his arm before getting hit with the creature’s acid-like spit. His arm instantly flared up with pain which caused him to cry out. That’s when Kon-el appeared.

At least it was his arm that got burnt and not his face. Who knows what kind of damaged that would have caused if that was the outcome. Curiosity killed the cat. Tim snorts. Yeah, his curiosity did almost kill him this time.

“Are you okay?”

Tim jumps at the sudden voice. He turns around to look at them and follows them with his eyes as they walk over to the couch and sit opposite him.

“What’s funny?”

Cassie looks at him with slightly narrowed eyes, as if she’s suspicious of his behaviour. Tim eyes her up momentarily, even now after he’s been with them for a few weeks he still gets the odd feeling around Cassie. She’s warmed up to him a little in that time, as if she’s getting used to his presence now but there was still that underlying mistrust of him hanging around in the air.

Tim shrugs it off. There wasn’t a lot he could do about it in that moment. He averts his gaze from her and waves a dismissive hand. “Oh nothing, just some human crap.”

That was another thing Tim had learnt. Half of the time they have no idea what he’s saying, common phrases and sayings go right over their heads. Any abbreviations he makes gets him blanks stares. Movie and TV show references get him a raised eyebrow in question.

Of course this was to be expected considering where he is, but every time it happens the ache inside his chest of where he’s missing home just grows that bit heavier at the reminder.

Tim’s missing his friends and family. He doesn’t know how long it’s been since he was taken from earth as he was unable to track time while he was captured and he only has a vague idea of how long he’s been with these guys on this ship.

It sucks and Tim absolutely hates it. Unfortunately he doesn’t have much of a choice but to suck it up and get on with it.

“Sure...” Cassie drawls giving him that look that says you humans are strange. “I wanted to update you on some stuff. First off, our next stop will be in a few days’ time to collect the next item we need. There isn’t much to do between now and then, so basically get comfy and relax. Second thing, how would you like your own room on the ship? We were speaking and it’s only fair that you get your own space like the rest of us have.”

Tim nods taking in the information before pausing and shooting her a surprised look. He had been expecting the next stop details, however the room news did surprise him.

“Really? I didn’t think there would be any room for me to have my own space?” He questions her. “I don’t want to put any of you out or make any trouble.”

“We can clear out one of the storage rooms and place a bed in there. It wouldn’t be much but it’s somewhere other than in the common room for you.”

Tim smiles gratefully, “Yeah, that would be great. Thank you.”

Having his own space would be nice. As comfy as the couch in the common room was, having his own space would definitely be preferred.

She nods. “Okay, I can let the others know and we can get started on that. Third thing, how’s your arm?”

Tim lets out a breath and shrugs. “Irritating. The wound is still fresh so it’s going to be annoying for a little while yet. If I keep it clean and stuff it should hopefully heal up within a week or two. Thankfully it’s not anywhere where it would really be a nuisance.”

She stays quiet as he watches him. Tim glances at her but looks away again. He has no clue to what she’s thinking, he probably doesn’t want to know either.

When the silence drags on, Tim decides to fill it. “So what’s the plan until the next stop? Got any ideas or no?”

She shakes her head. “No. As I said there’s not much we can do now until we reach the next destination. Try to keep yourself occupied until then. I’m sure one of the others can help entertain you if you get bored.”

After that apparently Cassie was done with the conversation because she stands up and leaves the room without another word. Tim blinks at her vacated spot, wrapping his head around the conversation. Right, so now he has to entertain himself for the time being.

He sighs and starts deciding what he’s going to do with himself. As he looks around the room for inspiration, his eyes land on the Rubik’s cube on the table in front of him.

Figuring that’ll do for the time being, Tim reaches over and grabs it. Two of the sides were already solved and Tim’s going to assume that Bart was the one to do it. He wonders how many more he can complete until their next destination.

 In the time it took to travel to the next planet, Tim simply plotted around the ship looking for things to do. One of the main things to be achieved within that time was that his room Cassie had mentioned has now been set up. It’s a storage room turned into a bedroom so it’s pretty small but they manage to get a bed in there along with a small wardrobe and a small chest of draws. It wasn’t a lot but it’s not like Tim had a lot of belongings anyway.

While it was nice to have his own private space sometimes it felt wrong. At times the room felt too small and it made him feel claustrophobic, especially since there were no windows. The bed sometimes felt to hard and he would just be tossing and turning on it. It made him miss his own bedroom back home. Like his pillow, god he misses his pillow, and his own blanket. Just the little things that he once took for granted.

He gets by though. It’s nice that they’ve created the room for him and he appreciates it.

To pass the time, they would occasionally play a few games, have the entertainment night that Bart got to decide what they do, work and chat.

Tim’s arm was still healing and from what he could tell it was healing nicely. Another couple of days and it should hopefully be back to normal. He’s been keeping an eye on it and treating it to the best of his abilities.

Eventually they enter the next planet’s atmosphere and Tim observes the descent from the window in the common room. The planet was filled with what looked like trees, well, at least if trees had dark blue leaves and purple trunks. By this point he wasn’t even surprised any more. The amount of crazy, beyond imaginable, things he’s seen and discovered while in space, things like this just don’t really shock him anymore. Though the idea of telling his family about all of this is rather amusing. They wouldn’t believe a single thing of it.

The ship descends down to the ground and lands with a thump. Once everything was stable Tim leaves the common room and heads for the cockpit where the others were gathered. He enters the room to find Cassie at the dashboard and Kon and Bart together at the table. He walks overs and claims one of the free seats for himself.

They both look at him as he settles.

“Tim, just to get you up to speed. We’re on the planet Tordar and we’re here because we need to gather up 50 pieces of Pingon,” Kon tells him.

Tim nods his understanding and straightens up when Kon slides a piece of paper across the table to him. He picks the page up and scans it. There was an image of what Tim is assuming they need to collect. It was a golden cylinder shape with what looked like pink coloured spikes sprouting out from the main body and there were large dark blue leaves appearing from one end of it.

It reminded Tim of a pineapple. At least if they were skinner, pink and had blue leaves.

Kon continues speaking, glancing at his team as well as Tim as he does so. “The picture is what we need to collect from this planet. Pingon’s are found hanging low off the trees. So hopefully we can simply grab and go.”

Tim puts the paper down and rubs a hand over his forehead. He sighs and looks up at the alien. “There’s more to it than that isn’t there? It’s never a simple grab and go. So what is it?”

The alien looks uneasy, shifting from foot to foot as he glances at Tim before sharing a look with the other two like he’s reluctant to tell Tim the information.

“Kon.” He presses.

In the end it wasn’t Kon who shares the information with him, it was Bart. Tim whips his head around to look at the speedster.

“A species called Galavent live on this planet and they are dangerous. They’re ferociously territorial, will maim and kill in an instant. They are not fun to be around at all.” He was staring at Tim with an intense expression, this alone was telling Tim Bart wasn’t joking around and this was the truth.

“Right,” Tim drawls, “Avoid killer… Galavents? No problem.”

He starts getting up from the table only to be stopped by Kon speaking up. “Tim, maybe you should stay on the ship for the time being.”

Tim grits his teeth and tries to hide his annoyance. “Why? Because I’m human? Because I don’t have powers like the rest of you?”

Kon open his mouth to say something but seems to reconsider his words. “No. Not because you’re human Tim but because your hurt. It’ll be safe for you on here than out there.”

Tim snorts in disbelief. It was only a matter of time before they would start treating him like he was a delicate piece of glass unable to do anything. He continues standing and pins Kon with a look.

“I’m fine. I have a minor injury, nothing that’ll stop me from doing regular things. I’m going to help you whether you like it or not.” When the alien stays silent, Tim takes that as a win. “I’ll meet you by the door.”

He leaves the room in a tense silent and heads for his own bedroom. If the planet did have dangerous creatures on it, it may be best that he has some sort of weapon. He grabs the metal pole from his room before heading down to the main door of the ship.

About a minute later the three others show up. As he approaches, Kon scowls at him, clearly not happy with this arrangement of Tim joining them out on the planet. Tim fakes a sweet smile, like he was completely innocent in the ordeal. He smiles for real when the only reaction he gets is Kon’s scowl deepening on his face.

As they walk, Tim notices that each of them was carrying something that resembled a large picnic basket. He doesn’t question them about it, figuring that they must be for carrying the pingon’s back to the ship.

The four of them soon leave the ship and step foot onto the planet. Tim was surprised to find it warmer than he expected. With all the trees around them (even though they’re purple) it reminds him of a jungle or forest back home. It was surprisingly light on the planet too, despite all of the leaves blocking the sky, everything was still visible to Tim’s human eyes.

Moving away from the ship, which was parked in the middle of a large clearing, they all enter the tree line and start hunting for the pingon’s they need to collect.

Thankfully the hunt doesn’t take too long for them to find the first bunch of pingon’s. They were indeed hanging low off the branches towards the ground, basically in perfect height for picking.

Tim walks over to one of the trees and studies the fruit. The colours were more vibrant in real life than what they were on paper. It looked like an exotic fruit someone would find in the Caribbean or something. He reaches out and gingerly touches the spikes of the fruit, not knowing what to expect. They were sharp but didn’t feel like they would pierce his skin, once again reminding him of a pineapple.

He grabs the fruit with a hand, pulls it off the branch in one swift movement and weighs the thing in his hands. It didn’t feel heavy like a pineapple does, in fact it was fairly light which was surprising. He wonders over to where Bart was picking a few from off another tree and puts his in Bart’s basket.

Between the four of them they clear that area of fruit fairly quickly and decide to move onto the next area. As he picks the fruit, Tim was half tempted to eat it. Maybe split one open to see what it looked like on the inside and try some of it.

He fiddles with the one in his hands as he glances around to where the others are. They were all too busy with their jobs to pay attention to him. Tim turns back to the fruit and positions his hands where the leaves were and braces himself to pull them off when –

“Tim what are you doing?”

When Cassie’s voice makes him pause. Annoyed he’s been caught, he sighs and turns around. He puts on his best innocent looking expression and shakes his head. “Nothing. Why what’s up?”

Cassie narrows her eyes at him in disbelief. “I’m going to say this now, but don’t eat the pingon’s. If consumed like this,” she holds up the pingon in her hand as demonstration, “unprepped, they can burn your insides. So listen to me and don’t eat the pingon’s. Understand?”

Tim blinks in horror at the fruit. Okay, apparently this is fruit that can burn your insides. This is just another thing to add to the mental ‘what the fuck?’ list Tim has currently running inside his head.

“Right, not eating the pingon raw. Got ya.”

He was still tempted to try the fruit of course but Tim’s going to listen because he likes his insides functioning and wants to keep it that way. Shaking the thoughts of burning insides out of his head, Tim continues with the task at hand. The quicker they finish the better.

They spend a little over an hour collecting all the fruit they need and gather a few more for themselves to have a treat at a later date. Once finished they begin to head back to the ship. The aliens were carrying the baskets while Tim walked behind them, lazily swinging his pole around with each step.

He doesn’t know when it started, but he knows when he first recognised the feeling. All the hair on the back of his neck suddenly stands up and goose bumps appear on his skin as he shivers. An uneasy feeling washes over him as he travels behind the aliens. It went on for a little while and the feeling wouldn’t go away.

Tim was sure something was watching him.

He stops walking to observe his surroundings, looking for anything unusual (or something that looked out of place at least) however all he could see were the thick trunks of the trees, hanging fruit and the dark blue leaves.

Tim takes a deep breath and lets it out before shaking his head. He’s just being paranoid, that’s all. Overthinking things and letting his imagination get the better of him.

Turning back around, Tim continues walking now picking up his speed to catch up with the others who were further up ahead and hadn’t noticed he stopped. Tim only travelled several meters when the growling started. It was a low sound that shook him right through his core, something that made him freeze on the spot.

He tries to control his breathing in order to stop himself from panicking, his heart starts pounding inside of his chest and all of his muscles in his body were frozen and tense.

The growling’s coming from behind him and it felt like it was getting louder by the second. His brain was screaming two different things at him. One was to run. Run and don’t look back. The second, was to turn around to see what was there.

Ever the curious human, Tim goes with the second option and stupidly turns around. He keeps his movements slow and steady so he doesn’t startle whatever is behind him.

Tim’s breath catches inside of his throat when he finally faces what was behind him. Hanging from a tree there was a huge monkey-like creature. It was staring at Tim with two black orbs for eyes, its long razer teeth were borne in a snarl as it growls at him.

For a moment Tim thought it was a baboon. The colour of the fur was the same and its body was similar. The main differences however was the size and the fact this thing was eyeing Tim up like he was candy.

Tim didn’t know what to do. He’s sure if he makes a move the monkey will pounce and after getting a glimpse of its claws Tim would rather not chance it.

Swallowing thickly Tim decides to take a cautious step back away from the animal. His eyes never leave the thing as he starts slowly backing away. If he doesn’t startle or aggravate it, fingers crossed, he’ll come out of this alive.

Tim’s method appeared to be working. The monkey doesn’t make a move against him as he backs away.

“Tim? Where are you?”

The sudden shout makes him jump and he holds his breath as the monkey seems to stiffen up in front of him and the growling increases in volume. Tim doesn’t dare look behind him though. He feels like if he moves his attention away from the creature then the animal will make a move. Almost like a spider you’re trying to capture, you keep watching it so you don’t lose it.

“I’m here.” Tim calls back carefully. Not too loud so he doesn’t startle the thing. “Um, something’s come up.”

“What do you me -oh.”

Now Tim could feel another presence behind him. However unlike before this one doesn’t feel threatening or put him on edge.

“Tim remember what we said on the ship. That’s a Galavent.”

Tim huffs, because of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be?

“What do we do?” He asks the alien. He can make a few guesses himself but he’s out of his element here and does not want to do anything wrong.

Before Kon could reply even more growling echoes around them. From above, the leaves all rustle and a glance up shows more monkeys – Galavents – appearing. Tim’s eyes widen at the realisation that they’re surrounded.

The animal in front of Tim finally moves. It drops down to the ground with a thump, and starts stalking towards Tim. It snarls and growls at him as it gets closer. With fear Tim starts backing up, no longer caring about careful movements. The animal in front just takes that as an invitation to move quicker, letting out a roar as it starts speeding towards him.

After that, it was like hell all broke loose.

As the Galavent charged towards him, Tim let out a yell and turned tail and ran, almost falling over as he does so. Kon, who was standing behind him, shouted and also ran with him. From behind, the monkeys all followed, letting out their roars, snarls and growls as they chased them.

“Get to the ship!” He hears Kon scream at him but Tim wasn’t really paying attention.

Sprinting through the trees, they scramble to get away from the animals pursuing them. Together they somehow make it to the clearing where the ship was but only to be stopped short. Next to him, Kon goes flying as a Galavent lands on his back and tackles him to the ground.

“Kon!”

Tim doesn’t get a chance to dwell on Kon being attacked because suddenly he was thrown to the side. When he hits the ground he rolls a few times before landing on his back, he barely gets the chance to react before a monkey was coming at him from above. Letting out a scream Tim uses the pole he still had to block the monkey’s attack as it lands on him.

Large fangs were snapping at him and sharp claws trying to rip him to shreds. Tim uses all of his might to keep it away from him.

Just as his arms were about to give out, the weight of the monkey disappears. Tim blinks in surprise at the sudden change of events and again as Bart materializes out of nowhere above him. He smirks down at Tim before darting off again.

Swallowing Tim scrambles up onto his feet and swings with the metal pole as one of the monkeys jump up at him. The pole hits it clean in the head and knocks it down. Tim swings a second time to knock another down which comes from above. He knocks it down to the ground and hits it again to try and knock it out. When it no longer moves Tim stops his motions and straightens back up looking for the next immediate threat.

A yell from his right gets his attention. It was Cassie wrestling one of the creatures on the floor. Her hands were locked around it’s jaw in attempts to keep it from biting her head off. Without even thinking about it, Tim’s moving. He sprints over to Cassie and bodily tackles the animal off her.

Because of his momentum, the two of them go sprawling over the ground. Tim loses track of the animal as he rolls several times before coming to a stop on his front. He shakes his head and tries to get past the dizziness that’s currently taken over.

His luck seems to run out there because unfortunately something lands on his back before he could get his head together. The impact winds him, leaving him breathless and then there’s the piercing pain that erupts in his shoulder. He lets out a curdling scream and thrashes wildly in an attempt to buck the thing off his back.

The pain somehow worsens as it seems to travel down from his shoulder to the middle of his back. Tim lets out another sound as he feels his skin split open and warmth spread across his back. Tears were forming in his eyes and there nothing else but pain.

From there it becomes a blur. Things just all mould into one. At some point the weight disappears off his back, there were shouts of what he thinks was his name but all that registered in Tim’s mind was the pain coming from his shoulder and back.

When something else touches him, he weakly fights it off, however that something was persistent and easily bats away Tim’s sluggish strikes. He screams again when more pain explodes inside of him.

He must have blacked out or something because the next thing he knows it that his face was being pushed into something soft underneath him. Unknown things were still touching him, there was a noise which sounded like a voice surrounding him but he couldn’t make it out and the main thing was there was still overwhelming pain coming from his back.

He yells again when something touches his back, causing another jolt to go through him. He tries to get away, tries to escape from what was hurting but he’s forced to stay still by a force. With his pain-fogged mind, Tim couldn’t work out what it was, but he didn’t actually care, he just wanted to get away from it.

After futile attempts to wiggle free, he whimpers. The whimper turns into a hoarse scream when it somehow gets worse. Tim’s never felt anything like this before. It must have been too much for him to handle because the last thing he remembers is letting out that scream and then nothing.