#in which i explain how to build a computer even though no one asked

[livinghalfway]

Younger Years Pt. 8

Masterlist

Summary: Damian gets temp de-aged to 6yrs old; cue him asking where his twin is. This is how everyone finds out about Danny's existence. Word Count: 1817

“I can’t believe you stopped me from running after Danyal, Father! I pray that you do not regret that decision later on for that could have been our one chance to get Danyal!” Damian growled out as he marched into the manor. 

Bruce gave a great sigh as he followed his youngest inside, “Damian, I know you think that you saw Danyal, but we need to confirm what actually happened." 

"You saw what happened! You saw Danyal!" 

"I saw you attempting to chase after another boy." Bruce is worried for his son. It just seems very coincidental that Damian would see his brother, in the building dedicated to said brother, after telling the family about his existence. "And I think you believe you saw Danyal in that boy." 

"Did you see his face?" Damian demands from his father. 

"No." 

"Then what you think is irrelevant to me." He states as he makes his way towards the cave. With or without his father's help Damian will be finding the boy he saw today. That was Danyal, he knows it.

That thought is painful though because that means his brother purposely didn't want to seek him out after all these years. Damian supposes he can't really blame Danyal for that though, not after what their last moments together were. He just needs one chance to try and explain things. 

Upon entering the cave he sees Steph and Cass training with one another on the mats, and Tim already occupying the computer. 

"Drake, pull up all the security cameras for the planetarium building based around the two o'clock showing; outside and inside cameras!" Damian commands as he comes to stand by Tim's side. 

Tim, despite his clear annoyance at being interrupted, does as requested and asks, "Want to share with the class what I'm supposed to be looking for?" 

"Be a detective and use your eyes, Drake. You'll see it." Damian himself is watching the screen like a hawk as he waits for Danyal to show himself on any of the cameras. His brother was luckily wearing a bright red hat so identifying him in the crowd should be easy. He finds the hat before his brother though. Pointing to the screen he says, "Follow his path." 

"Oof, what did this kid do to make you want to hunt him down?" Steph, who is also now also with them along with Cass, asks amused as she too tracks the boy on screen. 

"Not him. He's going to lead me to Danyal though." The silence that follows after is deafening as all eyes snap to him. The security feed was even paused which means Damian couldn't just ignore everyone's reaction. "We are losing valuable time to find him! Continue the video, Drake!"

Instead of doing as he says Damian watches as Tim looks towards Bruce for direction on what he should do. At this he sends a glare towards his father, daring him to say anything that doesn't comply with what he wants right now. 

Damian understands that what he's asking for here is concerning his family; claiming that he saw his twin. Now is not the time to be questioning him though, Danyal could already be gone by the time he finished explaining everything. He just needs them to see his brother for themselves on the security tape. 

"Press play, Tim." Bruce says with a slight defeated tone to his voice. With that the video finally continues, all of them once again zoning in on the individual in the red hat. Watching as he talks with a goth girl, both of them pointing as they approach the planetarium, another figure. 

… a blur? 

Red hat and Goth girl come to stand on either side of the blurry figure, standing in front of the dedication plaque, before the figure grabs onto the other two as they all rush inside. Switching from the outside to the inside cameras they continue to follow the trio. 

The third person has to be Danyal, but why is the camera distorting his image? Before Damian can voice this himself though Steph is already speaking, "Is the blurry guy supposed to be Danyal? Why can we not see him clearly?" 

"That's what I'm trying to figure out." Tim ponders as he continues to analyze the feed. "I'm sending a copy of this to Babs, she'll want to know how and why the cameras aren't picking him up. Regardless of if this is Danyal or not." 

"It is Danyal!" Damian insists, not liking that Tim was doubting him. 

"We'll see." 

Before he can snap back at Tim a gentle hand grips his shoulder. Looking up he sees Cass looking at him with a semi-serious face. "That is Danyal?"

"Yes." He replies instantly, because he knows that who he saw today is his brother; scars don't lie. 

Cass's face smooths as a soft smile grows, "We'll bring brother home." It felt good to have the most competent member of this family on his side. 

Speeding through the tape they finally reach the end of the show where it was announced that Damian and Bruce would be answering some questions. In that moment they all watch as the blurry figure, Danyal, takes the red hat and throws it on his own head while lowering himself in his seat; hiding. 

Pretty soon the interview comes to an end, Damian and his father were quick to make their way out of the building — he had to get out, his answers were far more emotional than he originally wanted — as Alfred was only moments away with the car. 

Danyal on the other hand stayed in his seat until after a minute or so before jumping up, and running towards the door. Leaving his companions behind. 

Switching the camera again it shows Bruce talking on the phone with Damian standing a good few feet away from him. The next thing to happen is the doors flying open, and Danyal's blurry form heading straight towards Damian. He'd almost think his brother ran into him on purpose if it wasn't for the fact that, even with the blur, Danyal is clearly looking behind himself as he moves forward. 

Their first meeting after so many years had been nothing, but a mistake on Danyal's part. He obviously never planned to run into him, to let Damian know that he was even alive, Damian thinks as he watches his brother break away and sprint down the street. All of this could have been solved already if his father hadn't stopped him from doing so. 

Even without having to demand it, Tim continues to track his brother through the cameras until eventually the trail comes to an end with all of them looking at the entrance of a dark alley.

“Drake, is there any way he could have left that alley without the camera’s seeing him?” Damian asks as he mentally plans out the fastest route to the alley his twin hid in. He wishes that he could see Danyal, but the angle of the camera makes that impossible. 

“Not unless the kid can turn invisible.” 

"Then he is currently in the alley now, and I'm going to him." Damian plainly states before rushing to get his Robin suit on. He's getting his brother back now. 

He would have already been halfway dressed by now if his father hadn't stopped him, "I'm going with you then. We still don't know if that is actually Danyal, chum. Somehow his presence is interfering with the cameras, and we can't assume that this whole thing isn't some kind of trap." 

"Think what you will Father, either way we will be going at once!" That is all he has left to say on the matter, and steps past the hand blocking him. 

He hears Bruce sigh before speaking to the others around the computer, "Tim, watch the cameras and let us know if anything changes. You two be prepared on stand-by for backup." 

It doesn't take long after that before both Batman and Robin are racing down the streets in the Batmobile towards the alley. His heart pounding in his chest the closer they get; this reunion can only end badly in his mind. The best he can hope for right now is that Danyal will hear him out. 

They're about half way there when suddenly the car's comms are crackling to life by Tim's frantic voice, "A van stopped in front of the alley with four armed individuals in white suits. Two are entering while the others appear to be guarding the exit. Orphan and Spoiler are heading in that direction now."  

Robin feels the car accelerate at those words as Batman barks back, "Anything identifiers for who they are?"

"G.I.W. is written on the side of the van. I'm running it through the system now for any hits. It should only- bright white light flash from inside the alley! Some type of fight has probably started." 

“ETA ten minutes. Update on the situation as needed.” 

Ten minutes. 

Ten minutes before he reaches Danyal, and saves him from whoever dared attack his brother. He can only hope that he's not too late to do so. 

Nine

Eight

Seven

“Movement from the alley, three individuals exiting. They … they have Danyal, he's currently incapacitated and being loaded in the van. You’re going to need to step on it, these guys aren’t waiting around any longer!" 

Batman visibly tightens his hands on the steering wheel, knowing that he’s not going to be able to make it there in time to stop them from leaving, as he growls out, “Keep track of them.” 

“I’ll do my best, but they’re on a direct path towards Crime Alley. If they truly enter it I’m going to lose them.” 

“Hm, Robin and I will continue our pursuit. Orphan and Spoiler, you two investigate the alley for anything left behind.” 

“On it, B.” Spoiler states. 

In the end there was no way for them to catch up in time before the van disappeared into Crime Alley. Every camera in the surrounding area was going to be heavily monitored from this point forward for when the van eventually went out again though. 

When Orphan and Spoiler returned to the cave the only thing they had was a red cap that contained two different hair samples. One belonged to the boy they saw in the security feed, whose identity was later confirmed to be Tucker Foley, The other showed DNA matching Bruce as the father and Damian as a twin; no signs of cloning found anywhere no matter how hard they searched for it. 

With Tucker Foley’s identity found it wasn’t hard to link Samantha Manson to the goth girl that was with him. That is when they found a boy resembling Damian that was said to be the third in this trio of friends. 

They found Daniel Fenton. 

[saveyourblood]

Pretty Boy - Ch 6 (Buddie x Reader)

Summary: You can feel Buck staring. When your eyes meet his, you realize he’s staring at your hand, which is still on Eddie’s knee. You slowly retreat, which makes Buck turn his attention to your face. You smile softly. He just looks out the window. The one where you’re an advanced paramedic, Buck and Eddie are firefighters, and you think you might be in love with both of them.

Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5

Chapter Summary: The tension between you and Buck brings you and Eddie closer.

Word Count: 3.3k Warnings: none

Things between you and Buck are… weird. Awkward. Uncomfortable. The last time you had a real conversation with him, it was a fight, but it ended with you saying how much you care about him. It’s left you feeling like there’s an open wound on your chest, one that exposes your heart. You feel vulnerable, and you hate it. Your hatred of the feeling triumphs over your desire to be around him, at least for now.

In a weird silver lining, your lack of time with Buck has created room for one of your other coworkers — Eddie. Talking to Eddie when Buck was around always felt strange, like there was something in the air that wasn’t supposed to be. Which is funny, because when it’s the two of them, they’re as thick as thieves. Something about you being in the mix feels like adding oil to water.

You like to think you’ve gotten to know Eddie relatively well in the last few weeks. So when he’s staring off into space while the rest of the team is eating breakfast, you don’t feel awkward asking what he’s thinking about.

“Nothing,” he says, turning his coffee mug absentmindedly. “Just… this new school with Christopher.”

“Don’t think it’s a good fit?” You ask.

“No, it’s perfect,” Eddie replies, turning his attention to you.

You smile softly. “Then what’s the problem?”

“They need to do a family interview.”

“Again, what’s the problem?” you chuckle. “I mean, aren’t the divorce and custody agreement papers enough?”

“They would be… if I had them.”

You frown. “What?”

Eddie sighs as he rubs his forehead. He leans closer so you’re the only one who can hear him. “We’re still married.”

Apparently, you don’t know a goddamn thing about Eddie.

“Oh,” is all you manage to get out.

Eddie chuckles briefly. “Yeah.”

“Wow. Just… from how you talk about her, you made it sound like things were… over over. Like, officially over.”

“ Shannon and I aren’t officially… anything these days.”

“You’re officially husband and wife.”

Eddie rolls his eyes, but he smiles as he does it. “Touché.”

“What’re you gonna do?” you ask softly after a moment.

He sets his elbows on his knees and clasps his hands together. “I don’t know.”

You just watch him and can’t shake the helplessness that washes over you. Eddie’s in a tough spot; no matter what you say, you can’t fix it. All you can do is be there.

“Tell me what I can do,” you say.

Eddie looks up at you with a lopsided grin. There aren’t many things you wouldn’t do to keep it on his face.

“I’ve been told I’m a lot of fun when I drink,” you continue. “Well, when I have three drinks I’m fun: that’s when I get dancy. After five drinks, I get sad. You can pick the number.”

Eddie laughs.

9-1-1 dispatch is down, making doing your job almost impossible. LA is a maze; without GPS navigation, you rely on your phone and eyes to do most of the work. It’s a miracle that dispatch existed before computers.

You’re in the passenger’s seat of the rig, and you tell Hen to make a right turn. When you pull up to what’s supposed to be the scene, though, there’s nothing.

“Dispatch, this is RA 118,” you say into the radio. “There’s nothing here.”

“No pregnant woman?” A dispatcher asks.

“There’s no building. It’s an empty lot.”

“Stand by, 118.”

You hang the radio with a huff.

“What’s going on with you?” Hen asks.

You frown and look over at her. “What?”

“You’ve been… off lately,” she explains. “Like, you’ve got this short fuse now.”

“Why shouldn’t I? We can’t even do our fucking jobs because some moron can’t fix a computer!”

Hen raises her eyebrows.

“Okay, point taken.”

“Buck says you two haven’t talked in a while.”

“Well, he’s a firefighter and I’m a paramedic. We can work the same shift and not see each other,” you shrug. “ I don’t know why he’s talking to you about it.”

“I’m not sure, but… it sounded like I’m not the only one worried about you.”

You play with your hands in your lap.

Hen sighs. “Look, I don’t know what happened between you two, but I hope it gets fixed, because you two are miserable without each other.”

“It’s not like that-”

Hen raises a hand to silence you. “I don’t know what you guys are… best friends, work spouses, or dating. Frankly, I don’t care. All I know is that, for better or for worse, you need each other. “

“118, you're gonna need to proceed to San Vicente, east of the Miracle Mile District,” dispatch crackles over the radio. “The nearest cross street is Sixth.”

You pick it up and push the button. “RA 118, copy that.”

“Where the hell have you guys been?”

When you finally arrive at the correct building, you’re faced with a pregnant woman lying on the lobby floor. A small crowd has formed around them, which you push your way through.

“We are fighting a system outage, sir,” Bobby explains, “we apologize for the delay.”

You crouch next to the patient on one side while Hen starts an IV on the other side.

“Hi,” you introduce yourself and don some gloves. “What’s your name?”

“Sonia. I’m 39 weeks pregnant, and 38 years old, which makes me a geriatric pregnancy,” she laughs a little. “God, I hate that word.”

“Word doesn’t matter: you still get a baby out of it,” you smile. “I’m gonna check how progressed you are, okay?”

She nods.

“10 centimeters, 100% effaced,” you observe. “You’re doing great, okay? On this next contraction, you’re gonna push, alright, Sonia?”

She doesn’t respond, so you look up.

Her expression changed. A moment ago, she was nervous but smiling. Now, her face is flattened, and she’s staring ahead at nothing.

“There's something wrong with the baby,” she says quietly.

Your body goes numb.

There are a few things you never want to hear a patient say, and ‘something is wrong’ might be at the top of the list. It’s called ‘impending doom’ — there’s no obvious threat, but it feels like something is about to go terribly wrong. You’ve seen patients die within minutes of saying something doesn’t feel right.

“Your baby is fine, Sonia,” you assure. “You'll-you'll be able to see for yourself in just a minute.”

“No! No, this was a mistake, all of it,” Sonia cries. “Roger was right to panic. Look, we can't do this. I can't... I can't do this. I shouldn't have this child.”

“Hey! Hey, Sonia, look at me,” you say, patting her knee to get her attention.

It takes her a moment, but her eyes eventually meet yours.

“All you have to do is push,” you tell her. “That’s it, okay? Just push.”

She still looks terrified, yet she nods.

On the next contraction, Sonia pushes. You coach her through the contractions, telling her when to push and when to rest. It only takes a few rounds until the baby is fully born.

“He’s here!” you exclaim as you wrap the baby in a towel.

There’s some happy laughter and a round of applause from the crowd as the baby cries.

“Beautiful boy, it’s time you meet your mom,” you say as you move to place the baby on Sonia’s chest.

She’s staring at the ceiling, her expression slack.

“I’ve got the baby,” Eddie interrupts, taking the baby from you so you can work.

“Sonia?” you say, rubbing your knuckles on her sternum. She winces, but barely.

“I can’t get a systolic above 70,” Hen says as she deflates the blood pressure cuff.

“She’s cyanotic,” you say, noting the blue tinge to her lips and fingernails. “She’s in shock.”

“Hemorrhagic?” Hen questions.

“She’s barely bleeding,” you shake your head.

You press your fingers to her neck. You don’t feel a pulse.

“Lost a pulse, starting compressions!” you shout.

Everything starts to move a hell of a lot quicker. Within seconds, the defibrillator is at your side, and as you compress Sonia’s chest, Hen is placing the pads. Eddie has a finger on her neck to ensure your compressions are effective.

When you get Sonia on the gurney, Eddie tags you out as the compressor to give you a break. Your entire body shakes with adrenaline, yet you help pack her into the rig and climb inside.

“She was fine,” Eddie mutters as he compresses. “Birth was going like clockwork, even for a geriatric pregnancy.”

“Sudden despair and fear and anxiety, rapid loss of BP, subsequent cardiovascular collapse…” you think aloud. It dawns on you. “Oh my god.”

“What?”

You’re reaching for your phone, dialing the phone number of the hospital you’re heading to. “It’s an Amniotic Fluid Embolism.”

Eddie looks over to you. His brow is damp with sweat. “She could be in DIC.”

“She needs Mass Transfusion Protocol,” you agree. You raise the phone to your ear. “LA general, this is RA 118 en route, I need to speak to your ER charge nurse.”

When you’re rolling through the ER doors, you’re kneeling over Sonia on the gurney as you do compressions. Doctors and nurses are shouting directions at each other, but all you focus on is your arms moving up and down.

You hop off so they can move her off of the gurney and onto the hospital bed. In the process, you notice that the defibrillator is showing Sonia’s in Ventricular Tachycardia — a shockable rhythm.

“V-Tach,” you say normally at first, then shout. “V-Tach! Everyone clear!”

The ER staff has no idea who you are, but when someone shouts those words, anyone with a medical background knows to listen. Everyone backs away with their hands raised. After hitting the ‘charge’ button, you do a quick survey to ensure no one is touching Sonia. Then, you hit the lightning bolt to deliver a shock.

Sonia’s body jerks at the electricity. The EKG tracing goes from tombstone shapes to a flatline. Then, there’s a beep and a QRS complex. Then another, and another.

“Got a pulse!” a random voice shouts.

You make your way out of the trauma bay and into the hallway, where Eddie’s waiting for you.

“That was… amazing,” Eddie says.

You stand next to him wordlessly. You nod but then let out a sob as you collapse against the wall.

Eddie helps lower you to the floor. He keeps a hand on your shoulder, squeezing tightly.

“God, this is embarrassing,” you remark between a few sobs.

“It isn’t,” Eddie immediately responds. “We’ve all been there.”

“It’s, uh, it’s how my mom died,” you say with a sad laugh. “They didn’t catch it in time. She bled to death internally. I just… I don’t know what I would’ve done if she didn’t pull through.”

“She did,” Eddie says, moving his hand from your shoulder to your knee. “She pulled through because of you.”

You nod again, wiping away some of your tears. “Thank you.”

Eddie nods in return. You notice that his gaze goes from your eyes to your lips and back up to your eyes.

It happens in the smallest of movements, but before you know it, your forehead is pressed against Eddie’s. You can feel his breath on your mouth. You quietly gasp at the sensation, and it makes him sigh.

You press your lips together. “You’re married.”

“She wants a divorce,” Eddie whispers.

You smile sadly. “You’re still married.”

Eddie sighs again, but this time, he moves away from you.

“I’m not saying it can never happen,” you say quietly. “All I’m saying is that I’m not that kind of girl. And you definitely aren’t that kind of guy.”

Eddie nods, his mouth shifting into a few different expressions.

You rise to your feet and offer Eddie a hand. “Let’s get back to work, Edmundo.”

Eddie laughs genuinely at the use of his full name. He takes your hand and uses it to help get himself up, but he continues holding it when he’s standing.

“Back to work,” he agrees and squeezes your hand before letting go.

You’re heading out a scene call, fire in progress with multiple victims suspected. You’re driving the rig while Eddie sets up the back. The 118 is the nearest firehouse, so your unit will be the first on the scene. It comes with a lot of responsibility, but you know you and Eddie are ready for it.

That is, until there’s a massive ‘BOOM’ from behind you.

You immediately pull over and look in your rearview. The engine following behind you is now on fire and lying on its side in the middle of the intersection. You can see a few firefighters lying on the pavement.

“Eddie, grab our bags!” you shout as you unclick your seatbelt.

You fly out of the rig and meet Eddie in the back. Instead of handing you your bag, he sets a hand on your shoulder and pushes you both to the side of the ambulance.

“What the hell?” You ask.

“There’s a bomber,” he says in a low tone.

“What?” you ask again, peering to the side of him.

Sure enough, there’s a kid — no older than twenty — with several pipe bombs strapped to his chest. He’s holding what appears to be the detonator in his hand. Someone is laying at his feet, his leg pinned under the passenger side of the engine.

Buck was sitting in the passenger’s seat.

You try rushing forward again, and Eddie grabs you by the waist this time.

“It’s Buck!” you scream as you struggle against him.

“I know,” Eddie says, his arms wrapped around you as he presses your back to his chest.

“We have to do something!” you cry, still thrashing against Eddie.

“We have to wait for the scene to clear,” Eddie explains. It’s more than a little annoying how calm he sounds. “If you go in now, both of you could die.”

“So what, we just let him die?” You ask, but you’ve stopped fighting.

Eddie doesn’t say anything, but his grip around you loosens. Eventually, you feel his arms drop back to his sides. That’s when you make a run for it.

You make it far enough to catch the bomber’s attention. You raise your hands in the air.

“I’m not who you want,” you explain, “I just want to help him. He has nothing to do with this. He has friends and family… he’s my family. Please, just let me help him.”

The bomber looks from you to Buck, then back at you. “He’s collateral damage.”

“Is that how you see yourself?” Bobby interrupts. He approaches with his hands raised.

The bomber’s attention shifts to Bobby, the person he’s been after this whole time. You use it as a window of opportunity to approach Buck slowly. When you finally reach him, you crouch down by his head.

“Hey, Pretty Boy,” you say softly. You set a hand on his head. “How’re you feeling?”

His left leg is the one that’s pinned, and he’s lying on his stomach. He tries to look up at you. “You shouldn’t be here. It’s not safe.”

“I could say the same thing to you,” you joke. You move your hand to his neck. “Are you in pain?”

“No, just kind of numb,” he says. “That’s not good, right?”

Your heart sinks. “You’re in shock: it’s normal.”

Bobby manages to distract the bomber long enough to subdue him. As the bomber gets rushed off, the rest of your team rushes in.

“Eddie, start two lines, wide open,” you instruct. “Hen, get him in the C-collar.”

You dig in the medi bag for a tourniquet. As you apply it, you try to drown out the sound of Buck crying out in pain.

“How are we doing?” Bobby asks as you stand.

“We’re out of time,” you mumble. “We need to get him out and to the nearest trauma center.”

Any extra body moves to the truck, waiting for the count to lift it. You place yourself in front of Buck, taking both of his hands.

“We’re gonna get you out,” you promise.

He nods slightly.

“Okay, my count,” you say as you move your hands to underneath his arms. “1… 2… 3!”

As everyone begins to push, you start pulling on Buck. He isn’t budging.

“It’s too heavy,” Bobby says.

“We got anything on the truck we can use for leverage?” Eddie suggests.

“No, we need more people,” Chim says, picking up his radio. “Dispatch, this is 118…”

There’s some clattering from across the way. Bystanders are pushing through the barricades to help. This time, you’re able to get him out.

You get him on the backboard, then onto the gurney. The whole time, you’re telling him that he did a good job and that he’ll be okay. As you’re running with him to the ambulance, he mumbles something. Once you’re settled into the rig, you ask him to repeat himself.

“You’re my family, too,” he mutters.

You wait in the waiting room the whole time Buck is in surgery. When he makes it out of recovery and to the ICU room, you don’t leave his side. You’re sure visiting hours are over, but you stay out of the nurse’s way. She doesn’t say anything; she just gives you a sympathetic look every once in a while.

You hear him stir a little bit. You look up from your phone to see Buck blinking awake.

“Welcome back,” you smile.

“You’re here,” he says, voice rough.

“Where else would I be?”

Buck looks around the room, slowly orienting himself. His eyes eventually land on his leg, which is in a cast and suspended in a sling. His eyes widen, and he lets out a few breaths as he tries to sit up.

“Okay, okay,” you set a hand on his shoulder, gently pushing him back. “It’s gonna be okay.”

“Is it?” Buck asks. “Did you talk to the doctor? Did he say anything about how the surgery went?”

“Just that you made it through,” you say softly. “And you're now the proud owner of one titanium rod and four beautifully cobalt-chromed screws.”

“Before they wheeled me in, he, uh… he said he didn't know how it was gonna go.”

You take his hand gently. “You’ll walk again, Buck.”

“Yeah, h-he said… he said he was pretty confident about that. He, uh, he just... he didn't know if I would ever… work again.”

You run a hand over your face. “Okay, I'm not gonna lie to you and tell you everything will work out how you want it to. But what I will say is that we should take this moment to be glad that you’re alive.”

“I’m really sorry about our fight,” Buck apologizes.

You laugh. “Buck, that is… so far from being important right now.”

“No, it isn’t,” he insists. “It wasn’t fair, how I reacted. I’m proud of you. I was just… scared.”

“Scared of what?”

“Losing you,” he admits quietly.

“Yeah, well, I was pretty scared of that today, so we’re definitely even,” you joke. Your smile softens and you squeeze his hand. “I’m not going anywhere.”

You move your hand to his forehead. You trail it down to his cheek, letting it rest for a moment. You turn your body to face him better. His eyes are closed, which you’re grateful for because if he were looking at you, you wouldn’t have the guts to do what you want to do.

You kiss him. It’s hesitant at first, and when he doesn’t react right away, you start to pull back. Before you can, Buck has his hand on the back of your neck, pulling you in closer. Your hand moves from his cheek down his neck and eventually rests on his chest. You only pull away when your lungs are burning from lack of air.

Buck traces his thumb over your lips. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.”

You blush, laugh, and bury your face in the crook of his neck.

 Ch 7

[redflagshipwriter]

Nest Swap 10

masterpost

The guy did turn out to be Jason, but he wasn’t in a very good mood with Tim. He basically didn’t talk at all. That was fair. Tim had hit him. He hung back and tried to not be annoying as Jason contacted the police, found the hostage, and talked to her in a low voice. When they heard sirens Jason grabbed Tim and took him out the door and onto his motorcycle. They went like, really fast.

The motorcycle was cool, but where it stopped was even better. Tim lifted his arms up obligingly so that Jason could pick him up by his armpits and set him down. Tim took a single step away before Jason shot his hand out lightning-fast and grabbed at Tim’s hand. He took his helmet off with one hand and dropped it onto a handle.

“Let’s stay together, Baby Bird.” Jason sounded exhausted. Tim was a little distracted from that, even though he really should have been more considerate of the adults in the area.

This was even cooler than his hideout. It was kinda gothic and damp and smelled a little funny. An apartment building couldn’t really compete with that.

“Wow,” Tim enthused. He tried to walk away to explore but Jason tugged him back by his hand. “I love it here. Can I live here?” He pointed up at the craggy ceiling, which really just looked like a natural cave with stalactites and all. “Maybe with the bats.” His tone tilted up into an optimistic question. The bats were neat. Were they local brown bats? That was fine, but he thought black bats would really fit Batman’s aesthetic more.

Jason let out a big sigh. “It’s not up to me,” he dodged the question. “Wanna press a button on the Bat computer?”

“Absolutely yes I do.” Tim chirped. Jason started towing him along again, uncaring or maybe even not noticing that Tim was craning in every direction to see the amazing sights. “Why’s it called a Bat Computer? Is it shaped like a bat? Hey, is Big Bird real?” he asked. “I’ve been concerned about that. I want to believe that he’s not real. But if he is, is he a predator? You have to tell me.”

“Big Bird is real and he is an omnivore,” Jason muttered. “Come on, why are you so wiggly?”

“An omnivore?” Tim echoed. He held Jason’s hand a little tighter. “What- does he eat kids? Because I think it’s highly suspicious that he spends all his time with little kids. Also, the kids change every season, and no one ever explains where they went.”

Jason stopped walking and stared at him directly as Tim outlined his troubling theory.

Tim waited.

“Yes,” Jason said. “That’s it exactly. Big Bird eats little boys. So stay close to me, okay?”

Tim clung to Jason’s whole arm in response. “Okay,” he said, as casually as he could manage. Internally he was screaming. Why would Batman hang out with Big Bird?

He felt… a little betrayed about it, actually. Batman didn’t kill people. He punched a lot of people like Dr. Ivy and Dr. Crane, but that wasn’t like eating kids!

‘How can they cooperate with Big Bird when Jason is investigating the sausage guy for doing the same thing?’ Tim thought, indignant. It was hypocritical. It was intolerable. It was a total abdication of his moral responsibility.

He was going to confront Batman about it. 

He started internally preparing his arguments. He went quiet enough that Jason got suspicious about it. Tim was sorry that he couldn’t spend more time comforting Jason, but he was busy.

“Hey, you wanted to use the computer, right?” Jason shook him lightly.

Tim shrugged and hunched over a little. 

“...It’s not that serious, kiddo,” Jason said, sounding kinda unsure. He was an awkward guy.

“I’m fine,” Tim said shortly. He just wanted Jason to let him think in peace. 

The older boy sighed and started hitting buttons. He picked up something. “Hey, Bats,” he drawled.

The sound of a horn honking suddenly rang out. 

“Little Wing?” said one of the people who had tried to break into Tim’s hideout. He buried his face in Jason’s side. Jason absently put a hand on his ribs and sort of patted. “Why are you in- you’re hailing from the Batcave?”

‘That was one of Batman’s associates? Why was Batman allowing a break in of my house?’ Tim felt his heart rate start to go up. Was he in trouble? The lady had said he was in trouble, but- but Oracle made him feel safe. He pressed himself a little closer into Jason and clung to his weird jacket.

“Red Hood.” 

Batman’s voice didn’t make Tim feel as safe as it usually did. This future or universe was weird and he didn’t like it. 

“Report,” Batman said, when no one responded to what he said. 

Jason’s torso moved. Tim extracted his face just enough to see that Jason had flipped off the computer. “You are so bad at bird keeping,” Jason drawled. “All of you. Absolutely horrendous. There’s a situation, and there’s been a situation for days.” He sounded extremely cranky about it. He sounded like customs had taken his bags from him and cancelled his connecting flight and left him stranded in a Peruvian airport overnight with only his wits, a neck pillow, and a few thousand dollars.

“I suspected,” said a… A child’s voice. Tim felt his brow crinkle. He looked up. That was a young voice. Like, irresponsibly young. What was Batman doing? “As I told you, Red Robin has been eaten by the lion that escaped from the Denver zoo. If I had only been allowed to find and rehabilitate it, we could have avoided-”

“Right bird, wrong problem,” Jason cut him off. That was a shame. Tim wanted to know more about the lion situation. “Get your big ass back here and parent, motherfucker.”

Tim giggled.

“What-” - “”Did you just-” - “Is that a-”

Jason turned off the computer and then unplugged it. “Assholes,” he said to no one, very smugly. “That’ll put a bee in their…” His voice trailed off. He was looking down at Tim.

“Where will it put a bee?” Tim asked, eyes as large as he could make them. He was just messing with Jason now. He knew that expression. It was ‘bonnet’. Like, an old lady hat. What he didn’t know was why Jason wanted to censor that.

“...In Big Bird’s beak,” Jason said weakly.

Tim considered this outright weird deflection. “A suspicious amount of things seem to connect to Big Bird.” He said it cautiously, trying to feel out Jason’s position on this.

“Yeah, but don’t worry about it,” Jason said vaguely. Tim gave him a disgusted expression and Jason had the audacity to laugh.

Of course he was worried about it. 

Something beeped.

“Hey Barbie,” Jason said to absolutely no one. He moved his legs further apart and sort of…posed.

Tim looked around. He didn’t see anyone.

‘Barbie as in Barbara Gordon??’ He looked a little harder for the person Jason had greeted. That was Batgirl. Batgirl was a known quantity.

“I think I know,” said Oracle. “Because I am the all-knowing eye and all of that.”

Jason made a rude sound. “If you knew, you would have locked the baby in a genius-proof jail so that he didn’t go try and feed himself to the Sausage Man.”

“He- what?” Oracle’s voice went flat. “I knew that he was de-aged, he didn’t want Dick to bother him and baby him while he looks like this. He did not go try to do field work while he looks 6 years old.” Her tone was extremely unimpressed.

“No, no,” Jason said. He made a theatrical hand gesture. It occurred to Tim that he was enjoying himself. “That’s definitely not what he did. He took his legitimately 9 year old body with accompanying 9 year old brain off to investigate a cannibal.”

“Tim.” Oracle sounded like she was in pain. “Do you know who I am?”

“From context, I think that you’re Batgirl,” Tim admitted shyly. He wished that Jason hadn’t stepped away. He had felt weirdly secure with his hands in Jason’s pockets. He did the same thing to his Dad and it always made him feel-

‘Oh no, that doesn’t bode well for my marriage,’ Tim realized. ‘I- I can’t be comparing him to my Dad.’ He put his hands in his own pockets, like the mature little man he was.

There was a very long silence that Tim kind of noticed while he was busy fretting. He realized it was probably his fault and he should fix it.

“Big fan,” Tim added meekly. It was true.

Oracle said a bad word.

“Comm is on speaker,” Jason said cheerfully. “Little guy is hearing you loud and clear, with his 9 year old ears..”

She repeated the bad word, louder this time. “I already messaged Zatanna, but I’m going to go set off the fire alarm in her hotel right now so she sees it.”

“You do that,” Jason agreed. He had a nice smile, even though he was clearly enjoying other people feeling flustered. Tim suddenly remembered that he kind of genuinely wanted to date Jason and felt his face turn red.

After they finished talking to Batgirl Oracle, Jason and Tim spent some time looking at Batman’s crime scene photography. 

“What do you think happened here?” Jason said, shifting in the chair. 

“I think this is the aftermath of human trafficking,” Tim decided.

Jason clicked to the next photo. “What’s this?”

Tim squinted at it. In the distance, an engine came into earshot and approached rapidly. Tim hummed and kicked his heels. “I think that this is a much better photo,” he said. He distantly recognized that there were two separate engines. “That’s my first impression. Look at the composition.” Tim frowned. “Hey, stop laughing! The lighting is-”

A door opened and then slammed shut.

“Big Bird’s home,” Jason said gleefully. He stood up and grabbed Tim under the armpits. He turned Tim around and then hoisted him in the air. He dangled. It was an undignified experience that he didn’t have the ability to process it immediately.

For a single disorienting moment, Tim tracked the glint of light off the Batmobile and off a motorcycle. A guy was on the motorcycle. The door was opening on the passenger side of the Batmobile. That had to be Big Bird. Tim was dangling in the air helpless, presented for Big Bird’s approval.

‘He’s feeding me to Big Bird,’ Tim realized. 

He screamed. He kicked wildly midair and his heels connected with Jason’s chest.

“What the f-”

“He’s little!” said the man who tried to break into Tim’s hideout. He seemed delighted by this turn of events. What, was Tim smaller than the usual bird chow?

He screamed again, high and sharp. Tim contorted to kick Jason in the face. Jason let him go by accident and then Tim was falling to the ground shoulder-first, he wasn’t going to be able to run away-

The scary apartment intruder caught him. “Tim?” He was baffled. “What’s wrong-”

Tim screamed again and tried to squirm away. He couldn’t escape. 

“Fuck,” Jason said, voice muffled through his elbow. “Fuck!” There was blood coming from his nose.

“This is typical,” said the child from earlier. Tim tried to see the speaker.

A Robin was standing there, arms crossed and unimpressed. 

Oh.

That was who got out of the passenger door. Tim calmed down and squirmed so that he could see Robin better. “What were you saying about a lion?” he asked. “Do you have a good place to keep one? Where would you put it? Have you had a lion before?”

“I have had tigers,” said Robin. “So you agree that it would be better-”

“Robin, no,” interrupted Batman. He was- Okay, Tim already knew that he was big. But he was truly huge up close.

The bad guy relaxed his grip. “Are you gonna break my nose if I let you go?” he asked Tim. He kind of laughed as he said it. 

Tim paused. He felt a little bad. “As long as there’s not really Big Bird here,” he reluctantly promised.

“...What?” said the bad man.

Jason started laughing hysterically. “That’s why-” He made a horrible groan and kind of lilted forward. “Fuck…”

The bad man let Tim go. Tim scrambled away and gave him a cautious head nod. Maybe he wasn’t that bad, even though he was an intruder.

“Why did you try to break into my hideout?” he asked. He did his level best to look intimidating. They didn’t know he was that scared. He’d managed to hurt Jason, after all, and Jason was even bigger than this guy.

Robin let out an irritated fricative. “Everyone here is a fool.” His announcement was so confident that Tim looked to him for elaboration. “Todd was bullying you by referring to Richard as ‘Big Bird.’ It is an asinine nickname. As I have said before, it only introduces unnecessary confusion and distress.” He was… kind of unpleasantly smug, Tim decided. But he wasn’t wrong.

“You’re not wrong,” Tim said. It was good manners to repeat your nice thoughts out loud. “So…” his voice trailed off and got small as he realized just how silly he looked. He’d had a total false alarm. “There’s no… the yellow Big Bird that eats children isn’t here?” His voice got really small by the end.

There was a moment of perfect silence.

“You told him that I eat children?” Richard- oh!!! Robin!!! That was the real Robin!!!!- kind of shouted at Jason. He was really mad. Wow! Tim beamed at him, fear forgotten. Holy cow, Robin!! Well, big Robin- oh, the nickname made more sense now!

Jason flipped Richard off.  He sort of snarled. “Serves you right, you walking sphincter-”

“Boys, please.” Batman took off his cowl. It was Bruceman Waynebat alright, but–

“You’re really old,” Tim said, too surprised to keep that inside thought where it belonged.

Batman looked exhausted.

“That is correct,” Robin agreed. “Father, I will escort Timothy-”

“No!” said all three of the adults at the same time.

That… That made Tim feel a little suspicious of Robin. He edged away the slightest bit.

Robin crossed his arms again. “Egregious,” he muttered to himself, and then turned on his heel with a flutter of his cape. He left the room without further comment.

Tim felt a little bad. “Bye!” he called. Robin did not slow down or respond at all. Tim wilted a little bit. It kind of felt like nobody liked him here. 

“I’m sorry.” 

Everyone looked at him. “Why are you sorry?” asked Richard.

Oh. Tim shrunk back. He didn’t know what the right answer was. What did they want? “Because I hit Jason with Mrs. Henderson’s mace?” he guessed meekly.

“He sprayed you with mace?” Richard seemed delighted.

Tim shook his head wildly, sending hair flying. “No!” He was distressed. “That would be mean!”

“Stop helping,” Jason muttered, but it was too late to stop saying,

“She has a Gothic mace,” Tim reported. “It weighs about 2 kilograms and I think it was from Western Europe. I don’t know if she legally owns it. It may be a replica but now that I think about it, it could be real and that would be neat.”

Richard made a sound like air escaping a balloon.

“Shut up!” Jason said. Then he looked at Tim. “Mrs. Henderson- why did you know that?” His voice was higher. “Was that your first time at Orange’s house?”

“He was WHERE,” Richard said, at the same time that Batman demanded, “Report!”

Everyone ignored Batman.

“No.” Tim shrunk back a bit. “I went there yesterday, too. Mrs. Henderson gave me hot chocolate and told me about child labor.”

Jason put his face in his hands again. His nose blood was trailing down his neck now. 

“I didn’t go into Mr. Orange’s house yesterday,” Tim admitted in the interest of fairness. “His windows were all closed. But I did talk to him a little.”

Richard made another teapot sound and picked Tim up. 

The big computer turned itself on. A pretty woman was-

“Batgirl!” Tim said, and waved enthusiastically at her. 

She lifted a hand back and stared at him. She had dark undereye circles, but she was still really pretty. “Zatanna should be there in a couple of minutes, so no one shoot her.”

Jason flipped Batgirl off as well and sort of sulked.

“Tim, I’m sorry that I missed your condition,” Batgirl said. “I would have offered you more support.”

“It’s okay,” Tim reassured her. “I had a good time. Tam gave me lots of fun stuff to do. And Jason was really nice to me.”

Everyone looked at Jason.

“Oh?” Batgirl said.

“I was not,” Jason said, sounding harassed. 

“Of course he was,” Tim said, kind of confused by the way they were acting. “Doesn’t he have to be?” He waited a moment. “He’s my boyfriend, right?”

Jason choked. Richard let out a loud “HA!” Batman made a sound that Tim had never heard before from a human and didn’t know how to classify. Kind of a ‘yack!” with lots of phlegm involved.

Oh, no. Tim laid out his evidence hastily. “He called me Baby,” Tim listed. 

“Baby Bird,” Jason corrected desperately.

“That’s not any better,” Richard said. He had a horrible weird grin that stretched too wide across his face. “It's certainly a pet name.”

“Die-”

Tim continued over their commentary, counting on his fingers. “He brought me soup!” He stressed it. “With dumplings in it- real dumplings!” That was important evidence. No one had made him real dumplings before that!

“I said that meant nothing!” Jason snapped.

“And my email signature says Tim Drake-Wayne,” Tim continued. “Bruce and Richard are really really old, so I couldn’t have married either one of them,” he said, practically. It was unthinkable.

Batgirl made a snort-laugh. “Good theory,” she said, catlike grin firmly in place. Richard was silent at that part.

“I’m gathering from context that I was wrong,” Tim admitted. He crossed his arms. “But I had good reason for the theory.” He felt a bit sullen about it. He didn’t deserve to get laughed at. 

“Tim.” Batman knelt in front of him and used his soft ‘I love you voice.’

Oh.

“I adopted you,” he said. He made serious eye contact.

Tim stared back. “Did you marry my mom?” he asked, heartbroken. “Wait- my Dad? Did you marry my Dad?!” He hit Batman in the chest, suddenly hysterical. “I hate you! You broke up my parents’ marriage?! Why would you seduce them?” He felt betrayed.

Batman caught his hands and hefted him up. “No, no, sweetheart,” he soothed. Everyone else was very quiet.

That was worse than Batman breaking up his parents’ marriage.

It had been a long week. That was Tim’s justification for bursting into tears if anyone asked him. He had been desperately avoiding thinking about the years-old postcard on the fridge and the fact that Mom hadn't video called him even once in the week he had been stranded here.

Batman bounced him and made shushing noises, his big warm hand moving up and down Tim’s back. 

“I wanna go hoooome,” Tim howled. He pressed his full body into Batman and clung with all his might. “I wanna go home, I want my mom!” He wailed.

“Oh, buddy,” Bruce said sadly. His breath hitched. “I know. I know, sweetheart.”

“Is it a bad time?”

Tim lifted his face. Through blurry tears he saw a new lady was there. “Where are your pants?” he sniffled.

“Yeah, Zatanna,” Jason said sweetly. “Where are your pants?”

She gave him a withering look. “This is Red Robin as a chick, then?” She pursed her lips at him. “Cute kid. You wanna go home?” She made a gesture for Batman to put him down.

Bruce hesitated. Tim smacked at his chest. “Yes,” he said. Bruce sort of sighed and let Tim down to the ground again.

“Let me get a good look at you.” She knelt to his level and muttered something with an offhand sort of gesture that she didn’t seem to do on purpose. Tim kept his back straight. “Alright, this is a quick fix. Wanna say goodbye?”

“Goodbye, little Timmy,” Richard said quickly. He sort of sniffled. Batgirl quickly echoed him. Batman sort of squeezed his shoulder and forced out a gruff goodbye.

Tim looked at Jason. Everyone else did, too. 

“Aren’t you going to say anything to your boyfriend?” Richard stage-whispered. Zatanna made a weird face.

Jason looked like he’d tasted something terrible. Tim shrunk back. “It’s okay,” he said in a small voice. “He doesn’t have to-”

“There goes my reputation,” Jason muttered, and came over to give Tim a hug. “Goodbye, baby bird. You did a really good job and we are all proud of you. Go home and give your Mom a hug for me, okay?”

“Softie,” Richard hissed. Tim didn’t care.

“I love you too,” Tim said, because that was the kind of thing adults meant when they said they were proud of you. “Okay, Miss Katana. I’m ready to go.”

“Zatanna,” she said. “Sa uoy erew eforeb!”

He sort of blacked out for a second.

Then Tim was 19 years old, 5 foot 6 inches tall, and standing in the Batcave surrounded by people who would make fun of him mercilessly for thinking Jason was his husband if he did not immediately deflect and make him the target of mockery instead. He was very lucky that he’d been dressed in his own clothes when he’d transformed. At least he looked normal. 

Bruce opened his mouth to ask a question. 

Tim cut him off. “You’re a big softie,” he immediately accused Jason. “Those dumplings were homemade. You checked in on me so many times. Can’t believe you accuse Dick of mothering us.” He made a shitty grin.

Jason reared back, affronted. Dick made a vindicated sound, apparently recovered from the psychic damage of being put in the same category of ‘too old’ as Bruce. Tim mentally lowered the risk level of Dick starting a teasing campaign against him in retaliation.

“Haha, you love me,” Tim taunted Jason, dangerously close to be playing this kind of game and too reckless to care. He wasn’t going down for this mess. “L!” He put his thumb and forefinger up to make an L on his forehead. “Loser!”

“Listen, you little shit,” Jason started. He balled up a fist and took a step forward.

Bruce cut him off. “Jason, it’s not embarrassing to love your little brother. Thank you for being so mindful of his health and checking in on his welfare. I’m very proud of you.”

Jason made a sound like a cat throwing up.

“Yeah, I’m going to go,” Zatanna said flatly. She nodded to Tim. “If anything seems wrong, just text me. Oracle, don’t contact me.”

“Love you too,” Barbara said cheerfully. 

Zatanna gave her a withering look and portalled away.

Tim ducked away and ran upstairs before Jason could lunge at him. Behind him he heard a scuffle start up. “Little Wing, you need to get checked out,” Dick said sweetly. Glass broke. “Alfred! Jason needs caretaking!”

“No, I need to kick Tim’s ass!” Jason howled. Tim made it to the stairs and started taking them two at a time.

He passed Alfred going the other way. “Master Tim,” Alfred said, forcing him to stop fleeing. Jason wouldn’t get him with Alfred right there anyway. Alfred was home base for these games. “Are you staying for the night?”

Tim opened his mouth to say ‘No’ because really, he didn’t need to be here when he was an adult who had his own place. Then he thought about how he’d felt alone in his apartment for the last week, longing for human connections and so hungry for approval that he’d gratefully accepted whatever task a friendly stranger suggested to him. 

“Yeah, I’ll stay for the weekend,” Tim said, and ambushed Alfred with a hug. Alfred went stiff, but wrapped an arm around his back a moment later. “Love you.” He broke away and started running up the stairs again. He barely heard the answering sentiment.

It was good to be home.

…He kind of wanted soup.

[425599167]

Fallout: New Vegas is all about rebuilding society in the Mojave, and the three given factions all attempt to do so by recreating the past. The NCR models itself on the now-destroyed United States, with all the problems involved. Caesar created the Legion in the image of Rome because he believed it could best thrive in the wasteland. Mr. House is arguably the most forward-thinking with his focus on technology and eventual interplanetary travel, but he still rebuilt New Vegas from his nostalgic recollections of the city. Building on the past isn't wrong, the problem is these three factions don't appear to be learning from anything that happened.

NCR characters never directly acknowledge that they're following the example of a society that destroyed itself. Caesar criticizes them for this, believing the republic functioned best while under the quasi-monarchy of Aradesh and Tandi. But Caesar ignores how 1) Rome also fell and 2) he's confronting the same problem as a brain tumor is on the verge of killing him. Even if you treat his tumor, he's still mortal. Caesar was given an education, and his knowledge of strategy and history let him build the Legion, which he then made anti-intellectual and revisionist. The society he created cannot replace him, and will fragment when he dies. House is more contemptuous of the pre-war world, but he still brought it back, and specifically assigned the Omertas with the role of ruthless mobsters who will kill anyone in their way. Apparently he thought that was a good idea.

This extends into the DLCs, too. Elijah plans to use the Sierra Madre to wipe the slate clean and restore the Brotherhood of Steel to their position of unrivaled power, with himself back as Elder. Every day, Joshua Graham feels the pain of being burned. The Think Tank scientists are all stuck in loops, stuck in the past, stuck with their flaws centuries after believing they overcame their humanity. For all my grievances with Lonesome Road, it fits the pattern, as Ulysses saw a new society forming, saw it burn, and couldn't move on. If you let Ulysses live, he has similar criticisms of the NCR, Legion, and House. They're all idealized recreations, like the Vera Keyes hologram. Let go, begin again.

Benny may be a weird mix of dangerous and absurd, but he contrasts the other factions well. He jumped at the chance to join House, fought his tribe's previous leader to make it happen, then planned to take down House, too. House dismisses Benny as not understanding complex technologies due to his tribal upbringing, but he built a computer lab attached to his suite and studies technology as best he can. Benny doesn't want to relive the past, he wants to move forward, he wants something better. You can kill him and take his role, or, when facing certain death at Caesar's hands, he'll explain his vision and ask you to see it through.

After replaying everything, though the other endings have understandable support, I think the Independent route fits the story's themes best, the only one where something definitively new is being built. The Courier isn't remaking anything. Part of this is simply open-ended roleplaying, allowing the player to imagine the character's completed goal. If you choose one of the other three, the Courier can work to correct their faction's flaws and counter the destructive nostalgia affecting them. The Independent ending isn't necessarily the "best" for the Mojave, the Courier's morality and a hundred other decisions determine that, but it is the most compelling conclusion to the story.

[forsaken-headcanons]

OKAY OKAY SO yesterday I was playing forsaken randomly and I got on a talkative server. there was a bit of roleplay and all, I main the idiot skin 007n7 (mostly black and white, this is important) and because there were other 007n7 players, there was a bit where the other one said something like "my son" in a c00lkidd round and I replied with "wait. that's my son"

which then led to the c00lkidd calling me a fake and chasing me until I died :[. still importsnt

this led us to a bit where I avoided the killer like wildfire when some people were talking to them in c00lkidd rounds. and then this other survivor comes up to me like "wait. is monochrome 1x1 your son instead"

which then led to "oh damn this is a good lore idea"

so we made lore. infernal (that's the name right) 1x1 is enraged monochrome, and the rest of this is just me ranting because this has led to a lot of lore in my brain esp thinking about my headcanon that all the skins are in the same universe. much ranting below be warned

before 007n7 turned to hacking, probably late teens to early twenties in my lore, he and shedletsky were good friends. shed introduced him to a project he was working on - 1x1x1x1. as a fellow tech student, he both helped out, configuring it, building it, coding it. eventually, it was made.

monochrome 1x1 was the prototype. they released it to see how it would work, and it went loose. 007n7 tried to keep it maintained for several years, all the while trying to work and help shedletsky with the next prototype (he wasn't giving up on the project, he would rather die), he even modeled a party outfit for himself so he could matched, based off of a computer virus (idiot skin), but it was fruitless. one day, 1x1 angered the wrong people, and a hacker sent them far away.

shedletsky was mad. 007n7 had constantly said everything was fine, everything was under control, but now it clearly wasn't. he yelled at him for hours, on how 007 wanted everything to go wrong, and how he wasn't allowed to help with anything any more, or even speak to him, because he was just a worthless criminal, a hacker, who wanted the world to go to waste.

007 was left with no support system, no contact or friends. in, albeit a cliché, he turns to hacking. he has nowhere else to go. he has hit rock bottom but he's destroying all the drills - he refuses to go lower than he is. so he just turns to the only place he can to make his life any better. maybe he can hack up a few friends, who knows.

he kept the costume in his closet though. hoping 1x1's prototype would find its way back.

during some rounds, when monochrome or infernal 1x1 is the killer, it seethes. it asks 007 why he left it. and though 007 tries to explain, 1x1 denies it. it knows 007 was a hacker, despite not knowing when he started.

1x1 will kill him. every time, every round it can.

🌙🧭

Good lord. 1x has TWO horrible fathers. They just can't win.

[songmingisthighs]

Oddeleny

introduction pt. i | pt. ii | pt. iii

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ch. li - monopoly

ghost!yeosang × reader

genre : ghost!au

rating, warning : mature; crude jokes and filthy language

wc : 1.5 k

buy me coffee ?

a connection once had, broken with the expectation that the ending is final. but life has an odd proclivity of making attachments from detachments. in the end, we don't know what we lost until we look at what we have

Perhaps it was a bad idea to bring Mingi into a dark alley even though you and Jongho were also there with him. You began chastising yourself internally for not bringing Yunho instead because surely, despite not knowing anything about Yeosang or his belongings, Yunho wouldn't make as much noise or distraction.

From the get-go, Mingi had hurled defences to his manliness, explaining how it was not the dark that he was afraid of, it was just the prospect of someone targeting Yeosang and now that they're back at the scene of the "crime", the "criminal" might be lurking about, ready to get rid of them. The residual police tape didn't help his case though as the moment the flimsy material brushed up against his leg, he freaked out and ran out of the alley.

"You guys, come on, we didn't find anything!" Mingi whisper-yelled from the entrance of the alley. You rolled your eyes at Mingi, ignoring him as you continued shining your phone's light on the ground, whereas Jongho sighed and called out to Mingi without faltering in the same task he was doing, "Hyung, if you're that much of a coward, you can just... I don't know, go into the convenience store or something?" "But how would you guys know if you found anything? You don't know what you're even looking for!" Mingi huffed but his voice got louder which indicated that he had returned into the alley. "Well, we'll just have to find something first, Mingi. From the looks of it, I'm not confident that the police hadn't bagged anything miscellaneous for evidence or worst case scenario, they just throw his crap as trash," you sighed, feeling a sense of negativity the more you talked about the possibilty.

The three of you stopped at one spot, a spot that had a faded mark and a spot that made you swallow the lump that was building in your throat. "Is that..." Jongho started, eyeing you and Mingi carefully, knowing that it was a rather touchy question. Thankfully, Mingi nodded and answered him before you had to, "Yeah, that's where they found Yeosang unconscious. The last place he was alive and well," Mingi sighed. Hearing that, you turned around and held your head high and not just because Mingi was a behemoth of a man, but because you were psyching your brain into being positive, "I don't know what you're talking about because Kang Yeosang is well, conscious, and alive, and he's in his computer like a little virus we can't get rid off so he's perfectly fine until we get him back to his body," your voice quivered slightly but your confidence was well noticed by your two friends.

Nodding firmly, Mingi exhaled sharply at you, "You're right, Yeosang is perfectly fine and all we have to do is find out the missing information, clear your name, and slap his face so he'll return to his body!"

"Well, as much as I'd like to be pumped about the prospect of slapping a comatose man, I don't think there's anything in this alley other than roaches and rats," Jongho shuddered, "Maybe we can ask around? I saw a lady selling tteokbokki nearby so she probably saw something." His suggestion made a lot of sense to you and Mingi so it was a no-brainer that you agreed immediately. "But hey, can we go to the convenience store first? I gotta pee," Mingi grinned. Seeing the chance to poke fun at his older friend, Jongho placed an arm on Mingi's shoulder and pat him twice, "I'm surprised you haven't soiled your pants just yet, hyung," he said equally as casuall which made you cackle as the two of you walked out of the alley, Mingi trailing behind the two of you as he retaliated by throwing his own insults at Jongho. It was unfortunate that Jongho didn't seem to care.

While Mingi went to relieve himself, you and Jongho decided to pick up some drinks and snacks for later when you go home considering you still had to go through discussion and brainstorming with the boys. On top of that, it's a transactional gesture because Mingi came in to use the facilities.

As Jongho placed the basket on the counter, you were surprised that the cashier suddenly clapped his hands before he pointed at you, "Hey, you're she!" he called out almost excitedly. "I'm sorry?" you asked, confused, "You're her! I remember you!" he said before he ducked down under the counter. "Do you know this guy?" Jongho asked, both confused and curious at the man's seeming recognition of you. "I don't know this guy, I swear," though you were sure that you didn't know him, you still tried to think of where you might have known him. "Do you have an online persona I don't know of?" Jongho half joked half genuinely asked which you answered by smacking him on his chest (that did absolutely nothing) and grumbled, "If you're asking if I secretly do porn, Jongho, I will hand you over to my cousin and make you do Cats in an actual cat costume," you threatened and Jongho only replied by mocking you which meant that he truly believed your threats and that your cousin would have no problem with executing the idea.

The man came back up just as Mingi jogged to join you and Jongho, placing a phone charger on the counter which only caused your confusion to double. "What's this?" you asked and Mingi answered, "Do you really not know what a phone charger is?" "Not only is it a charger, it's your charger!" the cashier said, grinning proudly. By the look on your face, the cashier's smile dropped and he tilted his head in confusion, "You don't remember?" "I... I mean, I did lose my charger a while ago but I don't think this is mine," you said sheepishly. The cashier shook his head firmly and pointed at the charger, "No, I remember this is yours because I was working the shift when you came in rushing because your phone died and you needed to charge it so you could open your online banking app. You sat at that corner and you kept muttering about not wanting someone to be right?" recognition dawned on your face but still, you couldn't really place the memory. Seeing you, Jongho stepped in and questioned the man, "How sure are you that it was her? I mean, that could be anyone, right?" The cashier shook his head immediately, "No, no, no, I remember you clearly because that was the night when that guy got electrocuted after arguing with some other guy, I overheard them when I was taking a smoke break and then the convenience store blacked out for a solid 3 minutes and I absolutely remembered everything correctly because that was the day I learned about turning on the generator and also because the cops came in after finding the guy in the alley, asking if I knew anything," he said proudly.

Your eyes widened as saucers and your jaw slacked. It was as if someone broke a damn in your brain and memories of the night you had gone out by yourself flooded your brain. "Oh my God," you whispered, remembering how you rushed into the convenience store because you desperately needed to charge your phone and you remembered the blackout. You had initially wanted to leave to go find another functional port at the cafe just on the other side of the alley but when the generator turned on, you decided to stay only for an extra 15 minutes because as soon as your phone hit 30%, you rushed home to avoid getting scolded by Leo. But it wasn't the memory that rendered you frozen.

"(y/n), what is it? Are you okay?" Mingi asked, worriedly pulling you to the side as Jongho finished up with the cashier. "I... Yeosang... He, he was electrocuted in the alley where the powerline is connected to this side of the building. I think... I think when he got electrocuted, he got sucked into my phone because I was charging in the port that bordered this convenience store and the alley," you muttered, putting information together that finally made sense in your head. Then, you looked up at him with your eyes glassy, pupils shaky as the information overloaded your brain, "Mingi, I was here the night Yeosang got hurt, I was on the other side of the wall when it happened. I could have helped him, I could've found out what happened to him exactly and I could've probably found out who hurt him but I didn't Mingi, I was here but I didn't do anything." It was obvious that you felt guilty but Mingi knew that there was absolutely nothing you could have done. So he pulled you into his arms and just comforted you, he rubbed your back as your fingers tighten around his shirt, calming you down and repeatedly telling you that you could not have known and that you shouldn't blame yourself.

But what else could you think? Another thing happened to Yeosang and you were right there, powerless and hopeless. Just like what happened in the past.

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[ultraericthered]

One Villainous Scene: Cage Of Expectations

A brief one, but it gives so much insight and explains so much about the inner world of a character who, up to this point, was kept shrouded in mystery even though we all knew he was the villain, and also perfectly sets him up to make the decisions he ends up making.

While the later retcon tells us that Ken became a prodigious, genius boy due to a "Dark Spore" inplanted in him by accident that only "went off" when he visited the Dark Ocean, the whys and hows aren't really crucial to understanding Ken's story at this point: he's a star student, star athlete, and even something of a young celebrity within the world of science and computers. Because he is so well known and renowned, he's given plenty of filmed interviews like we see him doing here. After the interview is done, the headmaster of Ken's school comes over to him to offer congragulatory words...and then in a very shady move, whispers to Ken the offer to tutor his daughter in her studies over at his place so that she can excell in her grades at his school, saying he'd reward Ken handsomely for it. Ken plays the "I'm just a kid, I ain't THAT good" card, which makes the principal start to back off...but then he turns back around and asks the disgruntled Ken for an autograph. Turns out that beyond mere corruption and nepotism practices, the headmaster was pestering Ken about these things because his daughter's a fangirl of Ken. This does not please Ken. Who do some plain, unexceptional, low IQ girl and her plain, unexceptional, low IQ father think they are asking him for favors like this? Such matters are far below his time and efforts.

(In the English dub, this interaction is changed to some nonsense about the headmaster wanting Ken over to help him win at a video game called "Donkey Madness" prior to getting the autograph. The effect on Ken is the same, but I think it takes a lot out of the scene.)

Ken is then seen at dinner with his parents, who are acting all congragulatory and gushing over their son's interview and how smart he is and how maturely he presents himself. Yeah, they're really shitty parents. Much as they do love their son and loved his late brother, their love for the idea of being the parents of a special genius child enraptures them so much that they lose sight of what's really best for their child and his needs as a human being, and they coast off the achievements and reputation of their child without really giving back to him in any substantial way. Ken isn't really pleased with the way they interact with him either, so he gets up and leaves the table.

Then comes the big moment. An image that says so much even when so little is said (again, in the original. The dub butchered it by having Ken internally ramble the whole way, which not even Derek Stephen Prince can really save.) Ken's on the roof of his apartment building, standing in front of a barred fence. He can see the entire city from here, a city filled with mediocre people who he considers to be completely beneath him, but who will always look to exploit his gifts and use whatever he accomplishes for their own benefit, and will feel alright about themselves for doing nothing, being nothing. Ken would love nothing more than to abuse, bully, enslave, torture, or even kill the whole lot of them...but he's far too intelligent to not know better. He knows that the rules of civil society prohibit him from acting freely upon those cruel urges, making him have to conform and comply with the regulations set by lesser people. He, a Chosen One, a "perfect human", has to just sit there and take it like a good little boy, to not werewolf and go wild on these people. He's trapped. Caged like a rare breed of animal rather than the god he believes himself to be. The bars he grabs onto represents this cage, and all he can do here is snarl and shout out to city below him "INSECTS!"

But of course we know that there's a place Ken goes to where he can actually live his wildest fantasies, and act as he would naturally prefer to act towards lesser beings completely free of repercussions. The world he believes is one large MMORPG that exists for his pleasure. The Digital World, where he asserts himself as the Digimon Kaiser. And it's at this point where he starts to call that place home.

[a-small-batch-of-dragons]

Creature Craft | Identification

Read on Ao3 Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Warnings: none

Pairings: analogical

Word Count: 1935

A visit to the clinic.

The clinic is not a very imposing building. It's a little thing tucked in the corner of a strip mall between a Chinese restaurant and a craft store. The sign on the front doesn't even have a name or anything on it, just the company's logo in a flickering neon sign. He falters in front of the door all the same.

A hand squeezes his. He glances up, Logan already looking at him with that same infinite patience. They squeeze his hand again but make no move forward.

Virgil takes a deep breath and pushes open the door.

A light tinkling bell announces their presence to the few people inside, the receptionist smiling from behind the pastel green counter. She waves them over, past the few rows of blue plastic chairs and light wooden tables.

"Hi! Checking in?"

"Uh, yeah, I'm—it should be under Virgil? I'm here for a—"

"For the follow-up, yes, okay, I've got you down. Hey, thanks for getting here a few minutes early, we really appreciate it."

"No worries, it's, uh, it's a habit."

"Well, far from the worst habit to have. If you could just confirm your information on the screen…" Virgil taps a few buttons. "Great, thank you, and—your name, please, for the records?"

"Logan," Logan says smoothly, holding out their hand. The receptionist lifts up a futuristic-looking touch pad and they press down for a few seconds.

"Wonderful." She scrolls on her computer for a few seconds before her eyes light up and her grin widens. "Oh, it's you two! We've been expecting you, yes, okay, the technician will be ready in a few minutes. If you just want to have a seat?"

"Thank you," Logan says before Virgil can realize that he's staring at her with an open mouth, taking him gently by the arm and steering him over to a few seats. They quickly take his hand in theirs again. "Alright?"

"What did she mean, that she's been expecting us?"

"Well, you never did have that appointment that was supposed to brief you on me, remember?"

"Oh. Right."

"Would you like me to come back there with you?"

"Isn't—it's supposed to be like that? Or are you—am I not supposed to have met you yet?"

"It's up to you, sweetheart."

Virgil shuffles. "Is it…is it gonna be weird to hear us talk about you like you're—like—"

"Is it going to be weird to discuss the metaphysical existence of a magical being created from your spell?"

"Okay, point taken."

"It really is up to you," Logan says after a few more moments, "whatever you would like to do. If you'd feel more comfortable asking questions without me there, then I can wait here for you."

"…is that okay?"

"Wouldn't have offered if it wasn't."

Still, it takes a few moments for Virgil to let go of Logan's hand when someone finally comes out to the front and asks for him. The woman smiles at him and guides him into a small office in the back of the building, introducing herself as Amelia Longsworth. A window looks out onto a planter filled with colorful flowers, a small bouquet in a vase on her desk. He sits in the chair and tries his best not to look too obviously uncomfortable.

"Virgil, I have to admit I've not been this excited about the outcome of a spell in a long time," Amelia says as she sits down. "Though I'm sure you have questions, if I can explain a few things first?"

"Sure."

"First off, my apologies for the delay in the spellcraft. It's just—well, how much do you know about magic?"

"Next to nothing."

"I won't talk your ear off with jargon, then. But at the root of spells like this is establishing a firm link between caster and result. Magic is incredibly reliant on the energy the person casting it uses to shape it, which is why the exact same spell can have so many different results based off of who is casting it, why they're casting it, and what they intend for it to do. It's why magical education takes so long."

"Is that why the process takes so long here too?"

"Yes. Obviously you're not the one casting the spell, primarily, but because we want the spell to be shaped using your energy, we need to spend a longer amount of time actually in the 'casting' process before the spell reaches its last stage." Virgil nods. "I have to ask, since you've said you don't know much about magic, did you start this process with any sort of expectation? Or end goal in mind?"

"I, uh, I didn't actually know what it was before I signed up for it. My friends really wanted to do it, and they needed one more person to sign up for it to get this, like, discount or something? They were, um…they didn't really explain a lot about it before I said they could use my info."

Amelia blinks. "You—you didn't know what this was before you signed up for it?"

"No, no, I—I did, like, a check on you guys and everything, I didn't just let my friends sign me up for a magic thing I had no knowledge of," he says quickly and her shoulders relax, "but I didn't—yeah, past the basics I didn't really know anything."

"Okay, phew, I was going to say—you can get yourself in all sorts of trouble that way."

"No, yeah, I didn't—I knew something."

"Right. Well, anyway, the reason I ask is that you…your spell, Virgil, the reason it took a little bit longer to finish it was that your tether—the thing binding you to it, it was really volatile."

His hands clench on the arms of the chair. "Is that a bad thing?"

"Not necessarily, but the purpose of this spell is to be for you, and you…can I show you?"

He nods and she turns one of the monitors on her desk around so he can see it. On the screen is a colored image of…something magical, he guesses, and there's a few labels describing things with several syllables he's not sure he'd ever know how to pronounce.

"So this is what a typical tether with this spell looks like. See how the colors are pretty consistent throughout the image?"

"Yeah."

"That means the tether is only running off one main energy. There's only one thing—or one type of thing that the spell is supposed to accomplish, so the tether is nice and strong. I'm going to show you a picture of what your spell profile looked like at the end of the second phase."

Virgil blinks. Unlike the previous photo, his is more like an explosion of color, everything is sort of everywhere and it's hard to even make out that it's supposed to be a clear path from one to the other. "That looks…bad."

"It's not bad, it's just really broad. There wasn't one thing that you were feeding the spell because you—okay, no, not like that. Can you tell me a little about what your though process was when you were caring for the plant and the cat?"

"I, uh, I didn't really know a lot about either of them, so I did my best to like, figure it out as I went? Sorry, that's probably not a very helpful answer."

"Actually, that's incredibly helpful. This spell and most with tethers like these are designed to respond to the energy you give it. But because you were letting it dictate what you gave it, most of the time, it was responding to an unrestricted energy source."

"Is that why it went so…wild?"

"Partially. I think the other part of it is that you…" She sighs, tucking a lock of hair behind your ear. "Not all of the spellcraft we do here is just based off the magic profiles. We also have experts that refine and read them to make sure the spell is safe and ready for release. Am I—forgive me if this is being really forward, but you're…you tend to put everything else before yourself, don't you?"

Virgil opens and closes his mouth a few times. "It's that obvious from this?"

"A little, yeah. The delay came from trying to get an accurate read on your profile so we could make the tether more stable." She clicks over to another photo. This time, the tether has the same shape as the one from the first photo, but the colors are still all there, no less vibrant. "This is what we reached, and what eventually turned into Logan."

"Why is it still so colorful?"

(There's like, four different jokes he could make here.)

Amelia smiles, a little resigned. "Normally when we get to this stage, we refine the 'colors,' so to speak, so we can give the spellcraft one specific energy to focus on. In this case, helping to address one issue or specific group of issues for the client."

A flush comes to his cheeks. "So I have, um, a lot of issues that needed to be addressed?"

"No! No, that's not where I was going with that at all. No, I was going to say that the tether you formed with this spell was so powerful that we couldn't do anything more than shape it a little. It wouldn't let us."

"It wouldn't let you?"

"What has Logan told you about his magic so far?"

"Their magic," he corrects, before explaining, albeit a little sheepishly, only to stop in confusion when Amelia hides a snort. "What?"

"Of course they'd describe it like that," she laughs. "It was like they were hoarding the colors. Every time we'd try to reduce the energy in the spell, make it easier to manage, it was like it was snatching it back from us, insisting it needed it for you."

"F-for me?"

Amelia's expression softens and she reaches across the desk, patting his shoulder. "It's not an accident that your spellcraft produced a fiercely protective and caring person, Virgil. Magic has a way of revealing things about us that we would never have the courage or words to admit out loud. In caring for the cat and the plant the way you did, you gave the spell energy from you, just you, no other strings or expectations attached, and the resulting tether made something—someone capable of returning that to you, tenfold."

Virgil's eyes go back to the picture. The colors are so strong, so vivid…and the idea that Logan was stubbornly holding onto them, insisting they needed them to—to take care of him…

"Oh, sweetie," Amelia says, quickly handing him a tissue box, "do you want me to grab them for you?"

"No, no, 'm okay, I'm okay, I just—" he blows his nose— "I get to keep them?"

"Yeah, yeah, Virgil, you get to keep them. There's no take-backs, no refunds, I don't think Logan would let anyone take them away from you." She pats his arm again. "Your magic is yours, Virgil. All yours."

"Thank you," he blurts out, "just—thank you."

Amelia smiles. "No, thank you. Some of us here were beginning to lose faith in our craft, so thank you for bringing some of it back."

He's still floating a little as Amelia walks him back towards the front. This is real. There aren't any tricks here. He gets to keep this. He gets to keep all of it. He gets to keep Logan.

He's about to push open the door to the front of the clinic when he stops at the sound of some very familiar voices.

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[ash5monster01]

Learning to Love Part 7

Pairing: Rafe Cameron x FemReader!PlusSize

Warnings: 18+, langauge, angst, fluff, mentions of bullying, body image issues, fat shaming, fake relationship, eventual smut, minor enemies to lovers trope.

Summary: It's not uncommon for you to be shamed for your size, it is however uncommon to be told that no one would ever date you because of it. Rafe on the other hand is used to being called a jerk, that is until he is accused of seeing people for only what's on the surface. It's purely coicidental you two meet right after these accusations are thrown your way. So even though you two don't know each other, and probably never would've looked the others way before this, now you're both going to prove a point. It's simple really, prove others wrong and don't fall in love. Easier said than done.

word count: 3.5k

Part 6 ←→ Part 8

Masterlist

When you agreed to drive Rafe to work you hadn't expected for him to drag you inside. Especially since you were still wearing your bar clothes, jeans that would reek of tequila by the end of the night, and a T-shirt that acted as a spare rag half the time. Now your fingers were interlocked with Rafe’s, in a grey suit as he marches through his building full of other suits and pencil skirts. Add on the fact everyone looks on with confusion, shocked to see someone like you walking in with their sexy as hell boss. You knew most of the women fantasized about him taking them over his desk and the image alone sent a chill down your spine. Rafe looks to you with confusion and you just offer a smile as if you weren't just picturing him having his way with you.

"Hey, long time no see" AJ beams at you two when you reach the top floor and you offer a sweet smile even though you entirely resent her for being one of those girls that could easily have Rafe on his desk if she wanted.

"AJ, I'm taking the rest of the day to spend with my girl. Make sure Matt and Levi don't start a game of strip poker again" and she nods with a salute that has you snorting in laughter over the fact that even happened once before.

"It was one time at an employee party" a man you assume is Matt calls out from a corner office and Rafe rolls his eyes as he leads you to his own office.

"Kaitlyn, hold my calls and cancel my meetings for the rest of the day. I'm taking some personal time" Rafe says to the prettiest brunette girl you've ever seen with the brightest green eyes. Kaitlyn nods and starts typing away at her computer like she was trained to obey every order. Then Rafe was guiding you through large double doors that revealed the largest office you've ever seen. You stare in awe as he shuts the doors behind you and the click of them shutting closed is enough to make you jump.

"What's wrong?" he asks, spotting how just closing the door suddenly made you nervous.

"Do you know what they think we're doing?" you whisper and he looks confused until he spots the bright pink hue flooding your cheeks.

"Oh" is all he says and you chuckle, unable to look him in the eye which he finds entirely too cute.

“And how do you know this?” he asks as he approaches his desk.

“Come on, it’s like every book cliche ever. Girl dates important guy, guy bends girl over his desk, tale as old as time” you say confidently and it’s only until his eyebrows raise towards you that the confidence deters.

“Are you admitting to me that you read dirty books?” he asks and your neck burns with embarrassment.

“I’m just saying” you pout and he laughs as he sits behind the desk and begins to type at his computer.

“There’s just one thing I have to finish up before I play hookie with you all day, that’s why I didn’t want you to wait in the car” he explains and you nod quickly as you allow him time to work.

Thing is, you’re impatient. Which Rafe notices quickly when you sit at the chair in front of his desk and won’t stop bouncing your leg. It takes you not much longer after that to stand and start observing the room. Looking at the shelves and pictures on the walls. It was only a few emails he had to send, confirm a few projects, but now he was finding it hard to pay attention with you walking around all pretty and staring at his office with awe. You study the room like you're studying him, trying to fit puzzle pieces into the mystery that Rafe Cameron is. Yet even his office, a place that should be so intimate to him, is still just as bland as his home. Lacking warmth, evidence of a life, hiding everything underneath the surface.

"You like that one?" his voice pierces through the silence and you almost jump again as you look away from the abstract painting on the wall. To someone else it seems like it's just various colors, swirled around and claimed as art, but you see it. The curve of a larger girls shilouette, the hip dips and heavy stomach and breasts. She's there but hidden within a sea of beautiful colors. It deep, beautiful, and entirely too intimate. "It's new"

"It's beautiful" you try not to tear up, because surely Rafe Cameron is like the rest of the world. Blind to something so beautiful hidden within. It was probably bought for its colors and the beautiful swirls that fill the canvas and not for the shape of a woman hidden inside who just wants to be seen for more than what's on the surface.

"It made me think of you" your breath hitches almost instantly, trying not to take his words with as much meaning as the painting had put over you.

"Not much of a picture guy then, huh?" you want to act entirely normal about what he just said but how can you. He had dropped a bomb and you weren't sure how to diffuse it. It all depended on what Rafe saw when he looked at that picture. If he saw the colors or you.

"Don't really have people worth taking pictures with" Rafe says, a small scowl on his face. You know it isn't entirely true but for Rafe all the pictures from his past held reminders. Reminders of ruined families and friendships all for something obselite now.

"Well that's to bad Cameron because I'm gonna take a picture of us and frame it for this exact office, put it right next to that computer of yours so you see it all day long" You tease and Rafe chuckles lightly, looking much happier now.

"That's probably not a good idea, I'd be looking at you more than doing my work" the compliment bubbles in your stomach, settling and warming you over, but you move past it like you always do.

"To bad, we're taking one" you say and he laughs before gesturing you over which makes you furrow your eyebrows.

"You want to take it now?" you ask and he nods, patting his lap like it's the most natural thing in the world for you to come over and sit on him.

"Yeah, have a picture of us in my office in my office" he says and you snort lightly, walking towards him while trying to ignore your nerves.

"How breaking the fourth wall of us" you say as his hand lands on your waist and guides you to sit on him. You try your best to keep your weight off of him as much as possible but he pulls you to him before you can even try. You land on his lap as his arms snake around your waist and chin lands on your shoulder.

"Okay baby, take the picture while I still look good" he teases and you roll your eyes as you grab your phone and open the camera app.

"You always look good Rafe" you say and your ears burn red instantly. Rafe grins and presses a kiss to your shoulder, not saying more to make sure he doesn't embarass you further. Even if he likes it when you get all flustered. "All right, smile"

An easy smile crosses Rafe's face as you hold the phone up and try to take a picture of you two. Yet when your thumb meets the button he's kissing your cheek, breath fanning over your neck. You giggle instantly hand clicking more than just one picture, the two of you laughing with each other. It feels all to real and you hate how much you've come to like the boy underneath you. Saying goodbye will be all that much harder the more you keep getting close like this.

“You have to be smiling normal for at least one" you tell him with a pout and he smiles at you before nodding.

"Okay baby, one more" he tells you and this time he obeys, easy smile on his face as he squeezes you close, foreheads leaned against each other. For a moment you look like a real couple, two people just happy to be together. It warms you over as you drop the phone and go to look at the few pictures you had managed to get. Rafe watches over your shoulder, holding you close and not letting you go.

"You ruined almost every one" you say and he shakes his head, looking at that beaming smile on your face as his kisses you and not the fake one you normally wore.

"No I didn't, they're perfect. I want that one" he says pointing at it and you roll your eyes, trying to avoid the saying that lays on the tip of your tongue anytime you look at a picture of yourself. I look fat you want to say, eyes catching the slight double chin from your beaming laugh. You're unposed, unaware of the way your body looks so big compared to his.

"I look... I don't look good" you try to convey, avoid looking at him and you feel him sigh against you.

"You always look good, especially in that picture" he tells you, hands squeezing your waist. It should be a sentimental moment but his hands make you jump and Rafe realizes fairly quickly that he has just tickled you. Even though there is other parts of him affected by you bouncing on his lap he can't help but grin and start digging his fingers into you. You squeal instantly, toppling against him and trying to lean away but Rafe holds you close, laughing as you cry out for him to stop. Your both to caught up in eachother you miss the knock and open of the door to his office.

"Sorry to interupt Mr. Cameron" you both freeze, hazy smiles left on your faces as you see Kaitlyn in the doorway.

"What's up Kait?" he asks, a small huff to his breath from how he was just tickling you. You should feel weird to be sitting on his lap as his employees speak to him but you’re still trying to get your heart rate back to a normal pace.

"I just wanted to let you know I've cleared your schedule and sent over those files from yesterday that you needed reviewed. I can do the next pile if you need" she says, a small pink hue to her cheeks for having caught the two of you giggling like lovesick teenagers.

"That would be great Kaitlyn, me and my girl we're just heading out here. The stack is where it always is and you have a good rest of the day" you blush deeply when Rafe pats your bottom, indicating you stand up so the two of you can leave. You watch as he readies himself and then locks his arm around your waist to guide you out the door. You give Kaitlyn a small wave as he walks you back through the office, head high, and proud that you're the girl he has his arm wrapped around.

When you reach his apartment you make yourself comfy. You had planned to work all day, distract yourself from feelings for Rafe but look how far that had gotten you. So you sit on his couch, clicking through Netflix in search of a good movie, something to get his mind off of things. You’re still not entirely sure of what kind of movies he likes so it’s proven to be pointless, mindless clicking, until he returns to the living room in leisure wear and falling next to you on the couch.

“What do you want to watch?” you ask as his head lays on your lap, looking up to face you. You’re certain you’re unflattering from this angle but caring about things like that had been proven pointless with Rafe.

“I’m good with anything, I don’t really watch movies” you’re shocked to hear this, considering when most girls were out on dates you were at home watching the latest film and enjoying every second.

“So you’re telling me you haven’t watched the classics?” you ask and he shrugs against you.

“I’ve seen the Godfather once and that was about it” you shake your head at him, saddened to hear your fake boyfriend hasn’t watched at least the required films of any human beings on this earth. So you set off on a hunt, trying to find the perfect film, going through almost every streaming service, until you find the one.

“Here we go” you mutter to no one in particular as you hit play and Rafe furrow his eyebrows as he looks at the screen.

“Dirty Dancing” he pouts and you can see the crease in his brow from where he lays on you.

“Oh don’t be a boy about it, watch it like a man” you tell him and he chuckles before rolling to his side and getting cozy on your lap. From where you sit you can’t see Rafe’s reaction and as much as he’s enjoying the movie he’s enjoying you whispering the lines behind him, knowing what song was next, and most of all the way your legs shifted underneath him when the characters truly dirty danced. His hand had come to caress your leg as the movie progressed, unable to stop himself and you took that as an invitation to run your hands through his hair.

Finally it had reached the scene where Baby goes to Johnny’s cabin and admits her feelings, Rafe knows this is an important part by the way your hand freezes against his head. The music starts as Baby and Johnny start undressing each other, your breathing has become uneven, and based on the glance Rafe dared to take you look wrecked for a girl who has had nothing happen to her. He waits patiently as the two characters begin to get intimate and once the scene is over he takes a chance and hits pause.

“Hey” you mutter softly, voice hoarse and eyes still semi glued to the screen. Rafe rolls onto his back, looking up at you as your hand that was in his hair falls to his chest.

“Can I ask you a deeply personal question and you answer me honestly without freezing up?” his sentence makes your heart accelerate as you look at him. You take a moment to catch your breath before answering him.

“Sure” you know you shouldn’t of said it but you’ve crossed personal lines with Rafe that you had never expected to and soon he won’t be a part of your life anymore, no harm in being vulnerable if it’s guaranteed you never have to see him again.

“Have you, ever done stuff?” you’re confused by the question until it suddenly dawns on you what he’s asking. Your silence instantly makes him feel guilty. “It’s just the whole thing with the hickey and no intimacy rule. Then the way you’re reacting to that scene, it’s just. I don’t know”

“I’ve never” you whisper, unable to look into his eyes. Regret swirls in a pit in your stomach. “I want to. I want to trust someone so deeply that I can but how can I? Everywhere I go people look at me like something wretched and if they’re daring enough they’ll say things loud enough for me to hear. I’ve been told how repulsive I am for years because of my size, seen it movies, watched it in real life. It would break me beyond repair if I undressed in front of someone like y- someone and they decided they didn’t want me”

“Hey, you are not repulsive. You are so beautiful, every piece of you” Rafe tells you and you shake your head, looking away to hide the tears that rim your eyes.

“I wish I could believe that” you whisper, not even for him to hear because the worst thing about compliments was the fact you could never actually believe them.

“Hey, look at me” Rafe says as he sits up, pulling you to face him. You accept defeat as you turn and lock your eyes onto his own. “You are perfect the way you are. I would never lie to you about that and any guy would be stupid to walk away from a beautiful woman that is naked for him”

“I just panic Rafe, as much as I try to fight it and push it away. I can’t” you mutter, lip trembling and a tear falling loose. Rafe feels bad for bringing it up but he reaches to brush the tear away anyway. He wishes he could find the right thing to say, to convince you that you were just as good if not better than anyone else. To tell you how much he is attracted to you. Yet he can’t do it. You’d never believe him and in the end this is all fake. You’re going to leave him just like everyone else and he isn’t prepared to lose you by messing this all up.

“It’ll get easier, one day you’ll meet someone you trust more than anything and you won’t even remember ever feeling like this” Rafe says it because he knows it’s true. He was convinced he’d never really love someone, trust them entirely, that is until he met you.

You take a moment to respond to him. He has no idea he has just broken your heart in two. Meet someone, not him, which means he didn’t want anything to do with you. This whole time you had been catching feelings for a boy you made a rule with not to. Maybe when you made the rule you’d hoped he’d be the one to break it but of course it was you. He was just another boy to add to the long list of crushes who would never ever be attracted to you. So you decide you’re no longer going to be weak in front of Rafe Cameron. What’s the point if he just proves he could never love you?

“In order to meet someone Rafe this will have to end” you don’t want to say it. There’s really no point. You know you won’t meet someone and ending this will only sadden you more for having to let him go. Rafe stiffens beside you and you feel guilty almost instantly.

“I know” he says quietly and you swear you almost hear the heartbreak in his voice but that can’t be true. Rafe will have proven his point, he can go back to girls like AJ, and live a life without being bullied for only liking supermodel women. You will go back to failed relationships and being unable to trust your partner.

“Listen it doesn’t have to be now-” but the shaking of Rafe’s head has you swallowing your words. Is he about to end it right now? Had you said too much?

“It can be, look our worlds don’t intermingle often. So if someone at the bar flirts with you or asks you out, you’re welcome to say yes. We can keep pretending but if you find something serious we can end it” Rafe tells you and you fight the new tears that are burning at the back of your eyes. It’s kind but it means it won’t ever be him.

“I guess the same goes for you. Someone at the office or whatever” you say, your voice slightly cracking at the end and you pray he doesn’t notice.

“I guess this had to end at some point” Rafe shrugs and you wish he was just as sad as you. You had gotten close and pretty soon he would become just a stranger again. You didn’t want him to be. He had become so much more.

“True but we still have some time” you say to which he nods, knowing it wasn’t over just yet. For some reason it felt like it though. He just had no idea how he could make you believe that he loved you.

“Exactly which if you’re free Saturday night I have another work event. Rooftop with a pool and open bar” Rafe suggests and you giggle lightly, relishing in the fact that the same boy who had upset you was the only one who could cheer you up too.

“Well how can I say no to that?” you say as a smile cracks across Rafe’s face before he lays back down and into your lap.

“Hey, what do you say we finish this movie then order some pizza?” he says and you nod, heart heavy with the goodbye bound to come but full of love for the boy in front of you.

“Sounds perfect”

a/n: I’m not sure when the next update will be out considering the Holidays but for now please enjoy. I rewrote this chapter about three times and they’re all entirely different versions but I feel like I like this one best. I want this story to take the best course that is possible. Thank you to everyone who has read and enjoyed so far. I wanted to put this out before tomorrow because tomorrow is my birthday and I’ll be far too busy to be writing! We’re about halfway through folks!

Taglist: @sublimepenguinpeach-blog @fishingirl12 @houseofperfecttaste @abbybarnesstuff @carma-fanficaddict @jjmaybankisbae @exhaustedbutelated @diagnosedpsychosis @daivny @drewstarkeygf @vinniehackersbaee @emsgoodthinkin @apollo3475 @https-urwife @willowalexissss @kisstaya @hcneyedsstuff @lexiereblogs @drewsuncrustables @mveggieburger @marvel4life3000 @bibliophilewednesday @humungouspatrolwolf @ijustwanttoreadlols @jaijustreads @sleepjam @dilvcv @aaronhotchswife @sunshine1218 @lavenderhazeq @theultimatefrenchfangirl @kravitzwhore @chalahyung01

Comment if you want to be added to the taglist :))

[aetiologies]

01:15 / NANAMI KENTO

the typing came in whispers. a wave, a chorus of thumping rhythms of clicking plastic keys. strings of coherent thoughts formed into patterns of text upon a word document. occasionally the sounds would stop. a pause, a lilt in the air as your brain attempted to catch up with itself again.

it was another late night at the office. overhead fluorescent lights dimmed with only the faint glow of your computer screen shining upon your face. the shadows of which made the bags under your eyes to appear heavier.

bodies of salarymen no longer filled the cubicles as the only semblance of life was you and nanami—the only helpful member of your project group—and his awfully bright desk lamp.

you skipped dinner in order to catch the trailing workload your other colleagues failed to carry and you were not sure how much longer your aching stomach could bear the thought of another missed meal.

you scratched at the nape of your neck, eyes flickering to the blond whose visage seemed worse for wear as well.

“where are you going?” he asked through the clamor of your packing.

“getting something to eat.” you explain, “i’m thinking pancakes. care to join?”

“pancakes?” he repeated.

you nod.

“this late?”

“time is a concept and we are victims of capitalism and to those who run it.” you shrugged and by the time you lifted your gaze to meet his, it seemed as if nanami had already met you halfway.

nanami was a competent man. it did not take much struggle for him to complete tasks nor was he easily annoyed. everything came rather easy to him and most days you wondered if he was actually human under that damn khaki suit. you figured he was not much of a happy-go-lucky that would entertain such spontaneity but here you two were, striding down the empty hallways of your office building on your way to get pancakes at one in the morning.

“and where would you get said pancakes this late into the evening?” he questioned, one that should have been a blatant answer, though he wished to be entertained by your thought process.

“the convenient store.”

nanami hums, “figured. though, i believe pancakes are much better homemade.”

“you have any better options?” you asked.

“i have a mix at home.”

“oh…” you trail off, somewhat disappointed. your initial plan was to fetch food by yourself anyway, though nanami caught the way your mood shifted.

you aimed to look away, to evade his curious gaze as the elevator door opened. he sighed, having to spell it out for you, monotonous and indiscreet to hide his red-tipped ears. “i’m asking for you to come over. i’d rather you not walk home alone this late…”

[roses-dreams-andthorns]

MC showing Grimmy videogames and maybe playing co-op with him?

Yes yess!! Whoo, finall some requests... thank you for your request my friend!

Grim x MC

(I created this meme lol) ^

MC is Gender neutral, You/yours pronouns.

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! GRIM'S REAL NAME IS USED IN THIS FIC.

☆☆☆☆♡♡♡♡☆☆☆☆♡♡♡♡☆☆☆☆

Your controller clicks aggressively as you move your joysticks and press the buttons, as you play your competitive game. You are heavily focused, trying your best to win, but unfortunately, by the end of the round... your opponents got a knockout. You sigh in dissapointment.

"Sunshine... what are you doing?" you hear a familiar voice and the soft creak of your door. In comes the cutest and most stubborn man you've ever known. None other than Casper, your Grim Reaper boyfriend.

"Just playin a video game, why?" You ask him, raising your eyebrow.

"Video game... This is another mortal custom, right..?" He questions, tilting his head in curiousity.

"...A custom?" You look at him, you chuckle slightly. "isn't everything I do just another mortal custom to you?"

His eyes narrow, he pouts. Unamuzed, clearly. He then sighs.

"I have done research on these... 'video games.' They're meant to be fun, right? You don't look like you're having fun." he says, with that little, cute, iconic pout upon his facial features.

"Ah... Hahah, Its just because I lost a game." You explain, holding the controller in your hand. "Not a big deal."

He looks you up and down, then at the screen, which still displayed the game over menu, with "DEFEAT" in big bold letters in the corner of the screen.

"May I try these video games, sunshine? Maybe not this one, but I'd like to... play with you." He asks, as he sits down beside you.

"Oh, sure! I got a game you might like." You smiled at him, standing up and switching out the game disk. You put in 'Minecraft'. You also handed him a controller. He looks at the controller like its some kind of alien technology.

"What? You don't know how a controller works?" You ask him.

"No. It took me a while to even work a computer... let alone program that chat room..." He crosses his arms.

"Well, no shit. Programming takes a ton of time." You replied, as you booted up the game. "I'll show ya how it works, just watch me!" you wink at him, he blushes at that.

After a while, Casper seems to get the idea of the controls and how to play. He even builds a nice dirt house for you and puts your Minecraft beds together. How romantic of him..

"...Sunshine." he begins, looking down at the controller.

"Hm?" you hum in curiousity.

"May we... play together more often? I find it.... fun... playing with you." he answers, turning his head away from you, perhaps to hide his very noticeable blush. You chuckle softly, which confuses him slightly.

"Of course we can! I'd love to play with you more often, Casper.~" you smile, giving him a little kiss on his cheek. He melts instantly, so much so, he's like a snowball in the summer. The two of you then continue playing until nightfall, playing different games each time, you always showed him the ropes, and he got used to it right away. Eventually, though... you fall asleep. Casper doing the same on your shoulder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tags: @nicotheghoul, @cozynspookyvibes

[theyhavetakenovermylife]

Shadows Entwined: Part 3

BatmanVsTmnt!Leonardo x sidekick!reader

Part 1 Part 2 / Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Bonus (18+)

In which Leonardo and (H/N) meet again.

-------------------------------------

A/N: Just a friendly reminder, that the Robin in Batman Vs TMNT is Damian Wayne. The son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul. Aka, Ra’s al Ghul’s grandson. That little dude is trained to kill.

Warnings: Spelling, talk of breaking bones, only slight research on Damian Wayne, long af today.

The reader and the turtles are 19.

—--------------------------------------

When Donnie said he had an idea, Leonardo didn’t expect to involve an underwater cave network that Gotham City somehow had been hiding. Michelangelo was right, this city was bonkers, in more was than Leo ever had imagined.

Leo, Mikey and Raph followed Donnie through the never ending cave system, before finally breaking the water surface, in a lit tunnel. Leo’s first thought was wondering if Batman and his sidekick ever made use of these tunnels. How often did she wonder about these waters, if ever? It was a strange thought and Leo knew it, but somehow, everything he had seen along the way, had reminded him of her.

“Look”, Raph spoke up, breaking the silence and thoughts running through Leo’s head. “I love being an amphibian as much as the next guy-”.

“Amphibious”, Donnie corrected. “We’re still reptiles”.

“Yeah, thanks for that, but you sure this cave leads anywhere?”

“Glad you asked! I am sure actually”, Donnie started explaining. “I made a database of every reported Batman sighting, and ran them through an algorithm that-”.

“Donnie”. Leo placed a hand on his younger brother’s shoulder. "Nobody cares. Where are you taking us?” Leo tried to sound, well, at least a little happy, even though a little bundle of something was building up inside of him. Nervousness? Anxiety? Couldn’t be. Why would he be nervous or anxious?

“The answer should be right through…” Donnie turned and continued in the direction they had been walking in, only to be met by a big opening in the caves. To say that what they discovered was shocking, would be an understatement. A big open cave with what looked like a taxidermy dinosaur, several glass display cases with Batman costumes, and a giant coin among other things.

“Ta-da!”, Donnie stated with his arms out. “The… Bat… Man… Cave… Huh?”

“This is pretty cool”, Leo admitted. Why did he feel so small all of sudden?

“Pretty cool?!” Mikey already looked like a child that had had too much sugar. “This is amazing! I don’t know what to put my grabby paws on first!”

As Mikey started running around, screaming like a child, Leo casted a glance around the cave. All he was Batman but no… her. Not her in person, nor anything that indicated you spend time here. Was it wrong that Leo had kind of hoped you’d be there? That when he and his brothers emerged from the water, you would be there, ready for another round? It was because he wanted to beat you. Or that was at least what he told himself. It wasn’t in line with how he saw himself, but he would much rather admit to wanting revenge, so he didn’t have to admit to anything else. Like how he hoped you would comment his eyes again. Not that he would admit it, but the thought of you being that close to him again, made tingles erupt in his stomach.

For a second Leo was scared that he was the one that began to chur at the thought of you, only to realize it was Donatello, who had gotten his eyes on a big computer.

“I don’t see any sign that the Shredder, nor the Foot Clan have been here”, Leo said, desperately trying to distract himself from the thought of you.

“Yeah. And I just see the signs of a dude with too much time and way too much money on his hands”, Raph said, looking skeptically at the Batman costumes.

“Most of these files are encrypted too heavily”, sounded Donnie’s voice from in front of the big computer. “But it looks to me like Batman has been tracking the laboratory break ins, like he’s been looking for the Foot’s next move! Same as us!”

“Hey guys! Check it out!” All three brothers turned, in fear of what Mikey had gotten himself into now. They found Mikey, sitting on top of the taxidermy t-rex, dressed in a Batman cape. “I’m Batman! And I’m riding a t-rex! I’ve never been so happy in my entire life!”

Leo’s first thought was to look around, slightly in fear of what you would think, if you found his little brother like that. “Mikey! Get down!”

“Nah man, I live up here now!”

“You should listen to him”.

Mikey turned to look at the source of this new voice, only to be met by a figure in the shadows right behind him. It was a boy. Not a very old one. Dressed in red, black, yellow and green, his eyes had a look that could kill. Yet Mikey didn’t find the child threatening in any way. Instead he turned his head to the side and let out an audible, “aww!”

The young boy sprung at Mikey, causing the two of them to fall off the t-rex and land on the ground, with Mikey’s back against the stone. Mikey held the boy above him, trying his best to hold his small hands away from his face.

“Take that mask off! Now!”, the boy yelled through gritted teeth, while Mikey was struggling to keep the mask on.

“Help!”, Mikey yelled out. “A tiny dude is like, totally trying to kill me!”

All brothers rushed to help Mikey, as the young boy pulled the mask and cap off of Mikey before jumping back, greeting distance between the two. Leo cursed himself, as his first thoughts were; did you know this kid? Did he know you?

“What are you, like five?”, Donnie asked, taken aback by the young boy in front of him.

“How did you get in here?!”, the boy asked, before jumping over Donatello, taking his bow staff and hitting him in the back of his head with it.

Leo stepped forwards with his hands held up. “Hey little guy. We didn’t come here to fight”. But Leo should have known better. Just like you, this little guy knew when to take advantage of an opening. Using Donatello’s bow staff, he hit the side of both of Leo’s knees, making them crack in a horrible way. “Jes!”, Leo yelled out, falling to the ground. At least you didn’t try to break his legs. Leo would much rather have fought against you, and not this little demon of a child.

All four of the turtle brothers were taken aback by the boy's fighting skills. Leo’s knees were aching, Donnie’s head was hurting, and Raph’s arms would soon form black marks. And the fight hadn't even been five minutes. It ended when Mikey yelled “sneak attack”, before tackling the boy, causing them to tumble around, ending with Mikey on top of the boy, retracted into his shell. The boy screamed all sorts of things out of anger, including how he would have their heads. Leo found the scene strange, just like all the other things he had seen in Gotham. Yet, there was something strangely wholesome about it. Almost domestic. A young boy being sat upon, by what felt like a teasing older brother.

Leo almost had to shake those thoughts out of his head. This wasn’t wholesome nor domestic. They were in Batman’s home (Leo wouldn’t point fingers. He and his family called the sewers home), and this little gremlin might have known something they didn’t.

“Let’s just try and reason with him, before-”. The sound of a car engine cut Leo off mid sentence. “...that”. He already had a suspicion of who it might be.

The Batmobil drove into the cave at full speed, before Batman jumped out of it, landing in front of them with this strong stare, followed by you and Batgirl. Leo had not expected his stomach to jump at the sight of you. Neither had you expected the sight of the blue turtle to make your stomach drop. Maybe it was the conversation with Batman and Batgirl, that now caused the fast heartbeat in your chest, at the sight of the turtle. Or maybe it was the sight of one of them sitting on your little brother, that caused you to clench your fists.

“Get off Robin”. He narrowed his eyes. “Now!”

The orange turtle got off of your brother, and turned to try and help him. Robin, as proud as he was sometimes, refused the turtle’s help, pulling his arm away.

“How did you get into this cave?” You unclenched your fist at the sound of Batman’s voice. Most people would find his tone scary, fearing the angry outburst that would never come. But to you and your bat family, it was a comfort. Batman cared about you, Robin, Batgirl and all of those that came before, and that meant he was willing to protect all of you from any danger. Especially strange turtles that have made it into the Batcave.

Leo took notice of your unclenching fists, and your position just behind. Covered enough to be protected, yet open enough to jump in if needed. Robin, found his place beside Batman, close enough for you to put a protective hand on his shoulder. That weird domestic picture formed in Leo’s head once more.

“Oh, well”, Donnie started. “There weren’t many security measures in the northern tunnel. We had to swim for a bit, but…” Donnie stopped as Batman frowned his brows. “I’m realizing you actually don’t want constructive criticism right now”, Donnie said, slowly pulling his head back into his shell.

“What I want are answers”, Batman said, eyes unmoving as he stared the turtles down.

“Look”. Leo stepped forward, causing you to tighten your grip on Robin’s shoulder, just a bit. But it was enough for Robin to notice, making him shoot you a questioning glare. “We’re not here to fight. My name is Leonardo”. Your grip softened on Robin’s shoulder, causing him to look at you in even more confusion. He knew you were a more expressive type than he and his father, and the sight of four mutant turtles in the Batcave might have shocked you, but so many reactions at once were not common. Not even for you.

Leonardo continued. “These are my brothers. Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo”. The orange turtle started waving at the mention of his name.

“Seriously?”, Batgirl asked, showing more amusement than the rest of the bat family.

“Our father was really into renaissance painters”, Donatello clarified.

“And he’s a rat!”, Michelangelo added.

Robin turned his head towards you. “Did… Did he just say a rat?”, he asked in a hushed tone.

“He did”, you nodded.

Leonardo had to breathe for a moment, after hearing your voice, before continuing. “We’re not your enemy. We came to stop Shredder and the Footclan. Honestly, we thought you might be Shredder’s new partner”.

Robin turned to you once more. “Foot?” You shrugged.

“Shredder”, Batman repeated. “So that’s his name... I’ve heard of a Footclan, but I thought they went extinct ages ago”.

“They’re ninja”, Raphael said. “You know, sneaky”. He moved his hands up in front of his face, as if he was hiding behind them.

“Sooooo…”. Robin moved from your protective hand and straight to the side of Batman. “Are we not going to beat up these green losers?”

Batman looked down towards his son. “It’s not looking like it, no”.

Robin sighed out loud, and you couldn’t stop yourself from smiling. Leo saw as you crossed your arms, and moved all your weight to your left leg, coming ever so slightly out from Batman’s protection.

“Then I may as well tell you that I know exactly who the Shredder and the Foot are working with”, your brother said, letting the small anger building inside of him overshadow his slight disappointment. And when you heard him say the name of his grandfather, you very well understood that anger.

—

“They are strange”, Robin told you, watching as Batman and Batgirl was talking to the turtles.

“They are indeed strange”, you agreed, fidgeting with whatever gadget you had in your hand, fighting the urge to look up. Because if you looked up, you would look at him. And if you looked at him, he would notice. And if he would notice, then so would Batman, and so would Robin, and Batgirl, and all of Leonardo’s brothers… Better just to focus on… what it was you had in your hand…

“I tried to break the blue one’s legs with the purple’s bow staff”, Robin said, his eyes shining proud. You finally dared to look in the direction of Leonardo, focusing on his legs. You couldn’t see any signs of injury.

“You should have aimed for the knee caps”, you told him, eyes still on the knees of the turtles.

“I did!”, Robin exclaimed, laying flat against the table. “And he did fall! But they didn’t break!”

You took a chance and looked at Leonardo’s face, studying for any signs of discomfort. None. None at all.

That should have been it. You should have looked away, so you could concentrate on that thing you had in your hand. But you didn’t. Your eyes stayed on Leonardo’s face. He was listening to something Batman told him. Most likely information about Ra's al Ghul. He looked very concentrated, with his brows frowning and his arms crossed. You noted that he was almost as stoic as Batman. You haven’t seen him smile a single time. No smiles when he fought the Penguin, no smiles in the alley, and no smiles in the Batcave. The only time you had seen him other than frowning, was when you told him he had pretty eyes.

Robin noticed your sudden silence, and looked at you in confusion. His sister never left him unanswered. She would never let an opportunity to tease him fly. But then he noticed how you had stopped fumbling with your glove, and now sat staring. Confused he looked from you, to what your eyes had been caught by.

Leonardo?

Robin looked back and forth a few times, before it finally clicked for him. He slammed his hand flat against the table, causing you to yelp and stare at your shocked little brother.

“Are you crushing on a turtle?!”

You slapped your hand against his mouth so fast, that the young Robin could only scream and fight. Confused by the sudden commotion, all of them turned to look at you.

“What did he say?”, Mikey asked, obviously intreacted

“Uh”, you said in a slight panic, trying to hold Robin still as he was lashing out against you. “He asked where Alfred was! He’s so hungry he could eat a turtle!” Batman started rubbing the bridge of his nose.

You were going to beat Damian so hard the moment Bruce looked away!

[dancingbabya-notes]

Quirk malfunctions

<-•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•->

As anyone else might say sometimes your quirk doesn’t always work the way you intend it unless you train it rigorously, even then sometimes your quirk can mess up or even activate subconsciously.

Characters: Bakugo Katsuki, Kaminari Denki, Shoji Mezo, Aizawa Shouta, Yagi Toshinori

A/N: I'm finally writing something after fighting with my computer for several months and posting it. I will not be disappearing into the oblivion I will be writing whether my brain likes it or not.

<-•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•->

Bakugo

As a new hero you needed to be ready to jump into action at a single call. But as you check your phone again you grumble. “I’m taking a nap someone will call if they need me.”

Though the idea of sleeping on concrete wasn’t entirely appealing you were glad for the pseudo cape on your uniform. Closing your eyes happily under the warmth of the sun, even if it was killing you slowly.

While you slept someone who was actually working happened to land on the roof of the building you were sleeping on, which was just the roof of your apartment. Upon seeing your uniform and you just dozing away Dynamight frowned.

“The hell? Is this the new hero that joined, lazy fucker,” he grumbles to himself before turning to you, unbeknownst to him though your quirk was already active.

As soon as he walked closer the watery tendril wrapped about his hands preventing him from using his quirk, then over his mouth to keep him from waking you up. That would have all good and well if some of the water didn’t brush against your skin sending a chill up your spine and waking you up.

Rubbing your eyes and seeing the glaring red ones you quickly pulled the water away. “Oh my gosh I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

Picking up your phone you frown at the message. Dynamight was about to chastise you for falling a sleep on the job when you turned off your visor and walked to the door.

“My apologies senpai it seems I’ve been given a mandatory holiday, have a good rest of your day,” You give a slight bow before walking through the door back into the apartment building. “How fucking fun, let me just almost suffocate my big brother’s best friend. Way to go Y/N!”

Kaminari

Your big brother had been born quirk-less and seemed to acquire a quirk seemingly over night before entering high school, while you had both your parents quirks. Fire breath and attraction of small objects. This was probably the most important thing about you that anyone learned, because that would explain why sometimes you simply looked like a dragon no matter the season because you seemed to be breathing smoke.

“What are you doing?” someone asks in what had been a silent workshop.

“I was trying to fix this,” you frown as the item you had been working on fell onto the open table, with a lot of training you were able to hold things in mid air and hold multiple things at once. “Did you need something?”

Kaminari was someone you only recognized because he was in your brother’s class back in high school. “I uh was just checking if my disk shooters were fixed.”

“Uh well that's not my task so I dunno, you’ll probably need to talk to Ogiwara.” You could see his eyes going wide and you look up to see the hammer that had been on your tool belt floating above you. “Damn quirk.”

Jumping up a bit you pull it back down and frown.

“Sorry I guess I’m not as aware of it as I hoped I was, didn’t mean to scare you.”

Shoji

Because of your quirk needing eye contact you did any and everything to get a job where you didn’t need to make eye contact. Office jobs were a bust because your boss would demand it, restaurants were a bust because anyone could make eye contact with you and you wouldn’t know who the last person to look into your eyes was, ultimately you ended up with one of the worst jobs ever according to you brother, at home desk work.

Standing up from your floor desk your back was killing you, and from the warmth of the sunshine from your office window it was warm. “Maybe I could go for a walk? I’m ahead on work.”

Mumbling this you give your puppy a smile as you stand up.

“Hey baby, are you ready for your morning walk?” You ask just as you get dressed in proper outside clothes, the number of times your neighbors have accidentally seen you in your skivvies was far more than you wanted to admit.

The shiba you’d affectionately named Sho –after your big brother, who wasn’t dead he simply pretended not to like dogs– rubs up against your our reached hands giving soft barks in confirmation.

“Let me check how hot it is, we wouldn’t want you to get ouchies,” you giggle.

Waiting inside your apartment Sho watches as you walk to the sun heated ground touching it with the back of your hand. It wasn’t hot and you could walk around if you wanted to.

“Alright, come here baby!” You beam.

Sho already holding his leash rushes up to you closing the door, you smile clipping on the leash before going to lock your door. Just as you do you happen to hear your neighbor leaving his apartment too, you met him when you were in high school a student your brother taught, but now he was just your next door neighbor.

Sho pulls you along excitedly nearly causing you to crash into said person. “Sho heal.”

Just barely you catch yourself before you slam into the solid person next to you, giving a weak smile with your eyes closed you turn your head up a bit. “Sorry about almost running you over.”

“It’s fine y/n.”

Looking back to your dog you sigh. “Hope I’ll see you around.”

“Like wise.”

Though you did chance a little look, sometimes you could just barely look at someone and avoid activating your quirk.

That wasn’t the case because while Sho and you sat at a bench to get some shade you feel asleep. Finding yourself looking through someone else’s mind.

“Fuck.” You mumble trying to figure out if there was a way that you could wake up.

Waiting waiting for Sho to start scratching at you to wake up thought he probably wouldn’t do that, you’d probably have to wash your face when you got home cause he’ll lick you awake. Seeing through Shoji’s mind was different. You knew he was a hero, you just didn’t know he patrolled so close to your apartments.

Returning to your own body you blink a bit.

“This isn’t a very safe place to be sleeping,” he chuckles. “But it seems you have a good companion who’s worried about you.”

Looking down you reach to hug Sho. “I’m sorry baby, let’s go home. Thanks for waking me up.”

He nods giving a slight wave.

Shinso

Understanding any creature that had competent thoughts had its moments. It was basically a cheat skill to you, understanding your fur babies without having to spend thirty minutes arguing with them like your siblings. Milk and Tea sat on your stomach and chest respectively, both being adorable and restrictive to your breathing. “I’d like some space please, can you both sit on my legs instead?” You mumble. You receive two no’s. The thing was your quirk also worked on humans you simply never used it on them. “I gotta go buy food come on!” You urge. They both look at you like they thought you were lying. “It’s good for you.” Both cats jump off you and prance away like the spoiled brats they were. Giving you a moment to both use the restroom and grab your things to go run to the store and buy all that food. “Kitten?” You were so focused on tying your shoe properly that you failed to notice your boyfriend come inside. Shinso stood behind you while you tried to tie his shoes onto your feet, which didn’t work because you both had different shoe sizes. Thinking you heard something you were about to shoo away the cats because you knew it’d be a thirty minute chase if one of those pampered brats got outside. Only to hear. ‘Damn I doubt they’d notice if I poked them.’ More alert but unbalanced you try to move away from your brat of a boyfriend only to tip forward into the door. His eyes lock with yours as he shouts. “Wait!” “What?” Luckily you didn’t hit the door but not you were practically a rag doll into his hold. You hated when this happened. Once righted and able to stand you push him back. “Fuck you, Toshi, I was trying to tie my…” you look down finally realizing whose shoes you were wearing. “Why’d you move my shoes?” “I was tired, it was just on the same shelf.” He shrugs. “You good, Kitten?” “Mm, I’m fine. Also no poking,” you switch the shoes getting ready again. “You read my mind?” “I thought it was the cats.” “You always think it’s the cats.” You frown. “Fine the next time that the Sgt Fluff ball gets out again you’ll be the one to chase him.” “I- You wave with a smile. “I’m off to buy some cat food and dinner. You better tell me what you wanna eat.” You didn’t miss the threatening thoughts from just outside your door swinging it open forcefully. “Oops my bad.”

Aizawa

You were very excited to be working with other heroes your own age for once, not that weren’t thankful for your mentors you just felt like you were learning the same thing over and over from the older pro heroes. At sixteen you dropped out of school and found a hero to intern under, with the concentrated crime rate in your city instead of simply learning how to learn how to be a hero you were basically already a hero the only useful thing you learned was how to cause the least amount of property damage so you could have enough money to support yourself and your little brother. Now you were going to Japan to learn more about being a hero, your agency pretty much forced everyone to visit other countries in a sort of exchange program. But standing in front of other twenty somethings you felt like you’re mind was gonna a short circuit.

“H-hello name hero eh, I mean my hero name is Whiplash. It’s a pleasure to meet all of you, Gracious has nothing but nice things to say about Japan heroes,” You keep your head down embarrassed from the messy introduction.

You could just feel someone staring down your neck before you stood back up, then again you wore a full mask for your protection. “Your form said you already have six years experience on the field…”

Giving a little nod you look at the ground again. “Um while it’d be awesome if stars and stripes could be anywhere there is a problem there are some cities that ave atrocious crime rates.” Not wanting to talk about it again you smile. “I’m curious what hero schools are like though, I heard y’all get direct teaching from some of the best heroes.”

“They’re the same as hero schools in America right?” one young man frowns keeping his face covered with the scarf.

“Eh, I’ve visited the one in my state and that’s only true if you’re lucky enough to get a school with a ton of funding. The schools aren’t government funded they’re funded at a city or state level if anything and any school is lucky enough to get enough funding to keep up with the new regulations every year,” you shrug thinking a little bit about that small experience, you felt a bit angry just thinking about the state of the schools and how people had been treated.

“Whip.”

Blinking a bit you felt the blood drain from your face. “I’m so sorry.”

“It happens sometimes.”

You hadn’t realized you activated your quirk resulting in a small garden growing in the lobby.

“Well the lobby did look a little gray, I’m Eraser Head.” The young man holds his hand to you and you shake it.

“I can pick up the plants but I’ll use my next pay to fix the ground.” you mumble.

He shrugs. “I doubt they’ll know how to fix it.”

Yagi

“It was a bad idea marrying a hero Yagi.” “Shut up.” “He’s what how many years older than you?” “Five? Is that so terrible?” Your so called best friend was scolding you again. For getting married, it wasn’t even because of who you married they just used that to try and make their point seem more valid. You just wanted to work on your throwing, not listen to them complain since they themselves wanted so be married but never found the right person. “Come on he’s got to lack something.” Splashing them with the water you were using to help you work the clay you frown. “Either you change the topic or you know where the exit is Cole.” “Seriously? You’re gonna pick him over me? I thought you were a good friend.” As you pull the piece and their tone starts to irk you you felt your blood burning. They pulled every little transgression that they thought was so terrible when they were all instances you couldn’t help. Feeling then clay slip you stop the wheel and glare. “Shut up and leave!” It came out harsher than you intended. “I hear this enough from my mother now from you?” As you turn away all you could do was shout. This broke then glass divider, your voice wasn’t quite as powerful as your little brother’s bit you always hit that frequency to break shit. Just then your husband walks into the studio. “Oh dear.” “I’ll just see myself out,” Cole states quickly grabbing her things and brushing past Toshinori. You stare at the broken glass in disbelief. “Fuck, fuck.” Curses pour from your mouth as you hit yourself, though your hands weren’t clean so you got slip and clay ill over your face and hair as tears fell. Before you can do any real damage large arms wrap around you. “My dear be careful, we wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself.” “I messed up again,” you sniffle hiring your face into his shirt, why did he always wear white shirts? “Never fear I am here,” he whispers earring a slight chuckle through your sniffing. Hugging him back you frown mumbling into his chest. “What was that my love?” Pulling back a bit so could speak clearly you look up at him with a pout. “I think this time I need to install metal shelving.” “I believe that is the best course of action.” He rubs circles into your back as you bury your face into his chest again. “Guess what?” “What?” “My baby brother got into Yuuei.” “That’s wonderful my love should we send him a gift of congratulations?” You shake your head. “My mom will just throw it away. I’ll give him some spending money and take him the dinner the next time I’m in Musutafu.” Yagi Toshinori or more well know to the public as All might could be a kind man and gentle to his spouse. Not that any one knew he was married.

[mydearneteyam]

Could I please request a Teylan x fem reader? Maybe a Na’vi who is a resistance member. Something where maybe the reader has a hard time sleeping so they seek out Teylan late at night to sit with/for a bit of comfort. I have a hc that Teylan is a night owl (he’s a computer nerd so…). Just pretty much pure fluff ❤️😊

ALONE ;; TEYLAN

summary ;; between both, loneliness is no longer an option.

pairing ;; teylan x fem!na'vi!reader (it's pretty neutral tho)

warnings ;; none ¡!

word count ;; 1.0k

word of the day ;; le’awtu [lɛ.ˈʔaw.tu] adj. alone, on one’s own, by one’s self; lonely

One, two. One, two.

You remembered your mother's heartbeat the first time you connected, when you realized that Eywa had given you company, the meaning of never being alone. You remembered the warmth of her chest, of her arms that cared for you with patience and love, you could also remember the soft cooing she gave you as she rocked your small and fragile body to get you to sleep.

No one is alone in this world.

The Great Mother always watches over everyone, if for you there is not a na'vi, there is an animal, if there is not, there will be the flora and if there is not nature, the memories around you will continue to accompany you, but there will always be Eywa to give you company, no matter how little you feel it, although everyone feels it, isn't it?

At least that's what you told yourself looking at the ceiling of the place where you slept.

As much as you wanted to sleep and nature outside tried to lull you with the howling of viperwolves, the noises of small insects and even the calm blizzard that crashed against the window of the place, you felt unable to fall asleep. You felt like you were even dazed at these times. Perhaps from the habit of being with the Resistance for so long.

You sat on what was your bed-a simple hammock you had to learn to love-and ran a hand through your hair, throwing your head back. Everyone was asleep, sound asleep. Alexander's snoring could be heard clearly from your spot and that meant he had been sleeping in one of his classic weird poses for quite some time now.

You smiled as you scratched your jaw, getting up and deciding to go to the main hall. A small light and a familiar voice seemed to catch your attention and for someone who had no rest, maybe just a chat before bed would be good.

"…Let's see if you work, little buddy" the hallways led you to that voice you recognized as that of the youngest Sarentu, Teylan. With whom since joining the Resistance you shared several conversations. Even feelings.

You continued taking quiet steps, reaching where the boy was settling a watch on his wrist.

"Still awake?" you spoke, with a smile to which he turned in surprise, lowering his head with an embarrassed chuckle.

"I've been meaning to… fix this watch. Priya told me it had an hologram and I want it to work" he explained, showing it to you. He looked like a kid who had just caught a fish. Proud of his work.

"Do you want to tell me more about it?" he looked at you, unable to believe you asked that question and from his hesitant lips, you noticed he wasn't sure.

"I thought you-our people… weren't interested in these things" you sat down next to him, resting your head against his shoulder. You felt him tense at the sudden physical contact, though he didn't pull away. You guessed he was still trying to get used to it.

"I don't really care about them" you laughed softly. "But if you explain it to me… I can give it a chance" you accommodated a little rebellious hair escaping from under his cap.

His eyes dilated and at your side, his tail began to wag excitedly, flashing you a smile. He quickly tried to explain to you what that watch entailed, showing you the steps involved and that sheet with little drawings that you learned from his words was an 'instruction manual'.

"Billy says that manuals are for fools who don't know how to do things by eye, but I think he's wrong, I mean, how will I know how to build or fix things if I don't know how they're made and how they work first? And I told him it was kind of stupid to think that…when he left the room, but-but I told him" his comments made you smile and you gave a little yawn, hugging him some more.

His warmth was so comforting to you that you considered that maybe hugging him for a few minutes would be enough to sleep like there was no tomorrow.

"Before…" his tone of voice changed, so you looked at him intently, but his smile was still on his face. "When we were with… Mercer. I thought the clan had abandoned us. That we would be alone. But being like this with you… it feels like I never was."

You gave him a big smile and hugged him fully. Teylan had to be careful as he wrapped his arms around you back, laughing softly and carefully setting that watch aside to follow later.

"As long as I'm here, I'll do my best to make sure you never feel like this again" you whispered, affectionately. You settled better in his lap as he went back to his business.

The night wore on, but neither of you felt tired. You were too absorbed in the moment, too absorbed in the simple joy of being together. From time to time Teylan would tell you a little more about the watch, explaining its functions and how it worked. You listened attentively, even if you didn't understand all the technical details. What mattered was the passion in his voice, the light in his eyes.

Earlier the sounds from outside that made you think otherwise only adorned the background of the conversations you were having.

At some point, both ended up lying on the floor, side by side.

The clock was long forgotten, replaced by whispered conversations and shared smiles. You felt his fingers intertwine with yours, and it made your heart swell with affection.

"I'm so happy you're here" Teylan murmured, with his eyes bright.

"Me too" you replied, leaning down to rest your head on his shoulder. "I wouldn't trade this for anything."

As the first lights of dawn began to filter through the windows, your body finally felt the pull of sleep. But it wasn't a heavy, burdened sleep. It was light and peaceful. You felt the tails of both of you intertwine before you fell asleep and you smiled.

No one is alone in this world.

One, two. One, two.

a/n ;; after i post this i will die (im not sure if this was really fluff) ANYWAY, HOPE U LIKE IT 😭😭

[imthepunchlord]

Okay, so this might be random, but I've been reading a lot about your recent miraculous rewrite/overhaul, and it reminded me of this other person on Tumblr who posts a lot of stuff on pre-canon/concept miraculous and miraculous artbook stuff. So, I wanted to share some fun pre-canon stuff. They even have a Website about it: https://www.artbookwiki.com/home

Ok, for starters, Marinette was originally going to live in an apartment building in Belleville (which from what I've been told (so don't quote me on this) is kind of Paris's Chinese District. And instead of a balcony Marinette would just hangout on her roof.

Also on Marinette's parents, instead of being bakers, Tom was originally a cartoonist (the more look into this character you start to see a lot of parallels to Thomas Astruc) and Sabine was going to be a lawyer.

Also Fu might have been planned to be Marinette's Grandfather

And lastly, I'll mention Alya. Apparently, she was originally meant to have an interest in fashion like Marinette and might have originally planned to have a crush on Chat Noir.

Also to quote the person who posted all this (I'm leaving her name out so people don't spam her, she's seemed pretty stressed lately):

"From the 9/7/2012 bible: As eccentric as Marinette is classic, Alya wears extravagant outfits, swinging from gothic to geeky. She takes pride in being nothing like the others. It's her way of distinguishing herself. Alya is perfectly at ease with all things technology and telecommunications. Moreover, she's a budding reporter for the college newspaper!... Alya shares her bedroom with her younger sister. The room is divided in two. Alya's half is lined with posters of comic book superheroes, the floor is strewn with cables connected to an imposing DIY computer station.... Besides, she has theories on everything, admittedly- they are often very absurd. She dreams of gaining powers and becoming a heroine like Ladybug... Alya doesn't understand how Marinette can fall for Adrien, On the other hand, Alya finds Cat Noir super classy, ​​molded into his somewhat gothic leather uniform. Oh! If only Alya was Ladybug..."

Thank you for sharing! Some I didn't know, though honestly, a lot of this I'm not surprised to see.

Marinette was always kinda planned to be closer to her Chinese roots. One of the better reflections of this are concept art of her room.

And even in the Miraculous movie, she was planned to come from a small community in China's countryside.

And it's a shame that these keep getting cut out. Her ties to China is really disconnected, and I'm certain it's largely done to be more marketable for a broader audience.

I think this deleted scene from the movie bothers me the most, cause it adds so much depth to the Dupain-Cheng household. It adds to Tom and Sabine as characters, and it may be the first time I really liked them as characters and as parents. And it explains a lot about Marinette's character, why she's such a giver and provider, cause she grew up in a community that was like a close knit family, and helped each other no questions asked. It just backs why she's that way, she was raised that way. It comes natural to her.

Her parents do surprise me, but you know, I could see it. Them being bakers always felt kinda random, but that could bee from the show just not doing anything with it.

Fu doesn't surprise me too much, especially as the show does work off that older concept. You do get a grandfather-granddaughter feel from them, and it does make sense for her to have a direct family tie to Miraculous as she is heavily tied to it as a lead and it being apart of her heritage. Shame that got moved onto Adrien and had nothing really don't with it.

And you know, Fu being related to Marinette isn't a stretch as it is canon that he had younger siblings.

If not her grandfather, he could be a very great uncle.

And as I like the idea more that he got separated from his family and the Guardians were not able to locate them and reunite him with them and defaulted to training him to be a Guardian as they couldn't exactly let a kid go, I do like the idea of him eventually finding his family again, even if it's a descendant of one of his siblings.

Alya doesn't surprise me at all. You could really see it in her concept art.

And it slightly carried over into canon as Alya was the one who knew Adiren was a fashion model when Marinette didn't. For canon, it's very random for her to know, but makes more sense when you know that she used to be into fashion, and that just continues the show's trend of changing from older concepts but also still semi sticking to them without fully committing.

And it just really makes sense as most friendships are born through a shared interest. Marinette is expected to have at least one fashion friend. Marinette and Alya had a good start for their friendship, but the momentum of it struggled as most of their interactions came down to being about Adrien, and it's very, very, very rare for them as friends to bond and focus on something else than Marinette's crush.

Also, given how well off Alya looks since she can attend fashion shows and get front row seats (and maybe has a bodyguard?), and can spend a lot of money...

I wonder if Alya was ever considered to be the mayor's daughter at some point. For sure, she was incredibly well off older concepts.

And with her previously having a crush on Chat, I guess that's where they got the thought for Rocketear.

I am kinda glad they removed that, cause given their track record, especially having the known liar character say two girls can crush on the same guy and be friends, chances are incredibly high that hero!Alya would've soured her friendship with Ladybug over Chat.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm not really interested in seeing best friends turned enemies over a guy. It feels like an old cliche that can go. I'll take the Alya-Marinette friendship in and out of the mask. Even if it wasn't great overall, it's still better than what we could've potentially gotten.

[howlingday]

The Phenomenal YANG

Adam: Something attacked us in there, and it wasn't a Grimm. If Xiao Long knows what it was, I'm going to find her and then I'm going to shove my sword down her throat, and then I'm going to ask her.

Ironwood: That was Xiao Long.

Adam: Could you explain that?

Ironwood: Xiao Long's task was a tangent of bio-tech. Your suit is our engineering solution, and Xiao Long was working on a biological one; improve the huntsman and not the weapon.

Adam: You're telling me she becomes that thing on her own?

Ironwood: I don't have to answer that, Taurus. Xiao Long is tough, definitely a fighter, but she's not a soldier. Not like us.

Adam: Then why not hand the data off to someone else?

Ironwood: Because she IS the data. And as far as I'm concerned, that woman's body is the property of the Kingdom of Atlas.

--------------------------------------------------

Cardin: What the hell was that? Whatever it is, we're ready to-

CRDL: (See Yang) OH SHI-

YANG: (Tackles CRDL off building)

Cardin: (Stands from the rubble) Ngh... Let's see which one of us is the strongest.

YANG: YANG STRONGEST THERE IS!

Cardin: Not if me and my boys have anything to say about it!

--------------------------------------------------

Blake: Yang...?

Blake: (Runs up, Hugs her)

Yang: It's alright...

Blake: When did you...? How did you...? Are you...?

Yang: I'm alright. Sorry I didn't- Look, I don't have time to explain it right now; do you still have your dad's old research?

Blake: I'm sorry, but... General Ironwood took it all already. Then he wiped every computer we had after getting it.

Yang: No...

Blake: But I was able to get in there before it got hauled off. I thought that it might help us later.

Yang: Blake, I... I don't know what to say.

Adam: Do I have permission to take the shot, sir?

Ironwood: Negative. You might hit Belladonna's daughter.

Yang: !

Adam: Damn! She spotted me!

Yang: Blake, go.

Blake: What...?

Yang: Get out of here. You need to get as far away from me as you can, right now! GO! (Runs)

Blake: YANG!

Ironwood: XIAO LONG, YOU ARE SURROUNDED!

Blake: (Charges Ironwood, Caught) Leave her alone!

Ironwood: Get her out of here now!

Blake: Ngh! H-Hey! Get your hands off me!

Blake: YANG! RUN!

Yang: Let... her... go...!

YANG: RAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

--------------------------------------------------

Ghira: I think we've done it, but... there's still the risk that this procedure might kill you.

Yang: Trust me, Dr. B; if it doesn't work, I'm better off dead.

Soldier: I have visual on the target, General.

Adam: Let me in there, General; I can take her now.

Ironwood: Negative. You're a last resort, Taurus.

Adam: No, what I am is sick of waiting.

Soldier: Sir, wait! General Ironwood, sir, Lieutenant Taurus is on the move!

Ghira: Please, try to understand; even if this does work, and we do induce an episode, it doesn't mean that it will cure you. Best case scenario, it's an antidote to suppress a specific flare-up.

Yang: ...!

Blake: Yang, stay with me!

YANG: RAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! RGH! RGH!

Blake: DAD! NOW!

Ghira: (Types into computer)

YANG: AAARGH! RAAAAAGH! AAaaagh...

Ghira: (Walks over)

Blake: ...

Yang: Did... Did it work?

Ghira: Perhaps. It seems we permanently neutralized the cells, though it's also possible that we only suppressed the event. Honestly, I'd be willing to bet on the latter, but we don't know since no prior subjects survived.

Yang: ...What test subjects?

Ghira: Your condition, it's- It's a medical marvel, to put it lightly, and something this astounding couldn't simply just waste away! So, we concentrated the experiment to develop more.

Yang: We need to destroy all of it!

Ghira: But... this gift-

Yang: This GIFT is a lot more trouble than it's worth, Doctor B!

Ghira: Even with the antidote developed?

Yang: Atlas doesn't want an antidote, Doc; they want a weapon, and if they get it... NGH! (Collapses)

Blake: YANG!

Ironwood: (Walks in) Escort the asset and Ms. Belladonna to the bullhead and confiscate everything. Dr. Belladonna, we expect your full cooperation. Welcome to the Atlas Military. (Exits)

Ghira: ...

Adam: (Enters, Draws weapon)

Ghira: What have I done to deserve this hostility?

Adam: It's not what you did; it's what you're going to do.

Adam: Give me everything you got from Xiao Long.

Ghira: ...You look like you already got some of her in you already.

Adam: And I want more. You saw what she was like, didn't you? Make me that.

Ghira: But... given what's already in you, there's no telling what the side-effects could do! The mixture could make you... It could make you more BEAST than man.

Adam: (Presses blade)

Ghira: Er, I was just making sure... I need an informed consent, and you've clearly given it.

--------------------------------------------------

Blake: How could you do this to innocent people?

Ironwood: Be quiet. If you weren't an asset of your father's, you'd also be in hand-cuffs!

KABOOM!

Pilot: SIR, XIAO LONG IS IN THE STREET!

Yang: (Holds up hands) But... I'm right here!

Ironwood: Get me a visual! Turn this bullhead around!

ADAM: (Tanking tank fire, Tossing mechs)

Ironwood: Dammit! It's Taurus!

Yang: You can't stop it. You have to kill it!

Ironwood: SIT YOUR ASS DOWN!

Yang: (Opens hangar door) I'm the only thing that can stop it!

Blake: Yang, it's too dangerous! It's crazy!

Yang: I know, but I have to try! Sorry... (Falls out of bullhead)

--------------------------------------------------

ADAM: (Unconscious)

YANG: (Looks up)

Blake: (Flinches)

YANG: B L A K E . . .

YANG: (Bounds away)

Blake: ...Goodbye, General. I hope it was worth it. (Leaves)

Ironwood: ...