#unrefusable offer

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Unrefusable Offer (Store Showdown Promo Ver) by David M Buisan

[profoundconsulting]

Crafting the Unrefusable Offer: A Game-Changer for Business Growth

Every growing business dreams of becoming the first name that comes to a customer’s mind. But in a crowded market, how do you rise above the noise? The answer lies in designing an unrefusable offer—a proposition so irresistible that your target customer feels compelled to say yes. With the right support from operational strategy consulting in Mumbai, this becomes more than just theory—it becomes your competitive advantage.

What Is an Unrefusable Offer?

An unrefusable offer is not just about discounts or flashy marketing. It’s the result of strategic thinking, deep market insight, and refined target market definition. It addresses the most pressing needs of your audience and positions your brand as the best (or only) solution.

Whether you’re launching a new service or reworking your core product, strategy execution consultants help ensure that your offer is backed by research, logic, and a seamless customer journey.

Start with Target Market Clarity

Without a clear target market definition, even the best offers can miss the mark. Identifying your ideal customer involves understanding their pain points, behavior, and decision-making process.

Business process strategy experts in Mumbai often start with segmentation and persona-building. Once you know who you're selling to and what they value, you can build an offer that speaks directly to them—making it feel personally tailored and impossible to decline.

Operational Strategy Is Key

Creating the right offer is only half the battle. Delivering it consistently is where most businesses struggle. This is where operational strategy consulting steps in.

Are your teams aligned? Can your systems support the new offer? Can you deliver with speed and quality at scale? Consultants evaluate these questions to ensure your operations can handle growth and that your business growth tactics are executable, not just theoretical.

Measuring and Growing Market Share

An important part of crafting a powerful offer is understanding how it affects your market share. Knowing how to calculate market share helps businesses set benchmarks and track performance.

Growth-minded businesses also examine share of business—how much of a customer's total spend you're capturing. When your offer is truly compelling, you not only attract new customers but increase retention and wallet share from existing ones.

Strategy Execution That Sticks

Many organizations fail because they have great strategies but poor execution. Strategy execution consultants bridge this gap by helping you roll out offers that work in the real world.

They ensure everyone—from marketing to operations—is aligned with your market penetration strategy and working toward measurable goals. Execution becomes agile, responsive, and aligned with your long-term growth targets.

Final Thoughts: Redefine Market Dominance

Dominating your market doesn’t happen by chance. It requires insight, precision, and above all, a value proposition your customers can’t ignore.

By focusing on your business process strategy in Mumbai, leveraging business transformation services, and building your growth around a truly unrefusable offer, you move from simply competing to leading.

Partner with business strategy solutions experts in Pune and Mumbai who can help you turn strategy into impact—and make your brand unforgettable.

[poolseason]

more Ninjagelion AU

Setup: In the aftermath of a cataclysmic event on the Dark Island where humans accidentally awakened an entity known as the [OVERLORD] the world was plunged into eternal chaos. 20 years later, Ninjago has managed to rebuild. Now in New Ninjago City, a bustling and lively hub at the heart of Ninjago, has been under attack by monsters- onis, dragons, serpents, unexplainable beasts,- creatures made from the [OVERLORD]'s darkness. Luckily the Special Division ELEMENTS is here to protect the realm from these monstrous threats, with the NINJA mechs. This cant be possible without some valuable members of the team!

Characters, lore, and more ↓

Characters:

Pixal: In this au she's a human scientist, and probably the one person who knows the most about how the NINJA mechs are created. She's in charge of the technical division, and head of research and development. During a monster battle, her order's are second to Cole's. Her highest priority is the integrity of the mechs, to the point she might be a bit negligent of the safety of their pilots. Pixal is deeply involved in some suspicious agendas involving the secret entities hidden under the base, and while she's the most knowledgeable person in the force, she's not the most trustworthy. Pixal is Zane's personal "doctor" and knows more about his schematics than anyone else. She created the Nindroid plugs (aka the Dummy system, an autopilot of sorts) with his personality data. Pixal is also one of the few people who know what happened to the original Dr. Julien and Echo.

Jay: For a little history on him, Jay is on the younger side, have graduated from college a couple of years ago. He originally interned here as an electrical engineer in the Weapons Deparment, but Pixal saw his skill and ingenuity and gave him an unrefusable return offer in the R&D department as her right hand. Jay's parents, Ed and Edna Walker were colleagues of Cyrus Borg and were involved in the engineering and design of the Geofront and NNC's civilian safety infrastructure, so Jay's always been somewhat interested in ELEMENT's work. It was kind of a dream come true when the Pixal Borg hired him. During monster attacks, Jay's in charge of making sure the NINJA mechs operate properly, have access to their weapons and gear, and making sure the NNC fortress moves as needed. Jay's always seen with his goggles and he almost never follows uniform protocol.

Jay is also one of the few Technicians who personally work with the Pilots, he's one of the first people Lloyd warmed up to at ELEMENTS, and he becomes kind of a big brother figure to him after one particularly crazy mission when he has to personally go out onto the field with Lloyd in Unit-01. When Nya arrives the pair work together a lot outside of pilot training, but Nya definitely likes him and he... needs to figure some things out. whoops!

Skylor: Having grown up in the aftermath of the 2nd (Overlord) Impact, Skylor's seen a lot of destruction and cruelty, even first hand from her own father who lead a doomsday cult that wreaked havoc on innocent communities trying to survive in the near apocalyptic event. Vowing to protect the world from similar chaos, she joined the NINJA program's tactical division. When the monster attacks began, she's in-charge of monitoring the enemy's health, pilot life signs, and mapping.

Dareth: His last name is Presley bc of the Elvis hair and inspiration lmao. He's not really a high ranking member of the organization but Cole and the others seem to really trust him, despite his mess ups. Dareth normally handles ferrying radio messages between ground teams and mission control. Dareth is a relaxed guy who values a positive work environment, even if that kind of makes him a bad employee. He's a very good uncle figure to a lot of members of ELEMENTS

MORE Cole: Cole is the leader of the tactical division. He was drafted into the military when he was only a young teenager in the aftermath of the [OVERLORD] but he was recognized by Wu and not long after he completed college and grad school he was quickly hired by ELEMENTS to oversee the tactical division. He's vengeful towards the Overlord's darkness monsters because his mother Lily was the captain of the disastrous expedition to the Dark Island 20 years ago. The dog tags he wears are his own and his mother's.

Lloyd and Zane, on neural headsets: As pilots of a NINJA mech they have a lot of pressure on them, obviously this can cause a lot of mental turmoil and stress. In order to pilot a mech they must synchronize their own mind to their mech's soul*, so stress isn't really a good thing for a pilot to have. Zane was programmed to not experience such emotions, but over the course of the series, its proven that he grows to feel quite strongly and become more human. Despite his programming, the lack of emotion early on was actually a detriment to his ability to pilot, since the NINJA soul wouldn't be able to synchronize it's feelings with an entity that feels nothing. Sometimes its necessary for pilots to wear more complicated neural headsets and spinal connections for more controlled sync testing. During the cross-sync experiment when Zane and Lloyd traded units, they were stuck wearing extra uncomfortable test suits -- too many wires and junk! The only downside to extra connection is that the mech could overload and go berserk. (which big surprise, happened!), so usually Lloyd, the designated Unstable Pilottm, only needs the barebones neural interface in most situations.

[glitter-stained]

The public has requested fic recs for the hyper specific "dark mafia no kill rule reversal Jason comes back to the family angst but still there's love" trope, aka Jason Todd's platonic found family version of a dark romance, and so they shall receive: the five fics I've found on the matter, which I recommend especially if you enjoy protective batfam, angst and misunderstandings.

We happy few by sunsational96, it's really good writing if you're not afraid of stuff getting dark, unfortunately it has only two chapters yet but I hope it gets updated because it's so promising (only point I dislike is Jason being a cop but also given his family, I get it.) Tim is unhinged in it.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/42523731/chapters/106806804

The Safe Inside series by Dalee, the first work of which is "The Sun will Rise", which is complete and a satisfying conclusion to the story in itself.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25397782

Unrefusable Offer by Envisparkler, it's finished! Honestly I could have done with a third chapter because it's kinda angsty but it's really fun too, somebody give poor Jay a hug he's traumatized.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/52124098/chapters/131834677

Choke by Chemically_Imbalanced, VERY similar to Unrefusable Offer (though idk which came first) so if you love reading different takes on the same idea and enjoyed one, I definitely recommend the other- also a real fun read, and it has the advantage of not being finished yet, so we might get more than just the two chapters, even if they're already fun on their own!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/56516731/chapters/143631982

You liked Unrefusable Offer's take on dark!Dick and wish there was a short fic with his POV? Don't worry, here's sElkieNight60's extra add-on for that fic: Damned to Perdition. It's tasty, y'all.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/53521066

@fhteehj

@hesztia16

@trust-and-jump

@dark-night-hero

@chaaannnah

@trashcanqueerie

@ohlooh

[envysparkler]

Whumptober 2024 Masterlist

No. 1: RACE AGAINST THE CLOCK stician + end note

No. 2: TRUST ISSUES unrefusable offer + follow-up

No. 3: SET UP FOR FAILURE purr + end note

No. 4: Sensory Deprivation Flycatcher + follow-up

No. 5: Heatstroke geolocation + missing scene

No. 6: NOT REALISING THEY'RE INJURED Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms | Healed Wrong | "It's not my blood."

leash

No. 7: ONLY FOR EMERGENCIES Unconventional Weapon | Magic with a Cost | "It's us or them."

no hard feelings

No. 8: SLEEP DEPRIVATION Isolation Chamber | Forced to Stay Awake | "Leave the lights on."

exhaust

No. 9: OBSESSION Broken Window | Bruises | “Frame me up on the wall, just to keep me out of trouble.”

unrefusable offer

No. 10: BLOW TO THE HEAD Slurred Words | Passing Out from Pain | "I can't think straight."

cling

No. 11: SEEING DOUBLE Convenience Store | Loneliness | “Leave no trace behind, like you don't even exist.”

grave secrets

No. 13: TEAM AS A FAMILY Familial Curse | Multiple Whumpees | "Death will do us part."

inhibition

No. 14: LEFT FOR DEAD Hunting Gear | Blackmail | “Because I want you to know what it feels like to be haunted”

the other wayne kid

No. 15: CHILDHOOD TRAUMA Painful Hug | Moment of Clarity | "I did good, right?"

haphephobia

No. 16: NECROSIS Swamp | Wound Cleaning | "No, I can't feel anything."

Reconciliation

No. 17: NOWHERE ELSE TO GO Ruined Map | Shipwrecked | "We had a good run."

sink or swim

No. 18: REVENGE Unreliable Narrator | Loss of Identity | “I see what's mine and take it.”

Godfather

No. 19: BLOOD TRAIL Abandoned Cabin | One Way Out | "Is there anybody alive out there?"

unrefusable offer

No. 20: EMOTIONAL ANGST Shoulder to Cry On | Giving Permission to Die | "It's not your fault."

pretty robin

No. 21: BODY HORROR Body Horror | Tattoo Gun | Spirit Possession | “Let the bedsheet soak up the tears.”

leash

No. 22: BLEEDING THROUGH BANDAGES Tourniquet | Reopening Wounds | "Oh that's not good."

whiplash

No. 23: FORCED CHOICE Public Display | Broken Pedestal | "I'm doing this for you."

blood of the covenant

No. 24: RADIATION POISONING Collapsed Building | Equipment Failure |  “I never knew daylight could be so violent.”

favored

No. 25: SURGERY Stitches | Being Monitored | "It's for your own good."

hot wheels

No. 26: NIGHTMARES Breakfast Table | Parting Words of Regret | “I'm haunted by the lies that I have loved, the actions I have hated.”

paying dues

No. 27: VOICELESS Laboratory | Muzzled | “I have no mouth and I must scream.”

muzzled

No. 29: FATIGUE Labyrinth | Burnout | "Who said you could rest?"

padded cuffs

No. 30: RECOVERY Hospital Bed | Holding Back Tears | "What have I done?"

robin's roast

No. 31: ASKING FOR HELP Therapy | Making Amends | "I'm alive, I'm just not well."

wibbly wobbly

Alt 3. Finding Old Messages

paying dues

Alt 4. Forgotten

we're all ghosts

Alt 5. Friendly Fire

burn at the stake

Alt 8. Regret

paying dues

Alt 9. Secrets Revealed

groundhog day

Alt 10. Shivering

the other wayne kid

Alt 11. Survivor's Guilt

unfinished business

[jeonghansbunny]

An Unrefusable Offer | Scoups

Rating: 18+ | Read at your own discretion

Content warnings: dom/sub, manhandling, crying, unprotected sex, creampie. Please keep in mind that I wrote this with the idea that everything is consensual!

Scoups 

Who is the leader of a mafia gang

And has multiple establishments to carry out his dirty work

His favorite one was a stripper club

Because it didn't take long before his clients would let loose and relax

Before signing inhumane contracts

Which of course are beneficial for his gang and its future

Tonight was no exception

In a private room which was filled with the smell of cigars and booze 

He tried to get a big client to sign a contract

By having strippers dance on him and getting him drunk

Usually Scoups doesn't do businesses directly 

He lets his underlings do it

But tonight was an exception since the client was the leader of a rival gang

And if he managed to trick him into signing a contract 

He could shut their businesses down 

But his client was quite the troublesome one

Refusing to sign the contract until he has had his fun

Irritated at the clients’ behavior 

He ordered more booze and cigars

In hopes his client would sign the contract faster if he got more drunk

Frustrated he leaned back and started smoking a cigar

He finally managed to gather his thoughts together

Until you came in to bring the beverages he had ordered

He was never one to show any interest in the strippers or the club itself 

He only cared about the deals and how the business was doing

But when you walked in he suddenly couldn't think clearly anymore

You looked so innocent in the white lingerie set you were wearing

Almost as if you didn't belong there

Through the white smoke of the cigars you looked like an angel who had mistakenly entered Satan's realm

And he wasn't wrong

He didn't know that today had been your first day on the job

Forced to work in a strip club in order to pay back your fathers debt

Fortunately for you, you only had to cater and help with the cleaning 

You put the beverages on the table and placed the empty bottles on your tray to take with you when you leave the room

Your hands were shaking slightly 

Nervous at the fact that you had to cater to the mafia boss himself

You were warned before entering to always follow his orders and never refuse

Usually they wouldn't send a newbie to the boss’s room but tonight they were understaffed 

The client must've seen the way Scoups eyes followed your every move

And insisted he shouldn't be the only one enjoying himself and that Scoups should get a lap dance too

This brought Scoups back from his trance

Now fully annoyed with his client for his foolish demeanor, he tried to refuse 

But before he could, his client continued to say that he would sign the contract if his wish was granted

He ran a hand through his hair

Frustrated at his idiotic and endless requests

But if it meant he could get this deal over with and leave then so be it

He looked over at you and told you to come closer

You wanted to say something but got disapproving glances from the other strippers’

So you stayed quiet 

Hesitantly you put the tray down

And started walking towards him

Not fully knowing what you're supposed to do

Scoups looked at you 

And noticed that you had probably never done this before

He let out a sight

And reached his hand out for you to take

He then guided you on his lap with your back facing him

His breath on your neck made you shiver and suddenly your heart started beating loudly

In a whisper he told you to grind on him like the other strippers 

You dismissed it though, whose heart wouldn't beat in such a difficult situation? 

Despite it all you slowly and clumsily started to grind on him

Trying to match your movements to the beat of the song

And trying to copy what the other strippers were doing 

Scoups hands grabbed onto your hips tightly 

Guiding you properly on his lap

You could feel his bulge beneath you

And his breath on your back

Seeing Scoups so flustered the client decided to take it a step further and asked if they should switch

"she seems quite inexperienced maybe I should give it a go" he said with a disgusting smile on his face

With a confident smirk Scoups told him that he didn't want to switch and that he would enjoy you all to himself 

Satisfied the client let out a loud laugh

Entertained with the situation he decided to sign the contract with the condition to be left alone with the strippers who were serving him

It was that kind of a strip club after all

The deal was finally done 

Relieved he grabbed your hand

And guided you out of the room

He turned to you and looked you up and down

"why are you working here" he asked

You told him about your father's debt

"how much" he asked, you noticed he's very direct and tried to spare as much words as he could

After telling the amount Scoups realized that due to the small amount you probably only had to cater and didn't have to do "that" kind of job

His night couldn't get worse

First his annoying client who wouldn't sign the deal

Now he's left all horny because of an innocent waitress 

He took you by the hand and guided you to another empty room

He sat down and lit up another cigar 

"I have a deal for you" he said in between inhaling his cigar and letting out the smoke

"I'll take care of your debt if you help me with this instead" he pointed to his boner and took another drag

Flustered you looked away

For him it might've been a small amount of debt

But to you it meant that you didn't have to work at the strip club anymore 

Seeing your hesitation, he urged you to answer quickly 

He's a busy man and doesn't have all night 

So you accept

He tells you to come closer and to do what you did before 

Slowly you start to grind on him

With your back turned to him

His free hand gripped your waist and give it a squeeze

Moving his hand down further to your thighs

And stroking them up and down

Soon his hand rested between your thighs

Playing with your clit

Your head thrown back

Now fully leaning into his chest 

Breathing heavily at the sensation of his thick fingers 

"turn around" he commands 

And you oblige

You turn so that now you're face to face with him

His doe eyes looking up at you

As you start to grind on his bulge

He sees your expression change 

And become flustered

Shy at his staring

You hide your face on his neck

He takes another drag from his cigar and puts it out

He then takes you by the hips and lifts you up

Unbuckling his pants

He takes out his cock

And tells you to grind on it

Hesitantly without saying a word you follow his order 

And start to grind on his bare cock

The friction starts to drive you insane

And before you know it 

You're unwillingly letting out soft whimpers

Which turns him on even more

Seeing you hold onto his neck for support

He's not able to endure it anymore

He moves your underwear to the side

And starts to slowly push his cock inside of you

Your grip around him tightens

And his arms go around your waist 

Capturing you in a hug

He starts to slowly thrust his hips up 

Until he's deep inside of you

Then increasing his speed more and more

Until you start moaning out loud 

Not being able to hold back your voice anymore 

He brutally pounds into you

Which has you screaming in pleasure

And tightening around him

Until you're cumming all over his cock

With a few hard thrusts

He shoots his load inside of you

Breathing heavily

He tells you, you did a good job

Exhausted, you ask him if now you're free to go and that you don't have to work here anymore

Not wanting to let you go

He gives you a devilish grin

And tells you, you should've gotten that in writing before agreeing

You stare at him in shock

Realizing he's not about to let you off the hook so easily

Your eyes start to well up and you start crying

You could feel his cock twitch inside of you

He wipes away your tears, trying to comfort you

In a pout he tells you that you don't have to work at the strip club anymore 

But that he wasn't nearly ready to let you go

And that he will pay your debt if he could continue to do this to you

Your mind was in a haze

All you could think of was your colleagues warning you to never refuse his words

Not knowing what to do you give him a slight nod

With that his cock has now fully become erect again

And he starts to fuck you for the rest of the night

Satisfied with tricking an innocent person into a contract she can't get out of <3

[galaxymagitech]

No Winter Lasts Forever (No Spring Skips Its Turn)

Written for Dick Grayson Anniversary Week 2024: Day 2

Captivity | The Meaning of Robin | Rescue from Juvie

@dickgraysonweek

Summary: In which Dick is trained to be an undead assassin, refuses an unrefusable offer, loses a family, gains a family, meets a tire thief, and fights the forces of evil—not necessarily in that order.

Characters: Dick Grayson, William Cobb, Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne

Warnings: Canon-typical violence, child abuse, minor character death, Court of Owls (while the Court itself is not depicted and the specifics aren't explored, they are part of the background to a large section of the story)

The ropes break with a snap!

Dick’s parents fall to the floor.

And Dick—Dick can’t breathe—

---

They tell him that he’ll have a new family, but Dick doesn’t want a new family. He wants his dat and dej, Pop Haly, the big top. Zitka the elephant. The strongman who spoke even more languages than he did. Harry the clown. Dick doesn’t want a new family. He wants his old family back.

But no one here cares about what Dick wants. He’s dragged by the wrist to a car, and then pulled from the car, and then shoved into a large, stone complex. They take his clothes, his bag, his stuffed elephant. Give him a grey-green shirt to wear that says only “Gotham” on it. Like he belongs to the city now.

Dick has never been to Gotham before. He doesn’t know why it gets to claim him. These streets, these skyscrapers…they aren’t his home. His home is the circus tent.

He doesn’t understand.

They hate him, here. The guards, the kids, the severe woman who called herself a “social worker,” only Dick doesn’t know what that means. Everyone hates him.

Dick curls up in bed and tries not to cry. Crying is a sign of weakness. Blood in the water. He’s surrounded by sharks.

“Hey, new fish!” Someone says.

Dick doesn’t respond.

The boy snaps his fingers. “I’m talking to you!”

Dick curls even tighter.

A hand grabs the back of his shirt and pulls him roughly out of bed. Dick’s palms slam into the concrete floor, stinging furiously. He looks up to see three boys—the same three boys who beat him on his first night there.

“When he talks to you,” says another of the boys with a nasty smirk on his face, “you answer.”

Dick shudders. He doesn’t want to fight them again, but he will. He will, if he has to. He’s been here only a week, a week that’s felt like a lifetime, and he’s had to fight the others again and again.

Why can’t they just let him sleep?

The first boy snaps his fingers again. “Eyes on me, grasshopper.”

Dick looks at him tiredly.

“When,” the boy asks, eyes alight with malice, “are you going to learn?”

---

Dick hates adults.

Well, not all adults. He loved his parents. Pop Haly, and all the other circus folk. No, he doesn’t hate adults, he hates normal adults. The ones that wear suits and skirts and guard uniforms. The ones that don’t care, that hate him for daring to exist. Those are the adults he hates.

But Batman—

Batman wears a mask, and a cape, and a costume reminiscent of a circus performer, though a lot less colorful. So when Batman asks Dick to trust him, Dick tries.

The man disappears into the shadows, leaving Dick alone on the rooftop with a single promise.

---

The next day, they tell Dick that someone is here to see him. Dick is brought to the visitation room, and they don’t give him handcuffs, but he feels like a prisoner all the same. He’s too small for the chair, and his legs swing above the ground as his hands twist in his too-big shirt. Dick doesn’t want anyone to see him like this.

When the man walks in, his shoes click on the floor. Click, click, click. Dick looks up warily.

“Hello, Richard,” the man says. Dick winces. No one calls him Richard except the adults at the youth center, and Dick hateshateshates them. He doesn’t like this man either. He’s wearing a collared shirt just like the police, and his face holds none of the joy that his circus family’s does.

But Dick can tell he is wearing makeup caked onto his face, like the stage makeup all the performers wore at Haly’s, and his eyes have a yellow tint to him. He wears a cool brown coat over his shirt, too. Dick may not like him, but he doesn’t entirely hate him. Because the man doesn’t look quite normal.

“My name is William.”

It seems wrong to call an adult he doesn’t know very well by their first name, but the man didn’t give him a last name.

“Do you have a nickname you like to use?” William asks gently.

“Dick,” Dick says. It’s the first time anyone has asked. It’s the first time anyone has cared.

“Hello, Dick,” William says. “I was friends with Mr. Haly’s family.” Dick squints at William, but he doesn’t seem to be lying. His body bleeds sincerity so much that it’s eerie. “I heard about what happened to your parents. I’m sorry.” Dick shrugs. “I’d like to help you, Dick, if you’ll let me.” Dick looks up and meets his strange, yellow-tinted eyes. They both stare, for a while. Dick blinks first.

“Whatever,” Dick says.

“I want to show you something,” William says. He removes three balls from a pocket inside his coat and throws them into the air, progressively speeding up. Dick watches him, unimpressed. He can do better than that and he’s just eight. William smiles at the way Dick wrinkles his nose. “I know,” he says, catching the balls. “Not very impressive.”

“I can juggle six,” Dick says boldly.

“Do you want to show me?” William asks. He extracts three more juggling balls and places all six in Dick’s small hands. Suddenly nervous, Dick places the balls on the table and wipes his palms on his baggy brown pants. “It’s alright,” William says, reaching for the juggling balls.

“No,” Dick insists. “I can do it.” He picks them up, and gradually tosses them into the air, until he’s doing all six at once. He can’t help the smile that sneaks onto his face as he falls into the rhythmic catch-pass-throw-catch-pass-throw. When he senses his focus dwindling, he catches the balls and drops them into William’s outstretched hands.

“Excellent,” William says, and begins to juggle them himself. Unlike Dick, he does it like it’s easy, talking as if he doesn’t have a care in the world. “Who taught you that?”

“Ahmed,” Dick says. “He was our juggler. He could do knives.”

William adds another ball into the rotation, smoothly drawing it from his coat. “I can juggle knives too. Unfortunately, visitors aren’t allowed to bring those.”

Dick thinks that’s probably a good idea. He doesn’t want to see what the other boys would do with knives.

“If I take you out of here,” William offers, “I could show you.”

“Could you really?” Dick asks. He feels like he’s tripping headfirst down a hill in his excitement. He wants to leave. He wants to escape. And William is offering him a way out.

“Yes,” William says. “I’m working on it. I’ll be back before you know it.” He catches the juggling balls one by one, and Dick notices that he’s worked up to twelve—one more than the world record.

Dick hates normal adults, but William isn’t normal.

“I’d like that,” he says.

---

William comes back for him, just as promised. The youth center gives him his clothes back, his bag, his stuffed elephant, and Dick can feel his heart soaring. As he walks away from the barbed-wire-topped gates, William’s fingers dig into his shoulder like talons.

Dick winces. “You’re—you’re holding me too tight.”

William’s grip relaxes, and Dick lets the smile slip back onto his face. He ignores the twinge of unease, burying it deep inside.

---

William takes him to a strange building, and they take an elevator deep underground. His new guardian—that’s what the “social worker” called William—leads him down a long, marble corridor.

“Where are we going?” Dick asks.

“To your new home,” William tells him.

Dick inches closer to William’s side. “This is kind of scary,” he says. “Not that I’m scared. But it’s kind of scary.”

“You are above that,” William says.

The corridor opens into a large, circular room. At the center of it is a large statue of an owl, gleaming white. Dick doesn’t know where the light is coming from.

Hands trembling, Dick reaches into his bag and pulls out Zitka. He holds the stuffed animal close to his chest, digging his fingers into her soft fabric.

William reaches out and pulls Zitka away.

It takes Dick a moment to process, but when he does, anger fills him. “Give her back!” He says, stamping his foot. “She’s not yours, she’s mine! Give her back!”

William watches him, eyes unblinking. “You don’t need a toy, Dick.”

“You can’t take her!” Dick insists.

“Watch,” William says, stowing Zitka in his coat and pulling out six long, sharp knives. He begins to juggle them, and Dick watches as the blades glint in the unnatural light. “Doesn’t it look fascinating?”

“I want Zitka back,” Dick insists.

William sighs, and this time, he pulls out three blunt knives. “If you can learn to juggle these, I will return your toy to you. Does that sound fair?”

It’s not a nice question. When adults say that, you always have to answer ‘yes.’

---

William takes him to a room with a bed and turns off the lights. “The bathroom’s through that door,” he says. “Go to sleep. I’ll wake you in the morning.”

William shuts the door, plunging Dick into darkness. He hears the lock click.

---

The next day, William hands him a wooden sword and tells him that they will practice fighting. Dick doesn’t think this is a normal thing to do, but he doesn’t like normal. William said he knows Pop Haly’s family; maybe he’s from another circus, where they fight with wooden swords.

Dick ends the day bruised and exhausted. William sends him to his room. Dick shudders, pulling his thin blankets over him and wishing they protected him from the cold.

Each day passes much the same. William shows him a dummy and tells him which spots to hit. They’re circled in red, with words on them. Heart. Carotid. Kidney. Dick doesn’t think he’s training for a circus anymore.

“I don’t understand,” he says.

William puts a hand on his shoulder. “I serve an organization, called the Court of Owls.”

“Is that like Haly’s circus?”

William gives Dick’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze, just an ounce too tight. “Almost. Like your circus, they gave me a home. A place. A life. They will give you one too.”

“What if I don’t want it?” Dick asks.

William’s face darkens and his hand grows tighter. Dick flinches, but William doesn’t let him escape. “You will.”

Dick practices. He graduates from a wooden sword to a real one. He learns to juggle the dull knives and does it for hours under William’s watchful eye. When William hands him sharp ones to try, Dick thinks of asking for Zitka back. That was, after all, the deal. But he doesn’t think his request would be well-received.

“Good,” William says, and pride shoots through Dick, but also fear. So much fear. He doesn’t like what he’s becoming. “Good.”

---

“There is a procedure,” William says, when too many days have passed for Dick to keep track of the time. He isn’t wearing his makeup today. Dick can see how pale William’s face is, like a corpse. The way his black veins twist across his skin. “It makes you strong, like me. So people can’t kill you, like they did to your parents.”

“What…what does that mean?” Dick asks.

William smiles. There’s an edge to it. Dick tries not to let his fear show. He’s been doing that a lot, these days. “They’ll give you some medicine,” William says. “And it’ll help you. Protect you. After the procedure, you can take your place at my side.”

“With the Owls,” Dick says.

“With the Owls,” William agrees. “You are almost ready.”

Dick looks at William’s face. He doesn’t think he wants to be ready. But he doesn’t dare speak.

---

“Tomorrow,” William says, holding out a hand to help Dick pull himself off the ground. He’s bleeding from shallow cuts, the product of sparring with real swords. William says those wounds won’t matter after the procedure. The procedure will protect him, and they’ll barely hurt anymore.

Dick can’t help but think that they also wouldn’t hurt if William didn’t insist on inflicting them.

“Tomorrow, you will join me as a Talon.”

“I—” Dick knows, by now, that if he says he doesn’t want to be a Talon, he will be ignored. “What will I do, as a Talon?” He asks instead.

William runs his fingers through Dick’s hair. It’s grown long, tickling at his jaw. That’s how Dick knows that he has to have been here for a while, even though he he’s lost track of the days. “There are people that pose a threat to the Court,” William tells him calmly. “You will remove them.”

“I’ll…put them in jail?” Dick asks, even though…even though William has not been training him to put people in jail.

“You will kill them,” William says. As if murder wasn’t what stole Dick’s parents from him.

“How many?” Dick asks. He thinks that if he could see himself in a mirror, his face would look almost as pale as William’s.

“As many as the Court requires.”

---

Dick doesn’t want to be a Talon. He doesn’t want to kill for people he’s never even met, even if William says he owes them his life.

Dick had a life before the Court, before William, and it was with the circus. It was with Pop Haly and dat and dej and they never would’ve wanted him to do this. His mother called him Robin. The first bird of spring. A symbol of joy, of hope, of renewal. Not of death. Never of death.

That night, Dick lies awake, terrified. He doesn’t want to go to sleep and become a Talon when he wakes up.

He likes William, but William is scary, sometimes, and as time went on, sometimes became all the time, and now—

—Dick doesn’t think he likes William very much, anymore.

Run, Robin, run! His mother cries out in his mind, and Dick shoots out of bed.

---

Dick races down the corridor, trying desperately to remember the way out. As the days have passed, William has moved him to rooms deeper and deeper into the complex.

Dick pleads that his memory is right.

His feet are bare—William didn’t give him any socks or shoes. Dick wonders if that was on purpose, to prevent him from escaping.

But he’s climbed rock-faces barefoot before with the other circus kids. A marble corridor isn’t going to phase him.

Left. Right. Right. Left. Sharp left. Secret door. Left. Left. Right. And—there.

Dick mashes the up button on the elevator and steps into it, knees shaking as he feels the floor rising underneath him, carrying him up from the ground. Until, halfway, the elevator grinds to a stop.

No.

Dick will not fail now.

He remembers that in movies, people climb out the top of elevators. This is an old one, so he’s able to scale the grated door and push out a panel in the elevator’s ceiling. There’s a metal cable, there, stretching up, up, up.

Dick climbs.

It hurts his fingers, but he climbs.

When he reaches the top, he presses at the buttons by the steel doors until they slide open. There, Dick finds William waiting for him.

“What are you doing?” William asks, as Dick leaps onto the floor.

Dick juts out his chin. “I don’t want to be a Talon.”

“It’s your destiny, Dick,” William says, tilting Dick’s chin up so Dick has to look him in his unblinking yellow eyes.

“I don’t care,” Dick says, stepping to the side and batting William’s hand away.

“You don’t mean that,” William says. “I saved you from that prison, Dick. I brought you here, so you could become a Talon.” Dick’s heart aches. He knows that William probably only wanted him for the Owls, but having the confirmation still hurts. “You belong here. With me. Don’t you want to stay?”

“No,” Dick says. “I don’t want to be here, so you have to let me go. It’s the law.”

But he doesn’t think the law applies to William. Or if it does, Dick doesn’t think William would care. “I can’t do that,” William says. “You belong here. If I have to hurt you for you to see it, I will. I don’t want to, but I will. Do you understand me, Dick?”

“You’ll hurt me?” Dick asks. William has hurt him already, but in little ways. Bruises and cuts while they trained. The way William says it this time seems worse.

“The Owls have ways to make the Talons listen to them. I didn’t want to have to use them on you. But they demand absolute loyalty.”

“What will they do to me?”

“They will take you apart and study you piece by piece, every organ on display, and then they will stitch you back together. You will be awake the whole time. It will hurt. They will put you somewhere very, very cold until you listen to them. They will make you forget your name, your parents, everything except Talon. I want to spare you that, Dick.”

“I—” Dick trembles. “I—” He feels his knees collapse under him. William catches him and holds him close. “I’m sorry,” Dick whispers. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

He doesn’t know what he’s apologizing for, until his hand closes around the hilt of one of the sharp knives tucked into his belt. The ones that William gave him when he graduated from the dull practice ones.

In a single, practiced motion, Dick swipes up and slices a blade across William’s throat.

The Talon releases him instantly, wound gushing black blood. Dick feels his stomach churn. The wound is already starting to heal.

“You’ll regret that,” William hisses.

“No,” Dick says, as he lunges forward and slices William’s neck again, “I won’t. I’m not your Talon. I don’t serve the Owls. I’m a Robin.”

William taught him how to fight. William taught him how to kill.

William’s head falls to the floor, and Dick screams.

---

The first time Dick steals, his hands tremble, and the man catches Dick with his hand halfway into his pocket. Dick runs.

The next time, he forces his hands still and he doesn’t get caught.

Stealing is wrong, but so is killing, and Dick killed William. William saved him, protected him, tried to give him purpose the only way he knew how, and Dick killed him.

He can’t bring himself to regret murder, so he doesn’t regret stealing either.

And the streets—the streets are so, so cold.

---

The years pass, and Dick grows accustomed to the cold—and the starvation, the fear, the danger. He knows how to clock which passersby are targets for his sticky fingers and which he should avoid and which he should absolutely avoid at all costs.

He tries performing acrobatics in the city’s squares, but every time the authorities catch him, he has to move locations, and eventually he’s exhausted all the good ones. It lasts him through the winter, at least, and the next winter he’s able to try again.

Dick missed his ninth birthday in his six months with William. He spends his tenth waiting out a late snowstorm in the cheapest motel room he could find and fighting off the thieves who try to enter. They run. Dick doesn’t kill them. He doesn’t think they’ll mess with him again.

Dick turns eleven. An older kid on the street tries to take the money he picks off a lady with a pearl necklace, and Dick punches him in the stomach hard enough to knock the wind out of him and forces him into an armlock. “Yer good, for a runt.” Dick knows that he’s good for anyone, runt or not. He killed a Talon, after all. “Y’know,” the boy says, “I’ve got a job. Could use some help. Little security.”

“How much?”

“I just gotta listen in on somethin’ goin’ down in this warehouse over on 41st and 3rd. Fifty whole dollars. We can split it. Thirty me, twenty you.”

“Twenty-five,” Dick says. The boy agrees too easily. Dick goes anyway; he needs the money.

At the first sign of trouble, the boy pushes Dick out of their hiding place and makes a break for it. Dick ends up fighting off two of Maroni’s men and saving the boy’s hide. He makes the older boy take him back to his boss and splits the money with him fifty-fifty. “You can call me Mark,” the boy says. “I’m thirteen.”

“I’m Dick,” Dick says. “And I’m eleven.”

“Might wanna choose a different name.”

It’s not the first day of spring, but the weather’s starting to get warmer. Crocuses are sprouting through the pavement—though that might be Poison Ivy’s doing, more than anything else. “Robin,” Dick decides. “I’m Robin.”

He thinks he might have made a friend.

---

Mark hunts for information and sells tidbits of it to the highest bidder. Listens in on mob deals. Roots through the trash for information. With Dick at his side, he gets bolder. Instead of a supplement, information becomes their main dealing.

On Dick’s twelfth birthday, they steal donuts from a stand outside some sort of ritzy novelty donut store and run. When the owner comes chasing after them, they shove the donuts in their mouths and look all innocent, and by then the owner’s spotted more street kids trying to steal the donuts, so he has to rush back.

“I think,” Mark says, as they sit on a rooftop, “this is some kind of good deed or something.”

“Yeah?” Dick asks.

“Yeah.” Mark points at two kids huddled in a nearby alley, chowing down on their stolen donuts. They look about eight or nine. The age Dick was when he entered the streets.

On Dick’s thirteenth birthday, he has no one to celebrate. Mark double-crossed the wrong crime lord and ended up in Gotham Harbor.

From then on, Dick works alone. That is, until he finds a scrappy ten-year-old attempting to whack two guys with a tire iron.

---

“Jason Todd,” the kid introduces himself, once Dick’s sent the guys running and convinced the kid that he wasn’t going to kidnap him and sell him to human traffickers. He looks cleaner than most street kids, not quite as hungry, his clothes not entirely torn. But no ten-year-old would be jacking tires at midnight if he had a family at home.

Dick doesn’t know why he brought the kid back to his hideout, why he decided to share his limited medical supplies, but he did.

“Robin,” Dick tells him, as he wraps a bandage around a nasty cut on Jason’s arm. “How did you get this, Jason?”

Jason shrugs.

“C’mon.”

“When my mom died, they tried to put me in a group home,” Jason says. Dick’s heart sinks. “I wanted out. The mob that ran the place took exception to that.”

“Are they looking for you?” Dick asks. Many of the group homes in Gotham are in league with someone, but the mob ones are rare. If Jason ended up at one of those, his parents might have been involved in something dangerous.

“Don’t know,” Jason says. “Sure they got worse problems to worry ‘bout than me. Can I go now?”

“Yeah,” Dick says. “I’m not keeping you here.”

The kid climbs out his window, and Dick shakes off the urge to stop him.

---

Dick doesn’t like working for Gotham Rogues, but as time has gone by, the mobs have slowly phased out and the Rogues have phased in. He refuses to tangle with the Joker or Scarecrow, but he occasionally collects information for Ivy or Penguin. Two-Face, well, Dick would rather not be anywhere near him, but he’s not the kind of guy you can refuse.

It’s while infiltrating casino security systems for Two-Face that Dick hears about Willis Todd, the traitor. Two-Face has him killed in jail, but it’s not enough to satisfy him. He paces and paces and paces about, until someone suggests going after Willis Todd’s boy, Jason.

Dick’s heart stops in his chest, as Two-Face pauses his pacing.

“There’s an idea,” he says. He flips his coin in the air, and his lips twist into a vicious grin. “Bad heads. Guess that boy’s out of luck.”

No.

---

As a rule, Dick tries not to get involved. He runs information and he fights off any attackers, but he never gets involved in anyone’s actual operations. It’s not his job.

But while it was easy for Dick to not particularly care about various criminals killing each other, he can’t let that grumpy little ten-year-old get killed. Not when he knows that Two-Face is going after him.

Dick searches through the city and finds Jason in Crime Alley, shivering behind a dumpster.

“You’re in danger,” he warns.

“I’m always in danger,” Jason says. “What, here to kidnap me, Robin?”

“I’m here to protect you.”

Jason doesn’t believe him.

So Dick watches. He’s good at watching. He watches as Jason picks pockets and steals tires. He watches for two weeks, until he’s almost convinced that there’s no point in watching at all. And then, he sees five of Two-Face’s men corner the kid in an alleyway.

Dick drops down, joining the fray. Only, these are no ordinary goons. They fight like men possessed, like they’re doped up on some sort of substance—and Dick knows, from his recent surveillance of Ivy, that they probably are. Dick still has the knives William gave him, even after all these years. For once, he uses them. He may be out of practice, but, well, he doesn’t need much practice to shove a sharp object into a man’s gut and twist.

“R-robin?” Jason asks, voice shaky, as three of the men run away. Two lie on the cobblestones, dead.

Dick knows that if he hadn’t met William, such a display would’ve terrified him. He inclines his head. “I’m sorry, Jason.”

“Thank you,” Jason says. And then, despite the fact that Dick is carrying sharp knives and has just committed two murders, the kid rushes forward and wraps his arms around Dick’s waist. Dick returns the hug. He missed hugs so much, and this—

—this is the best.

“I killed them, Jay,” Dick says.

“Those men, they hung around my dad,” Jason says. “They were…they were real mean.”

Dick pulls him closer, wrapping his arms around Jason’s shoulders. He keeps his touch light, so Jason can easily draw away at any time. He’s dangerous. Jason shouldn’t want to be held by him. But the kid just keeps clinging. “I have a place to stay,” Dick offers.

And Jason—Jason accepts.

---

After defeating Two-Face’s men, Dick has to go back on the down-low for a while. No more major information-gathering, just tiny crumbs here and there. But with him and Jason living together, they can split the work. Dick teaches him all the best pickpocketing tricks, all the ways to hide on alleyways and rooftops, how to know which information is worth selling. Jason teaches him how to jack tires and how to make himself sound more like a Crime Alley native and the stories his mom used to tell him.

Dick learns that Jason loves reading and adds books from charity stores to their limited budget. He watches Jason curl up at night with one of their flashlights, poring over Jane Austen and Emily Dickinson and Shakespeare. Sometimes, he reads them out loud, and Dick listens, providing commentary. With the Shakespeare, Jason often asks Dick to read for different characters, so they can have a mini play in their ramshackle hide-out.

It makes Dick feel like he’s almost good, for the first time since his parents fell.

---

“Little Wing?” Jason echoes, wrinkling his nose.

Dick pulls him closer as they huddle together for warmth. It’s a long, cold winter. “Because I’m Robin. And you’re little. So you’re Little Wing!”

“I’m not a bird,” Jason sulks.

“Well, then,” Dick says. “I’ll just have to teach you to fly.”

---

Rooftops are no match for Robin and his Blue Jay apprentice. Neither, they decide, are the tops of trains. It’s dangerous. It’s stupid. But Dick is sixteen and Jason is eleven. They should be playing games with their classmates in school, and this is the closest they can get.

“Watch me, Little Wing!” Dick calls, doing a flip on top of the moving train. “Wait, no, don’t copy me, Jay—"

---

“My real name,” Dick says one day, “is Richard Grayson. I was part of a travelling circus.”

Jason laughs. “Pull the other one.”

“Really! My best friend was an elephant and everything.” Dick’s heart pangs as he thinks of Little Zitka. He never did get her back from William. But he’s sixteen now, and far too old for stuffed animals anyway.

“I don’t believe you.”

“Well,” Dick says, “then I’ll just have to convince you.”

---

All good things must come to an end. Jason says he’s going out, and he never comes back. Dick spends days asking around, and the rumors are conclusive: Batman found a boy trying to steal his tires and stole him instead.

Dick thinks back to when he first met Batman, with his cape and cowl and funny suit. Dick had thought that, just because he wasn’t normal like the other adults, he could be trusted.

But Dick knows better now. In the circus, strange was good. Strange was safe. But in Gotham? Strange is Two-Face and Joker and Scarecrow. Strange is William. And Dick can’t trust normal or strange.

Dick knows he can’t go up against Batman, even with six months of training to be a Talon, even with his experience fighting on the streets. He should just leave it and move on.

But Jay—

Wherever he is, he must be so scared.

Batman may not serve the Court of Owls and he may not kill, but he still hunts on the streets at night. Just like a Talon. And Dick will never leave Jason in the hands of a man like William.

---

Poking around inevitably gets Dick caught. Trapped between Batman and the police department, he makes the obvious decision, and gets picked up by social services. He’ll be out within a day.

Only, apparently, he’s the subject of an eight-year-long missing person case, several conspiracy theories, and a never-ending investigation. With everyone watching him, it’s impossible for Dick to slip through the cracks.

It’s the same story that happened eight years ago. No room in the system. Dick is sixteen and a runaway and everyone knows he’s a thief. No one’s going to adopt him, and he probably belongs in jail anyway.

They send him to the youth center again. This time, Dick can’t say he blames them.

---

Dick stretches down and lazily pushes into a handstand, wandering around upside-down as he thinks.

“Quit it, Richie,” his cellmate grunts from the top bunk.

“Fuck you,” Dick responds, balancing on one hand to give the guy the middle finger.

“I said quit it!”

It’s not a battle worth fighting. Dick sighs, walking himself back into a standing position. He lets himself fall down onto the bottom bunk, bouncing his foot.

Dick just has to wait a couple of days for this all to blow over, and then he can escape back onto the streets and continue his search for Jason. But the waiting is so, so painful. How does he know that Batman isn’t a Talon? Just because people say he doesn’t kill doesn’t mean it’s actually true. Jason could be alone with a Talon.

What if Dick didn’t actually kill William for good? What if that man has is little brother, right now? What if he’s doing all those things he said the Court did to Talons to make them obey?

Dick is startled out of his thoughts by the cell door clanging open. “C’mon,” the guard says.

“Where are we going?” Dick asks, but as usual, the adult doesn’t listen to him. They never do, unless Dick is useful, and here? Dick is useless.

The guard leads him to the social worker. Dick knows she’s the social worker because she has the same, pinched-looking face that he’d remember for a thousand years. Her hair is put up into the same tight bun, only now it’s streaked with grey. “Congratulations, Richard,” she says. “You’re being fostered.”

Dick’s first thought is that it has to be the Court, but he immediately dismisses the idea. Since he got rid of William, the Court’s been predictable about where they popped up, and they’ve never made a move on him. Dick is seventeen. All they have to do is wait six months and then they wouldn’t have to even bother with CPP. It would be stupid for the Court to have engineered this.

But Dick knows that seventeen-year-olds don’t just get fostered.

“Now?” He asks incredulously.

“Yes, now,” the woman snaps.

“Don’t I have anything to say about this?”

The social worker—Ms. Cleary, she introduced herself, apparently seventeen-year-old Dick is more worthy of her name than eight-year-old Dick was—scoffs. “Just be grateful you’re being fostered.”

“But…shouldn’t I at least meet the guy first?” Dick asks. That’s how it had worked with William—not that it had done any good at the time.

“Mr. Wayne is not some ‘guy,’ Richard,” Cleary tells him sharply. “He is one of Gotham’s first citizens.”

“One of Gotham’s first citizens,” Dick mutters under his breath. “Yeah, right.” He’s heard of ‘Mr. Wayne.’ Not involved in any organized crime, any smuggling business, any anything. He just goes to parties and donates absurd amounts of money to causes that barely help at all. Wayne isn’t particularly powerful or influential, not in the underworld where it really matters. He’s just rich.

“You’ll show him the proper respect.”

“Sure.”

Outside of the youth center, Dick can see birds perched on the barbed-wire-topped fence. He wonders if any of them are robins.

“Hello, Richard,” the man says, holding out a hand for Dick to shake. Dick eyes it distrustfully.

“Richard,” Cleary hisses, and Dick rolls his eyes and shakes Wayne’s hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Bruce says. “You’ll be my ward until you’ve turned eighteen.”

“Why?” Dick asks.

“Don’t mind him,” Cleary says loudly.

Wayne blinks. William didn’t blink. “It’s a reasonable question, Ms. Cleary.” He turns to Dick. “I was there that night at the circus. I had wanted to foster you, but you went missing before I could.”

“Went missing?” Dick asks. He hadn’t spared much thought for what he was registered as in the foster system, just that he couldn’t be caught by them.

“Yes, you disappeared one night, you’ll remember,” Ms. Cleary says. “We suspected you ran. No body was ever found. It was such a relief when you turned up.”

But that’s wrong. They handed him off to William. He had always—he had always thought that that part, at least, was legitimate.

Dick can see Wayne’s eyes flickering between him and Cleary with far too much intelligence for the bumbling idiot Bruce Wayne. “Let’s just go,” Dick says. He doesn’t have a bag to hoist over his shoulder, just his brown pants and the grey-green shirt on his back that reads “Gotham.” Dick thinks it’s right, this time. He does belong to the city.

It turns out that Wayne isn’t driving. Instead that’s handled by his butler. Wayne sits in the back seat with Dick. Dick tries to avoid his searching gaze.

“If you let me out here,” Dick says, “you can just tell them I ran away. I’m a flight risk, apparently.”

“Apparently,” Wayne echoes. He shakes his head. “I meant what I said. I have another ward. He’s currently staying with a friend of mine, but he’ll be back in a few days. I wish I could have taken you in earlier, but at least this way, I can help you as best I can.”

“Help me?” Dick rolls his eyes. “I don’t need help, Wayne. Just give me six months and I’ll be out of your hair.”

“Call me Bruce,” Wayne says. Dick thinks he won’t, thank you very much. “Do you have a nickname, Richard?”

Dick can’t hide the flinch. (William asked the same question. William cared, only so he could use it against him.)

Wayne frowns. “Alright. I am…truly sorry that I wasn’t able to help you earlier.”

“Not your fault,” Dick shrugs. “I ran away, didn’t you hear?”

“No,” Wayne says deep in thought. “I don’t think you did.”

Dick refuses to talk the rest of the car ride.

---

Alfred shows him to his room and tells him to be down for dinner in an hour. Dick doesn’t go. He wants to see what will happen. If Wayne will tire of him, or get angry, or what. Alfred knocks on his door. “It is time for dinner, Master Richard.”

Dick could play this out further, but he’s hungry. He goes downstairs and stares suspiciously at the food Alfred serves him.

“Is it not to your liking?”

The food smells delicious. Dick’s more worried that it’s drugged.

But he has to sleep eventually, and if they wanted, Wayne and Alfred could drug him then. So he eats the food.

When he goes to bed that night, he locks the door and barricades it with a desk and a chair and he’s not even really sure why.

---

Over the next few days, Dick dodges Wayne’s attempts to talk to him. He won’t let himself be sucked into something. As soon as Wayne gets bored of him, Dick can be back on the streets, searching for Jason. Only, Wayne doesn’t seem to be getting bored easily.

Dick takes the GED study books that Alfred hands him. He thinks Jason would’ve loved the literature one.

Hell, Jason would’ve loved everything about this place. The food, the butler like out of one of his mystery novels, the library. But Jason has been kidnapped by Batman. By now, he could be dead, or worse.

“My other ward is coming home tonight,” Wayne tells Dick at dinner. “I’d like you to meet him.”

“Yeah, sure.” Dick bets it’s some snotty rich kid. At least if he can offend the brat, then Wayne might finally kick him out. Dick’s starting to get desperate, and he’s only a couple days away from moving from backtalk and eyerolling to outright theft. It’s a fine line to walk; troublesome enough that Wayne doesn’t care about him anymore, but not so troublesome that he ends up having to deal with the cops.

---

Dick stands by the door with Wayne. The man tried to put a hand on his shoulder, but the second Dick flinched, Wayne started apologizing, and Dick had called him Bruce just to shut him up. It’s pretty clear, at this point, that Wayne is nothing like William. He’s just an idiot.

The doorbell rings, and in walks a tall man with glasses, who looks like he’s trying to hide himself by curling inwards. And behind him—behind him is—

“Jason?” Dick can’t help but gasp.

“Robin?”

And before Dick can ask what the heck is going on, Jason has rushed forwards and wrapped himself around Dick, clinging to him like a barnacle.

“I…see you’ve already met?” Wayne asks awkwardly. 

“Little Wing,” Dick says. Jason may be clinging to him like a barnacle, but Dick isn’t letting go anytime soon either. “I thought—Batman got you.”

Out of the corner of Dick’s eye, he sees Wayne pale. Shit.

Dick extracts himself from Jason’s grasp and turns to face Wayne, putting himself in front of Jason like a shield.

“Wait,” Jason says, tugging on Dick’s sleeve. “He’s safe. I promise.”

Dick knows better than to trust an adult. But Jason pulls him upstairs and, well, as long as Dick is watching his Little Wing, he knows he’s safe. That’s enough for now.

---

Dick’s used to hiding. Jason might not know where Batman works, but it’s easy enough for Dick to stay up and track him downstairs to his study, to turn the hands of the clock, to walk down into the cave underneath Wayne Manor. Jason said that Wayne is safe, but Dick had thought that William was safe too. Kids can be tricked.

Dick watches as Wayne performs stretches, looks something up on the Batcomputer, frowns. It doesn’t seem like he’s keeping any kids prisoner down here, at least. Dick slips through the cave to a row of what appear to be holding cells. No one is there.

“Richard.”

Dick startles, turning around to see Wayne watching him. He’s wearing the Batman costume now, though the cowl isn’t on yet. “Wayne,” Dick says.

Wayne sighs. “Please just call me Bruce.”

“Batman,” Dick says, because Wayne clearly takes exception to the use of his last name, but he can’t protestthis.

“How did you find the cave?” Wayne asks.

Dick shrugs. “Followed you.” He walks over to the Batcomputer to look at the screen, careful to keep Wayne within his peripheral vision. “Why did you really decide to foster us?”

Wayne pauses. “I’m…not sure what you mean?”

Dick walks over to the training mats, where there’s a wall of weapons. He withdraws two knives, twirling them with his fingers. “I won’t let you train Jason,” he says.

Wayne props his elbow on the desk with the Batcomputer and rests his chin in his hand. He watches Dick, gaze scrutinizing. “Someone trained you.”

Dick thinks for a moment. The Court, he could deal with. With William gone, they didn’t seem particularly interested in him anymore. But Batman? Dick doesn’t think he and Jason would be able to avoid Batman for long. And Batman, well, he hunts criminals and he supposedly doesn’t kill. There are worse monsters to serve.

Dick isn’t a child anymore. Jason is.

“Yes,” he says. Dick looks over at the training dummies and tries to blink the visions of the Court’s marble corridors from his eyes. He lets the knives fly from his hands and embed themselves in two of the dummies’ hearts. “Whatever you want, my help will be more than enough.”

A pained expression flickers across Wayne’s face. “I didn’t bring Jason or you here to train.”

Dick doesn’t believe him. He’s long past falling for pretty lies.

“I swear,” Wayne says. “If you want, you will never have to fight again.”

Like Dick has ever had a choice. He doesn’t know what to say, so he falls back on the bottom line. “If you try to train Jason, I’ll kill you.”

Wayne’s mouth opens and then closes. “That won’t be necessary,” he says eventually. “Someone hurt you, Richard. I know it’s difficult to believe I won’t do the same, but I promise. I won’t hurt you or Jason, and I won’t ever make you do something you don’t want to do.” Dick meets Wayne’s eyes, watches his emotions swirl within the blue irises. Wayne blinks first. “I hope you can let me prove it to you.”

Dick doesn’t know quite what to say to that. Wayne seems too good to be true, just like William did. Dick has no reason to trust him.

But Dick doesn’t need to trust Bruce to give him a chance.

“Dick,” he says suddenly.

“What?”

“It’s my nickname. No one calls me Richard. My name’s Dick Grayson.” 

[helioleti]

Summary:

When he was seventeen, after his mother took her own life, Butters disappeared from the town of South Park. No one has seen or heard from him since.

Five years later, Mysterion gets a job offer from Detective Harris in exchange for an unrefusable amount of money; He is to investigate and catch the criminal behind the latest cyber attack on the town residents’ bank accounts— one who calls himself Chaos. Dropped out, desperate and stuck in South Park, Kenny is willing to do anything to make ends meet until Karen’s graduation, and with Kyle’s help he might be able to pull it off. But the deeper they get into the case, the more Kenny’s identity and Karen’s future are under threat— and the less Kenny is sure he really wants to know who is behind Chaos’ mask.

Rating: M

Status: 3/25 (ongoing)

Words: 11.902

(Anyone willing to beta feel free to dm me! I’m grateful for any help :3)

[klaineccfanficlibrary]

Hey do you guys have any fics where Klaine are spies or like criminal master minds? Or separately maybe like a mafia story but where they BOTH come from mafia families? I don't know I'm in a bad ass klaine mood. Thanks!

Here's a list of various fics. ~Jen

Here is our mafia tag.

And of course this one!

A Mafia Romance by @yadivagirl [WIP]​

Blaine is the son of a powerful crime boss. He has no intentions of joining the family business, especially since he finally has a gorgeous boyfriend named Kurt, but everyone else has other ideas. When Kurt gets caught in the middle, Blaine’s true nature is unleashed. Like father, like son. Dark!Blaine. Features sex, violence, drug references, and heavy BDSM themes.

~~~~~

An Unrefuseable Offer by Aki and Tenshi

Mafia AU. Blaine is a jaded crime lord interested in Kurt, a singer at a speakeasy. Kurt is desperate to take care of his ill father. Blaine makes Kurt an offer, trade himself for Blaine’s money and influence to get Burt the best medical care. And then there’s Sebastian, who runs a rival mob. Angst, drama, and a dark, kinda romantic story

~~~~~

A Dangerous Game by dreamcatcher (darcangell23)

The year is 1924 and Blaine Anderson, son of the most notorious mafia boss in the east, has gone to his favorite speakeasy where he sees Kurt for the first time. It’s got to be love at first sight but falling for a mafia baby so a dangerous game to play. But is Kurt exactly who Blaine thinks he is? 

~~~~~

Spy fic:

Trigger Warning by @inkystars (on tumblr)

Blaine Anderson is one of the top international spies in the world, but is very insistant upon keeping his husband, Kurt Hummel, in the dark about that matter. Which ends up being a bit of a problem when Kurt is kidnapped

~~~~~

Criminal Klaine -

An Unwritten Life by GlassParade

An adaptation of the movie “The Brothers Bloom” – Blaine and Cooper are brothers and con artists, committing crimes worldwide with explosives expert Santana in tow. But Blaine wants out of the life, while Cooper wants to pull off one last con – and for his mark, he’s selected reclusive automotive heir Kurt Hummel. With Coop’s promise to finally let him go in hand, Blaine sets the hook and reels Kurt into a madcap global adventure in lies, violence, death…and love.

~~~~~~

An Honest Man by BlurglesmurfKlaine @jinglejavey

For nearly the past decade, Kurt Hummel and his best friend Rachel Berry have made their living swindling unsuspecting bachelors. Which proves to be pretty easy on his conscience, considering he doesn’t believe in love anymore. As they always say: “You can’t con an honest man... Good thing they don’t exist.” But their mark for their last con before they go their separate ways—Blaine Anderson—may just prove otherwise, and restore Kurt’s faith in love in the process.

~~~~~

FBI/criminal:

Catch Me If You Can by @afterthenovels

In the end, catching Kurt Hummel is definitely not what Blaine expected.

Special Agent Blaine Anderson catches con-man and art thief extraordinaire Kurt Hummel twice, and on the second time they strike a deal. They’re supposed to just solve white collar crimes together, but they might even end up solving each other in the process.

A White Collar AU.

Note: There are 9 more stories in this verse HERE.

~~~~~

In Spite of all the Darkness by wishesonfallenstars

When the bodies of teenage girls start appearing next to dumpsters over New York City, the NYPD calls in the FBI. Because Serial Killers are always stopped easier when there’s experienced back up on speed-dial, and with bodies starting to pile up, they need to move fast. (warnings inside)

~~~~~

Hidden in the Deep by LauGS @heartsmadeofbooks

Kurt Hummel’s only concern was getting the perfect role in the perfect Broadway show. But when one night he witnesses a real nightmare, Kurt’s focus shifts from saving his career to saving something much more important: his own life.

~~~~~

Mr Congeniality by ifinallyfoundsomeone

Miss. Congeniality!AU

Bomb threats are being sent to the newly made Mr. America pageant and FBI Agent Blaine Anderson has taken up the position of being an undercover agent to save the pageant. With some extreme grooming and guidance from his pageant consultant, Blaine infiltrates the world of Men’s pageants. Making some interesting friends, and maybe he even winning the heart of his slave driver pageant consultant, the gorgeous and fascinating, Kurt Hummel.

~~~~~

[gabegabeman]

Cut outs of norm, Randy, my oc gabe (the telephone) and my boyfriends oc Apollo (the tv fella)

Gabe offering you an unrefusable gift

And my kitten Deimos, in the dryer

And I still can’t tag

[iobartach]

@shieldofwaves asked; ❛ Tell me it's worth it. Tell me you know the risk and I'll be there with you. I'll back you up. Just tell me. ❜

the fall of the house of usher sentence prompts

He had called the odds, calculated the stakes. He had checked every box that he could think of, in his search for assurance. For unrefusable proof that his analysis had been fair and just-- and still the Spider had come up short, prone to doubts and uncertainties that threatened to cloud his judgement, tempt him to make the wrong decision.

"I can't answer that." The truth escapes before he has the chance to recall it, an admittance of information that sees his broad posture deflate, shoulders sinking with the departure of surety. "As long as we make sure this world doesn't collapse..." Perishing, because he took his eyes off the prize, spread himself too thin, instead of leveraging the help of others. Aid, like that offered freely, by the man opposite him.

"...That's all that matters. Can't put a value on that." Because he's already tried. "So.. Still wish to join me?"

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

No Winter Lasts Forever (No Spring Skips Its Turn)

by GalaxyOwl13 In which Dick is trained to be an undead assassin, refuses an unrefusable offer, loses a family, gains a family, meets a tire thief, and fights the forces of evil—not necessarily in that order. Words: 7254, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Series: Part 2 of Dick Grayson Week 2024 Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, Batman (Comics), Nightwing (Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Categories: Gen Characters: Dick Grayson, William Cobb (DCU), Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne Relationships: William Cobb (DCU) & Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne Additional Tags: Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Dick Grayson is a Talon, Sort Of, Dick Grayson Has Issues, Dick Grayson-centric, Protective Dick Grayson, Good Sibling Dick Grayson, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Hurt Dick Grayson, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Court of Owls via https://ift.tt/AgRHdWI

[red-dyed-sarumane]

やめてください 柊マグネタイト feat. 羽累 / Please Stop Hiiragi Magnetite feat. Haru english translation

Hiiragi Magnetite's 16th song over all & the 10th song in aru sekai series! There's no background text this time but I think the amount of context in the lyrics is more than enough to figure out this part of the story.

Youtube | NND

敗北ランド 実際は排他 失敗社会だ 理解がない A defeated land, truth is excluded It's a failed society, I don't get it

快も不快も 後悔が対価 人生終わった 一回でバーイ Pleasantness and unpleasantness, compensated with regret My life's over, a one time byee*(*occurance)

差異 得 ライド 言った言わないの 記載はないが ごめんもない A disparity advantage ride, won't you say it was said? There's no record of it, but no apology either

埋没ランド 失態晒した 失敗社会だ 理解がない A buried land, it exposed the errors It's a failed society, I don't get it

毎食ドット ファニー インダストリー道理 混濁ドーミー for Me 賞味 ソーリー 暴利ストーキング！ Every meal dot, funny Logic of an industry Muddled dormy for me, an appreciation Sorry, it's usury stocking!

背徳ノット 甘美 見出す脅威 承認 コンタクト産み 長期投資 勝利 合理苦 ショウミー！ The knot of corruption, so sweet Discovering threats, acknowledging them Creating contact, a long term investment Success, rationality in pain, show me!

やめてください やめてください えー ブンブンブブン ブンブンブブン は？ Please stop, please stop, yeah Buzz buzz b-buzz buzz buzz b-buzz, huh?

やめてください やめてください えー ブンブンブブン ブンブンブブン は？ Please stop, please stop, yeah Buzz buzz b-buzz buzz buzz b-buzz, huh?

やめてください やめてください えー ブンブンブブン ブンブンブブン は？ Please stop, please stop, yeah Buzz buzz b-buzz buzz buzz b-buzz, huh?

やめてください やめてください えー ブンブンブブン ブン Please stop, please stop, yeah Buzz buzz b-buzz buzz

は？ Huh?

最速回答 聡明じゃないの？ 判断遅いよ は はいは はい The fastest answer, it's the most sensible, isn't it? Your decision's so slow, ha, yeah ha, yeah

愛読愛用 スーパー問う賛と ノーマル��う散に学びなさい A favorite reading, please learn from A super accusation of praise and dispersal of a normal accusation

単発バイト お金がないね 仕方がないね ヤるしかない It's a one-shot job, there's no money in it, huh There's no way around it, huh, I have to do it

催促回答 どう？ ねえ？ しないの？ 判断遅いよ は はいは はい Demanding answers, how about that? Hey? Won't you do it? Your decision's so slow, ha, yeah ha, yeah

退職ボット バーニング 皆苦労人 同士 御社不当に 奉仕飲み 飛び込みローディング！ A resignation bot, burning Everyone's so wise, colleagues Your company unfairly drinks up the bargain Plunging into loading!

愛毒ノット 堪忍 見た？ ストーリー更新 網膜調子 推しの身 お搾り 庶民！ A knot of poisoned love, endurance You saw it? The story's update The state of the retina, your favorite's body, an aperture of the common folk!

契約もっと パーリー 人格統制 狂信 鉱脈通り ツルハシ 売り撒き ダンシング！ A more pearly contract Personality regulation, what fanaticism The flow of the vein, a pick-axe A distribution of sales, dancing!

感謝 出会いに感謝 人類全員感謝 毎度 収入 お布施 恒例 脳脆 当然 放置！ Gratitude, gratitude for meeting All of humanity's grateful Every time, receipts, offerings, customs A sentimental mind naturally leaves it alone!

やめてください！！ やめてください！！ Please stop!! Please stop!!

えー ブンブンブブン ブンブンブブン は？ Yeah Buzz buzz b-buzz buzz buzz b-buzz, huh?

やめてください やめてください え－ ブンブンブブン ブンブンブブン は？ Please stop, please stop, yeah Buzz buzz b-buzz buzz buzz b-buzz, huh?

やめてください やめてください えー ブンブンブブン ブンブンブブン は? Please stop, please stop, yeah Buzz buzz b-buzz buzz buzz b-buzz, huh?

やめてください やめてください えー ブンブンブブン ブン Please stop, please stop, yeah Buzz buzz b-buzz buzz

はあ。 お人よしなんて言葉ヅラだけはまあいいが ただ 「自分自身さえ我慢すれば」 「それで全部済むならいいや」って 一回二回小さな侵略を許すうち 気がついたら 唯一の聖域をお前らに何もかも めちゃくちゃにされた Hah.* (*sighing) It'd be acceptable if people's significance was just a term but Only "If you have patience with yourself" "Then everything should be fine once it's over" they said Once, twice, when I noticed the forgiveness of small aggressions The sole thing off limits caused Everything unreasonable to happen to you guys

断れない！断れない！断れない！ 嫌われたくない！ ああ！そのせいで！そのせいで！そのせいで！ It's unrefusable! It's unrefusable! It's unrefusable! I dont want to be hated! Ah! Because of that! Because of that! Because of that!

何もかも終わった Everything's over

断れない！断れない！断れない！ 嫌われたくない！ ああ！そのせいで！そのせいで！ そのせいで！ It's unrefusable! It's unrefusable! It's unrefusable! I dont want to be hated! Ah! Because of that! Because of that! Because of that!

----

T/N

1- the bye towards the beginning, since its in katakana it makes sense for it to be a casual drawn out bye but given this is a magnetite song & a series song at that i cant ignore the possibility of it also being a play on 場合

2- the ha hai ha hai parts, i think given the spacing its more of bitter laughing or sighing than a y-yeah/y-yes type deal.

3- i translated oshi as your favorite but its used for someone you support or are a fan of, similar to stan or bias but i wasn't sure those terms fit the mood of the song

4- this is more of a fun fact series wise but the 8 times 7 times repeating pattern for yamete kudasai and bunbunbubun respectively is the same pattern as the repeating parts in laboratory (kaete, koete and yamete, tomete respectively)!

5- another series note, the sono sei de is very similar to the sono sei wa in kugutsu ashura so while i translated it as "because of that" saying "in that world" may also be an intended double meaning!

[thelostchronicles]

Come here dear heart, she says in The Unrefusable Offer

-Such a wonderful phrase, you won't forget once you hear, help out by deciding where you are going to play in Skyblivion, and help keep that your sacred place where you regularly go, this will help by going there everyday

[envysparkler]

AO3 Wrapped (Writer's Edition)

How many words have you written this year?  246,800

How many works did you publish this year? 13

What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?  m.i.a. I loved writing Jason's silly (and smart) goons.

What work of yours has the most hits?  with crimson hands.*

What work of yours got more feedback than you expected?  This is recent, so it's fresh in my mind: fine print. It was like pulling teeth to write it, and I wasn't expecting to get a big response.

Favorite title you used?  beware the patient woman.

If you use song lyrics, which artist’s songs did you pull from the most?  I believe only the above is a song lyric title this year and it's from A Little Wicked by Valerie Broussard.

Pairing you wrote the most for this year?  Tim Drake & Jason Todd, as usual.

Favorite pairing you wrote for this year?  I enjoyed writing Dick & Jason, especially in what's in a name.

What work was the quickest to write?  All of them languish for long periods of time in between writing an outline/first scene, but I think I wrote the rest of fine print in an afternoon.

What work took you the longest to write?  with crimson hands took forever because I had no idea where I was going with it.

How many WIP’s do you have in your docs for next year?  Uhhh, I plead the fifth.

What’s your longest work of the year?  leash.*

What’s your shortest work of the year?  beware the patient woman.

What WIP are you taking into next year with you? Published? None, though I'm thinking about adding an extra chapter to unrefusable offer.

What’s your most common “Additional Tags” tag?  Whump.

Your favorite character to write this year?  Surprisingly, Dick Grayson. I don't know what this says about my sibling issues.

The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year?  Timmy. My characterization of him is in flux at the moment.

What’s one pairing you want to explore next year?  Probably write more Dick & Jason.

Which work of yours have you reread the most?  with crimson hands, because it took so long to write.

How many kudos in total did you get this year?  59,425

Which work has the most comments?  m.i.a.*

Did you do any collaborative works this year? Sadly, no.

Did you write any gifts this year?  Yup! A birthday gift, and two exchange fics.

Did you receive any gifts this year?  Yup, 4!

What’s your most common category?  Gen.

What do you listen to while writing?  Nothing, unless I'm writing a longfic, those usually get a playlist.

Favorite work you wrote this year? I had a lot of fun with as you wish.

Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?  There is a famous saying—misattributed and mistranslated—that claims if you wait long enough by the river, you will see the corpses of your enemies float by.  They don’t mention that you have to destroy the dam first. I love this bit, and am still sad that no one appears to have caught the implication.

Biggest surprise while writing this year?  That people apparently like my fight scenes, even though to me, it's a fight to get them on the page.

*Ignoring Batcellanea, which is a behemoth that has destroyed my stats permanently.

[jeonghansbunny]

Seventeen Masterlist

Scoups

Mini Dress

An Unrefusable Offer

Jeonghan

Bunny caught in a trap (Part 1)

Bunny caught in a trap (Part 2)

Joshua

Jun

Hoshi

Sweetness overload

Wonwoo

Nice try!

Woozi

DK

Better than expected

Mingyu

Next Page

The8

Seungkwan

It's Been A While

Vernon

Dino