Prompt 122
“Have you met Seal Hood?”
Dick paused almost mid-jump, having apparently turned to the wrong channel but also changed to the perfect one too. At least, perfect in the fact that he had just overheard an interesting thing from Jason, apparently forgetting that his comm was in fact on still.
Damian must have answered, because Jason snorted a laugh. “You can try getting him to leave, he’s taken over my bathtub and keeps eating all my food.”
Hold up, was- Dick had thought Jason was talking about a plush or something, but was he talking about a literal living animal seal??
“I’ll have you know I’m not going to make a poor little baby seal leave, and I’m not putting him in a zoo, brat.”
Oh Gotham, it was a real living animal seal. Dick about faced, rushing towards Jason’s safehouse. How did he get a seal? Why was it in his bathtub?? Why hadn’t he called the proper people for this sort of thing?! He had to get to the safehouse now to see this shit.
Baby Seal Danny <3
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Ajax meeting a child his age from the House of the Hearth.
his family is taking a rare trip out of Snezhnaya to visit some friends in the Court of Fontaine- his parents' friends to be clear, which he finds horribly boring. luckily his mother and father are very much aware of Ajax's curious nature and let him wander around the city, provided he stay above ground and not leave the Court. he's quietly exploring, a little head of ginger hair weaving in between the busy adults and gardemeks when he catches a glimpse of someone his height scurrying away. a kid! someone like him, and not those boring grownups! Ajax grins and darts after, cheerfully yelling out for them to wait before he catches up and tugs on their wrist.
you yelp in surprise, snapping your head around to stare at him. the boy smiles at you, eyes like sun-dappled water, and sticks his hand out to shake like his father taught him to.
"Hi, I'm Ajax! What's your name? I like your clothes!"
you glance down at your uniform, perfectly tailored to your size and in the colors of the House of the Hearth. the other children- your siblings- all wore their own clothes, but you never had a preference. Mother was merciful enough to at least provide you with a wardrobe... although the coldness in her eyes told you she was merciful for little else. with tentative movements you grasp Ajax's hand and give it a small shake, and his grin widens further in delight.
time flies away as you slowly settle and become comfortable with him. Mother isn't happy when you return home past curfew.
it's years later when you see Ajax again. the House of the Hearth has changed; Mother and most of your siblings are dead, although you can't say you're displeased about the former, there's a new head of the House, a multitude of scars have formed on your body from Mother's brutal training. yet, you have remained, much to your surprise. you fully expected to die or be disposed of even after Mother was slain, but luckily Peruere- Arlecchino allowed you to stay. you observe the new Fatui recruits with her in Snezhnaya, none of them from the House of the Hearth, not this year. A yawn almost slips out of your mouth which you quickly shield with your palm, before a strong hand lightly smacks down onto your shoulder.
it's Ajax. older and taller with messier hair, but you'd recognize that coppery hair and dark blue eyes anywhere, even if they've turned from shallow waters to the deep sea. you stare at each other for a moment, then Ajax's face breaks into a huge smile as he picks up your hand and gives it a firm, familiar shake.
"I missed you."
slowly, you smile back, and the Abyssal monster in Ajax's head lets out an awed croon when he finally sees the person his host has been telling him all about.
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i'm thinking about "my smile is pretty convincing" some more, and about the way charles flirts with edwin, and...
my thought process: okay, it probably isn't actually heartbreaking - or at least it doesn't have to be, it's cute, it can just be cute, so i should just leave it alone and not read too much into it (and i also haven't finished my coffee this morning, so this might not be very coherent), but.
but—
this need charles has to convince others with his manner... convince them that he's okay no matter what's going on inside. convince them they're going to be okay because he's there to help and keep them safe. convince them to like him ("everyone likes me in the end"). like, without that convincing smile to sway them, to take them in, to seal the deal, so to speak, underneath there's this roiling pit of ugly things that will push people away: fear; hurt; anger; violence.
he's got a history of anger and violence that runs so deep he still hasn't figured out which parts of what he carries inside were his father's emotions aimed to wound him and which are his own; still hasn't sorted what he's allowed to feel and what he absolutely positively isn't allowed to feel because it just isn't safe - he isn't safe, for himself or others. especially for others.
it hasn't sunk in for charles yet that he is already breaking the cycle he's so afraid of; that his own anger comes from helplessness, not hatred, and that the only violence he does is in defense of those he loves or those weaker than himself. he's terrified deep down that if his smile isn't enough, there's nothing else to him. no other power he has to affect anything. and he could hurt people he loves, if he doesn't focus on that smile. the only kind of love charles knows is the whistle of a belt through the air, the warning before the sting. he could hurt people anyway, but at least the smile lets everyone pretend it isn't inevitable.
his smile is pretty convincing. it convinced edwin for thirty years that he had nothing horrible going on hurting him under the surface. (but, and i digress, it does have degrees - he's completely out of it after the devlin house, staring off into space, and his smile and bravado are shadows of their usual. but even then, he still manages to pacify his friends that he's fine - he's fine, he's brills. he was convincing enough for them not to look deeper.)
but thinking about it in the context of his flirting with edwin? edwin, who's just admitted he's fallen in love with charles? charles doesn't say something silly, or awkward, or trivial, like "your face is pretty mint." he says something that reveals him.
"my smile is pretty convincing," he says, and he leans into edwin's space because he knows now that he can, that edwin loves him, that edwin is in love with him. and isn't that the thing? somehow, somehow his smile was too good. he played his part too well. it was so convincing that it took edwin all the way in, in too far, and now edwin's in love; he's caught; he's fooled that charles has got substance, that charles has got something worth loving, underneath.
charles wants to believe so badly that it isn't just his smile. that it's him edwin loves, is in love with - all of him, even the ugly parts. edwin says with such confidence that charles is the best person he knows. but edwin doesn't know many people. he'd wanted to say that, then - but he'd caved, and hugged edwin instead. because he'd wanted, for once, not to deflect, to just let himself feel the comfort edwin was offering.
and it was so nice - it is so nice. it's too nice for him, he's going to break it but he almost doesn't care. edwin's love, his care? it's everything. he fucking loves it. he could drown in it and it wouldn't be like the lake at all. peace and kindness and calm - essence of edwin, of what he offers freely to charles. charles wants it all the time. and now he knows he could have it, it's his. edwin thinks he deserves it.
he wants to believe he can convince edwin to think he's worthy of it forever.
and maybe he can.
after all - his smile is pretty convincing.
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