#(it was that titanic post that haunts me still)

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

you know, if you ever want to learn more about boats and ships from history or randomly develop a special interest for them, you probably need a warning that when youre looking up stuff about any ship, theres a 65-70% chance something about the fucking titanic will come up

[numinous-scribe]

Siblings by trial and choice

So @noir-renard posted a prompt in Haunting Heroes a little while ago that's had me in a perpetual choke hold ever since.

When the Portal ZAPS Danny, he doesn't just get turned into a half ghost; he gets catapulted halfway across the galaxy. So now he's stuck on an alien ship, trying to deal with new powers, and desperately searching for a way home.

And my immediate thought was "How can I make this about Starfire?", from which everything spiraled.

[Click the pictures for better quality!]

Having assumed that the portal wasn't even supposed to be functional, Danny had absolutely no basis for anything that was happening to him. Not his new look or powers, not for wherever he was, and certainly not for the predicament of where he landed-- A ship he would later come to know as belonging to the slavers known as the Gordanians.

For all Danny knew, he certainly wasn't human anymore, and he might not have even been in the same dimension either; while Earth had been seeing more and more interactions with aliens, he'd never seen any quiet like these, and his parents had said that the portal was designed to view a whole other world.

And that was terrifying! He was Danny Fenton, just fourteen, and so far out of his depth it wasn't even funny. If it weren't for Koriand'r then Danny didn't know how he would have kept it all together.

As it were, Kor'i had already been enslaved for four years by this point. She knew what it was like to suddenly be cut off from everything she'd ever known, and the torment that was awaiting this strange boy that had appeared in a flash of green light. So even though she had nothing to give, Kor'i stuck by Danny's side.

Together, for the next two years, they fed each other hope.

Naturally, returning to Earth was a big ordeal for Danny, and by proxy for Kor'i as well. Over the two years they spent enduring harsh labor and torture from both their Gordanian captors and the Psions, Danny had confided in all sorts of stories about his home world and vice versa Kor'i about Tamaran. After confirming that he hadn't been transported to another reality, and that this was his Earth, Danny had been so excited to return home and to introduce Kor'i to his friends and family.

But while Earth was still the same, home... was not.

His parents were in jail; not only for their unethical and code violating lab, but because they were so neglectful to the point that minors were able to get into the lab unsupervised and one of them— Danny —was able to access their faulty machine and, presumably, died.

Jazz got picked up by the state, but quickly managed to get herself emancipated and now lived in some other state attending college.

The Manson's moved. Sam was a wreck and not coping well at all; her parents were considering having her committed to an institution for a bit to help her last anyone had heard.

The Foley's couldn't afford to move, so Tucker had to carry on with life as well as he could. He's quiet now, not as verbose and shameless as before, more of a hermit than anything.

And since he's been presumed dead, and can't figure out how to disprove that, honestly, Danny doesn't know how to pick back up where he left off. He can't. Because everything, including him, has changed as well.

But, like she's always done since the moment they met, Kor'i was there for him. And now they have a new family in the Teen Titans as well.

Bonus:

Close ups of Phantom and Starfire. Danny's suit design is a mixture of some of his original concept art and @the-stove-is-on-fire's designs :)

[seat-safety-switch]

There is a secret war happening in the heart of our world, friends. Combatants strive for absolute supremacy, a way to force their onerous new rules on regular human beings just like you and me. You only need to go to the cereal aisle at your local grocery store to see it for yourself.

When I was a kid, there were thousands of breakfast cereals. It was big business: fill kids with sugar laced corn byproducts. Quick breakfast, get them out the door. That was before the Carb Panic, which is not related in any way to carburetors, which remain a perfectly valid form of fuel metering and injection. Suddenly, breakfast cereal wasn't "cool" anymore. Sales dropped. MBAs freaked out. And a huge portion of our shared cultural history evaporated, just like that.

Even now, people of a certain age still have these brands woven into their sense of identity. You will lumber through the rest of your life, sleeper-like, until abruptly activated by a series of names that industrialists tattooed onto your prefrontal cortex. Post Oat Flakes, your brain will screech, we remember the titan it once was. A gentle frisson of nostalgia, followed by a haunting void and an awareness of the irreversible march of time.

Reduced competition means an easier time making money, right? Not so: as our civilization slowly looks down, Wile E. Coyote-like, and realizes that we actually stopped doing anything at all a couple decades ago in favour of moving some numbers around in Excel, people are cutting out things like Fruit Loops in favour of "eating actual food" and "paying my rent." This time, though, the cereal pushers learned their lesson. If the grocery stores don't want to stock their cereal because of low demand, they can simply hike the prices so that everyone gets their respective beaks wet. Seven bucks a box! Sir Grapefellow would have been ashamed.

Don't worry, though. I've got a plan. You see, the Canadian government stocked a bunch of anti-nuke bunkers with food and water and other supplies way back in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. In the 80s, they had kind of gotten used to the whole idea of being obliterated in a millisecond and largely stopped caring as much. All that cereal is still perfectly good. If you bring your dad's old bolt cutters, we can probably sneak out a couple boxes before the Mounties figure out we're there. Might be a little stale, but that's better than living under the whip hand of Bob Kellogg's. I swear to whatever deity is listening that I will once again sup of Count Chocula.

[vechter]

Top 5 Dick and Bruce moments or things

it's gotta be what faith tells dick in JLA (1997) #73

just the implications of it all. how bruce recognizes he hurts people, whether its criminals or the people who have chosen to love him. but still. still. he is immensely and immeasurably proud of dick. he can never say it, he wouldn't know how to even begin to tell dick how much dick means to him. also the crazy thing- we all know dick is insane about bruce and how endlessly devoted he is to him. but bruce is equally insane about him in his own neurotic way. he puts dick on a pedestal (he is right to) but just how fucked up of him. bonus scene from the obsidian run (#76) that always makes me grin:

2. this one is from robin: year one (2000) #4

so bruce fired dick after two face nearly beat him to death with a bat and dick ran away and managed to end up joining a league of assassins vengeance school under this dude named shrike. i won't bore you with even more plot but something about this panel just kills me. they're both so lonely and desperate for each other's partnership. bruce knows he miscalculated firing dick even if it was for dick's safety- dick isn't going to stop being a vigilante just bc batman said so (bruce u fucking idiot) and i think this instance of firing, while glossed over later in favour of the whole two-face of it all did sth that changed their dynamic fundamentally and irrevocably. it is probably the catapult for all of dick's future doubts and insecurities about his role and place in bruce's life. meanwhile, bruce giving dick agency in what he wants to do next- he needs dick just as much as dick needs robin. it's incredibly sad because i think there is a part of bruce that believes dick is only coming back to be robin, a doubt furthered when dick eventually forms the titans and loses all semblance of a life outside the mask.

3. this one is from outsiders: five of a kind - nightwing/boomerang (2007)

basically, dick decided to hand over the outsiders to batman and this is owen boomerang, the son of the guy who killed tim's dad. this is post-adoption so dick is more secure in his role as bruce's son. and just sth about how dick won't stand for people criticizing bruce, even when he might be thinking unfavourably of bruce. bc he can do that. but other people? no dice. also the added angst from owen talking about his own dad and his own version of legacy. i like to think dick probably felt some type of way about owen yelling out 'he was my father' bc while dick probably hasn't ever verbalized that, he has probably felt similarly.

4. batman (1940) #636

bruce brooding over the past. little does he know his second son is back and ready to haunt him literally instead of metaphorically lol. but anyway, this always makes me froth at the mouth. both bruce and dick have a tendency to look back on those years very, very positively and something about how nostalgia warps your memories but also how much of it is nostalgia and how much is truth? bruce is forever living in the past. @nighhtwing summarizes one of bruce's core truths in their fic Hereditary beautifully: Bruce has lived with grief longer than he’s lived without. It’s easy, then, to mourn this moment even as it’s in front of him, alive.

5. basically all of the comic batman/nightwing: bloodborne (2002). one of the most stellar pieces of bruce and dick writing. the art's a little funky but the story is fantastic. the devotion dick has. it's debilitating, it could kill him. it should have (thinking about the blast dick took for bruce in infinite crisis and how it was supposed to have killed him). the same toxin and anti-toxin runs through their veins. something about the intimacy and inherent religious imagery and nature of sharing blood. but it isn't even a cursory thought to dick. of course he will put himself in death's way if it means being able to save bruce. dick's biggest fear: being unable to save bruce like bruce saved him all those years ago. the way it all takes place on the anniversary of his parents' death. fantastic, killer, devastating show-stopping even.

[mysterycitrus]

I'm forever thinking about persephone pt2 when dick talks about robin as a mantle and how mary grayson's death haunts it and how now so many kids have used the name and died with it, and so when I was reading through New Teen Titans #55 recently, kory's thoughts about dick when he goes to bruce after finding out about jason's death really just ripped my heart in two in a whole different way...

"He hasn’t been the same since he found out about Jason. Oh, Dick- I know you were Robin. I know what this means to you that the new Robin died. I know you feel like part of you died, too- but it wasn’t you, honey. Robin died. But you didn’t. You’re still alive!"

yes!!! yes!!!!! im very very happy that connected with u — death in the family + lonely place of dying + new teen titans + war games were big big rereads for me when i was writing that part. my regret is that i haven’t been able to include an interaction with steph (im committed to keeping her as far away from bruce as possible) but yeah it was so crucial for dick to know that robin had literally gotten children killed. partially because it proves that bruce is a hypocrite, and partially to show how divorced robin has become from its original meaning and purpose. my intention was the same as my version of the pearls falling — to change the context enough to give the actual text new meaning!

i did a lot of reading about romani funeral/practises of mourning, because i think how dick and bruce grieve differently are big parts of their respective characters, and also a significant factor in their estrangement post-robin and post-jason. bruce is trapped in the alley metaphorically, but he also maintains his family home as a mausoleum. he spends a lot of time looking at family portraits, thinking about the pearls, seeing himself as a child in the house. jason’s suit remains in its glass box. he is unable to process his grief, nor does he want to. that pain is the driving force behind his desire to do good.

dick is transient by comparison — he’s never shown to have a lot of worldly possessions (he arrives in bludhaven with a duffel bag and nothing else) and his one point of physical connection to his parents is usually just the poster that shows up sporadically in canon. i didn’t want to misinterpret romani practices for a gd batman fanfic, so i tried to introduce different motivation for how dick utilises his own grief to take action. he uses his family to create a legacy for himself to protect their memory.

with that in mind, it becomes even more devastating that bruce has taken that and given it to others, without explaining the reasons behind its creation. literally, like what if dick used the wayne portrait for kindling? that’s probably the closest point of comparison.

dick actually explaining to donna and roy what robin meant vs its legacy that is totally out of his control was also really important. they still call him robin a decade later! he’s their robin! it’s so important to know that that name persists for him, no matter how many others have worn the cape!

[cleolinda]

Weekend links, April 7, 2024

My posts

This week feels like it has been a hundred years long (not in a bad way). 

Somehow we joined together to balance the seesaw just right so Ava Gardner and Jean Seberg could both go through in the Hot Vintage Lady polls (percentages rounded). Like, I’m wearing the Ava jersey and even I encouraged people to vote Jean when necessary. Honestly, I just wanted to see if it could be done. And it COULD. 

Round three has begun. It is already horrific. This is the first round that’s really going to hurt because we spent the last one really getting down in the dirt and championing our ladies, or learning about actresses we’d never heard of before and getting attached to them. And now? We are reminded: memento mori. Everyone loses but one. 

(I personally pitched in for Sara Montiel. “BUT JUST LOOK AT--” Yeah, I did, thanks.)

Reblogs of interest

April Fool’s Day: You were here for the Boopening, yes? The whole thing was that you only got badges for giving boops, not receiving them, which is a great way to not reward popularity contests, but also means that every last one of us was out here trying to figure out who to bap with a cat’s paw 1000 times. I said, listen, my notifications are already trash garbage today. I’ll take the bullet. Boop at will.

The Activity graph isn’t too clear on this point, but it looks like I had something like 65,000--hits? engagements? boops?--that day. Listen, I got the black paw badge too. We all did what we had to do in the Boopening. 

A Shakespearean boop of goodly length: “And, Meowntague, come you this afternoon, to know our further pleasure in this case, to old Food-bowl, our common judgment-place.” 

I had to go lie down awhile after a pun like “The Purrge.”

--

I had just gotten up from that pun and then I had to go lie down again.

Account security gothic

The Canada griffin

Dinotopia nostalgia

Two pairs of spectacles, one made from slices of emerald, and the other from slices of diamond

An old favorite: Cerberus as a puppy, guarding the gates to heck

I feel like these two posts have the same energy: Time cops will not let you travel back to the Titanic and bloodthirsty gazebos are currently in a dormancy period.

The birds are still troubled

PSA: The best sunscreens for your face

Video

A collection of various American Indian/indigenous American languages, including Navajo, Tlingit, Lakota, Colville Okanagan Salish, Cherokee, Yucatec Maya, Greenlandic, Mohawk, Yup'ik, and Mi'kmawi'simk. 

A trans health-and-wellness fundraiser (Mercury Stardust, Point of Pride, and friends) kept getting banned off Tiktok due to assholes. Here’s how to donate; I saw a few “here’s how they helped me” notes, so it seems like these programs are both legit and effective. 

You think you’re going to sit staring at this video because Chocolate Guy is weaving chocolate. Then you get into it, and it just keeps going.

“Too Sweet” is doing hilariously well on the charts for a song that didn’t even make the album proper. Hozier’s bees would like to thank you for your support.

I know I said that Stevie Nicks would make you sing backup on your own haunting, but late in this 1997 live performance of “Silver Springs,” she makes Lindsey Buckingham, the man she wrote this song about, look her in the eye while she belts it at him. This specific performance was released as a single (I was there, Gandalf) and nominated for a Grammy. Watch the video and you will see why.

The Women Those ‘Evolution Of Beauty’ Videos Leave Out

I don’t really know how to describe this rubberhose-style cartoon of Cab Calloway as a singing nightmare clown. Betty Boop is also there. “You just described it!” No, I really didn’t. 

How movable type worked 1000 years ago, from scratch.

Unrestrained seasonal yak fun

A snowy raven photoshoot

The sacred texts

I don’t know how to explain this double Sacred Text about ominous dreams that comes with its own comic, except to say that they’re so iconic that I first saw both posts in lo-res Pinterest screencaps.

April Fool’s: The ultimate sacred text.

Personal tag of the week

Wet beast Wednesday, which had both a headshake stickflip and bears on a swan boat.

[modmad]

ok so! I know you probably haven't thought of this for a long time but through your recent post about Jervis Tetch (I was intrigued by that character tag on your blog in the first place since I used to follow an askblog featuring the residents of Arkham Asylum and that version of Jervis along with Jonathan Crane were my favorite characters, despite not knowing a whole lot about the Batman universe at the time) and through that character's tag I discovered the Teen Titans villain Mad Mod and the askblog/livejournal sessions you used to run for him, which led to me watching the two episodes of Teen Titans that he was a main threat in.

I really see the appeal of his character, especially the way you wrote him (can't go wrong with a smug bastard troll who always has the upper hand until he doesn't through the use of trickery and deception), and wish he'd gotten at least another episode in the show. The idea you had of him being a living hologram (and the backstory you created for him as well in the livejournals) is especially fascinating and fits the character already established for him very well. His relationships with the other characters being RP'd in the livejournals were established and fleshed out especially well also - the "Alice in Wonderland"-themed session where Mod played the Cheshire Cat and the final RP session where we discover his backstory were major highlights for me in that department.

I think you mentioned in one of the posts on his character tag that you "created a whole altiverse" (I'm paraphrasing here but it was something like that) of your version of the character where he was a living hologram, by that did you mean the livejournals/askblog, or were there other pieces of media involved with that? If they've since been lost to time or you have your personal reasons to not share them, you may disregard this part of the ask.

GOOD HEAVENS someone who remembers the askblog days, and livejournal! rip lj rp you were actually my education in creative writing thank you for those years <3

re: the last question yeah idk it all became a bit of a smush I just enjoyed the version I'd made and wished they'd done more with him in the canon! I still in my heart of hearts hope we could get more of the original Teen Titans show one day, as the voice actors certainly are still around and active! astonished that you remember all of this but I do and the Curse of Neil Richards is one that haunts me (affectionately) to this day

[miraculouswolf99]

This Is Halloween

Lila Salt and Chloe Salt. I do not know if France celebrates Halloween or not, but this idea was too good to pass up. It is a little late for Halloween, but I still wanted to post it.

"Why do you love Halloween so much, dude," Nino could not help but ask Adrien as they walked to school.

"I grew up on Disney, Nino," Adrien reminds his best friend. "They have some of the best Halloween movies outside the horror genre. Not to mention the best Halloween songs."

"You are never gonna stop loving Disney, are you, dude," Nino chuckled.

"Nope," Adrien smirked as he popped the 'P.' "And you can not blame me regarding their Halloween movies. Hocus Pocus, Halloweentown, Twitches, Under Wraps, Nightmare Before Christmas, Haunted Mansion, Girl VS Monster. Nothing says Halloween, to me, like a good Disney Halloween movie!"

"You are probably the only person I have ever met who likes Halloween for the movies rather than for the candy," Nino laughed.

"Can you even imagine my dad letting me go out and get free candy," Adrien raised an eyebrow.

"That is... a very good point that I really should have seen coming," Nino said.

Adrien had taken full advantage of the fact that it was Halloween. His father could take a lot of things away from him, but it would most definitely NOT be Halloween. So, he had chosen a character from one of his favorite anime, Naruto. With his blond hair, he could not imagine being any other character. So, he was wearing the classic Naruto orange and blue jacket with a white collar, a white swirl with a tassel on the left side, and a red Uzumaki crest on the back. He also wore orange pants with a shuriken holster on his right knee, blue sandals, and a blue forehead protector.

Nino had chosen a different character. He had chosen Cyborg from the 2003 Teen Titans cartoon. Mostly because, in Nino's own words, Teen Titans Go is a crime against the Teen Titans. He, with the help of Alya and Marinette, used makeup to make the robotic half of his face. In contrast, Marinette used her fashion design skills to make more realistic-looking robotic arms and boots that did not keep him from being able to use his hands/fingers. He had already revealed his costume was approved by his little brother, which said something since Chris was a very tough critic. 

Soon, the two of them walked into the school. Everyone around them was in costume, including the teachers. They made their way up to their classroom.

"Girl, how much makeup did you use," they heard Alya say as soon as they came in.

"Don't even get me started," Marinette giggled. "I will probably be in the shower all night to get this stuff off."

Looking over at the two girls, they definitely could see what the two were talking about. Marinette had decided to take advantage of her blue hair by becoming Lapis Lazuli from Steven Universe. Her entire face, as well as other visible parts of her skin, was covered with blue makeup to really make her look like the character. She used long blue gloves and blue tights to make her arms and legs also look blue along with a blue dress exactly like the one Lapis wore on the show before her look changed in the final season.

Alya, on the other hand, chose a much more simple look. She was dressed up as Valerie Gray from Danny Phantom. She was wearing a yellow camisole and orange skirt with yellow socks and white tennis shoes. She also wore an orange headband, golden earrings, an orange necklace, and two bracelets on each wrist, one golden and the other orange.

"Lookin' good, Red Huntress," Nino flirted with his girlfriend as he put his arm around her shoulders.

"Did you seriously just expose my identity," Alya faked offense at Nino 'exposing' Valerie's anti-hero identity of Red Huntress.

"Hey, if I can't hide, then neither can you," Nino countered, using the fact that Cyborg can not hide who he is to his advantage.

"I can hide," Adrien declared as he put his hands together in a 'ninja' pose. "I am from the Hidden Leaf Village, so hiding is what I do best!"

"You really love getting into character, don't you," Marinette giggled.

"I can't help it when it is something as fun as this," Adrien grinned brightly. "I love Halloween!"

"Something that has been made clear pretty much since the end of September," Nino chuckled.

"I am mostly just surprised that your dad actually allowed you out of the house while wearing that," Alya giggled.

"My dad can control me any other day of the year, but I draw the limit at Halloween," Adrien declared.

"If only you had this confidence when dealing with your father every other day of the year," Lyon said as he and Vallia walked into the classroom.

The Greek twins had also embraced the holiday. 

Lyon had chosen an anime character just like Adrien. Only, he was dressed as Gray Fullbuster from Fairy Tail. He was dressed in Gray's look from the first couple of episodes. Which was a long white coat with dark blue outlines and a high collar, dark green pants, and black boots that almost reached his knees.

Vallia, on the other hand, took a more elegant approach to Halloween. She had grown up with the Rainbow Magic fairy books by Daisy Meadows. So, she chose to dress up as India the Moonstone Fairy. She let down her hair and placed a single pink rose in her hair. She also wore a strapless white dress that reached down to just above her knees. All over her dress were spots of pink and blue with another pink rose being on the top right part of her dress. She was also wearing pink ballet flats since she could not find shoes that matched the ones the fairy was wearing on the book cover. She carried a fake wand while also wearing fake fairy wings.

"You take your whole 'Ice Prince' thing to a new level, Lyon," Alya commented.

"I am icy and I know it," Lyon smirked. "Just be glad I went with the version of Gray that actually has clothes on."

"I am sure there would be a lot of people that wouldn't mind you being that version of him," Nino chuckled. "Present company included."

"I would be jealous, but it's not like I can deny it," Alya laughed.

Lyon blushed, not used to people saying stuff like that to him. Sure, he knew when people had crushes on him, especially gold-digger girls who wanted access to his and Vallia's family fortune, but not in the way their friends were currently acting. Course, he knew it was all in good fun and teasing.

"You guys are going to ruin my brother's 'Ice Prince' persona if you keep this up," Vallia tells them.

"That blush ruins it enough without us saying else," Adrien smirked.

"I hate all of you," Lyon glared at them.

"Love you too, Lyon," Marinette giggled.

The rest of the class soon came into the classroom. All of them were in costume as well.

The girls were some of the first to arrive. Juleka, to the surprise of no one, was dressed up as Wednesday Addams from the Jenna Ortega show. Complete with a fake hand on her shoulder to represent Thing. Rose, also to the surprise of no one, came dressed as Princess Peach from Mario. She even wore extensions to make her hair longer to match the character. Alix was dressed up as Lavagirl from the classic Shark Boy and Lavagirl movie. Like Marinette, she took advantage of her hair. Mylene had channeled her dad and chose to dress up like a mime. She even chose to wear a black and white wig to go with her costume. Sabrina, who had been becoming more independent, embraced her own inner anime nerd by dressing up as Misty from Pokemon. She even wore Pokeball-shaped earrings.

The boys arrived close to the girls. Ivan decided to embrace his "title" as a "gentle giant" by dressing up as another "gentle giant" from TV, DJ from Total Drama. He even had a bunny stuffed animal with him to represent the bunny DJ adopted in the first season. Max wanted to throw it back in the face of all those who call him a nerd by dressing up as Steve Urkel. He was ready to start saying "Did I do that?" Nathaniel, who was also an anime nerd, had dressed up as Kirishima from My Hero Academia. However, he chose to dress in the school uniform since he did not want to wear Kirishima's shirtless hero costume. Kim, who was not afraid to show off what he had, came in dressed as Sin Cara from the WWE. Vallia was already drooling over seeing his bare chest.

Lila and Chloe were the last to enter the classroom. Of course, Chloe was dressed up as Queen Bee. They expected nothing less from the brat. Lila, much to Adrien's disgust, was dressed as Ladybug. She was clearly still trying to keep up the lie that she was the hero's best friend. 

"I'm gonna go throw up, be right back," Lyon remarked before he and Vallia went to their seats behind Juleka and Rose.

"He might blush, but he is STILL the Ice Prince," Alya remarked.

"There is no doubt about that," Nino agreed with his girlfriend.

The class had pretty much had an unspoken agreement when it came to Lila. They did not really believe that Lila was lying about everything to them like Marinette said she was, but they also did not believe Lila whenever she would say anything bad about Marinette. So, they had all come to a silent agreement to simply keep Lila and Marinette away from each other and no longer try to get Marinette to be friends with Lila. 

"Oh, Marinette, what an... interesting costume," Lila tried and failed to not sound jealous of Marinette's costume.

"I wanted to use my hair to my advantage," Marinette tried to keep things casual. "Plus, Alya and I have seen this show when we are babysitting together. So, I thought it was a great idea."

"Are you not worried about taking a character from a children's show," Lila tried to sneak in an underhanded comment.

"Who cares," Marinette shrugged. "There are people of all ages that enjoy shows that are usually meant for kids. Besides, Halloween is about fun no matter who you are dressed up as."

"I know that I always want to have as much fun as possible on Halloween," Adrien stated. "And I will use all my ninja powers to make sure no one can stop me!"

"Someone enjoys getting into character," Alix snickered.

"Can you all keep it down," Juleka said in her best Wednesday voice. "I am trying to ignore the bright sun in the sky. It burns my eyes."

"There are so many reasons why I enjoy having this girl as a friend," Lyon chuckled, enjoying Juleka going full-goth.

"Friends are as pointless as daytime is," Juleka stated.

"Is it wrong that even when I know it is Juleka, she still creeps me out," Nathaniel asked.

"I am pretty sure Juleka would be insulted if you were not creeped out by her right now," Rose stated.

"Probably the only person on the planet that takes pride in creeping people out," Vallia giggled.

"I say again, so many reasons why I like her being my friend," Lyon repeated himself.

Lila's eyes visibly twitched, which would be seen by anyone who was paying attention. It was obvious that she did not like how her attempt to get under Marinette's skin had failed so quickly. Not to mention how she also lost the attention on her just as quickly.

"Well, my costume is pretty self-explanatory," Lila said. "Of course, I had to dress up as my best friend."

"Ladybug appreciates anyone that dresses like her for Halloween," Marinette tried not to call Lila out on that lie. "I know that the girl I babysit, Manon, also wanted to dress as Ladybug."

"Well, my costume was designed and made by one of the biggest fashion designers back in Italy," Lila bragged.

Lyon yawned as she talked. He and Vallia had never been the type to hide how they felt about Lila. They never believed anything she said and often made it clear how they got bored of her constant talking. Lyon had even said to her face that he would rather rip his ears off than willingly listen to her non-stop talking.

"I wish I actually had ice magic so that I could freeze her mouth shut," Lyon commented to his sister.

"Maybe if I wave my wand at her enough, a moonstone will eventually come out of nowhere and knock her out," Vallia responded.

"I would pay literally anything for that to happen," Lyon said.

"Death comes for everyone, but maybe sooner for those that deserve it more," Juleka says.

She could obviously hear them from her seat in front of them. While most of the class was trying to be neutral in the 'Lila and Marinette Drama' there were those who did know the truth. Juleka, Nathaniel, and Kim were all aware that Lila was a liar. Juleka figured it out after it was revealed that Jagged was her and Luka's father, so she had "insider" information about Jagged never having had a kitten not writing a song about anyone other than Ladybug and Penny. Nathaniel was shown that she was a liar when Marc told him that Lila tried to say that she could introduce him to Stan Lee, even though he was dead. All Kim needed was to sit down with Marinette and listen to why she believed that Lila was a liar, which Marinette told him was because there was no way that Ladybug would befriend someone who would instantly boast about it on the Ladyblog, and he believed her since he had grown up with Marinette.

"You are really enjoying your costume, aren't you," Vallia giggled.

"Enjoyment is for those that try to make up for the fact that they live sad and lonely lives," Juleka stated.

"Are we sure that she is not possessed by Wednesday Addams rather than just dressing like her," Lyon joked.

"I will never tell," Juleka said.

"At this point, I would be seriously surprised if her birthday was not Halloween, Friday the 13th, or Dia De Los Muertos," Vallia says.

Rose looked like she wanted to tell Vallia the day of Juleka's actual birthday, but she chose not to just because she liked the joke.

"I would have asked her to make your costume as well, Marinette," Lila continued talking in her fake sweet tone. "But I know you don't like me."

"Her acting is not even that good," Adrien mumbled to himself, even though Nino could hear him.

"I would have said 'no' anyway," Marinette said. "After all, since I want to be a fashion designer, it is better to get as much practice as possible as a teenager. And Halloween is the perfect excuse to practice my craft."

"And my girl's got skills," Alya gave Marinette a side hug. "She even made me these bracelets for my costume since I couldn't find any in any store I tried."

"Besides, as much as you wanted to be Ladybug, being something so... predictable has never been my style," Marinette could not but throw in her own underhanded comment. "After all, even just from those in the bakery this morning and who I saw on my way to school, so many people were dressed as Ladybug. That has never been my style."

"It's true," Kim said. "Ever since we were kids, Marinette has always had the most unique and fun costumes on Halloween. However, nothing less can be expected from someone that lives in a bakery than for them to love a holiday all about sweets."

"I remember all of her costumes," Nino says. "And they have always been awesome. During that entire werewolf and vampire craze a few years ago, Marinette went against that and dressed like a fairy princess. The complete opposite of what everyone else was going for."

"That sounds adorable," Adrien said, unknowingly making Marinette blush.

Miss.Bustier soon came into the classroom, making everyone go to their seats. Much to the surprise of everyone, she was also in a costume. They all could not help but giggle and chuckle at how Miss.Bustier was dressed up as Miss.Frizzle from The Magic School Bus. She even had a fake lizard to represent Liz.

"Good morning, class," she says. "While I am sure all of you are excited about Halloween, it is still a school day."

"Can I just say that you actually look really nice as Miss.Frizzle, Miss.Bustier," Adrien commented after he was called on.

"Thank you, Adrien," Bustier smiled at him. "I used to teach elementary and would show episodes of the show to my class. So, I thought it would be nice to experience some nostalgia from those days."

"Memories are some of the best reasons to wear costumes like that," Marinette smiled at her.

Bustier smiled at them some more before she went to start her lesson. 

"Alright, class, today we are going to..." Bustier started.

A slight wave of energy washed over all of Paris. It was barely noticeable, only noticed by those who have been involved with magic in the past. Which was technically all of them since they have either been akumatized or wielded a miraculous or both.

"Take chances, make mistakes, get messy," Bustier suddenly blurted out, shocking the entire class. "I'm sorry, class. I have no idea where that came from."

"I hope any mistakes made are deadly ones," Juleka in her Wednesday tone again.

"Okay, something feels wrong," Nino groaned almost in pain as he put his hand on his head.

"I'm glad that someone else feels that way," Lyon agreed with Nino.

"Is anyone else suddenly really hot, or is it just me," Alix started using her hand as a fan to try and cool herself down.

"If anything, I'm cold," Lyon shivered a little.

"Uh... Juleka," Rose looked nervous while speaking in the higher-toned 'Peach' voice. "Is that hand supposed to be... moving?"

"WHAT!" the class all yelled at the same time, looking at Juleka immediately.

Sure enough, the "fake" hand on her shoulder was moving. It suddenly jumped off Juleka's shoulder and was "standing" in front of her on her and Rose's desk. Everyone instantly jumped and moved away from the hand.

"You guys are going to hurt Thing's feelings," Juleka said.

"Juleka, the voice was fun before, but you are starting to really freak me out," Nathaniel stated.

"I don't... I don't think I can stop," Juleka actually sounded worried even in her lower Wednesday voice.

"Guys... I think she is being serious," Rose said.

Everyone got even more worried. Something was most definitely wrong. Juleka may be quiet, but she did not have a low voice like the one she was currently speaking in. And then just to add more freakiness to the situation, the previous fake bunny that Ivan had been holding also jumped out of his arms and onto his desk.

"I, officially, am freaked out," Kim stated.

"Did you guys feel that energy from before," Marinette asked them all. "Maybe that has something to do with what's going on."

"And what is even going on, girl," Alya asked her best friend.

Marinette gave her a look that clearly was saying "Are you serious, right now?"

"An akuma, Alya," Marinette says. "You would think after all this time, you would have learned the signs of an akuma by now."

"Marinette, don't be mean to Alya," Lila had the gall to try and scold her.

"Hey, Marinette has a point," Adrien stood up for Marinette. "Hawkmoth has been sending akumas for over a year. It is pretty obvious when he is up to something."

"What type of akuma even is this," Lyon was visibly disturbed by the sight of 'Thing' still crawling around on Juleka and Rose's desk. "Does it bring inanimate objects to life?"

"I would have guessed that if not for Juleka's change in voice and Miss.Bustier's earlier shout," Marinette says.

"Vallia, what do you..." Lyon cut himself off at the sight of his sister missing from her seat. "Vallia? What in the name of the gods!"

He looked around, trying to find his sister. The others all looked under their desks and around them as well to see if Vallia had hidden somewhere in the classroom for some reason. They would have thought she climbed out the window for some reason if they had not heard a tiny voice.

"You guys might want to look up," they all heard from above them.

They all looked up and their jaws hit the floor. Flying above them was a fairy. And not just any fairy, it was Vallia.

"Someone please tell me that I am dreaming," Max stated. "Ow!"

"You're not dreaming," Kim said, having just pinched Max on his arm.

"Vallia," Lyon gasped at the sight of his sister being an actual fairy.

"Don't ask me," Vallia flew down and sat on her and Lyon's desk in front of her brother. "One second I was fine, and the next I was tiny and flying. I know I joked about wanting my want to actually be able to work earlier, but not like this."

"That's it," Nathaniel, of all people, stood up.

"What's it," Alix asked him.

"That is what the akuma does," Nathaniel says. "It doesn't bring inanimate objects to life, that wave of energy from earlier turned all of us into our costumes!"

All of them then started looking at themselves just to test if Nathaniel's theory was true. And it turned out he was right. Sabrina nearly jumped out of her skin when one of her fake Pokeballs grew larger in her hand when she pressed the button on it. Alix touched her desk and immediately had to take her hand off it because she accidentally started burning it just from her touch. Nino tapped his robotic arm and it opened up to reveal a small computer screen, just like the one Cyborg uses to communicate with his teammates on the show without the use of his Titan communicator. Max simply stood up and instantly tripped over his own feet in a classic case of Urkel clumsiness and also instantly said "Did I do that?" by pure instinct.

"How did you figure it out, Nath," Adrien asked him, curious.

"It would not be the first time I have seen this happen," Nathaniel said.

"What," everyone gasped.

"Not in reality, obviously," Nathaniel continued. "But, I've seen a lot of TV shows that have had 'turning into their costumes' as part of their Halloween specials. It was done on Fairly Odd Parents, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The Simpsons, not to mention the iconic Haunted Mask episode of Goosebumps."

"I am suddenly so glad that you're a nerd," Alix stated.

"I'm a nerd and proud of it," Nathaniel says.

Unknown to the rest of the class, four other members were way more concerned about the current situation. Adrien, Marinette, Lyon, and Vallia all had no idea if this akuma would keep them from transforming. None of them had currently been wearing their miraculous but had also kept them on them. Giving her bag a quick look, Marinette was relieved to see Tikki was still there with the earrings. The same could be said for Adrien, who was glad that Plagg was still in his jacket pocket with the ring. Lyon looked inside his and Vallia's backpacks, glad to see their own miraculous and kwami were still there. The only problem was that Vallia was too tiny to put hers on.

"Adrien, I'm scared," Lila immediately took the opportunity to latch onto Adrien's arm.

"Then go get comfort from someone that cares," Adrien forced her arms off of him.

"You don't mean that," Lila would not take 'no' for an answer.

Adrien smirked as he decided to take advantage of his own costume transformation. He made some hand gestures and with a POOF, he was replaced by a log of wood with Lila holding onto a branch of the log. Adrien appeared behind Lyon.

"I have always wanted to do that," Adrien was actually excited.

"You are not that upset about this akuma, are you," Lyon raised an eyebrow at his friend.

"While I can not really be excited about there being an akuma, out there, I can at least have some fun with this one," Adrien smirked.

"You really are an anime geek," Lyon chuckled.

"Says the guy dressed as another anime character," Adrien threw back.

"A character that can freeze you into an ice statue, so I would watch that mouth," Lyon playfully threatened his friend.

The fact that ice was slowly spreading from where Lyon's hand was on his desk, Adrien chose not to push his luck even though he knew Lyon was only joking.

"You're a real Ice Prince, now," Vallia giggled.

"You are too tiny to make fun of me, right now," Lyon glared at her.

Vallia wisely shut up, knowing that she could easily be squished given her current size. Plus, she was not in the mood to be turned into a fairy-cicle.

Bustier ended up sighing, knowing that there was no point in trying to continue class because of what was going on. After all, how could she when she might end up taking the class on a potentially dangerous field trip because of her own costume? So, she dismissed the class and told them all to go home.

Getting out of the classroom, they saw that all the other classes had been let out as well. And everyone had been transformed into their costume the same as they had.

"Oh, crap," the four secret heroes swore at the same time.

Looking around, they could see their other friends from around the school not doing very well with their new abilities. 

Aurore, who had dressed up as Stella from Winx Club, was currently trying her best not to blind anyone with her new light powers. Not to mention she could not control her wings very well. Jean, who had obviously dressed as a magician, could not stop pulling rabbits out of his hat. Plus, flowers kept popping into his hand every time he flicked his hands in the slightest way. Mirelle had dressed up as Mulan and she was now being followed by what had definitely been a fake Mushu that she had been carrying around. She also looked terrified that she was now carrying a real sword.

It was Marc who looked to be struggling the most. Mostly because the costume he chose had been outside of his comfort zone. He had dressed as a vampire. An old-school one, at that. So, now he had to hide in the shadows because the sun would literally kill him. Nathaniel immediately went over to check on his boyfriend.

"Something tells me that this is going to be one seriously crazy Halloween," Marinette says.

"My sister is literally sitting on my shoulder because she is not even six inches tall," Lyon says to her. "We are already way past crazy at this point."

"Let's just hope Ladybug, Cat Noir, Beautifly, and White Wolf can take down the akuma before chaos takes over Paris," Alya said.

"If the akuma ever shows itself," Kim muttered.

"Kim," Max slapped his best friend on his arm.

"I didn't mean that in a 'we are doomed' kind of way," Kim immediately tried to change what he had said before. "I meant it in a 'the akuma has not even really revealed itself and is already causing problems' kind of way."

"Oh," Max said, before he then tripped again, knocking down a bunch of the class like human dominos. "Did I do that?"

"I am never watching that show ever again," Sabrina stated, having been the first one Max had knocked over when he tripped.

"There is nothing to worry about," Lila bragged. "I texted Ladybug and she knows about the akuma. Or, since I now have Ladybug's powers, I could handle it if she ends up having trouble."

Those aware that she was a liar all rolled their eyes.

"Who needs Ladybug now that Queen Bee is back," Chloe boasted, obviously enjoying that her costume was made real.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Lyon, Marinette, and Adrien all did their classic "got to transform away from prying eyes" disappearing act. No one even noticed they had vanished. And even if they did, they probably thought that Marinette went home to check on her parents, Lyon and Vallia went to check on their dad, and Adrien was summoned home by his father.

Lyon hid in the empty art room and opened up his backpack to pet out his and Vallia's kwami, Flutter and Frostbite.

"Please tell us that there is a way for me to transform," Vallia immediately asked them.

"We... uh... We don't know," Flutter reluctantly admitted.

"You don't know," Lyon almost yelled.

"This has never happened before," Frostbite says. "Fairies have never been involved with the miraculous. So, there has never been a reason to see if a fairy could use a miraculous."

"Hold on," Vallia could not help but pause at what the wolf kwami had said. "Are you saying that fairies are real?"

"I don't think right now is the right time to process that," Lyon tells his tiny sister.

"Fine," Vallia got back on topic. "Do you think it could work if I basically stood inside of my bracelet almost as if it was a very large dress?"

"There have been many situations the miraculous face faced, but never anything like this," Flutter said. "While there have been times when our holders have been shrunk, but that was also a time when they were still wearing the miraculous, so it was shrunk along with them."

"I do believe that this is what you humans would call an uncanny valley situation," Frostbite says.

"At least you have been slowly learning about modern language," Lyon said. "And yet, I still feel the urge to keep you away from the internet."

"That is something more for what Plagg's holder should do," Frostbite says.

"The more we learn about Plagg, the more I feel pity for Cat Noir," Lyon stated.

And speaking of Cat Noir, Adrien had hidden in the locker room to talk to Plagg to see if the transformation would affect him as Cat Noir.

"So, there will be some type of effect my current situation will have on me being Cat Noir," Adrien wanted some clarification from Plagg.

"I have had holders in the past who have had their own powers," Plagg reveals. "When they use the miraculous, their powers would get enhanced. So you, ninja boy, will be given a boost when you transform."

"I know I should feel this way, but I think this is my favorite akuma," Adrien says.

"It would have been a lot better if you had been dressed as someone that could summon cheese by their will," Plagg adorably pouted.

"As I told you when I was choosing my costume, there is no such character that can do that," Adrien could not help but roll his eyes.

"And I said before, that should be considered a crime," Plagg stated. 

"You are a smelly cheese gremlin and not even you can deny that," Adrien tells him.

"It's not my fault that you do not know how to appreciate proper smelly and delectable cheese," Plagg adorably crossed in arms in stubbornness.

Adrien rolled his eyes as he put his ring back on.

With Marinette and Tikki, they were having a similar conversation that Adrien and Plagg were having. Marinette had also been concerned if her costume would interfere with being Ladybug.

"If anything, this could help you defeat the akuma more easily," Tikki tried to soothe her panicking holder.

"But I don't even know where to begin with these powers," Marinette was once again in full panic mode. "Lapis is one of the most powerful characters in Steven Universe with her ability to bend water to her will. I can't learn to control such a powerful ability this quickly."

"You are going to have to, Marinette," Tikki says. "So far, everyone is still acting like themselves. But, it is only a matter of time before your costumes start influencing your personalities as well."

"You think that will happen," Marinette was now even more concerned.

"I may have never experienced anything exactly like this before, but there have been things like this," Tikki explained. "There is a magical Native American mask that a tribe once used to turn into animals to fight in wars by wearing animal skins and then using the mask's magic on themselves. Only, once they were turned, they also acted like animals rather than simply turning into them."

"Great, just great," Marinette facepalmed. 

"While I am not sure that will happen this time, we still need to find and defeat this akuma as quickly as possible," Tikki advised.

"The one time that Kim was right about something, it had to be that the akuma has not shown up, yet," Marinette groaned.

"I am sure the akuma will show up sooner or later, Marinette," Tikki tells her.

"Let's hope for sooner with this one," Marinette said.

And then, as if summoned by her desire, the sky started to darken. Given that Aurore had been transformed into a fairy, they knew it was not Stormy Weather. It seems that Marinette's "Ladybug Luck" was working in her favor this time.

"Well, you got what you wanted, Marinette," Tikki said.

Soon, they heard a voice shouting from outside. Even for akumas that have nothing to do with the school, they would still find ways to come to the school. There was a reason why Dupont had gained the reputation as the "Akuma School." However, there were literally no students who would argue with that title for the school. Especially since Chloe had been the cause of a majority of the akumas created, with a lot of them happening because of things she had done at school. Such as when she had locked Juleka in the bathroom, called Ivan a monster, and ripped up Rose's letter to Prince Ali.

"I am the Pumpkin King," shouted out a male voice, but also sounded very young at the same time. "If others want to make fun of me for being scared of Halloween, then I will be the one to make THEM scared!"

The heroes all looked out of the rooms they had hidden in. They saw the akuma riding on what was obviously supposed to be a witch's broom right over the school courtyard.

"That name is definitely a Nightmare Before Christmas reference," Lyon said.

"Hawkmoth is pushing the limits when comes to a potential copyright lawsuit," Vallia says.

Pumpkin King was definitely a young boy. They could only guess that he was about seven or eight years old. His looks were also inspired by the main character of Nightmare Before Christmas, Jack. He was dressed in a pitch-black suit but with some visible spider web designs on it. There was also a mini skull in the middle of his bowtie. He also had black boots on. His head looked a lot like a skeleton skull because of the white and black makeup. Over his eyes was a pumpkin-designed mask with a pumpkin-themed witch hat on his head. It was like he was the child of Jack Skellington and a witch.

"Someone please tell me that Chloe did not make fun of a little kid and got him akumatized," Adrien basically was pleading with the universe.

"What makes you think she was the cause of this one," Plagg asked his holder.

"Why else would an akuma come straight to the school," Adrien looked very done with the number of akumas his childhood friend caused.

"There, there," Plagg tried and failed to be a comforting kwami.

All of the heroes were about to transform when they, unfortunately, heard a very familiar voice. And they could also feel headaches forming.

"You came to the wrong place, you utterly ridiculous villain," Chloe said in the most pompous voice possible. "Queen Bee is back and I am the only hero that Paris needs!"

"Delusional, party of one," Aurore called out.

That got a lot of laughs, even though there was an akuma right there. Given that the entire school hated Chloe, they could not help but laugh whenever anyone would make fun of her.

"Nobody cares about Queen Bee, Chloe," Alya yelled at her.

"You were never a hero," Kim shouted at her.

"Get out of here and let the actual heroes come and fight the akuma," Aurore called out again.

"You are all ridiculous, utterly ridiculous," Chloe huffed at what everyone was shouting at her. "You don't deserve to have the help of the amazing Queen Bee."

"More like Queen Brat," shouted another student.

The akuma was floating on his broom, watching everything that was going down. The look on his face was definitely saying that he was thinking something like "Did they forget I am even here?" However, he did have to admit that it was very entertaining to watch most of the school gang up against a very obvious spoiled brat. 

"Only this school could be so against Chloe that they forget about the akuma that is right in front of them," Lyon sighed.

"It should really say something about a group of people if they can so easily forget about an akuma," Vallia said. 

The akuma, tired of being ignored, decided he was not going to take it. 

"Maybe this should teach you not to ignore and akuma," he shouted.

He held out his hand and shadows seemed to fall from his fingers. Once the shadows landed on the ground, they formed into classic Halloween monsters. Vampires, werewolves, mummies, witches, and many others. All the students started to back away from the creatures.

"This isn't good," Marinette gasped.

"You need to transform, Marinette," Tikki tells her, urgency in her voice.

"Tikki! Spots..." but hearing a voice stopped her from finishing her transformation phrase.

"Hey, Skeleton Boy," Alya's voice was heard. "You do realize that you made a big mistake, right?"

"Excuse me," Pumpkin King glared at her.

"Oh, Alya," Marinette facepalmed. "One of these days, she is going to give me a heart attack."

"You may have transformed us into our costumes, but maybe you should have also added some mine control when you did that," Alya smirked.

Suddenly, she changed. Since she had been transformed into Valerie Gray, that meant she also had Valere's Red Huntress suit. So, with a small swirl of energy, the red and black mechanical suit appeared on her body. Complete with the red and black hoverboard under her feet.

Within seconds, Alya flew right at the summoned monsters. Wrist blasters came out of her armor at the wrists, obviously, and she started shooting at them. She looked to be having a lot of fun.

"Why am I not surprised Alya is the first to go on the offensive," Tikki giggled.

"There is a reason why I wanted Alya to be given the bee miraculous while fighting Style Queen," Marinette tells the kwami. "As great as she is as Rena Rouge, Alya is more headstrong and straightforward. So, she is better with a miraculous where she can fight head-on rather than staying back to cast an illusion."

"We still need to transform, Marinette," Tikki reminds her.

"Right, Tikki," Marinette nodded.

As much as Adrien, Lyon, and Vallia were all enjoying the sight of Alya using her costume to her advantage, they knew they had to transform as well. Quickly ducking back into their hiding places, they put on their miraculous and said their transformation phrases.

"Tikki! Spots on!"

"Plagg! Claws out!"

"Frostbite! Freeze over!"

Lyon almost went "Awwwwww" as he saw his sister pouting from where she was sitting. It was obvious that she would not be able to transform because of her new fairy form. Lyon had to admit she was very adorable as a pouting fairy.

The heroes all had to sneak out of the windows in the rooms they had been hiding in. That way, they could make it look like they arrived normally rather than having obviously come from somewhere inside the school. It was a lot of work, but hiding their identities was very important. They were glad that when they "arrived" at the school, a lot of students followed Alya's lead. They went on the attack.

Alya looked to be having the time of her life being Red Huntress. If she was not blasting vampires with her wrist blasters, she was dropping energy bombs onto groups of werewolves. All with a smile on her face. Nino was backing his girlfriend up using his new Cyborg strength. And if she needed a more powerful helping hand, he was more than happy to use his sonic cannon. Kim actually provided some great backup by using his new wrestler moves. There was a reason why Sin Cara was one of the best wrestlers in the WWE. Because he had skills.

And to the surprise of most of them, another one of the best fighters turned out to be Juleka. Since he had chosen the version of Wednesday from the Jenna Ortega show, it meant she was incredibly skilled at fencing. So, she had grabbed two swords from the gym supplies and was using them to be a terrifying force of fierceness. Mirelle joined her, using her new skills that came from being turned into Mulan. Not to mention she had her own backup in the form of the fake Mushu that had been brought to life. That tiny dragon could be very scary once it lets loose its fire breath. Aurore also let loose her new fairy magic. Being the fairy of the shining sun was actually the best member of the Winx that she could have been for the situation that was happening. Especially given that they were fighting literal creatures of the night. Marc did have to avoid her powers as he and Nathaniel fought side by side. The boyfriends were already partners while working on their hero comic, but they were now crime-fighting partners as well.

There were still some students who were not very helpful since their costumes were not of characters that had powers. Such as Mylene, whose mime costume only meant that she had lost her voice and had basically been turned into the stereotype of French mimes that others like to make fun of. Ivan was also not very helpful given that DJ was known for being quite the loveable coward on Total Drama. With Rose, it was pretty easy to see why she was not very helpful. After all, Princess Peach was known for being a damsel in distress.

The three heroes all landed next to each other on the school's roof.

"Well, it looks like we have more help than we usually do," Cat Noir immediately said.

"We're going to need it," White Wolf stated.

"That have to do with the reason why Beautifly is not here," Ladybug asked him.

The icy hero nodded. "Her costume was that of a fairy, so she shrank too much for her miraculous to be able to work with her."

"I am never looking at Halloween in the same way ever again," Ladybug sighed.

"Speak for yourself," Cat Noir grinned brightly. "I am still going to love this holiday no matter what."

"As an almost literal black cat, I am not surprised that you love... Ladybug, are you blue," White Wolf cut off his statement to ask the question.

"I will be honest and say that I only noticed that when you brought it up," Cat Noir's eyes widened at the sight of Ladybug's blue skin.

Ladybug sighed. "My friends and I had chosen to do a combined theme for our costumes. We all wanted to basically turn into human versions of the elements. I was water."

"You had a much more creative costume than me," Cat Noir chuckled. "I just dressed as a ninja."

"I was my own original character that I called the Ice Prince," White Wolf shrugged.

The other two heroes raised an eyebrow.

"Isn't that a bit of a hint to you being White Wolf," Ladybug asked him.

"Hiding in plain sight is the best way to hide my identity," White Wolf tells them. "After all, no one would think an ice hero would dress up in an icy costume."

"Got to admit, it is clever," Cat Noir says.

The three of them then jumped into battle. They head right for Pumpkin King. He barely was able to dodge them since they had caught him by surprise.

"So, you have finally shown up," he says to them. "Give me your miraculous or Paris will be known as the City of Nightmares instead of the City of Love!"

"I have a better idea," Cat Noir smirked. "How about you give us your akumatized object before we unleash a can of butt-kick on you!"

"I think this is a better idea," Pumpkin King glared at them. "Get them!"

Some of his creatures that had not been fighting the students all charged at the three heroes. White Wolf simply yawned as he touched his hand to the floor. Instantly, ice covered the ground. It caused the monsters to slip and side right into a wall.

"You, ghouls, should learn how to be careful," the icy hero snickered. "Icy roads ahead."

"How did you do that," Pumpkin King yelled. "You did not even say your superpower activation phrase!"

"I didn't have to," White Wolf smirked. "My costume had been a character with ice powers. Your powers are the reason for my little upgrade."

The look on the villain's face was priceless.

"Yeah, neither you nor Hawkmoth thought things through when it came to your powers," Cat Noir laughed.

He did a few hand gestures and in the blink of an eye, multiple versions of him appeared around the villain. And all of them looked just as cheeky as the original.

"And we are more than happy to use our new ninja powers to our advantage," they all said at the same time. 

They all attacked the Halloween villain at the same time. Even though he had the advantage of being able to fly because of his broom, Pumpkin King was learning that flight was not the big advantage he thought that it was. After all, with a dozen Cat Noirs attacking him at the same time, it would only be a matter of luck and time before one of them would be able to get a hit in.

And it soon came to pass when he had to dive down to avoid one group of Cat Noirs, but that sent him right into the path of two more. Using their staffs, they were able to knock him off his broom. They all smirked as they looked at the downed villain.

"He is really enjoying himself," White Wolf said.

"He is such an anime nerd," Ladybug playfully rolled her eyes.

"Or, just a nerd in general," White Wolf chuckled.

The Cat Noir copies then all vanished, leaving only the original.

"I am going to miss that for after you cast the cure, M'Lady," he said.

Ladybug opened her mouth to answer, only to be distracted for a second. A few vampires tried to attack her, which forced her to use her new powers. She held out her hands, which unleashed a strong blast of water. It sent the vampires flying back into another wall.

"I have to admit that it would be nice to still have these powers," Ladybug admitted. "If only I did not have to be blue."

Thinking that the broom Pumpkin King had been riding on had to be his akumatized object, Cat Noir picked it up from where it had landed on the ground. He was about to say his power activation word when someone else said theirs first.

"Venom," Chloe shouted.

Her hand lit up as she activated her paralyzing power. Only, she did not go for the akuma, she went for Cat Noir. If it had not been for the quick action of Ladybug using her yo-yo to pull Cat Noir away from her, she would have been able to get him with her power.

"Chloe, what in the name of the gods are you doing," White Wolf yelled at her.

He notched an arrow into his bow and aimed it at her. He was not going to let her come close to them.

"You can't do this to me," Chloe screamed at the heroes.

"Do what to you," Cat Noir raised an eyebrow. "We are just defeating an akuma as we usually do."

"You took Queen Bee away from me once," Chloe continued to yell. "I will not let you do it to me again!"

"You are willing to let an akuma stay out just so that you can continue to pretend to be a hero," White Wolf glared at her.

"I was a GREAT hero," Chloe protested White Wolf saying that she had only been pretending to be a hero. "It's not my fault you were utterly ridiculous enough to take MY miraculous from me."

"It was not YOUR miraculous," Ladybug yelled back. "It was NEVER yours. It did NOT belong to you!"

"It was MINE," Chloe denied Ladybug saying that the bee miraculous was not yours.

"Just because you want it, doesn't make it yours," Cat Noir glared at the brat. "And it was long overdue for someone to not give into your spoiled brat attitude."

"If Beautifly and I had been here from the start, we would have dealt with her long before she had a chance to be such a dangerous fake hero," White Wolf growled.

"How dare you," Chloe screamed.

She tried to use her Venom on him, only for him to easily dodge her by gliding on the ice still on the floor. He barely even looked like he cared that she was attacking him, which only made her even angrier. After all, someone like Chloe basically lives off of others paying attention to her. So, White Wolf basically dismissing her only served to piss her off. Not that he cared.

"I think he might actually be enjoying this," Cat Noir commented to Ladybug.

"If there is one thing we are well aware of when it comes to White Wolf, he takes no nonsense from anyone," Ladybug said. "Especially Chloe."

"So, you think you should call your lucky charm," Cat Noir asked her. "We might not need it for Pumpkin King, but that is how you cast the cure."

"You have a point," Ladybug says. "Lucky charm!"

She threw up her yo-yo in order to summon her charm. When it came down, it was revealed to be a replica of her magical yo-yo.

"Huh," Cat Noir looked at the replica. "I feel like that is a message."

"For what is the real question," Ladybug said.

"Well, it certainly isn't for this brat," White Wolf says as he continues to easily dodge Chloe's strikes. "I have her handled."

"You will pay for disrespecting the most amazing person in all of Paris," Chloe screamed at him.

"When did that happen," White Wolf tauntingly raised an eyebrow. "You are the one I am disrespecting and you are the WORST person in all of Paris.

That really pissed Chloe off. She charged at him again, only for the icy hero to simply step to the side and then put his foot out. He tripped her, which caused her to slide down a path of ice he made. She crashed into the janitor's closet. The door was closed by Juleka.

"Sweet revenge," Juleka smirked, still talking in her low Wednesday voice.

"I knew there was a reason why I liked that girl," White Wolf chuckled.

But while they were dealing with Chloe and Pumpkin King was still knocked out from the multiple Cat Noir attacks, the heroes did not notice someone else sneaking near them. Someone who was also holding something red and black ladybug-themed. The person threw it at the heroes, specifically Ladybug. But, she did not count on Cat Noir's new ninja reflexes.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the object heading right for them. His eyes widened when he noticed it was a ladybug-themed grenade. He quickly took action by throwing his baton, which easily met its mark because his ninja skills combined with his cat eyes made him a very good shot. After all, ninjas had to be very good at throwing things because of their use of throwing stars.

The grenade was knocked back to the person who threw it. It exploded but was thankfully not a firey type of explosive. It exploded with what they thought was red and black glue/paint. The scream that followed the explosion told them who had thrown it.

"Well, now the lucky charm makes sense," Ladybug said as she saw Lila covered in the sticky paint.

"I guess means we are finally done, then," Cat Noir says. "Let's actually finish this. Cataclysm!"

The broom that was still in his hand crumbled to dust. The purple butterfly flew out of the dust.

"No more evil-doing for you, little akuma," Ladybug opened her yo-yo and captured the akuma. "Time to de-evilize! Bye, bye, little butterfly."

She opened her yo-yo and freed the now-white butterfly. She then threw up the lucky charm yo-yo while shouting "Miraculous Ladybug!" to cast the cure. It washed over Paris which turned everyone back to normal while also getting rid of all the creatures Pumpkin King had summoned. He was also turned back to normal.

However, one person was strangely not completely cured by the magic. Even after the ladybugs washed over the school, Lila was still covered in her sabotage attempt.

"I am seriously not surprised," White Wolf commented.

"Lila... you tried to sabotage Ladybug and the other heroes," Alya was the first of the students to come over. "Why... Why would you do that?"

Normally, Lila would have tried to lie while also throwing in her typical crocodile tears as well. But, this time, she was too angry to do that.

"What did you do to me, Lady Brat," Lila yelled at Ladybug. "Look at me! You did this to me!"

"You did it to yourself, Lila," Cat Noir crossed his arms. "I always knew you would make a mistake one of these days and it looks like karma has finally come to collect your debt."

"What... What do you mean," Rose stuttered as she asked.

"He means that Lila is finally experiencing the consequences of her actions," White Wolf says. "Something she has previously been able to escape because of her lying skills."

"L...Lying," Mylene stuttered.

Ladybug sighed. "I did not want it to come out this way, but it is true. Lila, there, has been nothing but a liar ever since she came to Paris. Especially since after what you have all just witnessed, it is obvious that she is NOT my best friend."

"But... But you never said anything," Alya looked at her phone, obviously looking at her blog.

"I never said anything because I wanted you to come to me," Ladybug tells the blogger. "Alya, you can become an amazing reporter someday, but you need to learn to not take things at face value. I did not come to you because you should have come to me in order to fact-check what Lila was saying. Clearly, I had too much faith in you. Maybe after this, you will learn to be careful about who you trust."

Ladybug was not that upset with Alya, especially since Alya had stopped trying to get her and Lila to become "friends." But, she still wanted Alya to learn about these things in case anyone else tried something like Lila had. Lying about being friends with a hero to gain attention.

"I think a lot of people learned a very good lesson today," White Wolf stated, smirking at Lila while she glared at the heroes.

"If I was in Harry Potter, this would be my Patronus memory," Cat Noir snickered while also looking at Lila.

"Bug out," Ladybug says.

The heroes then all left. Slowly, the students returned to their classes. The battle had not been that long, so they did still have to return to class. 

"Hello," Chloe yelled from the janitor's closet. "Hello! Get me out of this filthy place! I demand it! Let me out right now! This is ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!"

No one heard her. And even if they did, they wouldn't care.

[lootthekey]

Duskmourn- The Living Horror Plane Theory

Art by Antonio José Manzanedo

Hello, this is me making another big post, but this time related to an upcoming set we know almost nothing about other than its loose themes. Duskmourn, a set themed around modern horror, or more accurately horror from the 70’s and 80’s, is extremely unique in that it takes place on the plane of Duskmourn. Why is that unique? You see, Duskmourn, the plane, is not like other planes at all. Even the most corrupted of Magic’s natural worlds, like Innistrad and Amonkhet, have a natural appearance to them. They have wildlife, a difference between civilization and nature, and overall are just standard worlds with differing cultures and ecosystems.

Duskmourn is extremely different from that.

Duskmourn is just one, absolutely gigantic, haunted mansion. As far as we know, this plane has very little in terms of an actual “world” and is just this massive house of horrors, hence the name of the set “Duskmourn: House of Horrors”. What is so interesting about this is the potential implications of this. As said, Magic’s planes almost universally follow the basic blueprint of being an actual world not unlike our own aside from the magical aspects of them, like Kamigawa’s Spirit Realm and similar.

The only plane that comes close to not being an actual “world” is Mirrodin, now better known as New Phyrexia. Even New Phyrexia, a world molded to its core by Elesh Norn and the other praetors of New Phyrexia, loosely imitates a natural world with its various spheres each having their own… ecosystem if they can be called that.

Duskmourn, until it is shown further and they say otherwise, has none of this to our understanding. It’s ONLY this big mansion. This leads me to my main theory I have today:

Duskmourn is an unnatural world.

And I don’t just mean this by how different it is. I mean to imply either this plane was created, similar to Mirrodin, by an extremely powerful entity, OR has been so heavily corrupted/modified/etc by a similar entity that it can no longer be called a “natural plane”.

The first possibility is interesting, but there isn’t much to further analyze with that possibility. We don’t know of any characters currently that can CREATE planes that aren’t just some random oldwalker we probably haven’t met yet or some all powerful demon potentially.

The second possibility, that the plane was corrupted and shaped into its current form by an extremely powerful entity, does have more interesting implications, as there are hilariously several beings in Magic’s modern lore capable of doing so. This is mainly because it seems to take much less effort to corrupt an individual plane, especially if you have a lot of help, than it is to create a full plane. Not that it still isn’t world breaking power at play, but its possible. We saw the New Phyrexians do it to Mirrodin, and they probably could have done it to other worlds if they weren’t met with heavy pushback.

Let’s revisit the image that I posted above and has basically been WotC’s chosen image to showcase the plane in its little time slot on their release timeline.

This is an extremely large, very eldritch and/or demonic looking entity that dwells on Duskmourn… or perhaps more. If you study this art, its “body” naturally flows into what can be called doors, staircases, pillars, and windows. The sheer size of this thing is awe inspiring, and it is extremely eldritch in appearance. Its really only a little different in appearance to another cast of very eldritch entities in Magic’s lore that I also made big posts about.

Art by Eli Minaya

The Eldrazi Titans. Very similar bone-like appearance to Ulamog, very similar “multiple limb” design of Kozilek, and a similar “glowing eldritch hole(s)” design to Emrakul. You might see where I am going with this, which is:

Duskmourn is a giant, living plane, who’s World Soul has been supplanted by an Eldrazi Titan.

Now, you might say, “But Colin, Eldrazi’s do not do that. They eat worlds.” But how do we know that? Emrakul, in Eldritch Moon, was fully capable of taking over Innistrad. She had the entire plane in her grasp and there were no signs of her losing. She was delayed by the Gatewatch, but by the end all of them had been mentally overwhelmed by her powers. Emrakul sealed herself into Innistrad’s moon at the end of it all, clearly with a larger, more complex goal in mind that has haunted us to this day.

Duskmourn, I believe, is a world that has been completely corrupted by an Eldrazi not unlike Emrakul.

The inhabitants, who I don’t even know how they survive in such a world, are constantly bombarded by mental attacks from the world itself. This is not unlike what happened when Emrakul fought the Gatewatch. Every inhabitant of Duskmourn is a captive in Duskmourn’s corrupting grasp, and that will be central to the plane I believe. This is an unnatural world run by an eldritch entity, and the nature of it could be the key to learning more about the Eldrazi and/or how the World Souls of planes function.

I am very excited to see what Duskmourn has in store, and I hope it does not disappoint.

[lemon-leviathan]

I Hate It Here, I Fucking Hate It Here.

So For Anyone Who Knows Me, I’m The Type Of Person Who Spoils Things For Myself. Usually Accidentally, But On The Rare Occasion On Purpose Because I’m Also An Inpatient Person. On My Last Post I Asked You All If I Should Finish AOT Because I Stopped Watching It, Well I’ll Be Happy To Let Those Of You Know That I Started Watching It Again. Unfortunately In The Process I Ended Up Spiraling Down A Rabbit Hole And Spoiled MULTIPLE Very Important Scenes For Myself.

🚨🔔‼️So SPOILER ALERT I Guess…‼️🔔🚨

The Whole Big Dream/Time-Memory Travel Thing, I Finally Understand Now. I Understand Why Eren Was Crying. I Get Why He Asked Mikasa About Her Hair. He Remembers Her From His Most Recent Memories, When Her Hair Was Short And His Wasn’t. He Remembers The Mikasa Who Beheaded Him. The One Who Kissed Him. He Remembers HER. Knowing That Eren Was In Control The Whole Time Really Messes With Your Head Especially When You Start Over And Notice Things You Didn’t Before. Things That Never Made Sense Until Now. He Knew What Was Going To Happen And Who Had To Die, And When. He Saved Bert By Sending The Titan After His Mother, By Sending DINA After His Mother. Maybe Due To Armin’s Colossal? Anyway Poor Boy’s In A Time Loop Of Sorts. But That Wasn’t The Worst Of It. That Wasn’t What Hurt Me The Worst So Far…

They Told Him…They Finally Told Him. Jean Knows How Marco Died, He KNOWS. Reiner And Annie Told Jean What They And Bert Did To Marco. They Told Him EVERYTHING. How Reiner Pinned Him Down On The Roof, And Forced Annie To Strip Him Of His ODM Gear Before Leaving Him There. Standing A Few Rooftops Away Listening To Him Cry Out And Scream For Help. Calling For Them By NAME. Watching Him Get Picked Up, Watching Him Struggle And Look At Them With A Pained Look In His Eyes Knowing No One Was Coming To Rescue Him. Knowing His Friends Left Him For Dead All Because He Found Out Something He Shouldn’t Have. And Then Reiner My Darling Reiner Being His Weird Soldier/Teenage Self Has The NERVE To Ask Why Marco Was Being Eaten. Like He Moved On Autopilot And Realized What They Did, What HE Did A Little To Late. Hell, The Titan THE TITAN Stopped Momentarily Because It Too Was Confused. Seeing Jean Find Out What Happened To Him, And Then Beating The Shit Out Of Reiner For What Happened Hurt But At The Same Time…I Was Relieved. Marco’s Death Haunted Jean For YEARS And It Probably Still Does But At Least He Has Some Closer…(Can You Tell I Liked Marco?)

Speaking Of Annie, Yes I Saw The Clip Of Everyone Saying Their Goodbyes To Her. I Saw Levi’s Face…I Know About The Whole Gabi/Sasha/Niccolo/Falco Thing Too (Can I Say I Know About The Connie/Falco Scene Too?) , And I Also Know About Moblit…I Know Horseface And Mikasa Are A Thing. I Know Levi And Mikasa Are Related. I’ve Seen Cabin Eren…

And Like Most People Armin’s Wailing Freaking HURTS.

All That Aside I’m Still On Season 1 In My Rewatch/Pick Up Of AOT So I Don’t Know Everything Yet…But I Know A Lot. And That’s On My Spoiling Things For Myself!

[halaxia]

𓇢𓆸 ever and evermore

❧ welcome to my evermore event!

❧ i will be posting works inspired by songs from taylor swift’s evermore with one song for each character i most associate them with.

❧ this event is multifandom and contains character(s) from jujutsu kaisen, spy x family, bleach, bungo stray dogs, obey me, my hero academia, chainsaw man, death note, and attack on titan.

❧ all works for this event will come under the hashtag #ೄྀ࿐ evermore ˊˎ- for easy navigation :)

❧ if you would like to be tagged under any (or all) works for this event, let me know either with an ask, dm, or in the comments <3

❧ willow — nanami kento | “i’m begging for you to take my hand, wreak my plans, that’s my man.”

❧ champagne problems — loid forger | “left you out there standing crestfallen on the landing, champagne problems.”

❧ gold rush — kurosaki ichigo | “i don’t like that falling feels like flying ‘till the bones crush; everybody wants you, but i don’t like a gold rush.”

❧ ‘tis the damn season — itadori yuji | “it always leads to you in my hometown.”

❧ tolerate it — akutagawa ryunosuke | “i know my love should be celebrated, but you tolerate it.”

❧ no body, no crime — todoroki touya | “but i ain’t letting up until the day i die.”

❧ happiness — hirofumi yoshida | “haunted by the look in my eyes that would have loved you for a lifetime.”

❧ dorthea — fushiguro megumi | “and if you’re ever tired of being known for who you know, you know, you always know me.”

❧ coney island — yagami light | “sorry for not making you my centrefold.”

❧ ivy — gojo satoru | “my pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand; taking mine, but it’s been promised to another.”

❧ cowboy like me — mammon | “takes one to know one; you’re a cowboy like me.”

❧ long story short — okkotsu yuta | “long story short, it was a bad time; long story short, i survived.”

❧ marjorie — geto suguru | “…cause every scrap of you would be taken from me.”

❧ closure — roronoa zoro | “it’s been a long time; and seeing the shape of your name still spells out pain.”

❧ evermore — hayakawa aki | “can’t not think of all the cost; and the things that will be lost.”

❧ right where you left me — eren yeager | “everybody moved on; i, i stayed there.”

❧ it’s time to go — jean kirschtein | “when keeping it how it is will only break their hearts worse.”

[bombdiggity666]

Here Comes Judgement Day Pt.2

A few years ago, I attempted to draw a fan comic to resolve the ambiguous ending of the MTMTE/LL Comic series. I managed to complete one panel, but lost the other three when my computer crashed.

Now, after some time has passed, I feel encouraged to try again. This time, I've written a multi-part story to better guide my comic.

It's worth noting that when I began this project, I was feeling edgy, so it's all based on the song posted below

A Summary:

Megatron faces his impending execution in Garrus 9. As he reflects on his fate, Ultra Magnus grapples with his role as a witness. Through introspection and discussions with Rodimus, Ultra Magnus ultimately decides to attend the execution as Minimus Ambus, embracing his true self and honouring Megatron's last request. Tensions mount as the time draws near, with Rodimus struggling to cope as Megatron's death approaches.

Was he in a different room now? He couldn’t activate his optics, but the environment felt colder than before. Prickling static sensations danced across his arms and chest. Surprisingly, he could feel another medical program running behind the overbearing corruption code that idled in his systems menacingly. Luckily, its suffocating presence was still dulled by the sedative. This new program, he recognized, was a standard vitals systems check. A quick yet inhibited jolt of his right servo revealed a second medical cable jacked into his wrist port, this one far more comfortable. He huffed a vent to test his surroundings.

"Take Me Away"

Megatron regained consciousness quickly, or so it felt. His heavy-duty engines metabolized narcotics swiftly, especially when deprived—a function that had aided him through many of Starscream’s assassination attempts. As he searched for his chrono, the inability to gauge time reminded him of his current situation. Stirring slightly, he realized he was restrained once again, but this time in a far more exposed position. He lay on a different berth now, a surgical one with arm boards. The hum of the stasis restraints felt stronger; testing them, he found he couldn’t even lift a finger. ‘Do they think they're immobilizing a titan?’ he pondered loosely, his head still spinning with disorientation.

“I know you’re awake,” came a confirmation, not an irritated remark. The muffled voice, unmistakably from Evac, gave his ringing audio receptors something to focus on.

“What-” He was cut short with a static cough, his vocalizer rebooting as slowly as his optics.

“Shh, right here.” He felt a light servo’s touch on his right shoulder, more haunting than comforting.

“You were out of it; I brought you the rest of the way.” The servo ran down his arm, stopping at his wrist to fiddle with the connection.

Unable to respond in a civilized fashion, Megatron's engine subconsciously revved low and primitive in a threat display. The frequency resonated throughout his frame, communicating his irritation efficiently.

“Stop that. It was just me. No one saw. You got here all on your own.” Evac brushed off his display with a smack to his forearm, as if such behavior from him didn’t bring opponents in the pits shaking to their knees.

Where was here? His frustration grew.

“Okay, just let me…” He could hear typing, “There, try now.”

His optics onlined with the assistance of Evac’s manual start-up code. The room slowly cleared into focus. His revving engines stalled.

The execution chamber.

He was bound at a slight incline, his frame fully exposed to a viewing window where live witnesses would soon be sitting. The room had a solemn feel, nowhere near the clinical setting as before. A dull light lit the immediate area around them, but Megatron couldn’t spot the source, just glad that it wasn’t above him like an interrogation or operating room. He glanced to his left; the uncomfortable cable was still spooled and strapped to his wrist. A loose end hung ominously, but still unconnected to whatever equipment held the kill code.

“Hey,” Evac tried to pull his attention softly, using her servo to redirect his optics.

Megatron groggily gazed up at her. She must work with sparkling’s with how effectively she corrals his attention away from unpleasantries.

She sat near the right of his helm, monitoring the large screen exhibiting his vitals. The displays left nothing to the imagination: spark pulse, processor activity, fuel consumption ratios, all of it on display for the viewers. He doubted any of it was legitimate medical monitoring.

Looking past her smile to the screen, he could see a diagram of his own frame. It was spinning slowly, with certain pieces of his armor colored red. ‘Strange,’ he thought. All bots of Tarnish origin exhibited some degree of leucism, him being mostly affected with the exception of red pigmentation of his upper arm plating and abdominal vents. This model was wrong; he didn’t have red wrist or chest plating. In fact, he didn’t have wrist armor at all at the moment…

Oh.

No.

He gawked, stunned, as the realization of what he had seen washed over him. Evac noticed his expression changing.

“No no no, don’t-“

But her warning came too late. He dropped his helm in a lightning-quick reflex which should have been inhibited. He nearly threw Evac out of her seat as she attempted to grab his faceplates.

His Spark was exposed, pulsing and spinning fast, it bathed the room in an ebb of twisting light. His chest plating gone. Removed entirely. He was utterly exposed, freezing cold, and completely vulnerable. A touch could kill him right now.

He heard Evac speaking, though neither words nor tone registered. Distantly, he felt the medibot pulling at him, trying to get him to lay back down. Despite both physical and chemical restraints, she didn’t have hope in the Pits of moving him. The glare of his spark lit his reflection in the field of the viewing window, catching him by surprise. Barely recognizing himself as he had never before been forced to examine his appearance; especially in such a position. In the mines, mirrors were nonexistent. Any Pit mech who glanced at the monitors for even a nanosecond in the arenas where slaughtered. He never paid any mind with Autobot propaganda…

It wasn't until the Necro world, standing before the statue of his youth that he truly understood the monstrosity he had become. A cold calloused war monger, hungry for control and blinded by it.

But now? He looked frail. Bare. Weak. Yet, he was closer to his true self than he had been in millions of years.

The hardest part wasn’t seeing his exposed lifeforce or his restrained frame. The hardest part was staring into his own optics and finally seeing that once youthful face. The face that once held the resolve and determination for a better world. The naive slave from Tarn who had once foolishly thought he could change the world with his rhetoric. He couldn’t see the monster anywhere, and with the clarity of it, he felt the urge to apologize for failing them both. A bitter smirk pulled at the corner of his lips. ‘I know you wanted to change the world,’ he mused.

‘And you did,’ he recalled his session with Rung on the Lost Light. ‘But not for the better.’

“No,” he murmured. “But now…” his optics softened, losing focus on his reflection before offlining as he slowly rested his helm back against the berth. “For the better.”

Evac remained silent, unsure of what to say. Words seemed inadequate in the face of Megatron's internalized closure. He seemed to be coping well. She reached out and placed a servo firmly on his clavicle plating, messaging her thumb along the unnatural coolness of the metal beneath her touch. Megatron didn’t flinch, so they stayed like that for as long as they could, the weight of their shared silence hanging heavily in the air.

She glazed over at the chrono on the monitor before sighing lightly, leaning in close to whisper into his audio receptor.

“It’s time”

A bell sounded, stirring them from the peaceful silence.

---

Cycles blurred together after Rodimus’ final conversation with Megatron, the weight of sleeplessness pressing down on him like a relentless burden. Though he was well aware there was never going to be an out between the two verdicts, he clung to a faint hope for some kind of miracle. Megatron always seemed to conjure those when backed into a corner. Downing the rest of his engeX, he slammed the container down to join the mounting pile at his side.

The oil house was bustling tonight, everywhere was, streets, parks, fragging libraries were ablaze with hollering, singing, and dancing in celebration and anticipation for the viewing of Megatron’s execution. The enormous monitors, typically reserved for sporting or political broadcasts, stood ready, awaiting the live transmission of the ‘event’ from Garrus 9. Rumor had it that the council would likely declare this day a new Cybertronian holiday. 'Sick,' he thought, sarcasm thick on his glossa. He could fix that. He waved down the bartender, gesturing towards his empty pile of Engex containers, indicating his displeasure with a circling motion of his finger. 'Keep them coming,' he thought, not trusting his voice right now after his conversation with Minimus resulted in a good sob-fest out in the back alley. It was hard to maintain his composure in a bar full of retired Autobots and neutrals; being on the verge of black-out drunk was somewhat helpful, or so he thought.

The bartender placed a glass down in front of him with a concerned look. “You wanna slow down there, kid? The slagging screening hasn’t even started yet, and you’re 12 deep.”

Rodimus scoffed in indignation, his servo rising to his chest in offense. “I can count, my guy.” Dodged that one like a pro. The bartender rolled their optics as they whisked away, too busy to babysit a drunkard on a day like today.

He swirled the liquid in the glass, unsure of what else to look at. He was too drunk to hide all his feelings and fought to avoid catching optics with anybot. He really shouldn’t have come here today, but he thought being around others might help him through the process. That their excitement might rub off on him. A true extrovert at spark. Honestly, he just didn’t want to be alone…

A soft servo landed gently on his back. ‘Or maybe I did,’ he deliberated.

“You’re hard to find when you want to be found.”

Rodimus paused, processing the vague and confusing attempt at a pick-up before slamming his servos to the countertop of the bar, nearly spilling his Engex, and knocking several empties over. Hopefully this display was enough to dissuade any other onlookers from approaching; he wasn’t in the mood for flirtatious conversation right now, too drunk and distraught. Spinning around in his seat, he attempted to address this bold bot directly.

“Who would fragging be looking in the first pl-“ He was caught off guard immediately.

Drift stood behind him with a soft, sorrow-filled smile and a consuming presence of warmth. He didn’t move his servo from Rodimus’s back kibble; instead, he applied more comforting pressure, sprawling his fingers to cover more area. Rodimus continued to stare, confounded, his intake opening and closing as he chewed over words. He had not spoken to anyone in person since the sentencing, purposely isolating himself in his pain until his dumbfounding decision to be here today. He had specifically hidden from Drift, as he didn’t think he would be able to understand his conflicting emotions over Megatron’s Verdict. He shrunk in on himself suddenly, and after a moment, he managed a shaky question.

“…Minimus?”

“Ratted you out, yes,” Drift soothed, moving to sit in the seat next to Rodimus’s hunched frame, nonchalantly pushing the empty Engex containers off the bar with his forearm, earning a scathing glare from the bartender across the counter. He seethed back with equal intensity momentarily, enough of a threat to make the bartender turn on his heels.

Rodimus stared down at his drink, optics spacing out in broken thought. “You didn’t…” he quickly brought the glass to his intake to shoot it down, conversation was difficult. “You don’t need to-”

“Yes, I do.” Drift hushed assertively, placing a servo over the glass of Engex Rodimus was preparing to down, easing it back to the countertop with little convincing.

Rodimus looked at him from the corner of his optics, unwilling to turn his whole body. A prickle of shame sprouted somewhere distantly in his mind, which was silly; Drift had definitely seen him in much more embarrassing states. However, being in such a drunk grief over a bot who murdered little over half the known galaxy, including himself at least once, probably came pretty close to ‘taking the cake’. Drift was Ex-Decepticon, he likely knew the spell Megatron casts on ones psyche. When their goals aligned, that is.

“We are still a team, you know,” Drift lightly shoulder checked him in camaraderie, hoping to capture Rodimus' full attention. It didn’t work, so he persisted. “Even without the Lost Light. Without a mission, without an adventure, I’m still on your team. Whatever happens today, tomorrow, cycles from now, I’m going to be on your team.”

A flicker of a grin flashed on Rodimus’s faceplates as he offlined his optics. After a moment, he scrunched his facial plates and dropped his helm to the bar counter with a resounding thunk. Drift looked up apologetically to the patrons it may have startled. After throwing his whole arm across Rodimus’s shoulders as he pulled himself closer and leaned into his audio receptor. “And teams are stronger together,” he said, placing his hand over Rodimus’s, squeezing it in a grounding manner. “So we are going to do this together, understand?”

A snort, or perhaps a strangled sob from Rodimus, was muffled by the metal of the counter, his shoulders jerking, concealed from onlookers by Drift’s supporting arm.

“…Thank you,” Rodimus murmured, rolling his head slightly towards Drift. “You're too good to me.”

-----

From across the oil house in a darkened hallway, Ratchet stood leaned against the wall as he watched Drift console the hot mess of his former captain. There on 'standby', he had no intentions of taking part in today's celebrations. Not that he didn’t agree with it, just done with the war and all of the remnants of it. To see a society so excitable over the death of another bot filled him further with pessimistic bitterness. To him, it was just another bot dying for nothing. No progress would be made of it.

Despite his bitter nihilism, Ratchet cared deeply for a select few and how this would affect them. Drift predominantly, and if Drift was worried about Rodimus, well then he was worried about Rodimus too.

There was a buzz of static and a flash of light which blared from the monitors, resulting in an uproar from the crowds gathered in both the oil house and throughout the streets. Bots flooded in closer to the screens as the voice of a council orator began to speak.

Ratchet cursed, swinging his head away in disdain. He had no interest in watching this garbage today; he had seen enough death in his lifetime, so watching a screening of it on his free-time would be absurd. He glanced back to where Drift was consoling Rodimus. His cold spark pinged slightly at the state of him. Such an impressionable bot, getting so unhealthily attached to anything that remotely resembled a parental figure. Disgusting that Megatron was ever given the chance in the first place. Optimus set the poor kid up to hurt before promptly dying there after. Idiot.

He looked back again towards the monitor, following Rodimus’ saucer-optics stare to find Megatron, restrained with spark exposed. He was slightly taken aback by it. He never imagined a day where he would see Megatron so tolerant of such ministrations to his frame. Than again, he never anticipated seeing the day Megatron renounced Decepticonism either. As a doctor, such imagery had little effect on him, he’d seen bots in such position of vulnerability millions of times; However, for Rodimus, it was likely quite distressing. ‘For the love of Primus,’ he thought, as if his scolding thoughts could reach Megatron’s processor. ‘Don’t you dare make this any worse for Rodimus.’

-----

The resonating ting of his pattering steps down the metal corridor was comically light. Minimus pressed on with speed and purpose, his frame devoid of Magnus armor now, though it wouldn't matter; they already had his spark signature on file. He marched towards the witness hall, attempting to subdue the pit in his tanks with a false air of superiority. Passing two guards, who stared for far too long with dumbfounded expressions, he noticed their perplexed glances shifting between him and their scanner before they yelled out after him.

“Hey, you! State your role and purpose-”

“That would be 'Excuse me, Sir'!” he chastised, spinning around aggressively.

Approaching him somewhat cautiously, the guards looked down at their spark scanner while also placing servos on their weapons. “These scanners are saying that you are Ultra Mag-“

“That is because I AM Ultra Magnus,” he declared, his servos landing on his hips as he leaned forward in a posturing position. “And you are keeping me from my assigned role as a witness to the execution. Which I better not miss.”

The two guards exchanged confused glances. One of them pressed a finger to their audial, undoubtedly sending out a com. Minimus realized this was not going to be as simple as he thought.

“Forgive us, uh, sir?” One of the guards began, patronizingly. “But you are going to need to step aside and-”

“WHAT?” Minimus roared, holding out his identifier tag now. “Two spark scans and an identifier code, and you still don’t accept-“

“You don’t look anything like Ultra Magnus,” one guard interrupted, moving around Minimus to box him in.

“Yeah,” the other guard accused bluntly. “You’re looking more like a Decepticon minibot to me.” He reached down quickly, snatching Minimus’s upper arm with a powerful jerk.

Really?! How astoundingly racist. Were his red optics enough to be considered a Decepticon? Three authentication procedures be damned?

“Release me this instant! This is a major violation under- URK!” A fist smashed into his left faceplate, sending him whirling to the floor, his frame skipping twice off the metal.

“Shut up, a MAJOR violation would be impersonating a senior officer. Pick him up.”

Dazed from the hit, Minimus struggled to prop himself up, his servo lifting to his olfactory sensors only to come away bloodied in fresh energon. Distantly, he heard a bell ringing, and with stark realization, he knew that it was the start of the Execution screening. He only had minutes now.

“No,” he coughed, attempting to move towards the noise. Rough servos clasped his shoulder plating hard enough to dent the metal, lifting him clean off the ground. “You’re making a mis-“ a punch to his abdominal plating had him keeled over, peds not even touching the floor.

“Let’s get him out of here quick, I wanna watch that fragger die in real-time,” one guard murmured to the other, dragging Minimus in the opposite direction of the Witness room.

“No… wait,” he pleaded weakly, unable to catch a vent as his bent fans kept stalling.

“At ease!” An approaching voice hollered from behind them. The two guards stopped immediately, standing tall and leaving Minimus dangling in the air, fans clicking and vents hitching. He knew that voice…

“What is all of this about, soldier? Explain.”

The smarter of the two began, stuttering over their words at first. “Sir! We found this Decepticon trying to infiltrate the witness hall, claiming to be Ultra Magnus, Sir!”

“Ultra Magnus, huh?” the voice began to round on him with the speaker almost in his line of view. “Definitely doesn’t seem to fit the build, now does he?” The bot stepped in front of him. Minimus cowered slightly. Prowl. He and Prowl haven’t exactly been seeing ‘optic to optic’ as of late. Their relationship had soured further with Minimus’ appointment to Megatron’s case. Now would be a perfect time for Prowl to do what he does best. Act out about it.

“…Prowl...please,” he wheezed.

“Would we know each other, little bot?” Prowl teased while leaning down, olfactory sensors remaining high and mighty. He smirked. Minimus's spark sank.

“I- I know we have never agreed on methods, Prowl,” he started, his voice still shaky. “I-”

“-Was just going to stroll into a live broadcast and shatter the legend for everyone on Cybertron, and on such a joyous, sought-after day? All to make your best friend happy? How incredibly selfish, Minimus,” Prowl spat venomously in a mocking sneer, leaning in close to minimize what his underlings heard.

“Magnus, the Armor, I’m done with it. Through,” Minimus continued, hissing through dentae at the effort. ”After today, we can go our separate ways.”

“I think we can do that right now, actually,” Prowl smirked, standing to his full height. “Brig this Decepticon sympathizer, I’ll deal with him after the show,” he ordered the two guards before turning back to the execution chamber. “I don’t want to miss Megatron’s face when he realizes you’re not coming.”

“NO, PROWL,” Minimus thrashed, kicking but unable to land anything substantial. No longer having might on his side, he had to think. He had to think of something fast. What would work on someone as cynical, calculating, and arrogant as Prowl?

Blackmail.

“Overlord!” Minimus shouted, craning his neck back towards the direction Prowl was walking. He stopped abruptly. Listening.

*I am aware of your involvement with the release of Overlord, Who is still out there! Don’t you think for a second that anyone has forgotten* Minimus commed, the blackmail would fall short if others listen in.

 *As I recall, your crew played an unmistakable role in that…Mishap* Prowl didn’t move, back stiff. Calculating.

*Under your direction, discretion, and trusted advisement. Overlord was a prisoner assigned to you and you foremost.* Minimus bit back, he was getting further and further away. He could hear the orator beginning to read out the jury’s sentencing.

*And?* Prowl spat back, turning his head to glance, a sliver of blue shining from his silhouette.

*Nobody needs to know* There was no reply. Minimus panicked briefly, knowing any further discussion or clarification would ruin the offer. He just needed Prowl to take the hook.

“Drop him,” Prowl commanded to his bots after careful consideration. Mimimus hit the ground hard, crumpling to his knees. He could hear Prowl approaching quickly. “Dismissed,” he hissed with a wave of his servo. The guards nodded, continuing their march down the hall. Before he could rise, a ped slammed into the crease of his back painfully, pinning him back down into a crouched position.

“You’re going to go in there, make googly optics at your genocidal BFF, watch him die, and then I am never going to see you again. Do you understand?” Prowl leaned down to whisper the threat directly into Minimus’ audio receptors.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way…” Minimus grunted, shrugging Prowl’s ped off his back. A rag fell to the floor in front of his face.

“You tripped on your way here, smashed your face into the bulkhead. You needed a minute to look presentable. That is why we are late,” Prowl hummed as he walked away.

Minimus took the rag, dabbing the drying energon from his faceplates as he rose shakingly to his peds. Perhaps he was a Decepticon sympathizer, he thought as he began to limp after Prowl’s steady steps.  Never has he ever thought so lowly of the Autobot peacetime they had created.

[jayteacups]

Reader-Insert Masterlist

This is a comprehensive list of all Character x Reader fics I have written. They are all written in second-person POV, and are written for a gender-neutral reader unless stated otherwise. Please heed warnings for each individual fic. 

Fandoms: Attack on Titan (more to come)

Characters: Levi Ackerman, Eren Jaeger (more to come)

Levi Ackerman

Multi-chapter works

The Harbinger’s Premonition [AO3]

He's not meant to see you, but he does. To him, you are Death's Harbinger. To you, Levi Ackerman is a mortal that you wish you didn't have to haunt.

Grim Reaper!Reader Canonverse AU, canon-typical violence, canon compliance, spoilers for the show and manga

Ongoing; 10.1k words

One-shots

Between the Pages

Lately, your attention has been captured by a new book series, to the point where you won’t stop talking about it. Wanting to know exactly what it is that you’re talking about, Levi does some reading of his own. 

Fluff, established relationship, 2.7k words

All Too Familiar

In a twisted turn of events, you, Levi’s lover, take the bullet instead. 

Angst, spoilers for Season 4 Part 1, major character death, 2.4k words

Onwards Past to Eternity (Request)

An alternative happy ending to All Too Familiar. 

Angst, fluff, Season 4 spoilers, manga spoilers, 6.4k words

Embrace of the Sun (NSFW)

Morning musings with your lover turn into something a little more heated.

Fluff and smut, explicit sexual content, fem!Reader, 5.0k words

Gentle Touches (Request)

In which Levi experiences affection for the first time. 

Fluff, emotional hurt/comfort, newly established relationships, non-sexual intimacy, 3.4k words

And So It Begins. (Request)

On the field, you are a force to be reckoned with. Off the field, it is almost the exact opposite. Either way, you catch your Captain’s eye, and so it begins. 

Fluff, confessions, getting together, fem!Reader, 5.8k words

Limits

Mind still buzzing from the horrors of a disastrous expedition, Levi returns home to you in a daze. You try to offer whatever comfort you can.

Hurt/comfort, a little angsty, civilian reader, 1.5k words

Remedy

Struggling to keep up with your university workload, you fall sick, much to your dismay. Your boyfriend takes care of you, but Levi’s spent too much of his life watching a loved one struggle with illness, and can’t help the rising fear within him when looking after you.

Sickfic, university AU, fem!Reader, 2.0k words

At Ease

You, the Survey Corps’ most prized asset, finds solace in the stoic but gentle teashop owner who you’ve come to know as your friend. 

Or: The Captain!Reader x Civilian!Levi AU absolutely nobody asked for.

Friends to lovers, emotional hurt/comfort, role reversal AU, 3.5k words

Ignorance is Bliss

Out of the entire cast of Attack on Titan, the member that spends the least time online is probably Levi. And after seeing the responses to the latest collaboration promotional photoshoot, he wants to keep it that way.

Actor AU, established relationship, fluff, humour, some suggestive content, 1.1k

Levi Week Day 3: Shy & Blushing | Affections & Fondness

To celebrate your second anniversary together, Levi takes you to see the beach for the first time. 

Canonverse, established relationship, post S3, fluff, mild NSFW (oral sex), 3.5k

It’s A Wrap!

Working on Attack on Titan as a makeup artist has irreversibly changed your life. As the end rapidly approaches, you find that letting go is harder than you’d thought. After years of harbouring feelings for Levi that you can’t divulge, his final day on set arrives. You know it’s time to say goodbye to him and part ways—but maybe you don’t have to.

AOT Actor AU, Actor!Levi x Makeup Artist Reader

Fluff, mutual pining, friends/idiots to lovers, confessions, brief implied sexual content, 6.9k

Ficlets (<1k words)

Safe With Me

Lately, mental exhaustion has been weighing you down, and Levi takes it upon himself to take care of you. 

Hurt/comfort, mentions of mental health struggles, and mental exhaustion, 0.8k words

Dozes 

A quick little fic about sleepy morning cuddles with Levi. 

Fluff, established relationship, 0.6k words

All Is Well. 

After watching the latest Attack on Titan episode, you seek out your actor boyfriend in need of reassurance that he’s okay.

Fluff, Season 4 Pt 2 spoilers, actor AU, 0.8k words

Confessions 

You confess to your long-time best friend about how you truly feel. 

Fluff, friends-to-lovers, 0.5k words

Insecurities 

You don’t feel like you deserve him. Levi has a few things to say about that. 

Emotional hurt/comfort, angst and fluff, 0.6k words

A Failed Attempt

Levi feels like he should try to be more traditionally romantic. Little does he know just how bad at that he is.

Fluff, humour, newly established relationship, 0.8k words

A Lover’s Hands

“His hands are weapons of war, but they are gentle, and you can think of no better pair of hands to cherish you so.”

Fluff, established relationship, suggestive content, 0.4k words

Another uni AU drabble (title TBC)

You and your boyfriend want nothing more to cuddle in bed and sleep in the safety of each other’s arms, but university work seems to have a vendetta against you.

Uni AU, fluff, established relationship, 1.0k words

Love’s Philosophy [AO3]

A ficlet collection based off this prompt list. 

Multiple AUs, varying individual ratings. 

Ongoing; 11/20 ficlets posted as of July 2023. 

Headcanons & thoughts

The Florist Saga: Florist/plant dad Levi | Florist Levi x teashop owner Reader | Florist Levi tag

Being called ‘pretty’

Busy-body S/O

Getting his wisdom teeth removed

Thoughts: IKEA dates | Doting on him

Submissions (from you guys!): Naps | Massages

Eren Jaeger

Ficlets (<1 words)

Since You Asked So Nicely

It’s three minutes until midnight. Your boyfriend’s eager to unwrap his birthday present a little early, and since he asked so nicely, how could you say no?

Established relationship, suggestive content, implied modern AU, 0.6k

Headcanons

#eren thoughts  ⬅️ other headcanons and short blurbs

More to come...

Navigation

[giggly-squiggily]

I Make You Laugh The Most (Blue Lock)

Hi hello I'm so incredibly soft for these two holy-

Hi eveyone! Welcome back to "Squiggily's brain is on Blue Lock Mode"- in which I write tons of it because I can :P This little ol' fic was a gift for a friend (you know who you are :3) that I decided to post because why not? Have some more Bachisagi I say! I hope y'all like it! :D

CW: Blue Lock Second Selection Spoilers!

Cloud 9 (Taglist Peeps)

@myreygn @cupcake-spice13

Summary: Bachira overhears Isagi laughing- which is great. However, he wasn't the one who made him laugh. Not so great.

“Pfft- no you dihihihidn’t!”

Bachira perked up at the melodious sound, heart racing in his chest as he turned to look. Isagi’s laugh was so wonderful- deep and warm, punctured with silly noises and snorts. Anytime he heard it, it filled him with glee.

Right now, however, he felt a pinch of defeat alongside it.

“We did! Reo was LIVID. He looked like a titan from Attack On Titan!” Chigiri grinned as he retold a story to Isagi about his former teammates, sending the brunette into a fit of endless giggles. They were coming back from the baths it seemed, Chigiri’s hair was wet and Isagi was flushed from the heat. “He’s so expressive!”

“Pfft- not AOT!” Isagi shoved him lightly as they turned the corner into their shared room. “Man, you should have gotten a picture!”

The rest of their conversation was lost, but the sting in Bachira’s chest remained. He leaned against the wall, a slight pout on his lips as he replayed the lovely sound again and again in his mind.

“...Hm.” Rin hummed from behind him, making Bachira blink.

“What?”

“Never thought I’d see the day you’d be jealous.” The taller boy shrugged, fighting down a yawn and almost missing Bachira’s wide eyed stare. “It’s not like those two are a thing. Pretty boy’s head over heels for the buff hero dude, yeah? Or was it the lazy one?”

“I-me-what-” Bachira was in a rare state of stupefaction. “That’s not it at all!”

“Kay.” Rin turned to go, making his way towards the workout room- likely for yoga. Bachira found himself following.

“It’s just- Isagi and I: I’ve always made him laugh, you know? Me! Like- don’t get me wrong, Missy’s great, and he can be funny in a sort of dry- when you least expect it kinda way you know? I don’t know- I haven’t seen Isagi in forever and I miss him-Whaa!” Bachira yelped as he tripped, falling face first into a pile of yoga mats. Rin only blinked before slowly pulling one out from the brooding dribbler.

“If it bothers you that bad, why not go make him laugh, then?” Rin suggested, tugging off his shirt and tossing it aside.

“He’s not on my team yet, Rin-Rin!” Bachira whined against the mats, unfazed when the shirt landed over his face. “It’s not the same! Plus, he’s still thinking about Reo’s titan face- whatever that means- it’s not my victory if ChiChi’s thing’s still rent free in his head!”

“Gonna have to change that.” Rin mumbled so quietly that Bachira almost didn’t catch it. “Look, I’m doing my cooldown. Either grab a mat and shut up or go complain to someone else.” Rin gave him one last look before taking his spot in the corner of the gym. Bachira stared for a moment before standing up, grabbing his mat and dragging it over beside him.

He napped the entire time.

~~~

“If it bothers you that bad, why not go make him laugh, then?”

Bachira didn’t think the words would stick like they did, haunting his mind relentlessly as he watched Isagi grab dinner. Maybe Rin had a point- maybe he DID need to make him laugh to fix this bothersome jealousy. He didn’t like how it lingered, coating his insides and making him feel all sorts of broody.

“Is this seat taken?” Isagi smiled as he walked up, two trays in hand. There was no rule saying you had to eat with your teammates- currently Aryu was interrogating Chigiri on his haircare routine while Nagi was half-slumped against him, slowly eating his rice like a drugged sloth.

“Yep- that one’s the monster’s seat.” Bachira kicked a heel up on the seat across from him, stealing it away. “But the one beside me’s available.”

“Thank you.” Isagi grinned as he slid in, sliding the extra tray his way. The dribbler was so caught up in his thoughts he hadn’t even realized he forgot to eat. “I didn’t know what you wanted, so I used some points and got us steak. Hope that’s okay.”

Anything is okay with you. Bachira almost said out loud. Instead, he grinned, stabbing a fork into Isagi’s food and holding it up, waving it before him. “Say ahhhh~”

“Bachira- I told you before, I can feed myself.” Isagi dodged a few times, a grin pulling on his lips as they fell back into their old game. Finally, he gave in, letting the other shove the fork into his mouth. “One day I’m gonna be so spoiled from you doing that I’ll forget how to hold a fork.”

“I’ll gladly feed you, Isagirin~” He winked, delighted in the blush painting Isagi’s face. No giggles though. The pinch returned. “How’s the team going?”

“It’s hell.” Isagi laughed, shaking his head. “Barou’s a neat freak, Nagi’s lazy, and Chigiri’s ever the princess.” His voice was fond though as he cut into his meal, chewing slowly. “But I like it. It’s a fun kind of chaos, yeah?” He smiled at Bachira, almost missing the dimming of his mood. “You’d fit right in.”

That perked him up almost immediately. Bachira smiled as Isagi went on sharing his adventures of their time apart, pride and sorrow touching his voice nearly as much as the giggles he let out recounting the great “King’s Bad Hair Day” incident. It was so, so nice to see him smiling and laughing.

And yet…and yet… “Bachira? You seem sad.” Isagi blinked, tilting his head curiously at the other. Bachira blinked, not even realizing he was letting it show. “You okay?”

“Yeah…yeah! I’m great!” Bachira put on his brightest grin. “I’m okay, really.”

Isagi narrowed his eyes, suspicious. Then he reached out and stabbed Bachira’s steak, bringing a piece up. “Say ahhhh~” He quoted, easily shoving it in his mouth with how surprised Bachira looked. “After tomorrow- we’ll be back together. I promise you; I’m bringing you home.”

Bachira pretended the sudden wetness in his eyes was from how hot the meat was burning on his tongue.

~~~

Isagi was a man of his word. Well-kinda.

No he didn’t necessarily WIN, but they were once again together. Bachira was reeling from it all still; the final shot that sealed the deal, the nervousness he felt when it was time to pick someone. Then the tearful glee he felt when Rin called out Isagi’s name.

That was a few days ago and yet it still felt so new whenever he was with Isagi. Isagi, who didn’t have to retreat to a different room at the end of the day. Isagi, who could now play soccer beside him instead of against.

Just…Isagi.

He couldn’t be happier.

“We made it this far, I can’t believe it.” Isagi sighed against his pillows, tired after a long day of drills and exercise. “It got scary for a moment there.” “Yeah- it’s still scary when you think about it. Look what happened to Kunigami.” Bachira stretched out beside him, staring up at the ceiling as the past few days hit him. “Is Chi-Chi okay?”

“Heartbroken, but he won’t admit it.” Isagi smiled a little sad at the mention of their former teammates. “I think I heard him crying the other night.” Isagi’s hand found his, squeezing it tightly. “Selfish as it is to say…I’m glad it wasn’t us. One wrong move against the wrong team and that would have been you and me.”

“Mm…” Bachira hummed, squeezing it back. “Chigiri’s tough though. He’ll be okay.”

“He’s no fragile princess, that’s for sure.” Isagi nodded. “Sorry, I killed the vibe.”

“Don’t be- I can bring it back.” Bachira, eager to lift the mood, raised his hands, wiggling his fingers. “I don’t know about you, but I’m in the mood for a good chuckle!”

“Are you now? Bring it on, bumblebee!” Isagi grinned, sitting up with his own claws. His eyes danced with challenge only for him, something Bachira missed for quite some time. There was a moment of silence as they watched each other before-

“GOTCHA!” Bachira cried, lunging and grabbing Isagi’s waist, pulling him into the sheets. Pillows and limbs flew as they wrestled in the bed, each trying to get the other hand. Isagi was already laughing, Bachira hadn’t even tickled him yet! He tried to pin him but instantly shot his arms back with a squeal when Bachira’s own kneaded the spot along the center of his ribs. “Gotcha now!”

“Ahehahahhahhahah! Bahahhahaha-Bahhahahhahchirahhahahahahahha!” Isagi cackled, doubling over in a fit of giggles as he tried gently pushing his boyfriend's hands away. It didn’t take long before the dribbler had him on his back against the bed, one hand on his ribs while the other pushed up his sweatshirt so he could drill into his belly. “Pleahhahahahhahase, it tihiihihihihihickles!”

“I know!” Bachira grinned, chest puffing with pride as Isagi flailed beneath him, cackling in glee. “That’s why I’m tickling you, Isagirin~” He leaned in so he was nose to nose with him, fingers dancing along his waist and sides. “I wanna make you laugh so much you explode!”

“Yohohohohoou ahahahahreahhahahday doohohooohoh thahahhahahat! Gehahahhaahhahahaha, Bahahahhachirahahahhahahaha!” Isagi’s nose was scrunched as he laughed, turning his face away to hide it as he weakly pawed at Bachira’s shoulders. “Iihihihihihim alhahhhahahhays lahahahhahaughing with you!”

“Really? You really mean that?” Bachira stopped his tickles flopping closer so he was once again nose to nose with Isagi. “I really make you laugh the most?”

“Ohohoof course you do!...Are you okay? You seem rather hung up on it.” Isagi was still smiling, but there was an unmistakable touch of concern in his gaze.

Bachira felt himself freeze. He’d been caught. “Well…maybe.” He flopped down so his face was against Isagi’s chest, cuddling close. Somehow it was easier to say these things to his beating heart than to his eyes. “I don’t know- I’ve been really…bothered lately. Whenever I hear you laugh, I get really happy; but I also get frustrated because for a while it wasn't me making you laugh like that, you know?” The dribbler sighed through his nose, feeling weirdly embarrassed. “Sounds kinda dumb, huh? Being jealous because someone else makes you laugh?”

“Hm.” Isagi made a noise of thought, his hand stroking Bachira’s hair. “I don’t think so, no. If anything- it’s kinda cute.” He grinned, deeply amused by the flush spreading over Bachira’s ears. “First you get real with me and now you’re blushing! Who are you and what have you done with my Bachira?”

“Shush! I’m still me!” Bachira sat up, pinching Isagi’s nose until the other was giggling like crazy. “But…you really don’t think anything less of me because of it?”

“On the contrary. I think I’ve just fallen harder for you.” Isagi’s eyes were warm, his voice genuine. Bachira felt his eyes sting again- goodness why was he so weepy lately? “I mean- I’d probably disapprove if you went on and shaved Chigiri’s head in his sleep over it.”

Bachira tittered, snapped right out of his tears. That’s the thing he loved most about Isagi- he always seemed to know what he needed. “Are you kidding? Missy would kill me if I did that! We’d have a murder in Blue Lock!”

“Best not get caught then- or find a way to blame someone else.” Isagi giggled with him, pulling him down into his chest before kissing him softly. “I’d take the fall for you.”

“No way- I lost you once; I’m not losing you again.” Bachira grabbed onto his sweatshirt. “You’re mine now.”

“And I yours.”

Thanks for reading!

[humanitys-strongest-bamf]

firstly: CONGRATS ON 1K!!! you are so beyond deserving, and we are all so appreciative of you <3 i have a submission for the event....i have to see what you do with "the night we met" by lord huron. canonverse. i want to be in pain LOL. lyrics to focus on:

"when the night was full of terror / and your eyes were filled with tears / when you had not touched me yet / take me back to the night we met / i had all and then most of you / some and now none of you / take me back to the night we met / i don't know what i'm supposed to do / haunted by the ghost of you / take me back to the night we met"

sorry if that's too many lyrics it's just what i think would work well but i lay all creative freedom over to you i think this could be a goodie (and an ouchie lol)

I DID IT AGAAAAIN i got so into it that this turned into a oneshot LMAO

i need emotional support, this made me so fucking sad (im not sorry btw)

Take Me Back | 1K Follower Event | Canonverse Angst Oneshot

✧ word count ➼ 1.2k ✧ notes ➼ canonverse, angst, post-liberio raid, i'm crying, levi deserves so much better

"This pollen is doing nothing but make me sneeze."

You glanced back at Levi and rolled your eyes.

"Oh don't be such a baby," you muttered as you continued to lead him forward. "You have a cravat for a reason, don't you?"

Levi looked almost offended at your suggestion.

"It's part of the uniform, it's not a fucking handkerchief," he scolded with a frown.

"Well, you're free to leave."

He scoffed.

"No, I'm not. If I leave, you're just going to nag at me nonstop once you get home."

"This is correct," you said with a shrug.

He stopped walking and frowned at you.

You groaned.

"Just shut up and follow, won't you?"

He grumbled quietly to himself as he followed behind in your footsteps again.

After a minute or two of walking in comfortable silence, you arrived at a field of flowers that was isolated off from the rest of the forest. There was a small flowing river that resulted from a waterfall.

When Levi looked over at you again, he saw a small smile on your face as you looked up at the waterfall and then back towards him.

"I was out exploring one day and found this area. It got me thinking."

You took his hand and walked him through the field.

"Now that we know what's outside the Walls," you spoke softly, almost as if you were too shy to suggest what was on your mind, "and once we're no longer worrying about Marley invading or Titans, we should go explore."

"Explore?"

"You know, just go on a vacation that's just us and doesn't have a motive other than just spending time with each other."

You had previously been at Marley for a few months, and although you appreciated that time, it still felt like work. You found yourself longing for a true vacation, one with no strings attached, where it was just you and him. Where you didn't have to be a soldier scouting out enemy territory, and where he could be just Levi.

He was quiet as he listened to you speak. His eyes never left you. He watched you walk as the wind swept through your hair and he found his gaze softening as he imagined the day in which you would be able to go on that journey together.

Levi sighed to himself as he opened his eyes again as that memory faded. He was standing in that same field of flowers. The waterfall and river was still flowing in front of him. The pollen was still making his nose annoyingly itchy.

However, instead of having you next to him, he only had the memory of you to hold onto—that, and the makeshift grave he had made for you to memorialize you.

You had fallen during the raid in Liberio and they were unable to recover your body. As a result, he was forced to make a grave for you that involved some of your old mobility gear and the Scout insignia on your uniform jacket that you had worn before the Scouts transitioned to their new uniforms.

His eyes fell on the symbol that was supposed to depict the wings of freedom, but that wasn't what his mind was processing. He was pulling up the memory about the very first time that he laid his eyes on you.

He remembered that night being absolutely filled the terror, with everyone's fears accumulating together as the town attempted to flee from an incoming Titan attack. He saw you and that your eyes were filled with tears, but also with anger and determination.

Levi tried to get you out, as he did with every civilian, so he could clear out the Titans, but you refused his help, continuing to ramble about destroying the Titans yourself.

He thought you were an annoying little shit at the time, but now he longed for the opportunity to place his eyes on you for the first time again, no matter how irritating you were to him at the time.

He longed to go back to the night you first met. He longed for the first time you touched, the first time you kissed, and the first time you took that step to officially be intimate with each other. He longed for all of those things that were now nothing but memories.

At that time, he had all of you and that was more than enough for him. You were the one place that he could call home. He didn't have to mask in front of you. He was safe to explore who he was outside of Humanity's Strongest™ when he was around you—but now he had none of you.

Levi Ackerman felt a void that he could not get rid of. It made him feel like something was stuck in his throat that would cut his breathing off from time to time. He felt like he was holding his breath, waiting for good news that he knew wasn't coming.

It was better when he was working or thinking about the war, but the down time in between was absolutely miserable. He found himself commonly coming to the graveyard that he had made for you. Some small part of him had hoped that if he came here enough times, it'd get easier for him to pass the time.

It didn't.

I don't know what I'm supposed to do.

He couldn't move on. He couldn't bear the thought of never seeing or thinking about you again—but every time he came back, he was in agony.

Levi was haunted by the ghost of you. He felt you everywhere he went. He felt you next to him during those restless nights. He felt you whenever he would get home to an empty house.

It was partially due to the guilt he resented himself for having since he couldn't save you. Of all the people he swore to protect, he could not do it for the person that mattered most to him.

He grieved the fact that there were so many things he wanted to say to you that he couldn't get himself to—and now it was too late.

He had spent weeks waiting for news regarding you miraculously surviving, but he knew the truth. He had known the whole time that you were gone—he just didn't want to admit it until now.

Levi sighed as he sat down in that field of flowers in front of the grave he had made for you.

It was getting late into the night. It was dark and quiet. If he shut his eyes, he could imagine you breathing next to him, relaxing in that field that you had shown him on that one day that he had now imprinted into his memory. The rushing of the waves masked the silence and allowed him to imagine you whispering to him to wait for you to come home and to hold onto hope.

He didn't want to leave that moment—even if he knew that it ultimately wasn't real.

im sad #: @chaotic-on-main @romantichomicide95 @lovolee3 @svftackerman @levisbrat25 @leviismybby @idkks4m @moonmalice @elnyrae @sleepyfairyxo @averysmolbear @cathybarn @tclbts @belovedackerman @bejewelledd @fuyuluvr @sad-darksoul @levis-squishy-cheeks @roseofdarknessblog @aam1na @luvjiro @noctemys @sixpennydame @dumbfound-princess @ackermendick

[jasntodds]

Caving In [4]

Pairing: Gar Logan x Fem!Powered!Reader, Jason Todd x Fem!Powered!Reader

Words: 7,625

Chapter Warnings: Swearing, a nightmare, fluff, hurt/comfort, some paranoia, mention of torture, mention of abuse, Dick tries to kind of have “the talk”, Jason and reader argue (we all know sometimes Jason is an asshole, this is the only time this kind of argument happens btw), mentions of bruising and swelling, a mention of drug addiction, mentions of death

Summary: ❝Tell me Atlas: What is heavier, The world or its people’s hearts?❞ You never expected your life to end up this way, turned upside down by an infamous Gotham villain. It’s been a living hell, every single day, until Dick Grayson brings you to Titans tower where you meet Gar Logan and Jason Todd.

A/N: I’m really excited to post chapter 7 just so you guys know lol This feels kind of like a filler but this is the only one that feels like it I think?? I might try to post chapter 5 this weekend because of that lol I am easily motivated to post more often when I get feedback 😂 The first few chapters take place between season 2 episode 1 and season 2 episode 2. You can add yourself the tag list below, ask me to be tagged, or you can follow my library blog @jasntoddslibrary​ and turn on notifications if you prefer that!!

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Nightmares are a funny thing. They’re rarely anything realistic once you’re able to be calm enough to think about them. But they always contain some type of fear or traumatic event someone has experienced. Sometimes, it’s not rational or there is some deep hidden meaning behind the nightmare but other times, it’s just from trauma left unhandled. Those nightmares are the worst.

They make you revise the worst times of your life over and over and over like a broken record. No matter what you do, you lose in the nightmare. Years later, you might be happy and healthy but the nightmare comes back and you feel like you’re right back where you were. Trapped in the never-ending agony. Trapped inside a tilt-a-whirl made of panic attacks and broken hearts. And every single night, it’s a living hell.

And that’s where you are now, living your own personal hell with screaming so loud your throat is raw and ragged breaths beg your chest to finally cave in. The flashes of your “foster dad” scar the back of your eyes with every blink, like Freddy Krueger clawing his way to the surface. You might have escaped him physically, but mentally you’re trapped like a bear at a circus. Your hands shake as tears well behind your eyes and as the panic rages through your veins, the anger sets in. And you’re so mad that you’re allowing this piece of shit to haunt you even in your sleep, somewhere you might just feel safe. How are you ever supposed to be safe from him if you can’t even sleep? What if he finds you? What if, somehow, your nightmares are just a sign he’s coming after you? What are you supposed to do then? What if he has powers and that’s why he’s coming to finish you off?

A million what-ifs scramble through your brain as you sit in your bed, the bedside lamp still on. You get out of bed and it’s not even like you’re walking. With every worst-case scenario running through your head at once, you’re just moving through motions to exit your room. You need to make sure he isn’t here, need to make sure everyone here is safe from him, that you’re safe from him.

Your hands go up, right in front of you, slightly outstretched as if waiting for you to run into him. The palms of your hands glow green, ready for any type of attack you might come across in the secure tower while you tiptoe your way out of your room.

“Y/n?” A groggy voice from the right pulls your attention as you were just about to walk down the hallways. You jump and spin quickly, the glow of your hands intensifying in the dim light of the hallway. “It’s me.” Gar defends quickly, putting his hands up. “Gar?” His voice is still groggy but full of fear as he glances between your hands and your face.

You could see him with the dim lights of the hallway and the green glow of your hands but it still didn’t click, not until he said his name. You aren’t sure where your head was but a part of you is scared because of it. You were so lost in a state of fear and urgency to make sure everything was safe, you were blinded. It’s a bit terrifying. 

You lets out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding, dropping your hands as the green fades. “Fuck, what’re you doing?” You whisper-yell at him.

Gar takes a few steps towards you. “You were screaming.” He whispers back to you. “I heard you so I came to see if you were okay.”

The walls aren’t thin but Gar is pretty sure your scream could have woken up anyone. It was loud and pained, etched in terror. But, that’s a thing that happens here from time-to-time. Everyone has a habit of occasionally waking up screaming. It’s either childhood trauma haunting them or new trauma from Trigon. Gar figures that’s why no one else got up. They’re conditioned to be used to it.

You watch him carefully as the panic starts to cloud with feelings of regret and guilt. You didn’t realize you had screamed loud enough to wake anyone up. That’s not fair to anyone, to be woken by someone who can’t handle their own shit. And then to be standing out in the middle of a hallway at the crack of dawn with sleep still in their eyes talking about it. You look to the floor, shifting your weight on your feet and chewing on the inside of your cheek.

“Are you….okay?” Gar asks, coming a little closer.

When you fell asleep on him earlier, you looked peaceful. Normally, you kind of always have this look of fear. Your eyes always seem a little distant and you look behind whoever you’re talking to a lot. You don’t make eye contact for longer than a few seconds. But while you slept, you looked at ease and peaceful and calm, like you didn’t need to look over your shoulder anymore but then you shot up out of nowhere. Gar knew it had to have been a nightmare. He reacts the same way when he has one, maybe everyone does but he knows the signs. Wide eyes, ragged breathing, distant but sleep-filled eyes. And now, you’re awake again from a nightmare and it doesn’t sit right with the kind boy with green hair.

You nod. “Y-yeah.” You offer a fake smile. “You, uh, you can go back to bed.”

“Are you going to go back to bed?” Gar asks with a pointed look and he doesn’t want you to be alone. The shadows are a bit more haunting when you’re alone.

“Uh….I mean….eventually.” You answer softly, dropping your head slightly.

“I can stay with you until you fall asleep if you want.” Gar shrugs his shoulders, putting his hands in the pockets of his pajama pants.

You raise a brow at him, not looking pleased with the idea. You don’t want to inconvenience him or seem weak. You’re in a tower full of heroes and you can’t even sleep through the night. The last thing you want is for any of them to see you as the weak link. What happens if you can’t pull it together? Will they just drop you because you’re not strong enough?

“It-it’s okay.” You  don’t smile this time, you just keep chewing your lip, pulling your sleeves over your hands, something Gar has been noticing you do.

“What were you doing out here?” Gar asks, his voice kind and not accusing but you shake your head, knowing it sounds ridiculous. “I won’t tell anyone.” He offers and there’s this sweet but subtle smile pulling at his lips.

Jason, a few hours ago, told you to talk to him. He said maybe it would help and the only way he’d know that, is if Gar knows Jason’s baggage, too. Jason doesn’t seem the type to wave the white flag and spill all of his secrets. Maybe Gar just cares about everyone and maybe it will help.

You sigh and cave. “I-I-I was….was just making sure….uh….he wasn’t….here.” You stutter but eventually get everything out and a part of Gar’s heart breaks at hearing it. 

You aren’t looking at him, a sense of shame consuming you and Gar is not about to have you feeling bad for worrying that the person who tortured you is seeking you out in the one place you feel safe. It’s not fair and it’s not right. Gar knows whatever you went through was horrible but the fact you’re so worried that the person is in the tower? It’s unfathomable.

Gar starts walking past you, stopping a few steps ahead of you and offering you his hand. “We’ll look together.”

You look at his hand and then up at him with his words and you can feel your nose getting warm while your eyes burn. Your entire face softens and there’s something about the offer that makes you feel like everything in you is being warmed by a fireplace, warmed by a place one can only describe as home. He didn’t think you were crazy or that it was ridiculous or stupid. He just…offered to help.

So, you put your hand in his, following him through the tower.

As you walk, you hold his hand tightly noticing the soft callouses. His grip is tight but in a comforting type of way and he glances at you every few seconds as if making sure you’re okay. You walk from room to room, turning on the lights and verifying there isn’t anyone around before you end up in the comms room with the supercomputer. Gar takes a seat and shows you that everything is still secure and there hasn’t been a break-in. Everyone still needs their fingerprints to get in and the front door is done by facial recognition. According to the logs, no one has been in or out of the tower since nine the night before.

“I’m sorry.” You say quietly, standing to the side of Gar with arms crossed and eyes on the large screen in front of you. “I know this was stupid.”

Gar spins in the chair to face you but your eyes don’t move. “It’s okay, ya know? You’re scared and this is a new place. It’s not stupid.”

“It feels like it though, I-i-i….I see him anytime I close my eyes.” Your voice is so small.

You think maybe you should take Jason’s advice fully. Gar is awake with you anyway and you woke him up. He could have gone back to bed but he walked with you instead, knowing full well there wasn’t an intruder in the tower. It’s like you owe him some type of explanation.

“Foster dad.” You clarify. “He’s originally from Gotham, too, ya know? So him being a complete psychopath kind of tracks.” There’s a sharp bitterness in your voice but you keep your stare off of Gar, afraid that if you can see the look on his face you know he’s giving you, you’ll just shut down and go to bed.

“He just…did that to you?” Gar asks with furrowed brows and pain in his voice.

“Yep, he wanted powers. Some weird thing against Batman and Robin so he used me because ya know, the system doesn’t actually give a fuck about most foster kids.” You grit your teeth, your fists balling in your arms. “Then thought I was concealing my powers from him because he was certain his experiments were working so he’d try to literally beat them out of me.” You shrug a shoulder. “Guess he was right.”

Gar pauses, piecing it together. He was sure you would have tried to use your powers, but you didn’t? “Wait so….you never used your powers around him and—“

“Let him beat me until he thought I was dead?” You ask, just glancing at Gar long enough to see him nod. “Yep. If he knew it worked, he’d have killed me anyway. Letting him think he failed was…” You tilt your head side to side slightly. “Vindicating in a way. I, uh, I know it sounds so stupid but I was desperate to try and get out. Desperate people do stupid things."

“I’m so sorry that happened.” Gar’s eyes are glued to you, hating the idea of living through that.

He was tortured before and it haunts him every single day. He wasn’t even tortured for very long and it’s still hell. You were tortured for a lot longer. He gets your hesitance and your paranoia. He’d be paranoid, too if he were you.

“Yeah….” You sigh. “So, I might have escaped physically but the piece of shit really isn’t leaving my dreams alone, I guess.”

Gar sits on it for a few seconds. While he was kind of this weird experiment in a way, Dr. Caulder knew it would work and it would save him. He never had to fear for his life around him. He feared speaking up and being himself because sometimes the doctor wasn’t very nice. He didn’t really like other people being their own people, not if it contradicted what he believed or wanted. So, he can’t even fathom want horrors haunt your mind even in safety.

“I can check the tower for you every night if you want.” Gar offers. You jerk your head in his direction, surprise etched across every crease of your face. “And uh, if you have a nightmare, you can wake me up. I leave my door unlocked anyway…if it’ll make you feel better.”

“Y-y-you’d do that?”

Gar gains a sheepish smile as he shrugs. “Yeah, of course.”

You will never tell Jason, but maybe he was right about telling Gar. You feel a little better about it and he’s so nice. He’s offering to lose sleep when you have a nightmare which could be every night. You wonder how he’s chosen to be so kind despite whatever he’s been through.

“Thank you.” You look to the ground and then finally look at Gar. “Can you not tell anyone? Please?”

He chuckles softly. “Your secret is safe with me.”

“Thanks, it means a lot.” You suck in a breath. “Well, now that I know my delusions are just delusions, I’m gonna try and get some more sleep.” You give him a genuine smile this time.

“I’ll be up if you need anything.” Gar says, turning back to the computer to exit out of the security system.

“I’m so sorry.” You apologize again. “I didn’t mean to keep you from sleeping or anything.”

“It’s okay.” Gar assures you. “I should be getting up early anyway.”

“Okay.” You nod, offering him a closed and small smile.

It’s six now so Gar’s alarm would be going off in an hour anyway. But, you’re still going to go to bed. He didn’t hear you go to bed the night before and it was pretty late when you woke up from the first nightmare.

“What, uh what time did you go to bed anyway?”

“Uh….” You squint an eye, trying to remember the last time you looked at your phone. “Four? I think?”

“Wow, okay.” Gar’s brows raise quickly as he chuckles softly.

“I-I got talking with Jason last night so…” Your words fall off. “Couldn’t sleep and I ran into him.”

Gar nods slowly, ignoring the tint of a burn in his chest. You talked to Jason but not him? He’s been so nice to you and he feels like you trust him. All you do with Jason is this weird banter thing that Gar is slowly realizing maybe it’s flirting. Not that he’s actively trying to pursue anything because that doesn’t feel right either. But something about you talking to Jason, hurts. He’s always deemed himself a trustworthy person who’s a pretty good listener but you went to probably the worst listener on the face of the planet. He doesn’t really get it and he knows he has not right to assume you would tell him anything. Above everything else, he’s just surprised you got talking to Jason.

“What’d ya talk about?” Gar plays it cool, not digging but just asking.

“Uh….nothing really, I guess.” You lie and it’s at that moment you realize you lie a lot. Not that you intend to, it just feels like an instinct now either to protect yourself or other people. “I mean…not nothing.” You correct yourself. “Some of what happened in a very unserious manner.”

Gar nods his head again and you might be a little dense but you’re not so dense that you missed the way he stiffed in his chair. “Did it help?” He asked.

“Well, I, uh, I felt better after but then I had a nightmare so….not sure how much talking about it really helped.” You scoff as you roll your shoulders.

“Is it because it was unserious?” Gar asks, quoting your direct word.

You shake your head. “Nah, always been better with unserious ways of talking about trauma. When it gets too….emotional I don’t….” You look to the floor, tugging your sleeves over your hands. “I don’t like it very much, like it less than I usually do, I suppose.”

“You can talk to me.” Gar offers, looking back over to you.

“I know.” You smile at him softly, it’s almost a smirk that forms. “Can you get a little snarky and nasty about it?”

“Would it help?” Gar chuckles, his position loosening with the question and the burning sensation in his chest starting to dissipate.

“Yeah, you can’t give that look you do. With the big eyes and sad expression, makes me feel weird.” You scrunch the left side of your mouth upwards.

Gar laughs softly, putting his hands up. “Okay, I’ll try my best.”

“Thanks.” You look around the room and then back to him. “I do like talking to you and hanging around you. You make me feel comfortable here.” You admit and then realize you’re saying way too much. “Okay well, that’s enough for today. I’m actually going to bed.” You smile at him and it almost feels like you should hug him or something but that also feels like it might just get awkward so you opt for a small wave as if that wasn’t just as awkward.

“Sleep well.” Gar laughs softly, matching the wave with burning cheeks.

You finally get some much-needed rest, without a nightmare. It wasn't a lot of sleep by any means but it was a lot more than you’ve gotten in a long time and for the first time, you actually feel well-rested. You aren't sure if it's because you talked with Gar about what happened a little bit or if it's because you knew he was awake and wouldn't let anyone in your room if they tried. Or that he helped you look around the tower for Jerry like two crazy people. Maybe it's a combination of everything but you feel a lot better.

You find yourself walking into the kitchen once you’re fully awake, still dressed in pajamas. Your thing has always been you shouldn't need to get properly dressed if you aren't actively doing something or going somewhere. Why bother dirtying clothes?

When you walk into the kitchen, Gar and Jason are sat on the barstools while Dick is making some type of shake, Rachel is just coming in from the opposite hall. The boys look a little sweaty, devouring their food like they haven’t eaten in days. You assume they’d just gotten done with a training session and, apparently, were too hungry to shower first.

"Good morning." Dick chimes, bits of sarcasm in his words given it just being past noon.

You pause, glaring at him. "You're one of those aren't you?"

"What?" Dick chuckles, confusion in his face.

"Thinking the early bird gets the worm or whatever." Your voice is flat and you might be well-rested and it might be the afternoon, but you’re not a morning person.

Dick shrugs. "It's true."

"But the mouse gets the cheese, my guy." You give him a thumbs up, moving to the seat between Jason and Gar and sitting down. Gar gives you this gentle smile while Jason has this proud smirk pulling at his lips. "What?" You look at Dick who looks somewhere between amused and contentment.

Dick is looking at you with a sense of ease and accomplishment. He thought you’d be more...closed off longer. This is a new place, you’re traumatized and hurt. But, you seem comfortable, using sarcasm with him that isn’t hurtful and plopping down right between the boys whose expressions did not go unnoticed by Dick. Dick feels like he might be doing something really good here.

"Nothing." Dick's face settles with amusement. "Settling okay?"

"Mhm." You hum.

"Since she doesn't shut the fuck up, I'm sure she's fine." Jason states, his voice trying to sound menacing.

Gar and you look to Jason with annoyance. "You have not shut up for a single second I have been here and this is day three. You had no complaints last night." You look away, Dick looking between the two of you with his cup held to his mouth. He doesn’t even wanna know.

"You were whining, I wanted you to shut up and it worked." Jason mumbles and  you let out a laugh. What is his issue?

"I don't whine, I complain. There's a difference." You hold your pointer finger up to correct him and Jason cracks a smile, Gar chuckles into his water bottle.

"Same shit." Jason fires back. "You could stop."

You roll your eyes and that's when the idea sparks. Jason isn’t winning this, this is your game to win. "Hey, Dick, question: What's your rule on dating? Ya know in the tower?"

Jason and Gar both stiffen in their seats, you catching it out of the corner of your eyes and it takes everything in you not to burst out laughing or break the stare you have with Dick. Gar is choking on his water and Jason's cheeks are turning red while Dick is stuck looking at all three of you wondering how the hell he got here. The last thing Dick wants to do is discuss this. Of course, he knew there was a chance of something going on, but he kind of assumed it would just happen. He didn’t think he’d get dragged into it, not like this at least.

"She's screwing with you." Rachel says from the other side of Gar. You give Dick a wide smirk, Gar and Jason looking a little displeased, Jason more than Gar who almost looks disappointed.

"Of course she is." Dick lets out a breath, his expression unamused. 

"Sorry, you were a necessary casualty in getting Jason to shut up for a few seconds." You hold an apologetic smile.

Jason flirts a lot and in your experience, if you bring up dating out of the blue, it’ll shut someone like Jason up faster than anything because it’s out of left field. He’s caught off guard and it gets his brain going on if there’s something going on. You think it’s funny, you’ve won this bit.

"Well, since you wanted to bring it up..." Dick starts and all four of you suddenly look like you need seatbelts.

"No, not the talk, please." Gar begs with a groan.

Dick grimaces. "No, of course not. I trust you all know about that." Even if you didn’t, Dick isn’t sure he’d be able to give the talk. He’d call Donna and Dawn. They’re the responsible ones.

"Some of us more than others." Jason quips with a smirk.

"Gross." Rachel mutters.

"Dude." Gar looks past you and at Jason, shaking his head at Jason.

"Anyway, uh..." Dick fumbles for words, realizing he never had any intention of this conversation which was his fault given the Titans past of relationship in the tower. "Just make sure everyone is consenting and be safe?"

"You sound so uncertain about that." You raise a brow as your words are slow.

"I don't know how to have this conversation." Dick defends.

"We don't have to." Gar is grimacing in his seat. "We know, safety and consent, got it." It’s not that Gar is a prude, it’s just awkward and he’s not much of a fan of awkward conversations. If it were just him and Dick, it wouldn’t be awkward, but it's everyone.

"Don't bring drama into the training room or while we're out."

"Obviously." Rachel says, already tired of the conversation.

"That won't be a problem." Jason mutters.

You rolls your eyes at him before looking back to Dick. "You're doing great, bud." You give Dick a thumbs up.

"That's it. I don't care, don't do anything.....graphic..."

"God." Gar groans, making you laugh. But, everyone has gathered this look of disgust on their faces with Dick’s choice of words. "Please, stop talking." Gar pleads.

"In a public area of the tower." Dick continues.

All of your faces contort into a grimace, even Jason’s. That is such an odd and specific request. You did not think this is where that joke would go. You didn’t think it’d go anywhere, let alone here.

"I feel like there's a very specific reason you said that and I don't wanna know." You laugh. "I'm sorry, I didn't think he'd decide to have this conversation." You apologize to the room.

"And what did you learn today?" Dick asks, not too happy about feeling like he had to have the talk with the new Titans.

"You want me today something like pick my words more carefully next time but...I think I just learned not bring up interpersonal relations with you in front of other people." You scrunch your nose.

Dick lets out a sigh. "Well, are we clear then?"

"YES." Gar yells, dramatically. "Can we stop now? This is awkward."

"Come on, Gar. Surely this isn't new territory for you." You kick Jason under the counter. "Ow! What the fuck?"

"Shut the fuck up." You snip at him.

"Yeah? And What are you gonna do about it?" Jason looks you up and down.

You narrow your eyes and for a second you think about what you could do. You could give him a burn, something equivalent to a rug burn. But, that’s not right and you’d never actually try to hurt him, not like this. And you can’t punch him because that also seems a bit extreme. He’d probably see it coming anyway, block you, then hit you back.

"That's what I thought." Jason scoffs with a look of pride as he’s won.

You shove him with your hand, Jason falling off of his chair. He hits the floor with a thud, looking at up at you with a twisted face filled of anger and shock. For someone who can't fight and who's injured, you’re ballsy. Jason could fight you right now and you'd basically be defenseless but Jason wouldn't do that. He knows where the lines are when it comes to physical contact and he doesn't cross them. He crosses a lot of lines, but fighting people who can't fight back isn't one of those. So, he's even more pissed about it.

Jason gets back to his feet, closing the distance between him and you. "What the fuck is your problem, huh?" Jason yells in your face, Gar adjusting in his seat, ready to get up at any point and Dick is ready to step in if he needs to.

"You are, apparently. Why do you have to be such a fucking asshole? For no reason? Aren't you friends?"

"He doesn't need you to come to his fucking defense. I was fucking joking." Jason snarls, looking just past you at Gar before looking back at you.

"Right." You mutter. "Except it's obvious the whole conversation has made him uncomfortable so why don't you go cool the fuck off. You obviously need to." You sit straight in your seat, your face close to Jason's and you’re not backing down.

"You shoved me!" Jason flings his arm out in frustration.

"You asked me what I was gonna do about it! So I showed you!" You bark at him. "What are you gonna do about it?"

A dry laugh escapes Jason's throat and he doesn't want to actually fight you, but you’re making it a little tempting right about now. "Is that all you fucking have?" He taunts you instead.

"Wanna test me?" You open your palms, holding them just in front of your shoulders as they glow. Jason looks at the green and he doesn't get how people with powers are so willing to use them. He doesn't need powers. He's got his fists and those are plenty.

"Because you're just another freak, right?"

Gar gets off his seat at that comment, pushing Jason slightly and standing in between you and Jason. "Dude, go calm down. It's not that serious." Gar keeps his voice level, trying to diffuse the situation.

"You a team now, huh?" Jason looks in between you.

"Jason, come on. Cool off for a few minutes." Dick keeps his stance, choosing not to crowd the already heated area.

"Fuck you guys!" Jason yells, pushing past Gar and heading down the right hallway.

Gar sits down again and Dick's position relaxes with Jason out of the room. Gar's just surprised it went as far as it did but it's also Jason. He has buttons and pushing them sometimes leads to blow-ups. Jason is still his friend but sometimes, he really does not make it easy and this is one of those times. He doesn't understand why Rachel and now you are freaks but somehow Gar is never a freak. He has powers, too and as far as he's concerned, turning into a tiger is far more freakish than whatever you have going on. And he always acts like it's your fault, somehow. Rachel was just born like that, no one gets to pick their biological parents. And Gar and you were injected. How is that right? It hurts a little because Gar knows that if they weren't friends, he'd be the target one of Jason's freak rants.

"Is that what everyone meant by I'd get used to Jason?" You ask the room.

"Yeah." Gar answers and Dick nods. "He does that sometimes."

"Interesting." You hum quietly, your hands shaking slightly, Gar taking notice.

"Are you okay?" He asks, looking between your hands and your eyes.

"Oh..." You quickly move your hands under the countertop and tug your sleeves down. "I'm, uh I'm fine." You fake a smile at him.

It's not that you really thought Jason might hit you, him hitting you over a shove didn’t even cross your mind. You don't really know if he's the type that gets mad and hits people, you don't really know him at all. But, you'd think that would have been a warning from someone if that were the case. It was more that you don't like getting yelled at apparently. It wasn’t an issue before Jerry but, now it seems to be another trigger.

"He wouldn't have hurt you." Dick assures you, as if reading your mind.

"Jason doesn't hit people here when he gets mad, just yells a lot." Gar assures you, following Dick's lead.

"I didn't think he'd hit me." You tell them with ease. "Got that throbbing thing in the back of my head when someone's going to." You remind them. "And I just...I'm not scared of him. Guess I just don't like being yelled at when someone is in my face." You look to the counter. "I'm fine, honest."

"Are you sure?" Gar asks.

"Yeah." You give him a soft smile. "Thanks though. I'm gonna eat." You get down and find a bowl in a cabinet, moving around Dick.

"Okay, I'm gonna go check on Jason then, make sure he's cooling down." Dick gives Gar a look and a nod toward you. Gar nods in response while Dick leaves to find Jason.

You make your cereal while Gar watches you. Your hands are still shaking and he feels bad. It's not his fault that Jason blew up because it's Jason. He blows up at everything but Gar could have defended himself. It's nice that you did. He's never had someone defend him like that but it got you yelled at by Jason and after you had, what Gar assumed to be, a pretty nice conversation the night before. He just worries about you.

"Hey," Gar starts as you take your seat back next to him. "Wanna do something today?" Gar asks.

You furrow your brows at him, before taking a bite of your cereal. "Like what?"

"What'd you wanna do?" Gar shrugs, figuring maybe you should be the one to decide. He just wants to hang out with you.

"Mmmm." You hum and think for a second. "Dye my hair." You chuckle softly.

"That's what you wanna do?" Gar asks.

"Mhm." You hums. "Always wanted to and you have green hair, Rachel's hair is purple." You shrug.

You just want a change. This is a big change, being at the tower but that doesn’t have anything to do with your appearance. You like how you look but you want something different. Your mom never let you dye your hair even though you really wanted to. This place, this place allows you to do that and to change something about yourself. It’s a way to take control of something. The way you see it, with all the bruising and swelling, you don’t look much like yourself anyway. Might as well change the hair, too.

"Okay." Gar beams at you. "We can go get whatever dye you want today and I can help. I'm not sure how much help I'll be but maybe we can get Rachel to help if you want." Gar rambles off and he seems so energetic and happy about it.

"Uh..." You stutter. "Okay, yeah that'd be fun. Thank you." The smile you give him is wide and filled of joy.

"What color?"

You tell him your favorite color, beaming at him. "Always thought that hair was cool." You smirk at him.

"We'll go when you're done eating." Gar gets up from his chair. "I'm gonna shower first."

"Have a blast." You grin to yourself, going back to your cereal. "Meet me in my room after?" You look back to him and he nods with a cheery smile before turning on his feet, and quickly heading down the hallway. "He's so cute." You say to yourself, going back to your cereal.

After Gar's shower, he met with you in your room. You were already dressed and ready to go, you even asked Rachel for help when you got back which Rachel was more than happy to help. Once Gar was ready, he was the one that asked Dick for some money before you left and off you went with Rachel, you feeling more comfortable having both Gar and Rachel with you. You realize how great it is that Rachel was willing to help because you never would have gotten something everything you needed.

When you got back, Gar and you met with Rachel in a bathroom. Rachel got everything together and get to work with your hair. You explained to Rachel that you still wanted some of your natural hair color but the majority of it to be dyed. Rachel understood what you were explaining while Gar seemed a little confused.

As Rachel helped with your hair, the three of you got talking about past lives. You all avoided all talk about trauma and tragic backstories and instead talked about your favorite movies and shows, music. If you'd ever been to a concert, the best places you've ever eaten, random stories about family and friends you had before everything. And while these conversations are going on, there's warmth and comfort that consumes you.

This is the longest you’ve gone without thinking about how your face looks or how your body is sore or Jerry. It's just the three of you and you feel so at home because Gar and Rachel make it so easy. And you wonder if this is what real friendship feels like.

Sure, you had friends before your mom died. But that was then and this is now. You had a small circle of friends but only one that you really relied on and could tell anything to. But then your mom died and it all got so messy and heavy. You couldn't inconvenience even your best friend with your problems over it. Your best friend never really understood the person you started to become after. Vengeful and spiteful and angry. And desperate and cold and detached. It struck like a hurricane right through your friendship.

You couldn't handle anything and you were always running from CPS. What kind of friend would you be if you endangered your best friend's mom by getting in trouble with CPS? You knew it was only a matter of time before they threatened to take your best friend away if they didn't give you up. At least, that's how you always saw it. It was always such a big fear and you couldn't put them through that, on the chance it did happen so you just left one day and never came back. But you weren't a very good friend then either.

You had all these plans of hunting down the Joker and even though you'd probably die, too, hunting him down would have made it worth it to you. To look him in the eyes and just try to hit him or shoot him, if you had a gun anyway. You knew you would never make it out alive and that was something you deemed to be okay because you didn't have anything worth living for anymore. Your dad went off to choose drugs over you, your mom died, your best friend not knowing how to handle anything. A suicide mission seemed like a pretty sweet deal at the time. But, now you’re here with Gar and Rachel, in this bathroom getting the hair you’ve wanted to try and maybe you have more worth living for.

"Okay, what do you think?" Rachel asks, shutting the blow-dryer off, proud of the dye job she's done.

You look in the mirror and your face lights up. Stripes of the color consume the majority of your head and you could not be happier in this moment. "I love it!" You squeal before turning around. "Thank you!" You hug Rachel quickly before turning back around and there's a sweet and amused smile on Gar's face.

"It looks really good on you." Gar's smile turns shy as you look to him.

"Y-you think so?" You asks, your stomach swirling with his words.

Gar nods. "Yeah, I like the color." Gar’s smile is the softest thing in the world.

"How cute." Rachel giggles before cutting it short as Gar looks at her with wide eyes. "It looks good, yeah." Rachel agrees.

"Thank you." You look at yourself again and you’ve never had this hair before, but it makes you feel more like yourself. It's probably the self-expression it's allowing you to have but you really like it. "And hey, now people will have something else to look at that's not my face." You laugh softly.

"You're face looks good, too." Gar says so quickly, you and Rachel barely catch it, but you do and you both look at him with raised brows. Rachel looks in between you and Gar, waiting for something to happen. This is the most entertainment she's had since they got to San Francisco. "I mean..." Gar stutters. "The, uh, the bruises and stuff, they're healing."

"Mhm." You hum with burning cheeks. "Thank you, Gar."

Gar feels the embarrassment wanting to eat him alive. He can't believe he said that out loud. Now Rachel is looking at him with knowing eyes and he can't help it. Sometimes, things just come out and then he feels like he has to backtrack and now he's embarrassed even though you didn't seem bothered by it. Which then makes him think he didn't need to add in the last comment about the bruises. Surely, you know he didn't mean just the bruises are looking fine now and the meant your whole face but now he doesn't know and he has got to get his brain to shut up for five seconds.

"There you are." Dick says, looking into the bathroom, the door wide open.

"Yes?" Rachel asks.

"Training room." Dick says.

Gar checks the time on his phone, seeing they were in fact late for their last training session. Shopping with you took a little longer than expected since you stopped for food and were having fun together. Then dying your hair took a while but Dick doesn't seem mad about it.

The three of you follow Dick to the training room where Jason is already waiting, as if he hadn't left the room since this morning. You sit on a bench and watch as you’re not allowed to train yet. Dick mostly supervises after giving them some instructions on what to do and then gives pointers. You mostly watch Gar and Jason.

It's interesting watching them. Jason is clearly the aggressor. You can't tell if it's all his pent-up aggression or if it's just his experience as Robin that makes him the aggressor but you find it interesting nonetheless. Gar and Rachel seem to work together to go against Jason even though they're all supposed to be working against each other. Gar works more on a defensive tactic, going for Jason after Jason comes for him or while Rachel has him distracted and that's when Gar gets a hit it. They're being trained by the same person but they fight differently and it seems to match their personalities.

Dick walks over to you as the other three continue to spar. "Like the new hair." Dick compliments you.

"Thanks, Rachel did it for me." You beam up at him.

"Feeling more comfortable?"

"Yeah..." You sigh. "I give you shit 'cause it's fun but I think I'm gonna like it here. Thank you again for taking me in." You say candidly. You make a mental note to thank him regularly for it.

It warms Dick's heart to know his efforts mean something. He just wants to be the mentor he wishes Bruce was and he just wants to help. It seems to be working, with you and Rachel and Gar, jury is still out on Jason. But Dick knows Jason will not be an overnight success.

"Good, I'm glad." Dick offers you a smile before walking back to where he previously was.

The rest of the training session goes by, Gar and Rachel going to you when they had a water break and talking. Jason opted to be by himself, Gar noticing the concern on your face and assuring you that he'll be calm and be over it the next day. But it doesn't quite sit right for you. You don't want him mad at you, you do like to mess with him in a fun banter way, not him being pissed at you.

You like to push people's buttons but you’re not too fond of people being actively mad at you. If there's a line you aren't supposed to cross, all someone has to do is tell you and you'll respect the line. You aren't about making people unnecessarily uncomfortable or mad. But you nod along with Gar anyway and eventually training ends. You stay behind with Jason, Gar hovers a little more than he would given the events of the afternoon but he does eventually leave the two of you alone.

"So, you gonna stay mad at me forever?" You ask as you walk over to Jason who's seated on a bench, getting a drink and ignoring you. "Come on," You groan. "Can you not handle a shove from me?"

Jason glares up at you. "Just shut up." He groans.

"Nope." You sit next to him, your leg touching his. "I'm sorry I shoved you." Jason's brows furrow at you and he doesn't think anyone has apologized to him since he's been here, for anything. "Honest, I should have left it alone but I provoked you further than I should have." You are sorry for it. Sure, Jason owes you an apology, too but you can apologize first. 

"Sorry for what I said." Jason mumbles, swallowing his pride.

He never wants to hurt someone's feelings, not really. In the moment, absolutely but then after he feels horrible about it. He hates when other people make him feel weak. You shoving him from his seat, it made him feel weak and he hates it. It’s how he’s felt his entire life. Weak. So, when he feels weak or when someone pushes the wrong bottom, he just starts talking and going off. It just flows out of his mouth before he can even think about it. It's not an excuse, he just can't help it and he is sorry.

"To you and Gar." Jason lets out a sigh.

The corner of your smile pulls up. "I forgive you."

Jason glances at you and he can’t stay mad at you. Normally, he’s very good at holding grudges. He still has a grudge against a kid who pushed him down a slide when he was seven. He’s very good at holding grudges but you’ve got this smirk that says you’re up to no good and this look in your eyes that sends this electricity through his blood. He can’t explain it but he can’t stay mad at you.

"Did you still wanna train tonight when everyone goes to bed?" Jason turns his head towards you, twitching his brows up and the grin starts pull at his lips. 

"If you're still willing."

"Someone's gotta show you how to do more than fucking shove someone." Jason scoffs but a smile pulls at his lips as he chuckles softly.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, got powers now and never had issues on the streets, okay? People happen to like my quick wit and quips.” You lightly nudge him with your shoulder. 

"Yeah," Jason chortles. "That's why no one fucked with you.” Jason nods his head and lightly nudges you back, not believing you.

"I'd like to think so, yes.” You hold your head up with pride and Jason has this genuinely kind smile on his face. “What time, boss?”

Jason shakes his head. “Midnight. Everyone is usually in their rooms or asleep.”

“Okay, I'll meet you here then." You smirk at him as you get up and lick your lips. He knows deep down he doesn't have a shot with you but his stomach burns with the thought of you. You get under his skin like no one else and he hates to admit it but he really likes it.

"Don't be late." Jason quips, his voice taunting.

You shake your head, turning around to face him again. “Shut the fuck up.” You laugh softly. “I’ll meet you here at midnight, on the dot.” You widen your eyes, mocking him before exiting the room.

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