#5 chapters are waaaay too short to tell the story I wanna tell

[animemangasoul]

You Have A Home With Me

Summery: Tim takes in a meta human kid and tries to keep him a secret from the rest of the batfamily until his team gets back. It doesn't go as well as he'd hoped. And with an entire criminal empire after the kid, it's all Tim can do to keep it all under wraps and away from the media's attention.

Characters: Tim Drake, Batfamily, Young Justice

Chapter: 4/?

Tim doesn’t know when he fell asleep, but he wakes up to a sharp ringtone piercing through the air. He startles. Eyes flying open as he almost stumbles off the sofa, where he’d apparently fallen asleep without knowing. “What the,” he mutters, yawning loudly and sluggishly pulling himself back on his feet. ‘Did I set up an alarm?’ But no, that ringtone.... It was his phone and-- “Shit!” He exclaims, practically throwing himself over the coffee table to snatch up the ringing object. “Hello,” he says, voice catching due to his dry throat. “Who-”

“Tim.”

A single word.  

He blinks, now wide awake. “Bruce?”

“Where are you. The meeting is about to start.”

“What?” Shit shit shit. Stretching out his arm to look at the time, he pales. Fuck.

“T...m... im- Tim...Tim.”

“Yes, yes I’m here Bruce. Sorry.”

“You have less than thirty minutes to get here kid. Be thankful you don’t live far away to make that a problem.”

“I-” Tim gulped, reaching out to hastily scoop up his paperwork and lick his lips. He knew a Bruce scolding tone when he heard it and it wasn’t like he didn’t deserve it. If he hadn’t fallen asleep like an amateur. He wouldn’t have had.... Fuck. “Sorry Bruce,” he said. “I’ll be there in fifteen. I promise. I’ll just take my car and-”

“No need.”

His blood ran cold. Bruce couldn’t... he wouldn’t-- Tim wasn’t even late! Dick had been late plenty of time and sure Tim was the CEO and should be more responsible but he’d been so freaking tired lately and he had a kid now—Well, not a kid kid but a kid he was currently taking care of and he’d over slept butthathardlymeanthewasn’tqualified---

“Tim Tim. Can you hear me? Did you catch what I said?”

Tim couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe and his chest hurt, and it was all kinds of messed up in his head right now, but he forced himself to. Taking a big gulp of air, he tried to steady his beating heart before pressing his phone against his ear again and humming softly. “Yeah, yeah. I hear you Bruce.”

“Good,” his father said, an edge of frustration in his tone. “Dick is coming to get you. He’ll be there in ten. Be ready.”

Dick.... What?

“What? Dick? What do you mean Bruce?”

A heavy sigh. Tim winced. He didn’t want to annoy the man but--

“Dick volunteered to come get you and he’s already on his way. It will cut your time short so hurry up and get dressed.” Bruce doesn’t say anything else, just hangs up and leaves Tim staring befuddled down at his phone.  

He only remains confused for a second though, because the minute Bruce’s words fully dawn on him, pure horror runs down his spine. Because Matt!

“Shit shit shit,” he hisses, finally turning around to look at the sofa. “Matt, kiddo I-”

He isn’t there.  

The kid isn’t there. Tim almost chokes. “Matt! Kid, where are you?” The sofa is empty. His discarded suit jacked the only thing indicating that someone had been sleeping under it. Frantically he paces the length of the room. Looking at every nook and cranny as a mild sense of panic slowly creeps in to squeeze at his heart.

Maybe he’d run away? Maybe he was out there fighting for his life after a bad mugging? Maybe M.E.T had found him or they called him threatening to kill--- Wait wait how would they even know his number, no no, shaking his head, Tim runs a shaking hand through his hair and tries to take a deep breath.  

There must be a logical explanation for this. ‘Stop panicking Tim,’ he silently berates himself. ‘You’re a bat. Act like it.’  

Something had woken the kid up, either somewhere during the night or---

His eyes widen. The phone call! If it had woken him up than surely.... Taking three giant steps forward, he leans down to rest his hand on the empty spot and yes, it’s still warm. Sighing in pure relief Tim fumbles his way around the sofa and rushes to check the kitchen before jogging over to the bathroom. He’s already planning to check the bedrooms, but a soft sniffle from the locked door makes him pause.  

“Matt?”

The noise stops. Tim sighs.  

“Matt, if you’re in there kiddo I need you to open the door and let me see you.”

“No.”

Tim gapes in surprise. “What do you mean no? I need to go soon so if-”

The door suddenly flings open and it’s only thanks to his reflexes that Tim manages to dodge the hurtling wood before it bounces off his forehead.  

“Wow,” he says, arms coming up in a placating manner. “Careful kid.” But Matt is already heaving where he stands. Small hands clutching at his oversized shirt and eyes red-rimmed from what obviously had been crying. “Hey hey hey. It’s ok.” Tim says, falling down to his knees to be closer to his level. “It’s ok. I know the phone call scared you, but it was just Bruce. He’s sort of like my father,” he says, an edge of confusion in his tone even as he explains it to the kid. “It wasn’t them ok?”

“Don’t.... go.”

“What?”

A glare and the kid takes a step back and ok... Tim could fix this.  

“It’s work related,” he says slowly. “I need to go in to present this project I’ve been working on with the tech department and it’s not gonna be for long and I’ll be back before you kno--”

“Don’t go.”

Tim holds back a sad sigh. “I can’t do that kiddo. You know that. Me staying here raises all kinds of red flags and my brother will be here in a few--”

“NO!”

The sudden outburst is so startling it takes Tim a second to even process it in his mind before he can physically snap his mouth shut and stare befuddled at the blonde child in front of him, who is now crossing his arms, lower lip sticking out and glare of utter suspicion swirling in his eyes.  

“I have to.”

“No.”

“Matt-”

“No!”

“Please understand-”

“I won’t let you!”

And... Tim is so fucking tired. So so tired. He’d been up for a week trying to uncover M.E.T’S scheme before he could make the mistake of signing a long term contract with them and he’d been helping both Dick and Jason with their respective cases, coupled with the Wayne Enterprise Project and looking after the workload of his Titans teammates, he was running on empty. Burrowing energy from future weeks in fact and now Dick would be here in less than ten minutes and Matt... Matt just wouldn’t understand! He just-

“Look,” Tim mutters as gently and as softly as he can. “I need to go Matt. I promise to call and--”

“NO!” And this one is a roar. A pure, angry, furious roar and Tim snaps.

“Enough!” He’s standing before he can even think, frustration making his fists curl “Just stop being a brat for one damn second and listen to me for once!” and.... and... it’s only when he sees the wide, frightened rabbit eyes staring up at him from a too pale and bruised face that it all sinks in and his stomach drops. Oh no. “Matt I-”

He doesn’t even get the chance to finish his sentence before something invisible is shoving him away, hard and the door is slamming shut.  

No no no no.

He hears a whimper. A low keening sound that is so terrifyingly pained, his heart stutters to a stop.

“Matt! Matt! Kiddo, please open up. I didn’t mean to yell! Matt!”

Nothing.

He feels bile rise up his throat and dizziness overcome him. He fucked up. He really, truly fucked up and now.... What the hell was he supposed to do now?

Frustration didn’t excuse yelling at a traumatized kid. It didn’t excuse anything. So what if he was tired? Everyone was tired. It didn’t make Tim special, and now he’d probably irrevocable damaged the little trust he’d build up with the kid and oh my God. Tim was the absolute worst. No wonder Bruce didn’t take him seriously. He couldn’t even take care of one ten years old without screwing it up.  

Matt was crying damn it. Matt had been crying, Tim should have focused on that more than his own annoyance. The kid had been crying and what did Tim do? Scream at him.  

“Matt, please?”

Nothing.

He feels a silent itch building up behind his eyes and he can’t cry. Tim hadn’t cried in years. He wouldn’t show that kind of weakness. ‘The strong pray on the weak my love,’ his mom had said; cold fingers brushing away his tears with a softness that she rarely exhibited. ‘Never allow others to see your weakness. They will use it against you. Always.’

Tim swallowed. Gave himself a full thirty seconds to calm down and then stood up. Raising a fist to knock on the bathroom door but hesitating at the last second. “Matt?” Silence. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. I was wrong. I shouldn’t have raised my voice at you, and I promise to do better from here on out.” Silence. His shoulders slump.  

Maybe the kid just needed time. Maybe Tim could call Bruce back and ask him to let Tam take over the presentation for him. She knew the project almost as well as he did and he was sure if he sent her the details she’d somehow manage to pull off a miracle. And....

Tim had hated being left alone. He’d hated it every second of the day and not even following Batman and Robin around had filled the aching hole of abandonment in his chest. So, him more than anyone should have known... He should have known. Matt needed him and he hadn’t even listened.  

Yeah, ‘I think I’ll call Bruce and arrange something else.’ It raised a funny feeling in his stomach when he thought about what Bruce would say when he again managed to let him down, but he would make it up to the man. Take on as many projects as needed to earn back his trust. Yeah, he could do that. For Matt, he could do that.

But then, just as Tim thought he couldn’t feel any worst.

“Babybird! You in here!” He froze. “Babybird! Timbo! We came to pick you up!”

We? Tim shuffled down the hall almost in daze, slowly reconstructing his face into the blank emotionless husk he’d come to assume in front of his family. “Dick,” he acknowledged when he finally stepped into the livingroom, an artificial smile pulling at the corner of his lips. “Demon spawn,” he added, smile dying down a bit. “What’s he doing here?” he asked, turning fully to face his smiling brother. “Bruce said you’ll be the one picking me up?”

“Sorry babybro,” Dick said; happily bouncing up to him but not flinging his arms around him like he used to. Tim didn’t know whether he missed the casual affection or not. But his heart stinging momentarily gave him an answer he still wasn’t ready to accept. “Dami was let out of school early so I thought why not catch two birds with one stone!”

“We would not even be here if your incompetence wasn’t inconveniencing father Drake. Perhaps I ought to take over the company sooner than expected.”

Tim looked down at him, unimpressed. Yeah, no. Tim wouldn’t be calling back Bruce anytime soon. Hell would freeze over before he let the gremlin see him struggling. Matt.... Matt would have to understand, just this once. Plus, cancelling now, while currently being faced with his brother and his demon pseudo-son, they would surely be suspicious. Tim couldn’t afford suspicion. Not when Matt’s life was on the line. He swallowed thickly. Utter guilt churning in his stomach just thinking about leaving the kid alone and distraught. But what else could he do?

“Give me a second,” he said to Dick, all but ignoring Damian. “I need to change clothes and I’ll be with you in a minute.” Dick only smiled and waved him away.  

“Anything I can do for you while we wait?”

A flat out no was on the tip of Tim’s tongue, but he paused. “Tidy up my files for me?” he asked eventually, trying not to react to the softer smile sent his way. “I’ll only be a minute.” He doesn’t listen to the tirade of insults Damian heaps at his supposed incompetence and rushes to quickly get changed before Beelzebub decides to make changes to his speech or something.

Dressed in a new suit, head combed perfectly and red business tie dangling from his neck, Tim hesitates in front of the bathroom door. One hand pressed up against the wood and teeth chewing at his lips. “I’m sorry,” he mutters against the doorframe, afraid his siblings might hear if he speaks any louder. “I’ll leave a phone outside the door and it has my number on it so call me if you need anything ok?” He pauses, hoping to hear anything from the kid, but nothing. He sighs. “Just be safe ok? I’ll try to come back as soon as possible.” Dropping the phone on the ground, he allows himself a tiny bit of hope of receiving a response, but again, silence.

With nothing else left to say, he straightens out, heavy heart lodged between his ribs and casually struts back into the livingroom. “Ready?” he asks, and Dick enthusiastic nod doesn’t do much to lift his mood.

They are out the door, down the elevator and walking to the car when Dick makes a tiny noise of exclamation before he stops and startles looking through the plastic bag he’d somehow been holding this whole time without Tim noticing. “What?” Tim asks, pausing in his hurried steps to look back at his brother and Dick makes a triumphant sound and extends a thermos and a sandwich in his direction. Tim stares at him, making the other shrug. “I thought you might have not eaten so,” he says, shaking the plastic wrapped sandwich in his direction. “I hoped you’d appreciate this. It’s your favorite,” he adds on almost as if unsure and.... sometimes, sometimes when he does stuff like this, it’s when Tim remembers why he loved him so much.  

Tilting his head, Tim smiles; it’s small but sincere this time. “Thanks Dick.” His brother only grins.

But just as Tim is about to take the God sent food out of the elder's hands, he stills.

“What?”

“Drake quit stalling we need to go!”

“Wait here,” he says, and he’s off, even before either of his siblings can talk. Pressing the elevator door impatiently and jumping in as soon as it descends.  

The minute he makes it upstairs he rushes into the kitchen; shoes and all and practically flings open the fridge. Snatching up the milk before scouring the shelfs for a bowl, and at soon as he finds it, he picks up two different cereals. Balancing his loot all the way to the still closed bathroom door, he knocks at the wood gently with his foot. “Matt,” he calls out, slightly out of breath. “I need to go now and I’m sorry about our argument and for shouting, but I’ll just leave cereals out here ok? In case you get hungry and stuff and you decide you don’t wanna leave the bathroom and... Yeah. Just... there is milk and oh shit.”

Getting back on his feet after putting the breakfast food down on the ground, he rushes back to the kitchen and opens the second drawer, riffling through it until he gets his hand on a spoon before jogging to the bathroom again. “I forgot the spoon, but I got it now, so you don’t have to drink the cereal or anything. So here.” he says, placing the spoon in the bowl and taking a step back. “I need to go now.”

No sounds come from the other side and Tim finds himself wishing that he could just stay. “Bye Matt.”  

And with those last words he leaves the silent apartment and heads to work.  

End

@miss-choco-chips , @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen anyone else who want me to tag them please let me know and thanks for reading everyone :)

-----

God Tim just breaks my heart. He has so many issues that raises red flags and he’s still just a kid himself and I don’t know why I make him suffer so much because of it. And fyi, being tired and exhausted and rundown is an excuse for having outburst sometimes (as long as they are not violent and you know you did wrong and try not to make that sort of behaviour a habit)

[unnaturalsolace]

Summer 2019 Anime

I passed the 3-episode limit for this season, so I figured it was time to talk about what I’m watching and what I dropped. 

CONTINUING FROM LAST SEASON:

Kimetsu no Yaiba: Still loving the anime, still my favorite manga (as you could probably tell). Aside from that episode 13 (you know the one), it’s still been a great adaptation, especially since this is where things really start to pick up in the manga. I am literally just counting down the days of the week until Saturday arrives, no joke. And I really do think a season 2 is possible since the manga sales have picked up a lot, although I don’t know how anime sales look like yet. I am sooo hyped for all the pillars to appear!!

Amazing OP, amazing ED 

Fruits Basket: Also loving this adaptation as well. I think they are doing a really good job, especially with some of the details (I reblogged a post before about Yuki and Kyo’s anger marks that actually started out as animals). I actually got into Fruits Basket more than a decade ago, and it was pretty much my favorite manga until KnY. So the fact that they’re both getting adapted at the same time is pretty awesome for me. I never watched the first adaptation, and I probably won’t tbh. 

Comfy OP1, comfy OP2, comfy ED1, comfy ED2

CURRENT SEASON:

Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo.: I’ve been reading the manga and it was interesting so I decided to watch the anime as well. Adaptation has been great as well, everything looks really good. As for the story itself, I liked the manga at first, but the scanlations haven’t gotten that far so I don’t know much beyond what’s aired so far. However, I have heard that there’s some NTR in the future so I’m not looking forward to that. The manga only has one chapter left so we’ll see how it all ends I guess. But I think overall it tackles some good themes, although I feel too old to relate to them lol.

Bem: This anime kinda reminds me of Gegege no Kitarou, mostly just the supernatural aspect. I did end up dropping Kitarou at some point, and I feel like I’ll probably do the same for this one. It’s been okay so far, but nothing special I’d say. And it seems like every time there are supernatural protagonists, the human characters are always relatively dumb.

Amazing OP

Cop Craft: This is a nice buddy cop anime I suppose, although one of the MCs looks like a 13-year-old which is a liiiittle weird. So I really hope the MCs don’t end up together. The story is a bit cliche but I think I’ll continue watching for a little while, although I may drop it depending on if my interest wanes.

Dr. Stone: One of my other favorite WSJ manga. I think it’s really hilarious, and I’m liking the science promotion, although I know some people think it’s a little childish. I recently started collecting the manga too. I think the anime has been doing a good job with all the expressions, and the manga has a lot of great expressions to look forward to. 

Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru?: I read Kengan Asura (which is also getting an adaptation) and I heard this was by the same author, so I decided to check it out. It’s actually quite fun! I tried doing some of the exercises myself but I got really lazy and gave up after a few days lol...but it did motivate me for a little bit. I think it is definitely very educational (edutainment?) and also funny.

Very catchy OP

Enen no Shouboutai: I read some of the manga, although I think I dropped it like a year ago or something. I also read the author’s previous work Soul Eater, and I feel like these are both kinda...meh. I dunno, I feel like something is missing for me to like the manga. There’s not a lot of memorable characters, and my favorite (that I remember) is probably Arthur. Also the series has some really dumb fanservice, so that’s definitely gonna come up a lot in the anime. (Where’re all the anime DUDES with lucky lewd syndrome? I wanna see a guy trip and accidentally shove his ass in someone’s face, c’mon.) I’ll keep watching for now for Arthur, but I have a feeling I might drop this in the future too.

Given: I remember reading 1-2 chapters of this, then I guess I forgot about it. But I am liking the anime so far, it’s got a good sense of humor and hooray for more BL anime! I’m liking the characters, although I hear there’s some drama in store for the future. But it’s pretty comfy so far.

Comfy ED

Kanata no Astra: I read the manga since it’s a pretty short series (5 volumes). Overall I thought it wasn’t bad. I think my problem with this is how someone else put it: the idea and plot are good and serious, but the execution is rather childish. But it does get better later (from what I remember), and the climax is good. However, the resolution is just waaaay too easily settled. Kinda spoilers, but all the bad guys are just taken care of like an unimportant afternote. I guess the focus was more on the interpersonal relationships, but the manga was way too short for that to be really effective.

Nakanohito Genome [Jikkyouchuu]: I think I was pleasantly surprised by this. I went in expecting another death game/survival anime, and I got a rather funny show that isn’t taking itself too seriously. And even though there are 8 main characters, I think it’s been doing a good job of making each of them unique in a way. Also there is a tsundere boy, and tsundere boys are always the best characters (Exhibit A: Kyo). I really don’t know what direction this show will go in tbh.

Tsuujou Kougeki ga Zentai Kougeki de Ni-kai Kougeki no Okaasan wa Suki Desu ka? (AKA Okaa-san Online): I started watching this because I saw a funny clip. I think that overall it’s pretty self-aware of what genre it is, especially with the latest episode and the hot springs. But I definitely can see that it dips into pandering here and there. Personally there’s too much mom-pandering for me (and she can be real overbearing, but the show doesn’t seem to count that as a flaw and kinda portrays her as without any faults), although I guess that’s the point of the show. I’m more interested in the other characters, and I hope it stays self-aware. I hope it stays a wholesome mother-son relationship with no actual serious incest vibes...I like that the son is actually worn out by the incest moments without any blushing or anything.

Comfy ED

Vinland Saga: A good manga, and WIT is doing a solid adaptation. Not really sure what else to say except that the animation is great, and I’m looking forward to Thorfinn growing up. I’ve been keeping up with the manga weekly, but I haven’t reread it, so I’m kinda fuzzy on most of the early stuff (although I remember major events). 

DROPPED AFTER ONE EPISODE:

7Seeds: I remember this was a great manga (and Basara was too), but I kinda stopped reading a couple of years ago. I think it actually ended recently? I tried picking my interest back up with the anime, but the direction of the first episode was just so weird that I had to drop it. I mean, I read it, so I kinda knew what was going on, but for people who haven’t, it was probably confusing as fuck. I have no idea why they directed it that way, what’s wrong with just following the manga?

Ensemble Stars!: I wanted to give this a try because there are some great doujinshi out there, but I am honestly not that into idol anime (I think Idolish7 was the only one I ever finished). I’m not really into otome anime as a whole, it just makes me feel old.

Toaru Kagaku no Accelerator: I used to like Accelerator as a character, but I never got into the whole Index franchise. I tried giving this a shot but I think my interest is gone by now.

So that’s what I’ve been watching the summer, hopefully some of you guys feel the same about some of these. Just wanted to give my 2 cents on some shows, and also advertise great OPs and EDs.