#Bruce being torn because: that’s a kid but that is also my mom

[noxcheshire]

I just think

It’d be really neat if Danny looked more like Martha Wayne than Thomas Wayne.

LIKE

I love the Danny Fenton looks like Thomas Wayne or Danny Fenton is Thomas Wayne reincarnated — but the BEAUTY of Martha??

Of Alfred interacting for under five minutes with Danny, dabbing his eyes and going, “That is indeed Martha,” I WANT IT. I want Martha who was spunky and sassy and wanted to do good for her town the same way Danny wants to do good for Amity Park.

I want Martha who loved to take Bruce and the family out to star gaze because her baby had never seen the stars before, and the way his eyes light up like a mini galaxy takes her breathe away the same way that Danny feels when he turns his head up to the sky yearning for something he knew loved but doesn’t know what.

I want Martha who would literally find trouble in a paper bag because she can’t help her curiosity the same way Danny can’t help tripping over his own ghostly tail and making a mess of things before he figures things out.

I want Martha who would fight men who thought they held power, going absolutely feral from stress the same way Danny does when he’s tired of not being able to do his homework or pick up a vacuum against the wall to clean because ghosts.

I want Martha who loved the pearl necklace that Bruce had picked out for her birthday, and Danny reaches towards his neck and startles when his fingers only touch skin when he is certain there was something supposed to be there. I want Danny whose eyes linger on whites and pearls when he passes by open window stores in the mall, fingers itching to flick a nail against the smooth surfaces.

I want Martha who died bleeding underneath the hand of a gun, hoping to everything above that her boy would be safe, and Danny whose body burns at merely looking at the makeshift guns his parents create in the lab, his heart pounding desperately with a yearning to save there was someone she wanted to save the ghosts.

[ghost-bxrd]

Hey! I was the anon asking about your thoughts on Bruce being a bad dad (or really just closer to who he is in recent times) and honestly I just wanted your thoughts on it, so thank you!

I also love reading batfam fics where Bruce is a father that loves his kids and believes everyone can be redeemed regardless of whatever crime they may have committed: that’s honestly the Batman I like reading about bc thats what got me into his comics. But it gets complicated when I read fanfiction that uses stuff like UTRH as part of the fic’s lore and then just glosses over Bruce nearly killing his kid to save the Joker, bc that’s very uncomfortable to think about. It’s hard for me to believe that Bruce and Jason are cool when Jason now has the experience of his throat being torn open by his ‘father’ (bc I wouldn’t call someone like that my parent), and our last glimpse of him being his body crumpled to the floor in a pool of blood. Like thinking about how much had to happen between then to ‘now’ in the fic takes me right out of the fic bc that’s just what mentions of times Bruce was a bad father do to me 😭

I prob could’ve worded that more succinctly and shorter but as you may notice I expand a lot on my thoughts lmao. But if you do think up any prompts on Bruce being a complicated father in regard to Jason’s rule over Crime alley, please share!! I’d love to read them and MAYBE write something if the creative juices start flowing

Side note: Good mom Talia is my life blood. Like the struggle of trying to raise her children in such an unforgiving environment where she’s been trapped since SHE was a child OR in a place that, while not actively harming them (in a League where Ra’s isn’t evil), isn’t giving them the opportunity to shine the way she knows they could. Good shit.

Very valid. Everyone’s got their own preferences regarding tropes and world building 💚 and I can totally understand the batarang incident part. Jason should be pissed about it. Rightfully so. On the other hand I refuse to view this part as canon because the Batman I know would never and I steadfastly refuse to write this part as anything other than an accident/misunderstanding in every single fic ever lmaooo

Hehe I’ll try to come up with some complex parent Bruce Wayne prompts soon, so keep an eye on the corresponding tag ✨

And y e s, good mom Talia is awesome. Talia’s life hasn’t been easy but she’s trying to make the best of it and carve out her own little space of happiness for her and her son, and upon realizing that it’s still not enough immediately prioritizes her son’s safety and wellbeing to send him to live with Bruce. Something I imagine would be absolute agony for any loving mother. 🥺

[bougonia]

Hi!! I saw your AU post and it sounds great!!!

I’d love to know more, especially about character dynamics? You said you had a little.

Also does Cass ever meet Tim or Jason before they enter the hero/crime lord scene through Steph? (Or otherwise?)

fdnjsafl thank you for asking!!! i have. a lot.

so once steph picks of the mantle of robin dick finds out and he's Not Pleased. but he doesn't blame her because she's like fourteen years old and dick is 20 and has started to reflect on like. whether him becoming robin was actually a good thing or not. so he's having complicated emotions about the whole thing but he's not necessarily feeling replaced. probably helps that she isn't a boy that looks uncomfortably similar to him.

he's kinda sorta repaired his relationship with bruce in the intervening robinless years but things are still awkward and this doesn't help. but eventually (after teaming up with steph to save bruce probably) he's like okay this is gonna happen whether i'm here or not so he becomes an additional mentor figure to her, both in vigilante and civilian life.

eventually dick meets jason and tim and jason is like. what the FUCK is this grown adult man doing hanging around my baby sister. absolutely hates his guts. thinks he's a total creep.

tim, on the other hand, knows he's nightwing and just like gloms onto him with a kind of awkward hero worship thing. but nobody knows he knows about their secret identities so everyone is just like "??? why are you so obsessed with him" and dick is like. there's something wrong with this kid. finds him endearing though.

this causes tension between tim and jason. even more so after tim reveals he knows batman's identity (to steph and bruce and dick) in order to get batman to save his parents, and then when that fails and his mom is dead and his dad is in a coma, he gets taken in by bruce wayne. this is post-cass though.

as for cass, yes she does meet jason and tim! her arc is based around her trying to heal from her past as essentially a living weapon.

initially bruce is like. kind of scared of her and keeping her in the cave and not sure what to do with her since he's torn between "she's just a kid" and "she's incredibly dangerous"

steph is like. she's a teenage girl. grow the fuck up. and sneaks her out to do normal people shit. eventually this includes meeting jason and tim.

jason can tell that there's something Up with cassandra but he doesn't know what, and as far as he knows they met through dick so that doesn't help their whole thing. but he also can tell she's kinda scared of him and he doesn't like that so he tries to be good to her and show her that he's a safe person.

cass can tell that jason's got a lot of anger in him and she isn't sure where that anger is going to go. she's afraid it might be directed at her, and she feels she would not be allowed to defend herself. but at the same time she can tell he cares an awful lot about steph and tim so she has mixed feelings.

tim saw when she first met batman and that she beat him in a fight so he's a little freaked out by her at first. batman is still more of a mythical figure than a real person to him, so anyone that can beat batman is scary.

cass can tell that tim's unsettled by her and she honestly finds it kind of comforting. she's like yes this guy gets it! she feels like she's pretending to be a person when she doesn't fit into the world like other people do, and while she really likes steph for being kind to her, she isn't sure she's capable of being what steph would like her to be.

tim warms up to her as she starts to heal (helped by alfred and steph bullying bruce into letting her stay in the house, dammit) and they become close

anyway! that's like. a good chunk of the au, i hope you found it interesting! thanks again for asking :)

[ambelle]

Your response to my ask (and your podcast which I loved BTW) reminded me of something. I don’t know how I forgot in my analysis of DK - their daughter showing up in the penultimate episode of Titans S3 … Mar’i manifesting (in addition to how Dick was shown to treat his other relationships (Babs and Dawn) throughout the series) speaks volumes to what Dick wants and feels about Kory. More so than the use of the term “family” in S3. The family with Dawn in the Trigon trial in S1., on the surface seemed ideal, but was purposefully overshadowed with Dawn’s true feelings for Hank and Dick’s underlying feelings for Kory (that he still hasn’t dealt with). In Dick’s purgatory he not only came to terms with his guilt for failing his Father (John Grayson) which allowed him to forgive himself for who he had become as Robin, and prevented him from becoming Nightwing. It also highlighted Dick’s desire to be a Father, not just a father-figure. Dick is (at heart) a family man, and he wants to have that family literally and figuratively with Kory. Family is the reason he got tangled up with Rachel in the first place. It’s also why he didn’t object to Kory and Gar joining the party. He took on Jason (Bruce’s stray); Rose (Deathstroke’s daughter), Conner and now Tim. In the interview with Anna and Rotten Tomatoes Brenton called it a directive. To reiterate your point, how people are claiming that DK have had no build up or Mar’i isn’t significant, earned or plausible is just devoid of storytelling comprehension. Holy Context Clues Batman!

Yes! And I swear I wouldn’t be so rude about this point if I didn't find the blatant dismissal of Mar'i so offensive. This is the first live action Mar’i. A character the comics erased from existence and never mentioned again because they are busy dragging her parents romantic history through the mud in order to prop up Batman/Batfam. Just because she didn't immediately lead to him professing his love to Kory doesn't mean she doesn't matter. 

As it turns out Mar'i is a person not a plot device and in terms of race, which I'm only bringing up because the fandom insists on bringing it up, claiming a little black girl is useless if she doesnt help move a particular plot forward is what sounds racist to me. She saved her dad from his own downward spiral and she represents his future with Kory but she is also an innocent child who deserves love and respect. I frankly don't think Dick was ready to be a father until the very moment he finally let go of his past. Kory couldn’t be a mom while still not knowing herself and being torn between two worlds. Now makes sense to show Dick what he can have if he allows himself to have it.

And I agree family and fatherhood has been a constant theme in Dick's character journey. First time we met him he was beating up a man for abusing his daughter and when the cops ask him to speak with Rachel they say he's good with kids. It's a thread that's been there since the pilot.

I think sometimes people only measure romance by how many sex/kissing scenes there are and you will never be able to convince them building trust and friendship is an important part of a relationship too. So I'm no longer going to try. I'll enjoy s4 Dickkory all by myself LOL

[loyalshipper]

May I introduce the Tumblr DC community to one of my two favorite Batfam AUs I have created. Bruce Wayne owns a hotel/museum near an ocean cliff and still has a chronic adoption problem but doesn’t fight crime. (If anyone writes this you can make it to where heroes still exist, the Batfam are the inly no capes)

WE still exists but it isn’t run by Bruce it is run by Lucius because back in the 60s Thomas and Martha bought the hotel and wanted that to be their legacy. They still die the same way but Bruce puts all his efforts into running and blossoming the hotel which was his parent’s dream project.

I’ll get back into the hotel in a minute I’m taking about the kids now

Dick is gotten a similar way, he visits the Cape with Haly’s Circus, his parents die because of faulty wiring sold to the circus by Zucco and Dick becomes an orphan. Bruce just so happened to use his one night off in a while to go see the circus. He keeps thinking about Dick and ends up adopting him. He helps Dick and the Circus bring Zucco to justice and sues the hell out of him and shuts down his business. (Adopted at 8))

Jason was found living in one of the shut down rooms of the hotel. Because his dad left and was in prison and his mom od. So Bruce treats him like a wild animal and starts to leave food out on a regular schedule until Jason gets comfortable with him and he adopts Jason. (five years younger than Dick)

Tim was the son of two wealthy archaeologists who were gone 11 out of the 12 months. Bruce met Tim because he liked to come into the museum and take pictures of the museum exhibits and hotel architecture and shoreline which he would develop and give copies to Bruce. So he opens his house to this little boy with a penchant for photography. Until one day Tim’e parents call Tim telling him that they are staying in Egypt permanently because the archeological dig is producing wonderous results and they’ll be hiring him an around the clock sitter. Only for Tim to wait three weeks and no one shows up. They went so far as to fire Ms. Mac but never hired a sitter for their son. So he goes to Bruce in tears and explains everything, because this is it-his parents finally did abandon him, and Bruce sues them for custody of Tim. (Three years younger than Jason, adopted at 7)

Damian was the result of a relationship Bruce had in college while studying hotel management and hospitality. Talia is the daughter of a hotel conglomerate owner who is currently trying to buy Bruce’s hotel so it can be torn down and Ra’s can built a new hyper expensive hotel in its place. Damian was sent to live with Bruce to try and get Bruce to have Damian inherit the hotel so Ra’s can get it and destroy it, but that backfired because instead Damian falls in love with the hotel and his new family (reluctantly) and wants to see the hotel and museum flourish, not tear down this historical piece of architecture to replace it with a soulless hotel only available to the wealthy elite. But something available to everyone that families vacation to because there is so much history and beauty in a thing that has stood for centuries. So Damian turns against Ra’s. Due not that while Damian and Tim do have a sibling rivalry it is not as vicious and cutting as it is in canon. They love each other they just don’t mesh well while in the same room. And yes, Damian still has his variety of pets (7 years younger than Tim)

Cass came to the hotel with her “father,” David Cain, who went to the Cape for business, and just ended up leaving and forgetting Cass at the hotel. He was still abusive and Cass had trouble speaking but he wasn’t “turn Cass into the world’s greatest assassin” abusive. After Bruce finds Cass, he sues Cain for parental custody and then ruins his life unrepentantly. (Couple of months older than Jason)

After Martha and Thomas died, Alfred took over managing the hotel while Bruce was still growing up and while he was getting his degrees, now he is the grandfather to Bruce’s many kids and helps to keep them running and cared for while they run and care for the hotel. He’s also the one that helps the new kids transfer into the life of running a hotel.

Barbara is the daughter of the Police Comissioner still who became friends with Dick and works, first part time at the museum/hotel and then full time. Same with Steph and Tim (1 year older than Dick)

Cullen and Harper work at the museum, Helena works at the hotel. Carrie does both. Duke is the newest acquisition. Only, his parents disappeared and no one has been able to find them yet. So Bruce currently had temporary custody of Duke who lives at the hotel with everyone. (Harper is a year older than Tim, Cullen is a year younger than Tim, Carrie is the same age as Jason, Duke is a few months younger than Tim)

Each person has different jobs. (Dick is concierge/check-in, Jason does guided history tours of the hotel/museum/grounds, Tim works in financials because he deals with the least amount of people, Helena, Carrie and Steph are both maids, Carrie also does janitorial stuff with Cullen, Barbara works hotel check-in with Dick, Barbara and Harper work cashier at the gift shop, Duke doesn’t have a job yet because he is still dealing with the disappearance of his parents, Damian does every job to see where he fits in best.

JARRO IS THE FAMILY PET STARFISH THAT TIM ADOPTED WHEN HE FIRST JOINED THE FAMILY AND RESCUED FROM BEING EATEN OFF THE BEACH

The hotel is still fully staffed with not-batkids, like grounds keepers and other hotel cleaners and janitors.

Location time!

I’m turning Gotham nicer and changing the geography of the city.

The hotel Museum rests about 200 yds from a cliff that overlooks a beach. There is a well maintained stair case put into the cliff for people to walk down, as well as a longer gravel path that follows the cliff edge down to the shoreline. It is frequented by seals, sea lions, and in the distance, dolphins and whales. The hotel it’s self has about 100 or so acres of land and a long drive but it is technically within walking distance to the city. And it’s a normal coastal town with a port and touristic areas. Kinda eerie at night when the fog rolls in but that’s part of the charm of the NorthEast.

Selina is just Bruce’s friend in this. She is Helena’s mother and Bruce was a surrogate for her. She decided she wanted a baby and Bruce offered to be a donor. So Selina had Helena and Bruce is part of her life but not as her dad, which was the agreement. Selina takes care of the stray animals on the grounds and favors the cats.

Clark is a reporter that was tasked to right an article on the hotel and it’s history, became good friends with Bruce and brings his family (Lois, Jon, Bizarro, Kon, Kara, Lena, Chris, Ma, Pa, and Lex) on vacation to it every year. Lex and Clark are divorced husbands that left on good terms and are friendly enough to coparent their son, Connor, who was made the same way as canon but less hush hush and illegally, Kara is Clark’s cousin and Lena is her fiancée, Lois is his wife, Jon and Bizarro are their two biological sons (Bizarro has autism), Chris is their foster son. Bizarro latches onto Jason in a way that he hasn’t before and always loves coming to the hotel, Jon and Chris are best friends with Damian, Connor and Tim are long distance dating.

Collin, Maya, and Maps are Damian’s best friends from school (Damian has a crush on Collin) and he’s trying to convince them to join the hotel staff like his siblings’ friends but they are a) too young and b) not interested.

Roy has all of his problems as in canon and gets help for it, so as a way to try and bring the family closer, Oliver and Dinah arrange a vacation to the hotel for them Roy and Lian. As a stepping stone kind of thing. Get away from daily stress. Roy is resistant at first until he and Jason hit it off and start talking and Jason talks sense into him and they strike up a friendship turned romance.

The Flashfam visit the museum diring a countrywide roadtrip and mad the stop because Bart is a history buff and wouldn’t stop talking about it the entire trip. He becomes fast friends with Tim and is the only person to ever get a Tim Wayne history tour. No matter what Kon tells you he is super salty about it. Wally and Dick were internet friends and used the roadtrip as a way to be able to meet up.

Thad is the obligatory complainer who doesn’t want to stay in a musty old hotel.

Ivy is the main grounds keeper and is in charge of the native wildlife sanctuary most of the land is used for, as well as taking care of the native plantlife and lives in town with her girlfriend, Harley. Harley helps the kids prank Bruce.

Harley is a children’s psychiatrist hired by Bruce to help the kids deal with their various traumas. Her coming to the hotel for sessions is how she and Ivy met.

They started dating between Dick and Jason and Dick talks up each of them to the other, but each individual kid that comes in think they’d be cute together (since they are both professional while working there isn’t immediate proof that they are dating. But they will flirt with each other if they see each other) and it’s basically a right if passage to try and convince their siblings to help them get together and then try and set them up on their own and find out the hard way that they’re already together. They love seeing all the different way the kids try and set them up. They tend to go along with it until either the kids realise or they take pity on them.

Their favorite was Damian’s where he set up an entire romantic dinner at the hotel restaurant and Dick managed to slyly convince him to set it on a certain day that turned out to be Harley and Ivy’s anniversary.

Alfred is the head chef for the hotel, making room service meals and the breakfast buffet line up. Jason will help him out if he isn’t busy with other things.

Victor Fries and his wife hold an ice cream social ever summer at the hotel with all the ice cream flavors they came up with over the last year.

Edward Nygma, famous escape room designer, is hired to make an escape room themed on the hotel and museum that is built on the grounds near the main building.

Another ritual that starts, begins with Tim, where the older siblings convince the newest one that the hotel is haunted and Jason takes them on a “haunted ghost tour” of the abandoned part of the hotel (the part that is too dilapidated and run down to remodel safely) while the others are stationed at different parts of the hotel and grounds to run whatever scenario to scare the new kid. The only one that hasn’t been done to is Cass because even after several years she still jumps a little too hard at loud noises. But one time Jason accident closed a door a little too harshly while Cass and Tim were doing something and it caused her to jump so hard she knocked over Tim and started crying. They were contemplating whether she was strong enough to do it or not and that cemented that she wasn’t.

Tim and Cass are nearly inseparable and are commonly referred to as the Wayne Twins. For Halloween they decided to go as each other.

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Explaining Batfam lore to my sibling

(and also explaining Batfam lore for people who need a general idea of what’s going on)

Me: I’m meshing together multiple timelines so --

Them: timelineS?

Me: yeah, timelines plural, keep up

~

“The Rogues aren’t really important in explaining any of this but it’s important to me that you know them”

~

“So either Riddler was a guy who became a jewel thief for the gimmick or a guy with split personality where one side had a crush on a very nice lady and the other had a crush on murder”

~

Me: Poison Ivy got mad because Bruce got her lab torn down

Them: ew!

Me: well, it’s more like Harvey Dent got the lab torn down and Bruce was like “that’s my friend!”

~

“Joker is a bitch that fell in acid and then decided to make that his entire personality”

~

Me: Penguin just likes money

Them: good for him

Me, nodding: good for him

~

“Bane had a point about capitalism but then they realized that he did and made him decide to blow up a bunch of people to make him evil”

~

“Bruce was a happy child... until he wasn’t”

~

“Bruce was there when Dick’s parents fell because he was out with Girlfriend Number 454825 and he was like :(″

~

“After a few years of Bruce not figuring out much about the people who killed his parents Dick said ‘know what? Batman ain’t shit’ and then he became Robin”

~

“Babs appears around here and... does stuff. Kinda”

~

“And Dick — sick of Bruce’s shit — went off to Bludhaven, which is just Gotham but a little bit to the left”

~

“Bruce saw this kid stealing his tires and instantly decided to take him in”

~

Me: Jason is super sweet and he genuinely wants to help people because he doesn’t want them to suffer like he did

Them: aw... he dies, doesn’t he?

Me: I’M GETTING THERE

~

"Jason gets his birth certificate and he was like ‘wait a minute, Catherine doesn’t start with an S’"

~

“Bruce gets all angsty after Jason dies and almost kills the Joker for killing him but Superman stopped him because he’s a BITCH”

~

“Somehow Tim, at age 9, was the only person ever to figure out Batman’s identity”

~

“He essentially bullies Bruce into making him Robin”

~

Me: you see, Tim has a parent problem... his problem that his parents are still alive

Them: really?

Me: yeah... anyways his mom dies

~

“Tim’s dad decides to be better dad after his wife’s death. Which is unfortunate because he realizes Tim is Robin and immediately decides to keep Bruce away from him”

~

“Bruce gets another Robin, her name is Steph and she dies within 100 real world days for the crime of... being a Girl and a Robin”

~

“Tim goes back to being Robin despite his dad’s wishes but that’s okay because his dad is promptly killed off”

~

Me: there’s a new player in town and it turns out that it’s Jason

Them: but isn’t he dead?

Me: he’s alive because Superboy Prime punched the world really hard and broke reality, you’re just going to have to accept that

Them: ...

Me: ANYWAYS he’s bitter because Batman hasn’t killed the Joker yet to avenge him and so he decides to kill people that aren’t going to reform... he doesn’t succeed, unfortunately

~

“Steph’s actually alive, by the way, just unimportant”

~

"Alright, a guy named David Cain saw this lady called Lady Shiva and he wants to have a master martial artist for a daughter so he’s like ‘I’m a martial artist... you’re a martial artist... I’m going to kill your sister’”

~

“He raised this kid to be an assassin, do you really think he cared enough about her to teach her to speak?”

~

“Cass kills a guy and then promptly decides she doesn’t like that shit and runs away and ends up adopted by Bruce... because of course she does”

~

Me: Cass is suicidal for a while until Lady Shiva kills her and cures the problem

Them: no!

Me: but then Shiva wants a rematch because Cass wasn’t trying and then Cass beats but doesn’t kill her

Them: yes!

~

“She just kinda vibes with Babs and Steph for the rest of this. I’ll give you three guesses why they aren’t used more”

~

“Now we’re onto the murder child, Damian Wayne. He was raised by the League of Assassins and is Bruce’s blood son”

~

“He tries to kill Tim to get Robin from him a few times but it’s just kinda brushed aside... just like I’m going to brush it aside right now”

~

“Bruce dies and Dick is made Batman and his first act as New Dad Of The Family is to kick out Tim and make Damian Robin which I don’t like but I deal with because Dick and Damian are the cutest duo”

~

“Tim ruins everything between Dick and Damian by bringing Bruce back from where he was trapped in time...  no, I don’t really get it, either”

~

Me: Bruce and Damian are the Batman and Robin for a while but then Damian dies

Them: does he come back?

Me: of course he does it’s DC but first... it is time to introduce The Boy: Duke

~

“Duke and a bunch of other kids decided they were going to help out Gotham as unofficial vigilantes and a lot of them get seriously hurt but they’re irrelevant”

~

Me: I forget a lot of what happens during his plotline but he jumps out of a police car and jumps off a bridge and gets superpowers so --

Them: SUPERPOWERS?

Me: yeah, he makes comic history by being a black guy with powers that aren’t lightning or fire... instead he gets just plain light powers

~

Me: Duke has parents still

Them: do they die?

Me: no, actually

Them: wow --

Me: they go insane because of Joker Gas and try to kill him

~

“Alfred dies via Bane around here but because that’s a stupid decision I’ve elected to ignore it”

~

Them, after I finished: wow, a lot of people died and came back

Me: yeah, I actually left out a bunch of fakeout deaths along the way

Them: YOU LEFT SOME OUT?

[fancyfade]

Do you think Roy would immediately help his friends with kids or spend a good amount of time laughing and watching the chaos first: Like would he be all "my time has come" and be the perfect uncle or be the absolute worst to mess with his friends. Also what kinds of things do you think the new parents would bond over.

I think that he would laugh at them but not for long then he would be 'my time has come'. but also make fun of them. he would keep it up until dinah shows up and reminds everyone he let lian have an (unloaded) gun as a toy for a bit...

at the beginning i feel like they would bond over 'holy shit am i a *real* adult now? saving the world is comparatively easy this baby is too tiny how do i protect it' especially with them having seen the scarier parts of the world on a daily basis

i feel like dick, raven, and kory* would bond over 'wait a minute that WASN'T normal/ WASN'T how you were supposed to treat a kid...' though dick presumably got some of this when he was being batman to damian's robin and he avoided a lot of the mistakes bruce made with him, but i'm not sure raven or kory ever really talked about what unfair decisions their parents/guardians made for them when they were children? like raven expresses some resentfulness at the way that she was raised to be the vessel through which trigon would be destroyed (not to anyone else though) in the forrester arc and how she wishes that she had been prepared for the challenges of a normal life, and i feel like if her kid had any of her demon powers she would be extremely torn between 'it is my duty to make sure the world doesn't get destroyed' and 'holy shit my childhood fucked me up and i can't imagine telling my kid to repress their emotions the same way i was'. then you have kory who was traded away to be a slave in exchange for the war ending and i think if kory ever thought back on that after she had a kid she would just be so horrified at the idea of doing that to her own kid and it may lead to some re-evaluations like... holy shit! My dad majorly screwed me over! Who could do that!

i feel like the people who had extreme expectations on them as kids for one reason or another (raven, dick, kory, vic) would all be torn on how to do this like... for the most part, they would view their training and expectations as extremely necessary, but also it did negatively affect them in some cases... i think vic might in a way be slightly chiller because he did make up with his dad where raven and kory haven’t (well raven with azar and her mom, not her dad) and may not have a chance to ever ... and dick just isn’t gonna talk about his problems to bruce at all period :P but i think vic would be able to both give his kid high expectations and not give them a complex, he would try to avert some stuff that bugged him when he was a kid (like saying you have to do x instead of y) yet also encourage them to be excellent in whatever they do...

i also think that once their kids get to kid-superhero age they would all suffer a crisis of ‘ok we were doing this at their age but also... our babies... ‘ and feel super protective

* (and inb4 I am not saying all of this is at the same level of severity. I don't think bruce is abusive to dick or at least i think he SHOULDNT be written that way but I do think that he has a hard time dealing with emotions and it would lead to dck understanding how the way he dealt with it did not wind up feeling fair to him all the time and he does not want to repeat those mistakes).

[timbourinedrakejr]

Missing you

My secret Santa recipient was @moonlightstar64 !!! I saw you liked Mari being the bio!sibling of one of the Batfam, so I got a bit carried away with this big brother Jason fic, I hope you enjoy it!!! (Part 2 of the gift is here)

@maribat-secret-santa-2020

Jason tapped his foot impatiently on the floor, and gave another over dramatic sigh, which gained multiple glares from his siblings. They were meant to be visiting the Marché de Noël at Notre Dame to do a bit of christmas shopping and get food, and he was starving.

But for some god forsaken reason his brothers were taking ages to get ready, and he was sick of waiting for them. He opened his mouth to give another complaint when Alfred cut him off, sending him a stern glare.

“If you cannot wait any longer Master Jason, I suggest you go on ahead and get something to eat and stop fussing. We will be along shortly.” It didn’t take much else for Jason to get the message, Alfred had had enough of his impatience and wanted him out.

With one short glare at the rest of his (incredibly slow) family, Jason turned and left the hotel, determined to make the walk to the market as quick as possible. It had just begun snowing again, and the sunlight was quickly disappearing, giving the streets of Paris a magical feel.

He would never admit it straight up, but he was actually enjoying the forced family vacation, even if his family infuriated him sometimes. It was the first year he’d ever actually accepted the invitation to join them, and despite all his worries, it’d been going surprisingly well.

The tradition to have a Christmas vacation had started a few years ago, when Alfred had decided that he’d had enough of missed Christmas dinners and that the whole family deserved to enjoy a holiday. Alfred had determined that the best way to fully remove the temptations of working over Christmas, would simply be to forcibly take Bruce out of Gotham altogether. Of course Bruce put up a fuss, and so did the rest of their workaholic family, but there was no fighting Alfred sometimes.

It didn’t stop most of them from bringing cases to work on, but it still gave them all a much needed break, as well as a whole lot of unspoilt ‘family bonding time’. Every year the location of the holiday changed, and this year Paris was decided on. As he walked along the streets, admiring how the strings of christmas lights glistened off the snow, he was glad he’d agreed to come this year.

He really was hungry though, and despite being so close to the market, he couldn’t wait to eat any longer. He spotted a small sign up ahead for a boulangerie patisserie, and the delicious smells and warm glow coming from inside, were enough to tempt Jason in.

As soon as he stepped in, his eyes darted straight to the display case, so distracted by his hunger that he almost didn’t notice how the shop assistance’s greeting abruptly cut off with a gasp.

Jason looked up to see what had caused their reaction, only to stop short himself, as his eyes landed on a girl with two familiar pigtails, who’s watering blue eyes were currently locked on him in shock.

“Jason?”

Marinette had never thought she would see Jason again. Not since she was 11 and saw the headline that had torn her heart in two, the one that had crushed all her hopes of one day being reunited with her brother.

When she was younger, freshly adopted and living in her new home in Paris, he was all she would ever talk about. Her parents would listen with a fond grin as she babbled on in broken french about how cool Jason was, and how much he would love it here, especially the food.

They had been separated after their mother had died, sent to different care homes despite all their protests. When her new parents had discovered that she had a brother, they had tried looking for him, only to find out Jason had run away a few weeks prior. Marinette had been heartbroken, but she knew deep down that Jason was looking for her, and one day they would see each other again.

Marinette had been a logical kid though, so she understood that the chance of Jason finding her in France, was extremely low. At best, Jason would be found and adopted by loving parents who would help him find her (which, knowing Gotham, was very unlikely), and at worst, he would have to wait until he was eighteen to look for her himself. She never even considered the possibility that he wouldn’t make it to eighteen.

Jason was a survivor. He was brave, kind, and always always looked out for her. Her mother had tried her best to take care of them both, Marinette knew that, but most of the time it was Jason looking after both of them. Jason had told her that she’d been the best Mom, before she got ill, and before their dad had made it worse, but Marinette was too young to remember the before.

All Marinette could remember was Jason. Jason was the one who cooked most nights, the one who made sure she was in bed on time, the one who got her ready for school each morning. He’d always try and protect her when their dad was in one of his moods, and always patched her up afterwards, no matter how much worse off he was.

No matter how bad some of her memories of Gotham were, Marinette didn’t want to forget Jason. So she did whatever she could to remember him. She told all her new friends about him, and insisted that her parents learnt how to make all his favourite foods.

She even kept her hair in the exact same style that Jason had always put it in. She’d used to complain that all the other girls had their hair in pretty styles, whilst hers was always boring and let down, so Jason had learnt how to do her hair. Granted, the only style he could do neatly were pigtails, but it was still better than nothing.

Every morning they would sit down, and Jason would brush her hair, making up grand tales for her whilst she sat quietly in awe. Those mornings were some of Marinette’s most cherished memories, so to make sure she never forgot, she got her Maman to teach her how to do them herself.

She wore them everyday, without fail, and would proudly tell anyone who commented on them, that it was for her brother. Marinette secretly hoped that it would also help Jason to recognise her when they were finally reunited.

It was also a habit for Marinette to watch the Gotham news every day. She still missed her old home despite how dangerous and corrupt it was, and watching it was a comfort, a way to keep in touch with her roots.

It was also how she found out that the adopted son of Bruce Wayne was killed in an explosion. She’d only been half paying attention, working on her homework whilst she waited for her parents to cook dinner, when she suddenly heard her brother’s name mentioned.

Her world had stopped as a picture of her brother, looking healthy and older in the arms of Bruce Wayne, was displayed on screen, with the newsreader calmly announcing his tragic death alongside it.

Marinette had been inconsolable for weeks, no amount of reassurance from her parents able to stop her tears. She spent days going through news articles, reading anything that mentioned her brother, saving every photo she could.

It hurt knowing that if she’d just paid more attention to Gotham, searched for her brother properly rather than just sit by and wait, she could’ve found him. Could’ve talked to him, let him meet her new family, meet his new family.

But now none of that was possible. Because he was dead and nothing could change that.

Marinette stopped watching Gothams news after that. She stopped talking about him because it hurt too much. She didn’t even tell Tikki at first, only telling her after she noticed the picture of him pinned to the wall next to her bed.

But despite how much the memories hurt now, Marinette still clung to them. The memories were the only things she had left of him, and even though it hurt too much to talk about, she didn’t want to pretend he didn’t ever exist.

So, even though she got teased for it being too childish, and even though it still stung to remember, she kept her hair in pigtails. A small reminder to herself to never forget, and to hold the good memories close.

Life had moved on, and even though Marinette still missed her brother, the pain wasn’t so raw anymore, feeling more like a dull ache rather than a bleeding wound. Still, Marinette always felt worse around the holidays, and liked to keep busy rather than dwell on the thought that Jason should be here, enjoying life, too.

The bakery was always hectic around the holidays, and gave Marinette the perfect excuse to busy herself and help out, often manning the till to give her parents a break.

It had been a miraculously quiet afternoon, which Marinette attributed to the local market, and she’d been doodling on a napkin when the bell chimed, indicating a customer. She’d straightened quickly, automatically greeting the customer, before she looked up and immediately froze.

Because standing in front of her, was what should’ve been a dead man. He looked older, as if he’d actually aged the last five years. She could see scars that weren’t there before, and his hair looked different, a streak of white in the front, but no matter all the changes, she was certain that was him.

That was Jason.

“Jay?”

She barely registered that she’d spoken, and her suspicions were confirmed when the man looked up in wide eyed shock. The tears that were forming in her eyes began to overflow as he replied, the Gotham accent as strong as ever.

“Nette?”

That was all it took for Marinette’s restraint to break, and she practically jumped the counter in her rush to get to him, to prove to herself that he was really there, and not just some akuma trick. But an akuma wouldn’t show her Jason all grown up, and he wouldn’t just be standing there looking like he was the one who’d just seen a ghost.

As soon as she was close enough, she threw herself at him, and clung on to him for dear life. Only a moment later she felt strong arms return the embrace, just as hard. She felt a million different emotions all buzzing through her head at once, but the clearest feeling of all was the pure relief.

She didn’t know how or why he was back and apparently alive, but at this moment, she did not care. Her brother was back, and he was here, and she was never gonna let him go.

“Never do that again,” she managed to choke out, her words muffled by how her face was pressed into Jason’s chest. “I don’t want to lose you ever again.”

Jason’s own words were almost just as tearful when he replied, pulling her closer as he did.

“I promise. I’ll never leave again.”

[shipskicksandgiggles]

Okay so the idea of the fic is that Tony talks with Peter and Harley separate because they're going to both be heirs to the company and they decided to announce who they are

And Tony decides in order to get them both too the tower he's going to hold a lottery for 5 schools who get a chance to tour si and the two schools his heirs are from now the issue is that no one knows which schools his heirs are from and which ones won the lottery except like the people it would make sense to

So you get peter and Harley who meet in the lobby and get along and then what do you know they're the heirs and oh crap look at that someone broke in and kidnapped them oh great

So that's the loose idea I had if you like it do what you want with it I don't know if you will but have fun and if you don't anyone else can use it if they want

okay yeah so honestly I have about 1000 other fics I’m writing rn but I’m definitely coming back to this at some point because like,,, yes

Tony very intentionally kept them apart for years

Harley was still in Tennessee with his family and couldn’t really relocate until something happens with his mom or her job and they move to nyc. he knows that Tony knows the kid in the spider suit, but he doesn’t know what that means for him or his future until one day when he’s like 16 or 17 Tony tells him “hey so obviously I’m not going to live forever, but I want you to take over for me as the head of R&D and you’ll split the stock with the kid who’s taking over for Bruce/Pepper (your choice I’m torn) and you’ll split the responsibility of being the CEO”

and Harley’s just like “cool when can I meet them”

to which Tony doesn’t really have an answer. it makes sense, there’d be a lot of publicity involved, so he gets in touch with some people and comes up with a plan

Peter mostly works on his suit, but he gets to experiment with chemistry a little more freely in the lab, so the day Tony comes to him and says “hey, if you haven’t figured it out by now, you’re filling my role on the avengers when I retire, but also you’re going to be the co-ceo of my company”

“co-ceo?”

“yep I’ve got a guy taking over R&D and I think you’d be better suit for Bruce/Pepper’s job and you’d split the stock and the responsibility”

he’s a bit overwhelmed but he’s like “okay but I get to meet him first right?”

and Tony finally has a plan. “listen, I’m announcing that I have two people taking over for me, but you’re both in high school and training. also I’m holding a somewhat rigged lottery for nyc high schools to all have field trips here on the same day”

actually fuck it give me a few days you’re getting a fic, I just need your input on who Peter takes over for

[considermewhelmed]

See You Again by Wiz Khalifa (ft. Charlie Puth)- Dick Grayson and Jason Todd

a/n: strap in folks. This is going to hurt.

taglist: @river9noble

Master

part 2

-

“It's been a long day without you, my friend/And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again/We've come a long way from where we began/Oh, I'll tell you all about it when I see you again/When I see you again.”

“Damn, who knew?/All the planes we flew/Good things we've been through/That I'll be standing right here talking to you/'Bout another path/I know we loved to hit the road and laugh/But something told me that it wouldn't last/Had to switch up/Look at things different, see the bigger picture/Those were the days/Hard work forever pays/Now I see you in a better place.”

“The love will never get lost/And when brotherhood come first/Then the line will never be crossed/Established it on our own/When that line had to be drawn/And that line is what we reach/So remember me when I'm gone.”

-

October 18, 9:30pm.

“Jason? Jason, where are you? You need to pick up- Bruce called me, freaking out because you’ve been spotted in Europe? I know you wanted to find your mom but Jesus Christ Jay, where are you? Pick up your goddamn phone, at least let me know you’re safe, that you’re okay. I won’t even tell Bruce. Just tell me you’re alright, okay? Call me back as soon as possible.” 

October 18, 11:48pm. 

“Hey. Sorry. I don’t know what to say. When I heard… Bruce told me. I didn’t really want to believe it. I still don’t really want to believe it. I’m just… I’m so sorry.” 

October 21, 5:36pm.

“You’re everywhere. God. You’d probably hate it. Everyone talks about the tragedy. They don’t really know what happened. They just know that you… that you’re gone. I wish you were gone. Completely. It would be easier to handle if you were. I’m sorry.” 

October 31, 1:01am.

“I was supposed to pick you up, remember? We were going to go trick or treating in Bludhaven, because we never had that before. Because I was in the circus. And you… anyways, you said I should go as Green Lantern because you think if it could, a green ring would pick me anyways. No fear, huh? Well. I was always scared of something, Little Wing. God you hated it when I called you that I’m sor-” 

November 13, 4:13pm.

“It’s been almost a month and your face still shows up sometimes on the news. I miss you.” 

December 1, 2:52am.

“Bruce isn’t the same without you Little Wing. He’s reckless. Careless. I think he’s going to get himself killed. It’s kind of… terrifying. Clark’s worried. The League’s keeping an eye on him. I wish I could. But… god it just hurts to be in the Cave right now. I’m sorry.” 

December 20, 9:38pm.

“I was helping Alfred put the decorations up. No ones really feeling festive but… we had to do something I guess. We got the stockings up, and… I’ve never seen Alfred cry over anything, but he just couldn’t stop when he saw your stocking. I… I put it up in my room. I wanted to feel like you were here for the holidays. Sometimes I feel like you’re going to burst through the door anymore like it was some sort of joke-” 

December 25, 12:02am. 

“Merry Christmas Little Wing.” 

January 3, 3:26pm.

“I don’t know why I keep calling this number. You don’t pick up. I know you won’t pick up. But I miss you. This is the only way I hear you anymore. I wish you were calling me for tips and tricks again. I wish I had known you were in trouble. I wish I was fast enough to get you. I wish you’d never gotten into this in the first place, you were so young, you didn’t deserve to go out like this, god it’s just not right-”

January 26, 7:09pm.

“Today was a good day. We took in a stray dog, kept him safe and found his owner. He’d run away because he was spooked by a loud car. He was a German Shepard, I remember you saying you had one when you were really little, his name was Buddy, right? Anyways, I think that saving stray dogs and getting cats out of trees and helping lost kids find their parents are the best parts of this job.” 

February 15, 1:29am. 

“I’m so sorry Little Wing, I think I forgot that joke you told me. I was trying to tell Kori and I forgot the punchline and I wish you were here to tell me it again because it was really funny and I think she would really like it. I think you would like her Jay, she’s a spitfire, you’d get a kick out of how she keeps us all in line. You’d like this crew. You’d like it here. I’m sorry.” 

March 29, 3:06am. 

“I’m sitting here, in the Batcave. Looking at Bruce, passed out from a fight that took a sharp turn. It was stupid, he’s beaten Mr. Freeze so many times, he was making rookie mistakes and I just don’t know what to do anymore. He… he hit me Jay. He’s not the same. I asked Alfred, if this is what happened when his folks… when they… anyways, he said no. He said he fought to be better. So why is he trying to get himself kil-” 

April 04, 6:45pm. 

“I don’t even… fuck.” 

April 04, 6:49pm.

“Okay so, this kid, he’s like, 12? 13? He comes up to me and he’s like ‘I know who you are’ and I’m sitting here thinking this kid has some affinity for the Flying Graysons or something ‘cause that has happened before. But no. No this kid, his name is Tim by the way, Tim is like ‘I know you’re Nightwing and Jason Todd was Robin and Bruce Wayne is Batman and’- fuck, Jay you should’ve heard this kid-”

April 04, 6:52pm. 

“And he’s like ‘I know Jason died and now Batman’s being stupid because he doesn’t have a Robin to care about so you should come back and be Robin again because Batman needs Robin’. Jesus Christ Jason, this kid, I swear, he genuinely believes if I don’t go back to being Robin, Bruce is going to go completely off the deep end. And I think he’s sort of right, but I don’t think me going back to Robin will fix it-” 

April 04, 6:54pm. 

“I’m also a grown ass man with my own life, and my own identity, and I worked so hard to get out from Bruce Wayne and Batman’s shadow and I don’t even want to go back to Robin. I like Nightwing. Besides, with how things are going with me and Bruce, I don’t think he’d take me back to begin with. And now he knows things and fuck things got pretty fucked up after you… after you… fuck.” 

April 26, 1:22am. 

“I’ve never wanted to harm a child more in my life, Jay. This jerk started tracking me down on patrol, still trying to convince me to go back. I’m not going back. It’s not happening.” 

May 11, 8:47pm. 

“This isn’t a Tim update. I just. I was starting to forget what your voice sounded like. I still can’t remember that joke. I’m sorry Little Wing. Thanks for listening. I’m sorry. I miss you. I’m sorry I wasn’t a better big brother, I should’ve been better. I’m sorry.” 

June 18, 5:14am. 

“Tim had officially been taken under Batman’s wing. He saved Bruce today. No training. No strength. No guidance. Just a shit ton of will and heart. Kind of reminds me of you, when you were first starting out. The you behind all those walls you built to protect yourself. I wish you would’ve torn more of those down for us. He starts training today. I’m going to help. I don’t think Bruce should do this but, what do I know?” 

July 04, 9:00pm. 

“You always liked the fireworks in Gotham on the Fourth of July. You’d wanna sit by the water and watch the colours burst through the sky. It was like, the one night a year Bruce would let you take the night off when you were healthy so that Alfred and I could take you. He’d join us if it was a quiet night. You remember that? He’d come with us. For a minute it felt like we were just a normal family.” 

August 16, 12:00am. 

“I always liked to be the first one to say it. Happy Birthday Little Wing. I love you kiddo.” 

September 1, 5:19pm. 

“I keep forgetting your voice. For a scary minute today, I couldn’t picture your face. When was the last time I hugged you? I’m sorry. I should’ve done it more.” 

October 18, 11:45pm. 

“I…” 

October 18, 11:49pm. 

“I can’t…” 

October 18, 11:55pm. 

“It’s been a really long year, Jay. I hope wherever you are, you’re with my folks. They’d love you, I think. Say hi for me. Give them a hug for me. I love you. I miss you. I wish I could see you again, I’d give just about anything to give you one more hug. I remembered that joke. Kori didn’t quite understand it, but she says you sound like a good kid. … I love you Little Wing.” 

[deniigi]

Trope: Homeless Peter

Title: what is home if not a vehicle

Summary: Space-fish attack the Great State of New York, and in the mess, the Avengers lose the goddamn kid.

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

His knees shook when he finally peeled back the helmet and it was a monumental task—the towering, marble kind—to lift one foot and then the other out of the footwell of the suit stand.

But Tony managed it.

You know, like a fuckin’ superhero.

He had this.

He maybe had a head injury and couldn’t see through all the blood dripping down his right eye—but you know what?

A fuckin’ superhero.

That’s me.

Ahahaha—

“TONY.”

Why hello, adoring fan. What a coincidence to meet you on the floor like this.

“What are you doing?”

Having a little lay down, my dear.

“GET UP.”

Wow, that’s a tone to take with a guy who volunteered to be the can in a state-wide Alien Kick-the-Can tournament. A little appreciation would be nice.

“Tony,” Pepper emphasized. “You need to get up.”

Why? Was there another alien? Tony was having a merry time here on the floor. Only more superheroing could move him, and even that was on thin ice given the whole knobbly-knee, shaky-hands situation.

“Peter’s gone.”

Tony’s head shot up.

“He’s not gone,” he said. “He’s with Falcon.”

Pepper’s eyes were very blue and ringed by white on every side.

“No,” she said. “He’s gone. Get. Up.”

 --

Pepper’s hands came around and grabbed his face before he could get another good smash in for it on the desk in front of him.

May Parker was in tears. She had every right to be. Cap was consoling her, promising her that they would find Peter while she fanned her dripping mascara.

And Tony?

Tony was exhausted. And now he had that weird gut-gnawing, gurgling feeling in his stomach, which, combined with the head injury that he was turning slowly into an actual hole straight to his brain (if Pepper would let go, anyways), was paving the way for a future spent at the foot of the porcelain altar.

The kid. Had been. RIGHT. There.

Rhodey had confirmed this. He’d been RIGHT there. Tony had been keeping an eye on him and all that bouncy puppy energy. And when he could no longer do that (see: volunteering to be bait, also known as An Activity Not Appropriate for Minors to Witness), he’d handed him off to Sam.

He’d handed him off to Sam.

Sam was the second most level-headed person on the entire team. Rhodey was the first, and okay, he was mostly first because Tony was biased towards his best friend, but the point remained.

Sam had had the baby.

Sam said that he had had the baby, too. Until he couldn’t have the baby because A) the baby was very slippery and B) the baby apparently smelled like food to giant alien creatures with blue glowing tongues and drippy teeth, and so Sam had sent the baby far the fuck away from that action.

He’d told him to go give Bruce support in the north of the city.

Bruce had tears in his eyes when he said that he’d worked with Peter for a whole fifteen minutes before they’d gotten separated by a building collapsing nearly on top of them. The Hulk didn’t have time to babysit Spiders when that was happening. The Hulk just got angry and launched himself at the face of the fuckin’ space-kaiju that had caused it.

No one could fault him for this.

But that also meant that, two hours into a 48 hour melee, they’d lost the youngest team member.

May Parker was glued to her phone and the news, and Tony could hear the tinny voice of Peter’s voice message echoing out of her phone even from there, even through her hiccups and Steve’s soothing Captain America tones.

Steve said that Peter was a smart boy. He was a strong boy. He’d know that they were looking for him and he’d done way, way worse than two days of fighting before. He’d know when to find a safe place and stay put for long enough to regain his energy.

And more than that, he knew New York like the back of his hand. He’d come home, May.

He’d come home.

Tony was about to swear to this poor woman that he would personally deliver her child to her doorstep when the klaxons crashed through the building and sent Tony’s whole body into a state of temporary numbness with pain.

The room went red.

The room went red again

Everyone turned slowly towards the window and Tony barely saw Steve throwing up the shield and reaching for May Parker at the same time before he reacted.

Pepper went down under the desk.

The glass exploded.

And here we go again.

 ---

 Just for the record—just for the fucking record—Tony wanted it known that he hated Albany.

It was flat.

Its skyline was boring as hell.

And Tony was 99.9% sure that there a mass illness among the people of this city.

Rhodey informed him that he was only thinking that because his interactions with humanity at street level came from New Yorkers and Los Angeles folks, neither of whom could find it in their souls to give a shit about what other people shouted at them.

Rhodey further explained patiently that the reaction of most people in the continental US to a known superhero telling them to get the fuck out of the way was not, in fact, being told ‘no YOU move, motherfucker.’

Tony didn’t get it.

Steve laughed so hard he sort of collapsed onto Sam’s shoulder and started making this sound that reminded Tony of a sob.

They all needed sleep. It had been four days.

But then, like a champion of all 8-year-olds, a little girl piped up from somewhere in the crowd that had gathered around their Avengers team huddle, “Hey! Where’s Spiderman?”

And all bodies went from sobbing to swearing.

The damn kid.

 ---

 It had been a week. May Parker had filed Peter as missing. He still hadn’t come home and he wasn’t even close to getting home because Tony had just gotten a call from Wolver-fucking-ine himself asking if he knew Baby Webs.

“He downed a space-fish in Gloversville,” Wolverine said. “And Scott nearly swiped him up, but he ain’t moved fast enough, and Websy noticed him first. He went and hid in the sewer and kept hissing at us for hours. Tried to feed him, but he wants nothin’ to do with us.”

Peter.

Peter, no.

X-men are friends.

“Did you manage to grab him?” Tony asked, already resigned to the answer.

“He ran off.”

Fuck.

“Sorry about that.”

Fuck.

“He’s a bitty one, ain’t he?”

“He’s fifteen.”

“Jesus.”

“I know,” Tony said. “We’re trying to grab him. It’s been a week. His phone’s dead and his mom’s freaking out, and I swear, he’s never been that far out of a city.”

Wolverine made a contemplative sound.

“Alright, we’ll keep a better eye out,” he said. “He can’t have gone far. He ain’t swingin’ with that web shit.”

He must have run out of that, too.

Peter, honey. Just. Stand. Still.

Forget the space-fish. For like, two hours.

 ---

 May asked Pepper to ask Tony what felt like ages later if the X-men had any more information on her kid. Pepper said that she sounded defeated.

Tony wished that he had more to give her besides a handful of blood from the torn skin on his hip and the words that Scott Summers had passed along just the day previous.

“The kid followed the last fish out,” Summers said. “I’m sorry, Stark. I tried to nab him, but that thing was taking down trees and we all got buried.”

 ---

 Two weeks.

Two whole weeks the boy had been missing and only now were the space-fish starting to let up. Part of that had to do with the fact that Barton had figured out that if you went for the eyes, forsook any sense of self-preservation and decency, and climbed into the gaping hole you left there, you could smash the thing’s brain and take it down to earth like Cap nose-diving into the Atlantic.

Steve had passed through all the stages of grief into hysteria this last week.

No one could talk to him because he started laughing and then weeping in a span of 15 seconds.

Natasha and Sam were on it.

Barnes was out with Barton, laying waste to wading pool that was Rochester at the moment. And that finally gave Tony the time that he needed to go out and search for the kid.

Rhodey came with and they ended up in Horseheads of all places, asking people on the street if they’d seen a Spiderman approximately a half the size they expected him to be.

People in Horseheads said no, that was Buffalo that had had the Spiderchild flinging himself around in it.

So they headed for Buffalo, only to get a message halfway there from Barnes that he’d almost caught the little shit in Rochester. Barton was after him as they spoke.

On foot apparently.

“He looks like shit, Stark,” Barnes said, huffing while he ran. “Clint’s on his tail now though, but I think he thinks he’s in trouble, so he’s—WAIT NO. BARTON.”

And the line went off.

And Rhodey groaned for both of them.

 ----

 Rochester contained a very wet, very frustrated Hawkeye and zero Bucky Barneses.

Hawkeye said that they’d nearly had Peter. But then.

He gestured furiously out to the harbor which was full of wreckage from the ensuing battle on shore.

Tony asked him if they had it handled or if they needed backup, to which Hawkeye said that only God knew shit at this point. He was just a human football, being punted back and forth across the state of New York in a way that his soul truly deserved.

Barton perhaps needed both a nap and a meal or two in him.

Peter probably needed days of both of those things.

“Yeah, no. I asked around and people have seen him bopping around the pigeons and gulls,” Barton said. “Some lady told us that she saw him coming out of a park bathroom. Another gal said she saw him tucked up on a roof and lured him down. She said she thought he was some homeless teenager and was worried ‘cause he was up there without a coat. She was surprised as hell when he was the real thing and asked her for a map. Said his phone was busted and he was trying to find the train station.”

Kiddo.

“He’s makin’ it, Stark,” Barton said. “Not sure how. But he’s makin’ it.”

That wasn’t comforting.

 ---

 Chasing after Peter wasn’t working. He kept slipping through their fingers and getting startled by people chasing him.

He seemed a little paranoid. Although that was probably because folks had started to change tact and approach him out of their suits.

They’d skimmed right past the part where Peter didn’t really know most of them out of their suits. And then they’d skimmed right past the part where most of them, out of their suits, didn’t look anything like the pictures that the paps took of them.

JB’s hair was long as hell. Natasha wore little make up and didn’t both straightening her ginger mane. Sam’s fade was looking a little lopsided with the piece of glass that the docs had had to dig out of it, and so a hat was his primary mode of fashion at the moment. Steve’s out-of-suit fashion could be described as ‘Jock with Tats Wears Cardigan and Dock Martins. More at 11.’

They’d all gone too far into being people and Peter now thought that he was being pursued by undercover SHIELD agents.

And, like the genius child that he was, he’d realized that his reds were catching attention and, now that the space-fish were a less pressing issue, and now that he was up in colder climes, he’d swapped them for some street clothes. And now no one had seen Spiderman.

Including the other Avengers.

The fastest way to find him was through facial recognition software, but someone out there, infuriatingly, seemed to be teaching Peter how to live like this.

The features Tony put in everyone’s new chunky glasses only ever caught him just before he turned tail and started sprinting.

And goddamn, that kid was fast.

Tony himself had chased him through Nowheresville, Fuck This State, and even that seemed ineffective.

He didn’t understand.

Peter knew who he was. He knew his voice.

Right?

Why was he running? Why was he still running?

May thought that he must have gotten it into his head that everyone was furious with him. She said that Peter’s guilt complex was wide and deep and he often slunk home late and hid from her if he thought she was mad.

He wasn’t super great with confrontation outside of his red and blues.

But something was also going on with May. Tony wasn’t sure what it was until Barton came into his lab where Tony was bouncing between trying to find where Peter’s suit had last been and trying to pry the enormous scales off a space-fish head.

“Tony,” Barton said. “Mrs. Parker’s lost faith in us.”

Tony laid his head against the scaly mass in front of him and sighed.

“You know what? That’s fair,” he said.

If some of the world’s so-called finest couldn’t even catch a literal child after three weeks of trying, Tony would have said that they were a bunch of useless fucks, too.

“She came to me and asked me if I’d help her try something different,” Barton said. “So I’m gonna need you to trust me, man.”

Trust him?

Sure, why not?

At this point, nothing Tony or Rhodey or Natasha tried had worked. So why not Barton? He was the one who kept getting the closest to the kid.

He had his own little menace he was chasing around anyways. He knew this shit.

“Glad you think so,” Barton said. “But I need like, a written agreement that you ain’t gonna scream at me, okay?”

Written agreement. Pft. Okay.

 ---

 “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?”

Barton stared at Tony and pointed at Rhodey like a tattle-tell. Tony was exhausted.

“TONY.”

He was so tired, Rhodey.

“You cannot sanction this,” Rhodey said.

Tony wasn’t sanctioning anything. He was just letting the aunt take the reins.

“We are not sending the Punisher after a child,” Rhodey said.

“The jokes on you, bub,” Clint told him. “The Punisher is already keeping an eye out for the child and you know what? He’s got a bite.”

Silence flooded the meeting room. Sam Wilson turned around slowly in his chest and moved his icepack to the other hand.

“Say that again,” he said.

Barnes’s eyes went huge like a cat and Nat leaned her elbows onto his shoulders.

“I said,” Barton scoffed at them, “The Punisher’s still upstate. I sent him a text explaining shit. He’s got a soft spot for babies. You know, latent dad instincts and all that, and he’s been homeless for like, years now. So he said he’ll keep an eye out. He’s got an idea of a few places where kids around Peter’s age go when they’ve got nowhere else to.”

Tony stomped down on the urge to say that Peter wasn’t like those kids; he did have a place to go. He was just misunderstanding the situation. He was just fifteen and tired and not thinking logically. Translating people chasing him as anger instead of help.

Man, all those straight As really put that kid’s fear of abandonment into perspective now.

Tony didn’t even know how to approach him anymore.

He wasn’t a dad. No one on this team was a dad. They didn’t know how to talk to kids. Or if they did, not teenagers.

So you know what?

If the Punisher thought he could grab the kid, then he should.

 ----

 And the Punisher did.

Tony had never spoken directly to the man. The whole team went silent when Barton answered the call and then said, “hold on, let me put you on speaker.”

The Punisher’s voice was husky and hoarse with his whisper.

“Got him,” he said softly.

Tony covered his eyes in relief.

“He’s sleepin’,” The Punisher said. “Real adaptable. You weren’t kiddin’, Barton.”

“Thank god,” Steve said.

“He hurt?” Barton asked.

“Yeah,” the Punisher said. “He ain’t let me look ‘im over, but he’s got scabs all over. Cute kid. Once we were on the same page, he came willingly enough.”

What did that mean?

“Means I had to find some vegetarian shit from McDonalds,” the Punisher said like Tony was an idiot. “Kid’s hungry. Cold. Needs a bath. Found him tucked up with some others. They ain’t wanna come like him. But they’re good kids with good folks; they told him that if he had someone waiting on him, he should go.”

They’d done what?

The Punisher snorted.

“Homeless folks aren’t stupid, moneybags,” he said. “They got problems, but they aren’t stupid. And they ain’t want my help, so that’s that. You give ‘em some money and let ‘em do what they need to.”

What.

“I know, it’s almost like their lives ain’t your business,” the Punisher huffed.

He was kind of a dick.

“You headed back this way?” Barton asked.

“That’s a negative,” the Punisher said.

Rhodey went stiff.

“But don’t worry, I got someone to leave him with when I get to where I’m goin’,” the Punisher said. “He’ll bring him down your way.”

Barton sighed.

“Thanks, Frank,” he said. “We owe you one.”

“I don’t want your debt,” the Punisher said. He said nothing.

“I owe you one,” Barton corrected.

“Damn right, you do, Sparky.”

“Collect when you’re ready,” Barton said.

“Copy that.”

Barton hung up and stared with crystal eyes into Tony soul.

“Someone tell the kid’s aunt,” he said.

 ---

 The Punisher went up to Niagara Falls, whereupon he handed Peter off to Deadpool.

Tony almost had a stroke.

May Parker slapped a hand onto her chest and sighed in relief.

“Thank god,” she said.

Thank god?

More like, god have mercy, no?

“No, thank god,” May said.

May had Deadpool’s number in her goddamn phone. Tony was dumbfounded.

“Eyyyyyy,” Deadpool cheered when he answered May’s call. “Well, look who it is. Pete—heya babycakes, you—? Okay, no. Sorry, we had a big day at the falls. He’s tired.”

Deadpool cackled. May huffed out a chuckle and shook her head.

“Thank you, Wade,” she said tearfully. “Thank you so much.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Deadpool said cheerfully. “Little Scrappy’s just scrappier. He ain’t hurt bad. Just a little shaken. Got that good anxiety. Six kinds of paranoia, look at ‘im go. That’s healthy, that’s what that is.”

It was not, Mr. Pool.

“Who’s makin’ that racket in the background?” Deadpool asked.

May explained that she was in the company of the Avengers. She did not say that half of them were shocked stupid. She did not say that Rhodey was clawing his hands at the sky and lamenting a career in military service being useless compared to fuckin’ Deadpool’s sunny disposition.

“Ah,” Deadpool said. “Well, I’m just gonna not say shit to him about that.”

“That’s fine,” May said. “Tell him I love him and I’m not mad. I’ve just been worried. Where’s his phone?”

“Oh, honey. You should see it. Kid fished it out of the sea,” Deadpool said. “I found a fuckin’ barnacle in it. Pretty impressive how small them things get, you know what I mean?”

Somehow, May did. Even though Tony emphatically did not.

“How long?” she asked.

“Ehn. Well. I got a job . Then I’m meeting someone in Syracuse. But you know what’s good news?”

“What?” May asked.

“Red’s at a conference in Ithaca,” Deadpool said. “He said he can swipe Spiderkid up from the bus station.”

Red?

Who was Red?

“You serious right now, DP?” Barnes asked.

“Ohhhh, why hello there, Winter. Didn’t see you there,” Deadpool said. “I am indeed serious. I’ll put the kid on a bus to Cornell or where the fuck ever and our Hornheaded friend will grab him before he scurries off to the wind again. He’ll be fine. Car rides are lullabies to him.”

May seemed touched.

“I’ll wire you the money, Wade,” she said.

“Huh? Oh, no. Don’t worry about it. I’m puttin’ it in the favor box,” Deadpool said. “Barnesy, my boy. Red hates everything upstate and his boo-bear’s got family they’re gonna visit in Poughkeepsie. Can one of you darling blockheads meet him up there to take the kid, so he doesn’t ruin his one and only chance at marriage?”

What.

The fuck.

Was happening?

“Uuuuh, when? Tomorrow?” Barton asked.

“Two days from now,” Deadpool said. “If you can’t, don’t sweat it. I got a gal who’s willing to pick him up.”

“I can go as far as Paterson,” Barnes said out of nowhere. “If your gal can bring him down that far, that’d be good. I’ll bring the bike.”

“Oh, that’ll be fun,” Deadpool said. “Totally doable. I’ll give her a call and send you an address. Thanks a million, Winter.”

Barnes sniffed.

“It’s cool. Show him a picture of me so he ain’t bolt again,” he said.

“Copy that,” DP said. “I’ll let him know what you said, May. Bye for now.”

He hung up.

May Parker deflated into a puddle of relief.

Tony still didn’t know what was happening.

“Wilson’s gonna hand the kid off to Daredevil,” Barton explained. “And DD will take him with him to Poughkeepsie, where Wilson’s contact—the fuck is her name, Barnes?”

“Domino,” Barnes said.

“That’s the one,” Barton said. “She’ll pick him up, probably with Summers, and bring him down to Paterson and then Barnes’ll go grab him from there and bring him home.”

That—

Wh—

Why couldn’t they, the Avengers, have orchestrated this? This was not hard. This was advanced Connect Four.

“Sometimes, you can’t think like a hero,” Barton told him. “You gotta think like a vigilante.”

 ---

 Peter came home. Barnes swept him up from the station in Paterson and tossed him over a shoulder. And Tony came into the medical bay as soon as he got word of their arrival to find him sprawled out there still, asking Barnes a thousand questions about fuckin’ heroin.

God, lord, Jesus.

Someone spare Tony’s soul.

Peter noticed him and reacted by slipping off Barnes’s shoulder and hiding behind him as though he expected Tony to start shouting at any moment.

And for a moment, Tony almost felt like he should have.

But he wasn’t Peter’s dad. And Peter hadn’t done that shit on purpose. He’d just been scared and when he got scared, he’d decided to turn towards people he knew he could trust.

The other street level guys. People like him.

Tony couldn’t be angry with him for that.

So he came over and collapsed into the chair next to Peter’s assigned bed and held out his arms.

“Hugs for an old man?” he asked.

Peter peeked out from behind Barnes and lit up.

His hug was crushing. His clothes were rank and his wrists looked skinny and he was as pale as Tony had ever seen him, but he was here.

And he was chillin’.

“Next time, just stay in the city, alright?” Tony said. “We got the state. You got the city. At least until you’re old enough to have your own credit card, yeah?”

“Kay,” Peter hummed.

“You scared the shit out of us, kiddo.”

Peter pulled away from him and hopped back up on the bed.

“Is my aunt coming?” he asked.

Tony sighed.

She was.

“Cool, I missed her. My phone broke and maps are hard. I got like four of them. Folks kept givin’ theirs to me, even though I needed like, money.”

Tony leaned forward and held his face in his hands.

“Yeah?” he finally managed to say.

“Yeah,” Peter hummed. “It’s really hard to get a bus with no money. And they don’t even have buses in a lot of places, you know? Like, Uber isn’t even a thing out there. You’ve just gotta have a car or know someone who does.”

Bless.

“Wade says that I’m a city boy.”

That’s ‘cause you are, child.

“But I slept in a tree, so that’s camping.”

It’s not.

“And there was a raccoon. So that’s camping.”

It’s really, really not.

“I saw Cyclops and he tried to laser-eyes me, but, get this, I Lizard-ed him. Went into the sewers like Connors. I mean, he’s a jerk, but he’s definitely right to stick to the sewers. It’s warm down there. Can you imagine if the X-men X-manned me, though? Wade says that they do that to people.”

Tony was melting.

“They definitely do that to people,” Barnes said.

Vigilantes, man. The lies they spread.

“I made some friends in Buffalo,” Peter carried on. “They’re nice. They used to live in Rochester. They saw me fighting a space-fish, and they said that was cool as hell. And so they were tellin’ me about garbage plates and then Chelsea’s mom told me I needed to go home because May probably wasn’t mad and it was getting too cold. And then she made me promise not to do drugs. And when Mr. Castle showed up, she waved him down—I like her a lot. I gave them my money so that they could sleep in the shelter and I think Mr. Castle gave her more money, but he gave me and Chelsea McDonalds. And it was like, so good, Mr. Stark. I forgot how much I like McDonalds.”

Fuckin’ garbage plates.

“I’m gonna make one,” Peter hummed.

Someone come take these kid home already.

 ----------------------------------

Problems I have with the Trope:

So I don’t know the homeless Peter trope very well, but I don’t love it because in order to write it, you have to remove May from the picture, pretty much entirely. Folks either tend to kill her or make her abusive and that’s fucked up to do to, not only Peter’s remaining family member, but to a civilian female character.

I also don’t love this trope because I don’t love Irondad and the homeless Peter trope is pretty much designed for him to be saved by Tony.

The third reason I don’t enjoy this trope is because I don’t think enough people do their research on, not only what it takes to become homeless (especially for a minor), but how broad definitions of homelessness are. People who are homeless don’t just live on the street; they live in cars, they couch surf, they work hard to be clean, they have jobs.

And the last reason (for now), that I find this trope difficult is Peter’s age. Age is the hardest shit. A homeless 14-15 yo is kind of difficult to work with because there are layers of safety nets and, if you don’t kill May or make her abusive, it is next to impossible to work through her responsible nature and stability to put her and Pete out on the street plausibly (and I refused to compromise on this, which is how I ended up with this accidental loss). It would be much easier to write a homeless Peter as a college student.

[eat0crow]

Cliche but can I request flower shop owner Marinette with gang boi Jason?

Dear sweet Anon, you have no idea how weak I am for cliche tropes. I took some liberties here seeing as Red Hood is already a sorta gang leader and just used that! I hope you like my rambly headcanons! I had so many ideas for this au that I really had to try to hold back.

Ground Zero

1) There’s a flower shop right on the edge of Jason’s territory that’s essentially become an urban legend.

No one is actually sure how exactly it’s still standing, it borders two rival gangs, Red Robin’s usual patrol route, and Jason’s terf. There have been at least three gang wars raging on the same street, yet still Miraculous stands as the one neutral spot in all of Gotham. It’s a cute shop, don’t get Jason wrong, but the only miraculous thing about it is that no one has even tried to claim it.

He brings it up once, the keyword once. Because the shop has stood as neutral ground for at least a century, and no one wants to be the one to break that streak. The shop is also cursed apparently, or at least protected by some malevolent force. The building lost a shingle once in the ’80s to a member of the False Facers, and the very next day saw Gotham PD hauling in at least two-thirds of the Black Mask’s operation.

Which is probably exaggerated, right? None of the minor drug lords under Jason want to get into it. The Black Mask doesn’t want to get into it. (He clams up the moment Jason tells him the shop re-opened, apparently, it had closed a year after the shingle incident)

Miraculous, as well as the parking lot it sits on, is the ground zero of Gotham. No crime goes into the lot, no crime goes out. The pots are never tipped over, no one tries to steal even a single rose from the display. No one touches the cute building, even if it’s painted an obnoxious pastel pink that stands out like a sore thumb in the Gotham night. At least, as far as everyone knows—Jason is still kinda skeptical about that. Really, it’s the perfect set up for a smuggling ring.

Tim is there sometimes as Red Robin. All the time really, at least twice a week. Jason has caught him more than once staked out with a pair of binoculars in the windows. A couple of times he even catches him helping the clerk repot plants. Which, yeah, Jason’s met Tim a time or two, he doesn't make a habit of sticking around his family, but the kid never came off as the gardening type.

It’s especially funny though, to see the pictures of Red Robin in a pink apron behind the counter trending on twitter.

He’s tried to go in a handful of times, to offer the owner his protection and whatnot. But each time he tries he forgets what he’s doing before he even turns the handle. Whoever runs this place must have the best luck in the world because this shit has been happening since it was built.

You’re a wayward gang member attempting to talk to the owner, you end up forgetting what you’re doing mid-action, and only start to remember five days later. The building is damaged, so is whatever scheme you’ve been planning. Actually in the shop when you decide to talk business, nope, it’s time for the most inconvenient phone call of your life.

“Why Dick, did you have to call me? I was so close.”

“Jason, are you crying?”

“I finally made it into the door. I’ve been trying for months to get in. But no, your ass gets stuck in your suit, and suddenly it’s time to call Jason. Nope, lose my number.”

2) Apparently everyone, including the fucking demon spawn, has been to Miraculous.

They all get kind of quiet when he brings it up though, Alfred actually leaves the room. Jason may have issues with Bruce, and Dick, and Tim, and don’t even get him started on Damian, but Alfred’s always been the neutral party for them. He’s always been the one they go to, no matter what. Upsetting Alfred is a capital offense. Jason feels...shitty about it.

“Alfred used to go, and get a bouquet there every weak after you died,” Dick tells him, folding his hands together, and settling in. Tim looks uneasy, and far more awkward than usual—which is saying something. “He’d get some white lilies to put on your grave. I went with him a few times, but he hasn’t been back since. I think the shop reminds him of it. When you were...you know.”

“Oh.” Jason really feels like an asshole.

“Yeah, I can’t say I’ve been back either.” Dick rubs the back of his neck like he’s admitting to something secret. “It used to be on my patrol route, back when I was first Robin. It always used to creep me out so I'd avoid it.”

“Really, Grayson,” Damian says with the same air of condescending superiority he always has.

“Hey, back in those days it was an abandoned building. The one that the witch owned! I don’t know about you, but I don’t fuck with witches. No thank you! I like my limbs.”

Jason might actually remember something like that, it’s hard. Like all the memories from before are hard, but he thinks back to being a kid. To growing up in a scummy neighborhood, and hearing people talk about the witching house that no one was allowed near. The one spot Squatters and Junkies, no matter how desperate, wouldn’t step foot in.

“It’s not all that bad,” Tim says. “My mom remembered when it was open the first time around. Mr. Fu was really nice, he used to let her play in the pots.”

“That aside,” Dick says fixing Jason with a half-crazed look. “It re-opened like a month after you died, so yeah, I went there with Alfred a lot. Like once a month a lot. The shop has this thing. You go in, and you’re instantly wrapped up in this nostalgic warm-fuzzy-reliving-my-childhood feeling. It’s weird.”

Tim stares. “I think that’s a you problem. I go in all the time, and yeah, the shop has a nice vibe, but it’s more like a you’re-safe-here thing.”

“You’re both, as usual, utterly wrong.” Damian sniffs. “If anything, the shop feels like coming home.”

The entire table turns to stare at him with wide unbelieving eye’s. Jason can hardly believe his ears...did Damian really just say something like that. The shocked look on even Dick’s face goes a long way in saying just how much no one can believe something so well adjusted came out of the demon spawn’s mouth.

Damian’s blush is priceless, his stutter—yes it’s a stutter no matter how much he denies it—is even better. “I mean to say. It feels familiar. The shop, you walk in, even for the first time, and you feel like you’ve walked through the door hundreds of times.”

Which, huh, because. “I always thought it felt like a warning. You step one foot onto the lot, and it feels like the walls themselves are daring you to start shit.”

3) Despite the hype that's built up around Jason going in, his first visit—No, Marinette that one didn’t count I literally just turned the door handle—is really anticlimactic.

It works like this, Roy asks him to pick up flowers, because Valentine's Day is today, and Kori will know what he's doing the second he tries to make up some lame excuse. Jason will never know how the man could ever be such a bad liar. As far as Kori knows, Jason is doing a typical supply run. Which, he is doing a supply run, even if the thought of cheesy romantic comedy cliches makes him sick.

All the same, Jason takes his role as best bro seriously, even though he has doubts about being able to complete this task. If his previous 52 failures are anything to go by, Miraculous hates him. There are only so many times a man can get maimed before he comes to the conclusion that the building itself has it out for him.

The hornets were what sold him. Not the bees, the hornets.

So with the air of a man who has just been sent out to war, Jason puts on this thickest jacket, his gloves, leaves his phone behind—even if attempt 34 taught him that was a really stupid idea—and braces himself to step inside. Maybe it’s because this is the first time Jason has gone into the flower shop for actual flowers. Maybe his luck is improving. Maybe...maybe the universe is setting him up for something even worse. Either way, it’s the first time the hair on the back of his neck doesn’t stand up the moment his foot hits the floor.

The girl at the counter is cute, just around his age with the bluest eyes he’s ever seen. That says something, because Jason has met Superman. That man's eyes are literally otherworldly. But Marinette’s, Jason has a suspicion this is the Mari Tim is always talking about, her eyes look like they’re glowing.

Jason realizes he’s been standing in the doorway staring, way too hard, when Marinette, that’s what her name tags says, clears her throat. With an air of confidence—Jason is a firm believer in the inherent power of bull shitting your way to success—he walks up to the counter.

“I’m looking for a bouquet,” Her stare is piercing and Jason swears it burns all the way down to his soul. “For Valentine's day. One with roses, and all that shit.”

Marinette huffs, and points to a depressingly empty display shelf. “You, and just about everyone else. Did you place an order?”

“Did I place an..” Jason trails off under his breath. “Please tell me you have something with the name Roy Harper in your registry.”

Marinette takes a moment to glance down, to ruffle through her papers. “I’m sorry, I only have one left, and its got the last name Grayson on it.”

Jason sees his life flash devastatingly fast across his eyes. It ends with him being torn to shreds by one of Roy’s homemade bombs when he comes back empty-handed. There won’t even be enough of him left to throw in a Lazarus pit. Nope, he’ll be sidewalk chalk.

So really he feels no guilt in fleshing his most charming smile, the one that always makes the old ladies coo, and saying. “Perfect, I’m here to pick that one up.”

Marinette takes one look at him draped over the counter, and bursts out laughing. Today is not a good day for Jason’s ego. “I thought you were Roy Harper.”

“No, I’m Dick Grayson.” The words are bitter in his mouth. “But the bouquet is for my friend, and I wasn’t sure what name he put it under.”

“Oh,” Marinette says, a smirk playing across her lips. “You think I was born yesterday. Sorry hon, but you’re not an alternative pick up, and I'll need to see some ID.”

“You expect me to show ID for flowers?..... Really?”

“Yes, I expect you to show ID when you’ve given me two different names, and those flowers are worth over a hundred dollars,” Marinette bites back. “Sorry, but that’s been paid in full, and I’m not going to lose a customer.”

“Okay,” Jason says, taking two crisp bills out of his wallet. It hurts because Roy gave him a twenty, and Jason will always be a cheap bastard at heart. Nevertheless, he likes Kori, she deserves this, even if Roy, who will be begging for mercy later, does not. He has to very consciously remove his hand after sliding them over. The urge to snatch them back is strong. “Listen, I really need that fucking bouquet. I am prepared to pay you double the price Grayson paid.”

Marinette actually looks offended. “Just because everyone else in this city is okay with being bribed doesn’t mean I am. You can keep your money.”

“Everyone has a price.” Jason gives her a look. “Name it.”

“Well, I don’t,” Marinette snaps, reaching down for her phone. “You can take your money, and fuck off. Before I get Red Robin over here to flush you out.”

“And here I was, thinking this was neutral territory.”

“It is.” Marinette stiffens. “This place isn’t under Red Robin’s protection, but he’s still my friend. I won’t hesitate to get him over here.”

“How about this then. The bouquet for protection. I can get Red Hood to claim this place.”

“What part of neutral didn’t you get?” Marinette asks, leaning over the counter and getting into his space. From here, just inches apart, her eyes are iridescent. Blue light toxically dripping out of a cracked glow stick. “Miraculous doesn’t get involved in your shit. You all want to wage war on each other? You want to pedal drugs? You want to smuggle shit? That’s cool, but you keep that away from my fucking shop. Miraculous doesn't get involved, you can all kill each other outside.”

She’s kind of terrifying up close. If Jason wasn’t convinced she would disembowel him, he’d be tempted to kiss her. Consent, however, is sexy as fuck.

Jason knows when he’s fighting a losing battle. “Is there any way. Anyway in hell, that I can get my hands on those fucking flowers?”

“Yeah,” Marinette says sitting back down. “You can call Grayson, and have him give them to you. But aside from that, I’ve seen a lot of shit. Sorry buddy, but you can’t buy me or scare me into anything.”

“I’ll call the sorry bastard up right now.”

“I’m not giving you his number.”

“I don’t need you to give me his number, I have it right…” Jason trails off, suddenly he remembers leaving his phone behind.

4) Jason is a petty asshole who has learned that the secret to getting into the flower shop is to think flowers.

Listen, Jason had to make do with drugstore flowers, and Roy’s disappointed puppy eyes for a month after being kicked out on his ass. To add insult to injury, Tim tracked him down two days later, as he was mid drug bust, to tell him to stay away from Marinette.

Okay, it’s not like he hadn’t already been planning to go back, frankly, the shop is a strategic masterpiece. Half of its cred as an urban legend comes from the fact that whoever claimed it would be given an instant power-up. It’s the One Ring to rule them all. Jason has to go back, and convince Marinette that the Red Hood is the one to ally with. He has to.

So yeah he’s going to go back anyway, but now he really wants to. Because Tim, his replacement, dared him. Maybe a bigger person would back down, what with all the external forces building up around the shop, the legend, the neutrality, the many failed attempts, Tim somehow having a vested interest…well, Jason has never been the bigger person.

Not by a long shot.

The first three times he attempts to return, Marinette meets him at the door. She’s quick about flipping the sign from open to closed. Jason, the first time, had tried turning the handle, whatever magic makes that building hate him, makes it lock up the second the sign changes. It’s not Marinette, Jason watched her. Her hands never touched the lock.

The first person he complains to is Roy, of course, who actually gives him the idea. Roy is a genius sometimes. So attempt four ends with him buying a single sunflower. It’s gaudy as all hell, and also the first thing his hand touched after he spent an hour trying to get Marinette’s attention.

She apparently will only talk to him in the brief thirty seconds she spends cashing him out. Which, yeah, that’s fair.

And so it begins. Every day except Tuesday, the only day the shop is closed, Jason goes in, buys a single sunflower, and talks up the Red Hood.

Even if Miraculous never comes into his fold, this will all have been worth it just to have seen the look on Tim’s face the first time he comes in just as Jason's buying his daily flower.

There’s a small hole burned into his wallet, but Kori loves sunflowers.

Jason’s not the only regular, but he’s the most frequent, by the end of his fourth month he knows all the other regular’s sob stories, and everyone and their mother thinks he's sweet on Marinette. That may be the kind of true by this point. He’s worn her down to where she will talk to him as he browses. Even if she also complains that, “It’s pointless. I already have your sunflower set aside.”

Month six marks a distinct turning point in their relationship. He was upgraded from General-Creep to Recurring-Menace to Okay-I-Guess-We’re-Sorta-Friends-Now a while ago. Month six is the month he gains the title of Permanent-Fixture. It’s marked by him walking in and Marinette forcing an apron on him.

“I told Red Robin when he started coming by, that if he was going to hang around than he needed a reason to. So if you want to hang in Miraculous you’re going to work in Miraculous.”

“Unpaid labor is illegal.”

“No, it’s not. It’s just called volunteering.”

5) Getting together actually takes a while.

Jason is relentless when it comes to his recruitment pitches, but he has standards for fuck's sake. No woman actually enjoys it when men flirt with them on the clock. There’s a whole power imbalance thing that makes him sick to his stomach.

Sure Marinette can take care of herself. She’s a force of nature. Jason had offered to help carry potting soil for her once. One time. That was before he saw her lift the thirty pound bag over her shoulder like an empty sack of rice. Marinette can take care of herself, she just won’t.

Jason has seen more than one scummy fuck harass her. She gets quiet….she loses her confidence, and it’s just so wrong to see a person as strong as Marinette look small. He’s not sure what about blatant flirting and bad pick up lines bothers her so much but—Marinette can never know, and they’ll never tell her that the Red Hood tracked each one of them down. Threats are beautiful things. They just make it all come together.

He is a gentleman, even after he starts working with her. While co-workers flirting with each other isn’t as bad, it’s still kind of awful. The problem is that Marinette is always working, she never leaves Miraculous. Even on her off days.

So Jason, never finds the right time to ask her out himself. All the regulars already think they’re dating. His brothers think they’re dating. Alfred, Alfred thinks they’re dating after walking into the shop one time since Jason’s resurrection. He’s thankful his brothers gave him a heads up—not. Alfred walks in to find him behind the counter with a fluffy pink apron on, even his refined British manners are tested. Jason just knows he’s laughing. He knows.

It happens like this, Jason teams up with Batman and Co. to help with a standard smuggling ring. Nothing difficult, the only reason it should have required all of them was because of the shipment size. It should have been easy. It had been easy.

That is until the Joker shows up, Jason freezes, and takes a bullet straight to the stomach.

Stomachs bleed...a lot.

He doesn’t remember much of what happened after that. Stomachs also hurt a lot, and it’s hard to think coherently when you’re in excruciating pain. Jason, blacked out shortly after Dick started putting pressure on the wound. For future reference, while stopping the bleeding might be important, it hurts like fucking hell.

Marinette is the first thing he sees when he opens his eyes. She’s hunched over herself in the plastic chair next to his bed. Someone, probably Dick or Alfred, draped a blanket over her. She looks vastly out of place, like the room itself is sucking the life out of her. The lighting makes her skin almost translucent.

The second thing he sees is the sunflowers covering every inch of the hospital room. There must have been a couple dozen, at least. It was probably closer to a hundred if not more. Despite the pain that comes with laughing, Jason can’t help himself.

His laughter alerts the nurse, who alerts his family. Apparently, they’ve all been camping out in the waiting room. Much comfier couches there. His family wakes Marinette, who turns her piercingly otherworldly eyes on him.

Marinette stays quiet through all his family’s fussing. She stays quiet even after that. All she does is stare. Jason doesn’t think she’s actually seeing him.

“I didn’t think I missed this many days,” Jason jokes, gesturing to the multitude of flowers wrapped around every available surface.

“No, you didn’t.” Marinette’s answer is curt. She’s distracted, Jason really wishes he knew what she was seeing.

“Not a fan of Hospitals?” Jason tries.

Marinette blinks. The cloudy look on her face disappearing as she shakes her head. “No, I really can’t stand them.”

“Me either.” Jason feels an intense desire to continue the conversation, if only to keep Marinette from closing up again. “You know, you didn’t have to visit me.”

“I wanted to,” Marinette says. “Your brother called, and told me what happened. I came by just after you were finishing up in surgery.”

“What about the shop?”

Jason has been working at Miraculous—volunteering because Marinette still doesn’t pay him—for months. He’s invested in the place now.

"It can be closed for a few days,” Marinette says, reaching over to take his hand. Jason lets her, he’s always hated hospitals. It's gotten worse since he came back. The comfort is welcome. “This is more important.”

Jason wants to say something, to take his shot, and ask her out. Because she’s just as important to him, but it feels wrong so, he settles with, “You’re a really good friend Marinette.”

He does his best to ignore the way the words choke him.

“I think,” Marinette starts, only to stop herself. There’s a moment of internal debate before she continues, “I think we both know we’re a little more than just friends.”

6) Jason never does claim Miraculous, it remains perfectly neutral, despite having the Bat-Family practically living out of the apartment upstairs.

“Hey, do you think now that we're dating you can convince Tim to come by out of costume?”

Jason blanks. “What?”

“Tim, do you think you can get him to stop dropping by as Red Robin so much. People are starting to think Miraculous has been claimed as part of Batman’s terf.”

Jason does the most logical thing he can think of. He buries his face in his hands, and groans. “Why did you have to figure it out?”

“Was I…not supposed to?”

“No, no you weren’t. How did you?”

“Jason, there’s only one person you hate as much as Tim, and that’s Red Robin. I’ve seen how you look at both of them. No one makes your eyes scream murder as much as he does. Not even Dick.”

“Oh God,” Jason says wiping a hand across his face. “Does that mean—”

“That I know you’re the Red Hood?” Marinette asks, cutting him off. “Hmm, I’ve known that for longer. Probably since you first started coming around consistently. At first, I thought you had like, the biggest boner for the guy, but then you seemed really into me and well, you talked him up way too much to either not have a crush on him or be him so, I connected the dots.”

[tabloidtoc]

OK, March 8

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Bruce Springsteen

Page 1: Big Pic -- as part of Coach's latest campaign Jennifer Lopez posed with a supersized pink version of their new Pillow Tabby purse

Page 2: Contents

Page 3: Contents

Page 4: Chris Harrison gone for good? The Bachelor host's future with the show remains uncertain after his controversial interview with Rachel Lindsay

Page 6: Since the start of his career Justin Timberlake has endured his fair share of scandals but after welcoming his second son with wife Jessica Biel over the summer and celebrating his 40th birthday, he is confessing that he feels immense guilt about the past and he won't be making the same mistakes in the future -- Justin's done some soul-searching and accepts that he's wronged a lot of people over the years with his own terrible mistakes and he says he's still a work in progress, but step one has been to stand up and admit he's hurt too many women -- in addition to a boozy night out with his Palmer costar Alisha Wainwright in 2019 and his part in the now-infamous Nipplegate incident with Janet Jackson at the 2004 Super Bowl, Justin recently came under fire again due to the documentary Framing Britney Spears which showed him exploiting his breakup from Britney Spears to help his solo career -- Justin's learned from his mistakes and has a lot more sensitivity about the impact of his actions on other people and that's the big difference between the Justin of today and his old, immature self and that self-awareness was evident in an emotional statement that he posted apologizing to both Britney and Janet for the errors in his ways -- his words drew praise from his wife Jessica who says he's come a long way as a husband, a father and more importantly, a human being

Page 7: Wendy Williams is on the prowl for a new man and he's got to be husband material and she is ready for a serious commitment -- Wendy's been staying up until all hours of the night checking out guys online and on exclusive dating apps and she wants someone age-appropriate, fun, kind, independent and of course has no history of cheating -- she's feeling very optimistic and even buying new perfume and clothes and jewelry for all the dates she hopes to have once lockdown lifts

* Texas native Matthew McConaughey is seriously considering throwing his hat in the ring to become the state's next governor -- he's been putting out feelers to see if he's got sufficient support and if enough donors are willing to write checks, he'd mount an aggressive run in 2022 -- he's already gotten the thumbs-up from his wife Camila Alves and their three kids -- at this point, he needs to see an actual path to winning because he's not interested in just making a protest statement; don't be fooled by his aw-shucks attitude, Matthew means business

* Now that Keeping Up With the Kardashians is coming to an end, the hunt is on for a new family to replace the clan and one reality pro is poised to nab the prize: Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Rinna -- there's already been talk about Lisa picking up the torch and her family is camera ready, consisting of husband Harry Hamlin, and their daughters Delilah Hamlin who's dating Love Island's Eyal Booker and Amelia Hamlin who's dating Scott Disick

Page 8: Things keep going from bad to worse for Armie Hammer -- he was forced to drop out of his upcoming movie Shotgun Wedding with Jennifer Lopez after direct messages he allegedly sent to women in which he described himself as a cannibal and detailed disturbing sexual fantasies were leaked online -- Armie was also fired by his talent agency WME and now the disgraced star may get cut from his new film Next Goal Wins which has already been shot -- he's radioactive and everybody knows it and his completed but unreleased work is getting a second look as studios want to do damage control, and that includes another of his finished projects Death on the Nile where his part could end up on the cutting room floor -- he's a pariah now and it's hard to see how he's ever going to come back from this

* Jennifer Aniston has always had a spiritual side but these days she is taking things to a whole new plane -- Jen has surrounded herself with psychics and has been doing Goddess Circles with the same group of close friends for 30 years, but now she's taking courses to learn to heal herself and be her own guru -- BFF Courteney Cox has been a big influence and Jen's learned a lot from Courteney, who's had a long-term interest in mediums, astrologists and horoscopes, and she's trying to fuse it all together into her own brand of spirituality -- Jen's had a lot of time alone, which has only deepened her questions about the universe and how she can make the most of her life and she's determined to find the answers

* Princess Eugenie is over the moon after welcoming her first child, a baby boy with businessman husband Jack Brooksbank but now the new mom is torn about taking time out from her royal responsibilities -- Eugenie would love to take a long break from everything and focus solely on raising her son however she knows deep down how much she's needed, especially since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are showing no signs of coming back -- as she weighs her options, Eugenie is looking to her multi-tasking cousin-in-law Duchess Kate for some inspiration because she's impressed by how Kate is able to juggle her official duties while raising three young kids

Page 10: Red Hot on the Red Carpet -- stars captivate in enchanting puff-sleeve numbers -- Bel Powley, Aubrey Plaza, Lupita Nyong'o

Page 11: Kaitlyn Dever, Lucy Boynton, Margaret Qualley

Page 12: Who Wore It Better? Hilary Swank vs. Madeline Brewer, Bella Hadid vs. Devon Windsor, Alison Brie vs. Dua Lipa

Page 14: News in Photos -- Tayshia Adams and her fiance Zac Clark felt on top of the world when the visited the Empire State Building together

Page 15: Chrissy Teigen and John Legend were inseparable while out and about in Beverly Hills, Bill Murray and NFL player Larry Fitzgerald Jr. were among the many stars to shoot their shot during a charity golf tournament in Pebble Beach, Rita Ora performing on an episode of the U.K. show Dancing on Ice in Hertfordshire

Page 16: At the Australian Open Serena Williams came out on top during the fourth round, Bachelorette alum Jordan Kimball and fiancee Christina Creedon couldn't wait until they got home to enjoy Candy Pop popcorn's new Peanut M&M's flavor from Sam's Club in Houston, Heidi Montag spent the day hitting the slopes at Lake Tahoe

Page 17: Hailey Bieber starring in Beyonce's new Ivy Park x Adidas collection

Page 18: Brody Jenner had a blast snow tubing while shooting the second season of The Hills: New Beginnings in Lake Tahoe, Avril Lavigne stepped out with her new boyfriend Mod Sun for a romantic dinner in West Hollywood

Page 20: Justin Bieber looked like he'd just hopped out of bed in a sweater and checkered fleece pants in L.A., Robin Thicke in front of a piano in L.A.

Page 21: Steve Martin doubled up on face coverings on the set of his new project Only Murders in the Building in NYC, Michelle Obama on her new show Waffles + Michi, Cardi B spoiled herself with high-end goods during a day of shopping on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills

Page 22: Brooke Burke romancing with boyfriend Scott Rigsby on Valentine's Day, Lucy Hale accessorized her look with her newest rescue pup Ethel in L.A., Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon masked up for a snowy outing in NYC

Page 24: For Galentine's Day Vanessa Lachey snacked on macarons and sipped on wine in L.A.

Page 25: Bella Hadid alongside models Mayowa Nicholas and Heejung Park in Michael Kors' new campaign for the Spring 2021 collection, Hugh Grant stepped out for some fresh hair in London, Sofia Vergara kept it casual during a visit to a pal's house in Beverly Hills

Page 26: Inside My Home -- Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley's Rocky Mountain retreat

Page 28: Marriage isn't easy especially during a global health crisis but for Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard divorce is not an option -- Kristen said she and Dax at the start of the pandemic were at a point in their marriage where they definitely needed a little therapy brush-up and every couple of years they're being very antagonistic towards each other and they don't want that so they go back to therapy and figure out how they can serve their team goal better and it's been incredibly helpful and even in the toughest times they always have each other's back and they're committed to being each other's biggest support systems -- while their relationship may never be perfect, they're happy and love each other and that's what matters most

Page 29: Now that Tom Brady has won his seventh Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he has set his sights on the next prize: baby No. 3 with wife Gisele Bundchen -- they've been telling friends they hope to make an announcement by summer at the latest and Tom and Gisele have been super loved-up since leaving Boston and moving to Florida after the QB signed on with the Bucs and the change of scenery has worked wonders on their love life and put them in baby-making mode -- the duo, who recently bought a $17 million spread on Miami's exclusive Indian Creek Island, plan to build a luxury mansion there complete with a nursery and they hope to be all settled in when the new arrival comes -- they've never felt healthier or been happier

* Aaron Rodgers looked positively giddy when he revealed he had a fiancee, Shailene Woodley at the NFL Honors, but the QB is dreading the next step: bringing her home to meet his parents because it's no secret that Aaron's been estranged from them for years and the last thing he wants is for Shailene to get caught up in the drama -- Shailene wants Aaron to clear the air with his folks, but he's not ready to do that and he doesn't want to bring Shailene into a toxic environment

* It's only been two years since Miranda Lambert married Brendan McLoughlin but she's already itching for some alone time -- she's headed to Texas in April for her first concert in over a year and she's told Brendan he shouldn't come because it will be all work and no play but she really wants to get away from him for a while and after the pair's recent road trip together, Miranda is desperate for some space -- sometimes Miranda feels like she's living with a baby because Brendan whines and complains about life on her farm

Page 30: Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker's romance is heating up fast, so much so that she's practically handed over the keys to her Calabasas estate and she loves having Travis sleep over and sometimes he'll stay the whole weekend -- he gets along famously with her children and Travis has been a friend of the family for years, so the kids have pretty much known him their whole lives and they'll do fun stuff together like hiking or playing video games and Travis loves making breakfast and showing off his pancake-flipping skills --Travis is spending so much time at Kourt's place that he's moved a bunch of his stuff in to make it easier for his kids Landon and Alabama with ex Shanna Moakler to visit him there -- everyone's convinced they'll be living together full-time before you know it

* Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were met with a flurry of well-wishes after they revealed they're expecting baby No. 2 -- the couple decided to wait until Meghan was safely into her second trimester to share the news and they only told a handful of family members before the public and they wanted to cherish this secret for as long as they could -- Harry and Meghan have been nesting at their Montecito mansion and have been busy prepping the nursery and making sure it's eco-friendly with energy-efficient lighting and they're keeping it as plastic-free as possible

* Love Bites -- Clare Crawley and Dale Moss reunited, Kit Harington and Rose Leslie welcomed a baby boy, Paris Hilton and Carter Reum engaged

Page 32: Cover Story -- Bruce Springsteen's private world -- he's an open book in his songs, but here's Bruce's untold story of his struggles with depression and regret -- he still has dark thoughts from time to time but therapy and medication have helped a great deal

Page 36: Stars' Cheating Confessions -- sometimes all you can do is beg for forgiveness; these celebs have all had to plead their case -- Donny and Debbie Osmond, Jude Law and Sienna Miller, Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith

Page 37: David Letterman and Regina Lasko, Dean McDermott and Tori Spelling, Kevin Hart and Eniko Parrish

Page 40: Interview -- Elizabeth Olsen -- the Avengers star dishes about getting witchy again for Marvel's mind-bending WandaVision

Page 42: Golden Girls -- how these Golden Globes nominees get their award-worthy figures -- Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicole Kidman, Lily Collins

Page 43: Kaley Cuoco, Michelle Pfeiffer, Amanda Seyfried

Page 44: Aadila Dosani's vegan recipe for Chickpea and Potato Soup

Page 46: Style Week -- Ashley Graham is the new global brand ambassador for self-tanning label St. Tropez

Page 48: What's Hot Right Now -- create a naturally gorgeous, flushed look with fashion designer Jason Wu's namesake makeup collection

Page 49: Haute hippie retro jeans -- take a trip back to the '70s with Revice Denim's ultra-cool capsule, Los Angeles Lovers -- Delilah Belle Hamlin

Page 50: Flower Power -- floral prints are spring's hottest trend -- rock the pretty blooms for a fresh, boho-chic look -- Kaia Gerber

Page 52: DIY Blowout -- these foolproof finds deliver impeccable hair right at home -- Drew Barrymore

Page 54: Entertainment

Page 55: Q&A with Mary Fitzgerald of Selling Sunset

Page 58: Buzz -- after months of playing it coy, these celebs confirmed their relationships on Valentine's Day -- Scott Disick and Amelia Hamlin

Page 59: Vanessa Hudgens and Cole Tucker, Sharna Burgess and Brian Austin Green, Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker, Kendall Jenner and Devin Booker

Page 60: Sound Bites -- Halsey on not conforming to conventional beauty standards, Anderson Cooper on coparenting with his ex, Ashley Graham on the importance of self-care, Kate Winslet on feeling like a fish out of water in Hollywood

Page 61: Tom Holland on the plot of the next Spider-Man flick, Mila Kunis joking about keeping her family entertained during quarantine, Drew Barrymore when asked if she's ever been skinny-dipping, Madelaine Petsch on playing a teen in Clare at 16

Page 62: Horoscope -- Pisces Lupita Nyong'o turned 38 on March 1

Page 64: By the Numbers -- Riz Ahmed

[lovelyirony]

"Building a coffin from confetti and confessions / Maybe there will be a lesson / In the rubble when it's through / Buried in metal and a million memories / The temperature is rising to a thousand degrees" + Tony

People collect memories of you whether or not you want them to. This is a fact. Someone has a memory of your pajama pants at the grocery store. Someone else could remember the fact that you were blasting “Tonight, Tonight” by Hot Chelle Rae and you were crying and screaming the lyrics. They are wondering why you were doing that. Also why you screamed “fuck” seventeen individual times. 

So you might know this. You might have accepted this fact. Tony has. 

But there’s something else that only few know: you can manipulate people’s memories of you. 

If Tony wasn’t so dead-set on becoming an engineer, he probably would’ve become an actor something. He’s good at lying, but he’s even better at controlling the memories. 

People remember him getting shit-faced, out of control, but they never remember anything else. 

He likes that sometimes. That people think they remember the facts and then they don’t, because it can help sometimes. 

Sometimes. 

Not when he’s staring at the group that’s arrived, looking around at all the guests. 

It kind of sucks when you want friends. Or love. Both. Both is good. 

They call themselves the Avengers. Others do it too because they’re just...good. They’re the kids who talk to you when you’re stressed. Bruce Banner helps kids with science. 

Tony can’t--he couldn’t possibly do that. For a variety of reasons. The most prominent being that it would be considered a PR stunt and he really doesn’t want to do something that’s just for cameras and lighting settings. 

So he watches. Because that’s all someone like him can do in front of others, but behind the scenes he can do more. 

He can do things like be a superhero. Iron Man, they call him. People love him. They have t-shirts with his mask on it, and it’s kind of bittersweet because people would hate knowing that Tony Stark was behind it. 

And he also knows that people are better remembered in death. They become enshrined for their amazing acts of kindness and everything else usually gets swept under the rug for forty or fifty-odd years. 

So that’s what he’s planning on. Maybe people will discover it when he’s dead and gone and they will feel a little bit bad. Maybe they’ll try to prove that someone else was Iron Man. 

But for now Tony is content to sit on the sidelines and watch the Avengers roll their eyes as he waves. 

And then the unthinkable happens. 

Natasha walks up. 

“Why’d you invite us to this?” She demands. “We’re not exactly what you’d call your friends.” 

Tony smiles. 

“Of course you’re not. You do good and I spend money on Fireball for fraternity boys. That’s not exactly my candidate entry for sainthood.” 

Natasha has a small smile for a second. 

(He considers it a win.) 

“You still didn’t answer my question.” 

“Figure if I’m supplying booze, you all might like some of it,” Tony says with a shrug. “And just because Rogers rescues kittens out of trees and knows how to say ‘Our Father’ in sixteen different languages doesn’t mean I’m thinking he spends his Friday nights studying catechism.” 

At that one, Natasha actually laughs. 

She grabs an unopened bottle of rum. 

“Thanks, Stark. You’re a real pal.” 

Pal is usually used in contexts that are set in history periods or to remind someone what their place is because no one fucking uses pal. 

Natasha is essentially telling Tony that they appreciate it, but they’re not won over by the booze supply. 

He was expecting that, honestly. He still hates that she used “pal.” Who the fuck uses pal? 

And then an explosion. Of fucking course there’s an explosion, and people want to stay at Tony’s house and he wants to let them but someone might fuck up a painting, and--

Ah, shit. They’re gonna have to stay. 

“Well, you all have fun and all. If I find out that a painting is torn or a glass is broken, I will be using DNA testing to figure out who did it, and then you will be sent a bill. All the glasses are two hundred a piece and the paintings are insured but worth over thousands of dollars, most of which you do not have. Except for you Chad, go crazy. Isn’t your mom a plastic surgeon?”  

“In LA!” 

“Bravo,” Tony says, smile sarcastic. “Well then, I’m sure she’s proud you’re drinking Red Bull with Jaegermeister. A real winner, you are.” 

A few people laugh and Tony walks off while people presumably do their thing, and he’s out the door into the soft light. 

-

Iron Man flies in for the situation at hand, which is a group of chemical engineers gone crazy and trying to blow up a building or something. He hates them on sight. 

“Nice of you to show up,” Hawkeye says sarcastically. “What, get caught up by traffic?” 

“Foot traffic,” Iron Man says. “Impeccable reputation with the people, as you know.” 

“I’ve heard you make three different medieval history puns, I hate you,” Winter Soldier mutters. 

“And yet you understood all of them and laughed, so who’s the real loser here?” Iron Man snarks back. “Let’s kick ass.” 

The situation is taken care of fairly quickly, and Iron Man leaves it to Captain America. 

“As much as I’d love to chew these guys out about engineering principles, I really have a previous situation that I need to check on. Involves alcohol and no supervision.” 

“Say no more,” Winter Soldier responds. “Go. Do your thing.” 

Iron Man blows a kiss. 

Natasha knocks Bucky on the back of the head. 

“Why don’t you just buy him a house already? You look so lovesick it’s like you made a scrapbook for your wedding.” 

“Shut up,” Bucky mutters. “Let’s get back to where we were so there’s no suspicion.” 

“You can go back, I’m turning in,” Bruce mutters. “Way too many people.” 

“I’ll see you later, I’ll turn these shits into police,” Steve says. “Falcon, you’re coming with me.” 

“On it,” Sam says, grinning. “See you losers later.” 

- 

The party is still going on. There are no broken glasses or torn paintings, but Tony’s about ready to end it all (the party, that is) and kicks most everyone out. 

“Come on man!” A girl whines. “It was just getting good! Beer pong was getting set up!” 

“I’ll have you know I was born sophisticated and while I’ll snack on shitty, homemade excuses for snack mixes, I will not tolerate beer pong in this house. Leave.” 

With many a grumble, people go home quickly. 

Bucky Barnes laughs. 

- 

If you didn’t know, Tony has a Gigantic, Huge, Ginormous Crush on Bucky Barnes. 

It’s bad. 

Like, I-Can’t-Look-at-Him-or-I’ll-Die bad. 

So when he laughs? 

Tony’s heartstrings zing. Like the Judy Garland song to a T. 

“You’re a pretty funny guy, Stark.” 

“Only on Thursdays and Sundays and every other Friday,” Tony shoots back. Bucky still smiles. 

“Some party you were hosting.” 

“I like to entertain.” 

“You ever get exhausted?” 

“Only when choosing what cheese platter to order,” Tony responds, smiling. “But you guys should get home, get some rest. God knows I should, but I have too many projects to work on.” 

“You’re in mechanical engineering, right? I see you sometimes. I have a woodshop class there.” 

Tony blanks. 

Bucky Barnes has noticed him. 

Um. 

“Yeah,” Tony says. “Yeah, I go there. For class. A lot. Anyways, it was very nice seeing you all tonight, I’m going to bed.” 

- 

Tony lies awake at night and this time it’s from sheer embarrassment. He was talking in fragmentary sentences! Who the fuck does that? 

He’s going to fail his test tomorrow. He just knows it. 

- 

Bucky’s swooning on Cloud Nine. 

Tony Stark! Talked! To Him! 

Steve keeps making fun of him, but it’s worth it. 

“You still got tongue-tied around Iron Man tonight,” Steve teases. “I wouldn’t count it as an absolute win.” 

“Winter Soldier is supposed to be stoic and moody,” Bucky argues. “I think I won.” 

“You told Iron Man you hated him,” Sam deadpans. “Like you didn’t almost cry of happiness when he made that stupid fucking King Arthur pun.” 

“It was art, I’m meant to cry about it,” Bucky says. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Goodnight.” 

He goes to bed with a smile on his face. 

Now, if there was a way for him to get closer to Tony...that’d be nice. 

[scaryscarecrows]

Bat-recs

Y’know, for fun! Add your favorites; we were all new to this hell at some point, maybe this could be useful for someone.

Batman: Gothic

This was actually the second one I bought; it came across my table when I volunteered at a used library books organization. Two bucks. Immortal murderer? Haunted underwater monastery? Generally freaky? Sign me up! NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THE WEE BABES, we got child murder, mentions of sexual assaults, and a literal head in the trash can. Poor Bruce. This story put him through the absolute wringer and I want to hug him.

The Cult

Also freaky! Bane says he broke Batman. Bane broke Batman a few years LATER; Blackfire...jeeze, man. (So far, two for two on the whole ‘immortal evil religious figure’. Hm.) Psychological horror out to HERE, and there’s a couple of pages that just WORK so WELL, when Robin!Jason finally finds poor Bruce. Also not for children, here there be a lotta bodies. And rats. And Bruce being...uh...well, we don’t need to talk about that now.

Scarecrow Year One

MY FIRST AND FAVORITE. (Ahh, evil religious individual! But not immortal this time.) Jonathan Crane’s backstory-one of them-with bonus Batdad content. Sean Murphy's sketchy artwork works really, really well for, well, Scarecrow, and Baby Crane is a little cutie. Protect him at all costs. Eh, if you or your kid’s a frightened type, the swarms of attacking crows might be a bit much, but there’s no corpse-stacks or child murder this time.

Li’l Gotham

Tired of everything hurting? Say no more. Tooth-rotting fluff is HERE. Batfamily getting along. Damian loves his mom and she loves him back and I am HAPPY ABOUT IT. This is what you’d think DC is like all the time, based on fic. Worth having for when they inevitably ruin something else. The same team has since done Once Upon a Crime, which is also precious.

White Knight

Did I see ‘Sean Murphy’ and smash the preorder? Yeah. Do I decree that this Ivy design is the best Ivy? Yeah. Elseworlds/Black Label, so he’s free to deconstruct Batman...and Batman’s proclivity for destroying Gotham in the pursuit of one asshole. (I feel a little called out, given my driving in Arkham Knight.) Has a sequel, and I’m waiting for the TP, but I’m sure I’ll love it just the same. Harley’s looking good here, guys; she is taking no shit AND she’s not being treated as a bimbo. She has brains and she’s not afraid to use them! Eh, mild nudity and violence, but barring Jason Todd’s standard woes, I’d rate it about the same as SYO in terms of ‘will this traumatize my kid?’

Under the Red Hood

1) No kids. There’s a bag o’ severed heads lovingly detailed like, five pages in. Red Hood ain’t Batman, a fact that he would like to make very clear.

2) THE SASS. THE SAAAAAAASS. EVERYBODY IS A SNARKY BASTARD AND I LOVE IT ALL. Well, almost all. I will grant that the animated film fixed my one big grievance with the ending. :) Seriously, though, ‘oh, my goodness gracious! I’ve been bamboozled!’ is golden and I’m WAITING for that line to make it to screen. Don’t be cowards, DC.

Haunted Knight

Everyone’s gonna rec The Long Halloween, as well they ought, but Haunted Knight-same team-is also great. Scarecrow’s design is...I’m torn between loving it and wanting to yeet it into the sun, but it works for him. This is a short story collection featuring Mad Hatter, Scarecrow, and and a Bat-ified Christmas Carol.

Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth

OKAY. This is sort of like The Long Halloween in that it’s frequently considered ‘required reading’, but I do legitimately enjoy it; it’s very, very, creepy. THIS is where the Arkham Asylum game takes a lot of its inspiration; the Rogues do not go to Batman. He goes to them. This also establishes Arkham’s history. I will say that you should pick up a newer edition with the annotated script included (most of them have it now) because there’s a LOT of symbolism in the art that you might miss, and knowing it really adds to the experience. I’d totally teach this in a psych class, though. Or an English class. It’s great. Bonus for everybody having their own style of dialogue: Joker does not have speech bubbles, for instance, Bruce is  black and white. Really gives you an idea of how they talk. It’s also nice that most of the Gallery gets some page time, even if they don’t talk; Scarecrow, for instance, has no dialogue, but he doesn’t need it. His presence is enough. Hard R-rating for scary images and implied childhood sexual abuse.

The Animated Series

Yup. Start here. START. HERE. Every major rogue (and several obscure ones) gets an episode in the limelight, Bruce is at his absolute best-that perfect combo of ‘gettin’ real tired of your shit, Villain of the Week’ and the compassion that’s gone missing lately-Harley looks great (and, y’know, LIKE A HARLEQUIN), and although it is kid-friendly, it doesn’t treat the viewer like a kid, so you can enjoy it as an adult. (You’re a lying liar who lies if Baby Doll’s episodes didn’t make you teary-eyed. It’s okay. There’s no shame to be had.) Bonus: Dick Grayson is a little ray of sunshine compared to Batman, but that’s not all he is and the writers remembered that. :) And, well...

Iconic.

The Arkham Series

These are almost the animated series for a more mature audience (complete with a lot of the same voice casting!); murder is now allowed to be confirmed. If you’re intimidated by the comics, this is also a good place to start. Again, all the major rogues and a few lesser-knowns get some time to shine, the characterization is working (Bruce is not here for Joker’s shit, but he can still take a minute to calm down a panicking guard), and yeah, I love the designs.

Look at my baby. THAT is legitimately frightening. 10/10, would run from again. Bonus: not only do we get Alfred, we get three whole Robins AND Oracle. That said, while the games give you PLENTY of options to go ‘I’m Batman’, Bruce takes almost none of them, so you have to do it. You gotta. It’s the law.

EDITED TO INCLUDE

Gotham County Line

Batman deals with the psychological guilt of not being able to save everyone, and there are...zombies. Sort of. Amazingly, Scarecrow is nowhere to be seen, yet Bruce does admit, straight-up, ‘I’m afraid’. Me too, Bruce. Me, too. 

10/10 for creep factor here. I went into this unaware it was possible to be scared of Alfred. It is. It is possible. I am a changed woman now. Nothing really...comes of it...but I swear, I turned the page, and this was waiting for me:

Mommy...

Also unsettling; the hanged man in general. A+ unsettling artwork, I’m sure that guy will haunt me. Added bonus: Zombie Robin Jason popping in to save Bruce’s bacon, because he is a good boy, and Zombie Waynes being proud parents. I did not expect the Feels Crowbar...but it was a nice surprise.

[fsketchart]

A Second Chance - Part 5

A pale-skinned boy with once bright green eyes stood shaking and shivering. All he could feel was this empty, dark void. Surrounding him, was a dark pit of emptiness. The cold surrounded him as mists of dark smoke brushed up against him once in a while. It left a sickly dark feeling all over him, leaving him weak and defenseless. In front of the boy stood another figure, dressed in a black leather suit, his eyes were a disturbingly bright purple, almost identical to Chat Noir, aside from the sickly twisted grin on his face. The boy’s knees trembled before he collapsed, his finger aching from the burden of the corrupted miraculous that lay on it.

I need to break the curse, the blonde sickly pale boy thought. His green eyes were tired, and almost all the light was gone from them. The purple-eyed monster just cackled a high pitched laugh, before stepping back. From beyond the purple-eyed copycat, another man stepped forward. His suit was a dark gray, and for a split second he looked almost guilty and pained at the sight of his son on the ground, but his stare hardened and he stepped forwards.

“Adrien, I will offer once more. I’m begging you, son, please join me. I’m trying to help your mother, if you gave me your miraculous willingly I can remove the corruption, you won’t have to suffer and then we can work together to heal your mother. You, Emilie, Natathlie, the Gorilla and I, we can all have the live happily ever after we-”

“NO! You...you were the one who did this to me. You corrupted my miraculous, YOU’RE THE ONE WHO RUINED OUR FAMILY! You’ve cut open the wound that mom left when she...when she left this world. You aren’t letting heal our family, you aren’t letting go, you aren’t moving forwards!”

“I’m doing everything for us, I can’t give up on our family! I’m trying to bring her back, for us, for you, my son-”

“HOW DARE YOU INSULT FATHERS BY DARING TO CALL YOURSELF ONE! My friends made me strong, they taught me what I know and made me who I am, they are my family and I won’t let you hurt them! You’ve torn MY family apart, a family which you have no part of!”

“I...I am sacrificing EVERYTHING for this plan to succeed! I have every move calculated, I have every upper hand, and I will reverse everything, I promise, once I get Ladybug’s earrings. Once I get them I will become powerful, stronger than ever before, and I will be able to protect us. I need your help, Adrien, I’ve sacrificed too much to get to this point, I need you to stand by my side.”

“You think you know what sacrifice is? You have NEVER given to anyone else, you are greedy, manipulative and abusive on so...so many levels. You have only ever taken more than you gave, I will never betray Ladybug, break me down as much you want. But I will never turn my back on my family as you have yours.”

Hawkmoth sighed before hitting his cane loudly on the ground and turning on his heel to leave. He took one last look of longing towards Adrien, before vanishing from the void, the purple-eyed Chat Noir following suite, both returning back to the physical world. The pale boy was left, shivering in the darkness.

-------(ಥ﹏ಥ)-------

The rest of the family filed into the room, and some additional new faces seemed to be around. Scoping out the dining hall, Marinette sees Bruce and Alfred file into the room, followed by two boys, both tall with black hair and blue eyes, though one of them has a white stripe of white in his hair. She froze as she took in the sight of them, as they did the same. Bruce held up his hand towards and then gave a look towards Alfred. The boys nodded and took a seat at the table.

There was an awkward silence until the one with the white hair broke the silence.

“So you’re Alfred’s...cousin’s daughter? Is that right?” he asked.

“Uh, yes. My name is Marinette. And your name is…?” she asked hesitantly.

“Jason. Jason Todd. Besides me is my brother, Tim Drake. We’re Bruce’s sons, as is Damian who you seem to have met,” he responded stiffly. Marinette nods, before facing Bruce.

Bruce holds out his hand to shake her hand, and she does so, while maintaining eye contact.

“I’m Bruce Wayne, my other children aren’t home right now due to work. How long do you plan to stay in Gotham?”

“I’m hoping to leave as soon as possible- n-not that I hate it here, here I’m sure there are nice things to see in Gotham, especially since you’ve been so kind as to host me here! I’m just hoping to get in contact with the Justice League, and bring back assistance with me to fight Hawkmoth and his army,” Marinette said while fidgeting under his cold stare.

Bruce nodded once at her before looking towards Alfred.

“We can have that arranged, no?”

He turns to his sons and gives them a stern look, daring them to say otherwise. Damian looked like he was about to say something before Tim elbowed him in the ribs. He bit back his words, opting to attempt as cold of a stare as his father.

Marinette looked anxious, shrinking in on herself as the tension in the room rose. Alfred stepped in, noticing her distress, and placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head at Bruce. Bruce paused for a moment, surprised, before seating himself down at the dining hall table. The rest of the standing brothers followed as the morning offered a silent breakfast.

--------(☞ﾟ∀ﾟ)☞-------

The sound of another building crumpling shook the old man out of his shock.

Ryuuko grabbed the last remaining children and rushed them through the tunnels, following from the back as Viperion lead them in the front. Queen Bee just stood there numb, seeing the building collapse upon themselves, reminding her of the people who they couldn’t save. Master Fu nearly dared to run out there again, to see who they could save, but Queen Bee grabbed his wrist and ran as fast as she could.

They hurried into the tunnel as quickly as they could, hearing the opening to the tunnel beginning to collapse with every step they took. Children were heard sniffling in the front but were silenced by Viperion’s shushing, as the children tried to hold in their tears. They were nearly completely silent as they made their way through the tunnel, the Guardian keeping his hand on the wall as he walked on through the tunnels.

Then, they heard the sounds of footsteps from behind the Guardian and Queen Bee, accompanied by the sounds of boulders being sliced. The children gasped as Viperion attempted to quiet them, but Ryuuko realized it was too late. She grabbed several children and began running past him. Viperion gave up quieting the children, and grabbed the remaining ones and began following Kagami. The sounds of footsteps from behind sped up and Queen Bee and Master Fu exchanged a look. Queen Bee looked towards Master Fu panicked.

“Get everyone to the safety camps. Once Ladybug returns we will have the upper hand, especially with the help from the Justice League. I will stay behind here and make sure you all can escape. Besides, I’m getting old. My time here is limited, but your future is limitless, Queen Bee,” Master Fu said. He gripped his miraculous tightly, before shaking his head. He slipped off the Miraculous and placed it into Queen Bee’s hands. She looked down at the miraculous in shock, before looking back up at him. “Get my Miraculous out of here, we can’t risk Hawkmoth getting it. Now hurry, before you can no longer escape.” Queen Bee debated the options in her head, before nodding. She ran out of there, silent tears brewing from her eyes. I’m sorry Ladybug, she thought. I’m so sorry.

Disclaimer: There was some confusion (that I only read about last night,) that I took the idea of Marinette being related to Alfred from another AU. Rest assured, this fic was created before I dived too deep into Maribat, I hadn’t seen another fic doing this and I didn’t want them to just be like oh cute black hair and blue eyes check and check okay she’s let inside the bat fam now. I don’t at all hate this trope and I think it’s cute, I just wanted there to be more angst and distrust, keyword distrust, and introduced Alfred and Tom as cousins, to give Marinette a reason to be let into the Wayne Manor. Thus they were close but didn’t grow up together, only really writing letters as they were kids until they met in real life when they were older. Thus, different accents. It gave Marinette a reason to be let into the Wayne Manor, while still having most of the Bat Fam distrusting her to be there, but tolerating her because of Alfred. I hope that clears that up!

PS: I’m so sorry this chapter was short. I’ve been busy these last two weeks, busier than I was expecting. The next chapter will be longer, and that’s probably when Marinette will be introduced to the Justice League. I’ll also probably introduce Tom and Sabine next chapter as well, so stay tuned!

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