#Bruce is super confused when he shows up for the will reading

[tales-of-the-ghost-zone]

A few months before Danny gets his powers, while on a trip to Gotham with his family (maybe there was a ghost convention or something). While in Gotham Danny some how figures out that Bruce Wayne is Batman. I don’t know how he figures it out, but he does. When they get back to Amity Danny jokingly makes a power point presentation for his parents about why they should put in their will that if something ever happened to them Bruce Wayne would get custody of him (and Jazz if she’s still underage at the time).

A couple of his points are:

He’s a billionaire so you know he’ll be able to afford to take care of me and Jazz

He has a mansion so lots of space and big rooms

He’s got a butler

He’s already well known for adopting black haired blue eyed children so he probs wouldn’t be opposed to taking me in

He’s got kids of his own already so me and Jazz would get more siblings!!

He’s Batman

Danny did the whole power point as a joke but his parents actually took it kind of seriously. Cause up to this point neither one of them had thought about what would happen to Danny and Jazz if the both of them where to die. So they make a will and put in it that if they both die then Bruce Wayne gets custody of their kids. And then they all promptly forget about it.

Two years later Bruce Wayne gets a call from a man claiming to be the executor of the Fenton will and that Bruce’s presence is requested in Amity Park for the reading of the Fenton will. Bruce is wracking his brain trying to remember who the Fenton’s are and if how he knows them. But the man is coming up blank (cause he’s never actually met them before). He goes to the will reading and is shocked to hear that the Fenton’s, two people he’s never met before, have left custody of their 16yo son to him.

Danny is just as shocked because holy shit that power point was a joke. He didn’t mean for his parents to actually take it seriously and do that!!! And Vlad is pissed. He was sure he was gonna get custody of Danny after killing off the Fenton parents! Bruce is trying to figure out why these two strangers left their son to him. He’s watching Danny with eagle eyes trying to figure the kid out. And he sees the way Danny flinches whenever Vlad gets close or puts his hand on Danny’s shoulder.

Vlad tries to convince Bruce it would be better for Danny if Bruce gave up custody to him(Vlad). He’s know the boy for two years after all and he was actually a family friend. Danny meanwhile is silently shaking his head and giving Bruce pleading eyes silently begging him not to let Vlad take him. Bruce just tells Vlad that the Fenton’s must have had a good reason for giving him(Bruce) custody instead of giving it to Vlad, and he’s going to abide by the Fenton’s wishes.

Bruce leaves with Danny and once in the limo he asks Danny if he’s ever met him or his parents before. Poor Danny has to explain how he jokingly made a power point about why his parents should leave custody of him to Bruce in the event of their deaths, and how he never thought his parents would actually take it seriously. But hey at least he doesn’t have to go live with Vlad now!

[thatsnotahoodjason]

bruce allowing a reporter to do an article on him and wayne manor. so he shows the reporter around, and shows them the kids bedrooms.

starting with dick's old room, its fairly messy with a lot of photos of his friends and gym equipment. the reporter makes a joke about how most of the photos are redheads. bruce explains how dick stays here a lot so he leaves a lot of his stuff here but doesn't actually live here anymore.

then they go to jason's room where bruce just pretends to be super sad the whole time. emotional moment. the reporter like, gets down on her knees and does a little prayer for jason and jason is just, hiding in the cupboard trying not to laugh because he forgot he wasn't meant to be here today.

then tim's room. where tim is currently playing video games with cassie, bart, and conner. the reporter makes a comment about the bi flag above his bed and tim just stares at her threateningly in case she was about to say something homphobic, the distraction causes tim to die in the game, kon starts to swear as he was teamed up with tim, making bruce threaten to call his dad (kon: which one?) the room is also an absolute tip, and bruce basically just argues with tim about tidying up.

then to duke's room, which he has only just started moving into so its filled with boxes, but it is very overwhelmingly yellow and a little banner on the door that says "y'all need therapy, not me tho. im totally fine." and the door is covered in bee stickers (courtesy of steph, damian, and tim)

then to damian's room, where he is very casually sitting stiffly on his bed with a sword. the reporter is just. very confused. and damian turns his head and tells bruce to kick tim's friends out the house, and bruce is just like, "you're meant to be in school!?" and damian just utters the word "useless" and just carries on staring at his sword until they leave.

they then go to cass' room which has a little flippable picture of her (one side is her smiling, and the other is her with an angry face- basically just telling ppl if she wants them coming in the room- the sign is on the angry face one) and they enter to find her making out with steph. a lot of awkwardness and panic. steph goes on a rant about privacy and disrespect for wlw couples and calls bruce an "entitled, homophobic, billionaire brat." bruce makes them leave the door partially open and cass just rolls her eyes then shuts it fully when they've left.

later on in the tour, they go to the library and jason is just there reading. so jason does an absolutely terrible english accent and pretends to be alfred's grandson, offering them tea and calling them tossers. the reporter somehow buys it tho and they move on.

in the kitchens is duke, kate, and dick arguing about who's actually been kicked out the kitchen as someone threw away the list of ppl with kitchen bans. so now dick is burning stuff in the oven which kate is trying to salvage and its basically that scene in community and they're just full on panicking.

in the living room is luke helping to fix a wheel on barbara's chair. haley (dog) is scratching the sofa while trying to get into a comfy sleeping spot and a very disturbing horror film is playing on the tv super loudly. while bruce and the reporter are in the room, the main character survives and luke and barbara boo the tv repeatedly.

then when the reporter is leaving, alfred is behind them as they go out the front door, holding onto a cow with damian behind him shouting at him for not letting him have the cow inside.

the reporter is just. so so confused. she never goes back to the manor and doesn't submit the report because who would actually believe this is the bruce wayne's daily life??

[daydreamerwonderkid]

I see your vampire!Bruce Wayne AU and I raise you this:

Normal human Bruce Wayne raising his horde of vampire/dhamphir children, but because Bruce is Bruce no suspects any of the Batkids are, well ... bat kids.

Even the Batkids are confused at first when they first meet Bruce. Batman shows up and they're like:

"Oh, shit it's Batman! The very scary, very territorial Vampire Lord who's completely taken over Gotham and has managed to strike fear into the heart of all the most notorious vampire leaders! And he wants to adopt me into his coven? Sounds sketchy, but aight."

Only for them to wake up the next day and realize that not only is Batman in fact NOT a vampire, but he's also the most pitiful and pathetic human they've ever laid their eyes on and there's no fucking way they can leave him now.

Humans are already super fragile and easy to kill as is. And their new guardian is risking his life every night masquerading as an all powerful Vampire Lord!!!!

It's honestly a miracle that Bruce hasn't been killed yet and there's no way they're going to let their clueless human guardian wander off by himself. Especially after they realize he keeps forgetting that humans aren't supposed to be awake for 72 hours straight and his skin is paler than the giant hoards of case file documents he tries to sift through while barely touching his own food.

This poor idiot human is so committed to pretending to be a vampire that he's actually convinced himself he has night vision and spends more time hanging out in a literal Batcave than he does in his own fucking house!

Meanwhile, Bruce is thoroughly convinced he's got a complete handle on the whole raising vampire/dhampir children thing. After all, it's not like he's had to change much about his own personal life to that of a parent taking care of a horde of supernatural children.

He already spends more time awake at night anyway and while the kids don't mind human food absolutely love Alfred's cooking, it's not difficult to get a hold of any blood when they actually need to feed on something more substantial. Considering he's the biggest contributor to Gotham's blood donation centers, it's not like anyone's gonna tell him no.

Bruce also read somewhere that while vampires in the modern age don't actually need to hunt humans to feed anymore (considering the above mentioned donation centers), their hunting instincts haven't gone away, either. So while he was initially against the idea of letting his kids getting involved in his vigilante lifestyle, it was probably a good thing in the end that they had an alternative outlet for their growing vampiric urges. Like Alfred, he would have preferred it if they had gotten into competitive sports or something similar instead, but all his children had proven themselves to be just as stubborn as he is so he made do with what he could.

Especially considering the fact that a parenting article he read mentioned how extremely sensitive young vampires/dhampirs are towards the well-being of those who make up their coven. Dick, ALONE, had proved how absolutely futile his attempts to separate his night time and day time activities truly were. Apparently, it was detrimental to young vampires to be separated from their parents/guardians for too long. Better he trained them and supervised them himself versus having to re-experience Dick, Tim and Cass stalking him like the supernatural predators they were while doing his nightly patrols.

And if any of his children leaned a bit more into their feral nature whenever Bruce happened to get hurt on patrol, that was just kids' instincts reacting to the head of their coven being threatened. It's taken years of training, grounding and long late night discussions to convince his children to try holding back their supernatural strength and bloody acts of retribution. He still finds himself lecturing them from time to time even if he's fully aware they're all humoring him.

He still has the small collection of baby fangs that Dick had somehow roped all his younger siblings into contributing to over the years. For the life of him, he can't begin to fathom why anyone would want to collect teeth or why his children are so adamant that he holds onto theirs. But ever since he jokingly mentioned the Tooth Fairy to a horrified and offended younger Dick when his first set of baby fangs finally started coming in, it seems his children are determined to make sure no one can even attempt to think about exchanging their fangs for mere quarters.

And for the record (and despite what his children and friends keep on insisting), he never set out to actually pretend to be a "Vampire Lord." He just honestly thought designing his costume around one of his deepest fears would be a good way for him to use that fear against the criminals of Gotham.

He also won't admit that he completely forgot about the obvious association people make between bats and vampires.

[glorystark]

His Saviour | Part 1

Steve Rogers x Reader

Summary: You disobey one of Steve's orders in a mission but you don't think about the consequences...

Warnings: (TRIGGER WARNING!) mentions of self harm and suicide, mentions of killing and torturing, pure Angst no happy ending, mentions of injures, dark!Steve Rogers, swearing, minor spoilers of Black Widow, Steve being an asshole in general

Pairing: Steve Rogers x reader

Featuring: The original 6

Disclaimer: please don't read this if you're not comfortable with any of the topics below or/and if they trigger you. This is just a fiction and it's never ok to act like this. I'm not romanticizing any of these topics and this behaviour!

You are sitting in the Quinjet, observing everyone who is injured in different ways. Natasha has been stabbed in her right thigh, Clint’s left ankle has been twisted, and Bruce, although not injured, appears exhausted due to a significant code green call, during which Nat almost lost him trying to retrieve him. Thor has a few scratches on his face. Everyone’s faces show bruising in different areas, and their bodies are still aching. But you, you have been injured the most. Your right wrist is broken, and you have been shot in your left leg, though the bullet wasn’t deep and didn't cause major damage; otherwise, you probably would have passed out by now. You still have trouble breathing, and your voice is sore because one of the HYDRA agents almost choked you to death. Your face is bruised, you can only open your right eye halfway, and your lips are swollen. The numbness has made it so you can barely feel any pain. When everyone saw you upon returning to the jet, they were extremely worried. You didn’t possess inhuman powers and weren't a super soldier, but you used to be a well-trained assassin and spy in the Red Room, closely partnered with Natasha Romanoff before joining S.H.I.E.L.D. So, it was surprising for the team to see you so battered, though they understood the mission was challenging.

Everyone needed a break upon returning to the tower. Initially, everyone thought it was a straightforward mission: infiltrate a high-security HYDRA base, get two flash drives containing vital and dangerous information, and exit. What no one knew was that it was a trap, with far more agents present than expected. Eventually, you managed to escape, but only securing one of the flash drives.

As everyone settled back in the jet, Bruce finished removing the bullet from your leg and bandaging Nat’s thigh. Thor bragged to Tony about his usual lack of injuries on missions, joking that he could have taken down all the HYDRA agents that day if he hadn’t been 'unlucky', which elicited laughter from Tony. Clint checked on Nat while she recounted a memory from Budapest. Meanwhile, you contemplated going home for a long shower until you noticed Steve, whose eyes were fixed on you with intensity. Confused, you assumed he was lost in thought, but you were wrong.

“How could you be so reckless?!" Steve's voice boomed through the jet as he stood up from his seat, his gaze piercing into yours. Everyone stopped what they were doing, surprised by his uncharacteristically loud tone, given his usually calm demeanor, even when upset. You looked at him, uncertain of what to say. You understood why he was angry; you had disobeyed an order. However, if not for your 'disobedience,' you wouldn't have acquired half the information you have now. To you, this seemed like Steve Rogers throwing a typical Captain America tantrum.

“Well, are you going to answer, or are you too stupid to respond to a simple question?" he growled, advancing toward your seat.

“I wasn't being-" you began to mutter, only to be interrupted by Steve.

“Speak up," he demanded, his voice cutting you off. You met his gaze, puzzled by his demeanor.

“I wasn't being reckless; I was being thoughtful. The-" you tried to explain, but Steve interrupted again.

"Thoughtful?! You call that thoughtful?! Really, Y/n? It's clear you don't understand the difference between stupidity and thoughtfulness.” he retorted.

“Will you stop interrupting me?" you interjected, your voice growing louder as you rose from your seat. You locked eyes with Steve, standing almost chest to chest in front of each other.

“I wouldn't have interrupted you if I knew any useful words were going to come out of your mouth," he countered, finally yelling, causing everyone but you to flinch.

“You have no right to yell at me like this, Steve.” you asserted, standing up for yourself.

"I have EVERY right to yell at you, you-" he began, but you cut him off this time.

"Why are you making it seem like I committed a crime? Yes, I agree it was wrong for me to enter that room alone, but I retrieved the flash drive we needed, didn't I?" you challenged.

“That is not the point right now. The point is, I'm your captain, and I gave a strict, direct order not to enter that room, and you disobeyed me.” he stated firmly.

That was all true. When you disobeyed his order, you knew he would be angry, but not to this extent.

You sprinted down the hallway, incapacitating every HYDRA agent in your path. You tried not to use your gun too often, knowing there would likely be guards in the room.

"Steve, I found the room," you said through your earpiece. You subdued the agent guarding the room where the flash drives were, and as the door swung open, more than twenty HYDRA agents stood before you, blocking your view of the drives on the computer table.

“Y/n, what did you just say? Get out of there now! Do you even know how many agents are in there?" Steve's urgent voice echoed in your ear.

“I do now," you replied, still facing the agents, who were also eyeing you cautiously.

"Y/n, this is an order. Get. Out. Of. There. Now.” Steve commanded, his tone almost a shout.

“Sorry, Steve, but people's lives depend on this.” you declared, charging toward the agents, disregarding Steve's pleas for you to retreat.

“Steve, I really don't understand what the big deal is. I got one of the drives, and yes, I went alone, but at least I obtained something that will help us.” you reasoned, taking a seat.

“Alright, y/n, I'm definitely sure now that you are deaf. You entered a room with so many HYDRA agents-" he began, only to be cut off by you.

“They were like 10 and they were really weak-" you defended.

“They were 27 trained assassins!” he corrected, making you widen your eyes.

"And do I need to remind you that your leg has been shot, and you can barely keep your eyes open, not to mention the rest of your injuries." he added mockingly.

“Okay, Steve, I get it, and I'm sorry for being reckless. Can we let this go now?" you pleaded, sitting down.

“Let this go?!" he started laughing, though his laugh lacked any humor. Everyone looked at Steve, unable to believe his behavior. They never expected him to speak to you this way, especially in front of the whole team.

You and Steve had been friends since meeting during the Battle of New York. You had a lot in common and quickly connected. A few months later, at one of Tony's parties, he kissed you, and the following day, he asked you out. It had been six months since then, and Steve treated you like a princess. He called you his savior because you helped him adjust to life after being thawed from the ice. He adored you. You had a few minor disagreements, but they were hardly fights, more like disagreements. You could never stay mad at each other, and now you couldn't believe the man who was laughing at you and humiliating you was the same person.

"Steve, I think that's enough," Nat finally intervened, her voice calm yet firm.

"Is it really? I think baby y/n hasn't learned her lesson yet.” Steve retorted sarcastically.

“Fuck you, Steve. You can't speak to me like that. I'm not a kid. If it wasn't for me, we wouldn't even have that one drive, and god knows how many people could have died. But you can't even realize that because I disobeyed ‘Captain America's orders,' and no one is allowed to disobey America's 'hero.' The only kid between us is you!” you shot back, your voice rising, though not as loud as Steve's had been.

“I'm a kid, y/n? Really? And what are you, a hero? Do you expect me to thank you now? Do you expect all of us to be on our knees thanking you?!" Steve challenged.

“That is not what I said!" you finally snapped.

The tension in the room escalated, and the team grew more uncomfortable by the second.

Steve smirked at your angered state.

“What's the matter, y/n? You seem a little bit defensive. I thought you liked being a hero. You know, because of the guilt, since you started killing and torturing people at the age of 8.”he said, still wearing the hurtful smirk on his face.

The whole team gasped, especially Natasha, whose story paralleled yours. You looked at Steve, unable to believe what he had just said.

“You seem shocked, Agent y/l/n. Oh, and Natasha, don't take this the wrong way. We all make mistakes in our life, but at least after we realize our mistakes, we try to make them up as soon as we can and not run away like a coward.” Steve continued, ignoring your reaction. You and Natasha widened your eyes, understanding what Steve was referring to."Steve..." Nat began, but Steve cut her off.

“I'm not done yet. Some of y'all look confused, well, let me explain it for you," Steve said, addressing the rest of the team.

"Steve, don't." you murmured, your voice weak now. You weren't even sure if anyone heard you, and you were right. No one heard you, but Steve who chose to ignore you.

“Our dear y/n y/l/n was a well-trained assassin back in the years with Natasha Romanoff in a place called the Red Room, which I'm sure you've heard about. Before even Natasha was out of there, Agent y/l/n found a way to leave the Red Room, a way to save every girl, from children to adults, who were mind-controlled into killing, and even worse. But do you know what she did instead?" he turned around the room, looking at everyone as if it was a show. No one said anything; they just kept looking between you and Steve. It was getting harder for you to focus on your breathing.

“Well, in case you haven't guessed yet, she just left everyone who could've been saved, even her best friend who is sitting right here with us.” he said, pointing at Nat.

“And even though she could've killed Dreykov, who was the leader by the way, with her genius plan, she didn't because she was a coward.” he said, emphasizing the word coward.

You've never felt so small and betrayed. You couldn’t believe he was using your awful past against you. When you confided in him, he comforted you, assuring you it wasn't your fault. That you’ve been through a lot and you took the only chance you had to save yourself. And now… now he was a different person.

“Cap that’s enough, it’s not our business what she did in the past. We all did something in some point that we aren’t proud of. She made up for that mistake many times now, since the battle of New York until today’s mission. I’m sure she still feels guilty and you’re just making it worse.” Tony looked at your trembling sight, standing up from his seat and walked towards Steve. The rest of the team nodding along, glad that Tony stood up for you because they were frozen themselves.

“Oh yeah Tony, you’re right I’m sure she feels guilty, don’t you y/l/n?” He looked at you as if you were a kid

Everything about him was hurting you right now. His voice tone that humiliated you in every way, his eyes that sent daggers to your way, his body that was intimidatingly towering yours, his smile which always made you happy and now it was only mocking you. Your throat is dry, your eyes are wet and you feel like your heart is going to come out of your chest in any second. You were hurt and unwell, and everyone could see that, everyone but Steve.

“Agent y/I/n do you feel guilty about your past?" He repeated his sarcastic question.

"I wouldn't worry about that too much since you have a good way to cope with your guilt right?" He continued.

You looked up at him frighteningly, understanding where he was going.

“Steve don't you dare." you whispered, finally being able to say something.

Everyone was confused since they had no idea what you both were talking about.

“you seem scared agent." Steve smirked at you sending shivers down your spine. It hurts so much more that he wasn't even using your name anymore, he felt like a stranger to you.

“SHUT UP!" you had never yelled so loud in your life, the whole jet shook. Everyone flinched but Steve. It seemed like he was waiting for this.

“Come on y/n are you that afraid of everyone knowing how you used to deal with your problems, or do you still do it?"

Everyone was quite once again, something in them wanted to know what Steve was talking about but they also didn't because of the way you reacted.

You looked at him not saying anything but your eyes were begging him to stop. You've never been in such a vulnerable position, especially considering everything you’ve been through.

“oh don't tell me you're gonna cut your wrists open again because you feel guilty you didn't get the second driver."

Everyone froze and widened their eyes, silence filling the jet. No one knew that you used to harm yourself until you started dating Steve, he was the first person to ever know. You felt so comfortable around him that you didn't want to have any untold secrets.

You thought about what if you guys break up but you convinced yourself that even if you guys separate your ways from each other at some point, you're definitely going to stay friends and he's never going to tell your secret to anyone because you believed he was a good man. You trusted him more than yourself and now he proved you all wrong.

You didn't cut anymore, because you found a way to save people. If it wasn't for Nick Fury, making you join the team you'd be long gone by now. But you didn't have a reason anymore, you were happy you had a new family and a new job, everything was perfect for you. Now you felt alone all over again and you didn't even blame Steve, you blamed yourself. You failed.

You started trembling more and started to see black spots. The team walked towards you to see if you were okay. Thor pushed Steve away, "Stay away from her," he warned, before walking to you. You heard Tony and Natasha yelling at Steve, Clint trying to calm them down but looking angry himself, Bruce and Thor asking you if you were alright, but you couldn’t hear anything anymore. It was so loud, but you only heard annoying mumbles. You let out a sob before passing out in the strong arms of the god, the last thing you saw being Steve's worried eyes…

A/N: This was my first (published) fan fiction. I apologise for any writing and/or grammar mistakes considering that English isn’t my first language. Feel free to correct me! If you enjoyed this, please let me know and let me know if you want to be tagged in the upcoming posts! (This fic will make a twist;))

[veryace-ficrecs]

Batman Outsider POV Fic Recs

This list will include all ratings and tags, so read at your own discretion! :)

Wait... you're backup? by Ceciliedr - Rated T

When her team is captured by Lex Luther, Traci can do little more than cross her fingers for a rescue. When someone does crash the party, it isn't anyone she knows. Traci sincerely hopes the guy in the red helmet is on their side.

library card by mikkal - Rated T

Jason Todd, Red Hood, and the Park Row Public Library (and her librarians).

Finding a New Perspective by njw - Rated T

“I got this, Hood.” Red Robin sounds annoyed as he arcs and twists through the air, kicking one henchman into another and wrenching the gun away from a third while simultaneously retracting his grappling line and then launching it to catch another unwary henchman. Just, how?

“I can see you do,” Red Hood says, and wait. Was his voice always that deep? Is he… Maya squints. Is he staring at Red Robin’s ass?

She blinks, then studies the line of sight more closely. Maybe he’s just checking out Red Robin’s kneecaps, in preparation for shooting at them? That seems more his style. Sexual attraction is kind of confusing and she still doesn’t totally believe Tosh that it’s actually as big a thing as people make it out to be—seriously, do other people really spend that much time thinking about it? Sounds fake but okay.

But no, Red Hood’s helmet is totally pointed at Red Robin’s ass. Huh. That’s new.

Captain Marvel's Adopted? by Len_suilon_mellon - Rated T

When Captain Marvel sends out a distress call, the only League member available is Batman. Bruce comes to his aid, but he finds out that Billy is a 10-year-old homeless orphan with black hair and blue eyes. Obviously, he makes the only logical decision and adopts Billy. Because it's Bruce—who's allergic to revealing life-changing information—the League is left in the dark. This story is written as 5+1 story from the Justice League's POV as they attempt to define the weird relationship between Batman and Captain Marvel. 5 times they didn't realize Batman had adopted Captain Marvel, and the 1 time they did.

The Startling Secret Identity of The Batman by Nokomis - Rated T

Good evening, super-sleuths! Boy, do we have a treat for you today. We’re delving into one of the biggest unsolved mysteries of the modern era. The million-dollar question. The billion-dollar question, if one of these theories holds water. That’s right. We’re gonna risk life, limb and sanity by asking the question… who is The Batman? [In-universe Buzzfeed Unsolved accidentally stumbles on Batman’s secret identity. The Batfam reacts.]

playacting by nex_et_nox - Rated G

“So,” Jim said, “are you one of Wayne’s new kids?” Because only siblings acted that way toward each other, and it seemed like every time Gotham turned around, Bruce Wayne was adopting more kids. It was a reasonable question. “What?” Jay asked. “No, I’m—” He paused. Very slowly, his head tilted as he looked over Jim’s shoulder in the most obvious way he possibly could. Jim Gordon accidentally meets the "newest" member of the Wayne family.

5 times the Justice League catch Bruce acting domestically by TimesBeingWhatTheyAre - Rated G

...and the one time he lets them see it aka 5 times the kids torment Bruce, and the time that he actually arranges a meet-up and minds are blown

the politics of dancing by TheResurrectionist - Not Rated

After months of silence following his mysterious resurrection from the dead, the prodigal Wayne heir shows up at an unlikely meeting. “Where is Mr. Wayne?” Jason crossed his legs, cracking his neck. “He’s not coming.” “I was assured Mr. Wayne would be here.” “Tough. Looks like you’ll have to settle for me, huh?”

I Love My Gay Son(s) by reeby10 - Rated G

But the part that had everyone’s attention was the shirt, a plain white t-shirt with “I LOVE MY GAY SON” emblazoned across the chest in bold, rainbow letters.

Bat Out Of Hell by arguablysomaya - Rated G

Five times the Bats are weird, and one time that weirdness saves the world Or, the Bats are weird, everyone that’s even remotely aware of the superhero game knows this. But, odd as they are, they’re still humans. Which is why it should probably be impossible that they’re such forces of chaos. And when they’re all together? Well, most people are just glad they’re on the good side. And they are. Mostly.

The five times Flash came to Gotham for help and the one time he didn't need to (5+1) by Silver_Athena - Not Rated

Barry needs help solving a murder, he goes to Gotham for help. Though he's looking for Batman he seems to constantly run into new heroes. Why do they all seem connected to Batman? --- “You know where he lives?” “I practically live there myself, why is this so surprising to you? You’ve worked with him for- Oh… oh my God, you guys don’t know!"

A Break in Tradition by incogneat_oh - Not Rated

Gordon had seen something when he caught the canary yellow cape out the corner of his eye– something in the way the kid had moved. So he figures he should ask, “You doing okay up there, son?” AKA: The one where Jim Gordon minds a tiny vigilante until his bigger, scarier partner can collect him.

gotham aviary by pepperfield - Rated G

“I see you have a new addition to the family,” Bella says, smiling at the group pushing their father along toward the plaza stairs. “Yeah, we stole him from his backyard,” Jason tells her brightly.

“average billionaire adopts 1000 children a year” factoid actualy just statistical error. average billionaire adopts 0 children per year. Orphans Bruc, who lives in cave & adopts over 1 child each month, is an outlier adn should not have been counted.

what goes around by Goldmonger - Rated G

A civilian accidentally kills the Joker. It’s a confusing time for everybody.

artemis crock coming to the wrong conclusions by impravidus - Rated G

Nightwing has his hands outstretched, his palms opening and closing exaggeratedly. Red Hood shakes his head. “I am not gonna—” “Just one?” Nightwing interjects sweetly. “Please please please?” “You are such an idiot—” “Just ooone. C’mon, Hood. Don’t these arms look so warm and inviting?” “Inviting for a stab, yeah.” Artemis sees Nightwing being his affectionate (or as Red Hood would put it, extremely annoying) self and comes to the wrong conclusions.

[mrs-barnes-rogers-writes]

Pretty As A Picture - Chapter 2

Marvel

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader x Bucky Barnes

Summary: When Bucky fell from the train, their soulmate was told he was gone. When Steve Rogers disappeared into the ice, their soulmate was again told one her soulmates were gone. But she didn't believe it. Couldn't believe it. Committed to a mental health institute, she dies of a broken heart. That's at least what the hidden S.H.I.E.LD files say, but if that's the case than why is there a photo of her. A photo that shows her side by side two redhaired Avengers.

Chapter Summary: Bucky doesn't need to know how to print a photo, but he needs to know why his dead soulmate is in the one he's looking at.

Chapter Warning: Mentions of death, sad Bucky. Mentions of vomiting.

Bucky felt like his stomach was going to full out his ass. He slowly rose from picking up the photo, feeling like he’d met his stomach on the way back up.

“How?” He asked, voice breaking as he spoke.

“How what James?” Asked Wanda, brow furrowed as she picked up on his distress.

“How? The photo? How?”

“Wanda took the photo on her phone, it was then sent by a wireless connection to the printer. Would you like us to show you how it works?” replied Vision.

“It’s not that Vis, I don’t think? James?”

Bucky felt his confusion boil over into anger. Did the synthezoid really think he didn’t know how to print a picture? He’d lived in Wakanda, the most advanced country in the world for a year and these idiots think he can’t work a damn printer and a phone.

“Not the damn phone! The photo! How do you have a photo? A photo of her?!?” Bucky’s frustration aimed at Wanda. Vision not taking too kindly to his raised voice being aimed at Wanda, stepped towards him, placing himself slightly in front of her.

“Sergeant Barnes, I’m going to ask you to calm down.”

“Vis, it’s Ok.” She replied stepping around him “James, the photograph? She looks like someone you know?”

Wanda didn’t really need to ask. Bucky’s stoic behaviour usually caused him to block his emotions and feelings from Wanda reading him but now they were fully on show and streaming out of him. She couldn’t not see them. A reaction like this meant one thing. Soulmates.

Bucky nodded tears beginning to rundown his cheeks.

“How do you have this? How do you have her on a photo?”

“Her? Who do you think this is?” She asked pointing at the woman in the photo with herself and Nat.

“She's ours. She’s my soulmate. Our soulmate.” He answered.

Even with his super soldier hearing, so caught up in seeing his lost soulmate, Bucky was oblivious that the rest of the team were now standing behind him. Including Steve.

“What? Buck what are you talking about?” Asked Steve.

Bucky turned towards Steve his hand shaking as he passed him the photo.

“How is this possible? How?”

Natasha’s eyes caught a glimpse of the photo he was holding, discreetly side eyeing Wanda who nodded.

“Anyone want to bring me up to speed here?” asked Tony, trying to catch a glimpse of the photo. Bruce did the same, recognising all of the people pictured immediately.

“Well, that’s Natasha, that’s Wanda and that’s…..wait what’s going on? When did you meet her?” Bruce asked Steve.

“Okay, well I’m no more informed with Bruce’s explanation. Ladies want to enlighten us?”

Nobody answered as Steve headed towards Wanda, eyeing her stack her photos.

“Do you have more?”

Wanda nodded, flicking through the others and pulling out another picture. The same figure this time front and centre, holding a stick of candyfloss. Grinning like it’s the best thing in the world. Natasha is in the background with an expression that is very Natasha, slight smirk, slight eyebrow raise. Wanda thought it captured both your personalities perfectly.

“Here.” She passed the photo to Steve. He let out a choked sob, pushing the photo toward Bucky, rushing into the bathroom, the sound of heaving heard before the door closed.

Unable to hold his simmering emotions anymore, Bucky sank to the floor, clutching the photo and sobbed.

[waspredteeth]

Small tangent on Bette Kane and how people treat her

re-reading Beast Boy (2000) in order to really get a sense of where Bette was pre-Batwoman run (2014).

Does anyone else just feel sad whenever Bette brings up Titans West and everyone shoots her down? Objectively, I know that no one thinks Teen Titans West is a great team - especially when people like Hawk and Dove seem better off solo. But you do get a sense of loneliness whenever Bette is so excited at the prospect of getting the band back together.

Given that it's become sort of a running gag for Bette to suggest reforming Titans West, it is something that DC is aware of.

As the Beast Boy run continues, Gar gets himself into incriminating shapeshifter trouble and is put in a holding cell by the police. Bette goes to help him in her Flamebird costume (notably the one from the 80s).

After reading a lot of her earlier appearances in older Titans comics, this kind of exasperated annoyance when Bette makes an appearance is surprisingly frequent. She doesn't have a great reputation among the other Titans at least.

Later on in issue #2, Nightwing hears of Gar's predicament and goes to LA. In the next issue, he fights an enemy shapeshifter who was impersonating Gar. Bette shows up back in the police station to try and bail Gar out, but her check is invalid and the police officer from the prior issue rips it in half. Bette mentions, confused, that she's never tried to post bail before and that she even borrowed money from her Aunt Kathy. (Knowing that Catherine Hamilton wasn't created until the Batwoman series, I personally think this Kathy is supposed to be Kathy Kane.)

When the police learn that Nightwing is fighting "Beast Boy", the heroes learn that the murders of the previous issues were the cause of an impersonator trying to frame Gar. Bette leaves and goes to help Nightwing.

This is the first time I've seen Dick and Bette interacting outside of brief Titans crossovers. It's super obvious that he thinks she's annoying and that she's not skilled enough to be a vigilante. He cuts her off mid-speech and tries to sideline her when they fight the shapeshifter. When it inevitable gets away, he puts the blame on her involvement. Later on, he leaves her to deal with the police and the public on her own.

Putting all of these panels together, the writers are making Bette out as not a "real" hero, someone who clings to the past. In comics like this, Bette is always treated like that annoying little girl who doesn't know when to give up. Especially because Bette has never had her own solo comic, all of her characterization comes with the perspective of whoever's run she's cameoing in.

I am willing to concede that Beast Boy is a very early 2000s comic but since Bette is the only other female character in it besides two villains - it doesn't look good overall. Not to mention, this comic still sticks with the continuity of "Bette has a crush on/is obsessed with Nightwing." ANYWAY this leads to some panels that I actually like, even if it comes off rude and a little misogynstic with Dick telling Bette what to do.

It's that last little declaration of defiance that really solidifies to her character to me. Bette Kane has never needed permission to do anything, especially not being a hero. Also, this kinda puts back into canon that Dick was the inspiration for Bette becoming Flamebird.

When it comes to her characterization, I can't help but feel like she should be (rightly) a little bitter about this convo. When we get her back in Batwoman, Kate doesn't treat her as an equal either and also tries to get her to quit. Bette is a bit younger in the Batwoman run since I think it's post-one of many reboots, but it just adds onto the lack of trust anyone has in her.

Despite being Bruce's cousin, she's a blip in the wider Batman comic-verse. I'm pretty sure Bette hasn't directly interacted with Bruce in a comic, much less anyone other than Dick, Kate, or Cass (once).

All of this goes to say that I'm definitely addressing all of that and making it a main point in my fics. My Flamebird-in-Gotham au came about specifically because I want to reconcile the Bette Kane I like with the way others in-universe treat her. Bette deserves to be treated with respect. Trust me, there will be words had in fanfic form.

(Also bc I just think Bette and Damian interacting would be both interesting and funny).

[ufolvr]

Bruno Langstrom

Age: adult, definitively (fluctuates between early 20s to early 30s depending on the situation);

Pronouns: he/they/it;

Height: 180+cm, taller than bruce and definitely taller than his father;

Aliases: Cockatrice;

Species: mutant plumed basilisk;

Alignment: Neutral Bad-ish;

Media: The Batman 2004, Teen Titans.

Read under the cut for more info and a small bio + f/os i pair with him!

⚝──⭒─⭑─⭒──⚝

Skills:

Wall climbing

Super speed

Toxic bite

Petrifying stare

Versatile, strong tail

Temperature regulation

Color changing

Prehensile tongue

Limb regeneration (arms, legs and tail)

Other:

Hand to hand combat

Great reflexes

⚝──⭒─⭑─⭒──⚝

Relationships

Kirk Langstrom: father

Ragdoll, Firefly, Bane, Freeze, Psimon*: crushes/partners/etc

Batman, Penguin, Catwoman, Killer Croc: friendly

⚝──⭒─⭑─⭒──⚝

Bruno's origins are murky and hard to pin down. Aside from being Kirk Langstrom's awkward and reclusive son, not much is known about how they met or why. Mostly because I kept trying to come up with an explanation but it was so frustrating I stopped.

He's been with Langstrom for years though, hard to say exactly how long. Kirk raised him in secrecy - he might be fucked up but he did the job well. Bruno never really got a chance to interact with the outside world, save for a few occasions - Kirk was rightfully worried he'd be targeted and hunted down for being what he was.

After the Batman made himself known to the public, and Kirk's obsession with him grew worse, their relationship strained slightly. This of course eventually culminate in the events of The Man Who Would Be Bat, but Bruno never stopped worrying about him. Sure, his father might be able to turn into a blood sucking monstrosity now - but they do love each other.

Needless to say that after Kirk is arrested, Bruno is left alone and afraid. The world he knew came crumbling down on him, and his only way to solve this - in his eyes - was by getting Kirk out of Arkham somehow. Confused, isolated and hopeless, Bruno becomes a petty thief for that exact desperate purpose.

Truth be told, Bruno would manage not to land himself in prison, regardless of what he stole. I actually Like this version of Batman, and feel like he, more than any other, would sympathize with Bruno's situation, and promise he'd get his father the help he needed (actual psychiatric attention for a start), and, in exchange, Bruno returned all the stolen goods in his possession.

This doesn't really change much in the public's opinion of Bruno though. He's a monster in their eyes, and they want him arrested - or killed, for tall they care. Bruno is forced to live in the shadows after exposing himself like that - and eventually he might turn for the worse. We'll just have to wait and see how he ends up.

⚝──⭒─⭑─⭒──⚝

Notes:

Yes Bruno is considerably OP and full of powers he shouldn't have. The trade off for this is that he's extremely shy and horrible at Doing things bc of just how sheltered he is - Bruno is incredibly naive and easily fooled.

He does 'wisen up' with time but oh god he's a freak at first. Peak autism animal. His immediate response to being surprised or flustered in general was Biting or Petrifying People.

His age sliding thing is bc I'm still younger than like, every F/O I listed for him so it doesn't matter.

* → I'll be using Psimon's Young Justice design and personality when I pair him up with Bruno, because I don't care about any other. This means I'll insert him where he doesn't belong or fit and replace his other self (like in TT).

I'll do the same for Kirk if I decide to put Bruno in BTAS, but for now I just don't care enough about that show to say for sure!

[boyfridged]

Y'know I really wish Jason's team ups don't involve heroes, super or not, all the time (or ever), but instead just normal people whose experiences may mirror his/whose background creates a common ground through which he can insert himself. I just prefer him being grounded by the hellish reality that civilians are the ones suffering the most, who are stuck in this continuous and endless battle between capes and villains. I just think that Jason could have been the perfect pov character to bring focus the opinions of the common people regarding this whole fiasco.

It's part of why I wish we had more insight to Jason's thoughts in Batman: The Cult. The bit wherein multiple people were being interviewed and how a lot of them were in support of what Blackfire's cult is doing (not to say that the intentions behind it are all for righteousness or whatever cause we all know it's not), and how people in the first place were debating whether the killings were justified or not shows that the general public has so much distrust with the police and the law which to me was a perfect opportunity to show Jason's ever growing distrust of the system. He may not support Blackfire but he definitely can see & understand the sentiment of the public. And I think this should have had more impact to Jason going forward.

i really wanted to take my time to answer this ask properly because while i agree in the most general terms, i think there's some very specific nuance to it.

the civilian cast – yes! i am always in favour of a civilian life, as i am in favour of jason finding his way back into living in general, which necessities a civilian arc for him too. and it is true that jay is a perfect character to explore it, because i believe that in a way he is a victim of vigilantism. he's collateral damage turned martyr; and as the red hood he's stuck in self-affirming this status. it's all interconnected... and it all always leads back to the crime alley. except i think there's another part to it, and it's the class conflict.

here is where the cult comes in, and oh, i very much see what you're trying to do! except i would not go about it this way... simply because i have a huge issue with the cult itself, as in my opinion it's very ill-fitting into the narrative of batman at the time and as it, in total, is built on a reactionary and conspiracy theory-esque plotline... an ostensibly racist one on top of that. which makes me wonder if there is a way to fix it at all.

it could be an opportunity for some sort of development for jay, absolutely – but ironically, i think the part i liked best in it was when jason wanted to get to blackfire to save him from the raging crowd while bruce was standing back because of his personal victimisation and even stopped jay from intervening. i think i enjoyed this part because it shows how isolated from the people jason became in his robin days, and also brings to the light some hypocrisy on bruce's side. there's such dissonance there that just works perfectly into moulding jason into the confusion of the justice, revenge and the no kill rule in total...

but i digress. for jay to be taken seriously in this story he would have to be at the centre of it. perhaps it should have even been him who went undercover, since he used to be homeless himself and would know how to talk to people. perhaps he should have been the one to pay attention to it and notice it altogether. but i think the issue i have with the idea that this is what would make him distrust the system is a bit contrary to my reading of him in general. i think jay only ever trusts the system when he has bruce urging him to do it at his back and when he internalises these teachings, and even then there remains a deeply buried skepticism in him. because at the end of the day jay has a tendency to trust, but to trust people, not the authority. this is something that would be very difficult to properly portray in the cult, where the general politics (? if it can be called politics) is: people at the bottom are actually the ones in charge via secret organisations. and even when they are manipulated they are ugly and evil at their core. their violence is always random and they barely punch back, only recreating the power structures. and at the end, we get back to the status quo.

i guess the cult is too confused and bigoted in its plotline to offer much. hence there's no lesson for jay there at all. mayhaps because i don't think jay needs to learn to question the authority; on the contrary, a somewhat hidden stream of narrative that exists (or that i read into it) in his robin run is that he knows all about it but represses it because of his implicit trust in bruce and his judgement.

[strawbrrydior]

Vance hopper headcanons

—

Vance has autism, really good at masking it but sometimes he gets overwhelmed and that’s where the big scary Vance hopper image comes from. He doesn’t like loud noises or flashing lights and he likes playing pinball because he can hit buttons and tap his fingers for hours on end without losing any desire to play.

His dad is an abusive dickhole that his mother really had to fight to leave but when he was 12 she started dating griffins dad and they moved into their house. Griffin was 10 at the time and they’re really close, griffin has adhd so they bonded over learning to accept what they are after spending so much time being scrutinized for it.

Pinball and Micheal myers are his 2 biggest hyper fixations. Something about Micheal myers has him going “he’s so me.” Everytime he sees him (something about the big scary misunderstood man story) he has his mask and a movie poster framed on his wall. He also has a mini cheap pinball machine griffin won him at an arcade once (he felt bad Vance couldn’t come because of all the lights and sounds) it’s really crappy but when he’s sick at home or smt he plays with it

He’s actually a pretty active reader, he steals from Bruce’s library on a weekly basis. They have their own mini book club whenever Bruce reads something and likes it hell shove the book into Vance’s hands and tell him to check it out and he always does.

He’s a really good story teller so long as it’s written down, he does a good job at summarizing stories and explaining them when he’s writing. He also really likes poetry but he’s to embarrassed to admit it

He’s really fond of finney but his instinct when he sees him is to be fondly mean. He’ll shove him but he’s always gentle about it and he’ll always glare at him but never actually say anything mean. Finneys gotten used to it and he doesn’t mind because he knows if someone else were to try him Vance would start barking

At school he’s really closed off and quiet, the only thing people notice about him is the way his face rests all bitchy and he taps his pencil against the table. His grades are pretty good but he still gets help from finney and Bruce for math and science respectively

Him and Robin work out a lot, also play fight which always freaks the other boys out but they get back up and laugh. Robin boxes and sometimes Vance goes to the gym with him because he feels more comfortable being there if robins there too. Robin brings his radio and they’ll listen to music they like and share it with the other (Vance will bring his new Iron Maiden tape and play it for them and at random points robin’ll go “oh this one’s good.” And he mentally cheers.)

He and Billy bonded over enjoying silence. (And Depeche Mode ironically enough.) Billy always waves at him when he’s delivering and Vance gives him that cool guy nod but really he appreciates being noticed and often leaves snacks in his mailbox for him (he says it’s his mom though liar!!) they sit next to eachother in history and Billy will whisper to him tiny translations on what they’re doing so he can understand it (Billy really likes history he’s super into old Hollywood conspiracy’s for some reason.)

His favorite movies are Halloween, rocky horror picture show, the stepford wives and clockwork orange. (He and Bruce share a love of the stepford wives but he doesn’t understand rocky horror and the other two scare him. Robin loves Halloween but the rest aren’t his style, finney likes stepford wives and rocky horror he saw both of those at the drive in with him, Billy likes the stepford wives book better and griffin solely likes action movies )

Vance would say if anyone asked that he’s the original og ONLY REAL FAN of paranoid by Black Sabbath and he would call people posers. He also bases his personality and vibe on dazed and confused - Led Zeppelin (he’ll lie and say he hates the movie when that comes out but he’s a liar and a fraud.)

He’s to scared to spend his money and lets it pile up. One day he pulls open a draw and exposes a stash of cash to which Bruce says “holy shit what the fuck.” And then convinces him to buy himself something nice and not make a big dent. He’s not used to being able to treat himself and Bruce helps him learn to do that occasionally (it’s usually him buying snacks for everyone even though Bruce keeps saying that’s not what he meant.)

The choker he wears his mom made him it was originally a bracelet she crocheted when he was a baby, she kept adding inches to it as his birthdays passed but on his 15 he told her she should leave it as it was and her wear it like a choker. He only takes it off to shower and sleep (and he wouldn’t do that if his mom hadn’t yelled at him about sleeping in it before)

He wears half his band shirts with the sleeves cut off and low down his ribcage but always has on something on top so no one ever noticed until he took his jacket off one day and griffin made the presence of his side very loud (“where’s the rest of your fucking shirt Vance?? Are you going through something-“ “no shut up just shut up it’s a STYLE!”)

He’s got 2 stick and pokes both on his forearm, they’re super sloppy but he really likes them. One’s a star and the others a really rough flower (Bruce drew it on the corner of one of his books and he was like yeah that’s it that’s the one)

If u play dream on around him he will hit the high note and then not make a single sound for the rest of the night

Really likes Billy’s dog, Roxy. He’ll pull up to his house and say “bring Roxy.” Pet her and then leave it’s a ritual now. If he passes the house he’s petting the dog. He’s more of a cat person though, Bruce has a black and white cat named sumi, whenever he’s over reading books in Bruce’s fathers office he’s holding her and petting her in a spinny chair like an evil villain

Sometimes In class he draws stick figure doodles of the boys in his notebook, they make him smile

On his more timid days where he’s easily explosive he tends to do his worst, if he’s overstimulated and you bump into him or shove him or say something he’ll lose it. He’s been trying not to do it but it’s hard because everything bubbles over into anger for him

He and griffins rooms are right across from eachother and 9/10 times HES sitting in griffins bed, he just likes his company.

Anytime he’s at finneys house Gwen asks to braid his hair and he always says yes and she’ll go on and on about how nice and silky his hair is but it’s only like that because Bruce made it his mission one year to get him on a routine and fix his curls. He was successful.

He’s good friends with Gwen and Amy and Donna, sometimes he’ll sit at their lunch table if Billy isn’t there (history is his lunch period) and scare off all the bullies, he always looks really small beside them because he feels safer being himself there. They tell him freshmen drama and he eats it up

Vance, very loudly: that’s the girl you told me-

Gwen, slapping a hand over his mouth: shut the fuck up??

[hellishere7980]

IMW Chapter 11

Meanwhile in the Watchtower

The Watchtower was in chaos.

It had been 2 hours since the live broadcast broke and shocked the world. 2 hours since the Justice League realised they had missed something this big for almost eight years, and didn’t know about it until a week after the situation had been solved by a group of heroes that they had never heard of.

Every screen in the meeting room was on, flashing snippets of information about the reign of Shadow Moth. Videos of the battles and interviews, articles, websites and social media as their supercomputer compiled every bit of information it could find.

The room was filled with noise, a constant roar as everyone tried to be heard.

The magic users were together in a cluster; consulting books, grimoires, scrolls and each other in a confused panic.

They were muttering as they paced, wondering how they had missed magic of the magnitude Paris had witnessed when among them were some of the most powerful magic users on the planet; John Constantine, Zatanna and Doctor Fate.

Other members of the Justice League tried to make sense of it in their own way, arguing, (like children in Robin's view) as they scrambled to come up with any sort of reason for how something this big had gone unnoticed, why they had missed it and the reason behind it all in the first place.

Batman stood by himself, waiting for the super computer to finish so he could sort the information and start the process of following any leads he found to start answering the many questions he had. He was internally panicking about Isabella but shoved it down. First he’ll deal with this then open that can of worms.

His title as the World’s Greatest Detective had taken a blow. And so had his ego.

His Isa was in a warzone and hadn’t even known!

He changed into his Batman gear and walked into the zeta tube in time for the emergency meeting the Justice League had issued.

Everyone was in too much shock to start it productively, and they were stuck waiting for their supercomputer to finish its deep dive. The computer beeped, signalling that it had finished its task. The room fell into silence as everyone immediately turned their attention to the screens and monitors, and Batman begrudgingly did the same. For a second, no one moved, unsure who was going to begin to sort through and read out the info.

But Red Robin stepped up. For a moment Bruce wondered what Isa would have done with him for bonding? Shutting off that line of thinking, Batman hardened his heart as a wave of pain and grief washed over him as memories of her beautiful eyes floated through his head.

Now wasn’t the time to think about her. He had shipped her off for her safety. Nothing was going to change that.

Focusing back on the present, Batman watched as Red Robin sat in the chair in front of the keyboard connected to the largest monitors and grabbed the mouse, looking “This website was recommended by the French Government for anyone wanting information on what happened and it is the only website or platform that has the Court of Miracles’ stamp of approval on it. It’s linked to an app of the same name that has the alarm Paris used to alert its citizens of an Akuma attack and the attacks classification.” Red Robin said, voice carrying clearly over the silence in the room.

Batman watched as Red Robin brought up a website called Bug.Out, the screens in the meeting room showing it for everyone to see and at a quick glance, Batman was interested to see that a lot of the information he wanted was likely going to be found in that one website alone.

From what he could see from the homepage, it was very well organised. There were many clearly labelled drop-down headings that allowed for an easy search for information while below them was a link to download the Bug.Out app.

Red Robin clicked onto the Timeline tab and began at the beginning, speaking at first but trailing off as people began to talk, cutting him off to discuss what they learnt. As they got further through the Timeline, Batman got steadily more frustrated and horrified.

It started years ago, and victim zero had been an 13-year-old boy in school.

In front of his classmates, the boy, whose name wasn’t given for privacy reasons, was turned into a giant stone monster and went on a rampage, destroying everything in his way, killing hundreds of people and injuring many more before he was stopped by two heroes; Ladybug and Chat Noir.

The people of Paris didn’t have time to come to terms with what happened, stuck between panic at the attack that hadn’t been explained and awe at having heroes when a cloud of purple butterflies descended over the city, turning hundreds of people into giant stone beings and froze them in time.

The heroes weren’t seen for twenty-four hours as those people remained changed, frozen in their forms before the same eleven-year-old boy was turned back into the giant monster and began his rampage again, this time, with the help of the stone beings.

The destruction was city wide, the death toll becoming thousands before the original monster was stopped by Ladybug and Chat Noir once more, and the villain behind the attack introduced himself and gave an ultimatum to the two heroes.

Batman watched intently as Red Robin brought up the footage that had been recorded of that first battle, showcasing it across multiple screens.

Stoneheart stood at the top of the Eiffel Tower, his size causing it to groan and bend under his weight as he roared at the military and police personnel surrounding him and his small army of stone beings, a hostage clasped in each of his hands before he threw one. In a blur of red, Ladybug appeared and caught the girl, later identified as Chloé Bourgeois, before she splattered on the ground. After making the girl go to the barricade, Ladybug faced Stoneheart, Chat Noir landing beside her.

The military gave the order to open fire, but Ladybug told them to stand down, the order ringing out magically over the screams and noise. An argument ensued between her and the military, but the distance between the camera man and the hero made it impossible to hear what was being said. Attention only turned from the argument back to Stoneheart as the monster released a pained groan and a wave of glowing purple butterflies erupted from its mouth, forming a face high above the Eiffel Tower, shocking everyone into a fearful silence.

The face introduced itself as Hawkmoth and gave an ultimatum, demanding the heroes’ magic or it would destroy the city and kill everyone in it.

What Batman wasn’t expecting was for Ladybug to laugh and give a sarcastic applause as she walked towards the army of stone monsters like they were nothing, giving the newly introduced terrorist a reality check and a tongue lashing, promising him angrily that she would take his magic.

Ladybug then sprinted at the stone army, using her weapon to launch herself up and over them as they rushed her with a thunderous cry of fury. She then sent the weapon straight into the face of Hawkmoth, piercing him between the eyes. The villain shouted deafeningly in pain, despite not being there in person, and disappeared in a blinding flash of light, leaving everyone frozen in shock.

All that remained was Ladybug, standing in front of the Eiffel Tower; tall, confident and an unwavering pillar of strength as she promised that she would do everything in her power to bring Hawkmoth to justice and keep Paris safe, her voice magically amplified once more.

What followed was something the likes of which Batman had never seen before.

Lifting her hand above her head, her weapon clasped in it, a wave of glowing white butterflies burst from it flying in all directions covering the city. Many people captured them on camera and exclaiming in awe as they fluttered around them.

Batman watched the remaining battle between the heroes, Stoneheart and his army and saw how the heroes won. He studied closely how the akumatized boy transformed back into himself when they ripped a piece of paper and captured the purple butterfly that appeared out of it. But what caused his jaw to drop was when Ladybug vanished the parachute she had somehow summoned earlier in the fight.

Despite it being the second time Ladybug had displayed her magic, this was the first time it was caught on camera properly, and by more than one person.

It was beautiful; a wave of iridescent red that flew around the city, covering everything in its path and restoring everything to the way it had been before the battle.

The damage fixed, the injured healed, the monsters back into people and the dead alive.

Nothing Batman had ever seen was like that; the ability to reverse all of the damage, to bring people back from the dead and heal the injured in a matter of seconds, across a city the size of Paris and with a population of over two million.

No magic user was that powerful. Not Zatanna, Doctor Fate, or Constantine. No one had that kind of power. No one.

It was unreal. God-like. Terrifying.

[robxstar]

heyyyy I'm not sure if you read any robin/starfire/nightwing/TeenTitans comics...but do you have any recs for comics to get for good robinxstarfire or Nightwingxstarfire moments in the comics?

It's hard to find them because there are SO MANY out there. Thanks!

I do have some recs, actually!

For starters there's the classic New Teen Titans run. Dick and Kory are shipteased a lot up until about issue 20 when they get together and then they are precious and adorable established couple for a good chunk of run. There's miscellaneous drama here and there like Kory's first boyfriend being a spy for HIVE and the arranged marriage thing and also Raven almost being a shitty homewrecker but for the most part this is where you're going to find most of the classic and iconic "moments" between them. Stop before you get to the 90s era run, extract only the proposal and the wedding scans from that and ignore everything else.

The 2003 animated series's tie-in comics (Teen Titans Go!, not to be confused with the show of the same name or its tie-in comic run) of course has some cute animated verse RobStar.

The first three issues of the 2008 Titans run has some good DickKory moments. They break up in the fourth issue for... dumb reasons, but wind up becoming aimable exes and there's some nice interaction with Kory and Dick-as-Batman later in the run. (He was filling in for Bruce who was MIA and presumed dead at the time.)

The Outsiders has some nice moments, until Starfire leaves the team.

The Kingdom Come prequel tie-in all about Mar'i AKA Nightstar has Dick and Kory being Good Parents to their little girl in the Kingdom Come Elseworld AU. (The main book of which also features Mar'i, though Starfire has since died offscreen.)

The Nightwing: New Order Elseworld AU also has some great DickKory with kiddo moments though I'm not sure I'd really recommend that, the premise is kind of dumb.

Dick makes a stop in Starfire's 2014 solo series (titled merely Starfire) about her adjusting to Earth life in Key West. I'd actually rec the whole run just because it's super cute and fun and adorable, even if Dick's only briefly in it.

Aaaaaand that's basically my list, feel free to jump in with any other recs, people.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Putting this behind a “keep reading” link because it’s entirely unimportant, and because I specifically said several weeks ago, several times, that I would stop discussing Daniel Kitson’s music taste.

Okay. Okay. Do you know what I think? After relatively extensive research, what I think is that Daniel Kitson doesn’t even know that much about music. When I first listened to the 2006 radio shows he did, I was really impressed by the range of artists and how they were all from different places. Anyone can get into one indie music scene, but he’d clearly found different ones from different continents and knew all these different record labels and that seemed amazing.

But I got to this thing in about the sixth episode, and I’ve now heard that episode about three times, and every time it’s bothered me. Which is that he really liked the Jeffery Lewis song that’s about Leonard Cohen’s Chelsea Hotel song, but in this episode, he mentioned that he didn’t even know the actual song. Not just that he wasn’t super familiar with it, he’d never heard it before last week. He knew Jeffrey Lewis was singing about another song, but had no idea what it was.

It was 2006, a long time ago, but he was still almost thirty. Who doesn’t know about Leonard Cohen by almost thirty? That’s one I’d expect, for lack of a better term, regular people to know. As in, I have all my mostly Canadian, some British and American and some other places, folk and country music. That’s the broad definition for the music I’m into, and there are artists within those broad genres who are really famous and anyone who’s into any part of those genres will know about them.

But at the very top of those genres, there are just a few artists that I’d assume people know about even if they’re not specifically into that type of music. Leonard Cohen is one of the few. Leonard Cohen was one of my go-tos when I was in school, if people were talking about music and asked me what I liked, and I needed to scramble to come up with an answer that they’d probably have heard of. They might not be fans of Leonard Cohen, the might think it a bit weird that I was listening to old people music, but they’d at least know who he was. Leonard Cohen, Gordon Lightfoot, and Neil Young were my top artists I could reference and assume people would know what I meant. Everyone knows those guys.

A somewhat lower hit rate, but there is a decent chance of getting the name recognized, is Bruce Cockburn. I’m not sure I could expect this outside of Canada, but in Canada, I think I could say Bruce Cockburn’s name to most people and they’d have at least heard it before. And generally, I’d consider a level of fame that’s “a decent number of people who are not specifically into folk music will know the name” equivalent to “any actual music nerd for any genre that crosses over with folk music at all should definitely know the name, and it’s weird if they don’t”.

And he didn’t know Bruce Cockburn either! He played the Barenaked Ladies’ cover of one of Cockburn’s best songs on a couple of radio shows for years, without acknowledging that it was a cover, and then one day in 2023 mentioned that the song was originally written by a man named Bruce whose last name he wasn’t sure how to pronounce. I mean, he clearly did know how to pronounce it and was just expressing confusion as an excuse to bring up the word “cock” (which is not how you pronounce it, it’s “Co-burn”), which is mildly amusing but not the sort of thing you say if you’ve known about the existence of Bruck Cockburn for more than a year. Which I can confirm, because it was funny to me for the first year or so that I was into him, and then I stopped noticing it, and for me that was the year between age 10 and age 11.

And he keeps making arguments about Loudon Wainwright being better than his son Rufus, and sometimes bringing Rufus’ sister/Loudon’s daughter Martha Wainwright into it, but frames it as arguing about who’s the best musician in that family. While never mentioning, in the many times it’s come up, that Rufus’ mother and her sister had many years as the very successful Canadian folk music duo Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and were much better than anyone else in their family. I mean, it would be fine if he disagreed that they were better. I guess it would be fine, because people are allowed to be wrong. It’s weird, however, that he clearly didn’t know they existed, or he’d have at least mentioned them when listing members of that family.

I think Kate and Anna McGarrigle are a level of fame below Bruce Cockburn – I wouldn’t assume anyone not specifically into folk music would know them, though I also wouldn’t be shocked if someone did. But they’re more famous than most of the Canadian folk singers, and certainly big enough so someone into that genre should know about them. Especially someone who clearly knows their family so well.

Russell Howard and Jon Richardson used to do this too - constantly talk on their BBC 6 Music radio show about how they were both obsessed with the great Rufus Wainwright, and sometimes they’d mention his dad. I think that may be why Kitson brings up the comparison so much in the 2006-2008 era of his radio shows - he keeps discussing the “Rufus vs. Loudon” debate as though that’s a really common argument for people to have, even though I don’t think it was a particularly common debate, I think it was just an argument you’d frequently have if you, like Daniel Kitson circa 2006, were friends with Russell Howard and sometimes mentioned to him that you preferred Loudon to Rufus.

Anyway, the point is that personally, I’m not very familiar with the work of Rufus or Loudon or Martha Wainwright, but I know who they are and I have a couple of albums by each of them, just because I’m a big fan of the McGarigle sisters, so by extension I also know their family exists, and I’ve listened to some of their stuff. That extension should work the other way. Daniel Kitson is now the third British comedian I’ve heard (as well as Jon Richardson and Russell Howard) go on about that musical family yet never mention that Rufus has a mother and she’s better than all of them. It’s a trick question, the answer to the Rufus vs. Loudon debate. A trick like in that riddle about the doctor. The best musician is actually his mother.

When I first heard Kitson’s old radio show, I assumed he must know all the major things I know about – not all my small-time Canadian folk singers but at least all the big stuff – since he knows so much more than I do about a vaguely overlapping music genre. Which is a huge logical fallacy - making the assumption that anyone who knows a lot of stuff I don’t know must also know all the stuff I do know. Because the route to knowing all the stuff I don’t know passes through knowing all the stuff I do know, right?

But seriously, pitfalls and logical fallacies aside, I don’t think it’s weird for me to have assumed he’d be familiar with the work of world-famous singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen, by the age of almost thirty, when he was really into a song about Leonard Cohen. That’s why the song about Leonard Cohen was written. Because Jeffrey Lewis was writing for an audience of the sort of people who are into Leonard Cohen, and who’d relate to his story about the time he talked to a girl about a Leonard Cohen song.

In that sixth radio episode, which I didn’t hear until several months after I’d heard the first five, Daniel Kitson said he’d only just listened to Leonard Cohen’s music for the first time, and only did so because it was the thing that the Jeffrey Lewis song was about. Then he played Leonard Cohen’s Chelsea Hotel song back-to-back with Jeffrey Lewis’ song about it, and said it’s amazing that two songs as great as that can both exist.

Which I also took issue with, because you can’t put those on the same level. I like the Jeffrey Lewis song. I don’t like it as much as I like the other Jeffrey Lewis songs that Kitson has played. The Chelsea Hotel-based one is a bit too close to the reason why I spent many years specifically saying I disliked anything labeled as “indie rock”. Because folk festivals keep bringing “indie rock” singers in, taking up spots that would otherwise go to folk singers, in an effort to draw a younger audience. But also because, according to the vague assumption I held for many years, songs that get lableled “indie rock” are just guys telling stories about how sad they were that a manic pixie dream girl didn’t sleep with them and/or stopped sleeping with them, set to a simple and un-innovative melody. Listening to those older Daniel Kitson radio shows has made me change some of my anti-indie rock prejudices, as I’ve really enjoyed a lot of the music he played, and my favourite thing I’ve discovered from his radio show has been Jeffrey Lewis. But that particular Jeffrey Lewis song is very much just one guy telling stories about how sad he was that a manic pixie dream girl didn’t sleep with him, set to a simple and un-innovative melody. With the twist that it references a Leonard Cohen song. I mean, despite this flaw it’s not a bad song. But you can’t compare it to the actual Leonard Cohen song. It’s in a different league. It’s like comparing a tribute band to the original band.

When I look at it all together, it appears that Daniel Kitson may specifically know fuck all about Canadian music. Even Canadian music of his preferred broad genre that got big enough to be internationally popular. Technically, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen evidence that he knows who Neil Young is.

I didn’t realize this until I went over the radio episodes again and wrote down all the songs in them (which I did do recently, for reasons that involve me making very productive use of my limited time on this Earth), but there isn’t even that big a range. In the 2006-2008 radio episodes, I’ve realized, this was just a guy who liked to buy local indie rock albums, discovered a few Americans, and was really obsessed with the entire country of Australia. Which is fair enough, Australia has clearly worked out for him.

When I looked at it, almost all of the interestingly international music he played was from one Australian record label. Which is fine, there’s no obligation to know about lots of music from lots of different places. A huge proportion of my music collection is from Cape Breton Island off the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, with quite a bit more being from mainland Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and the couple of surrounding provinces. It’s just that I initially got the impression that Daniel Kitson impressively knew about all this different obscure music from all over the world, and once I look closely I realize it was really only from one place, because he liked touring there.

Anyway. I’m now almost done talking shit about the opinions of a comedian whom I hugely admire, but not quite. Last week I made a post, which I’ve now deleted because I was paranoid about it, about hearing an old Daniel Kitson recording in which he called out a specific blog on Twitter and, to my horror, Tumblr, which was about how great he is, and Kitson said he didn’t like that guy. He said that some years ago, but not enough years ago for it to not absolutely freak me out. It literally gave me nightmares, and kind of made me want to delete everything I’ve ever put on the internet and then hide under my bed for the rest of my life. Which I did think a bit about doing, but since then have calmed down a bit and decided it’s probably all right. He’s probably not still checking Tumblr. No one thinks Tumblr still exists in 2023.

But I was still a bit concerned, and weirdly, something I listened to this morning kind of broke that. I recently heard him encounter an audience member who does boxing. And he was really weird about it. Seemed very impressed with this person’s fascinatingly exotic hobby, but also concerned for their safety, and kept saying he could never do anything like that.

I forget, sometimes, how weird this sort of thing seems to anyone else. I’ve done a bit of boxing throughout my life, as when you do one combat sport you generally end up dabbling in lots of them at some point, training out of martial arts gyms and jumping into other stuff. I haven’t done much boxing, but based on his reaction I think I’ve done enough to concern him.

And it’s the logical fallacy again. It seemed so weird to me that he would be freaked out by something I do, because he does all these incredible things that I could never do, my brain just assumes anything I can do would be no big deal to him. Obviously that makes no sense in this situation, but I got so much cognitive dissonance from hearing him say boxing is some really impressive but scary thing.

And it did sort of break a little of the bit of the way I’d been freaking out at the fact that apparently sometimes Daniel Kitson goes on the internet and hates anyone on there who talks about him. Like. He’s not that intimidating. He’s scared of boxing and he didn’t know who Leonard Cohen was until he was almost thirty. I lie awake at night dreaming of having even a fraction of his ability to do what he does, but he couldn’t do what I do either. I’m way better at beating people up than Daniel Kitson is. I don’t need to be that concerned about him.

It’s completely faulty logic, makes no sense whatsoever. In terms of logic, “I don’t need to feel intimidated by how Daniel Kitson might read Tumblr and hate me, because Daniel Kitson doesn’t know as much as I do about Canadian music or combat sports” is about as rational as the time I was competing at the national championships and we had to fly there, and I’m scared of flying, but another team was also on our plane and that team is coached by this woman who’s won three Olympic medals, and I thought: “It’s fine, [woman’s name] is a famous multi-year Olympic medalist, she’s way too important to die in a plane crash going to as comparatively small a tournament - by her standards - as university nationals, so therefore, this plane won’t go down.” This is a case like that, of: sometimes irrational anxiety can be beaten by irrational explanations.

[waves--6821]

Ardent ~ Chp. 28

*Gif belongs to creator/owner*

3rd Pov.

Louise shakes off her slight change of thought towards Loki, feeling some resistance that appeared filling her mind. She exits the quinjet with Steve, Tony ahead of them, and Thor trailing behind as twelve armoured agents approach and arrest Loki with cuffs, leading him by Fury's orders, disappearing from sight as the group enters the Helicarrier.

Louise stepped away to check herself, entering an empty restroom to unzip the top half of her suit. She pulls off the jacket, her white tank top underneath it showing as she lifts her arms. Large dark blue and purple bruises covered the majority of her lower forearm. Louise shakes her head, knowing they'd go down in a few hours or even faster from the super serum. She grabs the jacket again, pulling it on and adjusting it to keep it open in the front to expose her chest some.

Her steps are soft as she heads to the command center, Nat and Steve sitting at different ends of the round table at the front of the room, Bruce at the same side of Steve, standing up, Thor in front of it and Tony at Fury's stand speaking to them. Louise keeps quiet, moving to lean against the wall next to the table, not too far from Bruce.

"How does Fury even see these?" Tony asks, covering his left eyes to look around at the view screens before him.

"He turns." Agent Hill responds with crossed arms, at the side of the center command.

"Sounds exhausting." Tony add ons, going over and tapping the view screens.

"The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube." Before he turns back after touching the stand of the view screen that Louise caught with an interest.

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Hill questions Tony looking at her.

"Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?" Tony rambles, Steve breaking his track.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve speaks, Louise remembering the briefing they had many hours ago.

"He would have to heat the cube to 120-million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Bruce speaks up, Tony striding towards him.

"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect." Tony adds on, getting closer as they speak.

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy-"

"Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet." Louise finishes before Bruce, speaking accidently from her thoughts, making Tony stop and the rest glance at her with some shock or confusion.

"Finally, people who speak English." Tony states, going to Bruce for a hand shake.

"Is that what just happened?" Steve says to no one, as Tony spoke up again.

"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster." Tony rambles once again.

"Thanks." Bruce responds, Fury taking the spotlight next.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him." He states,

"Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon." Steve speaks up, Louise nodding in agreement.

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube." Fury replies, Louise speaking up from her spot.

"It's the closest thing to a H.Y.D.R.A. weapon on this ship. Trust me, I've survived one." She pursues, a few of them looking at her as Fury gives her a nod.

"And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys." He says next, Thor staring in confusion from the sentence.

"Monkeys? I do not understand." He adds, Steve pitching in next.

"I do. I understood that reference." Steve speaks with a slight smile, and it is met with silence.

"Shall we play it, Doctor?" Tony dismisses them, Bruce turning to show him the way to his lab.

"This way, Sir." Bruce says as he leads Tony away, letting everyone split as they await any results.

-

Louise takes her jacket off in the lab that held Tony and Bruce, entering just as Steve left. Tony glanced at her as Bruce worked at a vaulted screen.

"What is it you do, Ms. Grant?" Tony asks, Louise knowing he already knew, or else he'd be rather ill equipped.

"Louise, if you please." She replies, leaning against a table to the side with a screen in front of her.

"I'll explain if you'd like, but you'd be very dull if you already didn't know." She adds, making the genius men look to her to continue.

"Okay, men. I am an experiment just like Steven, your father being at the forefront of it along with Steve's doctor. I was given a specific serum that differed slightly from Steve's. It was only made a specific amount needed for an injection. So the only evidence of it is in forced records and in my veins." She pauses, tapping the view screen ahead of her with ease, having picked up technology faster than Steve, from her sleepless nights from their return.

"You'll see that I have confirmed kills and was a more hidden member of the Commandos. I fought alongside them, even helped in breaking them out. I was there with the attack on the H.Y.D.R.A., fighting off the soldiers there and helped stop Schmidt. Though you will also have seen on my file that I was technically dead till I was defrosted. Now you're mostly caught up." Louise finishes, letting them look over the file she pulled up of herself, the men glancing at her after seeing a few strange things.

"You were an assassin?" Bruce speaks up, still scanning the file.

"For your government, forcefully."

"Forcefully?" He questions Louise, nodding in affirmation as she stood up to step to them in the middle of the lab.

"I was threatened, and decided to do it. I saved my life, and was forced to take many others. Great, right?" She jokes with her words, ignoring their looks as she stares at them unfazed.

"What about your abilities?" Tony asks, sliding the file away from his screen.

"Those are none of your concern, neither S.H.I.E.L.D.'s. I am free of my bonds since I was pronounced dead." She retorts with no anger, keeping wits easily.

"I mean they are, if your abilities do this much damage." A classified government video playing on a tablet in Tony's hands, showcasing Louise's power to control men around her.

"No, they are not. You had a taste, that's all you get. I refuse to be your playtoy, along with anyone else here. Though I'd enjoy you trying." She says with a fake smirk, giving Tony a hard look.

"If you'll excuse me, gentlemen. I have to return to the center, I have a few words for the blonde child." She dismisses herself, leaving her jacket as she steps in the opposite way to go to speak to Loki.

--

START - Past CHP.

A soft breeze blew through a small apartment window, the soft curtain next to the window flying out from the air. Louise sat quietly, writing a letter for her parents to be sent later in the day. She details light parts of her mission with the military, not explicitly stating her problems or worries. She slows to a stop, thinking of a lie to convince her parents of her safety.

A hand pauses on her shoulder, making her glance up through her soft wavy dark hair. James, Bucky, smiles down at her, moving to take a seat next to her at the wooden table she occupied.

"Afternoon, doll." He greets, taking her paused hand to give it a soft kiss. She gives him a small smile, warmth rising in her cheeks at the display of affection.

"Hello, James." She replies, looking back down at her letter.

"What is that?" He inquires, looking at her letter.

"Something for my parents, I do not know how to end it in a way to show I'm safe." Louise responds, hovering over the page to write.

"How about distracting them with a question for them, telling them to respond back so you can keep from answering longer." He suggests, knowing he did the same to his own family.

"That may just work, Buck." She states, quickly writing a send off to her letter. She sets it aside to dry the ink and looks at Bucky fully.

"Are you here to escort me back from my break?" Louise questions, and Bucky gives her a small nod. She sighs, her hand moving to hold the back of his neck to usher him closer. Their heads slowly touch after a second, both savoring the moment for a time. He opens his eyes after a minute, deciding to reach for her neck to lift her face.

Bucky pulls her head up, catching her eyes open slowly. He leans forward slightly, capturing her lips in his lightly chapped ones for a kiss. Louise pushes forward to deepen the kiss, leaning up to move into Bucky's lap. He jerks her closer earlier than planned, breaking their kiss to stop her falling into his chest.

"How about we leave tomorrow morning?" Louise suggested, her eyes giving a sultry look as Bucky responded with a hungrier look.

"I believe we could work that out." He answers huskily, surging forward to connect their lips once again. Louise responds in kind, wrapping her arms around his neck as he stands swiftly to lift her bridal style. Bucky moves them to sit at the edge of her bedding, keeping their closeness as she pulls away to speak.

"Let's go back together, when we get a chance. To Brooklyn." Louise murmurs the promise, one Bucky reciprocates with a nod and seals with a kiss.

END - Past CHP.

--

Louise slows as she sees agents spread around the Helicarrier complex Loki was held in, her head tilting slightly from her hidden space at a corner before the main entrance. She sighs, knowing she'll have a harder time getting in without using her powers. A breath in and she releases a soft wave of manipulation, letting her power seep into the minds of the four men and two women agents around and passing the door. A few groans alert her to the after effects, her eyes glimpsing over the side to see the agents stumbling slightly but not listening to her commands. Another deep breath in and Louise induces a state of alert, this time the agents speaking loudly and stepping away. Quickly diverting their attention and a few random agents they met in their pursuit to leave the complex Loki was in.

Louise keeps silent, entering the doors easily, not sneaking any further as she knew cameras could see her, her focus specifically on Loki who looked up from his seated position. A small grin held his lips, watching her small ascent up a few stairs before stepping to a platform ahead of the large reinforced glass cage.

"My, my, what do I owe the pleasure of your company, pet?" Loki toys, also noting the cameras listening in on them. She gives a look of acknowledgement, tilting her head in a nod to continue.

"What, tongue tied all of a sudden, Midgardian?" Loki says, lowering to sit on the glass floor as Louise matched on the metal grate flooring below her feet.

'Do you have gifts of your own, your highness?' Louise speaks in her mind, wondering as he had mentioned knowledge of her powers. The grin on his lips widened before shrinking, giving her a subtle answer as she spoke mentally again.

'Speak then, here, in privacy.' She proposes, before he glances to the camera to his left.

"Just boredom, your majesty. Silence is better." Louise speaks aloud, giving him incentive to speak to her as a confirmation.

'Well, pet, you get your wish.' She hears Loki's smooth voice speak in her mind, making her close her eyes at the sound.

"I do not need to indulge your puny activities, mortal." Loki responds aloud to her last spoken statement. Both of them kept verbal banter as they spoke in clarity in their minds.

-

'So, what are your gifts, majesty?' Louise converses, making Loki chuckle quietly. Their verbal words just bashed back and forth, the real conversation in their minds.

'Many I have learned and mastered, magic, and sorcery. Things taught to me in Asgard.' He responds, keeping his head down, but his eyes on her ahead of him, who had her own closed.

'Your turn, pet.'

'Find a new nickname, prince. Or you may not enjoy my mental after effects.' She teases with a small grin, her voice sweetly soothing Loki's thoughts in his own mind.

'Little dove, little bird, little girl, little snake, little fox.' Loki rambles some animals, always including a slight demeaning term.

'Those hardly fit me, boy-prince.' She pursues, letting the conversation hitch back and forth through their powers and some names popping up.

'Little dove, little girl, or tiny ghost? Choose.' Loki orders after ten minutes of swapping back and forth in their minds, a chuckle leaving Louise's lips.

'No, I refuse.'

'Tiny ghost in three, two, on-'

'My lady. I'll compromise.' Louise replies with a sigh, a small victory smirk on his lips ahead of her.

'You're hardly a lady of high standing, mortal.' Loki adds, and she rolls her eyes.

'Louisa. That's the name I was given before it changed when my family moved to America.' Loki gives her a nod to which she pauses after a second.

"Why did you save me?" She spoke out, catching him off guard as he frowned at the mention of it aloud.

"I didn't, little girl." A small smile wants to fill her lips, her head shaking the thought off as she speaks again.

"You did, I could've survived and healed in a few hours. But you didn't know that as being a god, though your hand is the one that grabbed mine, I did not ask for you." She pushes, a snarl ticking across his face.

"You are insolent, mortal. You think I'd spare you the light given by Sól, just because of your circumstances?" He challenges, and Louise stands to court back.

"I held you from escaping, though I knew you'd want to watch your brother fight. Just answer why you grabbed my hand and lifted me, simple." She stands strong, feeling another presence coming closer as Loki takes a step forward.

"Because, woman, you'll be a special item to my collection." Giving up some information, Louise unknowing if on purpose or not as Natasha stood from outside the entrance doors. Louise steps back, giving him a nod as she exited and stopped before Nat.

"Why were you in there?" Natasha questions, Louise knowing easily that she didn't trust her.

"Need some silence to concentrate, noise bothers my focus as I try to keep calm in these strange circumstances." Louise deceives, giving an easy confession of belief as Natasha dismisses her, knowing the cameras were working around them.

"I need to return to the lab to grab my jacket, my bruises are still healing." Louise says, leaving Nat behind as she went to the lab to get away.

[rendevousz]

the favourite

avengers x fem!teen!reader

summary: you are the baby avenger and everyone is platonically whipped for you.

genre: fluff, crack

warnings: none, maybe just my inability to write good endings

word count: 3497

note: um second oneshot hope this one's good gaaah

"hey, doll. whatcha' reading?" you glanced up to see bucky, who then plopped down next to you on the couch in the common room. "it's called 'shadow and bone'. it's a novel that's turning into a netflix series in like a month," you smiled at the super soldier, lifting up your book a little to show him the cover. his eyebrows raised at the information, lips tugging into a knowing smirk.

"yes, bucky, i'll watch the series with you." you rolled your eyes playfully at him. ever since he officially became an avenger and moved into the tower with the rest of you, you've been helping him 'get with the times' —as sam likes to call it— just as you did steve a few years prior.

steve had told his best friend that you were the best at stuff like this. after all, you were the youngest avenger. and you had a lot of free time on your hands; having no school since you were pretty much the only one besides vision who could compete with tony's or bruce's intelligence.

so really, school wasn't mandatory for you according to tony. at least, after you had asked him if you could just not attend and he cracked ten seconds after you pulled the puppy dog eyes.

you also had significantly less trainings than the rest of the team. this one wasn't because you were an expert on the field or something —well, you were, but so were the rest of the team but they still had almost daily trainings while you had half the amount they did— this was because you had cap wrapped around your tiny little finger.

and as for the team, they couldn't even be mad about it because if they were in the captain's position, they would probably be the same. everyone just loved you too much.

"do you mind if i turned on the tv?" bucky asked, afraid that you wouldn't want background noise while you were reading but obviously you didn't mind so you shook your head as you continued to read. not long after, you closed your book with a bookmark between the pages you stopped at before shoving in into bucky's hands and running up into your room to quickly grab your blanket.

he watched you run out of the common room in confusion before chuckling when he saw you run back in looking tiny with a huge, fluffy blanket in your arms. you went back to your spot on the couch next to him, spreading the blanket over both your laps, bucky smiling fondly as he watched you fix it before turning to him. "comfy?" you asked and he nodded, giving you back your book as you cuddled up to him. he smiled down at you and wrapped an arm around you while you leaned against his chest.

"what's this? movie night without me?" you two looked up at the owner of the voice and saw sam walking in, making his way to the kitchen, probably to make himself some coffee. "what movie are you guys watching?" he asked, leaning against a pillar to look at the tv, trying to figure out what movie was playing.

"actually, only bucky's watching the movie—it's mean girls, by the way—and i'm just reading my book." you told sam without looking at him, lifting your book up high to show him before lowering it back down to continue reading it.

"barnes, what are you doing watching a movie while y/n is reading? she won't be able to focus with all that background noise, shut it off." sam told him off, now back in the kitchen to make his coffee. you shook your head at the man's antics. "sam, it's fine. i told him it was okay,"

"of course you did, you're too sweet to say no to anyone." he quipped back, now standing nearby, watching the tv too, seemingly interested in the movie playing. you only rolled your eyes playfully at him before going back to the book. after a few minutes of him just standing, bucky spoke up. "just sit down if you want to watch the whole movie, birdbrain."

and sit he did. on your other side, snuggling comfortably under your blanket after putting his now empty mug on the coffee table. this caused bucky to huff as he pulled the other end of the blanket which led to them having a tug-of-war over the blanket, you unfortunately stuck in the middle of it. deciding that it was too distracting to read while squished between two grown men who were also fighting for the blanket, you finally closed your book.

"sam, can you help me put this on the coffee table?" you handed sam your book and he immediately took it, stretching his body forward to place it on the coffee table. with the book out of the way, you could finally settle comfortably and the blanket was now shared between the three of you equally. not long after, your head was back against bucky's chest with his arm around you while your legs were over sam's lap under the blanket, one of his arms resting over it above the blanket. if it had been someone else doing that to sam, they probably would've had their legs chopped off already.

"movie night and you didn't invite me?" you chuckled at the question by the newcomer, tony, finding it funny how sam said almost the exact same prior to him. "you're welcome to join us, tony." you offered kindly, to which he replied with a small chuckle.

"i'm just kidding, cupcake. i came up for a drink and a little snack but that's it, i have stuff to finish down in the lab." you nodded understandingly, turning back to the screen in front of you.

"hey, stark, while you're there can you grab me a bottled water from the fridge?" bucky asked him. "oh yeah can you grab me chips from the snacks cabinet too?" sam added.

"you guys have legs for a reason, get them yourselves, i'm not your maid," tony sassed and you bit back a chuckle. bucky and sam then decided to rock-paper-scissors the situation to decide who had to get up and get the water and chips. bucky ended up losing and he begrudgingly got up and came back quickly with his water and sam's chips.

shortly afterwards, tony approached the three of you on the couch, with a juice box and a small bag of pretzels; your go-to movie snack. "here you go, cupcake." he handed them to you and you accepted them happily, beaming at him while he ruffled your hair.

bucky and sam shared a look of disbelief at tony's actions. "what gives, man? we asked for stuff and you didn't want to do it but y/n gets her stuff without even having to ask for it?" sam complained.

"that's because y/n's my baby. now shut up and let her watch the movie in peace." he scolds before leaving the common room, leaving the two men to huff in annoyance. it soon washed off though when you laughed out loud at a scene and they returned back to normal, loving the sound of your contagious laughter.

when the movie ended, it was already late and you had fallen asleep on an also asleep bucky. sam took a look at you and chuckled. he slowly removed the blanket from over himself and you, gently scooping you up into his arms and taking you back into your room, laying you down on your bed. he noticed the lack of blanket on your bed and remembered the blanket you brought down to the common room. he opened your closet for a spare blanket, retrieving it before covering you with it, tucking you in. "night, kiddo." he whispered, kissing your forehead before leaving the room.

-

next morning came and you groggily stretched, noticing that you were in your room. last you remembered was falling asleep mid movie. you deduced that it was most likely either bucky or sam who carried you back to bed. you went to your closet to grab work out clothes since you had training today, before realising what day today was. wanda's breakfast day. you quickly ran to the bathroom and got ready.

once you were done, you dried your hair and left your room, practically bouncing with excitement when you thought of what wanda probably made for breakfast. the week had been a bad breakfast week since everyone who had so far been tasked breakfast duty, sucked at cooking. the only good cook of the team was wanda, explaining your overexcitement.

before you could get far though, you slammed into a solid body, being caught by your wrists before you could fall. "be careful, lady y/n!" a deep voice spoke and you look up, a large smile on your face before you jumped happily, taking the man into a big hug. "thor! you're back!"

he laughed, returning the hug, you almost disappearing due to his big frame before you let go of each other. "where were you headed to so eagerly?"

"it's wanda's breakfast day, thor! i haven't had a decent breakfast all week because no one in this tower except wanda can cook to save their lives. come on, big guy!" you cheered, trying to get onto his back for him to give you a piggy back to the kitchen but he was too high for you to reach. he watched your attempt in amusement before bending down so you could get on his back. you gratefully got on, lightly patting his back and dramatically pointing ahead of you. "to the kitchen we go!"

when you two arrived in the kitchen, clint and wanda were talking as the latter made breakfast. thor's booming laughter echoed through the room as he zoomed with you on his back, laughing your heart out. "we have arrived to our destination, my lady." clint and wanda turned to you, adoring smiles on their faces when they heard you giggling uncontrollably.

"i thought you had more important things to do that you couldn't even walk 10 feet to grab me a spoon." clint raised his eyebrows at the demigod. "yes but y/n needed a ride so i provided her one." thor gave your hair a ruffle before he left the room, going to do what he initially left the kitchen for before you managed to get him to bring you back there.

"morning, kiddo." clint ruffled your hair right after you just fixed it, causing you to glare at him before fixing it again. "morning," you grumbled, sitting down next to him.

"morning, y/n!" wanda greeted, placing your plate of perfectly made blueberry pancakes with extra blueberries neatly placed on top, butter in the middle of it with maple syrup dripping down. your mouth watered. had it really been that long since you had a good breakfast or was it just because it was wanda's creation? or was it both? "here ya go, bubs. your favourite," she grinned at you, placing your glass of orange juice beside the plate.

"thanks, wands! i love you!" you thanked her, already beginning to dig into your breakfast.

"what the heck? you gave me burnt pancakes and didn't let me have extra blueberries because you said there already were some in the pancakes," clint whined to wanda from beside you, watching you eat happily.

"that's because the extra blueberries were for y/n, she loves them. and about the burnt pancakes...yea i just didn't want to give her burnt ones. look how happy she looks," the two turned to you, looking at your cheeks being filled up, making you look like an adorable squirrel.

"okay, fair point." clint slumped down on his chair, continuing to look at you fondly, like a proud father.

-

after breakfast, you made your way down to the training room where steve, nat and peter were training. when you entered, peter immediately noticed, waving and you from the treadmill with a huge smile on his face. nat, having just flipped steve over her her shoulders, smiled at you. "hey, bub." you smiled back at her and steve who struggled to give you a wave but did it anyways from his position.

"alright, y/n, you can warm up and run 2 miles first before we start." steve says once he had gotten up from his position on the ground. you mocked a salute before walking to the treadmills.

"what?! how is that fair? i'm running 5 miles!" peter exclaimed from beside you just as you started your run. "you're enhanced, peter. if anything, it's unfair for y/n/n. actually, that's right, it is unfair for her. y/n/n, you can go ahead and just do a mile."

peter's jaw dropped at this, his mouth opening and closing like fish out of water. "b–but.."

"get back to work, peter. once you're done, we'll start both your and y/n's training." the boy only huffed in annoyance, focusing back on his run while you smirked, internally cheering in victory.

-

"boy, that was tiring!" you dramatically plopped back onto the mat, limbs spread out as you tried to catch your breath. it had been a gruesome 3 hours of training and you were beat.

"y/n/n, get up. sam, bucky and clint's gotta train soon," nat tells you after steve and peter left and you were still sprawled out on the ground. "but i'm tired!" you whined childishly.

"y/n, if you don't get up, i'm gonna leave you here to be trampled on by the boys when they train." nat nagged, hands on her hips as she made a disapproving face at you.

"no you're not. you're gonna carry me to my room so i can shower and sleep soon." you tell her, eyes already closed as the fatigue washed over you. after a few seconds of silence, you heard her sigh out loud before you felt her crouching down beside you.

"get on my back in five seconds or i'll leave you." she threatened. you quickly opened your eyes, grabbing your small towel and water bottle before getting on nat's back. she mumbled something about you being lucky that she loves you or else she really was going to let sam, bucky and clint trample on you.

"what's wrong with her?" you could hear steve's concerned voice asking nat when you two reached—you assumed— the lobby. you were too tired to keep your eyes open so you left them closed while your arms were around nat's neck.

"nothing," you heard nat reply as she walked you both into the elevator. "kid's just too lazy to get up and walk on her own so she made me carry her." you internally rolled your eyes. she made it seem like she was forced to do it when everyone clearly knew she would do anything when it came to you.

you heard steve chuckle before nat started walking again, probably towards your room. you heard the door open and nat finally let you down, prompting you to open your eyes.

"do you want some food after you shower?" she questioned as you looked through your closet for comfy clothes to change to before ultimately deciding on cow print pyjama pants and an oversized tee you stole from steve.

"i'm good, nat, thanks. i just wanna take a nap." as if on cue, you yawned right after. "okay, bub. you'll have to get up later for dinner and movie night though, okay?" she reminded and left the room after you replied an 'okay' back.

-

when you were woken up a few hours later, it was by an annoying scream and a body bouncing on your bed. "y/n/n, wake up! it's dinner! mr stark ordered your favourite!"

you groaned, putting your pillow over your head to block out peter's annoying voice. "come on, y/n/n wake up! you haven't eaten since breakfast and it's movie night tonight!"

"okay, okay, i'm up. you can shut up now, pete." you grumbled crankily. it was quiet for a few seconds before peter yelled out once again. "wake u–"

he never got to finish though because you kicked him off the bed. "i said i'm up, dude." you then sat up, stretching before getting up to wash up, ignoring peter who was on the floor rubbing the side of his head which hit your lamp when he fell off your bed. he then got up, deciding to tidy your bed up a bit while he waited for you to finish washing up so that you two could go down together.

-

"is that my shirt?" was the first thing you heard when you walked in with peter. the team were all sitting, eating your food from your favourite place. "i uh, maybe?" you answered sheepishly, sitting down next to sam and peter settling down on your other side. "i've been looking for that shirt since forever."

"aw, let her have it, steve! she looks better in it than you do, she looks so adorable!" wanda screeched, absolutely adoring how tiny you looked in cap's enormous shirt. she continued to gush over you, even taking out her phone at one point to snap a picture of you. you chuckled at her antics, proceeding to eat your dinner while the team talked.

after dinner, everyone slowly made their way to the common room for team movie night. you guys collectively agreed to watch 'white chicks' after steve revealed that he hadn't watched it.

you sat down next to bruce, who gave you a tired smile when you smiled at him. he must've been working in the lab all day, you thought. halfway through the movie though, a bathroom break was called by tony. a few took the chance to get up and get snacks while you told bruce you were gonna sit closer to the tv since you couldn't hear properly with sam and bucky squabbling over every little thing they could. you could even hear them arguing in the kitchen at the moment over hot chocolate.

when tony came back, you told the two bickering children in the kitchen that you were starting the movie again. not long after you started, you could hear them still bickering, except now they were closer, probably back in their seats. poor bruce, you thought. you escaped the two but he was still stuck next to them.

meanwhile in the back, sam and bucky were still busy fighting over the hot chocolate. you paid them no mind as you focused on the movie, having not watched it in a hot minute.

"dude, i made this for myself! go make your own hot chocolate!" bucky whisper-yelled, moving his mug away from sam's reach when the latter tried to reach for it. "you took my snack now i'm gonna take your drink so it's fair!" sam countered.

before the two of them could stop it, the steaming hot chocolate spilt. not on the carpet, but onto the doctor whose patience had already been running thin with the two quarrelling next to him for the past hour.

his face slowly turned green, clearly a sign that he was fighting so that the other guy didn't come out. the team stared in horror, preparing for a fight to break out with the big green monster.

you, being the closest to the tv, didn't notice this all happening as you happily watched the movie that you couldn't hear properly for the past hour.

you laughed joyously when your favourite scene came on, trying to control your giggles that were starting to get louder and louder. bruce was currently hunched down, trying to even his breathing. but when he heard your laughter, he immediately looked up at you.

the team panicked, thinking that you could be a target for hulk since you just attracted attention to yourself. they were about to get up to protect you as they looked at bruce apprehensively, when the doctor smiled, the green on his neck slowly, but surely disappearing.

the team looked at each other in confusion and bruce smiled weakly at them. "sorry about that. i'm...i'm gonna move up and sit with y/n." he got up and made his way to you. you smiled when you saw him. "got tired of them too?" you joked and he nodded, making himself comfortable next to you.

you nodded and turned your attention back to the tv. it was clear you were oblivious to whatever just happened and the team couldn't help but chuckle at the situation. you really just unknowingly calmed down the hulk.

the team didn't know if you were aware of how much power you actually held over them. nevertheless, you were their little baby and they were willing to do anything for you.

[cjsinkythoughts]

The Shield

Paring: Bucky Barnes x Avenger!Reader

Word Count: 5595

Warnings: !FATWS SPOILERS!, Cursing, John Walker, Emotions, Character Death, Mentions of Blood, I know people had a hard time with that last scene so please take caution because it is in this part! GIF at end is the ending scene, so be careful when you get towards the bottom! I feel like I’m forgetting some, so just know this one’s a bit more than the others.

A/N: Here it is, folks! The Part we’ve all been waiting for! It’s the longest one I’ve written so far but so much happened and I couldn’t find a better spot to end it than where the episode ended. Thank you all for being patient with me today. I know I didn’t get this out as quickly as I would’ve the past few weeks, but you guys are so awesome! Seriously! I love that you understand I do have a life and work comes first! Thank you, thank you!

This Part is a doozy, guys, and…I’m sorry? But not really. I’m SUPER excited to see where this is gonna go, especially considering Episode 5 is supposed to be the real tear jerker. I can’t believe there’s only two more episodes! I’ve grown so attached to these characters just in the past month! I’m so glad I’m able to share some of my thoughts and feelings with you guys, too! You’re honestly the best!

I’ll be doing more One Shots this week, so look for those on the Masterlist. I’m still taking requests for them, so if there’s anything you want explored about the reader and her relationships that you don’t think will be explored in this Series, just ask and I’ll try to add it to the One Shot list.

As always, this isn’t beta’d so please excuse any mistakes! Thank you for reading, be kind to yourself and others, enjoy this part and stay tuned!

FATWS Masterlist

cjsinkythoughts Masterlist

(I couldn’t decide on which GIF to use because there are so many good ones! Thank you Tumblr Creators!)

!SPOILERS UNDER CUT!

“Doll…hey. Doll. C’mon, sweetheart. We gotta get moving.”

You cracked your eyes open begrudgingly, squinting up to see Bucky’s amused grin, head tilted and eyes soft. “Huh?”

He chuckled as you rubbed your eyes, confusion lifting an eyebrow. “The funeral. Zemo said we’ve gotta go if we’re gonna make it in time.”

“Wait, but…huh?”

Sniggering again at your reaction, he held up your phone. “You passed out in the middle of a chapter, sleepyhead.” He teased lightly, grabbing your hand and gently pulling you to sit upright. “It’s almost been an hour.”

You huffed tiredly, stretching and placing your feet on the floor, taking back the phone he held out to you. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“You haven’t been sleeping well.” He stated, like it should’ve been obvious. “How’s your arm feeling?”

“Better than earlier. It’s just sore. That’s all.”

He studied your features for any hint of a lie. Not finding one, he nodded, holding out his hand. “Okay. But tell me if it starts bothering you.”

You placed your hand in his, marveling for a split second at how big his hands were compared to yours - something you noticed every time but still it never ceased to astound you. He tugged you up, and you looked up to meet his worried eyes, remembering his question.

“I will, Buck. Promise.”

He nodded, tilting his head towards the door. “C’mon, cuddle bug. We don’t wanna miss this.”

A groan passed your lips, but you nodded and followed Bucky out into the main room, where Sam chuckled at you from his spot at the table. “Sleeping beauty has finally awoken.”

You flipped Sam off groggily. “Are we going or not?”

“Do you wanna wake up s’more first?”

“No.” You answered the one armed brunette. “I’ll just splash some water on my face or something. I’ll be fine by the time we get there. Where’s-”

“Looking for me?”

Zemo strolled out, now dressed in that coat of his, that smug smirk on his lips. You scowled. “I wish I wasn’t.”

Sam stood up, standing subconsciously between you and Zemo. “Let’s head out.”

You nodded in agreement, shooting the Baron one more glare, before following him out the door and into the city, Bucky right besides you, shoulders brushing as if you weren’t ignoring him just hours prior.

The walk was mostly silent, a few jests between Bucky and Sam plus a couple comments from Zemo here and there. You talked about strategy, with Sam bringing up the fact that he wanted to try convincing Karli to step down. Zemo didn’t look pleased with the arrangement, but both you and Bucky relented, agreeing to let Sam at least try.

It wasn’t until you were close to your destination according to Zemo that anything exciting happened.

“Karli Morgenthau is too dangerous for you guys to be pulling this shit!”

Hell. No. 

The moment the voice registered in your brain, your jaw tightened, your teeth starting to grind together as you held back the very not nice things you wanted to say. 

“Ah! How’d you find us now?” Bucky called out, tucking you into his side protectively, and a little possessively you noted, as Walker and Hoskins came down the steps, the two groups nearing each other.

You were relieved when the subject of Zemo escaping jail went by relatively quickly, Walker latching onto the fact that you were going to talk to Karli instead of focusing on the escaped fugitive in front of him.

You very nearly punched him when he ran in front of you after Sam told him the plan, making the four of you stop in your tracks, but Bucky’s arm tightened around your shoulders, holding you in place next to him.

“You’re gonna let him do this?” Walker questioned Bucky in disbelief, self righteous judgement practically dripping from your tone. “You’re gonna let your partner walk into a room with a super soldier alone?”

Bucky’s jaw ticked. “He’s dealt with worse. And he’s not my partner.”

“And you?” Walker narrowed his eyes towards you. “I expected more from you; the last original Avenger.”

You snorted, shaking your head. He obviously didn’t know how chaotic the Avengers were. What Sam was proposing? You’d seen it a million times with Steve alone. Not considering Nat, Clint, Thor, even Bruce and Tony. All of them willing to try to negotiate before running in, bullets raining and hell rising. “First, I’m not the last original. I’m technically not even an original. Second, I trust Sam with my life and I’m standing by his decision. He’s my brother. As a soldier, I would’ve thought you understood that.”

Before he could respond, Sam stepped around Bucky. You saw the reluctance in Walker’s eyes as he admitted a temporary defeat once Hoskins agreed with Sam. The fact that he was so unwilling to try to save more lives - including Karli’s - made the truth that he wasn’t, and would never, be your Captain harden deeper into your heart.

Ignoring Walker’s confusion as you followed the little girl Zemo befriended - which was weird, you’d admit, but it was getting you closer to Karli - Bucky’s arm slipped from your shoulders, hand sliding across your back and skimming down your arm to grip your hand. Even through your jacket, you felt goosebumps erupt along his fingers’ trail.

You finally came to your destination and you let out a small breath. If everything went smoothly, this mission could finally be over and you could go home and take a bath, get take out, get out a bottle of wine, watch TV, and just relax.

What a dream.

“Hey.” You stopped Sam before he could go through the entrance of where the girl said Karli was, holding his forearm. “You want me to come with you?”

He shook his head. “I think it’ll be better if I go alone.”

You nodded, letting go without any hesitance. “Okay. Be careful.”

“Always.” And despite all you’ve been through, no matter how many times he’s followed Steve’s lead in doing something stupid, you knew he meant it. You nodded again, before he disappeared around the corner.

You leaned back against the wall, Bucky once again wrapping an arm around your shoulder now that you weren’t walking - he liked having mobility on the move, hence the reason he held your hand instead - leaning besides you and pulling you against his chest.

Ten minutes. You tried looking at Bucky’s watch, which was on the wrist of the arm around you. He noticed and turned his wrist slightly, bending his elbow more, which brought you even closer to him, showing you the time.

Giving a small sigh, you nodded slightly and dropped your head back against his bicep, your hands shoving in your pockets, one of your feet coming up to rest against the wall. Bucky shifted to your other side so he could stand in front of the doors to where Karli and Sam were, pulling you against his back, arms wrapping around your shoulders tightly.

It was a long ten minutes. You kept eyeing Walker, and you couldn’t help the anger burning through you as he held the shield in his hands. That damn shield. It wasn’t his. It would never be his. And he would never understand it. The fact that the shield didn’t make Captain America. The shield isn’t what made Steve a good man. Not even the Serum did. He already was one. Steve made the shield what it was, not the other way around.

But then you remembered a conversation you had, years ago, and your eyes flitted up to Bucky’s hardened face, the brunette staring intensely at the ground.

~

You didn’t get it. You were confused. You knew how important Barnes - Bucky - was to Steve. But apparently you didn’t understand it quite yet.

You watched from the entrance of the hallway, leaning against the wall, as Bucky went under once more.

Steve stood there for a moment longer, before turning and walking towards you. “Why’d you do it?”

He raised an eyebrow at you while you turned to walk with him down the hall. “Do what?”

“Give up the shield. And don’t say it doesn’t belong to you. It does. Howard gave it to you. You’re the reason it’s…a symbol.”

He hummed. “And what exactly is it a symbol for, honey?”

You scoffed. “Uh, freedom? Justice? Resilience? The defense of the whole life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness thing?”

He stopped, facing you with a strange expression on his face, thoughtful. “I dropped it because I can’t be that anymore. Not right now. People don’t have the same beliefs they used to have. How can I stand up for freedom and let the Sokovia Accords track every person they deem a threat, just like HYDRA tried doing? How can I be a symbol for justice and let Bucky take the fall for something that he wasn’t in control of? I can’t. And until the world is ready to change…I can’t be Captain America.”

~

And suddenly, it seemed to click. Steve gave up the shield for Bucky because the world wasn’t ready to admit it was wrong. Just like Sam gave up the shield for himself and his family because the world wasn’t ready for the truth that would come with him becoming Captain America.

God…when did a metal circle become so complicated?

“What’s goin’ on in that pretty lil’ head’a yours?” His whisper in your ear startled you out of your thoughts, his nose brushing against your temple tenderly as he placed a chaste kiss on your cheek.

You looked up at him and shook your head. Of all the things Steve gave up, he never gave up Bucky. And it used to confuse you, but you understood then. His blue eyes sparkling with curiosity and slight concern, his fingers tracing patterns along your collarbone with a barely-there touch that was so light it didn’t seem to exist. You finally understood. Not just Steve’s decision, but Sam’s too. And maybe you didn’t understand it fully, and that was okay, because you weren’t them, so you never would, but you understood a little bit.

“Nothing.” You shook your head, keeping your voice down so the others couldn’t hear, the conversation being a private one, “I’m just waiting for this to be over.”

He hummed, nodding in agreement, setting his chin on your head. “Me too.”

Walker started pacing the room about half way through, getting too antsy for your liking. “Shhh.” Bucky mumbled under his breath, feeling you tense as Walker started talking. “It hasn’t been ten minutes, John. Just sit tight.”

“Don’t do that. Don’t patronize me.”

“He knows what he’s doing.” Bucky stated confidently, straightening slightly from his leaning position, arms falling from your form. The two of you exchanged glances as Walker checked the clock over on the far wall, blocked from your view.

“I’m going in.” Walker strode across the room, heading for the entrance, no doubt willing to steam roll anything - anyone - in his way.

Bucky stopped him with a hand on his chest. You glanced back and forth between the two as Walker spoke, arms crossed tightly over your chest. “Buck…we promised him ten minutes.” You reminded him, seeing his resolve crumble a bit. You could guess he was thinking of the nightmares. The people he couldn’t save. The blood he already considered on his hands.

Walker used his moment of hesitation, shoving past him roughly. “I’m not waiting.”

“John!”

“Walker!”

You followed after him, you and Bucky arguing with him and Hoskins about giving Sam more time, but it was too late.

“Karli Morgenthau! You’re under arrest!”

“Fuck.” You hissed out when you saw Sam’s panicked expression, looking at you confused. Walker was flown across the room when Karli punched him, Bucky shoving Hoskins out of the way to run after her.

“Y/N-”

You threw your hands up. “I tried, Sam! C’mon!”

You and Sam ran over to some stairs, turning corners and trying to remember what the building looked like from outside to cut her off, but you only ran into Bucky again. 

“I wish we had the layout or something.” You grumbled. “We were that close-”

“We’re not done yet, doll.” Nodding, you followed the boys out, Bucky pausing every so often to try to hear anything. “I’ve got gunshots.” At that, the three of you took off towards the sound, Bucky leading the way.

Just around the corner from where Bucky heard the gunshots, you thought you saw a couple people slip around another bend. Noticing you had stopped, Bucky backtracked. “You okay?’

“Yeah.” Deciding it wasn’t worth the pursuit, you turned to him and nodded towards the doorway Sam already went through. He gave you a look, but nodded and the two of you jogged into the room.

You sighed heavily, seeing Zemo knocked out on the floor, Walker standing over him and broken vials that were previously full of, what you assumed was, the Serum. Hoskins ran in right after you, meaning no one but Walker and Zemo knew what happened. Meaning you would probably never get the full, true story.

What fun it is to work with manipulators and liars.

********************

“I don’t like him.” Bucky grumbled, the two of you walking up to the place you were staying in, Bucky holding the door open for you.

“I know you don’t, Buck. I don’t either.” You had asked Bucky to go with you to get some fresh air once you got back, Zemo having woken up a few minutes after and Walker and Hoskins had to make a call or something official like the good soldiers they were. “He’s hiding something.”

“You think?” Bucky scoffed, giving you a look.

You rolled your eyes. “I mean…I don’t know. When we found him and Zemo…my gut twisted.”

He nodded in understanding, his face twisting into a scowl. “Yeah. Mine did too.”

You stopped him before you could walk through the door to the main room. “Do me a favor?” He nodded again with a little hum. Catching his chin between your fingers, your free hand moved to smooth out the creases between his brow. “Stop brooding so much. It makes me worried.”

His tongue darted out to wet his lips, features softening slightly. “Are you really gonna leave in the morning? I know you’ve had a lot of people telling you to take a break, and it’s selfish for me to ask you to stay, but…I dunno if I can finish this without you.”

“I-” You sighed, ducking your head as you thought of a response, before looking up in his wide eyes, begging for you to stick around longer. “Let’s just finish the day and see what happens next. Okay?”

He bit his lip, nodding slightly. You gave him a smile, before tugging on his hand. “I need a drink.”

He chuckled at that. “That I can fix, doll.” He, again, opened the door for you, and the two of you walked in.

“What a gentleman. Straight outta the 40’s.” You joked, making him roll his eyes.

He took off his jacket, heading to the kitchen, while you sat on the opposite side of the island. “Somethin’s not right about Walker.”

Sam gave you two an amused look. “You don’t say.”

“Well, I know a crazy when I see one.” He opened the lid of the bottle he grabbed, starting to pour two glasses of whiskey for the both of you. “Because I am crazy.”

You rolled your eyes as Sam responded, “can’t argue with that.”

“You shouldn’t have given him the shield.”

Giving Bucky a disapproving look over the rim of your glass, you sipped your drink, narrowing your eyes when he ignored you. “I didn’t give him the shield.”

“Well Steve definitely didn’t.”

Your glass slammed down on the counter. Why did he have to bring this up right now? Seriously? You were just having a nice conversation about places you wanted to visit while taking a walk outside. Why was he suddenly snapping?

Before you could scold him, the doors burst open, making your head whip over as Walker stormed in, “ordering” you to hand over Zemo.

You stayed sitting, leaning on the counter and facing the opposite wall as Sam told him off, giving an amused snicker as you sipped your drink. Bucky sat besides you, facing Walker, and you recognized from the angle he was positioning himself that he was blocking you from Walker’s view, whether intentional or not.

You raised an eyebrow, turning in interest when Walker put down the shield, knowing Sam wasn’t about to fight the man. What an ego the blonde had.

Before anything could happen, however, a spear pierced through the air, lodging in the pillar next to Walker’s head.

Your frustration with Bucky’s comment flew out of your head as Ayo and a few other Dora Milaje walked in. Bucky sat up straighter and you stood up, leaning ever so slightly against his arm.

You nearly facepalmed, a sound of complete disbelief leaving you as Walker introduced himself. Sam looked over at you two, an entertained, slightly incredulous smile on his face.

Sam tried warning him. He really did. But Walker, you’ve come to find, was an arrogant, egotistical narcissist who only wanted to win and would do whatever it takes to do so. Even when there wasn’t really a winner. At least, not in that situation. It seemed that Walker liked ignoring the gray area in the world, which wasn’t good. Not in the least.

Which is why you couldn’t really feel sorry for the man. You saw it coming as soon as he told them they didn’t have jurisdiction. And the moment he touched Ayo?

You put your chin on Bucky’s shoulder - who had stood up from his spot - watching the Dora Milaje kick Walker’s ass, wincing and cringing mockingly at the right moments, making Bucky smirk at you.

“We should do something.” Sam said, although he didn’t look thrilled about the prospect.

Bucky crossed his arms. “Looking strong, John!”

You gave a slight snort, not wanting to encourage anything, but unable to hold in your amusement. Bucky winked at you, clinking his cup of whiskey with your own, before taking a gulp.

“Bucky.” 

You huffed and stepped back at Sam’s tone. “C’mon, Buck.”

“Fine.” Bucky grunted. “But ‘M not happy about it.”

Soon, the three of you, plus Walker and Hoskins, were all occupied with a member of the Dora Milaje. You knew you couldn’t take them; they were on a higher level that Natasha, and you could barely beat her. But you weren’t necessarily trying to win.

It was a strange fight, knowing that no one - except Walker, probably - actually wanted to hurt anyone. Of course, that didn’t stop one of them from exploiting your injured shoulder that she spotted rather quickly. The hits were quick and precise, the tip of her spear cutting along the graze, hitting the spot just perfect enough to reopen it. The stitches that had been placed only a couple days ago ripped, making you wince and clutch your now bleeding shoulder.

“Oh fuck.” You groaned. “You were always good with those things.”

She gave you an almost apologetic look, before she looked over to Ayo, who stepped through the room towards the bathroom where Zemo had locked himself in during the chaos.

When you caught sight of the shoulder thing she did to Bucky, his metallic arm now laying on the floor, his eyes wide and his stance stunned, your jaw nearly dropped. You guessed it made sense that they had a way to do that, but, still. None of you were expecting it.

“Did you know they could do that?” Sam asked once they started leaving, Bucky picking up his arm and connecting it to his shoulder.

“No.” The arm whirred as he swung it, getting it back to normal.

You couldn’t help the little giggle that left you, making Bucky raise an eyebrow at you. You tried holding in more laughs, but they just kept coming. “She-she...she disarmed you!”

Bucky rolled his eyes as you chortled, holding your stomach and bending over. “Ha ha. Very funny.”

“Oh come on!” You straightened and wiped your eyes. “That was good! Wasn’t it, Sammy?”

Sammy chuckled and nodded. “I’ll admit, it was pretty good. This, however, is not.”

Your laughter died as Sam made his way over to the bathroom, the light air that came with your cackles dissipating as quickly as it came.

“I can’t believe he pulled an El Chapo.”

You stared at the drain that was uncovered - large enough for Zemo to slip inside and escape. He did it. The son of a bitch finally did it. It took him long enough. You would’ve betted against him days ago.

“I can.” Bucky turned and grabbed your hand. “Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

*********************

“I thought you told them.”

Bucky looked up from wrapping your shoulder, an eyebrow raised. “What?”

“I thought you told them. The Dora Milaje. Wakanda. T’Challa. I thought you told them about Zemo.”

He leaned back with a sigh. “It was kinda a last minute decision. You know that. You were there.”

You nodded. “I do. But I also know what they’ve done for you. Shuri and Ayo. I was there for that, too. And you know what he did to them. To their country. Their king.”

“I know, I know. I almost died several times because of it.”

Your eyebrows pinched in confusion. “So why-”

“I thought it’d be quick. I thought, maybe, I could do it without them finding out and then we could get to Karli and they wouldn’t be disappointed. Win win.”

Your cheek caught between your teeth as you thought. “You could’ve just asked-”

He shook his head. “They would’ve said no. You know that.”

“Okay. Fine. Yes. I know that. But…but giving them a warning would’ve been better than this.” He hung his head, closing his eyes. “Bucky. Hey,” hooking a finger under his chin, you tilted his head back up to look at you. “I know it’s been hard for you. Everything has. And I’m sorry I dragged you into this. I shouldn’t have let you come along. You should be healing, and it’s my fault you’re not.” He opened his mouth, face scrunching up in disagreement, but you shook your head. “It’s true. I just…I didn’t know it would come this far.” You gnawed on your bottom lip studying those captivating eyes, before sighing. “Which is why I’m not leaving.”

He perked up, those pretty eyes going wide, jaw slackening. “You-you’re not?!”

You shook your head. As much as you wanted to run away, you couldn’t. It wouldn’t be right. “It wouldn’t be fair to you or Sam. I promised to help, and I brought you into it. So I’m gonna stay.

“Are you, uh…are you sure? You don’t hafta if you don’t wanna, doll. I know I kinda pushed you earlier, but-”

“I’m sure Buck.” You nodded firmly. “Just…do something for me?”

“I dunno if I can promise not brooding, sweetheart.”

You giggled at his words. “Not that. Just…stop giving Sam a hard time. About the shield. Please.”

His soft features hardened and he scowled. “If he didn’t give it up-”

“He thought it was going to the museum. I told you about that, remember? I told you we’d go when I got back.”

Giving a slight nod, he sighed. “We never did.”

“We will. But, I’m serious, Buck. Please. It’s not his fault. He did exactly what Steve did.” At Bucky’s confused look, you pursed your lips, looking down at his hands, starting to play with his fingers. “Remember how I was thinking during those ten minutes we had?” He nodded. “I was thinking about how Steve gave the shield back to Tony. After saving you. In Siberia. You remember that?” Another nod was given, so you continued. “It was for you, James. Because you made him realize that he didn’t want to be the face of a country that preached one thing, but did another. And that’s what Sam did. He did it for his family. For himself. Because no one wants to fight for a country that goes against your personal beliefs, no matter what they say.”

“I-I don’t understand.” Bucky’s eyes squinted, his brow creasing as he tried processing what you were telling him.

“That’s okay. Not everyone will. Really only they can understand their own reasoning. But you have to try to understand that he did what he thought was best for himself. For Steve. For the shield. And I know - dammit do I know - that it’s the last thing left of him. But it is just metal. Isn’t it? Steve’s the reason it is what it is. No one else. And no one is going to change that.”

Bucky took a breath, glossy, worried eyes meeting yours. “Walker’s going to ruin it. I know he is. I can feel it. Everything Steve worked for. I don’t care about Captain America. I care about the kid from Brooklyn who wanted to make a difference, no matter how little he was. I trusted him. I followed him through bullets and blood, with only that shield between us and them. He was home on a battlefield in Italy across the ocean from New York. And that shield was the welcome mat. It doesn’t matter what it says, what it looks like…but it protected my home when I couldn’t. But now? I feel like it’s tearing my home down. Pulling out the bricks. And it hurts. It was never about the shield, Y/N. It was always about the man it protected when I couldn’t be there for him. And now?”

Gathering him in your arms as he trailed off, you gave a couple little sniffles, pressing your face in his hair, nails scratching the nape of his neck lightly. “I’ll be your welcome mat, Buckaroo.” You offered.

He shook his head, pulling away to hold your face between his hands. “No, sweetheart. You’re not the welcome mat. You’re the new bricks replacing the old. You’re…you’re my home, now, doll.”

You swallowed thickly, unable to handle the rush of emotions that just poured through you, the sudden change in topic making you feel more vulnerable than you’d like. You leaned forwards, placing a gentle kiss to the corner of his mouth, feeling him go lax in your arms. “And you’re mine.” You murmured softly, before getting up and heading out for the room, unable to stay any longer. You still had a mission to do. One that became even more desperate with Zemo loose, Walker unhinged, and Karli being so close.

******************

There was a silent agreement to not bring up your conversation. Not yet, at least. Sam had eyed you both when you came out of the room, saying you were ready to get moving, but he didn’t say anything either.

None of you really knew where you were going, only what you had to do. Find Zemo and get to Karli before Walker could. Both of which were a lot easier said than done.

Until Sam got a call from Sarah, who told him Karli contacted her personally and threatened her and her sons. She left a contact number for Sam, evidently wanting to meet. His phone dinged not a minute after he texted the number.

“She said come alone.”

“Well that’s not happening.” You opposed, crossing your arms.

Bucky nodded with your sentence. “We’re coming with you.”

Sam didn’t say anything against it, the three of you exchanging glances, before heading out to the location, changing into your tactical suits along the way.

Karli didn’t seem to mind you and Bucky tagging along, and you understood why the moment she mentioned not killing Sam because he wasn’t hiding behind a shield. It was a distraction. They were going after Walker.

It was confirmed only moments later when Sharon contacted Sam. “Looks like he found them, or maybe they found him.”

As soon as Sam announced that it was Walker, you jumped into action, Sam disabling Karli for just the right amount of time for you to get a head start. “I’ll send you the location. Go.” He told Bucky, who nodded and took off in his super soldier sprint. “You hitching a ride?”

You rolled your eyes at his slight tease. “I hate this so much.” You grumbled, catching his hand as he took off in the air with his bird costume. He held onto you tightly, like the millions of times you’d done this before, although it didn’t make you any less dizzy, traveling that fast, that high, with only his hold keeping you from dropping. “You’re lucky I trust you so much!”

He gave a small chuckle at your shout over the wind. “We’re landing! Brace yourself!” You followed his order, just in time for him to break through the glass ceiling of the building Walker was in. The both of you landed on a platform on the staircase just as a Flag Smasher was thrown through double glass doors, down the stairs, and into a power box. Your eyes went wide as Walker strolled down the steps, oozing a confidence that made you nervous. The moment Walker stopped the Flag Smasher - the Super Soldier - from hitting him with the pipe, you knew even before he twisted it like a pretzel.

“Sam.” You breathed out. You couldn’t even do anything, only watching as the Flag Smasher got up from being thrown again, and running down a hall.

“What’d you do?”

“They got Lemar.” Was the only reply he gave, brushing past you and Sam. You gave Sam a look, but he just jerked his head down the hall, in the direction the Flag Smasher went and the way Walker started heading. You nodded, willing to drop it for now to save someone’s life, but you were so bringing it up once this was done.

Jogging into the room, you should’ve expected the ambush in the room, but, to be honest, they didn’t take as much advantage as they could’ve, so it wasn’t too difficult of a fight. You had trained with Steve millions of times before, so you knew how to go against a Super Soldier. Granted, your Cap wasn’t trying to kill you while training, but it was better than nothing.

You protected your shoulder, knowing that was your weak point, while trying to disguise it so whoever you were fighting wouldn’t realize your Achilles’ Heel. Something you often found while dealing with Steve, and even Bucky, was that Super Soldiers, as quick as they were, tended to favor the super strength side of their enhancements. This made it easier for you to dodge the attacks, knowing most of your blows wouldn’t do much.

Knowing you wouldn’t be able to stay on the defensive for long, you decided to try to get an advantage over them. Disarming them and taking their knife was easy enough. A small advantage, yeah, but now you had a weapon, and you could work with that.

You weren’t exactly sure when Bucky joined the fight, but he did, immediately coming over to you when you body kicked your opponent, helping you up. “That was a Steve move.” Your eyes caught sight of the Flag Smasher behind him and you shoved his shoulder down, throwing your knife, making it land solidly in the man’s shoulder. Bucky looked up at you from his crouch, impressed. “And that was a me move.”

You shrugged. “I’m a visual learner.”

You, Sam, and Bucky were about to go for another round with the guys when a sickening crack sounded behind you, and you whipped around. 

Hoskins was against a split pillar, a crimson streak running down his forehead, head lolling to the side, lips red and cracked. The fight stopped as Walker rushed over to his friend, but you knew there was no way he survived. A punch from a Super Soldier? That hard?

Eyeing the Flag Smashers, you turned to Sam and Bucky when they started dispersing, Karli running out as well. They nodded towards you and the three of you took off after her, not wanting to let her get away again and, for you, at least, wanting to give Walker some time.

You weren’t expecting his grief to turn into such raw hatred. 

Running up to the city square, you didn’t actually see it happen. Just the aftermath. Which was good, considering you nearly threw up just seeing that.

You heard the change in Bucky’s breathing, barely recognizing the way he stepped in front of you, only realizing you stepped closer when you felt his sleeve against your palms, fingers tightly wrapped around his forearm. A choked sound came from somewhere, but you didn’t know it was you, even as Bucky reached his arm around to hold your waist, keeping you behind his shoulder. 

Tears leaked down your face silently, eyes unable to look away as Walker straightened, sliding the shield on his arm, too nonchalantly for someone who just murdered another in front of a crowd full of people, cameras pointed towards him.

The shield. That piece of metal you had been wondering so deeply about the past couple of weeks. The link to the first person you’d ever loved. Ruined. Tarnished. Stained.

You could barely breathe, your throat clenching so tightly it was a wonder you were able to get anything out at all.

“James…”