#Insisting it wasn't Jason's fault

[too-much-tma-stuff]

Can't Help Himself (18+)

Pairing: Jason/Danny

Inspired by this wonderful piece of art I wanted to write some non-con with pit mad Jason and Danny, with some random LoA assassin holding Jason's leash.

Trigger warnings (seriously y'all); rape, vaginal penetration, degradation, manipulation, Pit mad!Jason, sexual violence, forced breeding.

This is Dead Dove

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“Keep a tight grip on the leash,” Talia said as he handed over the chain with a personable smile. “He’s very well trained but that doesn’t always help when you’re not holding the leash. I’m loathe to part with him of course, but grandfather says you have an important prisoner and Jason is an excellent guard dog~” She ran her painted nails through the young man’s black and white hair.

The masked assassin nodded, looking down at the young man at the end of the leash, he glared back with glowing green eyes, swirling with the sort of mindless rage particular to the Lazarus pits. Such people were little more than animals but they could still be useful. “I’ll take good care of him,” She assured the leader’s daughter, bowing to her before she turned to leave. When Jason was reluctant to follow Talia made a sharp hissing sound that made him flinch and follow his temporary mistress without resistance. 

It was a quick walk to the cell in the depths of the league base that held one of the more interesting things they had managed to capture. “I brought you a friend, Phantom” the assassin said cruelly as she flipped on the lights. 

Inside the young man with slow white hair and intelligent Lazarus green eyes hissed at the sudden light. He glared at the assassin baring too sharp teeth and snarling, he had talked a lot when he had first been brought here but when he seemed to realize it didn’t do any good he had stopped. Now he was giving everyone the silent treatment seemingly out of spite, occasionally yanking on the Lazarus treated shackles, the only things they’d found that could hold him. He was wary as he glanced down at Jason, his eyes widening slightly. 

Jason too had fallen still and stopped snarling, the two men were just… staring at each other. Well that was odd. The assassin clicked her tongue and gave Jason’s leash a brief tug, reminding him who he was answering too and his purpose. He blinked and, rather than falling back into line he strained towards their captive, trying to get closer. 

She hissed sharply and kicked high, bringing her foot down on the chain connected to Jason’s thick collar, using her weight to drag him down to the floor. Jason let out growling oof as he barely caught himself enough to break the fall, finally looking away from the prisoner to look at the woman now standing on his leash, keeping him down on the floor by his neck. What shocked her was the whine that Phantom let out in response. When she looked up she saw that he was also straining towards Jason, matching green eyes filled with sympathy. 

“He doesn’t want to help you, you know,” She scoffed at Phantom. “The violence of the Pit runs deep in this one, he barely has enough of his mind left to know his own name. You should thank me for keeping him away from you, he probably wants to tear you apart,” she laughed only to be met by an Extra glowy glare from Phantom.

“You want him Fine,” She said, rolling her eyes and taking her foot off the chain, letting Jason get to his hands and knees. He moved towards Phantom hesitantly, expecting to be pulled back again, but this time she let him, following with a tight grip on his leash. She didn’t think the Demon Head would be pleased if he actually let a Guard Dog hurt his prize so she had to be ready to yank him back if he got too violent. 

When Jason realized that he wasn’t going to be pulled back he sped up and practically pounced on Phantom who let out an oof as he was pushed down to the stone floor. Before the assassin or, it seemed, Phantom, knew what was happening Jason was scrambling at the being clothes. 

“No, Don’t-” Phantom yelped, the first words he’d said in days as Jason tore Phantom’s shirt open from collar to waist like a child unwrapping a present. He lashed out to try and push Jason off but bound as he was Jason was stronger and didn’t seem to be struggling to hold Phantom down. Despite not needing to breath he gasps as Jason bears down on him, grabbing at the front of his shirt. What was interesting though was that despite looking scared and saying no Phantom was not fighting as hard as he could, wasn’t going for Jason’s throat or eyes.

“Well this is getting interesting~” She laughed, Phantom’s gaze snapped to her as if he’d forgotten she was there. 

“Make him stop,” Phantom gasped and she grinned unapologetically down at him, her mouth still covered by her mask but judging by his despair he saw it in her eyes. 

“No, I don’t think I will. I think I like where this is going~” She laughed. She did pull Jason back but it was not to stop Jason, but he was so mindless right now she wasn’t even sure He knew what he wanted. But she did~ When she pulled him back onto his knees she could see that his cock was rock hard and straining against the loose pants he was wearing. 

This was wrong of course, but she wouldn’t be an assassin if she didn’t have a sadistic streak, or cared at all about what was right. So she was just going to have fun, and right now what that means was shoving Phantom over onto his stomach with her foot and leaning down to grab the back of his pants with one hand, yanking them down and fully ignoring his screams for her to stop. 

Jason was staring, his eyes roaming over the curve of Phantom’s ass and when she yanked Danny’s hips up she saw how Jason’s pupils dilated when he got a good view of Phantom’s pussy. She planted her foot on the back of Phantom’s neck to keep him down and semi-still. “Good boy Jason,” She told Jason, talking over Phantom’s objections, knowing Jason would listen to her, the one holding his leash, like he was trained to. “Now you, take off your pants.” She ordered, and of course he obeyed though never did he take his eyes off of Phantom the entire time.

“Well, I think you know what you want, go ahead and take it~” She told Jason, pushing off of Phantom’s neck and leaning against the wall, though of course she still kept a firm grip on Jason’s leash. She'd step in if she had to, but she’d much rather just enjoy the show.

Jason hesitated for a moment, but as soon as Phantom started to pull away it broke through whatever was holding Jason back and he lurched into motion. He grabbed Phantom’s hips and yanked him back making the being yelp. Jason leaned down, his nose was nearly pressed into Phantom’s pussy as he breathed deeply, scenting the other as Phantom whimpered his protest. 

“You might as well shut up again Phantom. He only listens to the one holding his leash,” She mocked. Not that Jason seemed to be listening to her very much right now, whatever innate instinct to breed Phantom seemed to be overwriting just about everything else. “Besides it looks like he just can’t help himself.”

Jason ran his tongue over Danny’s pussy, a long sweep from his clit to his taint making him gasp and shudder. Jason did it again and Danny yanked against his chains, trying to cover his mouth but coming up just shy. “Jason Stop!” He pleaded but was completely ignored, just as she had warned him he would be. 

Jason growled and pushed deeper, his tongue disappearing inside the boy’s cunt. It was only a little disappointing to see Phantom bite his lip to silence himself, less so as she watched green blood drip down his chin from where his fangs had sunk into his own lip. Behind him Jason’s growl slowly morphed into a purr before he pulled back. His dick was an attractively desperate shade of pink as he adjusted his grip on Phantom’s hips and then ground against his ass. 

Phantom yowled like a furious cat and thrashed, but chained and pinned as he was there was nowhere for him to go as Jason wrestled his legs apart. Danny fought, until with one quick, clumsy thrust Jason forced his way into the pale being body. Pinned and penetrated Phantom finally fell still with a keen that would have been heartbreaking, had anyone who was listening been sympathetically inclined. 

She cackled and yanked on Jason’s leash, dragging him further over Phantom, further into his unwilling pussy. Jason’s face was read, his strong back covered in a thin sheen of sweat and his eyes glowing more intensely than ever before, fixed down on the object of his unwanted affections. 

He pulled out and pushed back in and Phantom yelped and shuddered, clawed fingers digging into the very stone beneath him as Jason wasted no time in fucking him. He looked up at her with hatred in his eyes that… if she was honest scared her a little. His gaze seemed to promise that the second he got out of these shackles she would pay, but she didn’t show that fear of course. 

“Don’t look at me that way~ I’m not the one fucking you,” She mocked him and he gave a broken snarl before spitting blood at her feet. Huh he must have bitten his tongue at some point. 

Jason’s eyes slid closed, his breathing coming in shallow moans and keens as he rutted into Phantom’s body with reckless abandon, uncaring and eager. He found some sort of rhythm, his moans and the sound of flesh on flesh the only sounds in the cell. Phantom had bitten his lip again, his eyes closed tightly and his fists clenched so quickly she could see the blood where his claws were digging into his own palms. 

Jason’s moans took on a new breathy tone as he lost track of his rhythm, bucking his hips in frantic shallow thrusts until he came. She knew he must have because Phantom wailed so loudly she knew it would be ringing in her ears for days.

Jason let go abruptly and Phantom collapsed to the floor, curling up in a ball and hugging himself tightly. “Wonderful performance everyone,” She laughed pulling Jason away. “But I don’t think you’ll be a good guard for him after all Jason. Sort yourself out. I’ll take you back to Talia and find someone who won’t fuck the prisoner.”

[starry-bi-sky]

Childhood Friends Danny and Jason

(cw underage smoking / smoking as a form of bonding) (cw Jason thinking Danny killed himself but its only for a moment) (cw depictions of murderous intent? Danny wants to murder the Joker and he's a little descriptive about it)

Now on ao3 :) (and with a response and a third one)

AND ALSO A REMASTERED VERSION THAT YOU SHOULD TOTALLY GO CHECK OUT BECAUSE I WORKED VERY HARD ON IT.

This is… aha. Massive. Word count check: 9k+

this has probably been done before but hey, everyone loves a good trope and I wanted to share my take on this idea. 👏👏 So, Danny Fenton and Jason Todd being childhood friends. The Fentons lived in Crime Alley for a good long while during Danny's childhood. Nobody wanted to fund their research and Jack and Maddie struggled to keep any form of work for a multitude of reasons. Jack worked in construction due to his big build and Maddie had another job elsewhere.

Danny and Jason were friends during that time, really great friends. I'm not super solid on how they met yet but I do know it involves Danny committing petty crime and Jason deciding to jump in and help when he sees Danny struggling. Danny was distrustful (as all crime alley kids ought to be) but they eventually became thick as thieves, committing petty crime together.

While it's all too easy to make Danny the weaker one of the two with Jason protecting him, I actually really like the idea that they protected each other. Growing up (essentially) on the streets means Danny forcibly had to grow a backbone unless he wanted to get trampled all over. He is just as willing to scuffle with the bigger kids as Jason is, and he and Jason regularly fought each other whenever they needed to let off steam, or just because. They were a duo, having each other's backs in tough situations.

(Sometimes the pair of them would sneak out at night and try and get a glimpse of Batman and Robin while they soared through the air. It was like a game between the two of them to see who could spot the dynamic duo first. When they were a little older, Jason would steal his dad's cigarettes and share them with Danny while they searched for Batman and Robin)

So when Danny has to move away when they're eleven years old, it's pretty safe to say that Jason didn't speak to him for a week afterwards. Nothing Danny did could persuade him to otherwise, even when Danny insisted that it wasn't his fault and that he didn't want to move away either, but he didn't have a choice in the matter.

When the week was over, Jason climbed through Danny's window and sat in his room, dead silent and looking upset. he didn't speak until Danny fished out a stolen pack of cigarettes from his bed and handed one to Jason.

(It was a ritual they had where if one of them was upset about something but wasn't saying anything, the other one could then hand them a cigarette -- whether it be the one they were using or a new one -- and that would be an open invitation for the person to vent. The other one who handed him the cigarette wouldn't speak until the venter handed back the cigarette. Then back and forth it would go until the cigarette was gone.)

Jason ranted about how pissed he was about Danny moving, and they promised to try and stay in touch after he leaves. Neither of them had phones, but Danny was determined to send him a letters.

Danny moves to Amity Park and it's... an adjustment, that's for sure. He's angry, grumpy, upset, and every other negative feeling under the sun. He was going to a new middle school with new people he didn't know, away from all of the people he did know and away from his best friend.

(He does however keep his word about sending letters, and mails one out to Jason at the first opportunity.)

He refuses to get along with anyone, butts heads with the teachers, is combative, rude, and openly smokes in class -- which gets him plenty of detentions and a bad reputation. He speaks in a thick Gotham street accent and wears hand-me-down clothes that are too big and baggy on him. (His parents have yet to replace any of their wardrobes as they settle into their new life, and Danny is hesitant to spend the money to get new clothes.)

He only manages to befriend Sam and Tucker because one of the football kids was bullying Tucker and Danny stepped in. It was some blond jerk named Dash and when Dash threw the first punch, Danny broke his nose. Tucker found him later that day and reluctantly thanked him for his help.

Sam and Danny do not get along for the longest time. Sam questions Danny about his upbringing, his accent, his smoking. She judges him for talking back to the teachers despite doing it herself and for ruining his lungs with cigarettes. Danny tells her to fuck off, and when she tries to judge him and Tucker for not being vegetarian, he calls her a privileged brat.

Sam doesn't even look at him for two weeks after, and Danny refuses to apologize. Tucker is caught between a rock and a hard place as his old friend and new friend are feuding with each other.

They... sort it out eventually.

Danny and Jason send each other letters near religiously. Danny complains about Amity Park, and Jason complains about how Crime Alley isn't the same without him. Danny talks about the school and what he's learned, about Sam and Tucker, and how he's been getting into the astronomy books in the library. He steals Jason a book and sends it to him.

When Jason tells Danny that he was adopted by Bruce Wayne, Danny calls bullshit. There's no fucking way Bruce Wayne would even look at Crime Alley, regardless of his charity efforts towards it. But when he checks Gotham news later that week, he's hit in the face with every single news article announcing Bruce Wayne's newest ward; Jason Todd.

Cue freaking out. Jason talks all about living in Wayne Manor and what it's like there. He says that there's a monster library in a part of the house that Bruce says he has free reign over, and that Jason can have anything to eat as long as he asks Alfred to make it and it isn't a desert, and that he has his own monster-sized room that he got to pick out himself and decorate.

(When they both get phones, the first thing either of them do is add each other's numbers.)

When Sam complains about having to go to a Wayne Gala that her parents are dragging her to one weekend, the first thing Danny asks is if he can go with. It surprises Sam and Tucker; Danny was the last person they would have thought wanted to go with. HE hates the rich even more than Sam does. Danny stands firm in his decision, and refuses to elaborate.

"Besides." He says to Sam, with whom he's begun to get along with via 'the enemy of my enemy is a friend'. "Would you rather go alone or with someone you can tolerate?"

She brings him with and convinces her parents to allow Danny to come along, citing that she'll be on her best behavior if they do. They agree, and buy Danny a suit when he says that he doesn't have one of his own.

(He discovers that he hates wearing suit jackets and ties, but vests he doesn't mind. He doesn't like that he has to comb his hair back, but he does to make Sam's parents happy. They give him a crash course in etiquette that Danny's going to forget the next day, and soon enough off they go in a private jet to Gotham)

(he does not tell Jason he's coming.)

he feels mischievous and nervous as they touch down, his stomach swirling as Sam's parents usher them to a high-profile hotel that Danny's only ever dreamed about going into. He feels largely out of place as they walk through the lobby, and falls back on old habits: square shoulders, set jaw, make yourself look like the biggest person in the room.

They get ready in the hotel room, Sam's parents primp and preen for the night incoming, and Sam is dragged into it by her mother. Danny does only what's required of him, and fiddles with the sleeves of his fresh-ironed button-down that's been tailored to his body. He's itching for a cigarette, and didn't bring any with.

Sam's dad helps him with his tie, a bout of kindness that Danny doesn't think is one. Just obligation to prevent Danny from looking like a mess. Sam pesters him again about wanting to come, and his reasons for it, and Danny keeps mum.

He's stone-faced with anxiety as they get closer to the gala, and before they leave the limousine the Mansons rented Sam links arms with him. A form of solidarity that Danny needs as he squeezes their arms together and smiles weakly at her.

The paparazzi are loud, bright, and demanding, shouting questions over questions at them like overlapping tidal waves. Danny ignores them all and focuses on the front doors instead. Sam's parents whisper at the stairs that they are to greet the Waynes first, and Danny's heart leaps to his throat.

His heart is in his ears as they drift closer, Mister Wayne is preoccupied with another rich couple, smiling that charming billionaire smile that Danny saw on every billboard in Gotham, and then some in Amity Park. Getting so close to him feels unreal.

And there by his side is the one and only Jason Todd, who isn't even trying to hide the bored look on his face as he watches Bruce interact with the other adults. He's gotten taller in the year they've been away, and healthier. His hair looks like its been cut professionally and he doesn't look as street kid skinny.

Danny's arm, hooked with Sam's, tightens up, and he resists the urge to rush forward and hug Jason. He watches Jason's eyes sweep left, away from him, and then right, towards him. The air stills for a moment as their eyes lock.

Danny grins toothily at him, lopsided and playful in nature, and sees the moment Jason processes the sight before him. His arm starts slipping out of Sam's at the same time as an ecstatic smile stretches across Jason's face.

His lopsided grin fills out on the other end. "DANNY!" Jason yells, cutting off whatever Bruce Wayne and startling everyone within earshot. There's barely a moment for Bruce to look down when Jason shoves past him and runs at Danny.

Danny yanks his arm out of Sam's, "JASON!" He yells with just as much enthusiasm, and Jason nearly topples them right over when he collides with Danny. His arms wrap around Danny's shoulders, holding onto him tightly, and they're both laughing, spinning around like tops out of joy.

"You didn't tell me you were coming!" Jason cries, sounding accusing. Danny hugs him just as tightly, and laughs when Jason pulls away momentarily to punch his shoulder.

"I wanted it to be a surprise!" He defends, laughing between words as their spinning comes to a stop. They're both reluctant to pull apart, but they do and clutch the sleeves of their elbows tightly. "How could my best friend be adopted by the Bruce Wayne and have me not come confirm it with my own two eyes?"

"I sent you newspaper clippings!" Jason says, narrowing his eyes while his smile betrays his face. Danny quietly notices that his Gotham street accent is faded slightly.

"Oh that's what it was?" Danny's grin turns again, edging into a smirk. He feigns innocence, "I thought that was fire kindling." He has the newspaper clippings hung on the corkboard in his room, proud beyond words about his best friend.

Jason punches him in the shoulder again, hard enough to leave a bruise. "You jackass." He says, ignoring Danny's laughter even when he's holding back his own.

There's a soft, sharp clearing of someone's throat, breaking their attentions away from each other to the one that made the noise.

Bruce Wayne was a tall man, taller than Danny expected, and he looks exactly like his billboards. If less promiscuous than his perfume ads. Danny expects him to be upset with them both for disrupting his pretty rich gala, but instead he just looks gently amused, with an arched eyebrow. Overall though, he just looks fond.

Danny would be the first to admit that Bruce had taken in Jason as a charity case, something to fill the void after his other kid Dick Grayson finally moved out. But Danny’s a good judge of character — or he likes to assume he is — and those are not the eyes of a man who would take Jason in as a charity case. Those are the eyes of a man who actually, genuinely, cares about one Jason Todd.

The wriggly protective thing settles in his chest.

He doesn’t let go of Jason, but he does twist his smile into something a little more polite. Mister Wayne’s eyebrow arches higher, and he turns his blue-blue eyes onto Jason. “Who’s this, Jason?” He has that fancy Gotham Elite accent -- something that sounds like a mix between old transatlantic and faintly British -- that Danny's only heard in passing when he and Jason snuck up to the nicer parts of Gotham.

Jason stares at Mister Wayne, his grip on Danny tightens as his eyes flick to the other onlookers in the room. “This is Danny, B.” He says once his eyes turn back to Mister Wayne. “We grew up in Crime Alley together, he moved to Illinois last year."

Danny can see the uncomfortable expressions cross every rich person's face, murmurs sweeping across the room as soon their uncomfortable gazes turned judgmental and flinty. He's kept track of the tabloids after Jason's adoption, the ones calling him a charity case and looking down on him for being a street kid.

He inches a little closer to Jason, straightening up instinctively, as if they were back in Crime Alley and facing a pack of kids that didn't like them. He can see Sam's surprised expression from the corner of his eye -- he never told Tucker or Sam about where he grew up, although he's sure they had their suspicions.

He looks back to Mister Wayne and meets his blue-blue eyes, his smile has slowly begun to fade. Mister Wayne doesn't miss a beat however, and his smile stays plastered to his face. If anything, it gets a little softer, a little wider. "It's nice to meet you Danny -- Daniel? I'm so glad that Jason has a friend here." He holds out a hand.

Danny eyes him unsurely, and then takes his hand. "It's jus' Danny, Mister Wayne." He says, some of his old accent slipping through as he shook his hand firmly. He would have done it harder, but this was Jason's new guardian, and from Jason's letters he didn't sound too bad. "It's, uh, nice to meet you too. Jason's told me lots about you."

Mister Wayne's brows jump momentarily, he looks intrigued. He looks between Danny and Jason, and claps his hands together softly. "Well, Jay, how would you like to stay with Danny for a while, hm? I'm sure you too have a lot to catch up on."

Hope simmers in Danny's heart, and he glances to Jason to see that same hope on his face. "Really?" He asks, and Mister Wayne nods with a laugh.

"Of course! How could I keep two friends apart? Go on ahead, chum. I'll come get you when the gala ends."

And just like that, Bruce Wayne leaves Jason with Danny, diving back into a conversation with one of the rich gothamites and taking the attention with it as if he were the sun and everyone else a planet orbiting him.

Danny and Jason share grins, and throw their arms around each other with laughter. Danny is on cloud nine, pressing his nose into Jason's shoulder and breathing him in, fingers digging into the back of his suit hard enough to leave wrinkles in his jacket.

Sam demands answers when they finally, for real this time, pull apart. Why didn't he tell her that he was friends with Jason Todd!? Danny slings his arm around Jason's shoulders and keeps him close, and tells her that it was because he wanted it to be a surprise.

Sam's parents have unreadable expressions on their faces, part greed -- Danny is their in to the elusive Bruce Wayne -- and part disdain -- a Gotham street rat. Danny ignores them, they're unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

He introduces Sam to Jason, and Jason to Sam. And off they go to a corner of the room near the buffet table where they can eat and shit talk everyone else in the room in peace.

At some point in the night Sam is called back to her parents to meet some other fancy rich kids her parents want her to get along with, and Danny and Jason go off to the west end balcony to avoid anyone who may try and approach the new Gotham ward.

Danny hops up onto the balcony railing, kicking his feet as Jason pulls a cigarette pack out of his inner jacket pocket, and grins. "Don't tell Bruce," he says, handing the box to Danny first. "He's been trying to get me to quit."

"Hah!" Danny takes one just as Jason slips out a lighter. "That sounds like Jazz. She's been trying to get me to stop since we moved to Amity." Granted, she's been trying ever since she found out before they moved, but now she was even more insistent. "She hasn't found my stash yet."

At the end of the night when the Mansons are leaving and Danny has to leave with them, he walks back to Mister Wayne with Jason to tell him that he's leaving. Mister Wayne mourns his going, and tells him that he's always able to come visit.

"Any friend of Jason's is always welcome to the manor." He says with a blinding grin, pulling Jason close to his side and squeezing him tight. Jason's nose scrunches up, but he doesn't push away.

It becomes a new routine for them. The Mansons are all too happy to bring him with to the Wayne Galas (of which they start receiving more invites to due to their connection with Danny) and Danny is all too happy to spend the evening with Jason again. No matter what, they always end up on the balcony at some point in the night.

And, eventually, Danny is invited to stay at Wayne Manor either for a weekend or for a break. He jumps at the chance when winter break rolls around and his parents start their debate over Santa Claus again.

Danny and Jason stay up late into the night talking or playing video games during their sleepovers, and in the warmer nights they climb out and onto the roof to stargaze. Danny points out constellations - - things he can find in neither Gotham or Amity -- and rambles on and on about space.

There are plenty of times during the Wayne Galas that the event gets attacked by a rogue. More often than he'd like he loses Jason in the crowd, and has later stopped Robin or Batman in his panic to find him.

The first time it happened, he was in tears with terror. He grabbed onto Batman's cape, stopping the man from going back in as he babbled that his Jason Todd was still inside, that he disappeared during the chaos and he couldn't find him. Batman took his hands and calmly told him that he'd find Jason for him, and that he was sure he was okay, but he needed to calm down.

He found Jason later once everything had calmed down, and he screamed at him for disappearing during a rogue attack, if he ever did it again he'll kill him. Then he cried.

The second time it happened, Danny didn't even realize that Jason was gone until everything was already over. They'd been separated before the attack happened. He stopped Robin and Batman before they could leave, trying to keep his breathing under control as he asked again, if they had seen Jason Todd.

"That- that asshole keeps fucking ditching me when these things happen." His voice has an embarrassing wobble in it. "Please-- please tell me you've seen him, that he's alright."

Robin this time steps up to reassure him, that Jason Todd was out of the building. He got him out. "He's probably looking for you too, uhhh..."

"Danny" Danny says, and eyes him up and down. "You're the new Robin right?"

Robin stilled up, and Danny could understand it a little. He'd seen the thoughts on the new Robin online. He wasn't very popular at first. Robin nods curtly, and Batman was shuffled a little closer to him, almost protectively.

Danny grins at him. "Cool." He says, "Me and Jay used to sneak out onto the rooftops sometimes to try and spot Batman and the first Robin, we made it a game." He holds out a fistbump, "Thanks for doing what you do, man. I might not live in Gotham anymore, but I mean it. You're a living legend."

Robin looks like there's something stuck in his throat, and after a beat he returns the fistbump tentatively. "Th- uh, thanks." He stumbles out awkwardly, and then turns away, "Me and B- uh, better go."

Before Danny could even respond, Robin already had his grapple in hand and was grappling away. "You too, Batman." Danny says before Batman can follow.

When Danny sees Jason after that, and weight lifts off his chest and he hits him in the arm again. And then complains that he should have gotten Batman and Robin's autograph, it would have been epic.

By the fifth time it happens, Danny is cussing up a storm when Robin saves him, cursing out Jason and claiming that he needs to put that boy on a fucking leash. "We're a duo!" He scowls when Robin gets him outside, "I got his back, he has mine! I can't have his back when he's got no back to fucking have."

The eighth time it happens, Danny gets held hostage by one of the henchmen. He's become a recognizable friend of the Waynes, and when the Waynes are nowhere to be found, then the next best thing was up to offer. Danny isn't even mad this time around -- just relieved that Jason was fucking off somewhere where he couldn't get hurt.

Robin, however, seemed furious when he arrived, and broke the hostager's jaw with a single flying kick to the face. Jason found him rapidly quick soon after the situation had settled, and apologized over and over again.

Danny slings an arm around his shoulder and laughs that it was fine, Robin saved the day! His legs were shaking with the worn off adrenaline, something he tried to hide from Jason. "I'm just glad it was me instead of you, Jay." He grins. Jason looks like he swallowed a toad.

Jason stops disappearing as often after that, sticking close to Danny's side until the attack was over.

When Danny is fourteen, Jason dies, and his world unravels.

He calls the manor on a late night in April after Jason had stopped responding to his texts. Danny knew that Jason was just recently in a fight with Bruce, but he knows that Bruce loves Jason. He would know where he is, right?

When he calls, Bruce answers with a hoarse "hello?" as if he'd been crying all day, and Danny's blood turns to ice. The anxiety he'd been feeling beforehand doubles in size, and he feels himself stammering.

"Mister- uh- Mister Wayne? Um, I'm calling because Jason--" he hears Bruce inhale sharply on the other line, and his anxiety skyrockets into fear. "--hasn't been answering any of my texts and- and I'm gettin' real worried."

There's silence on the other end, and Danny feels a rock forming in his throat, gross and heavy like he was on the verge of throwing up. "Mister- Bruce? Mister B?"

There's a shaky breath, and then Bruce's voice crackles through the phone. "Um-- Jason, he, he's--" there's a sound like rustling, "he's been killed."

Danny's vision whites out with skyrocketing terror, his mind skidding to a stop. His body rapidly grows hot, and then chills, like a blacksmith striking a heated weapon. "What?"

When the phone call ends, Danny screams himself hoarse. Jazz and his parents come running into his room, his parents equipped with ghost weapons. Instead, they find Danny curled up in his bed, sobbing hoarsely.

Danny almost -- almost -- refuses to attend the funeral, nearly paralyzed with grief. Jazz coaxes him to go, to find closure if anything else, and he drags himself out of bed to go.

He feels numb the entire time. It's closed casket, so he can't even see him for one last time before Jason is buried in the ground. He's silent, and if he think he looks bad, then Bruce looks even worse, like he hadn't slept since Jason died and worse.

Danny grabs his sleeve before he leaves, and when Bruce turns to him with a dull look in his once vibrant eyes, he clings to him tightly. And cries. Bruce clings back just as tight, Danny feels tears drip into his hair.

"Who did it." Danny whispers, voice too hurt to speak any louder, when he pulls back. His fingers curl around Bruce's jacket tightly, desperately. His eyes hurt with tears. "You said he was murdered, B. Please, who did it."

Bruce looks down at him, and for the first time it really does feel like he's looking down at him. His face is blank, and his eyes close in grief. There is no answer, a silent no.

Danny's face twists up all ugly like, and he shakes Bruce's jacket. "Bruce, please. Tell me who did it."

Bruce refuses, his face full of grief.

Danny never returns to Gotham.

Prior to Jason's death and post their reunion, Danny had slowly begun to improve in school. He started caring more, he was putting in more effort, he was doing his homework and was actually enjoying class. There was the bullying from Dash and the A-Listers, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle, he was ignoring them for the most part.

Come Monday after the funeral, and Danny breaks Dash's nose when he starts up with his shit. He withdrew into himself, and it was like he was back to square one again, except this time it was much worse.

Everyone knew Danny was close friends with Jason Todd. So when news of his death finally reached the ears of Amity Park, the students of Casper High School kept their distance.

That following Friday, Danny dies in the portal and comes back. A month later he becomes Phantom, the ghost-fighting ghost. the ghost Phantom wears his hazmat suit partially undone, showing a tanktop he didn't wear in death under the initial suit while the sleeves are tied around his waist. Vicious, glowing lichtenburg scars travel up his arm and neck and torso, covering half of his face while a pair of scientist-like goggles covers his eyes. He's bitter and angry, showing off his death.

Look at me, Phantom's form says, I am a dead child. Look at me look at me look at me. Mourn me. I am a dead child. LOOK AT ME. MOURN ME.

A few weeks later he enters the ghost zone and realizes that he could find Jason. And he spends a weekend scouring the ghost zone for him. He finds Gotham in the zone, and rather than finding Jason, he finds Robin.

Danny didn't know he'd died. And he flies towards him, asks him if he's seen Jason, reveals that it's him, Danny Fenton. Robin stares at him, mouth agape, and peels off his mask to reveal Jason Todd.

They both cry, and when Danny tells him how he died, Jason looks pale in the face. "You didn't- you didn't kill yourself because of me, did you?"

Danny fervently denies it. No, no. He didn't, he didn't. It was an accident. Totally unrelated. But enough about that, what the hell happened? Bruce wouldn't tell him anything at the funeral.

Jason clams up, his ghostly face losing its color, and Danny curses himself. He tells Jason that he doesn't have to tell him, he doesn't have to say anything. They sit in silence.

"It was the Joker." Jason says.

That's all Danny needs to know. He nods quietly. 'I'll kill him.' He thinks to himself, a stubborn set in his jaw. "Okay."

It had always been a plan; a thought wriggling in the back of Danny's mind ever since Bruce told him that Jason had been killed.

Not died. Killed.

Danny wanted the fucker dead the moment he realized it. He just needed to know who did it. He thinks Bruce knew it too, could probably see it in his eyes the moment Danny asked him who did it. He isn't sure if he should hate Bruce more for keeping it from him now.

They spend hours together, just soaking in each other's presence. Danny tries to take him through the ghost portal, to bring him back to the land of the living. But much like Kitty, Jason's form is tied to the zone. Danny promises to visit every day.

And he does. Or he tries to. The grief doesn't go away, but with the comfort of knowing that Jason was on the other side, Danny feels a little better. He tells Jason about being Phantom, and Jason helps train him. It feels like they're kids again and are fighting just because they want to. Its a bout of familiarity in a place that feels unfamiliar. All they need are cigarettes.

And then six months later he loses him again. Danny scours the ghost zone for him for the second time, and this time he doesn't find him.

His haunt is still in the zone though. He didn't move on. He's still here, somewhere.

Danny is convinced that Jason was in the Elsewhereness, and looks for him in between ghost fights and his social life. He visits Jason's haunt every day, knowing that Jason should be able to feel when another ghost enters his home. He does not show up.

(He never thinks that Jason came back to life, and Jason doesn't remember his time in the ghost zone)

When Danny is nineteen, Vlad Masters blackmails him into going to another Wayne Gala. Begrudgingly, Danny goes. He's taller than he used to be, having inherited his dad's monstrous height and his mom's leanness. He has piercings, some of them he got after a lost bet from Sam and Tucker, and he's given himself an undercut.

He still prefers vests over suit jackets, and he still smokes. A little less than before, he sneaks a pack into his pocket before he leaves, along with a lighter. Vlad gives him a dirty look the whole time - he knows.

"Don't give me that look." "That stuff kills, you know" "I'm already dead."

It's like deja vu when he arrives; an awful bout of deja vu, that is. The paparazzi is still as bright and loud and annoying as it always was, and they don't recognize him at all. Something he thinks of as a soft mercy up until one of the reporters asks Vlad who he is.

Vlad smiles and tugs Danny into the camera frame, "Why, this is my godson!" He crows, and shoots Danny a look that is downright smug I'm sure many of you may know him as Daniel Fenton?"

If looks could kill, Vlad would be ash. Danny isn't quite sure why he still agreed to this -- blackmail or no. He felt itchy being in Gotham; jumpy. He's never forgotten his vow to kill the Joker, in fact it was something he still desperately wants.

But the threat of Rath, the name he chose for his evil future self, haunts him just as much as his murderous intent. If he kills the Joker, would he stop?

Danny's almost afraid of what he'll do if he ever lays eyes on the Joker in person. He doesn't think he'll be able to stop himself from wrapping his hands around that stupid clown's neck and watching the light leave his eyes.

He pushes the thoughts to the side, and smiles lopsidedly as cameras and microphones flood his face, reporters yelling over themselves as they clamor to get a shot of the old Wayne family friend.

Danny turns and walks inside without answering a single question, flexing his fingers in and out of fists. Vlad gracefully hurries after him, and Danny can hear his glare burning into his back.

"You told me to come," Danny hisses to him once he's beside him, meeting Vlad's gaze piercingly, "not that I should play nice."

"Don't embarrass me, Daniel." Vlad hisses back, trying to look the upmost calm as eyes turn onto them. "I'll make you regret it."

"You embarrass yourself, fruitloop." Danny shoots back, walking away before Vlad could get a retort in. He sees Bruce Wayne on the other side of the room.

His heart seizes with nostalgia. He hasn't seen Bruce since Jason's funeral, hasn't spoken to him either. He doesn't know how to feel about him, but he'd been keeping tabs on Bruce both as himself and as Batman.

Danny's feet carry him forwards before he can think about it, silently weaving between the throng of rich people vying for his attention. It's only when he gets closer does he see the little shadow clinging to his side: Damian Wayne.

The newest little bird, Danny realizes, and stifles a smile at the surly expression on Damian's face as two older women coo over him. He reminded him of Sam, who had long since stopped coming to these things the moment she was able to.

The feeling of eyes on him turns Danny's attention away from Damian, and instead finds them back on Bruce's, who stares at him with a little furrow between his brows. As if he recognized him, but he wasn't sure from there.

Danny grins crookedly the moment he's within earshot. "Mister B!" He exclaims, slipping into what remained of his Gotham street accent. Recognition flashed in Bruce's eyes, and the man smiled widely. "Long time no see, old man."

"Danny," Bruce says, his name breathing out like relief. He slips between the crowd surrounding him -- who are now watching Danny -- and pulls Danny into a close hug. "It's good to see you again."

Danny hesitates for a moment -- he wasn't expecting Bruce to hug him -- and returns the gesture. "It's good to see you too, Bruce." He admits. Bruce was still using the same cologne that he did when Danny was a kid. He blinks heavily.

He pulls away quickly, clapping Bruce lightly on the shoulder as Damian quickly latches onto his father's side again. Damian glares daggers at him, fingers digging into Bruce's pantlegs like a possessive little kid.

He made Danny's ghost sense tingle in the back of his throat, creeping up slowly like a spider before stopping suddenly before it reached his mouth. It hummed, and then disappeared.

Danny smothered a frown. Since when did Batman work with ectoplasm? “This must be Damian." He says to Bruce, and holds out a hand to Damian -- he doesn't crouch, he had a feeling that Damian would be less than appreciative if he did that. "You've really expanded the nest since the last time I saw you."

Damian's eyes narrow at him. Bruce laughs lightly, "Ah yes, Tim is around here somewhere. I'm sure you'll see him soon."

"Father," Damian says, his voice layered with an accent. He glares up at Danny with piercing green eyes. "How do you know this man?" He sounds distrustful, Danny respects that and drops his hand.

"This is Danny Fenton." Bruce says, and Danny lets him introduce him. "He was Jason's friend."

An expression similar to bewilderment flashes briefly over Damian's face, and he eyes Danny in disbelief. "Todd had friends?"

Oh. So that's how he wanted to be. Bruce had a little elitist on his hands. Danny's smile drops like a deadweight, and any lingering endearment he had hardens like ice in his chest, fury slowly taking its place like a flickering candlelight. "It's not polite to speak ill of the dead, Mister Wayne." He says coldly, his voice made of chips of ice.

Damian blinks, the disbelief disappearing from his face. The closest thing to a recoil Danny thinks he's going to get. He doesn't care. No one speaks about his best friend that way.

"I grew up with Jason, actually." He continues, breathing in slow and deep, trying to keep the ghostly possessive-protective-rage under control. "I was his best friend."

He turns, almost robotically, towards Bruce, and tries not to look so angry. "I'm going to go find Tim, Mister B." He says, and tries to offer up a weak smile for the man. It comes out as a grimace instead.

"And..." he pauses, flicks his eyes towards Damian, and then looks at Bruce. "I'll... try and keep in contact, B. Tell Dick I said hi, alright? I'll see you in a little bit."

Bruce nods, looking vaguely disappointed and sighing slow through his nose. Danny walks away as Bruce turns to address his youngest, and doesn't bother listening in on what he has to say.

He does, eventually, find Tim Drake. He spots him in a crowd instantly - it's hard not to, and he makes his way over to him. He's not sure Tim Drake would recognize him, Bruce didn't at first and Danny had been around him constantly.

Except Tim Drake does recognize him, much to Danny's surprise. They lock eyes and Tim immediately makes his way over to him. "Danny Fenton!" He says and stops in front of him, "What a surprise, we weren't expecting you tonight."

"Tim Drake," Danny replies, smiling a little as his earlier hurt begins to fade away. "I'm surprised you know me."

"There are pictures of you in the manor with Jason." Tim explains, stuffing his hands into his pockets with an easy-going smile. "It's hard not to know you."

"It’s hard not to know you too,” Danny retorts, a sly smile slowly spreading across his face. “Although you’re a lot taller than you used to be, when you were lurking around Bruce and Jason and I.”

Ohhh Danny recognizes him alright. One part due to all the news articles and tabloids on him after he was adopted by Bruce, and the other part because he remembers the little shadow lurking near plants pots and table legs that used to follow him and Jason around at galas just like these.

Knowing that Jason was Robin, he wonders if Jason knew he was there too.

The effect is immediate: Tim’s eyes grow comically large, and a red tint glows at the tip of his ears as he shrinks back like a turtle trying to hide into its shell. “You— you noticed that!?” He hisses.

“I did!” Danny grins, large and wide, stifling a laugh as the red tint spreads over Tim’s cheeks and nose. He looks mortified. Danny coos. “Aww, I thought it was adorable that Jason had a little shadow. I’m sure he would have loved you if you had just come over and said hi. He had a big soft spot for kids.”

Tim snorts and it— it almost sounds derisive? “Sure he would.” He looks sad, and the mirth in Danny’s chest shrivels up like a flower without light. The smile fades from his face, and all that’s left is a strange, staunch reminder that Danny and Bruce weren’t the only ones that probably mourned.

He touches Tim’s shoulder lightly, “Hey, I’m sorry.” He says, trying to look as apologetic as he feels. “I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. I’m sorry, I miss him too.” Like a fucking limb he missed him.

There’s something that flickers in Tim’s eyes, passing through too fast for Danny to realize what it is. He assumes its gratefulness, because Tim relaxes a little and offers him a weak little smile. “I wish I had talked to him.”

Danny sees an out and takes it, he forces out a short laugh, grinning widely. “I can tell you all about him if you’d like,” he offers, “I told Mister B I’d keep in touch anyways. I’ve missed him and Alfred quite a lot in the last few years.”

“Not Dick?”

“That dipstick wasn��t around often enough for me to form any sort of emotional attachment to him.” Danny says in a half-complaining tone, placing his hands on his hips. “Although I did like his puns.”

Tim snickers, “I’ll tell him you said that then. Nobody likes his puns.”

“Go on ahead,” Danny grins, laughter swirling in his chest and making his core thrum with warmth. Damn, he’s missed this family. “I stand by my decision. Puns are funny.”

“Let’s get a photo then.” Tim says with a hand already fishing in his pocket for his phone. “He’ll be devastated to know that you were here and he didn’t get to see you.”

“Sure.” And Danny sidles on next to Tim, throwing an arm around his shoulders — and making a noise of surprise when his arm was able to fit comfortably — as if he was just resting it on a counter.

He totally forgot how tall he was compared to Tim. Forgot that he’d been looking down the entire time they’d been talking. “Why’d I get my dad’s height.” He complains, and bends his knees as Tim raises the phone with the front-facing camera on.

Tim snickers under his breath, and takes the picture while they’re both smiling wide. Danny immediately stands up, and peers over Tim’s shoulders to look at the picture.

It’s a good one, with the fringe of Danny’s curls falling slightly over his left eye and making the dimple on his right cheek more prominent. He could see the barely-there smattering of freckles he had across his nose, the ones that became more prominent when the sun was out. His smile was lopsided, Danny’s favorite kind of smile.

He whistles lowly, “That’s a good one,” he says aloud, and smiles impishly at Tim when he looks at him. “You should send that one, I look hot in it.”

Tim snorts, his ears reddening as he looks down at his phone. “Yeah sure, no problem.” He says quickly, and Danny looks away when he pulls up the messenger app. He’s never felt comfortable looking over people’s shoulders when they were on their phone.

“I’m gonna go take a smoke break.” He shoves his hands into his pockets and curls his fingers around the box and lighter inside. “I’ll—“

“Be on the west-end balcony.” Tim finishes, the red in his ears darkening as he glances up from his phone to smile embarrassedly. “I know.”

Danny snorts, “Okay.” His voice is thick with amusement. “Let me know how Dipstick reacts, alright?” He backs up slowly, awaiting Tim’s response. Tim merely waves a hand at him, a weak gesture of “yeah yeah” that makes Danny grin before he flips around and marches towards his favorite smoking balcony.

———————

(Tim pulls up the family group chat and loads the selfie into the text bar. His face feels warm with embarrassment even as his thumbs fly across the screen.

Tim: look who i found at the latest charity gala :) [image]

Hee awaits eagerly a response, and finds he doesn’t have to wait long. Dick’s thought bubble appears on screen, then Cass’s — of which it only exists for a moment before disappearing.

Dick: holy shit, is that who i think it is?

Tim responds quickly, and his message sends.

Tim: yep. He wanted me to tell you that he thinks your jokes are funny.

Dick: they are funny

Tim rolls his eyes and thinks for a moment, really thinks. He weighs his pros and cons. And then his fingers fly across the screen again.

Tim: hey Jason are you not gonna say anything?

There’s no response for all of thirty seconds — of which it stretches on to an uncomfortably long minute — and then Jason’s thought bubble appears.

Jason: what do i have to say to a bunch of idiots blowing up my phone in the middle of patrol?

Tim: harsh. do you recognize the guy in the photo?

Jason’s response is instant. Too fast for him to have actually looked at the photo itself. He’s just trying to spite Tim then. Tim doesn’t care, he has the upper hand here

Jason: no and I don’t care, i have patrol

Tim knows he didn’t look at the photo, and yet he can’t help stifle a shit-eating smile and feign innocence

Tim: really? You and Danny used to be so close, color me surprised

His teeth dig into his lower lip, he doesn’t need to in order to hide a smile. But it gives him something to do. Jason is worryingly silent for a long, long time, and Tim can almost imagine him staring long and hard at the selfie. Tim knows he will be later.

Finally, Jason’s text bubble shows up. It exists for a long time, before finally Tim’s phone buzzes with his message alert.

Jason: that’s danny?

Tim feels all too gleeful. Smugness swirling in his chest like kicked up sand as he types his response: yep! Apparently he showed up today, although I’m not sure with who since I don’t see Miss Manson around here.

Damian: Father says to get off your phone, Drake. We are at a Gala and your behavior is most unbecoming

Tim: can it demon spawn, I was just telling Jason that his friend Danny is here

Damian: He can’t be too important if he doesn’t even know Todd is alive

Tim: how would you know that?

Damian: When Father introduced him as Todd’s friend, I expressed my surprise that Todd even had friends, considering how unpleasant he can be. Fenton became quite cross with me after that and quickly excused himself thereafter

Dick: you said what!? Damian that’s not okay

Damian: Father made that quite clear after Fenton left in a huff. My mistake for thinking that Todd had told his ‘supposed best friend’ that he was alive.

Dick: he didn’t even tell us we were alive at first

Damian: He did eventually, didn’t he? Clearly Todd doesn’t seem to care too much about Fenton if he hasn’t even informed him of his being alive at this point.

Jason’s thought bubble quickly pops up, and then dissipates, then pops up again. Tim quickly pockets his phone before he can see Jason’s response. He doesn’t feel smug anymore, just uncomfortable.)

———————

Stepping out onto the west-end balcony feels like a blast from the past. A painful one at that. Danny’s fingers dig into his cigarette pack, and he pulls it out with a sense of bittersweet familiarity.

It feels like a lifetime ago that he once stood here with Jason. The package clunks dully as his fingers scrape against the side, and he fishes a cigarette out of the box before stuffing it back into his pocket.

“Quite the night isn’t it.” He says to nothing, to ghosts of the past, to himself. He turns and sits on the railing, sticking his legs out like a tripping hazard while Gotham’s hot city wind blows through the air.

He looks up and only sees the ugly pollution yellow sky looking down at him. It’s an unfamiliar feeling to him. He loves the stars and yet when faced with a smog that covers it, he feels more at home.

Danny’s fingers find the lighter, and with a few clicks a small open flame appears in existence. There’s a poem here, he can feel it. But he feels too tired to find it.

The cigarette lights, and the lighter dies in response. Returning back to his coffin-like pocket until he needs to use it again. He pulls a leg up, resting his chin on his knee with a heavy, tired sigh.

He soaks in the sounds around him. The ugly city warmth nips at his jaw. The music inside is muffled by the force of two glass doors and walls on all four sides, and Danny can hear late night traffic coming by on the road nearby. It’s a special kind of ambience you can only find on the west end balcony.

Half a decade ago, Danny had played a part with that ambience with Jason. Now it was just him, and Jason was nowhere to be found. It left a hopeless kind of feeling in his chest. An all-suffocating kind of fear that filled him head to toe with an intensity only ghosts could have.

His body winds up like a spring, and Danny holds his breath. When he exhales two minutes later, the spring stutters and jolts, and his body relaxes with a tremble.

He misses Jason. He misses Jason.

Ghosts are emotional creatures. They feel it from their crown to their soles. And emotional wounds never really heal. They scab over and fester, waiting to be picked at again and again so it can bleed as fresh as it did when it first opened.

Danny’s grief is never going to go away, he thinks. It’s clung to him like a parasite; shaped him and molded him. The wound was too close to him when he died, and now it will stay with him forever.

He opens his eyes when his ghost sense tingles, a heavy feeling in his throat that is neither nicotine nor grief. It’s just like Damian’s, but stronger. Potent. Older. It reaches the top of Danny’s throat and sits at the base of his tongue, like a hand about to suffocate him.

He looks up, cigarette hanging off his lips, and the Red Hood drops down beside him. He stands in the same spot Jason once did, and that alone makes the ghostly core in Danny seize possessively.

Don’t you dare stand where he stood, it hisses, coiling around his lungs like smog. Danny grits his teeth and feels his ghost sense evaporate. He pulls the cigarette out of his mouth, and nicotine smoke pours out like a cheap version of his ghost sense.

“Red Hood.” He says plainly, his free hand coiling and uncoiling like cat’s claws against the railing. “A surprise to see you here.”

Danny knows through process of elimination who most of the Gotham vigilantes are: Dick is Nightwing, Bruce is Batman, Tim is Red Robin, Damian is Robin, and Cass is Orphan. There are a few who he doesn’t know, however. Like Batgirl and Red Hood.

It’s fine, he doesn’t need to know. Danny of all people understands the importance of a secret identity.

Red Hood doesn’t say anything, just stares at him as if he’s a deer in headlights. His body all tensed up like he isn’t sure what to do now that he’s here in front of Danny. Like he wasn’t expecting Danny to be here at all.

Danny’s brows furrow. “Sorry, am I in your spot?” He asks, and begins to push off the railing. “I didn’t think vigilantes used the Wayne Hall west-end balcony, I can leave if you want.”

He’s already begun to move towards the door.

The Red Hood lurches in his spot, “No!” He yells, and Danny stops in place with raising eyebrows. Red Hood’s fingers cringe, and he straightens up.

He’s shorter than Danny, he notes. Which isn’t much of revelation. Everyone is shorter than Danny.

“No,” Red Hood repeats, sounding sturdier than before, “No. You’re fine. I’m just stopping here for a quick rest before resuming patrol.”

…Danny doesn’t question it. It’s none of his business about other vigilantes and their practices. He shrugs and breathes out more smoke, “Alright.” He says, and walks back over to the railing to sit on it. “I’m Danny, by the way.”

The Red Hood nods, and a silence falls over them. Danny doesn’t care enough to make it feel uncomfortable, but the Red Hood seems unsettled by something. Lost in thought. He leans his back against the railing similar to Danny, and then switches a few seconds later to a new pose.

He does it again, and again, and again. Until finally he flips over and leans his stomach against the railing, arms resting against it. It is starkly like what Jason used to do, and Danny stares at him long and hard.

He frowns. And says nothing.

When Danny’s cigarette is nothing more than a butt of nicotine, he crushes it in his hand and watches the ash flutter down to the ground. The heat stings his hand, but its nothing his ghostly healing can’t fix.

The Red Hood is already holding out another one when Danny’s hand drifts to his pocket for the box.

Danny stares at him, sudden wariness opening up like floodgates that sit at the bottom of his stomach.

His frown deepens, his eyes flicker up and down at Red Hood. His hands hover over his pocket. “I have my own.” He says, and watches subtly as the Red Hood hides a wilt. As if he’d been expecting Danny to take it.

“Alright.” The Red Hood says, trying to sound unbothered. He retracts the cigarette away from Danny, quiet all the way. He’s looking away.

Danny plucks the cigarette out of his hand, startling the Hood enough that Red snaps back to look at him. Danny yanks his lighter from his pocket. “I won’t say no to a free cigarette.” He says, slightly muffled with the stick between his teeth. It lights.

Silence falls over them again, and when one minute stretches into five, whatever hope that had been digging into the shoulders of Red Hood finally pulls away and leaves him slumping subtly.

‘A ciggie for your thoughts?’ Nine year old Jason Todd whispers one night with an impish grin, holding up a cigarette pinched between his two fingers. ‘I stole it from my old man. He won’t even notice its gone.’

Danny is halfway through it when he speaks. “The Joker killed my best friend.” He says, and watches from the corner of his eye as the Red Hood flinches. Is he startled by Danny speaking, or startled by the bluntness of him starting?

“He beat him to death.” Danny continues, staring stone-faced away from Red Hood. His grief claws up his lungs and burrows into his heart again. His fingers dig into the railing. “He beat my best friend to death.”

The Red Hood is silent, his body as still as the grave. Silence stretches out between them both, and like he’d been thinking, the Hood finally speaks: “How do you know?”

He’s not holding the cigarette, he broke his and Jason’s rule. Danny bounces the stick between his fingers. “His ghost told me.” He says, taking a trembling breath. “His ghost told me so, before he disappeared.”

The Red Hood says nothing, and Danny gathers his thoughts. The ones that had been buried deep next to his core, shoved down ever since Danny learned of Rath and a terrible future where a world is destroyed by one ghost’s hands.

Danny has never said it out loud before. His face scrunches up briefly, and then smooths out when his eyes squeeze shut. “I’m going to kill him, Red Hood.” He murmurs when he opens his eyes, turning his face toward the vigilante. The sound is sucked out of the air.

The Red Hood stares at him, but he doesn’t say a word. Danny pushes on, teeth grinding into teeth as he flips his silvery scarred hand back and forth. Palm up, palm down. “It’s why I haven’t been back to Gotham in a while.” He admits, voice still quiet. “If I see the Joker I will kill him, and I won’t feel bad for it.”

“Not today though,” he says, and closes his hand, “today I’m here on a favor to Vlad Masters. Then after this I’ll go visit my friend. I need to apologize for not seeing his grave in a while. I’ll have to stop by a florist to see if they have any zinnias. Jay likes those.”

He takes out the cigarette in his mouth and breathes out one last cloud of smoke. And then he crushes the cigarette stick under his foot and walks back inside.

[a-simple-imagine]

Perfectly Pathetic Pt.2

synopsis: you try to fix things with cady while maintaining your friendship with the plastics

pairing: regina george x fem!reader, elements of cady heron x fem!reader

words: 6.6k (6666 to be exact)

A/N - it’s here at long last besties!! get it while it’s hot because i might delete later idk how i feel about it

WARNINGS - swearing, toxic relationships and general toxicity, d-slur, and bullying

PREV //

come Sunday, you wake up with a throbbing head and zero energy left in your body but memories sit crystal clear. you remember Regina trying to come onto you. her scaring Cady away. Gretchen rubbing your back as you listen to her whine about Jason for the millionth time. weird night. you check your phone but don't bother to reply to anyone except Karen who wouldn't stop sending you explicit details about some reality show she was binging. but alas the weekend was over and you're forced to brave the embarrassment of going back to school after a party. happens every time. people do dumb shit and are forced to face it on Monday.

the first person you come across is none other than the red-headed new girl herself. you have got to imagine she is mad at you after what happened; the lies Regina told. it was not your fault but you should probably try and make peace.

"Hey! New girl," yelled down the hallway, you walk a little faster in order to catch up. you watch her glance around a little confused as you approach.

"Oh," her expression seems to neutralise as she realises it's you. "hi."

"did you have a good Sunday?"

"it was alright," the fact she was speaking to you was a good sign. "I spent it with my mom."

"cute," you flash a smile. Cady was clutching her books pretty tightly. "I thought we should maybe talk about Saturday."

"We don't have to to."

"but I want to," you insist. "please?"

"Regina already told me,"

"Regina is a liar," you blurt out. hopefully, that wouldn't get back to her. "I don't know what she said exactly but it's not true," she looks at you with curious eyes. "I wasn't stringing you along or anything,"

"Sure,"

"I like you, Cady. you're... different," you express. "I wanna be your friend. and I was really happy when you showed up at the party,"

"Really?"

"mhmm," you hum, nodding to prove your point. "cross my heart." you mime the action of drawing a cross across your chest. you're not sure they're gonna forgive you but the bell for homeroom would ring at any moment so time was running out.

"Okay," replied after a moment. a small smile that's quick to fade.

"do you want to finish working on our assignment later?" you ask.

"Sure," they shrug. "meet you out front?"

you're not entirely convinced you're forgiven but you'll take what you can get. you're about to respond when your eyes spot Gretchen amongst the crowd. you lock eyes for a second before she bolts in the opposite direction. with a heavy sigh, you charge after her.

"Gretchen." yelled down the hallway causing a few heads to turn. people naturally darted out of your way but you almost smashed into a few people. "Gretchen," is she getting quicker? "will you just stop?" the answer was apparently no because she just kept going until you manage to grab her arm forcing her to stop. "what the fuck?"

"oh hey, I didn't see you back there." she lies, offering a less-than-genuine smile.

"I was literally yelling your name?" your brow furrowed. you could almost see the gears turning in her head trying to come up with some kind of excuse.

"Sorry, I'm tired- mustn't have heard you." was that the best she could do? you just roll your eyes.

"Can you not tell Regina I was talking to Cady."

"Why?" she asks despite already knowing the answer.

"Please, Gretchen? it's really not a big deal, okay so let's just keep it between us."

"I said you should stay away from her and you ignored me."

"I know and you were probably right but," you shrug. "it's too late and besides, I have to do a presentation with her, that's why we were talking. you can even ask Karen."

"I won't tell anyone." that was a lie. She won't tell anyone except Regina obviously. always trying to be in her good graces.

"if you promise not to tell, I'll... tell Jason something bad about Taylor? like she has crabs or something?"

her eyes light up at the prospect. "really?"

you nod. Taylor had never liked you so you weren't exactly on the best of terms and if making up some rumour about her gets Gretchen off your back then great. "but you can't tell Regina, deal?"

"deal," Gretchen smiles brightly. thank fuck for that. you start walking together now. "so what happened at the party?"

"don't you already know?" you tease. "thought that pretty little head of yours knew everything."

"I'm working on it."

you shrug. she'd probably find out eventually. "nothing really. Regina told Cady some stuff about me."

"that you don't like her and are only pretending to be her friend?"

"so you did already know,"

"I don't know what you see in Cady."

"I don't know." she just wasn't like anyone else. a new avenue to discover. most of these people you've known for years. the bell rings out and suddenly you remember you were supposed to drop off a take-home quiz by homeroom today. you had actually done it but forgot it was in your locker. "oh shit,"

"What?"

"I just forgot to hand something in i'll see you later," with a quick wave goodbye, you rush off back the way you've come. it wasn't like you were bad in school or anything. just sometimes you'd forget to bring in homework. one... or four late quizzes later and suddenly Ms. Norbury is giving you extra work to make up for it. it's not like you have a life or anything. As you grab the paper from your locker, Karen Shetty emerges.

"Morning," sang dazzlingly as she shoved your locker door closed.

"good morning," you smile softly, a glance over her outfit. "you're particularly chirpy today and look great,"

a tiny theatrical gasp, she puts a playful hand over her chest. "thank you,"

"where did you get the cardigan?"

"thrifted it,"

"oooh, I love that," you say. "also it goes so well with that super cute bracelet you're wearing,"

"Aw thanks, my friend made it."

"that's so cute, she must be a really great friend," you tease.

"she is," Karen nods. "where are you headed?"

"I gotta drop this off to Ms.Norbury or I'll fail math,"

"Can I come?"

it wasn't exactly an exciting trip so you don't know why she would want to? plus you were late for homeroom now. "I guess?"

"did you have fun at the party?" Karen inquiries as you begin towards Ms Norbury's homeroom class.

"it was alright,"

"I heard you got into a fight with Regina,"

"hardly a fight," you sigh. it was gonna be a very long day. "it's fine. you know how she can be,"

"was it over Cady?"

"Why does everyone suddenly care about Cady?" you stress. "it really doesn't matter."

a shrug. "I heard from Gretchen that Connor is grounded now because he didn't tell his parents about the party and they found out because somebody was sick in like a vase or something,"

"ew," you giggle, scrunching up your nose in disgust. "like they just found cold vomit in a vase?"

"mhmm," Karen nods eagerly. you make a fake gagging action as you knock on the open door. why is it always so awkward to walk into an already full classroom? ms. Norbury invited you further inside and you can't help but look at the people staring at you.

"so you do know how to hand things in on time," you resist the urge to roll your eyes. "great. now if you can just do that all the time."

"I make no promises," you answer, placing your homework down on her desk. when your eyes meet Cady's she waves a little. you flash a smile.

"come see me after school and I'll let you know how you did and if I need anything else from you,"

"Okay," you sigh. wasn't your first extra credit quiz. nor your last probably. you leave the classroom quickly, grabbing Karen's hand. she'd been waiting at the door.

"lots of people in there,"

"yeah because we're supposed to be in homeroom," you advise her.

"I didn't hear the bell,"

oh, Karen. "just come on."

it was a rather lifeless day thank god. you were grateful for the peace. and ms. Norbury hadn't given you any more work. you still had your tutor sessions but they never bothered you too much. now you're sitting staring at your laptop pretending you're doing research. Cady is scribbling in her notebook. Once again you're bored. and you can't help but watch Cady and wonder if she really has forgiven you. sure you were together right now but only because of this stupid presentation. you sit up a little straighter, taking a sip from your water bottle. "are you mad at me?"

it's sudden and she seems perplexed as she glances up at you. "huh?"

"I don't want you to be mad at me"

"I'm not mad," she urges, going back to her little scribbling. "you said Regina was lying, I believe you."

"just like that?" it seemed too easy.

"just like that,"

"how do you know I'm not lying about Regina lying though?"

"I don't." a shrug, she looks at you. "I'm just trusting you so can we please get back on track." you're not sure you would forgive someone as easily as this. it seemed naïve. or maybe she was just a better person than you. either way, this was what you wanted so...

"This is so boring," you whine loudly, pushing your laptop away so you can dramatically collapse against the table.

"if you actually help instead of complaining, we'd get it done quicker."

"Cady," you sigh loudly. "let's not, I'm just here to be pretty, okay? I shouldn't be forced to do homework too."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," you sit up properly once more. "ask away."

"Why do you hang out with Regina?" the question catches you a little off guard. why did she wanna know that?

"What does that have to do with the book?" you counter, a playful raise of your brow. "if you stayed on topic, we'd get it done quicker."

"I'm serious."

you shrug a little. "why wouldn't I? She's like one of my best friends."

"why though? I've seen the way she treats you,"

"you just don't get Regina," very few people did. sure she was kinda mean and pushy, you'd never deny that but the rest of the school didn't get to see her other side. which was also kinda mean but a tad softer. the blonde was fierce. if someone fucked with you, or Karen, or even Gretchen, she'd go to war. you've watched her destroy girls just to prop Gretchen up to Jason. maul boys for making fun of Karen. you only got away with half the shit you did because you were friends with Regina. maybe she kept you around because you showered her with love and attention but she, in her own way, gave it right back. "she can be a lot but she's really cool."

"she's horrible to literally everyone."

"yeah but that's like kinda funny," Cady gives you a look suggesting she doesn't agree which was fair but she didn't exactly pick the nicest people to be friends with. Damian was funny in class and you liked to tell him gossip that Gretchen told you. you never really spoke to Janis too much but you've seen her around. heard what she says about you. She makes jokes right to your face. "don't act like Janis doesn't do the exact same thing. why do you hang out with her?"

"That's different,"

"is it?" you challenge. "or is Regina just popular?" Cady seems to not have an answer because she goes back to the book. "she's my friend and I like her. simple as."

"I'm sorry for asking,"

"Don't worry about it," you weren't particularly angry. you knew how people viewed Regina. a mixture of high admiration and fear. "So did you enjoy your first party?"

"yeah. not exactly what I was expecting,"

"they're not all like that," you urge. "sometimes they're fun. sometimes you wanna stab yourself in the eye to get out of it."

"did you have fun?"

"fun is not the word I would use but it was an experience," After Cady left you kind of just sulked with Gretchen until Karen found you and insisted you had to dance together. you spent the rest of the night with her. "I'm happy you came. I wish Regina hadn't messed everything up."

"sorry I left."

"you don't have to apologise." you smile. "we're hanging out now even if you're making me do homework. and there's always next time."

"I'm not making you do homework," Cady argues. you just smile. shuffling along the bench so you're right beside her. She has the book open in front of her and a notebook full of scribbles. you repeatedly tap the notebook with your finger.

"Are these not notes for our project? is that not homework?"

"yeah but these are my notes," she expresses, snatching up her notebook to place on the side away from you. As your eyes meet, you can almost pinpoint the exact moment she gets flustered. a dusting of pink gracing her cheeks. "you're just fucking about."

a dramatic gasp before a smile takes over. "I would never."

Cady smiles and before you have time to react she is leaning in to connect your lips in the softest of embraces. it reminds you of the first time Regina kissed you. only it never had the chance to become anything more before you pull back.

"Sorry- I didn't. I don't know why I did that." that dusting of pink is now a deep shade of red. panic in her voice. eyes firmly on her homework. you're unsure of what to say exactly. you liked Cady. maybe even the same way she apparently liked you. but you just weren't sure yet.

"It's alright, don't worry about it," you express. "uh... should we get back to the book?"

you weren't mad or upset with Cady. her kissing you had just left you feeling... weird? so even as you parted ways and you got texts later in the evening, you couldn't bring yourself to reply. you just needed some time to think.

Lunchtime is weird. Everyone is quiet. Painfully quiet. Karen and Gretchen are just eating their lunch. Regina is staring at the label of her yoghurt. you're sat there anxiously like a child bursting with energy. this was so unlike them. "can someone just talk already," you blurt out. a little startled, everyone looks at you. "sorry. just nobody is talking and it's freaking me out. normally Gretchen never shuts up."

"why are you even here?" Regina asks, twisting the dessert in her hand. you wish she'd just eat it instead of inspecting it.

"why wouldn't I be?"

"shouldn't you be over there with the pyro-dyke and her band of freaks." her head nods in the direction she means but her eyes never leave that stupid label. the nickname referred to Janis and Band of Freaks must mean Cady and Damian.

a sigh. "you're being ridiculous,"

"I'm being what?" Regina asked firmly. her yoghurt placed down slowly as her eyes zone in on you. sharp and daring. Karen gently nudges your leg with hers but you're not sure if it was an accident or a warning. you glance at her and then at Gretchen who is keeping her eyes firmly on her food.

"nothing. sorry," you say softly.

"stand up," voice low but commanding. you can't tell if she's serious so you remain seated. watching her. "stand up. now." she was louder now. attracting attention. putting on a show as various people looked to see what the commotion was. "you wanna run around with freaks and lesbos, then go."

"Are you-"

"go." you swallow hard. willing yourself not to crumble under the pressure of everyone's gaze. you could argue back but you know better than to challenge her when she's this pissed off. so you just push up, grab your tray and leave the table. you lock eyes with Janis along the way who is next to Cady. you can't join them like Regina so angrily implied, it'd just make things worse for them and yourself.

your last few classes of the day are spent wondering what you've done to piss off Regina today. you've hardly even seen her. maybe Gretchen told her about the hallway yesterday? She promised not to plus this seemed like a massive overreaction. you're at your locker, grabbing your stuff when Gretchen approaches. "Regina said if you can behave yourself you're allowed to come shopping with us,"

"hello to you too Gretchen," you slam the metal door shut. "no thank you.."

"Seriously?"

"she basically banished me from the cafeteria today, why would I wanna go anywhere with her?" you ask but it was mostly rhetorical as you start down the hall.

"you know she was only joking," the brunette trails after you.

"was she? felt pretty real to me,"

"that's just her humour," Gretchen assures you. "you have to come. Regina will be upset,"

"Regina doesn't have emotions," you fire back, pushing through the double doors, you almost collide with another person. "Jesus, watch out."

didn't take long to realise who it was. "it's Karen actually,"

"I know your name, baby" you pat her shoulder. "why are you right outside the door?"

"waiting for you," she takes your hand. "we're going shopping."

"I don't wanna do that," you express but Karen is already leading you towards Regina's jeep. "Karen, let go" you groan but put up little resistance. the blonde is leaning against the side eyes on you as you're being dragged across the front lawn.

"you found her then," the blonde comments, pushing away from the metal of her jeep. "thought we'd have to start putting up lost dog posters or something."

"why am I even here?"

"Isn't it obvious- get in the car." Regina climbs in and everyone else does the same. "we need someone to carry the bags."

why were you here? why had you given in so easily? You didn't even want to go shopping and now you're staring at yourself in the wall-length mirror of a dressing room, trying on outfits. with a heavy sigh, you step through the curtain

"what do you think?"

"you look great," declares Gretchen.

"beautiful," an eager Karen. She had picked it out.

Regina turns from the large mirror at the end of the space where she was inspecting the dress she was trying on to you. "ew." is all she says before turning back.

"yeah, I never liked it," Gretchen remarks quickly.

"try this," Karen shoves a hanger in your hand before pushing you back towards the dressing room. you stare at your reflection once more. you didn't think it looked too bad but maybe Regina was right. it wasn't exactly your style but that's because Karen picked it. it was more you than most of the outfits she tried to get you to wear... it did sit a little weirdly. you can hear Regina talking to the girls, sending them each on an errand. and then it's silent. you begin to undress when the blonde calls your name. you stop what you're doing. She says it again and you walk out.

"what's up?" you question cautiously. you weren't about to let your guard down around her.

"what do you think of this dress?" the blonde spins to face you. hands on her hips. your brow furrows. why did she want your opinion? your eyes drift. taking in Regina. notice every curve. She really was a sight to behold.

"looks good."

"That's all I get?"

"What were you expecting?"

The girl turns back. "A shower of complements but guess you're not even good for that anymore."

"I said it looks good?"

"I'm done with you now. go change out of that ugly outfit already."

you wanna say something but you decide to just bite your tongue and head back into the dressing room.

come the weekend, Regina is out of town with her parents which means you've ended up with babysitting duties. Gretchen and Karen had both decided they were coming over to your place. you didn't mind. so now you're loitering on the bed with your back against your headboard scrolling through your phone. Karen is snuggled up in half a blanket using your lap as a pillow also scrolling through her phone. it's silent but comfortable. Gretchen vanished about ten minutes ago and hasn't returned. "do we have to start hanging out with Cady?"

"What?" you glance down from your phone. 

"I don't wanna hang out with her, she's creepy."

"that's not very nice, Karen," you scold. "but no. why would we?"

"Because you're like a thing now," Karen answered, pressing her phone to her chest. She meets your stare. "you kissed"

"excuse me?" your heart practically skips a beat. you undoubtedly hadn't told anyone that Cady kissed you and you're almost certain she hadn't.

"what? Gretchen told us that she saw you and Cady making out after school on Monday," Gretchen fucking weiners. of course. but how did she know?

"by us you mean?"

"me and Regina," fuck.

"When was this?" you wonder. and as if summoned on cue, Gretchen emerges through the doorway and you can't help but raise your voice. "you told Regina I was making out with Cady?"

"What?"

"Karen told me so don't lie," you demand. "I thought we had a deal."

"I didn't tell her about the hallway."

"Are you stupid?" you press. Gretchen sits on the edge of your bed, fluttering her eyelashes.

"I'm sorry," a hefty sigh. the girl shuffled up the bed so she was beside you. "are you mad at me?"

"Obviously."

"but you love me?" you don't reply and she nudges your shoulder with hers. "right?" you stay silent, glimpsing at her withan empty expression. you did love her but you were pissed off with her right now.

"look at this," Karen shoves her phone straight up and into your view. it shows a picture of herself. you assume she had just taken by the outfit.

"adorable," you smile walmly but it quickly fades. Gretchen had very much fucked you over. That day with Cady, you hadn't seen anyone around other than a few stray students. why was Gretchen even still there? and why hadn't she asked you about it before telling Regina?

"did you see what Kelsey posted today?" Gretchen questions, pulling out her phone. "it's so pathetic. like she's clearly doing it just for attention." you let your head fall back against the wall as Gretchen proceeds to talk in your ear. your mind drifts to the day in the cafeteria when Regina embarrassed you in front of everyone. you had thought it was an extreme reaction to a conversation in the hallway but turns out it was because of the kiss. was she that jealous of the idea of you and Cady? That made little sense when she was running around with Shane.

"Does Regina hate me?"

"of course not," Gretchen insists, a comforting hand placed on your shoulder. "you know anger is basically her love language. she just cares a lot."

"Regina thinks Cady is a freak," Karen contributes. "and that you hanging out with her makes us look bad."

"We were just doing homework."

"I saw you kiss her," Gretchen retorts.

"she kissed me,"

"you have been hanging out with her a lot," Karen states

"and you invited her to Connor's party," Gretchen resumes.

"yeah but..." you trail off because you really don't have a comeback. All those things were very much true. "this is stupid."

"if you had just listened to me-"

"Jesus, we get it Gretchen" you huff sharply and then feel bad for it. "sorry but you have to stop saying that- I should be able to talk to a girl without it being the end of the world."

"maybe talk to less weird girls?" Karen proposes brightly. "like me.... or Gretchen.... oooh or Regina."

"Thanks for the suggestion." you tap her nose gently, making her face scrunch up. "but I meant other than you three."

"you can talk to whoever you want," Gretchen reassures you, dropping her head to your shoulder. "as long as Regina approves."

"you sound insane,"

Gretchen shrugs. Karen's attention has returned to her phone. and you were suddenly so aware of how insane being friends with Regina George truly is.

the bell for first period has you walking down the hallway towards your history class. you share it with Gretchen who you haven't spoken to since Sunday. you're still mad at her.

"Hey, can we talk?" your brow furrows a little. it was Regina. and you were still mad at her too for last week.

"I have to get to class," you huff but she doesn't take the hint; instead she takes your hand and drags you straight into the nearest closet. it smelt like chemicals, dust and... vanilla. you imagine the vanilla is the girl, not the room.

"what the hell?"

"Just give me a minute,"

"why are we in a closet?" you wonder. it was cramped. a painfully buzzy lightbulb hung over head, flickering through an array of intensities. shelves full of supplies.

"I'm sorry, okay?" your eyes were looking anyway but at her until now. staring into blue-green eyes. did she just... apologise for something? was this a dream? your dreams never normally included Regina apologising but that seemed like the only way this could be real. "I'm sorry I got mad over you and Cady. you've just been acting weird since she joined"

"Are you... fucking with me right now?""

"what? I can't apologise?"

"I never said that," you did imply it but you would never say it. "I'm just confused." a shrug of your shoulders.

"I just don't like it. I don't like her," she wasn't about that. you weren't confused about her feelings towards Cady. you were confused as to why she was apologising for it? also, why do you have to do this in the closet? couldn't you have done this in a place with such a dizzying aroma? "I get like angry when I see you together. and then when Gretchen told me you kissed her-"

"she kissed me."

"Whatever," a dismissive wave. "I mean, it just was a lot y'know."

"not really" Your brow furrows.

"you're not that fucking dense, are you?" as the blonde takes a step forward, you take a step back crashing into a bucket and mop. She grabs your wrist. maybe an attempt to save you? "careful." said much softer. caring almost. it makes you suspicious. more so than the apology you hardly believed in the first place.

"we're gonna be late for class," you answer quietly. you try to pull your arm away but her grip doesn't falter. it's firm and tight; possessive almost. "Regina, please,"

"you promised to stay away from her," Regina mentions softly. you think back to that day. Regina straddling your lap. hands on your chest. moving against you. soft lips. it makes you blush. she pulls you closer. "promised you didn't like her more than me." her other hand gently cups your cheek. "was all that a lie?"

"no," you shake your head slow and stern. "no. i-"

"you kissed her." stated firmly.

"she kissed me," you argue back. her fingers press a little harder into your cheek.

"don't remember asking," expressed as she leaned in close. hot breath hitting your skin. vanilla fills your nostrils. "tell me you love me," whispered. you swallow hard. "please."

"Regina..." grip on your wrist tightens.

"go on."

"I... love you," you sound more confused than sure.

"more than cady?"

"you're my best friend,"

a once gentle hand now grips your chin. "more than Cady?" asked again.

"uh... more than Cady,"

"say you're obsessed with me." her lips loom mere inches from yours threatening a kiss.

"I'm... obsessed with you." her eyes are so intense, it's kinda scary. it's always treacherous being so close to her.

"Good," her lips press into yours. fierce and strong. but gone just as quickly. "I'll see you at lunch." she lets go and leaves without another word. The door to the closet closes with a click. insane. you remain for a few minutes. a little lost. a little confused. then you leave for class.

sat at a table under the beautiful shade of a massive umbrella during your free period. Cady is opposite. Gretchen was supposed to be here too but you don't know what happened to her. probably worried about sitting with Cady. "why are you doing work?"

"It's a study period. you should also be doing work,"

"It's almost lunchtime don't be ridiculous," you groan loudly. the bell rings mere moments later bringing a smile as the animals are released from their classrooms out into the wild. "see."

"you didn't do anything,"

"never do. That's half the fun of a free period before lunch."

"hey baby," that was Regina's voice. you look up promptly, half expecting her to make a comment or demand your presence but instead, she takes a seat right beside you.

"Hello," you try not to think about earlier. about how weird this is and focus on the fact she seemed to be in a good mood. her arms snake around you, drawing you back into her embrace.

"Cady,"

"hi Regina,"

"you look good today," Regina comments. your brow furrows. she was being weirdly affectionate. should you be concerned? probably but you were gonna enjoy her openness. the last week had been so weird and you kinda of just wanted things to go back to normal. and while this wasn't exactly normal, you prefer this to outward anger.

"thank you,"

"Now say it back," you roll your eyes but wear a playful smile.

"you look radiant Regina," said playfully. She gives you a quick squeeze and you finally settle in her embrace.

"I know," hummed in your ear. "so do you wanna come to mine after school?" muttered in your ear.

"what's the occasion?"

"I want you to," Regina declared. "why does it matter? you're coming over."

"am I now?" you ask playfully.

"We should get food," Regina lets go and gets up. you watch her for a moment expecting her to bark a demand but she doesn't. she just walks away. it freaks you out so you bid farewell to Cady and go scampering after the blonde.

"you good?"

"course," she states as you fall in step.

"you're being strange," you observe. "I was half expecting you to drag me away from that table."

"what's the point?" she asks. "you'd just go running back to the little nerd."

"no running is involved."

"running. skipping. drooling." the blonde teased. when you enter the lunch room, Gretchen is already sitting alone at your usual table. "like a love-sick little puppy dog."

"Okay, ew, no,"

"where have you been?" Gretchen wonders as you approach. She knows where you've been. you text her.

"no love involved whatsoever,"

"Who are you in love with?" Gretchen asks.

"no one,"

"I got tater tots," Karen announces as she zooms past with a try, taking a seat at your lunch table.

"oooh, they have tots today? let's go get food," you grab Regina's hand and start pulling her towards the food. Gretchen comes scrambling after the two of you. "I'm starving."

"aren't you always," Regina comments. the sea parts as she leads the way to the front of the line. it's unfair. but you never call her out. you always take advantage.

"Who are you in love with?" Gretchen repeats

"nobody, we moved on,"

"god keep up Gretchen," Regina huffs. you're so excited about your tater tots you practically run back to the table with your little tray. your two friends in toe. you take your usual seat next to Karen. Regina sits opposite with Gretchen.

"Cady keeps looking over here," Karen announces, popping a tot in her mouth. "it's creeping me out."

"she's so weird," Regina sighs. "if she's anything like her freaky friends it's because she's obsessed with our dear sweet puppy,"

"she is not obsessed with me,"

"This is what happens when you give losers attention, " Regina persists. "they think they have a shot. soon she's gonna think she can just come over and talk to us and it's your fault."

"Firstly, she would never do that. She's intimidated by you," you express. "secondly. she is sweet, you gotta lay off her."

"as she should be," the blonde looks disgusted. "also gross. She's so fuckin weird."

"you guys are being mean,"

"Is it mean if it's true?"

"still yes," you insist. "I like cady."

"We know," Gretchen states. Regina shoots her a dirty look.

"you don't get to talk Gretchen," Regina spits. "you never shut up about Jason like he's not disgusting."

"Cady would be cute if she just learnt how to dress. and do her makeup," Karen interjects.

"I don't even think that would help."

"Can we stop talking about her please?"

"don't wanna hear us shit talk your girlfriend."

"not my girlfriend." you argue. "but I would like this to end. quickly. let's go back to Jason that dude fuckin sucks."

"he's so sleazy," Karen adds. and the conversation flows into something other than you and Cady. thank god.

you're lying on Regina's couch. in Regina's room. alone. after school. you expected Karen and Gretchen to be here too but alas they weren't here. after this morning, you wouldn't be surprised if this was some cult worship ceremony. the door creaks open and in walks the infamous blonde. a glance before going back to your phone.

"my mum wants to know if you're staying for dinner,"

"am I?" you don't even know why you're here. and knowing Regina she could kick you out at any moment.

"I said yeah but you don't have to," a shrug.

"guess you're not mad at me anymore then,"

"When was I mad at you?" she questions, sitting down on her bed.

"When are you ever not?" you tease. "sometimes I think you hate me."

"if I hated you, you wouldn't be here," the blonde comments.

"you've been so short with me recently." you sit up properly.

"Because you've been acting different." the girl insists. "and it's weird. and I don't like it. I want you to go back to how you were."

"I don't even know how I've been acting different?" you lean back. "I think you're just jealous."

"jealous of what?"

"Cady." you see her eyes narrow. jaw tense.

"you are obsessed with her."

"not obsessed," you correct. "I don't even know what is going on between me and Cady."

"but you like her?"

you shrug. "do you like her?"

"no," it makes you smile for some reason. same old Regina. number one cady hater. "not even a little. she's strange. can't dress for shit. really awkward."

"tell us how you really feel," you chuckle a little.

"you'll just call me mean," like she wasn't already being mean.

you shrug. "I like when you're mean."

"I know," a smile quirks at her lips. the blonde pats the space next to her. "come here,"

"why?"

"Just come here," a dramatic sigh. you push up and cautiously walk over to sit down next to her. "why are you acting so scared of me?"

"I don't know," you shrug. "kinda expecting you to push me off the bed or something."

"why would I do that?" her brows furrowed.

"Because you're evil," a smirk slowly takes over her lips. you nudge her softly with your shoulder.

"I love it when you call me evil,"

"I know," you reply. "because you're obsessed with me."

"you wish."

"I don't have to wish," you tease. "because you're obsessed with me."

"you're really pushing your luck here," Regina comments. "stop." her tone suggested she was done playing. the blonde falls back against her bed. you just look at her as she starts typing on her phone. "and stop staring at me freak."

"but you're so pretty,"

"your girlfriend wouldn't like you saying that."

"not my girlfriend," you insist. "no more than you are." the blonde doesn't respond and you both fall into a comfortable silence. you lie down beside her. "why did you invite me over?"

"make out. prove a point. why do you think i asked in front of cady?" you just shrug. the girl sighs loudly and discards her phone off to one side before rolling onto her side to look at you. you just turn your head to face her.

"for someone so smart, you really are stupid," you'd be offended but there was hardly a point. she just watches you, watching her. you crack under her gaze and look away but she just reaches over and forces you to look at her. "do you know why I keep you around?"

"Because you love me?" said playfully but quietly. you know it's not the answer she was looking for.

"I like the way you look at me," she admitted quietly. "everyone stares at me but you... you look at me like I'm the only person in the entire world." she went on. "like you just can't get enough." you don't know what to say. Regina was like nobody you had ever met but in a different way to Cady. She just commanded attention. a beauty beyond words. and sometimes you wonder why you ever caught her eye. the girl shuffles closer now. "you can run around with freaks. you can be confused about Cady. but at the end of the day, none of it matters." that hand on your jaw loosens and begins to trail down over your neck. "you'll always come running back to me."

"What makes you think that?"

"It's in the way your breath hitches when I'm close. the way your eyes linger when I walk away. the way you so easily melt under my touch," her voice was gentle but taunting. her hand slipping lower and lower down the length of your body. you could hear your heart beating loudly in your chest. an onset wave of heat flushing your cheeks. "I can say or do whatever I want," her hand stops at your thigh, squeezing roughly. body leaning into yours. pressing you further into the plush fabric of her bed. "and you'll always be mine." whispered sharply before her lips meet yours and the fire makes the rest of the world melt away. you reach up to draw her closer. deepen the kiss and the way she groans makes your head spin. but then she pulls away unexpectedly. "oh I forgot to mention Shane is coming over after dinner so you gotta be gone by then. Cool?" you can feel the emotions stirring. it's weird and confusing. Shane's name fills you with anger; annoyance even. through no fault of his own. was she fucking serious? but at the same time you couldn't move. maybe a wiser person would have stopped everything right here. walked away with their dignity in their hands. Cady was probably a safer option. she liked you. and maybe you liked her too. but there was just something about Regina. being on her good side meant the world worked for you too. it was a world you'd become so accustomed to, you can't imagine it any differently. you can't imagine a life without the blonde. you didn't want to leave. you wanted to chase the high of each kiss. the pain as her nails dig into your skin. the firey mess of being with her.

"cool." you nod simply, pulling her back into the kiss. dignity was overrated when it came to Regina George anyway.

[luizd3ad]

When in Doubt, Blame Damian | Jason x Reader One shot

ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 ࣪˖⤷ .𖥔 ݁ ˖ ࣪ ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 ˖ ⤷

Pairing: Jason Todd x GN! Reader

WC: 928

TW: Swearing, over thinking. It’s mostly kinda fluffy. No use of Y/N.

Author's Note: I got this idea while giving my dog a bath sooo here you go idk lol hope you like it🖤

Summary: You get a dog!! … but you didn’t tell Jason.

Not my picture

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You blamed Damian.

You normally blame Damian for a lot. More than you're willing to admit, sometimes for stuff he wasn't even involved in.

But this time you think it's actually his fault.

How could you not blame him? If he hadn't asked for a ride to the pet store. If he didn't insist that Titus absolutely needed a new friend. If he never put that little puppy in your arms basically forcing you to fall in love with the little baby that was giving you kisses, then you wouldn't be here right now.

You wouldn't be in yours and your boyfriend's apartment trying to figure out how to tell said boyfriend that you guys now had a dog. 

Would Jason be mad? Honestly? You didn't know. The topic of getting a dog or a cat has came up a few times.

He would usually say things like ‘Maybe’ or ‘Now's just probably not a good time’ it was never a definite yes or no.

So maybe it wouldn't be that bad, you thought to yourself trying to give yourself some confidence. 

I mean it was your apartment too. You contributed. And it would feel nice to have something to keep you company while Jason was on patrol or had to go somewhere for a while.

You'd hyped yourself up at this point you had some good arguments lined up for why it was a good idea.

You felt confident about your choice, especially when you looked down at the little puppy sleeping peacefully in his bed that was in your shared bedroom. You got this, you told yourself and you really believed that. You genuinely did.

That was until you heard the front door unlock. 

You rush out the room, closing the door softly trying not to wake up the puppy. 

You walked into the living room to greet Jason who was out all morning and most of the afternoon training with Dick, Cass and Duke. 

“Hey Jay.” You say giving him a soft kiss.

“Hi my love. How was your day?”

Jason says, giving you a tight hug, holding you for a moment. 

“Umm it was you know. It was fine. Hung out with Dames. Nothing crazy you know? How about you?”

You rambled pulling away from Jason trying not to sound suspicious while walking to the couch in the living room. 

Jason gives you a questioning look but ends up just dropping it and following you to the couch.

“It was fine. Just the normal shit. I missed you though.”

Jay pulls you into him while giving you a kiss on your head. You feel kinda guilty at this point.

You don't like keeping things from Jason. He has a lot of trust issues so it was important that you guys had a lot of honesty and communication in your relationship. 

You pull away from Jason and look at him, giving him a slightly guilty look.

“Jay, I have something to tell you. Don't be mad.”

“Did something happen when you were out with the Demon Spawn? Did he do something? What did he say? I'm gonna kick that little brats ass.”

Jason runs his hand through his hair already mad at Damian for whatever Jason thinks he did. 

“Jay calm down Dames didn't technically do anything. I did something, and before you get mad-”

You were interrupted when you heard a puppy bark and a slight clawing sound at the bedroom door and judging by Jasons face he also heard it. 

“What was that?”

“What was what?”

You give a little chuckle, now trying to play it off. Hoping that this isn't how Jason finds out but knowing that it is. 

“Babe Is there a dog here?”

“Um technically..? Yes?”

Jason sighs and gets up to the bedroom and opens the door letting the dog run up to you as he tries to climb up on you. You pick him up, putting him on your lap while he starts playing with your hand. 

“Babe, who’s dog is that?”

“Umm… Ours?”

“When did we get a dog?”

Jason says wide eyed and raises his eyebrows at you.

“It's all Damian's fault! He told me how lonely Titus gets sometimes and I felt bad and just look at how cute he is!”

You try to explain picking the dog up so Jason can look at him.

 “Don't be mad jay..”

You say putting the puppy on the floor so he can run around a little all while you look extremely guilty.

“Mad? Why would I be mad? Wait baby, is this what you were trying to tell me?”

Jason says sitting next to you on the couch while looking at you concerned. 

“Yes… I felt bad making a choice like that without you and I know how you don't like it when people hide stuff from you and I just don't want to make you mad.”

“Baby, I'm not mad. I'm not thrilled that you got a dog without me, especially because it was with the Demon Spawn. But I'm not mad.”

Jason says pulling you into him kissing the top of your head.

“You're not mad? Really?”

“I can't be mad at you baby. You mean everything to me.”

Jason says while the puppy runs up to you guys laying down at your feet.

“I'm still sorry Jay.”

“I know you are, baby. It's okay, promise. Now what's this little guy's name?”

Jason says picking up the puppy and looking at his face while you smile at them.

Maybe you shouldn't blame Damian… this time.

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[kisses-for-you]

Preference: They accidentally hurt you

Titans Characters X Fem!Reader

Characters: Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Gar Logan, Conner Kent, Kory Anders, Donna Troy & Hank Hall.

Dick Grayson:

You and Dick had gotten into an argument and it was getting heated. He was risking the team's life by making stupid and reckless decisions, or at least that's what they were in your opinion.

Without thinking, you yell, "You don't have to risk everyone's lives just because Jason died and you think it's your fault!"

SLAP!

Dick's hand makes contact with your face as he slaps you in a fit of rage. The room seems to freeze as Dick's eyes widen with horror at the realisation of what he's just done. Your hand instinctively reaches to your cheek, the hurt in your eyes making your boyfriend feel even more guilty.

Dick immediately recoils, his expression shifting from anger to deep regret. "Fuck. Y/N, I... I didn't mean to," he stammers, his voice filled with remorse. He takes a step back, grappling with the weight of his actions. His eyes search yours, pleading for forgiveness, but the pain in your gaze is palpable.

Dick takes a hesitant step forward. "I didn't mean to hurt you. Y/N, I'm so fucking sorry," he murmurs, regret etched across his face. He reaches out to cup your cheek, however, fear grips you, and you instinctively shrink back, avoiding his touch.

"I need some space," you finally manage to say, your voice trembling with a mix of fear and sadness. He nods solemnly, understanding he fucked up badly.

-

Jason Todd:

You and Jason were training and since you were still fairly new to the team, you thought it'd be nice to train with Jason as you're the closest with him.

You're meant to block his hits but as the bo staff heads your way, you hesitate for some reason and react too late, resulting in Jason accidentally hurting you as the staff strikes you. It's just a small mistake and it doesn't hurt too badly but he immediately rushes to your side.

"Shit. Babe, are you okay?" His concerned expression mirrors his regret. You give him a small, reassuring smile, saying, "Yeah, I'm fine. It's probably just a small bruise anyway. Let's just get back to training."

He shakes his head, still looking guilty even though it wasn't his fault. "No, let's just finish here. You shouldn't keep training if you're hurt. We can always train tomorrow," Jason insists, genuine concern in his eyes. You know there's no point in arguing with him, so you just sigh and nod.

-

Gar Logan:

You and Gar were alone in the Titans Tower, where Gar was struggling to stay in his human form. He was incredibly upset (you didn't know why) and his intense emotions were causing him to shapeshift into an animal, which he was trying to prevent.

"Y/N.. You need to.. go," he whispers, his voice strained as he tries to fight against the transformation. Concern etched across your face, you refuse to leave his side. You assure him, "Gar, I'm not leaving you alone like this."

You try to reach out to touch his trembling hand, but before you can make contact, Gar involuntarily shifts into a green tiger. In his tiger form, Gar loses control and accidentally swipes at you with his claws. The scratch isn't too deep, but it's enough to draw blood and sting, causing you to step back in shock. Gar, now more distressed, manages to regain control, turning back into his human form as he apologizes frantically.

"Fuck, Y/N, I'm so sorry. I- I lost control. I didn't mean to hurt you," he stammered, rushing to your side, panic etched across his face.

You assess the scratch on your arm, trying to downplay the pain, not wanting to make him feel worse. "Gar, it's okay. It wasn't your fault. Besides, it doesn't even hurt that bad."

Gar, tormented by guilt, searches for a first aid kit in the Tower. As he tends to your wound, you insist that it wasn't his fault, attempting to calm him in his distressed state. While Gar is patching up your wound, you notice a mixture of guilt and fear in his eyes. You gently take his hand and reassure him, "Gar, accidents happen. Don't blame yourself." Despite your comforting words, Gar remains visibly distraught, haunted by the fear of potentially causing you harm again.

-

Conner Kent:

Conner had just returned from a mission with the Titans. He looked exhausted but relieved as he walked through the door. You greeted him with a warm smile, knowing how tiring his superhero responsibilities could be.

As Conner hugged you, his thoughts wandered to what happened during the mission. He started to get lost in his thoughts, and his strength momentarily slipped out of his control. He squeezed you too tightly, causing you to wince as the force of the hug became too much. You were left in a little pain, and probably with a bruise. Conner looked concerned as you pulled away, realising what he had just done.

"I'm so sorry, Y/N. I don't know what happened. I started thinking about the mission and then I just..." Conner rambled, trying to explain and apologize to you. But you interrupted him and said, "Conner, it's okay. I know you didn't mean to. Don't worry about it." No matter how much you try to reassure Conner, however, he still feels guilty and blames himself for hurting you, even if it was accidental.

For the next couple of weeks, he's extra careful around you and way more gentle. He also tries to find ways to make it up to you; he doesn't need to though because you know he didn't mean to do what he did.

-

Hank Hall:

You and Hank had been watching a football match on TV together, enjoying the rare day off. As Hank headed to the kitchen to grab you both a drink and some snacks, an idea sparked in your mind. You decided you were going to scare him; it was a fairly innocent idea.

Within a couple of seconds, you start to tiptoe after him, planning to playfully surprise him. You just wanted to see his reaction so you could make fun of him if he screamed like a girl (you never know, he might). As you reach the kitchen door, you take a deep breath, preparing to unleash your surprise.

However, as you sneak up behind him and scream, Hank's reflexes kick in. In an instant, he spins around, his combat instincts taking over. Before either of you can even realise what's happening, his hand shoots out and strikes you right in the face. A gasp escapes your lips as you feel the sudden impact.

Time seems to freeze for a moment as you both register what just happened. Hank's eyes widen in shock and horror as he sees you wince from the unintentional blow. Concern fills Hank's eyes as he drops whatever he is holding in his hands, rushing to your side. "Oh fuck, babe, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" he blurts out, panic evident in his voice.

You hold your nose, pretty sure you have a nosebleed. "I'm... okay." As the initial shock wears off, you can't help but let out a nervous laugh. "At least now we know that your instincts are top-notch," you quip, trying to lighten the mood despite the pain you're feeling. You move your hand away from your face, revealing a trickle of blood from your nose. Hank winces, guilt written all over his face.

He quickly grabs a tissue from the nearby counter, handing it to you with a mix of concern and remorse in his eyes. "I didn't mean to... I just thought..." Hank stammers, struggling to find the right words to express his regret. You take the tissue and give him a reassuring smile, realizing it was just an unfortunate accident.

"It's okay, Hank. It was my idea to scare you like that so if anything, it's my fault," you say, dabbing at your nose. Despite the pain, you can't help but appreciate the genuine worry in his eyes.

-

Kory Anders:

You and the Titans were preparing for another battle against an intimidating villain who was threatening the city of San Francisco. You were standing by Kory's side, your heart pounding with a mix of fear and excitement. Tonight, the stakes were higher than ever before. The villain, known as Mother Mayhem, was ready to unleash chaos upon the city. Kory's eyes were glowing with determination as she walked towards the impending threat. You followed closely, aware of the danger that awaited you.

As the confrontation continues, Mother Mayhem launches a devastating attack that catches both you and Kory off guard. In a moment of panic, Kory's powers surge uncontrollably, and a burst of energy erupts from her, unintentionally striking you. The impact sends you flying to the ground and pain radiates through your body.

Kory's eyes widen in horror as she realises what just happened. She rushes to your side, leaving the rest of the Titans to deal with the threat. Her concern is evident in every step. "I-I'm so sorry," she stammered, kneeling beside you. "I didn't mean to hurt you." Despite the pain, you manage a weak smile, reaching out to reassure her. "It's okay, Kory. Accidents happen. Besides, we have a more important matter at hand," you say, referring to the villain you're currently fighting.

"I promise, I'll control my powers better next time," she vows, gently cradling you in her arms. She then stops to think, unsure of whether you should get back to the fight in your condition. "Are you sure you want to fight? I don't think that's the best idea for you right now, Y/N."

You nod, determination flickering in your eyes despite the pain. "I'll be fine, Kory. Just a little shaken, but I can still help. We need to stop her before things get worse." Reluctantly, Kory lets you go, her worry etched across her face. She stands up, taking a moment to make sure you're stable before rejoining the battle. 

-

Donna Troy:

You and Donna were strolling through through the dimly lit alleyways of the city. As you turned a corner, a group of menacing thugs emerged from the shadows, surrounding you both. Donna's grip on your hand tightened instinctively as she stepped forward, ready to defend you from the impending threat.

Donna's eyes narrow, her instincts kicking in. She swiftly reaches for her lasso, the golden glow illuminating the dark alley. But you find yourself in the line of fire without even noticing. A sudden movement from one of the thugs causes you to stumble, and in an attempt to protect you, Donna swings her lasso with lightning speed. However, the unexpected jolt of the situation results in her accidentally striking you instead of the intended target.

Time seems to slow as the golden rope wraps around you, the energy coursing through your body. A surge of pain shoots through your veins, and you gasp as the unexpected impact takes you by surprise. Donna's eyes widen in horror as she realises her mistake, immediately releasing the lasso. The thugs seem to take this as a chance to run and escape. Stunned and in pain, you stagger backwards, clutching the area where the lasso struck you. Donna rushes to your side, her concern evident in her eyes. "Fuck. Y/N, I'm so sorry," she murmurs, her voice filled with regret.

As Donna checks on you, you assure her that you're okay, though the pain still lingers. The two of you decide to go back to her apartment to assess the situation and tend to your injuries. Donna's guilt is palpable, but you understand it was an accident in the heat of the moment. Together, you make your way back, Donna keeping a protective arm around you.

-

[ailithnight]

After this chapter, I will no longer be doing a taglist. Sorry folks, there's just too many of y'all and I'm on mobile. Please subscribe on AO3 for updates, or follow the tag A King in Arkham.

A King in Arkham

Chapter 4

AO3 Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Danny. I understand you don't want to go with your godfather. Is there a reason for that?

Can't go with Vlad!

If you know something we don't about him, you need to tell us. Otherwise he will win custody.

It's.. He'll.. he'll make me.. turn me.. his fault!

What's his fault, Danny?

His fault. All his. All.. My.. no, my fault. It's all my fault...

Danny?

IT'S MY FAULT! I KILLED THEM! ALL DEAD! Because of me...

Now Danny, I'm sure that's not true. What happened at the Nasty Burger-

I made it happen.

Corporate negligence-

He knew. I knew. Dan knew what would happen. Dan made it happen. He knew the sauce was gonna blow. He knew Lancer would arrange the meeting there. He cheated. He lured them there. He bound them up so they couldn't escape and ran the time out until they exploded! Dan did that and Dan was me, so I did that.

Daniel...?

I murdered them. I murdered everyone. 

Da-

IT'S ALL MY FAU- *static*

.

Tim started talking after the audio cut to static.

"What you just heard is the last, partially recovered therapy session of Danny's in Chicago. The cameras were beyond salvaging. No one except Danny knows what happened after the audio cuts. What is known is that nearby witnesses heard what they claim sounded like a 'screaming moan' coming from the therapy room. When doctors and staff went to check; the therapist Mrs. Alders was slumped against the wall, appearing to have been forcefully pushed, with minor head trauma. Danny was curled up on the other side of the room, panicking and muttering about a Dan.

While Mrs. Alders mostly recovered from the incident, she does not know how she ended up slammed against the wall. Once this audio was recovered, it was turned over to the police. Given the severity of the... confession... in conjunction with the apparent assault, the courts decided to move Danny to an asylum for the criminally insane." Tim paused in the debrief, letting the information sink in. After a moment, Duke raised his hand. Jason scoffed at the action.

"This ain't kindergarten kid, say your bit."

"I just, that explains why an asylum in general. But why Arkham?" Tim nodded, pulling up a picture of a document.

"Kid's godfather, business tycoon and multimillionaire, Vlad Masters. Insisted that if his godson should have to go to an asylum, he'll go to the- and I quote- 'Best in the country.' Made a deal with the state that he'll foot the bill while he continues fighting for custody. Apparently didn't do his research enough to know that 'Best Known' and 'Best' are not the same." Bruce had the next question.

"So, Master's doesn't have custody yet?"

"Nope." Tim popped his 'p', pulling up more documents. Investigative reports. "Given Danny's reactions to him, CPS started investigating. Found a lot of shady shit. Narcissism, anger issues, control issues, coercion tactics. 

One agent said he tried to bribe her with a rather large sum of money, which she might have taken if she wasn't well enough off from a family inheritance and mostly doing this work for the kids. Of course, same agent also said he had 'Rancid vibes' and 'tried to posses' her, but her 'Grammy's necklace protected her' so her credibility was deemed iffy.

Still, there's enough there that it's unlikely Masters will be able to gain custody any time soon. So if Gotham's favorite serial adopter with a good track record for helping troubled kids, Brucie Wayne, were to step in..." Tim's smirk is infectious and makes its way around the table. Bruce's lips twitch ver briefly into a fond smile, before dropping back into a frown.

"What do you make of the... confession?" Jason doesn't even try to hold in his groan.

"Seriously, B? It was survivor's guilt or some kind of psychotic episode or something." Damian frowns.

"I would not discredit him so quickly, Hood. After all, his ghosts are real apparently."

"Hnn." Bruce gets that look on his face. The almost constipated frown that means he is going to have to do something unpleasant like host a gala or attend a business meeting or, "I will have to call Constantine to verify what the entity we are dealing with is." 

Jason lets out a gleeful snort. "Have fun with that one, B. In the mean time can I go break our kid out yet or what?"

"Actually, Hood," Jason turns a glare on Tim, who is once again holding his hands up placatingly. "That still leaves us with the issue of making him an escapee and you an accomplice."

"Well fuckin Brucie Wayne can't exactly just walk up to Arkham and ask if they've got any blue eyed black haired boys for him to adopt."

"Not exactly what I'm suggesting here."  Batman sighs.

"What are you suggesting." Tim pulls out a case he had tucked under the desk, a truly devious smirk painted across his face.

"Just a little temporary theft. Only long enough to put the kid's face on the news for Brucie to stumble across." He opens the case, sliding it over to Jason. Inside, a replica of a relic from Tim's own past; resized to fit his bigger, broader brother. "You remember Red X, don't you?" 

The green that had been tinting Jason's vision the whole meeting finally subsides, giving way to wicked mirth.

"Oh, hell yes." 

Batman sighs.

.

"You don't get it do you? I'm still here. I still exist. That means you still turn into me."

Another night, another nightmare of a memory jolting Danny back into the waking world. His chest is tight, a high whine suppressing itself in the back of his throat. Danny's eyes dart around his room, searching for the shadowy void of his most frequent visitor. But Spectra isn't there tonight. She hasn't come back since she was seen by Banana Bat. 

It's strange. Danny had gotten used to waking up with her there, towering over him, shadowy clawed hand resting somewhere on his body as she feasted on his misery. He didn't mind, really. He had plenty to give and she didn't even rough him up too bad. Just enough to keep the psyches concerned. The last 3 days without her presence had been... not lonely. Danny was already lonely. But emptier. Like the one good thing his continued existence was doing for someone had been ripped away.

Truly, Danny felt he had nothing left in this world. Nothing to give, nothing to gain. But he couldn't die. Couldn't unleash full ghost Phantom on the world again. That's what created Dan. No, this was what he had to give. All he had to give. To stay human so that Dan never becomes ghost.  To live, as the least burden he could be, so that Dan never died. 

Clockwork must have known what would happen if Danny fully died. That must be why he spared him. The Observants sentenced Danny to death. But Clockwork was smarter. He sentenced Danny to life. And really, it's such a small price to pay for the sins of his other self. 

Despite what the others say, Arkham isn't hell. The only issue Danny's had was the clown and that's not really anyone's fault. It's just, Danny looked at the Joker and he saw Freakshow. And he saw that stupid staff. And he heard that grating laugh. And all he could think about was how that was the only thing that could still turn him into Dan. If the clown took control again. He couldn't let that happen. He couldn't! Not becoming a Dan, not becoming a problem; that's all he could do now! He couldn't he couldn't he couldn't...

Danny was broken out of his spiraling thoughts by the now familiar buzzing echoing clanging sound of another break out. He closed his eyes, letting out a heavy sigh. Then, suddenly, he was lifted up, hoisted onto someone's shoulders in a fireman's carry. 

"Damn kid, do you weigh anything?" 

Danny's eyes flew open, his body subconsciously tensed for a fight Danny wouldn't actually fight. The voice, clearly modulated, sounded high and breezy. His head turned to look at the person now forcefully evicting him from his room. Black body suit. White mask. Red slashes in a stylized X. Built like his Dad... Danny had no idea who this was.

For a moment, Danny felt a twinge of fear. He had no idea who this was. They obviously weren't with Arkham. They had just stolen him from his room and, holy shit they were flying now. No. Not flying, grappling. And running. Moving very fast towards the exit. With Danny. For unknown reasons. 

Holy shit, someone was kidnapping a teenager from an insane asylum. That, probably wasn't good. Any normal or sane person would be scared for their health and wellbeing. But, well... Danny was hardly normal. And sane was becoming increasingly questionable. 

And this guy, well he didn't trigger Danny's ghost sense. No chilly breath escaping his mouth. So he was human, not a ghost. It's not like a human could kill Danny. Not with his ghostly healing factor. Sure, they could make his life a living hell. Beat him, violate him, enslave him. But a human couldn't turn him into Dan so... Danny doesn't think he really cares. 

"Um, why are you carrying me?"

"Taking you out of here." 

"Clearly, I meant why?"

"Owe someone a favor." That was mildly concerning. Danny could think of one person who would stoop to this.

"Did Vlad send you?"

"Master's? Nope. He couldn't afford my services."

"Oh. Okay." As long as it wasn't Vlad. They were almost to the main gate now. There was screaming behind them, now. Danny loomed behind them as the person grappled up the wall and vaulted them over. Danny caught the barest glimpse of the twink in a burlap sack mask striding out the door, leaving a noxious cloud in his wake.

Then they're gone, grappling to then moving across rooftops. It's not a bad feeling. Kinda fun even. Flying as a ghost was nice. Really nice. But different from this. Gravity literally didn't touch you if you didn't want it too. But this? Danny could feel the pull of the earth, the force of every swing. Gravity was still there, exerting its influence, but they were defying it. 

For a tiny moment, Danny felt the ghost of a smile on his lips. The good feeling was fleeting, like all his feelings these days. But it was there and it was enough to shock a small "Oh." from Danny.

"Oh what, runt?"

"Nothing, just. Never grappled before. S'nice."

"Oh." It was such a soft thing, Danny once more found himself pondering the intentions of his kidnapper. 

"Do I get to know where we're going?"

"Safe house for the night. I'm your baby sitter."

"And tomorrow?"

"We'll see."

"...Okay."

.

The next morning, Vicki Vale stumbles across the story of her career (so far) sitting dazed and confused in her office. A prepubescent boy in an oversized Arkham uniform? The day after a breakout where Scarecrow and only one other inmate escaped? Oh this is bound to sell.

Okay, I know the show pretty heavily implies that Teen Titans Robin us Dick.

But

What if it was Tim?

[duskyashe]

NaNoWriMo Day #11

[masterlist]

Today's prompt isn't a Harry Potter one like I said it would be yesterday, but that's because I'm sick and writing makes my head hurt (⁠٥⁠↼⁠_⁠↼⁠) so instead, I grabbed one of @stealingyourbones prompts off the @batpham-discord-highlights server and ended up drawing it! Now, for it to count per my own rules, I have to write something to go with it, so I will, but it will be short (⁠^⁠～⁠^⁠;⁠)⁠ゞ

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Jason didn't set out to adopt two traumatized teens with super powers, but then, he'd come to realize that Bruce, for all his faults, had been the same way. The difference was, Jason refused to fail his sons the way Bruce had failed his own kids. While Jason's new biggest fear was turning out just like either of his fathers, his kids constantly reassured him he was doing pretty well.

He did his best to train his kids, both in and out of suit, helped them with their homework, and made sure they spent time being kids instead of fighting crime (if Captain Marvel suddenly started taking more days off from the League, well, the big three could only feel relief). He also did his best to keep his kids off the Bat's radar, at least until they were both sixteen and could use their powers competently in either of their forms. He'd almost succeeded in that last one when a mass Arkham breakout had called for all hands on deck. He had tried to leave his kids behind, but Danny and Billy were insistent. Thus, Hood's Ravens, named after Odin's own raven companions, Hugin and Munin, took flight through Gotham.

Through the mission brief and the first part of the roundup, Hugin and Munin stuck close to Red Hood, keeping their powers mostly under wraps. They were doing surprisingly well in such a large scale mission, in Jason's opinion. Sure, they'd both had previous experience with fighting large groups or for long periods separately, the kind of teamwork they were displaying, working as two parts of a whole, brought Jason a sense of pride. He'd been the one to teach them that, after all.

Suddenly, Babs let out a frustrated growl over comms. "I just lost connection to half the cameras in the city, I'm nearly as blind as you guys. You're going to have to do this the old fashioned way until I can figure out what happened," she said.

Jason shared a look with his sons and sighed, silencing whatever protest or reassurance the others were flooding the comms line with. "You two sure about this?" He got twin nods. "Alright. You know the rules. Stay out of sight, don't engage if you don't have to. Hugin, you take East side, Munin, you take West side. Go." Both boys were suddenly airborne, one flying East and the other flying West. He watched them fly for a bit before getting back to work. He trusted them to follow his rules and to know their limits. They could do this.

Soon, nearly identical voices were feeding real time information directly to the bats, each raven playing the role of "eye in the sky" surprisingly well for fifteen year olds. They directed the closest free bat or bird to problem areas, they rescued trapped or injured civilians, and most of all, they listened to any suggestions or corrections Babs gave them and adjusted accordingly. Jason was so unbelievably proud of his sons, he was fit to burst from it all. He couldn't understand how Bruce had never buried them all under mountains of praise if he'd ever felt even half as proud of his bats and birds as Jason was of his ravens in that moment.

Eventually, things calmed down enough that Jason wasn't exactly surprised to sense the big man himself dropping onto the roof behind him. Jason let Bruce watch him as he continued to watch his sons flying over and through the city, giving directions and helping when needed. They stood there like that for a few minutes before Jason sighed. "What is it, old man?"

"Those kids, Hugin and Munin. Who are they."

Jason felt the pit rise up at Bruce's tone, feasting on the riot of pride, anxiety, joy, fear, and anger. He wondered if the green he was seeing was real or imaginary as he turned to look over his shoulder at his adoptive father. "Those are my sons," he growled.

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There (⁠；⁠^⁠ω⁠^⁠）I hope that satisfies! It's only thanks to ibuprofen that I was able to get through writing that much, so thank you modern pharmaceuticals ✧⁠◝⁠(⁠⁰⁠▿⁠⁰⁠)⁠◜⁠✧

Whether or not Danny and Billy are actually related (ie long lost twins, cousins, clones, brothers really close in age) or just doppelgangers is up to the reader, but the point is they're practically identical when just standing next to each other, but suit them up as Red Hood's Ravens, Hugin and Munin, they're indistinguishable until one goes invisible and the other starts shooting spells at things. In fact, Danny and Billy regularly "switch" who is Hugin and who is Munin. They usually discuss beforehand who is going to be who for a given period of time, but sometimes one of their power sets is better suited for a situation and they'll switch on a dime. Of course, this is only possible because their suits are identical in every way, being based heavily on Dick's Nightwing costume (specifically the Young Justice version) with red ravens on their chests instead of the bat on Jason's. Neither has a preferred weapon to deal with as they're both hand to hand fighters when they're not using their powers (Danny's ecto/ice blasts and Billy's spells), either. They do both still show up as their first alter egos, Phantom and Captain Marvel, fairly regularly, but Jason ensures they get plenty of rest and down time while still doing their school and homework.

I might have more to add later, but I'm drowning in snot and the ibuprofen is trying to wear off, so I'm going to leave it there. If anyone wants to continue this, please let me and @stealingyourbones know so we can enjoy it, too! (⁠◠⁠‿⁠・⁠)⁠—⁠☆

Have a good morning/day/night!

[rxnn]

Bleeding Heart [four]

one, two, three

❥❥❥

Lo-and-behold, Leia and Callum woke up again about a few hours later to get Callum on the bus.

Leia, to put it simply, felt like shit as she locked the door behind them, pocketing the key. Her hands and shoulders ached from the previous night's activity. 

When she finally heard the soft click she pocketed the key and turned, seeing Callum rubbing his eyes, yawning. She sighed and ruffled his hair making him smile sleepily up at her then shyly stretch his arms upward, making grabby hands at her.

Leia chuckled and picked him up, putting him on her hip and began walking them out of their building.

"We're gonna try our best today," she whispered the mantra she told him every morning as they walked to the bus stop. "We're gonna do amazing things."

Callum nodded, tucking his head under Leia's chin, gripping her puffy jacket in his small fist.

"We are kind, we are…smart," Callum continued, yawning before snuggling more into Leia's warmth as the cold morning breeze rolled over the pair.

"Good job, baby." Leia cooed, pulling his hat further over his head.

When they made it to the bus stop, Leia wished she didn't have to let him go, but he wiggled from her arms and waved goodbye as he climbed up the steps behind the other kids. She waited until the bus pulled away from the stop and disappeared in the morning rush.

She sighed heavily and looked up at the cloudy Gotham sky, wondering if it would start raining once again. She hoped not. When she snapped out of it, she spun on her heel to head back home and get some extra sleep but was met by someone slamming into her followed by the sting of something cold seeping through her shirt.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" The person said, backing away with a nervous chuckle.

Leia didn't look up, looking down at the iced coffee stain that now decorated the top of her shirt. Thankfully, it was older and had suffered its many years of use with its faded black letters that spelled out her high school.

"It's okay.” It really wasn't but she didn't have the energy to argue, so instead, she brushed the person off with a wave of her hand, finally looking up to smile assuringly at them. It wouldn't be worth it to make a big deal out of this. "Accidents happen, I've suffered worse than a coffee spill." 

The man was a little taller than her, only by an inch or two. He had short black hair that framed a his slightly tanned face and dark blue eyes. Strong build with broad shoulders, not near as muscular as Jason, but definitely fit. He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand while the other held the now empty culprit of her stained shirt.

"Here.” He took off his scarf that matched his eyes. "To cover the stain."

"Oh, no, I'm al—"

"I insist." He ignored her and wrapped the scarf around her loosely, still warm from where it'd hung around his neck. 

Leia hesitated, fighting a flinch when he adjusted it around her neck to cover the stain. Once he was done, he smiled, proud of his work.

"Thanks..." She trailed off, unsure about where to go from here. 

"Richard.” He held out his hand, a charming smile on his lips. "Sorry I should've started with that, huh?"

"Nice to meet you." She couldn't help but laugh softly, shaking his outstretched hand. "Sorry for bumping into you. I should've been paying attention."

"No, it's my fault." Richard shook his head before pursing his lips and clearing his throat. "Can I get you a coffee? There's a shop around the corner I've heard is pretty good."

Though she knew which one he was talking about, Leia hesitated again. He seemed nice enough, charming even. Probably nicer than most of the stand-offish people in Gotham.

"Please? I feel really bad." Richard chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

There's really no harm in free coffee, is there?

"Y'know what? Sure, who am I to deny a free cup of coffee?"

A wide, pleased smile spread across his face.

"Great! Thank you."

"I should be thanking you."

He shook his head, still smiling and placed a hand just below her shoulder blades, leading her through the morning rush crowd.

"I don't think I caught your name." He tilted his head down toward her ear to be heard over the chatter of the people around them.

"Leia," she replied as they turned the corner.

She wanted to tell him to take his hand off her as it made her skin crawl for some reason. To her luck, he dropped his hand to his side as soon as they rounded the corner, turning down a smaller, less busy street.

"Pretty name."

Leia hummed, raising an unimpressed brow at him, a teasing smirk adorning her lips. "Do you say that to every girl you meet?"

"Nah, just the ones I spill coffee on."

"So this is a common occurrence then?" She teased, holding the door open for him to follow her as they entered the warm coffee shop.

"What can I say? I'm a clutz." He shrugged.

Leia laughed, tucking some hair behind her ear that had fallen from where she’d pulled it away from her face. He joined, shaking his head as they walked to the cashier. They both gave their order and he paid, innocently asking what she did for a living.

"Oh, I'm a nurse," she shrugged, making sure to leave out where she worked specifically. One could never be too careful even if a cute guy was buying her coffee.

As they continued chatting while they waited for their coffee, Leia realized where she recognized him from. He was Richard — rather Dick — Grayson, the son of Bruce Wayne aka the guy plastered on the evening news every other week for the newest charity announcement. She quickly decided to leave it be and not make a big deal out of it. The guy was nice enough to give her his scarf then buy her a drink because he felt bad about spilling his on her, so the least she could do was not freak the fuck out about who his dad was.

"That's cool! Got any fun stories?"

"Plenty. What do you do if you don't mind me asking?" She didn't know a lot about Bruce Wayne and his family, just that he had a shit ton of kids and was a playboy from what she'd heard her coworkers gossiping about. 

"I'm a detective in Blüdhaven."

"Blüudhaven, huh? What are you doing here in Gotham?"

"Just visiting some family." He hummed, gazing around the crowded street.

"That's sweet," she cooed, missing the way he rolled his eyes.

"Leia!" A barista shouted.

Leia perked up and walked over before Dick could, thanking the barista, and walked back, handing the Dick his own drink. She caught sight of two women waiting for their own drinks whispering and pointing between herself and Dick causing her stomach to drop. God forbid someone thought this was a date. Now that she thought about it, most of the cafe was either trying to not look over or were blatantly staring.

"Thanks again for paying, you didn't have to." Leia smiled, putting a little more space between them and trying to ignore the stares boring into her skull.

"It's no problem, really.” He glanced over her shoulder at what she assumed was the two whispering women. "You wanna get out of here?"

"What a wonderful idea."

❥

This wasn't Dick's plan, but it was working even better than he'd hoped. He wasn't supposed to spill his coffee on her, that was an accident. Originally, he was just going to bump her shoulder, compliment her, start a conversation, the whole charming guy shebang. He was curious about why Jason trusted her so much. But it went completely off course when she'd turned on her heel and knocked into him, successfully spilling his coffee all over her shirt.

He'd noted her caution and how she monitored her responses as she kept to the point and without little detail. It was the bare minimum, smart, but it didn’t matter much seeing as he nabbed a copy of Tim's deep dive into her person. When Dick asked Tim for it, Tim had rolled his eyes and said she was clean (the whole family was painfully aware of Tim's habit of deep dives on people, so it wasn't a surprise that he'd already vetted her). It took a little convincing, but Dick managed to get a copy.

Tim was right, she was clean. Graduated high school with top marks, went to good college and graduated with her BSN and immediately went into the workforce. She’d been caring for Callum, her son, who just started 1st grade at Widow Creek Elementary, since she was twenty years old. According to the police reports Tim dug up, Callum had been left on their doorstep when he was barely a few months old. There was no record of his parents and after some fighting in court, she got custody. Sadly, that only lasted until about a year ago where Matilda Kernell, one of Leia's closest friends, died in a horrific car crash in January that year according to their local newspaper.

Dick watched her out of the corner of his eye as she fidgeted under the looks of those in the cafe. He really hated the attention he and his family received.

"Thanks again for paying, you didn't have to." Leia smiled. He noticed her shift away from him and he had to fight a frown.

"It's no problem, really.” He glanced over her shoulder spotting two whispering women that were not so subtly pulling out their phones. "You wanna get out of here?"

"What a wonderful idea." The relief in her voice made him feel a little bad seeing as the attention was based on him.

He positioned himself behind her, blocking any view a camera would’ve gotten of her. She opened the door for him again, a blast of chilly October air slamming into them.

As they started walking back toward where they bumped into each other, they continued their small talk. He offhandedly mentioned that he spoke fluent Italian just to spark conversation and he swore she almost got whiplash from swinging her head so fast. With a huge smile, she confessed that she was fluent too, having learned it for a friend. She also admitted she wanted to go to Italy one day. Dick jumped at the opportunity and told her he’d been. Somehow, her smile widened, tension leaving her as he told her what he’d seen and done.

“That sounds amazing,” she admitted, glancing up at the sky as the sun broke through the clouds.

“It really was.”

They came to a stop and Dick found himself scrambling for an excuse to talk longer. 

“Sorry again about your shirt.” Dick started, keeping an eye out for cameras. “Want me to walk you back to wherever you're off to?”

Leia paused, glancing toward the street they’d come from. She bit her lip before looking back at him with a gentle smile, walls back up.

“It’s daylight, I’ll be fine. Thanks for the coffee.” She held the cup up in a salute, taking a sip of it. “Oh! Here.” She pulled the scarf off her neck then handed it back to him before he could protest.

“It was nice meeting you, Richard. Try not to spill your coffee on anyone else, yeah?” She laughed, the sound a melody he’d never heard before. 

And just like that, she disappeared into the crowd.

Dick watched her go, standing in the middle of the crowded sidewalk, clutching the still warm scarf. It was as if her leftover heat crawled up his arm to his face, turning his cheeks and ears pink. He was brought away from his thoughts when someone bumped his shoulder. They didn’t bother apologizing, just continuing forward.

Dick scoffed under his breath, ignoring the heat and pulled his scarf back around his neck. The smell caught him off guard: baked goods and eucalyptus. He took a deep inhale of it without really thinking.

It made him feel…light.

He looked back in the direction Leia had gone and smiled to himself, toying with the ends of the scarf. He hasn't clicked with someone so quickly and genuinely in a long time. Sure, there had been Barbra, Kori, and more than a few others in between, but this was different.

If she picked up on who he was, he couldn’t tell. She treated him like he was just…normal. It was so rare for someone to treat him like that: to not look to him for answers, as the standard for a hero, or as a billionaire’s son but instead act as though he was just a person going about their day.

Dick couldn’t blame Jason for liking Leia in the slightest and he found himself hoping to see her again.

[slaptasticturtle]

Hallows Night

Yandere Male Werewolf X GN Reader

Warnings: Gore, Death (not reader), unhealthy relationship, unpleasant description of violence, swearing.

The night crept in on this year's Halloween, a holiday y/n quite enjoyed. Candy, costumes, scares, and the general atmosphere all made for a fun night. They hadn't gone full out with their costume, having been fired from their job a few weeks ago, they couldn't afford more than a simple Walmart costume. They had dressed as Ghostface and their friends decided that it would be fun to all be iconic slashers.

David, one of their oldest friends, had dressed as Michael Myers. He was the only one with the correct stature for it. Bulky, tall, and very imposing. The only thing that didn't match was his friendly personality. He couldn't harm a fly, even if that fly killed his entire family.

Caleb, the most recent addition to y/n's friends, dressed as Jason. His stature was wrong, but he insisted on being his favorite slasher. He was pretty short and slim, almost twig like. He carried a real machete for self defense, and to make the costume more real. Despite being shorter than everyone in the group, he was probably the best fighter. He was considered a delinquent and would constantly get into fights with others before meeting the group.

Sarah, who was like a sister to y/n, dressed as ghost face as well. There were always 2, so she thought it would be cool. Sarah refused to add any fake blood, as she didn't want to scare any kids that decided to trick or treat. She was kind to a fault, refusing to state the faults in others; even if it helped them.

Jim, who accidentally joined the group, dressed as Billy the puppet. He liked horror movies and really enjoyed Gore, so being the puppet from the saw series was his go to. He wanted to watch horror movies instead of going to the party they were walking to, but Violet convinced him to go. He hated the large crowds, but he had a not-so-secret crush on Violet. Opposites do attract.

Violet, the party girl, was going as a genderbent freddy Krueger. She loved cosplaying, and that allowed her to spend hours working on hers with how long the makeup would take. She happens to be in a rich family and was able to spend much more on her costume than the others in the group. She loved showing off her talents and loved to be in larger crowds.

Finally, there was Samuel, the survivalist. He was dressed as leather face. He wasn't as buff as David, but he was still pretty strong. He had more of a sleeper build, which he got from working in the forest. He worked as a lumberjack, and just happened to go to the same college as y/n. He met the group when they had gone camping in the forest his family owned. They hadn't known, but Samuel was pretty forgiving and allowed the to camp. After that he showed up to one of y/n's classes and slowly became a member of the group.

They had decided to go to a party that one of their fellow students was hosting. They had invited just about everyone in the college, so the group was expecting a large crowd. Y/n, while not afraid of large crowds, was worried about how large this one may be. They had decided to walk there, as it wasn't to far, and Sarah wanted to see the trick or treaters. She had brought a bag of candy for the walk, and was passing out candy to truck or treaters as they passed by. Violet was skipping as she walked, which was slightly unsettling with the costume she had. David was walking in the middle, in order to appear scary to any wannabe hooligans he claimed, but the group knew it was because he didn't want to get lost. He was known to suddenly wander off when something caught his attention.

Caleb was glaring at anyone who passed by, and would occasionally jump out at little kids. Everytime he did, Sarah would slap the back of his head and the group would need to stop for Sarah to lecture him. Y/n was just walking along with David and Samuel, all three pretty silent on the way and only really talking when they were talked to. Violet joked that Y/n had scary dog privileges, as both Samuel and David towered over them and anyone would think twice before approaching Y/n.

After half an hour, they finally began to see lights. The crowd wasn't in the thousands, but there were atleast a few hundred people. Luckily that classmate was the product of an eccentric millionaire father, so the giant mansion had more than enough room. The party was loud, and y/n could tell that most party goers were either drunk or high. Caleb scrunched up his nose as one person passed by, reeking of alcohol. Violet immediately ran off, and Caleb began to follow leaving the rest of the group behind.

Dave looked around for a second before turning to the others.

Dave:"so, what are we going to do?"

Sarah:"stick together, have fun, and not get too drunk or high?"

Y/n:"sounds like a plan."

Samuel:"should we look for the other two?"

Y/n:"nah, they probably are going to end up in bed together and I don't want to interfere with something we have been waiting for."

Sarah looked disgusted at that comment, and gave a little "hmph" while Dave giggled and Samuel let out a full belly laugh, which attracted the attention if a few nearby party goers.

Samuel:"I agree with y/n on this, we knew it would happen eventually."

David:"yeah, let's leave Mr Guard Dog with Ms. Princess so they can finally get together. I see the punchbowl, does anyone want a drink?"

Y/n shrugged.

Y/n:"only if it is not spiked, don't want to get drunk yet."

Samuel:"I'll take one, and I didn't know you liked to get drunk y/n."

Y/n:"I really don't, but it's a party; so why not live a little."

Sarah shook her head.

Sarah:"not thirsty at the moment."

David:"suit yourself."

David wandered to the punch bowl and proceeded to fill three cups. He took a sip of his, and poured one of the cups back into the punch bowl. He then walked back over with his cup and one other.

David:"definitely spiked. I could taste the vodka"

Samuel took a sip.

Samuel:"yep; vodka, tequila, and a little bit of wine. Pretty weird combination. Maybe multiple people tried to spike it?:

Dave:"man, I wish I had those kind of taste buds. How could you tell about the wine?"

Samuel smiled and boastful stated

Samuel:"my mother's a natural when it comes to cooking. My pallete is very advanced. Wine has an off taste when it comes to the grape flavor, and the punch does not contain grapes."

After a few hours of partying, y/n decided to give get some punch. David noticed and walked over to them.

David:"I can go get you some punch now, there is quite a crowd near there and I would rather you not be assimilated."

Y/n:"thanks. I'll be right here."

David nodded and began to head to the table. After a minute, Samuel approached Y/n with a cup of punch. He held it out and said

Samuel:"David told me to give this to you, Sarah needed his help with something."

Y/n nodded and thanked him before drinking it. It had an off taste, but y/n assumed it was the alcohol. After a few minutes after finishing the punch, Y/n began to feel dizzy and saw David approach. He had a cup if punch in his hands.

David:"are you feeling OK? You look a little pale. I got the punch finally, the line was massive."

Y/n looked at David confused, but was to dizzy to form a complete sentence. After a moment, Y/n lost their balance and David caught them. He brought them to an empty room and sat them on the ground.

David:"I'll watch over you, get some sleep. I'll be here when you wake up."

With that y/n slowly fell asleep.

After an unknown amount of time, y/n awoke to David shaking them. The first thing y/n picked up was the sound screaming. David in a hushed tone hurriedly explained to y/n what was happening

David:"Y/n, you awake? Good. I barricaded the door and called the police. Someone went crazy and suddenly bit the throat of someone else. They then grabbed a knife and began to stab other people. We need to be quite."

Y/n, now fearing for their lives, quickly nodded and began to shiver in fear. David noticed and wrapped them up in a nearby curtain. They happened to be in a storage room, and a lot of old furniture was stashed there. David began to search for a weapon. Y/n noticed a second exit, an emergency exit, that didn't have an entrance. They pointed it out to David.

David:"we will use that as a last resort. I checked, it leads to the hallway outside. This room is like a panic room it seems."

Y/n agreed, as they were in the room and were definitely panicking.

After the screams began to die down, they heard footsteps approach the barricaded door. They heard a growl, and suddenly the door was being slammed into. The barricade, which consisted of a dresser and mirror, began to Crack. The door was splintering, and David quickly turned to y/n.

David:"you need to go. I will distract them while you escape."

Y/n began to shake their head, but David hushed them.

David:"I will not let you be killed. I love you to much to allow you to be hurt. Live your life, remember me, and get outside. The police will be here soon. I'm happy to be your friend."

Y/n looked shocked for a moment, then nodded now determined. Another slam caused the mirror to fall and shatter, the dresser was beginning to fall apart. David grabbed the curtain pole, and got into a stance. Y/n quickly pushed against the wall and immediately began to run. They were shocked at the carnage. Dozens of dead bodies, blood everywhere. The floor was surely going to be stained crimson. Some bodies were missing limbs, others bad their throats torn out. A few of the bodies were moaning in pain, but y/n couldn't afford to stop. The person slamming into the door broke through, based on the sudden crash behind y/n as they continued to run. Tears streamed down y/n's face as they continued to run as a sudden howl rang out. Y/n gasped, and came to a stop, the tears growing. Sarah's body laid infront of them and seemed to be the worst of all. She was missing both legs, an arm, and had a large scratch going through her face. The only reason Y/n could even recognize Sarah was the torn costume, and the necklace they wore. Y/n came out of their shock and began to run towards the entrance again. They were lost, though, not knowing the directions of the mansion and how they got to the storage room. Suddenly someone grabbed their shoulder. Y/n turned and gasped.

Caleb was getting along with Violet for a while when suddenly screams ran out. Caleb turned for a minute and heard violet chuckle. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain on his shoulder and could no longer feel his arm. He looked at his arm and let out a cry of agony. Violet, who now was nearly 7 feet tall and looked like a monster, had ripped his arm off. He quickly began to run, while Violet began a rampage. She quickly grabbed one of the other party goers and ripped their throat our with her bare teeth, blood gushing onto her brown fur. Caleb ran to one of the curtains, and using his machete, cut a large section off. He was loosing blood fast, ND would die if he did not hurry. He made a tourniquet and quickly tightened it onto his shoulder, which slowed the bleeding. He used another strip to package his wound, hissing as he did. He would survive this wound for a bit longer, but he needed to get out. He placed his machete in his holster, and began to head to the entrance when he noticed someone familiar. He grasped at their shoulder, and Y/n turned around, gasping.

Caleb:"do you know where the others are?"

Y/n, with tears in their eyes,:"David sacrificed himself so I could escape. Sarah is dead. I don't know about Samuel or violet."

Caleb gritted his teeth and said:"violet is one of the monsters. She suddenly grew several feet taller and ripped my arm off. We need to find the others, if they are still alive. Based on the dead bodies around us, there is more than just 1 or 2 monsters. I am ahead of Violet, but she may be gaining ground."

Y/n was shocked, but quickly regained their resolve. They nodded and began to search rooms as quietly and quickly as possible. A voice suddenly rang out from the hallway they were in.

Violet:"Caleb, I can smell your blood! I know you are out here! If you show yourself, I can give you a quick death. Almost painless. If you surrender Y/n, I will let you go. After all, this is all for them!"

Caleb quickly whipped around and told Y/n

Caleb:"we need to go. Split up, we will meet in the main lobby. If I'm not there in 5 minutes, leave without me. You just need to go straight and to the right. Last door. I will try and lose them."

With that he quickly rushed into a bedroom. Y/n turned and began to spring down the hallway as Violet called out to them

Violet:"Y/n, please come here. I won't hurt you, none of us will. We just want to welcome you to the family. No one else needs to die, not Caleb, Samuel, Sarah, or David!"

Y/n turned and shouted back as they continued to run

Y/n:"you monsters killed Sarah and David. You probably killed Samuel. Leave me alone, I don't want to join whatever you monsters are!"

Y/n heard a snarl, but they heard a door open and saw a giant wolf monster go into the bedroom Caleb went into. Y/n finally burst through the doors to the main lobby, which was surprisingly clean. Almost no dead bodies, and the few that did exist were placed into the corners of the room. Y/n rushed to the bodies and began to search for Samuel. None of the bodies matched.

Caleb was dashing from room to room. His adrenaline was causing the pain to be a mild discomfort. He needed to escape. He need to save atleast one of his friends. As he ran he was replaying all his memories of Y/n, Samuel, Violet David, and Sarah in his mind. They pulled him out of the roughest place in his life and saved him, and now because one of his friends happened to be a monster; he was going to lose them. He needed to save Y/n, whatever Violet had planned for them was not something they deserved. He might also be able to save Samuel, but he wouldn't get his hopes up until he saw them.

Violet called after him as he ran

Violet:"Caleb, this is all your fault! If you hadn't scared Y/n off, you would still be able to live. We would have welcomed you as well. Your death and Samuel's is on your hand."

Caleb ignored the taunts and continued to run, before he entered a bathroom. The bathroom didn't have a way to escape, so he turned back to the guest room he was just in and suddenly went pale. His adrenaline immediately cut off, and the pain came in full force. Standing infront of him was Violet. Violet and a grey wolf. There were atleast 2. Atleast he would die knowing Y/n made it out.

Y/n grew worried as the minutes passed by. They didn't know how long it had been, but they were sure it was more than 5 minutes. They knew Caleb told them to run, but they couldn't. Not until he got back. There was 2 exits, so if they needed, Y/n could rush out if one of the werewolves appeared. After a few more minutes, with Y/n growing more and more worried, they noticed a clock. It was almost morning. Only a few hours until the sun would be up. Hopefully that transforms the werewolves back into their weaker forms, like the stories say.

Suddenly they heard footsteps and cackling. Y/n looked towards the hallway entrance and saw two werewolves, one grey and one brown, werewolf appear. They were carrying the corpse if Caleb and slowly munching on it. They saw Y/n as they entered, and both their lights lit up. Y/n turned to run, but was quickly tackled by the grey werewolf.

Y/n looked up at it and pleaded with defeat

Y/n:"please kill me quickly atleast."

A familiar voice came out of the werewolves mask and Y/n looked at it with a feeling of betrayal.

Samuel:"we aren't going to kill you, silly. Although it is to late to turn you and welcome you into the family. We have to do that next year, but don't worry. We won't harm a hair on your head."

Suddenly a white furred werewolf walked in, towering over the other 2. The others acknowledged it, and began to speak.

Violet:"sorry alpha, I got to occupied chasing Caleb. He was able to allude me for a while. I didn't know he would survive his wound."

Samuel:"I apologize as well. I was to focused on finding survivors that I didn't think to search the main lobby for Y/n."

The white werewolf addressed them both and as soon as he opened his mouth; Y/n's brain completely imploded.

David:"it is not that big of an issue. I knew it would be a long shot to both get then and turn them by the time limit, especially with so many people. That is why we built that special room for them in our den after all. You two have not failed me, you got me my beloved."

He then turned to Y/n

David:"I know this must be shocking and traumatizing for you. Do not worry, my beloved, that shall pass. None of us shall harm you further than the mental harm we caused today, and you shall forget all of this soon enough. I shall explain our motives as well, nod if you can hear me."

Y/n, with tears in their eyes, glared up at David.

David sighed, but continued.

David:"not exactly a nod, but you can clearly hear me. We have been friends since elementary school, friends longer than you have even known anyone else. I grew to love you, and while it may seem obsessive to you, it is natural for my kind to stalk and be protective of our loved ones. Especially when they aren't the same as us. Over time I noticed that you would not be safe all the time with just me watching you, so I decided to find others. I was born a werewolf, the others were chosen by me and turned. Violet was the first and was chosen due to her popularity and loyalty. Samuel was soon after, he was obsessed with the myth of the werewolves and; when he found me during a hunt in his parents woods, surrendered his flesh to me. I gave him the chance to be part of the pack."

He paused, allowing Y/n to follow and register what he was saying

David:"after I found them I left my parents pack. We created a den in Samuel's forest, and I have been keeping you safe ever since. I prevented you from being kidnapped a few years ago. Samuel prevented you from being mugged while you walked home a few weeks ago, and violet kept you away from bad influences. We all adore you, but you will be my betrothed. You will be the Luna of the group, the spouse of the Alpha. Your word will only be rivaled by mine. Until then, you shall remain human. I have gotten a bunch of your hobbies, interests, and some nice furniture. You will be kept in your new room until it is time to turn you, but you will be entertained, fed, and doted on by me. Once you turn, you shall gain your freedom."

Y/n mustered the courage to speak after David finished his explanation

Y/n:"why did you kill Sarah? Why did you kill Caleb?"

David sighed once more and began to explain

David:"we offered Sarah to join us before we killed her. She refused. Caleb was a bad influence on you, however if he gave you up we would have also allowed him to join. It was their choice to die. We did not wish to kill them, but we will always prioritize you. Them being alive kept us from having you."

David nodded to Violet, whom turned to Y/n.

Violet:"don't worry, when you wake up you will be comfortable and safe."

Violet began to walk towards Y/n, who began to struggled under Samuel. Violet smiled apologetically, before shoving a pill down their throat. Violet quickly covered their nose and mouth and began to coo at them.

Violet:"just relax and swallow. You will be safe, I promise."

After a few moments, Y/n swallowed the pill. The group all waited as Y/n grew sluggish and fell asleep. David walked over an picked them up.

David:"they are so adorable when they sleep."

[meara-eldestofthemall]

Now it’s been months after the fact and likely the spoilers are out there;

Batfamily Response to Godzilla Minus One? Their favorite scenes from it? Their viewpoint on the special effects? Commentary on its setting and plot? Etc?

This is an excellent and timely question now that Godzila: Minus One has won an Oscar for special effects. Hmmmm...

It's tradition that Dick and Tim go to see any new Godzila movie on its opening night for the midnight showing. They even do cos-play (the original 1954 movie) since the crowd is usually filled with young adults and college students. Dick dresses as Ogata (the young, handsome protagonist with perfect teeth and lush, muffiny hair). Tim is Dr. Serizawa, complete with a white lab coat and an eye-patch that Tim tends switch from eye to eye. It confuses people and he finds that amusing.

After seeing the fun these two were having the viewing party has grown over time. Jason decided to come and Damian insisted that he be included. Duke was asked to join them and thought it sounded cool. Barbara, Stephanie and Cass were also invited along. Barbara simple gave Dick a look he knew all too well and he tendered her regrets to the others. Stephanie decried it as too much in the nerd zone whereas Cass doesn't like subtitled movies ("bad translations hurt my soul") but said to ask her when the dubbed version comes out.

Jason and Damian walked several paces behind Tim and Dick (pretending they didn't know them) but Duke got an old T-Rex costume and joined in on the cos-play as Godzila. Duke wasn't the only Godzila there and the management had to remind the various kaiju in the audience to remove their heads so as not to obstruct the view of the screen.

While Dick and Tim were fully expecting a remake of the 1954 classic they were not prepared for just how good it was. The acting was top notch, the music was excellent and the special effects were mind blowing.

Being Godzilla purists, Dick and Tim loved the kaiju's first destructive romp through the Ginza. They particularly loved seeing the reenactment of the classic commuter train scene, applauding loudly along with half the audience when Godzila had the passenger car in his teeth. They both cheered at the specticle of Godzilla's atomic breath and agreed that it was even better the Legendary movie version.

Duke was enthralled by the special effects. He declared the scene where the old battle cruiser Takao takes on the monster epic and seamlees. He cheered when Godzilla swallowed the mine and then regenerated (after a rather satisfying explosion). In fact both Duke and Tim were happy to enjoy the massive property damage in the movie since they could not be blamed for any of it. The two spent the ride home trying to calculate how many new kaiju were going to come out of all of the various chunks of Godzilla from the movies' ending. Their laughter as they talked about how many cities the herd of Godzillas could demolish was vaguely disturbing.

Jason was honestly surprised how good the movie was. He declaring that, unlike the 2014 Legendary movie, he actually cared about the squishy human's stories. Considering himself the family's preeminent movie critic, Jason gave the flick his top rating of five bullets.

Damian, unsurprisingly, found himself sympathizing with Godzilla. After all, the kaiju was only doing what his instincts prompted him to. Damian's opinion that it wasn't Godzilla's fault that humans were in his territory and were attacking him.

Having been schooled in the principals of Bushido, Damian also appreciated Shikishima's need to atone for his past and the guilt he felt at surviving when his comrades did not. It was what happened to Noriko and Shikishima's vow of revenge that seemed to truly speak to Damian. He and Dick had a deep conversation on the way home about how revenge is a double sided blade that hurts you when you wield it. If the suicidal pilot had followed through with his plan then he would have denied himself the very thing he craved the most - love and a family. Of all the things Dick hoped for from the movie, a life lesson for Damian was the most welcome and the most unexpected.

[yetanothergreyjedi]

Ghosts of Our Past: pt 11

DP x DC crossover

Danny Fenton and Damian Wayne sibling AU

Ao3

Masterpost Prev Next

It's Wednesday my dudes, here you go

---

Constantine: Ya better not be asking because the pajama party managed to both find one and piss it off.

Batman: That is not the situation.

Constantine: Can you leave it alone? If yes: do that!

Batman: I am simply asking for information.

---

"Coffee buddy!" Danny called as Tim (or did he prefer Drake? He'd heard him called both so maybe it was just whatever?) walked into the cave shortly after Alfred. Who was liminal but in a weird way... Danny was guessing he was just your standard immortal. Anyway! Tim looked like he hadn’t slept in the time between now and when Danny had last seen him.

"Coffee buddy!" Tim shouted, as dramatically as he did, then in more of a whisper, "You have to help me! Alfred has cut me off!"

Danny glanced at Alfred, who had definitely heard him. Nope! Not worth the risk! "I can guess why. I might be half dead, but at least I don't look it,"

Everyone tensed at the joke, the opposite of what Danny had been going for. Scratch that, everyone but Jason tensed. Jason let out a snort. "They don't think those jokes are funny,"

Danny pouted almost as much as Tim.

---

Jazz chose boots instead of heels. Armored HAZMAT instead of a blazer. Hair pulled tightly back instead of free and unthreatening. If her roommate was still awake, she'd probably mistake her for an intruder, but she was not, and Jazz was gone before that could change. Gotham was over a days drive away— but only if she insisted on obeying physics.

---

Danny had waited until later in the night to tell Damian "We should talk." And had Damian stiffened but agreed. Because of the lateness someone suggested that Damian guide his brother back to the hotel. While, again, Damian agreed, the tension did not lift. They moved silently until he couldn’t stand it anymore.

"I'm sorry." Danny "I should've come back for you, I was a coward, probably still am, but—"

"No— you’re not— Stop apologizing! I should be apologizing!"

The air was a swirl of bitter flavors, Danny gave a nervous laugh before starting. "It's fine— I mean, it's really not, but we were little kids and like, super brainwashed. So it's not purely your fault... I mean I don't blame you for it... anymore..."

"Just like that?" Damian's voice was small. Doubt was sour like inedible berries, honey sweet hope did little to balance it.

Danny sighed, "Dami, I've spent the last seven years trying to sort this out in my head. It's not 'just' like anything."

He turned around, his back to Damian as he climbed. "Like this, it freaks me out, and at first I thought you'd been hunting me, but you weren't and intentions matter."

Like all the ghosts who'd been teaching him how to ghost by lightly punting him, or his parents before the ectouranium incident. Damian had waited a moment before following him, putting enough distance between them that Danny didn't feel like his heart was going to leave his chest. Even if Danny wasn't actually that worried about being stabbed, he would be fine, he wouldn't even bleed if he didn't want to. Trauma was dumb like that though, and he appreciated Damian's patience.

His younger brother pulled himself up after him. "But I did. I meant to."

Guilt was another flavor Danny couldn't describe with human terms, but this specific guilt satisfied something entirely in-human inside him, a part that still hadn't let this death go. "And you did. But would you do it again?"

"No!"

"Then we're cool about that."

"And about you remaining hidden." Damian adds. "I would not have responded the same if you had returned to Nanda Parbat..."

"But you got out," Danny marveled. "I hadn't let myself hope, Dami... I'm so proud of you,"

Damian sniffled, and Danny pulled the younger boy into his arms.

---

Back in the cave, Bruce moved to the comms control panel, and silently hit mute. They didn't need anyone else listening in on this.

The league communicator buzzed.

Constantine: And you're sure it's a Doorway Spirit, not just a Barrier Spirit?

Batman: He said Doorway.

Constantine: Who said it?! Bats if someone is fucking around with one, ya lead with that!

---

Cleaning tears out of domino masks wasn't hard, but it did make one feel foolish. Danny seemed way too amused but the fact.

"They're designed to keep outside contaminants out. The usual amount of tears is minimal." Damian pointed out.

"It still seems dumb." Danny finished wiping his on the hem of his shirt. At least they both had hoods, otherwise they'd have to find a more secure location with fuzzy lenses.

"It is certainly an oversight." Damian agreed.

"Makes sense tho?"

"What does?"

"If you're having a crisis in the mask you probably should go home. And if you can't see, then it's gonna be hard to keep working."

"Sometimes we are still needed. It is something to improve."

Danny paused, mask still in hand. He looked Damian in the eye. "Even with all of you? It gets that bad?"

"There are times, it's not— Danny..." Damian took a step back.

"Is everything... oh, it's my eyes again isn't it." Danny flushed, and his eyes returned to blue. "That's just something that happens with me, it's not a sign I'm about to go all murdery or something."

Damian nodded slowly, Danny certainly seemed in control of himself, and earlier with Todd he'd focused on defense. That did not seem like someone under the influence of pit rage.

"I've got it on the list of 'things I need to explain at some point,'"

"You have a list."

"Yeah, I have a list, my life is weird. You should probably have a list too."

"I do not."

"I'm sorry?! Do you think I missed the Bat cave dinosaur?!"

---

Batman: Constantine. What do you know?

Constantine: for certain? Almost nothing. These guys are rare, and powerful.

---

"Why is there a magazine butt plate catch?" Jason asked, completely serious. Tim was too sleep deprived to not giggle.

"Replacement." Jason chided, almost sounding fond... Tim must be getting slap happy. Jason held up the offending piece of metal. "Where did this come from?"

"Probably from when Danny took apart the gun,"

"What?"

Tim was already pulling up the mask footage. They watched the two minute explanation, then, gun bits on the pavement.

"He didn't even look at it..." Tim realized, considering that the part on the table wasn't that easy to remove. He was also 90% sure you needed tools to take a gun apart that completely.

"You know what, that tracks." Jacen said, like he was aware of something Tim was not.

---

Batman: Do you want to have this conversation in person?

Constantine: *Read 1:46 AM*

---

"So... Do you play Doomed?"

"Tt, Of course,"

"Oh, so you're good at it." Danny inferred, hopping down onto the fire escape.

Damian followed, noting how the metal had been silent for Danny, but made a soft clank when Damian stepped. The more Danny relaxed the more effort Damian had to put into tracking his movements. "Of course,"

Danny made a mock-offended gasp, "You're just saying of course to be annoying!"

Damian hadn't been, he had been distracted by the almost unnatural stealth. However he did not say this. He gave a sly smile. "Of course,"

"Well then, I don't suppose you'd want to come in and meet my friends?"

The game had been a trap. Damian was not going to admit defeat so easily... and well, he did want to meet the people his brother chose to occupy his time with. "Of course."

Danny beamed as he led Damian to the hallway window. He pulled it open in a too-smooth way and Damian knew that opening windows from the outside did not work like that. It did not, however, even surprise him at this point.

"They're going to love you," Danny said, right before pain exploded in the back of Damian's head. Then, the world went black.

-

-

-

I've made an executive decision that nights in Gotham are longer than nights in nearby locations. Most people won't notice or will think it's their imagination, Amity kids noticed immediately but shrugged and decided that technically meant they got to sleep in.

I don't think it's actually gonna come up in fic, but like nearly every plot point in Gotham happens at night, and I'm implementing a "magic" system, so Gotham gets quirks.

1. I was gonna have bats find out that Dami did the stab here, but then I realized how much potential there was in Danny just casually mentioning it.

2. Danny figures, he told them what he was, so he's done putting a ridiculous amount of effort into being human.

3. Cliffhanger

4. Why does Ao3 add in automatic spacing in the chapter text but not the notes section? It's weirding me out

Tag list:

@spectralstardustandphantomnights @avelnfear @idfk-man10 @blackroserelina @candeartist422 @mur-ururu @luer-mirin @insufferablecatenthusiast @skulld3mort-1fan @alonedustspeck @voidbornposts @meira-3919 @marshmello @aethernorwood @mimilikey @undead-essence @cloudminder @markus209 @everything163 @latheevening226 @roman4517 @moobloomrights @battybatbat @lumosfeather18581 @werv @ahyesanerd @pyramaniac @lexdamo @princessbelix @bun-fish @deeannthepan @edgyboi10000 @thatrandomsarahchick @busterkeel @aconitewolfsbane @spoopyspoony @bright-shade @spidey29phangirl @idontgetpaidenoughforthisshit @keimiwolf @u-a-wizard-jamie @gay-puff @bicerise @itshype @blackfoxsposts @icanneverdecide @lolottes @chubbypotato @jovialherringtacoghost @saltyladynightmare

[scaryscarecrows]

The Real Reason--

--Jason is my favorite Robin.

-Arkham Knight=first major Robin exposure

-Dick is much faster than Batman and I had the game equivalent of losing control and roller blading into the wall

-Tim looks Like That (look, you know I'm right) and insists on shield-bashing electric enemies and electric enemies only

-Jason does what I ask and I felt guilty for not noticing him in that first flashback (shut up, I had detective mode on, I was looking for Riddler things, IT WASN'T MY FAULT)

[jadeylovesmarvelxo]

Confessions

Warnings; Eddie has a girlfriend called Jessica. She's into the same things he is, she's perfect for him.

Then there's y/n who is in love with him and thanks to social pressure can't say a word. She's a cheerleader and Jason would destroy her if she admitted her feelings.

Watching Eddie with Jessica was hard though and her feelings were just dying to spill out even though she knows her feelings are unrequited...

Warnings; Angst, not so unrequited feelings, mutual pining. Fluff.

Likes, comments and especially reblogs are most appreciated ❤ I do not give anyone permission to copy my work.

❤💫

Jessica was Eddie's new girlfriend. Y/n observed them from her place at the cheerleader's table heart sinking.

For a while now she had struck up a friendship with Eddie. They had met when she did a deal for some weed for Chrissy and Jason as they were too busy to pick up the goods.

Surprisingly Eddie was not mean or scary like so many of her friends thought. He was kind and sweet with a sarcastic sense of humour and a fierce, protective streak for those he cared for.

Not to mention he was a complete gentleman and never judged her for anything. Being with him was refreshing and from that moment on she fell for him.

At school, she wanted to talk to him, and join him at The Hellfire Table but Jason being a massive prick would make her life hell, Eddie knew that and insisted that they keep their friendship on the down low.

She hated that because she worried he thought she was ashamed of him and that was the furthest thing from the truth.

Truthfully she truly adored Eddie and cherished their friendship.

For a few weeks, she was tempted to tell Eddie how she felt but now it was too late.

Jessica was perfect for Eddie in every way, he had no drama being with her, no need to hide anything. Tears blur in her eyes and she wipes them away pretending its allergies.

Chrissy the only one who knows of her feelings for Eddie and encourages her to say constantly squeezes her hand and it brings her some comfort.

Well as much comfort as a broken heart could receive. It was her fault though she should have confessed her feelings.

❤

Jessica is everywhere with Eddie and they don't get much chance to hang out. Jessica doesn't seem to like her no matter how much y/n tries to be nice to her.

"Why is a cheerleader hanging with us?". She barks to Eddie who frowns.

"We're friends". He tells Jessica though her heart is racing at the way Jessica glares at her.

"Funny friends you two are. Never see you hang in school? Does Eddie not fit into your perfect life huh? Scared what your friends will say? So glad I'm not like that. Also Doesn't she fit into the bullshit conformity that you are so opposed to Eddie?". She directs to Eddie.

It was true, all that she said was true bar one thing she wasn't ashamed of Eddie. There's a tense silence that follows and Eddie is gaping at Jessica.

"I don't give a shit about conforming. So I'm a cheerleader that means I am a bitch? I can only like one type of person? That's such bullshit and I'm not ashamed of Eddie, never have been". She gets up and leaves.

Eddie follows her.

"Princess wait!".

She stops seeing Jessica glaring at her and turns to Eddie.

"I'm sorry Eddie, she's right though not about me being ashamed but what kind of friendship is this if we feel like we have to hide away? I don't want to hide away. I'm sick of hiding".

"Look Jessica doesn't like me so I should stay away for a bit and let things cool off. I don't want to make things awkward for you".

His eyes widen.

"No, you don't have to stay away no". Jessica calls him and he scowls.

"It's for the best Eds. I really don't want to cause friction between you and your girl". She kisses his cheek and hurries away her heart hurting.

❤

A few days pass and she tries to keep her mood up. She just wants to apologise to Eddie and Jessica- she doesn't want to apologise to her but she did want Eddie in her life so she would grin and bear it.

But when she gets to the Hellfire table Jessica is nowhere in sight. Jason is standing up and shouting over to her about why she's talking to Eddie.

"Eddie. Where's Jessica?". He pats the chair beside him.

"We broke up princess". Okay, now that shocks her.

"Why did you and Jessica break up Eds?". She asks him ignoring Jason's shouts from his table at what she was doing talking to Eddie.

He swallows then looks at her sadly.

"I'm in love with someone else princess, Jessica and I were just a casual fling. I told her that and kept telling her but she wouldn't listen until finally she realised and is with some jock now".

Her heart aches for Eddie but his words play on her mind.

"Wait a minute you're in love with someone, who?". His eyes meet hers and a tiny smile crosses his features.

"You know who". No, she really doesn't and continues to look at him confused. He chuckles.

"Seriously princess? I thought it was obvious. I'm in love with you, have been for a long time but I understand that you don't want me. Don't want to be seen with the town freak right?".

He loves her!? She didn't think he would ever feel the same but all this time he did? Not wasting any more time and to hell what her "friends" think, she leans forward and kisses him.

He hesitates for a brief moment, stunned before kissing her passionately. Soft nips on her lips, hands running down her arms.

They break apart with identical grins on their faces and he pulls her onto his knee and kisses her again causing the boys to groan and tease them good naturally.

"Dude finally". Dustin exclaims and Eddie ruffles his hair and kisses her forehead as she settles on his knee.

Jason stomps over with a few of the cheerleaders and glares at her. Chrissy gives her and Eddie the thumbs up looking pleased for them both.

"What the fuck are you doing?". Jason snaps at her and she stands up regarding him cooly.

"Sitting with the man I love Carver and if you have a problem with it then frankly I don't give a shit". She turns away ending the discussion but he grabs at her arm and she yelps.

"Leave her alone". Chrissy shouts at Jason and pissed at his actions she knees him in the groin.

He lets go of her arm and Eddie pushes her behind him glaring at Jason.

"That little bitch". He fumes and Eddie grows fiercer, more protective.

"I'm giving you two seconds to fuck off Carver. I might not like violence and I might get my ass kicked but you bet I'll knock some of those perfect teeth out while I do fight you".

Jason sneers then storms off with Chrissy fuming at him and the other cheerleaders glaring at her and Eddie.

Y/n reaches up and kisses Eddie's cheek.

"My hero". Pink coats Eddie's cheeks and he looks suddenly shy.

"What about you Princess? Kicking the asshole in the nuts? Totally metal baby. My girl is a badass". She giggles and settles back on his knee glad that her and Eddie are finally together.

❤

[vivi-scera]

hi hi! so i just found your answer to an ask about johndean, and i got immensely surprised when you mentioned about batman and robin, which i assume bruce and dick, not the other batman and robin combination, and im curious about what do you think about them! i quite recently got into comics, and im so fascinated by their mutual codependency and dick's devotion towards bruce, and how bruce sees dick as his peer/partner despite their age differences before growing into a more parental role, and i wanna hear your opinions abt them :D

hey so. come off anon so we can make out.

dick grayson, the first robin and batman's lacanian phallus. ugh many things to say and think about. i wasn't necessarily referring to just bruce and dick— i think all of the subsequent robins have their own neat fucked-up relationships with bruce, in each their own ways. more fucked-up in that they see him as more their father than dick does, like you mentioned. i like thinking about jason-robin's relationship with bruce the most but i like tim as robin best. i think i was mostly thinking bruce/jason since i was talking about johndean but since you asked about bruce/dick i'll expand on them the most.

some may think brudick is the least problematic of all the possible bruce/son pairings since dick doesn't necessarily think of bruce as his father. which is true, he already had a good relationship with his father and didn't need/want a replacement in bruce like the other robins do. but a huge part of his characterization (during his robin years at least) is his insistence on being bruce's equal. you'll see tons of canon material— tv shows, comics, games, etc.— wherein dick insists that he's batman's partner, not his sidekick. many such connotations about the word "partner" as we all know. and there are popular interpretations about the queer subtext in batman comics. guy who cannot be his true self in the public sphere and thus parades around in fetishistic costumery in secrecy. you know how it is. but not only in batman's character— there was a huge outcry about the homoerotic imagery/subtext between batman and dick-robin in the 40's and 50's (see The Seduction of the Innocent), so I'm not pulling this shit out of my ass. not that i'm saying there's canon truth/weight to these interpretations. they are just that. interpretations.

anyway. not only is dick batman's partner, he's also bruce's partner. his lighter, brighter counterpart. bruce sees himself in dick, and also wants to prevent dick from becoming him (see young justice season 1 episode 22 for THE BEST interpretation of batman/dick's relationship. or just young justice in general). no one else is bruce's partner/equal quite like dick is (jason, tim, etc. are more his sons as mentioned. and they also, unlike dick, possess the fault of actually wanting to become batman, or some version of him). just as batman is responsible for robin's creation, so does robin-dick, in turn, shape batman's character. bruce didn't make dick his/a son as much as dick-robin made bruce-batman a dad. just maybe not his own father. fucked-up of dick to be jealous of jason getting bruce's fatherly-attention but not necessarily even wanting it himself. but it's okay, he made him a father! dick himself, in being the first to create robin, might even be the father-mother of bruce's other children and therefore has a higher role as batman's literal partner. one of my favorite developments in comics EVER is dick becoming damian's pseudo-father/batman. the first quasi-son becoming a father figure to his mentor-father's biological son. canonically, dick even wanted to adopt damian. but none of this can/does make dick bruce's true equal (bruce's true equal is batman, and vice-versa). i'm going to be actively problematic and say that bruce sees dick as something less than his partner and something more than his son. i'd LOVE to see a fic that explores dick's drive to become batman's equal/partner and the proverbial wires crossing because of that drive. i think at this point i'm just gonna have to write it myself 😔.

speaking in a meta-narrative sense, dick was introduced as batman's foil. robin (not necessarily dick, just the role) must project an idealized image of that which must be protected. he is representative of the hope that batman has in not only gotham's future, but his own. there is no point in batman if he doesn't believe he can save the future. in batman managing to save robin, he succeeds in saving gotham. but i mean, does that ever really happen? does batman ever really "save" robin/gotham? if the nature of robin is that which must be protected, robin is also a representative role that must be preserved in order to allow batman to save (and fail in order to save) gotham over and over and over again. robin exists/represents a future gotham that doesn't need batman and stands as a reminder to batman what he chooses to fight for, but robin cannot occupy that future himself (since robin is a condition created by batman and can't exist without him. a perfect gotham would neither need robin or batman. the existence of robin implies that there is a gotham that needs saving and that there is a batman that needs to save gotham). so herein lies the paradoxical tragedy of dick grayson. he needs to grow up in order to be batman's equal (and/or to be his partner in the romantic sense), but batman needs robin to justify his existence. robin, the role, by definition cannot grow up in order to meet his own condition for existence— he cannot exist in the future. when the boy behind the mask is killed/grows up, he ceases to be robin and someone else fills in the role. even when dick grayson grows up and becomes batman himself, he still cannot meet bruce-batman as his equal.

there's a great btas episode "the trial" that explores the idea that batman's existence is the condition that creates the very villains he's meant to stop. whether i agree with that statement is another topic. but it's an interesting and valid idea nonetheless. if robin symbolizes all that is at risk of and must be protected from "perversity" (both in the connotative and literal meaning of the word) what does it mean when the birth of batman is representative of gotham's perversion? you can see why i have issues with the statement that batman is the real cause of all evil in gotham. while i think that it's true that batman is a perversion he is just as much a persona created to do good and does succeed in doing good. he is, very much, the john winchester of comics if you'd like to think about it that way.

anyway this totally got too meta-y, sorry. i do think each robin's relationship with bruce brings up some more interesting questions i'd love to explore (and be asked to explore!!!). can batman ever save robin/jason? can robin/tim ever save batman? as damian, son of bruce, what does it mean to be robin, son of batman? thx for the ask <3

[lemonhemlock]

I didn't think about him being a knight and having endangered himself before, you're right!

I was mostly thinking along the lines of one of the kids being directly attacked and him probably not jumping at the opportunity to get between that (I feel like he would/could but he'd probably think about whether it's the smartest decision/in favour of his goals whereas Aemond would act rather rash).

Maybe he would protect Alicent without further thought tho (but I am not knowledgeable, I just base my opinions on vibes).

What do you think?

Hi there!

I think Otto gets a little bit of a bad rep in general. He doesn't talk the talk without walking the walk, if you think about it. As I've said, he has already put himself twice in harms' way on the same bridge on Dragonstone - once against Daemon, once against Daemon & Rhaenyra, both times facing dragons, both times ready to throw hands if necessary. He's not hiding somewhere in the background, he's the first to fall if things go awry. Tywin Lannister, another Hand of the King, would have simply sent an envoy, for example, and it's not for lack of courage, as he fights in battle himself to save his family from Stannis.

Which is why I think it's the more notable that Otto went himself, on behalf of the Crown. If he is willing to do that for the institution, to perform what essentially is a ceremonial, albeit (unnecessarily, for him) dangerous act, why wouldn't he protect Alicent and his grandchildren if they were in the way of direct harm?

It's also important to note that he never intentionally placed his daughter in harm's way. In his mind, Viserys is a good man who would never mistreat her (in a way he understands as being significant).

Similarly, I think a lot of this confusion stems from the political climate not being relayed properly to the viewers. Otto fully expects Viserys to change his heir once he has a son. Fandom likes to believe this is evil machination from his part, plotting Rhaenyra's murder years in advance, but most other noble lords think the same thing. Does anyone think Corlys and Rhaenys were trying to get Laena and her future children killed by putting her forward as a potential bride? Does anyone think Rhaenys was secretly plotting to defenestrate Rhaenyra while they were sassing off on that balcony? Jason Lannister shows up from way out west and fully expects Aegon to be named heir as well. People are very confused when Viserys doesn't budge.

Otto is not so unfeeling as to reduce his daughter and grandchildren to canon fodder for his personal ambition. He wasn't expecting this problem in the first place. He is taken aback and has to recalculate and re-calibrate his strategy. That is why he starts insisting to Alicent in private that she also join him in pushing for Aegon as heir. That is why he suggests betrothing Rhaenyra to Aegon. That is why he tells Alicent her children will be in danger if Viserys doesn't switch. He wasn't tricking or trapping her in a future bloody war over succession when he sent her to comfort/distract the king. Viserys is the rogue element here, someone that we in the field of international relations would say is not behaving like a rational actor.

Which is what I think Otto was doing in the eye-gouging trial as well. Taking in information and making a cost-benefit analysis. Aemond's eye was already lost by that point and perhaps he thought there was nothing to be gained politically by further antagonizing Rhaenyra. Alicent was also the one with the knife; she had the upper hand in that moment. Don't get me wrong, I don't think Otto is flawless here - he is not Westeros' no 1 hugger and comforter. For example, he could have interjected himself in support of his daughter, instead of her slowly losing her mind. To further the Tywin comparison, for all his faults, he would have been raging there at the King alongside Cersei. Otto has a different personality - he works more behind the scenes. Nevertheless, I don't think he would have stood idly by if Viserys suddenly decided to start removing the tongues of his family members.

[holden-caulfield]

𝐇𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐒

━ 𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐌.𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 - 𝐉.𝐓. 𝐌.𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

━ 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘: reader gets kidnapped because of her bond with the red hood, and jason thinks it's his fault: reader will help him understand he can't carry every burden alone. (this can be read as a part two to "LATER")

━ 𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: jason todd x nurse!reader

━ 𝐑𝐄𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃: yes

━ 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: kidnapping, guns, general vigilante stuff y'know?

━ 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓: 3015

━ 𝐀/𝐍: this took so long to write and so long to edit, and it came out way too lengthy, but i hope you like it because i kinda do :)

He entered from the window, as he always did. It had become a habit, and even though he now had the keys to your apartment he couldn't bring himself to abandon old habits.

There was just something about it: you always left the window opened for him and that was enough for him to keep on entering from there. In a stupid, silly way, that was what had tied you: one fateful night, your window being the only one open, he crawled inside, all red and bloody and beaten up.

You were sure the other guys looked worse but he was the one to enter your window. It was an accident, he'd told you, he'd picked the wrong window, but you insisted. You wouldn't have let him walk ━ stumble ━ away without medical attention.

But tonight was different: he crawled into the opening, discarding his helmet right on the floor, followed by his jacket, slowly forgotten and hung on the back of the couch. He wasn't injured, the night had been kind to him, and yet he was in your apartment; another habit, he thought. His own apartment looked unwelcoming now that he had gotten to know yours; cold now that he had witnessed your warmth.

He quite liked these new habits he was developing, or perhaps he just liked you. Since you had declared your feelings for each other, everything had become easier. Jason wasn't well-accustomed to 'easy' but he thought he could get used to it, if you were there beside him.

But you weren't there, not at the moment. He peeped into every room, calling your name several times before confirming the apartment was empty. Now that was unusual: you never went out so late in the night unless your job needed you to, but you left a note, a message, anything.

He returned to the kitchen, ready to change and go ask the neighbors if they knew where you had gone when he saw it. An ominous little box, sitting on the countertop, white ribbon keeping it closed.

He approached it carefully: he hadn't noticed it before, too focused on searching for you, but now it had all his attention. He opened the lid, slowly; he had the terrible feeling that that box wasn't just a gift for him from you.

Inside, he found a piece of paper, he recognized your handwriting. He would have smiled, hadn't it been for the message you had apparently left him: '12pm. the docks. i'll be waiting for you.'

It didn't sit right with him, it sounded wrong; everything about this apparent gift made him uneasy.

He checked the clock, almost midnight. He didn't waste a minute, putting his jacket back on, helmet tightly secured on his head, and ran out again.

The more time passed, the more the clock ticked in his ears, the more he convinced himself something had happened. If it had been just a simple surprise, why so late at night? Why the docks? It didn't make sense and it made Jason more and more worried.

He ran until he stopped, immobile in the middle of the dock. It was deserted at night, but he frantically looked around, hoping to get just a glimpse of you. The night was pitch dark, just a couple street lamps marking the silhouette of the buildings, of the ships, of the road. But no sign of you.

He had put you in this mess, he hadn't been careful. Every night making his way back to your apartment and his only worry were the neighbors. He should have never brought you into his world, into his life. And now you were paying the consequences.

He started calling your name, breaking the eerie silence of the night air, turning left and right, begging to find you smiling, waiting for him. To tell him it was all a big joke, a big surprise for him.

"Red Hood, i'm glad you came, i thought our little message hadn't worked." Came a voice from somewhere behind him, in the darkness.

Everything was still, silent, but then a figure started approaching him; heavy steps marched slowly in contrast with his pounding heart, threatening to jump out of his chest at any moment.

A suited man came in sight, tall and elegant, advancing with his hands behind his back. His face was completely covered, unrecognizable if it hadn't been for the Black Mask he was wearing; a feared symbol in all of Gotham. Feared by all, but not Jason.

But now his heart was beating too fast, his legs growing too weak. He was scared, terrified. Instead of your lovely face, he was staring right at Roman Sionis. He didn't look intimidated, and Jason did his best not to look so petrified, but it was difficult. It was all his fault.

More foot steps joined the previous ones, figures emerging from the darkness all around him, guns trained on him.

"Hi Roman," he managed to say. "So long."

Roman scoffed. "I wanted it to remain that way but that little stunt you played last week? You couldn't possibly think that it would have gone unpunished, could you?"

Jason had done a lot of things last week, beaten up a lot of guys, but he remembered quite clearly smiling as he took down one of Sionis' bases.

"You know i love attention, Roman," he said, as still and as calm as possible. He grounded himself, he couldn't do anything rushed. "I thought you might appreciate the effort."

"I did, that's why i wanted to do something for you too," he said, motioning with his head to one of his thugs; he disappeared in the darkness. "Noticed anything missing, perhaps?"

Jason thanked his helmet for not showing his true emotions, for not showing how he had clenched his jaw, a scowl painted on his face.

"Actually yes," said Jason, taking a few steps forward. The guns were still aimed on him, the muzzles following him like a prey. "And i would like her back."

Roman chuckled, a dark mirthless sound. "I would like my men back, my money back." He said, advancing just a little more. Jason's knuckles itched to punch his masked face, to make him feel as much pain as he could manage, to kill him right then and there for even considering kidnapping you. But he remained still, unfazed. "Not everyone gets what they want."

"Still sore about it? I say we get over it," Jason knew he was testing him, but it was the only way to keep him talking, to make him angry, to hopefully get you out. "We'll forget it all in front of a couple of drinks."

Roman slapped him right across the face; Jason didn't move a muscle, taking the hit.

Everything was still for a moment.

"I guess no drinks, then." His gun was out in the blink of an eye and trained right under Roman's chin, pushing into the flesh as Jason's other hand was keeping him fixed on the spot.

The clicking of the guns' hammers around him made it clear he had everyone's attention; good. He had to see you, he had to see you were okay.

"Do you forget i have her?" Seethed Sionis, trying to break free from Jason's hold, but it was impossible.

"I don't see her here, are you sure you have her?" Teased Jason. "I'm starting to believe you're telling me a lot of lies, Roman, and i don't like lies. I thought that after all we've been through together you'd remember."

He simply laughed, and so Jason pushed the gun deeper into his neck, making his laughter turn into a fit of coughs. "Put the gun down, so we can talk civilly, wouldn't you?"

"Not until i see her, do you not listen to me when i speak?"

Roman raised one hand, and his thugs backed away only to return a couple of moments later with you in their grasp.

Your mouth was covered in tape and your hands tied in front of you, but you didn't look harmed. Jason heaved a sigh of relief the moment he laid his eyes on you: you looked confused, angry, and maybe just a little bit terrified.

He had done that. It was his fault.

He slowly lowered the gun, setting his eyes back on Black Mask. He needed to act quickly if he wanted to save you, but he needed to have a good plan, one that involved the both of you getting out of there alive.

"There, was it that hard?" Asked Roman, that mocking tone still in his voice, as if he had already won, as if he had the upper hand. "Now give me the gun."

He eyed his surroundings, analyzing. He had no time, he had to act now before it was too late. He risked one look at you, before raising his gun.

Roman extended his arm but Jason did not give up the weapon; he pointed it at you. As still and as cold as the night itself, he was pointing the gun right at you.

Everyone looked at him, confused, the hold on their guns unsure. Roman's eyes went wide at the sight: his hostage being directly targeted by the Red Hood himself.

The helmet let no emotion through, and yet you knew. He wasn't going to harm you; he had a plan. A good one, you hoped, but nevertheless it was a plan.

"You know, Roman? Maybe you should have accepted the drink earlier," said Jason, index finger moving to lay on the trigger, waiting, getting ready. "Because i think you won't have the chance to get one ever again."

In the briefest of moments, everything happened: you raised your hands, high above your head, letting Jason's first bullet free you from your bindings, cutting right through them.

The second one was quickly shot right after the first, into your kidnapper's skull, one single line of red marking the front of his face.

The third, fourth and fifth were in rapid succession: one after the other, they all hit the street lamps illuminating the scene. Glass broke and darkness fell on the dock.

The rest of the bullets were not only Jason's. Everyone started shooting, people started running away, frantically looking for safety in the darkness. But Jason's hits were easily recognizable: every time one of them was fired, a body fell heavily on the ground, no chance of getting back up.

You couldn't see anything, so you just ran. Hopefully somewhere safe, hopefully not right into a stray bullet.

Your feet were running on their own, your mind desperately hoping Jason was okay, desperately hoping that helmet of his had night vision, desperately hoping you would have run right into his arms.

You didn't: your foot got trapped into something, you couldn't tell what in the pitch black around you. You fell to the ground and the gunshots ceased.

Everything was still again, as still as it was when you were tied up. You got up on your feet quickly, slowly backing away from the massacre.

Or so you hoped.

Someone grabbed your arm, the hold tight and yet reassuring. It was the same hold you woke up to in the morning, holding gently onto your waist. The same hold that begged you to stay a moment longer as you hurried off to work. The same hold that hugged you back after the night had been a little too cruel, a little too hard.

You wasted no moment and enveloped him in a hug, stopping him from whatever he was going to say. He just hugged you back, that same hold you had grown so used to, so attached to, getting tighter and tighter, until it faded.

He grasped your hand and led you away, towards the faint light that was slowly glowing brighter and brighter as you walked further into the city.

As he came into the light, you noticed the blood shining on his clothes; you let your hands run quickly over the stains, assessing the wounds. You heaved a sigh of relief knowing it wasn't his blood for once.

He gently swatted your hands away, grasping your face in his gloved hands. He held you as if you were an illusion, a dream about to finish and bring him back to reality.

"Are you okay, Y/n?" He managed to say.

You simply smiled at him, taking his hands in yours and bringing them down. "Yes, thanks to you."

You smiled warmly, hoping to comfort him, but even with his helmet on, even so late at night, you could see his look; his eyes, his nose, his lips, contorted in a frown, blaming himself over and over again.

"Thanks to me, you could have died." He said instead, forcing his hands to leave yours.

You didn't let him, bringing him closer to you. "But i didn't, Jason. I'm right here, with you, thanks to you."

You slowly removed his helmet, leaving him in his diamond mask. You were right, he looked just like you imagined, just like you knew.

Your fingers traced the edge of his jaw, cupping his cheek, bringing him closer to your lips, but he drew away.

"I shouldn't have let you-" but you didn't let him finish, raising his chin again to kiss him. Small, soft, barely there. You didn't want to overstep his boundaries, you just wanted to soothe him, to comfort him, to make him feel the way he always made you feel; safe, even when in the hands of mob bosses.

You had never felt the way you felt with Jason. You had grown so used to him, to his attitude, to his sarcasm, to his ways. Waiting for him to come home at night, waking up to his warm embrace in the morning, watching as he cooked for you; habits you wouldn't have exchanged for anything in the world. Habits that were worthy all the waiting at night, hoping for the best and expecting the worst. Habits that were worthy a couple of kidnappings if it meant he would have saved you every single time, if it meant you would have found yourself in his arms every night.

"We should go home now." You whispered, rubbing the back of his hands.

His eyes went down to where your hands were intertwined and a crease formed between his eyebrows. "You're hurt."

You looked down too only to notice the red and blue hues forming on your wrist, were the rope was tied, were the bullet went through. It didn't hurt, and you hadn't really thought about it; it was just a stinging feeling, one you didn't pay too much attention to.

But Jason did, grasping your forearms gently to examine your skin better under the pale light of the streetlights.

"It's nothing."

"It isn't nothing."

"It is."

"It is not." He stated, piercing you with his gaze.

You knew there was no use arguing anymore, but maybe you could have used it to your advantage. "Then we should get home to make sure, shouldn't we?"

He shook his head, letting out a brief chuckle and looking back down at your hands. He didn't answer, so you began leading him back to your apartment.

"Is this okay? Does it hurt?" He asked for what seemed like the billionth time as he carefully cleaned the area of the abrasion.

"Yes," you reassured once more, smiling at him like one would to a baby. "You're doing just great. I have to be careful or you'll steal my job."

"Nurse Todd sounds good, doesn't it?"

Your smile grew wider knowing your insufferable witty Jason was back. "It does, if you become a nurse i'll take your job. I'd make a pretty intimidating vigilante, wouldn't i?"

"Oh yes, try smiling like that to the bad guys and they'll all run away terrified." He retorted, not daring meet your eyes.

When silence settled back, he decided to break it again, stilling his movements on your wrists. "I think we should stop this."

"I think so too, it's clean enough and it's late, we should go to bed."

He held onto your forearms as you tried to get up. "No, i meant this. Us."

"What are you talking about, Jay?"

He finally looked up to you, face unreadable, like a marble statue. "You could have died tonight because of me. I can't let that happen."

"So you want to end things?" You asked, incredulous. "Then how are you going to save me if you don't know where i am, what i'm doing?"

"That's the point," he said, caressing the side of your face, softly stroking your cheek as if it was the last time he could have ever done that. Another habit you had let him develop, whenever he was stressed, whenever you needed comfort; a single touch was all it took. "You shouldn't need saving, Y/n."

"But you do." You said, matter-of-factly. "You need saving, every night, every day. If i don't help you, who will?"

"You just said i'd make a great nurse," he tried joking, a smirk drawn on his lips.

"But not the best," you retorted again, inching closer to him, almost brushing your nose with his. "I am the best."

"Y/n, i can't-"

"No, you can, you have to!" You interrupted him. "We need each other, let me help you, Jason."

"I could never live knowing i got your hurt, Y/n, don't you understand?"

"And neither could i." You stated, feeling tears prickling the corner of your eyes. "I need you to let me close to you, i need to know you're okay, i need you, Jason."

He didn't speak, weighing your words, so you decided to keep going. "And you need me. Even if you are way too stubborn to admit it."

He chuckled again, bandaging your wrists, just a little too tight. But you wouldn't have told him. "Do i?"

"Oh yes, you do. I lied before, you know?" You said, feigning complete innocence. "You'd be a terrible nurse."

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