#That's why Gotham ended up as Frozen in a matter of minutes

[nelkcats]

Phantom Fever

When Danny left Amity he was pretty sure it would be a quick trip. He wasn't expecting a few days' visit to Gotham to check some annoying "co-workers" of Vlad's, a gala and a serious case of fever.

Being fair, Danny didn't know that ghosts could get sick, or how much damage this could do. His powers went completely haywire, activating and deactivating in the middle of the street, and it was only thanks to Vlad that he was able to come up with an excuse or two.

Vlad obviously didn't expect him to get sick either, if his disgusted face was anything to go by. The two had a truce of sorts but it was obvious they were only on friendly terms thanks to Jack Fenton.

Danny didn't feel like locking himself in a room and drinking soup. He wanted to call Frostbite, but he was too far away from the Realms, and the halfa refused to let Vlad check on him.

So he ended up on the streets of Gotham, spreading early winter and ice stalagmites in his wake. It was just luck that Vlad found him before the bats, who were obviously interested in the new development. Danny wondered how he was supposed to attend the gala in those conditions.

[robinofgothamcity]

♡ prompt: your relationship with Damian isn’t what is seems like.

♡ pairing: damian wayne (robin), bart allen (impulse) x fem reader

♡ lyric inspiration: “it’s just a little too late, you say you dream about me but you don’t like me, you just like the chase so be real, it doesn’t matter anyway.”

♡ note: not checked for grammar or spelling mistakes 

you were blasting music into your headphones as you were trying to finish everything you needed to get done for the week. graduation was coming in just a few weeks and you had been neck deep in homework with essays and exams coming in from left and right. 

you had even been putting off even hanging out or going on dates with Damian because your lack of time. he kept telling you that it was okay but in the back of your head, you felt wrong for denying him every time he asked you out. 

Jon and Billy had been in the lair’s living room, lazying around until Nightwing or even Batman came in to give all of you times and coordinates for your patrolling tonight. you hadn’t even been hearing their conversation since your music was drowning out their conversations. 

when you realized that your coffee had ran out and everything that you needed in order to make a new cup was in the kitchen, you took off your headphones and grabbed your cup, walking slowly to living room. 

“where’s Damian?” Billy asked, kicking his shoes off, “oh, he’s training. ever since graduation for Gotham Academy came closer, ( your name ) has been putting him off to study so he’s been training to kill time.” 

your eyebrows fluttered in confusion, not knowing if what Jon was saying was rude or not. “I have to give Damian props though,” Jon continued, “he’s been with her for two months now! we even had a small bet going to see how long he would be able to date her and he’s clearly won since he’s been with her longer than the month we bet on. even a few of the titans had placed bets that it wouldn’t last as long as it did. Raven put in a measly two weeks,” Jon laughed. 

your eyes stared down at the ground, completely watery and stinging, “hey, that just shows Damian can commit to things that aren’t training although it’s like you said, it’s surprising they’re even together if she keeps putting him off,” Billy added on. 

not realizing that your cup had slipped your grasp, the metal collided with the ground, making Jon and Billy turn around. they could see the hurt in your eyes as you remained frozen in place. 

“hey ( your name ),” Jon murmured, “did you hear what we were talking about?” Billy asked, afraid at the answer. 

your eyes turned into rage as you picked up your cup off the floor, “tell Damian that since our month is over, we’re done,” Jon immediately sprang up, “hey! please, don’t say that! you’re completely not understanding what we’re saying!” Jon said frantically. 

Damian walked out of the solo training room, seeing Jon and Billy’s expressions as the tears ran down your face, “what’s going on?” Damian asked. you laughed, not wanting to even look at him, “great! you’re here! since our relationship was based on a bet that you had money on that would only last a month, you can count it as we’re over now!” you exclaimed.

you slammed your laptop and grabbed your backpack as Damian ran towards you. in a fit of complete rage, you turned around and punched him square in the stomach, making him fall onto Jon. 

“go fuck yourself! as a matter of fact, you can find another member for the Titans! I quit!” you screamed, slamming your mask down onto the table and leaving the lair, “wait! please, this isn’t how you think it went down, please!” Damian begged. 

you gave him the finger, “I hope you, right along with Jon and Billy, enjoy sitting on the shame that is playing with people’s emotions,” you said as Nightwing walked into the hallway, clearly lost on what was happening, “the next time you, Jon, Billy, hell! even the Titan’s decide to play with people’s emotion for the sake of getting money, make sure it’s someone who’s not on the same team as you,” you whispered. 

“don’t leave, please don’t leave. Nightwing, stop her!” Damian said in panic as you got onto your bike, “Nightwing, since the Titan’s are now down a member, you can tell whoever was fighting a place that my spot is now vacant,” you managed to say before revving your bike and riding onto the street. 

“what is going on?” Nightwing asked the three. he had never saw Damian so hurt, meanwhile Billy and Jon were left speechless, “my girlfriend just broke up with me!” Damian murmured, a feeling in his heart that he had never felt before, “she overheard a conversation Billy and I were having but I think she only heard a piece of it,” Jon tried to rationalize. 

Damian looked at the two, pure rage coming over his body, “it’s both your fault?” he screamed, charging them with his sword. Nightwing quickly grabbed his brother, taking the sword away from his grasp, “she only heard some of the conversation! we never meant for her to actually get upset.” 

Nightwing stood in between the three, “listen, whatever happened, all of you need to apologize. now, I can’t promise that she’ll rejoin the team,” he warned Damian, “if she decides to come back, that’ll be her decision....AND HER DECISION only,” Nightwing said, “but if she decides not too, I can’t force her to overturn her decision,” he added on, “no matter who you’re related too.”

Damian knew he was hinting at Bruce when he added in the last part. there was no way any of them could actually convince you to come back if you didn’t want too. they could try and persuade you but it was ultimately your decision if you wanted to rejoin the team. 

+

once you got back home, you felt as though your heart hadn’t completely accepted what happened. a part of you felt like it was some sort of sick joke and you needed to wake up from it. 

alas, it wasn’t and you knew that what Damian and you had was something that wasn’t going to happen again. it stung knowing that Jon, the one who seemed so innocent all the time, was actually in on the joke and was sitting there and laughing at you. 

you hadn’t known Billy for that long. the two of you became acquainted not long after you got with Damian and while you thought of him as a friend, it still hurt that he too was in on the joke. 

your mom was working late as she was helping Gotham Academy with situating for graduation planning. your mom didn’t know about you and Damian thankfully so even though you were completely heartbroken, it’s not like she knew about what you were going through. 

you flopped onto your bed, trying to control your breathing when the doorbell rang. tiptoeing to the front door, hoping it wasn’t any of the three idiots, you were stricken with relief when you saw that it was Bart of all people.

“hey Allen, what are you up too? wait a minute, what you doing here in Gotham?” you asked, welcoming him inside. Bart chuckled softly, “I’m here for some stuff on the behalf of my family. don’t worry about it,” he murmured, “I went to the lair looking for you and you were gone.” 

you hummed, not knowing if you were willing to tell him the actual story of why you weren’t there, “you okay? you look like you were crying!” he exclaimed, seeing the puffyness under your eye and the redness around it. you sighed shakily, “truthfully? I’m not but it’s nothing to worry about,” you tried to say calmly. 

Bart gave you a look, not fully convinced, “seriously? I can’t talk to you about the real reason on why I’m here if you’re upset. tell me!” he restated, looking at you dead in the eye. you dragged him inside, not wanting anyone to heart, especially if Damian was on his bullshit and spying on you.

you got Bart up to your room, locking the door and leaning up against the door. your back against it as you tried to contain your tears and running your hands through your hair, “I broke up with my boyfriend recently and I’ve been having a lot of issues with it since I found out,” you finally confessed. 

Bart’s eyes twitched in annoyance, “you were dating someone?” he asked, a bit hurt that the girl he had been crushing on not only had a boyfriend but you were now heartbroken over it. you nodded, “not that my identity was ever a secret but I was dating Robin,” your eye twitched this time, annoyed at mentioning Damian.

Bart stood in disbelief, not believing that Robin, the one everyone thought was perfect, had broken up with you. a part of him wanted to strangle the boy but he knew that Robin was a lot more stronger than he was.

“if you don’t mind me asking, can I ask what happened?” Bart played with his fingers nervously. you stared at the ground, scared if you looked at Bart, you would bawl your eyes out, “he started dating me as a joke. he had made a bet with a few other sidekicks about being able to date me for a month and the longer he dated me, the more money he made,” your tears fell almost immediately at the confession. 

Bart’s anger immediately rose as he tried to not say anything irrational, “are you kidding?” he asked. you shook your head no, not knowing what to say, “can I kick his ass?” he asked again, making you laugh for the first time in a while. 

“sorry Allen but you know I won’t let you...especially because you and I both know how that would end,” you giggled, making Bart agree. you sat down on the bed next to him, “now why are you here? although I think I might know why,” you murmured. 

The Flash family, especially Bart and Barry had taken an interest in you when you first joined the Titans. your powers had given you the ability to be as fast as the Flashes were. you weren’t exactly as speedy as Flash but your powers did let you have competition with Bart’s speed. 

“you know Central city has been calling your name,” Bart whispered, looking at you. “you know you’d have a position with us and you wouldn’t be around Robin if you weren’t comfortable being around him,” Bart added in the last part. 

you bit your lip, “come on, you know better than anyone that Gotham has nothing for you,” he tried to rationalize, “yeah, you have potential with the Bats but you know that joining us would make you an even bigger hero than you are here,” he said. 

“Bart, is this really the reason why you want me to join all of you?” you asked. Bart nodded, hoping that you were actually considering it, “of course! you can join us out for patrol tonight and if you like it, you can join us over in Central City when you graduate,” he exclaimed. 

“tonight? with who?” you asked. Bart pointed to himself with confidence, “with the one and only, Bart Allen!” he boasted. you laughed, “just tonight and if I don’t like it, I get to stay here!” you said, pointing your finger at his chest. 

“SERIOUSLY?” he asked surprised. you nodded as you saw the time, “sure but remember what I said!” you yelled as he ran around your room in excitement. 

the time you had ever went to Central City was when you went with Damian and Bruce on the behalf of Bat business so the feeling that you were now no longer going there with them felt a bit out of place. you looked at the time as Bart had told you that it wouldn’t take to long to get there with both your speeds. 

you grabbed you uniform out of your closet and looked at the time, sensing that both you and Bart should get to Central City before both of your patrol times started. you could see the excitement coming from Bart as he was basically talking your ear off the entire way back to Central City. 

-

through the following few days, you had actively ignored Jon, Damian, and Billy. it was harder for you to ignore Jon and Damian as they had known your home address but every time Raven had informed you on one of the boys coming and paying you a visit, Bart always seemed to come over and get you out of the house before they could. 

this time was no different but today, you couldn’t ignore Damian even if you wanted too. today was Gotham’s graduation and with both you and Damian graduating at the top of the class, you both had to sat on the stage, right next to each other. 

you had worn a plain neutral yellow dress with black shoes as you tried to follow Gotham’s school colors. the actual cap and gowns were not as cute as they had the tacky yellow cap and gown with black lining that made all of you look like bee’s. 

up until this moment, you still hadn’t decided on what your plans were for after graduation. you had a bunch of unanswered acceptance letters from different University’s around the U.S. and one of them was from Central City State University. 

they had personally reached out to you in order to attend their school. you had been thinking about actually accepting their letter for a while now and with Bart now offering to be your partner, you didn’t want to pass up the opportunity. you hadn’t told anyone besides your mother about the move to Central City and while she was upset to see you leave, she knew it was best to let you finally be on your own. 

you had gotten to Gotham Academy, a bit early and tired as you had stayed up late with being on Face Time with Bart. the two of you had gotten closer over the course of the last few weeks and while you were still extremely heartbroken over Damian’s actions, a part of your heart was starting to fix itself with Bart now mending that piece. 

you, on a very sporadic thought, had invited Bart and Barry to your graduation as you didn’t want to run into the chance of actually having to be alone with Damian. you wanted to make sure that you were either around your mom or Bart when everything was finished. 

the stage had been set by the time you got to the Auditorium as you had saw your mom along with Bart and Barry in the front. since you were moving to Central City, partially for college and partially to continue doing hero work there, your mom had to introduce and get familiar with the family that was soon taking you in. 

everyone knew that everyone who were connected to the Flash family had this flamboyant personality to them so when Barry and Bart introduced themselves to your mom, she was quite taken back. nevertheless, she did end up getting along well with them and felt safe with you moving there. 

Damian had saw you sitting in the chair, on your phone as everyone sat in their seats. what he hadn’t realized was that Bart and Barry were right next to your mom. he had heard about your endeavors with going over to Central City to ‘intern’ with the Flash family and while he didn’t want to believe it, a part of him felt as though that might’ve been actually true now. 

Damian looked at you with guilt crossing his face. you hadn’t been face to face with him since that fateful night and although it took every ounce of power to not scream at him, for the sake of his identity and the fact that all of you had to be professional, you gave him the side eye and turned to your headmaster who was approaching the stand. 

Gotham Academy’s graduation had felt like centuries before it finally came to your turn to speak on the behalf of your class. you smiled at the crowd, waving at your family and the Allen’s before looking down at your paper. you gulped in nervousness as you began your speech. 

“and although I have been keeping my college acceptance a secret, within the last few weeks, I’ve had the privilege of being scouted by a few schools and finally came down to the decision last week on which university I would attend. it is my honor and with grace to finally announce that I will be attending Central City State University in the fall! go Falcons!” you told the crowd as you opened up your gown to show off the school sweater. 

you saw Bart’s face light up with excitement as he realized that you had accepted the Flash’s invitation to work with them. Damian had also realized that the rumors surrounding you actually leaving the Titan’s to work with the Flash was actually true and he felt his heart break realizing that you were no longer a part of his life. 

you sat back down in your seat with a smirk playing on your face as you could basically feel Damian’s stare coming down on you. it wasn’t until after graduation when all of you got the chance to join your families again when you saw Bart and everyone else. 

“are you really joining us in Central City?” he asked excitedly. you nodded, giving Bart a hug. the hug didn’t feel friendly. not in the slightest. it felt almost romantic as the two of you remained in an embrace longer than you had realized, “than I’m so glad our plan actually worked out!” Barry said in relief. 

your eyebrows fluttered in confusion but he told you it was a surprise that you wouldn’t see until you got to Central City tonight. you nodded as all you had decided to take pictures before heading to eat. you had noticed Damian approaching you, a determined stare on his face but Bart quickly realized it and grabbed you by the wrist, making you join Barry and your mom again. 

the night finally entered as you had made your way to Central City in order to get settled into your new apartment by signing the final papers over to the apartment. Barry and Bart had offered to show you around your new home, as if you hadn’t already recognized Central City already but nevertheless, you complied and let them show you. 

you got into the core of the city, the lights twinkling and the noises of cars making you feel as though you were in a movie. Bart had covered your eyes with his hands as he told you your secret was coming up. a nervous feeling crept up to your stomach as you had no idea what was going on. 

finally, all of you stopped and that was when Bart took his hands off your eyes. you stared at the large billboard that was high up in the sky as you felt tears spring your eyes. 

“welcoming Central City’s newest superhero.” 

the billboard read as it had a picture of you right next to the lettering. you looked to Barry and Bart before engulfing them into a hug as you thanked them profusely. Barry shrugged you off, “we should be thanking you. you’re going to help us so much! it’s the least we could do,” he said as Bart agreed. 

Barry had mentioned that all of you were going to catch dinner at a restaurant and your reservation should be coming up soon. he had gotten the head start, whispering to Bart that he’d leave the two of you alone for a moment. 

“seriously, thank you so much Bart,” you whispered, giving him another hug. he chuckled nervously, trying to wave you off, “you have no idea how much this means to me,” you added on. 

you looked to Bart and got on your toes, hoping that your next action wasn’t a mistake. you gave him a quick peck on the cheek, making Bart go red in the face. it hadn’t fully set in that you kissed him until he realized that he hadn’t said anything back yet. 

Bart grabbed your hand, giving it a soft kiss before doing the same to your cheek. you smiled at him shyly, grabbing his hand before telling him that you were going to be late for the reservation with Barry. 

-

months had passed since you had started your new life in Central City. you hadn’t spared anyone in Gotham a second thought unless you were visiting your mom so you hadn’t contacted Damian or any of the Titan’s since then. 

however, you had to go with Bart to the Titan’s tower today. you had to meet up with Nightwing there to get information Barry needed for a case. you were hoping that you didn’t run into any of the idiots while you were there with Bart but luck was not on your side that day and upon reaching the Titan’s tower, you were met with not only Damian but with Jon and Billy. 

“where’s Nightwing?” you asked them. Jon gave you a sheepish smile, “he’ll be here soon,” he responded. you nodded, grabbing Bart’s hand and heading to the couch to say hello to Raven and Beast Boy. 

the four of you got into conversation until Damian walked in, basically dragging you into the kitchen as Bart immediately stood up, running to where you were. 

“what the fuck is your issue?” you yelled, snatching your hand back. Bart knew you could hold your own but he still wanted to make sure you were okay, “we need to talk,” he stated, looking to Bart. you laughed, “yeah, whatever you have to say you can say right now. I refuse to talk to you alone,” you said back. 

Damian growled as Jon and Billy stood up, “that night when everything went down, we want to say that it was all a mistake. you had only heard a portion of what we were saying. we never intentionally made a bet on the two of you. we had made a bet that was basically us telling Da-Robin that he couldn’t do anything besides train and fight. Robin had actual feelings for you and the bet was never intentionally set on you. we swear,” Jon explained. 

you looked to Damian and Billy as they both agreed. you rolled your eyes annoyed, “you think I’d actually believe that?” you looked to Bart and laughed before taking his hand, “the next time you actually want to make up lies, make sure they’re actually fucking believable!” you exclaimed laughing. 

Bart laughed along with you, “you think we’re lying?” Damian yelled, “yeah because why should I ever believe what any of you three have to say. all of you are a bunch of pricks that are so far up your own asses that no one with an actual working brain would believe that lie.” 

Bart’s mouth, along with everyone else, hung in disbelief and surprise. “seriously, the next time we see each other, make up a better lie and for the record, working with and in Central City has been actually been so refreshing! no offense,” you said looking over to the rest of the Titan’s, “especially since he’s been making it a lot easier,” you gave Bart a wink as he blushed slightly. 

“so unless we actually have to speak to each other on professional terms, don’t bank on me ever contacting any of you again.” 

you grabbed Bart’s hand as Nightwing had walked into the tower and the three of you walked into a solo conference room to actually do what Barry had sent you two for. 

[invisibleanonymousmonsters]

Civilian

Character: Jason Todd x Fem!Reader

Summary: Jason Todd is used to saving the innocent. But he’s not used to them saving him. 

Word Count: 3,100 – One Shot

“Fuck me,” Jason groaned as he stumbled across the rooftops.

How he was able to even walk right now was beyond him.

He had Slade on the ropes. Just one more punch to put him off balance and Jason would’ve shoved a knife into his jugular and be done with him. But Slade had a few more tricks up his sleeve and decided to flee instead of finish a losing battle, so he ran like a coward. 

It left Jason utterly irritated and with a huge gash in his side, amongst other various injuries. 

He could’ve called one his “friends” or someone in his “family.” But he was stubborn. He wanted to be stronger than that. He wanted to prove that he didn’t need any of them. He was better than that. He was the best. And he’d risk bleeding out to prove it to them – or really…himself.

But his body wasn’t on the same page.

And it finally had enough.

Jason stumbled to his knees on a rooftop. He groaned as his vision became hazy.

His helmet had a protective system in place so no one could take it off if he was unconscious. They’d get a nice little shock if they tried. His identity would be safe even if someone stumbled upon his injured body… or corpse.

Jason managed to roll onto his back and was met with the smoggy Gotham sky.

“Get the fuck up,” he told himself aloud.

He blinked, trying to straighten and clear his vision.

But it was useless.

The last thing Jason remember seeing was the Bat signal reflecting off of the cloudy sky. Somewhere in the city, there was more crime to fight and he’d just be another asshole who thought he could put a stop to it.

Dying didn’t scare Jason anymore. He’d done it once before, and he could do it again. What did it matter now anyway?

But Jason didn’t die.

He woke up on a couch. Well, if one could even call it that. His 6’4 frame could barely fit on the thing. His legs were hanging off the end, not able to comfortably fit on the thing.

His head felt like it was having the worse hangover of his life. When he opened his eyes, he blinked at the incoming sunlight. Then he realized he wasn’t looking through the programming of his Red Hood helmet.

Then he touched his face to realize that his backup domino mask had also been removed, leaving his identity exposed. 

His eyes widened in slight panic as he looked around.

He appeared to be a in a small apartment – normal, no threats detected.

Then Jason looked down to realize he wasn’t in his uniform. In fact, his chest was bare and he was only in his black briefs. His autopsy scars on full display.

But just half a foot away from him, his clothes were neatly folded into a pile on the edge of the coffee table. His two guns were sitting right next to them.

Whoever had brought him here clearly didn’t see him as a threat. Stupid on their part. There were about two dozen other weapons hiding in the crevices of his clothes too.

But the more concerning thing was that Jason didn’t have a single wound on his body. The giant gash to his side that had made him faint and nearly die from blood loss was nowhere to be found. After all these years, Jason was still figuring out the side effects from being dumped into the Lazarus pit. But this couldn’t be related, could it?

Suddenly there was the sound of the apartment door opening.

On instinct alone, Jason shot up, grabbed one of his guns, and found his target.

What he wasn’t expecting to find was a beautiful woman, probably only just a little bit younger than him, standing with a coffees in a carrier tray and a bag in the other hand. She had earbuds in, further disorienting her from such a welcome. Her eyes went wide and the rest of her body was completely frozen.

After a few seconds, she slowly tugged her headphones out.

“Is the gun really necessary?” She asked.

But Jason could tell from her body language that she was scared.

“Who the hell are you?”

She had enough courage to glare at his tone. “I’m the person who saved your life, asshole.”

“Yeah? And how exactly did you do that?”

She seemed to be getting less scared and more angry with every sentence Jason said.

“If you put the fucking gun down, I’ll tell you.”

Jason hesitated before finally putting it down. Then his behavior caught up to him. Here was this stranger, who was clearly innocent and had helped him…and his first thought was to point a gun at the poor thing.

“Sorry,” he finally gasped. “It’s…a habit.”

She just eyed him, neither rejecting or accepting his apology.

She sat on the love seat opposite of the couch that he’d taken over.

With an innocent look, she slowly put a coffee cup on the table and the bag.

“I’m not much of a cook… so I picked up breakfast. It’s just a black coffee. I figured you didn’t like anything fancy.” 

“T-Thank you,” he stuttered out, trying his best not to sound harsh.

Those words were strange coming out of his mouth. And Jason couldn’t figure out if it was because he’d completely lost his manners or there wasn’t anything someone had done for him lately that warranted any sort of thanks.

“I’m sorry about taking off your clothes,” she suddenly said. “I would’ve given you something. But…well…I don’t have anything even close to your size. Even my oversized clothing wouldn’t have fit.”

Jason was about to tell her it was OK, but she continued.

“Not that I would’ve even been able to put it on you. I hardly got your clothes off.”

Jason smirked at that. “Speaking of which, how the hell did you get my helmet off.”

“Yeah…I managed to get you to come to for a minute or so.” Then she shifted in her seat, clutching her coffee tighter as if it was a security blanket. “I honestly just asked you very nicely. I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone what you looked like. You were kind of just…a zombie or something and…took it off.”

Then he took her stature in. Jason knew he was a big guy. He was bigger than the majority of men. He’d only met a few women in his life that were taller than him, and they were all either Amazons or aliens.

This young woman was neither of those things.

“How did you get me off that roof?”

She laughed, seeing that he was trying to add it up in his head. “I’m definitely no Superman. My neighbor doesn’t have any other hobbies besides going to the gym. He owed me a favor.” Then her eyes widened. “Don’t worry, he didn’t see you without your helmet. He’s also sworn to secrecy.”

Jason shrugged. “It’s fine if he did. I can just kill him later.”

He saw her whole body tense up at that.

“Relax. I’m kidding.”

Her tension was released, but she didn’t find his joke very funny.

Then her eyes locked to the floor.

Jason took this chance to study her. 

Her hair was a bit of a mess. But there was still a halo around it as the sun shined from behind her. Her jeans were a bit baggy, but purposely so. She was wearing a band t-shirt that was so worn that there were a few holes in it.

Jason had to acknowledge that she was beautiful. But he had made note of that as soon as he’d pointed a gun at her.

“I ended last night with a life-threatening injury…amongst other things,” Jason said as he looked down at his body. “I woke up with not even a scratch on me. So why don’t you tell me how the hell that’s possible?”

She finally raised her gaze from the floor to him. Then she swallowed and clenched her jaw. It was clear she had been hoping for a scenario where Jason didn’t ask any questions, where he would just give his thanks and move on.

But she wasn’t that lucky. 

“Hey,” he said gently. “You’ve seen my face. You know who I am now. Whatever it is you’re scared to tell me, we’ll be even.”

She stared at him a bit longer before taking in a shaky breath. “I…umm…can do this thing.”

“Uh huh,” he encouraged.

“I can heal people by…umm…touching them?”

Jason sat back, letting the information settle. “Huh,” he said with small nod.

“I saved your life,” she told him. “All I ask in return is that you keep my secret.”

“You don’t have to worry about that,” he told her.

She nodded nervously, but didn’t seem fully convinced.

“What’s your name?” He asked her softly.

She looked unsure if she should tell him.

“I’m Jason. Jason Todd.” He offered to even the playing field.

She tilted her head, probably because she heard that name before. Everyone in Gotham had at some point. The tragic death of Bruce Wayne’s second adopted son. And then the dead son who had somehow come back, his death misidentified. There were hundreds of rumors about what really happened. But they all sounded ridiculous to her.

“Y/N,” she finally told him.

“Thank you for saving my life, Y/N.” He scratched the back of his neck. “But I have to ask why you did.”

After all, the neighborhood she lived in was weary of Gotham’s vigilantes. Some believed they were keeping them safe, while others thought they were just making things worse. It led to a general distrust of the masked heroes.

“They say the Red Hood used to be Robin,” she told him quietly.

“I don’t pay attention to what people say…”

Y/N leaned forward. “But is it true? Were you Robin back then?”

Jason ground his teeth together. “That was a lifetime ago.”

She watched him for a minute, working out whether she wanted to share something or not. 

“When I was a little girl, I was at the bank with my mom when a robbery went down. Things went bad and quick. They panicked, decided a little girl was the best hostage to grab. We barely got a few blocks away before Batman intervened. I was terrified, even of him. But Robin was with him…and he could tell I was scared. He wasn’t that much older than me, but he was so much braver. He held my hand until the police came. But even then I wouldn’t let go of him. So, he stayed with me until my mom got there.” She took in a deep and shaky breath. “It meant a lot to me.”

Jason controlled his expression, but he knew what she was talking about. He remembered that night. How he did was beyond him. But it didn’t feel long ago. He remembered thinking the little girl was pretty. 

Jason didn’t have a lot of friends back then. He came from the streets but lived in a mansion. He couldn’t figure out who he was back then. And it was hard to relate to other children. 

Back then, it was the most intimate interaction he had with someone his age. 

“Would you still have saved me last night even if I hadn’t been Robin?” 

This was all Y/N would get in terms of Jason admitting that he had been Robin that night.

Y/N shrugged and nodded. Then she cleared her throat. “The only thing saving this shit hole of a city is people doing the right thing.”

Jason stood.

The motion startled Y/N and she followed his action without even meaning to.

Now that he was standing on his own two feet, she truly understood just how absolutely massive he was. She was by no means short and she still felt like she was looking at a giant.

However, Jason misread her gawking for something else. “You don’t have to be scared of me, kid. I’m not going to hurt you,” he told her quietly.

“I’m not scared of you,” she said as her face suddenly felt hot.

Y/N didn’t know what she had expected to see under that red helmet last night. But she definitely wasn’t expecting a man handsome enough to be a model.

But then her brow scrunched, “And I’m not a kid.” Jason smiled – like, genuinely smiled. The muscles on his face forgot what that felt like.

He eyed the band t-shirt she was wearing: Fleetwood Mac – the Rumors album, to be precise.

“You’ve got good taste in music,” Jason complimented.

“Thank you,” Y/N mumbled.

A new tension filled the air.

Something neither of them have felt in awhile – if at all.

Y/N cleared her throat again, starting to feel too close to this large and beautiful man who was only standing in his briefs.

“You can use the shower if you want.”

Jason smirked. “Thanks, but I should get out of your hair. You’ve already done enough for me.”

He took a step toward her, realizing that he seemed to like seeing her reaction to his presence.

She stayed in place, but shifted her weight.

Jason lowered his head a bit. “Your secret is safe with me, Y/N. Thank you again…you saved my life.”

——————

Y/N and Jason couldn’t stop thinking about one another since that morning.

Jason had trust issues. And because of those trust issues, he learned not to rely on others. He refused to be anything besides independent. But those flaws were also the reason it was so hard for him to get close to anyone. He kept people at a distance so he could never be rejected or get his heart broken. It was problematic, but that was how he survived.

But Y/N had shown him kindness and then expected absolutely nothing in return. She just hoped he wouldn’t shoot her brains out when he finally came to.

Meanwhile, Y/N couldn’t remember the last time a man looked at her the way Jason had. Just thinking about the looks he gave her caused goosebumps to shiver across her skin. She’d seen the scars across his skin and knew he’d lived a rough life. And that wasn’t even including the scars his mind and heart held. She wondered who was the last person to help him or to just show him that they cared whether he lived or died.

It had been a few weeks and Y/N still couldn’t get Jason Todd out of her mind. Even now, as she sat on the rooftop of her building once again, eating a pizza she’d just picked up and washing it down with cheap red wine.

She almost spilled said wine all over herself when she jumped from the sound of someone dropping onto the roof from behind her.

Y/N whipped around to see Red Hood walking steadily toward her.

“Sorry. I tried to be loud so I wouldn’t scare you.” His voice sounded different from the helmet distorting it.

“Well, most people use doors and stairs…so I think the effort is pretty useless.”

Jason ignored her joke and pulled out a thick envelope that had been tucked on the inside of his leather jacket. 

He handed it to her.

Y/N was confused, but took it from his grasp anyway.

She opened it to find two tickets to see Fleetwood Mac on their reunion tour at Gotham City Stadium.

Her gaze shot up to Jason’s and then she did a double take at the tickets, making sure she wasn’t seeing things.

“How - What - Why?” She finally sputtered out the right question.

Jason just shrugged. “I owed you.”

“T-This is too much. I can’t accept this. These tickets must’ve cost a fortune,” she told him as she tried to hand the envelop back to him.

But he wasn’t having it and simply shook his head.

Y/N knew they cost a fortune because she had looked up tickets. Her heart had broken when she saw how far out of her budget the lowest prices were.

“Take them, Y/N. Please.”

She knew there was no point in arguing.

But she slowly looked up at him. “Would…ummm… Would you like to go with me?”

Jason blinked at the offer. “Seriously?”

Y/N laughed at his surprise. “Yeah, I mean, clearly you’re a fan, too.” Then she shrugged, now self conscious that she’d been too forward. “I don’t know. When was the last time you did something fun?”

Jason was shocked at how right she was.

“Oh, my God!” Y/N suddenly yelped.

Jason immediately jumped into action, grabbing both of his guns and stepping to Y/N in a protective stance.

“Jason, you’re bleeding!” She cried out, not realizing that he had just used his body as a human shield for her to defend an attack that wasn’t even happening.

He relaxed and followed her gaze to his forearm – the small patch of skin between his gloves and the rolled up sleeve of his leather jacket. He had been sliced by a knife. He probably needed to clean it before it got infected and stitch it up. 

“Y/N, it’s just a scratch.”

“Shut up,” she snapped. “Come here.”

Then he let her dragged him to the two fold-out chairs she kept on the roof.

Jason realized suddenly that he didn’t mind being bossed around by this woman. In fact, he kind of enjoyed it.

Without asking for permission, Y/N put her palm over his cut.

Jason watched as he felt a comforting warmth wash over the area of skin that she was touching. Within seconds, his cut was completely gone.

Y/N gave it a satisfied smile. No matter how many injuries she healed, the pride and relief never went away.

“You’re fucking amazing, you know that?” Jason was relieved his helmet hid the dumbstruck look that was surely on his face. 

Y/N didn’t seem to take the compliment very well and slightly folded into herself.

“So, will you?” She changed the subject quickly.

“Will I what?” But as Jason asked for clarification, he knew that he’d probably do anything Y/N would ask of him.

“Will you go to the concert with me?”

He nodded.

The nonverbal answer was enough for Y/N because she gave him a beaming smile.

In that moment, Jason wondered how he could ever push Y/N away like he had done with everyone else in his life. 

And for once, he allowed himself to feel happy.

Maybe he could keep letting himself be happy, as long as it included Y/N. 

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

Really, really loving writing for Jason Todd. I was a little exhausted with Marvel fandom.  Let me know what you think!

[jinx-jade]

Broken promises Part 3

“Why the fuck is Demon spawn at the League’s old base!” Jason growled.

The Wayne’s had all made their way down to the bat-cave. They were currently looking at the computer screen where Damian’s tracker was sitting in the league’s destroyed base.

As far as they were aware, the League had switched locations two years ago after the attack. It was strange for Damian to go back to a place that was nothing but crumbled buildings, let alone go back to the league when he made his stand very clear that he would never return.

“Shall I prepare a form of transportation to Nada Par?” Alfred asked, already heading to do so.

“Yes please Alfred,” Bruce said with a sight. “Jon, why don’t you head back home and see if you and Clark could patrol Gotham tonight.”

“Oh, uh, ok. Let me know when Dames is back?” Jon asked.

“Of course, but he might be grounded for a bit,” Bruce answered.

Jon nodded his head in understanding before leaving for home.

The bat kids made bets as to why Damian would seemingly willingly go back to Nada Par. The speculation continued the whole trip until they landed at their destination.

They searched the whole base with no luck. It wasn’t until they specifically followed Damian’s tracker that they found him.

Damian appeared to be sleeping under a large tree in some kind of garden with plants and animals that they have never seen before.

Next to Damian was an old sword that had been stuck in the ground for at the very least a year. There were vines and flowers wrapped around it, the sword itself was on the smaller side and definitely not one of Damian’s swords.

The bats moved closer to the large tree only for Damian to startle awake. He blinked at them a few times.

“Tch. What are you doing here?” Damian asked. His voice was a bit raspy as if he had been crying. Based on the redness and puffiness of his eyes, he might have been.

“What are you doing at the league’s old base?” Jason asked, not very happy to be back in Nada Par despite it being nothing but rubble.

Damian didn’t answer, instead, he leaned his head back against the tree, appearing to be ignoring them and the question.

“What kind of sword is that?” Dick asked about the blade in hope that changing the topic would get a response from him.

“... It’s a Kodachi…” Damian answered after a few moments of silence, keeping his head leaned back against the tree, his eyes closed.

“Ok, and what is it doing in this garden?” Dick questioned softly, being the best one out of the bats that know how to word things and work around Damian’s walls.

“...” Damian didn’t answer, instead, a single tear rolled down his cheek, shocking the bats. It was the first time they had seen the youngest bat cry. It became clear that Damian must have tilted his head back in an attempt to not cry in front of them.

The area was quiet, unsure of what to do.

“Swords placed in the ground are often used as grave markers of a fallen warrior that died in battle.” Tim reads, having looked it up as an excuse not to look at the crying former assassin.

The group went quiet with the realization that Damian must have been visiting someone’s grave, and that today some time ago, must have been the day of their death.

Damian eventually got up from his spot under the tree, he wiped his tear trails before walking past his family towards the exit.

“... Let’s…  just go,” Damian states, only for Cass to grab the sleeve of his shirt as he passed her.

Cass then proceeds to drag Damina back to his previous spot under the tree having them sit down, she hugged him close, and to their surprise, Damian started sobbing. Cass just rubbed a soothing circle into Damian’s back while combing through his hair and shushing him.

At this moment in time, Damian seemed like a heartbroken little kid, not some cold vigilante, ex-assassin.

The other bats were still frozen in place till Dick moved towards Damian and Cass, wrapping them in a hug. Slowly all the bats joined them under the tree.

They stayed there for a few hours in silence, the only noise being the small almost magic-like creatures, and Damian’s broken sobs.

Once Damian seemed to be done crying and out of tears, Cass asked the question they were all wondering.

“Who’s here?” She asked, placing a hand on the ground next to the blade.

“... You know, the League of Assassins was originally the League of Shadow because it was their job to hide in the shadows to protect our ally the Order of Miracles,” Damian said, tears still stuck in his throat.

“They disappeared for about two hundred years so the League became independent as the League of Assassins. When the Order returned, Ra’s and the Grand Guardian wanted to bind the two organizations together, so they betrothed the heirs of their organization to each other.”

Damian went quiet for a bit, but the bats weren’t known as the world’s greatest detectives for nothing. They could all guess whose grave this was now that Damian had explained that much.

“... we were twelve when she died…” Damian said with a shaky breath.

“Hey, breath, you’re safe, we got you,” Dick said soothingly combing his hands through Damian’s hair.

After a few minutes, Damian seemed to have calmed a bit from his previous worked-up state.

“....She died before we could keep our promise to each other,” Damian said, pulling up his sleeve to reveal a mark that could have been mistaken as a tattoo bracelet with how decorative the mark looked.

“What was her name?” Bruce eventually asks, his voice soft as to not disturb his morning child.

“...Marinette, Marinette Lenoir Wang” Damian said as a stray tear rolled down his cheeks.

About two hours after Damian had finally stopped crying and finished telling them about his betrothed did they start heading back to the jet. On the walk back Damian collapsed, most likely from emotional exhaustion, so Jason ended up carrying him on his back.

It was so strange to see the youngest bat so emotional and tired.

Each of the Waynes promised to help him heal, no matter how long it took.

Each of the Waynes received a mark on their left wrist, similar to Damian’s.

[bigskydreaming]

Doing some writing today off and on between errands and work, and jumping around various Kings of the Sky installments, specifically Dick, Jason and Cass stuff, so probably gonna post snippets from a bunch of them as I go. 

(Kings of the Sky is an AU that goes canon divergent from the point of Jason calling Dick for advice for dealing with Bruce after the Garzonas case and where things end up going dramatically different from that point on. Including Jason not dying, being part of his own lineup of Titans between Dick and Tim’s, Dick being adopted not long after the Church of Blood incident, Cass being the third Wayne kid to be taken in and adopted and with Tim and Duke being next and then Damian coming along later once they find out about him. This is basically my ‘the family’s alright’ AU with largely ‘Good Dad Bruce’ except for Dick and then Jason yelling some sense into him about the other, respectively, in the first two installments, just FYI).

Anyway, this bit is from a story called “In Their Shadows Grow Trees Of Good and Evil,” set about a year after Cass has been adopted, when she and Jason are both sixteen and Dick’s twenty-one. Also just FYI, because canon has never been specific about what ways Cass is neurodivergent due to the comic-book style ‘rewiring’ of her brain so that she could learn to speak later in life, I tend to go with her being dyslexic and having aphasia. She sticks exclusively to sign language and being a silent presence in her costumed personas, so that there’s no chance of people connecting the dots between Black Bat and Cassandra Wayne, as she mostly speaks verbally in her civilian persona and doesn’t hide her aphasia. The reason there’s not likely to be any obvious signs of aphasia in the snippets of her I post is because I wait until I complete something to choose words at random to replace with aphasia-born mixups, so its more realistic and I’m not gearing her dialogue towards deliberately placed moments. Just in case you were wondering.

In Their Shadows Grow Trees of Good and Evil

“Hey Todd,” sneered an exquisitely obnoxious voice. “Why’s your sister so fucking weird?”

Jason sighed the sigh of a soul a mere century into its eternity of damnation as he rose from the lunch table he’d been studying at and crammed the rest of his books into his backpack. Then he pasted a cheerfully bland smile on his face and turned around, geared for academia warfare (teenage prep school edition).

“Hey Craig,” he said brightly. “Why’d you come out of the womb so ugly your parents had to tie a piece of steak around your neck just to get the family dog to go near you? Mysteries abound.”

The advancing junior slowed a step, momentarily rocked by his truly impressive return volley. The grimace Craig’s already gargoyle-esque features twisted into made his face even more unpleasant to look at than usual, which was quite the feat. Jason would have applauded if just looking at it hadn’t already turned him to stone.

But the bargain basement basilisk kept on towards him rather than turn tail and skulk off to pop his emotional blisters, so Jason sighed a sequel to his first one. Looked like it was one of those days where Craig felt up to powering through. Guess someone had eaten their self-esteem Wheaties that morning. Joy.

“You think you’re pretty hot shit, don’t you, Todd?”

Jason shrugged. “I mean, to be honest I kinda have a one track mind, so right now I’m mostly just thinking about punching you in your mistake.”

“My what?”

“Your face,” Jason elaborated with exaggerated patience.

“Huh?”

“Oh my god, I’m saying your face is a mistake. See, its not as fun when I have to stop and explain it to you. Ugh, you ruin everything.”

He neatly sidestepped the older boy as R2-Dumbass stayed frozen, smoke coming off of his internal CPU while trying to catch up. For a second Jason thought he was home free, but then he remembered the universe fucking hated him so haha, sucks to suck. Also, a small crowd had gathered to witness the verbal jousting match, and nothing invigorated an asshole like Craig more than an audience of like-minded peers. So there was that too.

“Whatever. Laugh it up all you want, you little shit,” the junior rallied. “But just remember, mocking your betters will never change the fact that you were born street trash and you’ll be street trash until the day you die.”

Honestly? Not his best effort. Jason almost felt bad using any of his good material. Seemed like overkill at this point. But he did have a strict Scorched Earth policy to maintain, so.....

“Yeah but my dad could buy out and ruin your dad so that means I still win, right?”

He smirked as the barb landed and Craig’s face set into a sunset vista of strangled purple and furious red. Bam. Direct hit.

“Listen, you - “

“Oh for fuck’s sake, it was rhetorical,” Jason interrupted. “I don’t actually care what you think even a little bit. Nobody does. You don’t matter. Please go be irrelevant elsewhere, you’re fucking dismissed, you loser.”

“Speak for yourself, charity case.” Oh goodie, Craig’s backup singers had finally arrived. Now if only he could remember to care enough to learn their names in the first place. Seriously, who told the extras they could have lines? “All the jokes in the world can’t change who and what you are.”

Jason shrugged and continued nonchalantly up the hill to where his sister was standing with arms crossed, staring down at something on the other side.

“True genius is never appreciated in its own time,” he tossed back over his shoulder. “I’m sure I’ll be immortalized in song eventually.”

The mob of morons deigned to let him go without further incident. Though he suspected that had less to do with his scathing wit and more to do with him being headed towards Cass. She was immaculately presented as always, wearing the Gotham Academy uniform like she was born to it despite hating its uncomfortable stiffness every bit as much as he did. But that was just Cass for you. 

For all that she still struggled at times to engage verbally or speak up in social settings, her mastery of body language remained without peer. She could chameleon-camouflage her way into matching poise and posture with anyone - a skill that had allowed her to walk into school on her very first day with her head held high as though she owned everything in her sight. Exuding so much Queen Bee Intimidation Factor even the other hive queens were afraid to approach her  themselves. Sending forth their drones to try and woo her into an alliance, only to see her remain oh-so-casually above it all, a slightly contemptuous smile adorning her lips.

Basically, she scared the shit out of their classmates without them having anywhere close to a true understanding of why, and Jason was outrageously jealous. Rude. Unfair. Why did his siblings always get all the cool toys when all he had was his rakish charm, scintillating intellect and debonair.....nah, who was he kidding. He was fucking awesome. 

“Sup, sis,” he said, cresting the hill to stand beside Cass. “Just FYI, I just took a popularity bullet for you, which means you owe me your dessert tonight. Its a family rule that’s totally a real thing and definitely not something I just made up right now because Alf is making chocolate soufflé.”

She made no acknowledgment and remained stock still, a Colossus at Rhodes peering down into the shifting shadows of the parking lot below.

He peered down as well, though with absolutely no idea what they were looking at. Solidarity, yo.

“So are we staring fixedly at anything in particular, or should I just pick my own spot and commit?”

His humor was totally wasted on her as always. Instead of laughing and telling him what a lovable goof he was, she just inclined her head in the direction of a blonde girl where she was standing next to the driver’s side door of a Mercedes-Benz, dictating final commandments to her peons before departing. Well, probably. Jason was just guessing, based on his own body language reads, and like, general disdain for literally everyone at this school that wasn’t related to him.

He made a face. An extra special one reserved just for this classmate in particular. “Ugh, Madison Dunleavy? She’s the worst.”

Cass raised a cool eyebrow. “I thought Craig Hendricks was the worst.”

“He is. They’re both the worst. Its a hotly contested position here at Gotham Academy.”

She rolled her eyes and nodded back down at the Queen of Air and Darkness. “So. You know her?”

“Nope,” Jason said. “Come to think of it, I’ve actually never seen her in my life. No idea who that is. Can’t help you, sorry. Shall we go home?”

The Eyebrow of Inquisition speared him with clear intent. Who the fuck needed words when you could pack the Encyclopedia Britannica into a single facial expression?

Jason sighed gustily. 

“I had a slight altercation with her freshman year that led to her declaring her undying enmity for me until the end of time. The word nemesis may or may not have been thrown around once or twice. I can’t recall.”

The Eyebrow of Inquisition lowered nary an inch. Ugh, she wanted more? Why did everyone in his family hate privacy, with the obvious exclusion of himself when snooping through Cass and Dick’s rooms for blackmail material, which was actually intel-gathering and thus another matter entirely.

“Okay so basically what happened was my first week here I overheard her talking shit about me and not even twenty minutes later she was pretending to kiss my ass in homeroom, like probably because of Bruce, y’know? So I just busted out laughing and told her to fuck off and die and she has inexplicably loathed me ever since.”

Avoiding further Eyebrow Inquisition-ing, he made a show of peering around aimlessly. When the silence extended and it was clear Cass was absolutely not going to break first, Jason waved a hand in dismissal and took to peering oh so casually at his fingernails. "I suppose I was less tactful back in those days.”

He chanced a look up, finally, and saw his sister’s eyebrow had somehow managed to mighty morphin power ranger its way into a configuration evoking both judgment and disbelief, with the latter perhaps aimed at the idea he was significantly differing in the tact department these days either.

“I don’t love the implications your face is making right now,” he told her.

She ignored him, because of course she did. 

“Does she know Dick?” She asked instead. Jason shrugged.

“I mean, maybe? She’s probably seen him around at one of those stupid galas we have to go to, and actually I think maybe she has an older brother who was either in Dick’s grade or like, one above or below it? I don’t know.”

Now both eyebrows were doing the dance of disbelief. Okay, so maybe that was poor situational awareness on his part, since it wasn’t like Gotham Academy was a big school with a ton of other kids and also he’d only been in the same class as Madison for like over two whole years, but whatever. There were extingent circumstances.

“Look, she’s a total snob who’s always looked down on me and in return I willfully ignore both her existence and that of everyone and everything even tangentially related to her. Its called equality, Cass.”

She pursed her lips and went back to the peering, because of course in the mind of Cass it made total sense that the Grand Inquisition didn’t need to be followed up by any explanation on her part, what the hell. Like was he supposed to have inferred it?

“What’s this all about anyway?”

“I heard her talking about Dick earlier,” she said without peeling her eyes away from her personal recon mission. “I don’t know what she said though, I just heard her say Grayson, and then I was busy looking at what her body was saying. I know it was about Dick because she shut down when she saw me. And I didn’t like the way she....looked....before that happened. The way she was talking. It was.....”

Jason frowned but held back any follow-up questions while he waited - with total patience because he wasn’t an absolute cad, thank you very much - for his sister to find the word she was hunting for. It was a major source of frustration for her, that whatever neural map her brain followed put body language and spoken language in totally different regions of her brain, separated by a fairly great divide. Meaning she usually had to make a conscious choice to focus on body language or conventional languages - whether verbal or sign. But it tended to be one or the other; she’d yet to master taking in and comprehending both forms of ‘language’ at the same time. And none of them had quite figured out how to convince her that she wasn’t actually missing anything when she chose to focus on one specific form of communication - that she was still observing far more than most people ever would.

“Proprietary,” Cass settled on at last. She nodded her satisfaction with her choice of word, and Jason waited a whole two point five seconds before sticking  his whole foot in his mouth.

“Proprietary?” He asked with a scrunched nose as he weighed that for possible context and implications. “You sure?”

She glared. He winced. It was a whole thing.

“Yeah, I know, sorry, sorry, I heard it the second it was out of my mouth. We don’t actually have to experiment with the legitimacy of if looks could kill.”

Cass rolled her eyes, but eh. That could’ve gone worse.

Jason swiftly redirected attention anyway. Discretion is the better part of valor, after all.

“So. The Queen of Air and Darkness was talking about our big bro, and her mood was.....proprietary, huh?” He recapped while digesting the info like a boss. “Well. Definitely not loving that, I gotta say. Hold please.”

Pulling out his phone and pulling up his most recent texts, he began typing furiously.

“What are you doing?” Cass asked.

“Texting Tom,” he replied, because duh. Hah, now it was his chance to have the answers that should be patently obvious and thus make with the ‘are you kidding me’ when she asked obvious questions she should know the answer to! How do you like them apples, sis?

“Why are you texting your boyfriend right now?”

Jason rolled his eyes, because fair is fair, but never ceased texting for a moment. Time was of the essence here, probably. Well, maybe. Okay probably not. But it’d still been like half an hour since he and Tom had last texted and that’s a very fucking long time in teenage years.

“To be our getaway driver tonight, obviously.”

She stared at him. He didn’t look up, but he could feel it anyway. He was very intuitive like that.

“What?”

Jason heaved another sigh, one keyed to tones of ‘oh my god, do I really have to spell this out,” exasperation. He was just racking up the bonus points here. It was really too bad this wasn’t an actual competition he could actually win and this was all just pettiness taking place wholly in his own head. Lame. 

“Well, clearly we now have to go snoop in Madison’s house aka lair to see if its actually a house or a full on lair. Because she’s either a creeper or like, legit evil, and its important to know which one before we proceed, because obviously we can only bust her for being a weird creeper about our brother as Jason and Cass, whereas if she’s legit evil, that’s gotta go down as Robin and Black Bat. I’ll handle the snooping, you’ll take look-out, but we still need a wheelman and that’s why I’m texting Tom. This is all very mission-oriented, okay. I’m a professional.”

“Right,” she affirmed, while sounding anything but convinced. “Why don’t we just tell Bruce?”

Without looking up or breaking stride, he said: “I’m going to give you til I finish typing this sentence to figure out what was wrong with what you just said. Remember that we are talking about hypothetical danger to our brother, and also Bruce’s idea of a proportionate response to any of his children being in even hypothetical danger. And also our brother’s idea of a proportionate response to Bruce’s idea of a proportionate response. Look, you’re still new so I’m gonna need you to just trust me on this one. Its gonna be a no on telling Bruce without further intel.”

Cass said nothing in response to that, which meant that she was conceding the point and recognized the wisdom of his words. Or maybe that she was just gonna go ahead and do what she wanted anyway and just wasn’t bothering to fight about it, but it was probably that first thing.

“Well you better not just make out with your boyfriend all night,” is what she said at last, and that got his attention reeeeeal quick like.

“Umm. Wow. Okay. So, first off, you’re not the boss of me and who I make out with and when, so jot that down. And second, now I’m definitely going to make out with my boyfriend extra hard, with the exception of when we are actually on our recon mission because as previously established, I am a professional. And also, again, you’re not the boss of me.”

Jason ignored her Eye Roll With Extra Emphasis, and instead just held up his phone to Text With Extra Emphasis, as he read along with what he was typing.

“By the way babe, we have to make out extra hard tonight,” he said, tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth while he dragged out his dictation with the kind of focus that usually led to Bruce asking why he couldn’t apply as much intensity to training as he did to pettiness. “Cass has suddenly decided she can dictate terms to me and I need to shut that shit down ASAP, so thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter. Smoochies and other gay stuff to the best boyfriend ever.”

Jason frowned as a response pinged back seconds later. 

TheCatsMeow: ....the things I put up with for the sake of your weird family dynamics.

TheOnlyRobinThatRocks: Yeah, yeah. You’re a saint among were-panthers. Must you mock? Why can’t you just tell me I’m pretty instead?

TheCatsMeow: Sorry. Let me try again. OMG you’re so pretty Jase how did I get so lucky xoxo.

TheOnlyRobinThatRocks: No. Its too late. It feels forced and unbelievable now. You’ve ruined it forever.

TheCatsMeow: Got it. From now on I will only tell you that you’re repulsive and hideous.

TheOnlyRobinThatRocks: I’m breaking up with you.

TheCatsMeow: But after I help you with your mission tonight.

TheOnlyRobinThatRocks: Obvsly. I’m a professional. Why do people keep forgetting this?

TheCatsMeow: And also the making out to spite your sister.

TheOnlyRobinThatRocks: Yeah we should do that first too. I mean we already penciled it in.

[jasmine-the-fox]

I did the work... You guys were lazy

For this salt fic, I want you all to see what happens to the class for believing Lila and her lies and leaving behind Marinette... Also Damienette ship!!

For years Marinette didn’t think about her old class... Caline Bustier’s class was gone like the wind to her when she left Paris to go to Gotham for college, there were times when Alya and some of them will text her old number about demands of baked goods, dresses or new date Adrien plans... She would ignore them and at one point got rid of her phone as she was done with them, the only people she spoke to was Chloe who never believed Lila and even worked hard to be forgiven by Mari, Sabrina did so much research on Lila with Max that they too were forgiven with time, then was Alix who was visited by a furious Bunnix who showed Alix her future if she follows Lila.

Nathaniel was also someone who believe Mari, from the start he thought Lila was strange and one day with Marc spoke to Mari and has been loyal to her... Lastly was Kitty section, Luka was furious with them for listening to Lila about music and warned them about him quitting if they keep this up, after a while they heard Mari crying to Luka about what Lila did to her and they ended up leaving Lila, outside the class was of course Luka and Marc, Kagami, Aurore, Mireille, Ondine and Felix who is Adrien’s cousin, he was furious when Chloe told him about Adrien’s take the higher road line he told Mari.

Each of her friends did sadly go to different places and she only had Chloe with her in Gotham but that was fine with her, she still texted and did video calls with them so that was fine to her... And then she met Damian Wayne, the boy was cold and rarely spoke to anyone unless for a project he had to do in a team, slowly she began talking to him outside of class and that made him at some point want to speak with her about anything at all that wasn’t even related to school, with time Chloe helped her with there friends to change Marinette’s style, she went from pigtails to her hair down or in a braid, from white pink and gray to black and other kinds of colors.

She also began to wear make-up and she opened up a website for her designs, a blog so people can see tips and tricks on how to do things with clothes or how to fix something, she also took down all her previous accounts she had with the class following her and opened new accounts for her real friends to be seen with her, Damian would glare when his brother’s would talk about a new post on her social media or on her blog while his father often commissions her for clothes, this caused for her to become famous in Gotham and Clark interview her... Making her also famous in Metropolis.

And while she was becoming famous while still in school... Her class was losing there dreams, Alya was the first one to go through this, Nadja Chamack got to interview Lois Lane who ripped into the Ladyblog by pointing out posts she made that were lies and the consequences that would have happened if certain people saw them... Leading to her blog being taken down, she with Lila got sued and Lila was exposed as the liar she was including the bonus of Lila being deported back to Italy to live with her grand-parents who were sending her to a private school.

Slowly everyone including Adrien were targeted, Adrien being found out as Lila revealed that he and Marinette were the only ones who knew she was lying from the start... He was homeschooled once again but was able to go to college, he picked one his friends were going to with the grades they had but they all glared at him... But none of them thought to apologize to Mari for bullying her and claiming her to be a liar... Not until there bank accounts were frozen because there parents received from Tom and Sabine bills for each of there kids for baked goods, clothes, babysitting that Alya and Nino put on her at the last minute for a date and anything else that they never paid back.

That’s when they remembered Marinette, they all began trying to call and text her... But her number wasn’t available anymore as it wasn’t use so they couldn’t talk to her, Alya thought she was being petty while Adrien thought Mari was being selfish, with time they got back to work on what they wanted... And then they saw Mari on the news in Metropolis as an up coming designer, Gabriel Agreste saw a solution to the problem Lila brought to his work and told Adrien to try and talk to her and see if she would date him... Except Adrien didn’t have her current number.

It took some time but Gabriel ended up being invited to a Wayne Gala, he took his son and instructed him to try and get Marinette’s new number to try and then date her, Adrien was certain it would all go well and he would get her new number... Then everyone will be able to contact her and things will go back to normal for them, when they got there, Adrien began looking for Mari but saw Chloe with Damian Wayne and some girl with short hair, he decided to ignore them for now and focus on searching for Mari but couldn’t find her at all.

“Adrien? I’m surprised that your here since your father always comes alone” he turned to find Chloe and the girl from earlier, Damian wasn’t with them now and was instead talking to some guests “Hey there Chlo, my dad heard about Mari on the news and wanted to meet her and so I was just trying to find her for him” he explained as the girl looked annoyed at him while Chloe looked disappointed “Mari has been next to me from the start... You should have come over the moment you got here” she said as Adrien looked shocked at Marinette, her hair was now chin length, her dress was a beautiful red dress with a beautiful dragon design.

Chloe had to then walk away to speak with a guest, leaving the two alone, Adrien began trying to start a conversation but Mari simply went with short and simple answers... No going into detail of things, this was not the Marinette Dupain-Cheng he knew so he had to do something, he then began asking her if she could show him around Gotham while he was here, if she would like to have lunch with him at some point and even if she would like to dance with him... She said straight up no and didn’t give him a reason as to why, still wanting her number to begin contacting her, he decided to wait until she was drinking wine before snatching her phone from her purse and adding her number to his phone and sending it to the class before putting it back into her purse.

He just had to tell her she gave it to him while she was a little drunk, it would be just fine in the end and nothing would go wrong... He was wrong, the next day, police came to arrest him for stealing her phone and sending her number to others who contacted her the whole night... He tried to defend himself but security camera’s caught him stealing her phone and slipping it back, he was being sued and a restraining order was on him to stay away from her while she once again changed her number and ended up telling her clients about it... Gabriel was disappointed in his son for he had to go meet with her to try and fix everything... While trying to get her to agree to going on a date with his son.

She was already dating Damian though.

He found out when he saw them together, Damian had called her Angel and they kissed before he left, she refused to go on a date with his son or to remove the restraining order on his son... But Gabriel won’t give up “Make one of them hate the other, anything will do but make one of them dump the other!” he ordered his son who nodded to the demand, since Adrien couldn’t get close to Mari... He had to aim for Damian, he decided to us a few pictures he took of her in the past to make Damian think she has been dragging around a bunch of guys and girls, he didn’t care that Nino and Kim knew from childhood, he also didn’t care that Chloe and Kagami were in a relationship with one another, he didn’t care about Luka and Felix’ pride.

He was going to win this no matter what... He will make his father proud of him.

He was sent back to Paris to be put in jail there three days later, he really didn’t know what went wrong, all he did was show Damian the pictures and told him a few lies about her... And next thing he knew police was at his hotel room door and took him away to get to the airport to get to Paris, what he didn’t know was that Damian had seen those very pictures on Mari’s old friends and current friends social medias, so he knew he was lying from the start and called the police about it, Gabriel tried to stop them but he too was sent back to Paris for Nathalie had given the police a recording of Gabriel telling Adrien to try and get Mari’s number and have her date him.

Because of this both of there miraculous were taken, since Ladybug was now part of Batman’s team and had warned the police about the Agreste father and son having one each, Nathalie of course gave up her’s with the info and then returned early to Paris to take care of things there... And get Lila into even more trouble as she did work with Hawkmoth all this time, even so it wasn’t over, after a while in prison Adrien was released but not his father, after that Adrien saw his friends and fixed everything with them since he did get Mari’s number for them... If only for a while, so they forgave him, Adrien ended up getting the whole Agreste fortune and he then sold the mansion and the fashion company to live in an apartment.

His friends all worked hard to save up money to have a class reunion, with time everything was planned out and they got the whole class notified about it so they know when it happens and where to go at what time, they were so happy to have it happen as they couldn’t wait to see everyone, when the day came they were shocked at the friends they thought were evil...

Max and Sabrina ended up getting married, it was big and hard to get into a news reporter was able to find out from Sabrina that her dress was made by Marinette herself, Kitty section ended up breaking up, Juleka was now a model for Mari while Rose became a writer, Mylène was now a famous actress and happily married to Ivan who was now a famous song writer, Chloe and Kagami also got married, Chloe was Marinette’s assistant while Kagami opened up a Tsurugi fencing school in Gotham, Luka was now following Jagged Stone and becoming a famous singer and guitar player, Nathaniel become her website artist, helping her redesign her site page depending on new themes and seasons while Felix was Marinette’s image manager.

They were all there, even Lila... But Marinette was nowhere in sight, they all tried getting answers but the gang had ignored them, Aurore, Ondine, Mireille and Marc found it funny that they would try to get answers on Mari after all this time they had bullied her, Marinette then walked in arm in arm with Damian Wayne, they looked amazing in there outfits, just like all of her friends as they too were wearing her designs, the two walked around to greet her friends and see how they were doing since the last time they had spoken together, Alya and the gang tried to talk to her but all she did was ignore them... Lila on the other hand glared at Mari.

Everything Marinette was doing and getting... Should have been her, Lila should have been the one to meet Damian Wayne, she should be the one dating him, SHE should be the one becoming famous! But no! She was found out as being dangerous, working with a villain like Hawkmoth destroyed everything she could hope for... Now she worked part-time at some little restaurant in Italy being barely paid much with the hopes of meeting some rich guy to sweep her off her feet, she looked at times towards Adrien, he may no longer be a model for his father’s designs but he was now modeling for an agency who knew of what he liked, disliked and wanted to work in.

Even so she was disappointed when she saw how Adrien was focused on Mari, he still wanted to be with her,  he began walking towards “Agreste! You know that the restraining order is still on you! Take one more step towards Mari and I will call the cops!�� Chloe shouted making the other’s of the class look at her in shock, Restraining order? On Adrien? To not get close of sweet innocent Marinette? Chloe must be lying, so of course Alya snapped back with Nino on her side on how Adrien has a right to greet Mari, they claim he’s allowed to go see her and insist he does, Kim pushes him forward towards Mari while Sabrina calls her dad to inform him about Adrien breaking the restraining order.

He got there in just a few minutes...

“Mister Agreste due to the fact that you broke the restraining order miss Marinette Dupain-Cheng placed on you after you stole her phone during a Wayne gala and then sent her number to an unknown number of people you will be coming with me to the station” Roger said as he cuffed Adrien and forced him to follow to his police car, Alya, Nino, Kim and Lila were in a massive shock at this... So Chloe was right, Marinette did put a restraining order on Adrien... Because they wanted her number to talk to her again since she changed it after all this time, and now here she was, changed and not allowing them to talk to her and to apologize for what they did.

The whole event ended and by morning everyone was on a plane to get back to where they live or are to be staying for work, about a week later Alya found out in the paper that Marinette was going to become a Wayne soon, she so badly wanted to report about in order to help her make it big so she with Nino got to the airport and paid for plane tickets to Gotham to speak with her, they found where she worked and begged to see her “Alya? Nino? Can I ask why your here in Gotham?” they turned to find Mari with Damian, they were just about to leave for lunch when she saw them “Mari! Gurl you NEED to let me report about your wedding! This could give me a huge break and get to become a reporter again!” Alya claimed as Mari glared at her.

“What do you mean by again? Alya all this time, you were not a reporter... You were the owner of a tabloid that posted every single lie Lila spoke to you, and as for this big break of yours it was destroyed the second Lois spoke about the Ladyblog, try anywhere and they will reject you because Lois is the one who reveals who is a good reporter... And those who are like you... Trash under our feet” Mari hissed and began walking with her fiancé too the door until she turned to the front desk “Alissa, please get these two on the blacklist and kick them out, I don’t want to see this trash by the street when I get back” she said and walked out like this wasn’t anything new for her to say.

Marinette worked hard to get to where she was... With the help of her friends and Damian... But her three remaining classmates all believed that Lila would help them skip up to the lifestyle she has now... But everyone knows you need to put the effort into things to get there.

[imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl]

Dangerous Love (Pt. 12 of 13)

Pairing: Bruce Wayne (Batman) X Harley Quinn's sister!Reader

Word count: 2.8 K

Summary: You're Harley Quinn's sister, Havoc, one of the many villain's of Gotham. But you've been caught, and has been tortured constantly for an year in Belle Reve. But when your think your life can't be anything else than the nightmare you find yourself into, Bruce Wayne, the Batman, takes you in for a project. He has a program to rehabilitate villains, and you're his lab rat. But soon enough confusing feelings start getting in the way. You know falling for Bruce is stupid. But can you keep your heart under control?

<- Previous part (11)

Next part (13) ->

{Justice League - DC Masterlist}

×

So The Whole World Knows

Bruce loves you. It's the first thing that comes to your mind when you wake up. You talked for hours, until late at night, and Bruce told you exactly when he started falling for you. It was on the day he went to Belle Reve to take in your papers. That was the first time he saw you, through the camera they had in your cell. You remember that day because the lights were turned on for fifteen minutes or so. But you would never guess it was for Bruce to see you. From that moment on, Bruce told you, he felt something change inside him. He also tried to push it back, ignore it, misread it. But he knew he had to help you.

It got a little messy when it was your time to speak. You stuttered like an idiot, struggling to find the right words to express yourself. Bruce did seem to find it a little funny, so you playfully slapped him a couple of times. But in the end, the three words finally came out, from your lips and from his. Bruce is dead serious about your relationship, and this time he told you with all the words. He assured and reassured you this is not just a fling or a crush. He wants what you have to be serious, solid. And you want the same.

Smiling, you move closer to Bruce, felling as his chest rises and falls with his steady breath. “Morning, sweetheart.” He says.

“Hey...”

“It's a little late, I bet.” He turns his head to look at the digital clock by the nightstand on his side of the bed. “Almost ten.” He starts moving to get up and you let out a groan.

“Five more minutes. C'mon.”

“I'm taking you out today, remember?” He sits up, looking down at you. “So get up and get ready.”

He's way more excited about this than you are. But you get on with the morning routine. Shower, breakfast, and you have to add dressing up on something other than sweatpants and tank top. You have just two pairs of jeans to choose from and a few blouses. Bruce got them for you a while ago, but you never had any reason to use them. You have a pair of white sneakers too. When you're done, you do look different. Normal... These simple-looking clothes are expensive, you can tell. You've had your share of stolen high fashion clothes, so you know the difference between clothes that normal people can buy and the clothes Bruce Wayne has access to.

“Are you ready?” Bruce calls and you leave the bathroom. “You look–”

“It's just sneakers, jeans, and a purple blouse.” You cut him off, rolling your eyes at the smile that comes to his lips. “You look very handsome in this suit.” You can't help but say, trying not to look for so long and leading the way out of the bedroom.

Bruce rathers have his driver taking you, so he can stay on the back seat with you. Seeing the city after all this time, almost a year and a half if you count with the time you were in Belle Reve, feels different. Even more because you're in the daylight, not trying to hide, and not planning any kind of mischief. It's like seeing everything for the first time. Gotham has it's a beauty... at least here, the good part of the city.

When Bruce tells the driver to stop, your heart skips a beat. He gets out first, and you're frozen, suddenly aware of people walking up and down the street. “Let's go,” Bruce says in a soft tone after he opens the door for you.

“Let's go,” you repeat, more to yourself than to him.

And you're off the car, holding Bruce's hand as you walk at a slow pace. You get the feeling that people are staring. At you, at Bruce, and them at your holding hands. It's good to know that they don't seem to know who you are. Bruce takes you to a few stores so you can buy your own clothes. You resist a lot because you keep checking the price tags even though he told you not to. You stop by a restaurant to have lunch before you hit different stores. At some point you know you have more than you need right now, but he doesn't seem to see it that way.

“They don't recognize me,” you mutter as you pass by a small group of people.

“You're different. And not just because of the hair color.” He looks down at you, smiling.

Biting your lip, you hold back a smile too. As you look at the store's display, you slow down until you stop before a window. There's a necklace in a display, with three pink stones. Acting out of pure instinct, your eyes scan the store's entrance for cameras. Two. “I could steal it, you know.” You decide to tell Bruce, just to tease him. “One of those cameras is broken. And even if it wasn't, it never stopped me before.” You wink at him as he raises his eyebrow, starting to move again.

“Come.” He grabs your arm, pulling you inside the store.

“No,” you exclaim, trying to pull him back to the street. Which is useless. “Bruce, c'mon.”

“Ma'am. I'd like to see that piece you have on display. The necklace with the pink diamonds.”

“Diamonds?”

The woman does as he says, and seconds later she puts the piece on the desk before you. “This is a unique piece. The designer never makes the same piece twice. A true jewel.”

“It sounds super expensive.”

“Well, you can't expect to buy something unique for a low coast.” She says, even though you weren't talking to her. “Are you going to take it, Mr. Wayne?”

“Let's see.” Bruce takes the necklace from the display and moves to stand behind you. “Pin your hair up for me, please.” He asks when he notices that you won't move. Taking a deep breath, you do as he says, and Bruce puts the necklace around your neck, pulling you to stand before the mirror. “What do you think?”

The delicate stones looks beautiful, obviously, and you touch it with your fingertips. “I think it wasn't meant for someone like me,” you whisper.

“I think you're wrong. And it's you that makes the necklace look even more beautiful.” Bruce places a soft kiss on your shoulder before turning back to the woman. “I will take it.”

Unbelievable. “You shouldn't spoil me, Bruce Wayne,” you tell him when you're leaving the store.

“After everything you went through in that hell, I will spoil you... Just a little bit.”

“Well... I think we can go home now. Or do you want to take me somewhere else?”

“You will need a dress for today's gala.”

“What?” You stop walking again, turning to look at him. “What gala?”

“I have another dull party to attempt, and I thought it would be a good chance to introduce you to the city.” He says as if it's no big deal to take a wanted criminal to a high society party, where everyone will not only see but photograph you.

“Bruce, people will... Everyone will see that we're together... What will they–”

“Haven't you considered the possibility that I might want people to know we're together?”

“But...”

You don't even have the chance to think about what the hell you were going to say next because Bruce pulls you into a kiss. It's slow, as if you're weren't in the middle of the sidewalk of a very hectic street. But soon enough there's no one else. As you step closer, wrapping your arms around his neck, you deepen the kiss. The world fades away, and nothing else matters. And you feel like you can deal with the gala as long as you're with him.

• • •

As much as you love the silver dress Bruce gave you for your birthday, your back is still a little messed up. So your new dress, in a dark shade of blue, covers it. It's crazy how Bruce has to help you figure out what to do with your hair. Luckily, Diana is still here to intervene. She helps you make some waves and pin half of it up, to so it'll stay away from your face except for a few locks. You're worried sick about this gala thing as you go downstairs, and to the living room, where Bruce is waiting. He smiles when he sees you, and you blush and look down.

The short trip to the gala is silent because you're gathering the courage you'll need. When the car stops, you're taken aback by the countless photographers and journalists.

“Are you ready, my love?” Bruce asks, holding your hand. You nod, taking a deep breath. “I'll open the door for you and those flashes will be on your face. There will be questions, and probably a headline about Bruce Wayne's girlfriend tomorrow.”

“I know.” Nodding at him, you watch as he gets out. Bruce stops and waves for the cameras for a while before walking around the car and opening your door.

The world slows down as you step out, holding onto Bruce's arm, trying your best not to look more misplaced than you already do. “Just smile.” He whispers before placing a kiss on your cheek. And you do as he says, smiling and even waving a little. There are countless cameras flashing, microphones, and a lot of questions, so many you can't even understand most of them. Some want to know your name, why you showed up with Bruce Wayne if it's right to assume you're in a relationship. But since Bruce doesn't seem like he'll answer any of them, you keep your mouth shut. “Time to go in. Let them freak out about it.”

“Okay.” You let him guide you inside, a hand on the small of your back.

This gala takes place in a luxury hotel, and its main hall is sophisticatedly decorated. Everything seems terribly expensive and breakable, and the people seem to be stupidly rich. You even recognize some of them. Politicians, philanthropists, CEOs... You stole from some of these guys and here you are now, at the same party, as if you belong.

“Bruce...”

“What is it?” You stop by your table, and he pulls the chair for you to sit.

“What happens if only one person here recognizes me?” Would they call the police? Start running? Yelling? It would certainly be a mess, and the last thing you want is to ruin this. Bruce decided to bring you here so the city will see you, and to make a point to those women who still insist on trying to get him... And because he wanted your company. You can't even count how many times he told you that having you here would make this dull gala become something great... Bringing yourself to believe it it's still hard, but you're trying not to doubt him anymore. He has been proving that everything he says is true.

“They won't, my love. And even if they did... You're with me, remember? Nothing is going to happen to you.”

“Bruce Wayne.” A woman stops by, the same you saw some time ago from your window, hugging him in the garden. “So the rumors are true. You actually came with a girl.”

“Angela, this is (Y/N), my girlfriend.” He says, smiling as you reach out your hand to shake Angela's. There's a sting of anger in your chest, and for a moment you don't know why. But it must be jealousy, right? Bruce told you they're just old friends, but the image of the hug, and what you thought it meant back then floods your mind. But you bring back to memory everything Bruce said, and everything he has done.

“Nice to meet you, Angela. Bruce told me a lot about you.”

“Only the bad things, I hope.” She giggles and you offer her a smile. “You better be ready to see your face on every news channel tomorrow night. The woman who finally got into Bruce Wayne's heart.”

“I've been warned,” you say, exchanging a glance with Bruce.

“Well, take good care of him. He can be a little... Complicated.”

“You have no idea how.” Oh, if she only knew about his night job...

“I will leave you two. I still need to make my presence known to some very boring people.” With a last smile, she walks away.

“And I should do the same.” Bruce stands up.

“Okay.” You're starting to accept the fact that you'll have to sit here alone for a while when he reaches out his hand. “What?”

“Did you think I'd leave you here?” You take his hand and stand up, and he pulls you to his side. “I won't leave you alone.”

Biting your lip, you hold back a smile.

Now you get why Bruce finds these parties so dull. He walks around, meeting people, engaging in small conversations, complimenting random things... The difference now is that he's introducing you to every single one of them, as his girlfriend. Saying that they're surprised is a misunderstanding. They're perplexed because they don't seem to recognize you from any of the high society families of Gotham. Or from anywhere else.

As the night goes by, you feel the anxiety vanishing. You even give your opinion about some things. Politics, company administration, economy. It makes Bruce give you a proud smirk, that you'll make sure to tease him about later.

When the formal talk is over, and the music starts playing, Bruce takes you to the middle of the hall, and you dance among the rest of the people. The photographers are allowed in, but not the journalists. And it doesn't take much until some of them reach you, and the cameras start flashing.

“As soon as they get a few good shots, they'll leave,” Bruce reassures you.

“I'm alright. It doesn't bother me.” You have your eyes fixed on him, but you close them when your foreheads touch.

“There's something else I need them to get on camera. To make things one hundred percent clear.”

“What?”

Bruce closes the final distance between the two of you, capturing your lips on a soft, warm kiss. And it happens again, the rest of the world disappears. The flashes, the gossip... Nothing else matters.

• • •

“Bruce, I'm on TV,” you yell from the living room. “And not because I broke the law.”

He comes from the kitchen with a smile, handing you a bowl of ice cream before sitting beside you on the couch. “What are they saying?”

“The girl who came out of the blue stole Bruce Wayne's heart. The most wanted bachelor is now taken. Sorry, girls.” you add the last sentence, shrugging your shoulders. “Same thing that channel five.”

“I got calls. People asking for an interview with you.”

“Oh, no. They'll ask about my past. What the hell am I going to say?”

“You don't have to say anything. They don't have to know.” He gestures for you to move closer, and when you do, he pulls you so you're seated in between his legs, comfortably leaning against his chest. “Nothing else matters, remember? Just you and me.”

“Nothing else matters,” you repeat, closing your eyes for a moment to feel the soft kiss he places on your shoulder. “Life is good, you know? It's finally good.” Your mind floats back to your troubled past, when you had many things, expensive things, everything money could get. And how empty it was. Flash forward to today, here, in Bruce's arms, you finally feel complete, loved, like you found your place in the world without having to steal it, or put on a mask to conquer it.

“There's only one thing left, my love. Your freedom.”

Moving so you can look at him, you sigh. “Even if I have to be here, not being allowed to go out there again, I'd still be happy, you know.”

“But I want you to have everything. To be free to go for a walk if you want, to make friends and hang out with them. Graduate and find a job you enjoy... All the things you never had.”

“Maybe it's more than I deserve.”

“You deserve it. More than those guards who torture you. They're criminals too, as were you.”

The simple fact that the said it in the past makes you smile. “I love you, Bruce.”

“I love you too.” You both focus on the news again, watching an entire show decided to talking about you. Countless photos and videos of Bruce come to the screen, and you can't help but look with admiration. You look good, despite seeming a little clueless in the beginning, but then you look almost normal, holding onto Bruce's arm. The gala was nice, and you felt a little special by being there, but the best part was coming home with Bruce and having the silly little things you have. Having dinner together, falling asleep together. Happiness isn't enough to describe it. You'll have to create a whole new word.

×

@fionanovasleftnut @glitterypinkkitty @mybabyboytony @chipster-21 @agustdpeach @yaakimoon2 @chloe-skywalker @rosalynshields

[themattress]

Battle of the Seasons

Gotham: Season 1 vs. Season 2 vs. Season 3 vs. Season 4 vs. Season 5

Let's take this season by season, shall we?

Season 1 has a different style to it than the rest, being more of a grounded, gritty police procedural with cases-of-the-week (or two weeks) while both an overarching mob drama and an overarching mystery (who killed Thomas and Martha Wayne?) play out on the side. This is a frustrating season for me because this style could have worked - if I gave a damn about a majority of the characters, and I just don't. I don't care about Jim Gordon, Harvey Bullock, Sarah Essen, Barbara Kean, Selina Kyle, Ed Nygma, Kristen Kringle, Leslie Thompkins, Ivy Pepper, Commissioner Loeb, Mayor James, Harvey Dent, Renee Montoya, Crispus Allen, Fish Mooney, Sal Maroni, Carmine Falcone, Butch Gilzean, Victor Zsasz or many other of this city’s miserable people. They're either boring, annoying, or utterly unpleasant, which means that I often found myself watching the show out of obligation rather than truly enjoying it. 

The exceptions to the rule would be the young Bruce Wayne and his hardass yet caring butler Alfred Pennyworth (and Selina whenever she's around them, as the chemistry she has with them really brings her character to life), and, of course, the show's breakout character: Oswald Cobblepot, the man who will become the Penguin. David Mazouz, Sean Pertwee and Robin Lord Taylor sell these roles so perfectly that I just couldn't look away from the screen whenever they were on it. And while I love Oswald the whole series through, I do need to mention that this is the only season where he comes off as legitimately intimidating to me: his murderous rage can be a little over-the-top but it's anchored with a patience and a calculated skill for manipulation that makes him a force to be reckoned with as he climbs the ladder of power all the way to becoming the leader of Gotham's mob (”I’M THE KING OF GOTHAM!!!")

Season 2 is split into two distinct halves, with 2A being the "Rise of the Villains" story arc and 2B being the "Wrath of the Villains" story arc. Very quickly, it becomes apparent that the show has undergone a massive improvement - not only is it more serialized than procedural-based which ends up working better for it, but many of the characters I didn't care for are gone now, and most of the ones still left I'm finally made to care for: I actually like Harvey Bullock, Barbara Kean, Selina Kyle (on her own, not just w/ Bruce and Alfred), Ed Nygma, Ivy Pepper, Leslie Thompkins, Butch Gilzean and Victor Zsasz now, and they are now complimented by even more great characters like Lucius Fox, Nathaniel Barnes, Theo and Tabitha Galavan, Jerome Valeska, Silver St. Cloud, Bridgit Pike, Victor Fries, and Professor Hugo Strange. 

The only weak link remaining is, ironically enough, the lead character himself, Jim Gordon. Maybe this character would have been interesting if he was someone else, but I never buy him as the future Commissioner. Ben McKenzie's try-hard edgy performance doesn't help.

In terms of the story arcs themselves, I like them both but much prefer "Wrath" to "Rise".  "Rise" deals with Theo Galavan's rise to power in Gotham, with it revealing that he is actually the chief agent of the Order of St. Dumas, a secret society that desires the death of "the son of Gotham" - namely, Bruce Wayne. Most of what I like about this arc comes from the side stories and character development; I never really got into the central plot thread. James Frain, while good, doesn't hold the same villainous presence here that he does in, say, Elementary, and given how obviously evil he and his sister are it got tiring to see them score win after win over the good guys until the last minute. Also, certain interesting characters such as Richard Sionis, Jerome Valeska, Silver St. Cloud, Bridgit Pike and Butch Gilzean are shamefully wasted. Lastly, early into the arc the show actually makes Alfred unlikable, and since he's one of my favorite characters from the first season, that really hurt to watch.

"Wrath" deals with Professor Hugo Strange and his insidious secret experiments in Indian Hill, an underground division of Wayne Enterprises beneath Arkham Asylum that holds the key to the Wayne murder mystery. This arc just seems to flow together more smoothly than its predecessor, its contents are the type of overarching mystery I'd wanted the show to explore since the beginning rather than all the diversions from false leads, mafia wars and religious cults infiltrating the city's political structure, it provides pay-offs that I'd long been waiting for, and Professor Hugo Strange as played by B.D Wong is the perfect Big Bad. My one quibble with this arc is the decision to resurrect Fish Mooney at the end - I never cared much for her, she had a good enough ending in Season 1, and the revived, superpowered version of her ultimately accomplishes jack-squat in Season 3 before dying again anyway.

Season 3 is just one story arc, centering around the conspiracy of the Court of Owls that secretly controls all levels of power in Gotham, but its first two thirds go under the title of "Mad City" while its final third goes under "Heroes Rise". There is a good reason for this, as the events of "Mad City" see things at their bleakest yet for the forces of good in Gotham, with the forces of evil seemingly unstoppable, which makes the turning of the tide in "Heroes Rise" all the more gratifying. It’s a textbook “it’s always darkest before the dawn” storyline.

I greatly enjoy this season. There are certainly some flaws here and there - Jamie Chung's Valerie Vale is done dirty, I still can't get invested in Jim Gordon no matter how hard the show is trying to make me, and the way the writers drive a wedge between Oswald and Ed is some of the worst writing the show has ever had - the break-up ultimately needed to happen, but it didn't need to happen like this! However, so much more is done right here: the Court of Owls' portrayal, Bruce's further development, Bruce's creepy doppelganger Subject 514A aka the future Owlman, the show's depiction of the Mad Hatter and how pivotal he ends up being to the plot, Captain Barnes’ descent into madness and becoming the Executioner, Selina and Ivy just being awesome both individually and together, further great comedy from the likes of Harvey Bullock and Barbara Kean, the more interesting usage of Carmine Falcone via his "legit" son Mario who in turn helps Lee become even more interesting, the return of Jerome Valeska as the Beta Joker, Ed fully transitioning into the Riddler, Oswald finally embracing himself as a "freak" and ultimately getting his revenge on Ed, and the finale which introduces Ra's Al Ghul (played to perfection by Alexander Siddig) as he engages in a Batman Begins-style plot where he unleashes a virus that threatens to make Gotham tear itself apart.

However, there is one major drawback for Season 3...in spite of all this great stuff, it ultimately amounts to just being more set-up. And as such, all of the big dramatic conclusions that are reached by the end get completely reversed early into the following season. Bruce and Alfred have a rift with Selina? Mended shortly into Season 4! Bruce has dedicated himself to being a vigilante? He'll walk that back soon enough! Oswald is back in power and owns the Iceberg Longue? Not for much longer! Ivy works for Oswald? She'll be done with his shit by the end of the Season 4 premiere! Ed is frozen? He's thawed out a mere three episodes into Season 4, and the negative effect to his brain from being frozen don't even last! Lee leaves Gotham in order to escape her dark side? Nope, she's back in the city and her dark side continues to grow. Butch and Barbara are dead? Aha, they're both back alive! The loss of big characters like Nathaniel Barnes and Fish Mooney? Never mentioned again! And of course, there's the presence of Ra's Al Ghul and the League of Shadows as the group behind the Court of Owls, which just goes to show that despite all the build-up, the Court of Owls was never truly the end-all be-all force of evil in Gotham, so this show ain't over yet.

Season 4, "A Dark Knight" is kind of Season 3's equal yet opposite. There is a lot of stuff in it that doesn't quite work for me, moreso in the execution rather than the conception - Alexander Siddig as Ra's Al Ghul credited as a regular and yet only actually showing up in the first few and last few episodes, Oswald being betrayed and losing all of his power again, Ivy Pepper's long-awaited transformation into Poison Ivy taking ten whole bloody episodes, Ed's severe case of Badass Decay and pointless romance with Lee, Butch's transformation into Solomon Grundy not lasting or amounting to anything important which makes me question why it even happened, the Sirens being formed and also not lasting or amounting to anything important, Bruce's long period of being unlikable (far moreso than even Alfred's period back in 2A), and the Beta Joker only turning out to be the Beta Joker because his twin brother whom we'd never seen or heard of before shows up to become the real Joker!

However, there is also a lot that does work for me - Harvey Bullock finally ascending from just comic relief and having some well-executed character development as he clashes with Jim, Lee's arc of becoming the leader of the Narrows, Oswald's touching relationship with a young orphan boy and his reconciliation with Ed, Ra's Al Ghul whenever he is around, Professor Pyg who is equal parts terrifying and comical and played masterfully by Michael Cerveris, Sofia Falcone who - being a sociopathic master manipulator who even manages to serve Jim a permanent and well-deserved defeat - is hands-down one of the most brilliant villains the show has ever had, and the perfectly-done sense of escalation and excitement throughout the second half of the season which concludes in the best season finale in the series' history, where the good guys contend with a team-up between Ra's Al Ghul and the Joker. And that's what Season 4 has over Season 3 - it builds to a true climax for the entire show's story, almost everything that goes down in the end is permanent (emphasis on almost - looking at you, Lee and Ed), and it retroactively makes the lack of pay-off in Season 3 and the less-than-desirable parts of this season worth it. It made me grateful for sticking with this show.

Season 5, titled "Legend of the Dark Knight", is the show's final season, and its biggest strength is also its biggest weakness - it is a truncated season, lasting only 12 episodes. On the one hand, this is perfectly appropriate - the Season 4 finale was the story's climax and there's not much left to do, so having roughly half a normal season's length for the falling action and wrapping up of all loose ends makes total logical sense. But on the other hand, there are certain ideas for plotlines and character arc resolutions that end up feeling incredibly rushed due to the shorter runtime. It feels like they are rushing down a long checklist rather than allowing anything proper breathing room. Also: yes, a lot of Season 3 and Season 4 clearly borrowed from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, but they did it in clever ways. This season shamefully rips off The Dark Knight Rises by having a plot inspired by the No Man's Land storyline from the comics, a big focus on the relationship between Bruce and Selina, the main hero (Jim Gordon in this case) falling to his lowest point before rising again, the final battle being between the GCPD and Bane's army, and having the main villain be Bane except that he's actually working for the daughter of Ra's Al Ghul (Nyssa in this case) who was masquerading as someone else! Did the writers really think that they could outright cheat off of Christopher Nolan's homework and that viewers wouldn't notice!?

In the end, my ranking is Season 3 = Season 4 > Season 2 > Season 5 > Season 1. 

I think that Seasons 3 and 4 are equally strong but hold just the slightest personal preference for Season 3, Season 2 is also really good and mainly just suffers from its adequate first story arc being weaker than its more interesting second story arc, Season 5 is a middling season that somehow manages to be both the ideal conclusion for the show and a less-than-ideal conclusion at the same time, and Season 1 is the weakest due to all of the growing pains the show had to go through before it could become entertaining on a consistent level and make me care about most of its characters. On the whole, Gotham is a well-executed series. It’s far from perfect, but it could have been far worse....it could have been Smallville! (Cue rimshot!)

[parkvcrs]

Hi can I request for you do to any Ewan McGregor character + cheating? It doesn’t matter who, how or when just a cheating prompt please 😊👍

Y/n L/n stood near the emergency exit of The Black Mask Club, frozen in place. One minute she looked over to where Roman once sat where he discussed with fellow mobsters about confidential topics. The next, he was dragged away by an arbitrary harlot — interrupting his meeting and dragging him to the corner of the club — believing that they blended in the crowd.

Roman was a generally flashy man in terms of clothing so it came to no surprise that his fiancé almost immediately spotted him being forced in an undesirable sin. Adultery. The kiss was expected but it still managed to astonish Y/n, her mouth hanging agape as she watched Roman’s hand clasped gently into the back of her hair, pressing in softly. After a few seconds, he broke away and smirking before taking the woman to a disclosed location as Y/n could only watch in horror as they exited her line of sight.

“Y/n,” Victor Zsasz approached his boss’ soon-to-be wife. “Is everything already? You seem like you’ve seen a ghost.” He noticed how her demeanour drastically changed from optimistic and not having a single care in the world to glum in a matter of minutes as she secluded herself from the rest of the crowd.

“Yeah, Zsasz, I just I need some fresh air.” She fabricates, her voice accidentally cracking as she masked her sorrow.

“Do you need any company?”

“No, I don’t that is necessary,” Y/n waves the henchman away from herself while plastering a faulty smile. “I’ll be back before you know it.” That was another lie but she cannot trust Victor with her life.

She used the exit as her excuse to hastily get away from anything that remotely reminded her of Roman Sionis. She got into her vehicle and drove. She had no location nor company. Only her thoughts to make her fall deeper into depression. Roman constantly said that he loved her, but that was all a ruse, wasn’t it?

One thing is for certain and the fact of the matter was that she needed to get as far away from Gotham City as humanly possible. Fleeing the country seemed like a swell idea at the moment. Roman was a Mafia boss with several links to sources of crime bosses who would not hesitate to turn Y/n in on the spot. She feared what Roman would do to her for she knew what was in the warehouse. That is when Y/n slammed on the brakes — gripping on the leather on the steering wheel tight as her mind was put to work. A fork in the road presented itself.

Y/n could either return to Roman and become his wife but having the knowledge of this cruel act that he was bound to find out sooner or later... or, of course, there was another option. She can move to a different state or foreign country. Hypothetically, it would be making her betray him in a way but Y/n would go under a different alias, alter her personality and find interest in a variety of hobbies that she despised. It was beserk but the h/c haired woman preferred those chances over staying another minute with that monster that is Roman Sionis.

The following morning, Roman strolled around his penthouse only to find that Y/n was nowhere to be seen. “Zsasz,” The criminal spoke up, approaching the framed serial killer. “Have you seen—”

“No, I haven’t seen her since last night. She was acting... strange.”

“How so?” Roman inquired, he was now intrigued by that claim. Surely, there must be some logic behind that strong accusation. He sighed before sitting down, gesturing for Victor to continue. “You know about that one dame you were with last night? What was your name again?” Victor began his analogy only to be halted by a question with Roman replied with a rebuttal.

“Her name doesn’t concern you. It is inconsequential to this narrative.” Roman scowled, clenching his teeth.

“As I was saying, after we,” Victor proceeded to slid his finger against his throat as an action to represent murder. “Y/n just disappeared. Her car was taken. My hypothesis is that she saw something that she didn’t fully have all the facts to conclude whether or not she was correct.”

“Do you think she believed that I was cheating on her?” Victor didn’t respond to Roman’s pressing interrogation but his silence spoke for itself.

Roman rested his head in his hands. This wake-up call was so unforeseen, he had to take a few moments to process the situation at hand. The persistent honking outside made his blood boil because it was merely stopping his thoughts to the point where he couldn’t think. His mind, scattered. His fingers curled tightly around his hair, he could to see Victor become uneasy because he knew that Roman would burst any second.

Roman grabbed a nearby pillow, standing up before throwing the cushion aside in a harsh manner. “Fucking fuck!” He screamed before taking ahold of a beer bottle as he threw it to the ground, thousands of glittering fragments to an errant stone. He proceeded to destroy various objects around his penthouse such as vases, furniture and expensive art pieces. When Roman’s tantrum came to a long-awaited end, he fell on the couch — exhausted.

“She’s not getting away that easily. Zsasz, notify our colleagues about this incident — we are sending out a search party.”

There were several parties with the same objective that was to find Y/n L/n. On the other hand, Roman wanted to go alone because he had an overwhelming urge that he knew where his significant other was hiding out.

After the long hours of nonstop driving, Y/n sought refuge in Midway City even if it was out of her comfort zone. She decided to spend the night in a remote hotel building in Room 208, the same room where she and Roman first met when one of his men attempted to assassinate her because he mistakingly thought that Y/n was one of their clients. It was a huge slip-up, to say the least, but she had the privilege of that issue weaving into her meeting Roman. She didn’t know why she came here due to the multiple other options in her range. Perhaps this was the first thing that came to mind since she didn’t know this area all that well.

In the middle of the night, a loud crash caused Y/n to awaken from her deep slumber in what she presumed to be a gunshot followed by several more. She looked around the room to see any weapons to arm herself but to no avail. She quickly hid under the bed, watching the door carefully.

Adrenaline floods her system when she heard footsteps approaching her room. It pumps and beats like it’s trying to escape. “Come on out, Y/n,” A familiar voice shouted, the heavy footsteps consuming the adult’s hearing. He most likely murdered the front desk lady, the staff and the other occupants of the hotel.

That is when the front door clicks before ever so slowly... opening as Y/n heard heavy boots connect with the wooden flooring. She clasped a hand over her mouth to make her breathing quiet, her entire body wants to either run fast for the safety but she knew that was nearly impossible when it came to escaping Roman Sionis. All she saw was a part of his silhouette that was carved out of the darkness from the artificial light beaming from the main hallway. Roman moved around the relatively petite hotel room, examining the restroom to ensure you weren’t hiding in there before his opticals focused on the bed as a smirk appears on his face.

“Got you.”

[sparkleofpizza]

Goodbyes - Damian Wayne x reader

Requested: no

Warnings: blood, death mention, swearing

Summary: Damian leaves reader without a proper explanation, making her wonder why he did what he did and with a broken heart. But then things take an expected turn and Tim is there to help her out.

Word count: 4.135

The door had slammed a few minutes ago. The apartment was almost silent, the windows had been locked. 

You were sitting on the floor, between the couch and the coffee table, and haven't moved in a while. There were still fresh tears streaming down your face, you were still staring at the key in front of you and were still reliving the horrible events that had taken place a few moments ago. 

"I literally can't stand looking at your face anymore." He spat, staring you down as you stared at him in confusion "I am so tired of this, of you! I was happier before you, I thought what we were doing was the right thing, but I just got bored. I think I wanted to experience how it would be like to be in a relationship. I did, now I don't want to do this anymore."

"What?" You quietly asked "I don't understand... We've been dating for three years, how could you... How could you be experiencing something for three years?"

He didn't answer, instead grabbed his key and placed it on the coffee table.

"We are done."

You watched him grab his suit cases, watched him stand at the door and look you in the eyes with no emotion on his face.

"Goodbye, y/n." And then he slammed the door shut

You were still trying to process everything, trying to find a reasonable explanation for his behavior, for what he did, but there was none. All of the things people told you about him was right, you were just too in love to see the truth lying right in front of you. You were just too drunk in his kisses, touches and tender words to realize how fake all of this was. But at the end, everyone was right.

Damian Wayne broke your heart.

The weeks went by like a blur, trying to get your life back together. Throwing yourself at work so you wouldn't have to remember you were going back home every night to an empty house. 

His family used to come a lot to visit you, now you only saw them staring at your window from across a rooftop. You would stare at them for a while, they would wave and you would wave back, but turn back around because looking at them reminded you of him. Red Hood would check up on your apartment a lot, Nightwing, Red Robin, you even saw Batman once or twice, but never Robin and that only broke your heart even more. 

There was no point in still holding on a bit of hope, so you grabbed a box and put in it all of the stuff that reminded you of him. His old t-shirts and hoodies you'd wear to sleep, in the box. The drawings he made of you and gave you as a gift, in the box. Pictures you had with him around the apartment, in the box. His coffee mug, in the box. The gifts he gave you along the years, in the box. That blanked you two used to wrap yourselves up on the couch and snuggle together, in the box.

It felt like a fresh start once you had gotten rid of everything that reminded you of him. And it actually was, throwing yourself at work did help too because it earned you a promotion and a new job location, far away from Gotham and all the way to Upper East Side in New York. Life really seemed to be taking a new direction to you, and that was all you needed at the moment.

Soon your apartment was empty, it was sold and soon the new owners would arrive. Red Hood frowned when he saw your lights hadn't been turned on five nights in a row. He always saw your lights up, this was weird. 

"She moved out." Was all he said after investigating, just in case you had been kidnapped or something worse 

Damian nodded, not bothering to look at his brothers. If he did, everyone would have seen how his eyes were red and how he was trying hard not to cry.

You, on the other hand, was crying because you weren't alone anymore. There was a baby on the way. How the hell are you supposed to take care of a baby on your own in a new city where the only people you know are your co-workers and they are still very unknown to you? 

Thankfully, as the months passed, you actually got friends who would help you manage all of the baby stuff. Carter would always be around to make sure you were eating just fine and not overworking yourself, Lizzie would always be around to keep you company and even moved in until you had the baby, just in case something happened. 

You always pictured yourself having a family with Damian by your side, life is funny. Now you had different people by your side while pregnant with his child. You just wished the kid to not have his eyes, that would be a bit too much for you to handle. 

You didn't want him to know about the kid, you were fine dealing with it alone, but Tim was too stubborn. You had bumped on him on the street - what he was doing in New York was a mystery to you - and he recognized you right away.

"Y/n you're having a baby, Damian's baby! He has to know."

You shook your head "He wants nothing to do with me, Tim. I don't want him to know about the baby, this is my choice. I am the mother!" 

"I am going to tell him." He pulled his phone from his pocket "I'm going to call him and ask him to come to New York."

"You do that and I will disappear. It will be just me and the baby, and no one will be able to find us. You know I can do that."

Tim stopped, phone mid air. You did learn a lot from them, and of course you would know how to disappear without leaving any traces and it would take a lot of time to trace you, and maybe by the time they did it you could already be at a new and different location, far far away from your previous one.

"Ok." He sighted "I won't tell him anything, but I want to be part of the baby's life. I want to be around and be able to help you with anything he or she might need."

You nodded, that was the least you could allow. And that's how he became favorite and lovely uncle Timmy. It actually warmed your heart to see your little baby Nia get to play around with Tim when he came to visit. No one knew about this, everyone always thought he was in New York for Wayne Enterprises business. 

The weirdest part of all of this wasn't one of Damian's brothers knowing the truth and not him, it was mother knowing the truth and not him. 

When Talia showed up at your apartment out of nowhere, you thought you were going to die. She looked at you in the eye and then asked to see her granddaughter, she wanted to see the heir of the League. In the middle of her wanting and swearing to precept her baby granddaughter, your relationship did kind of evolve. She didn't judge you for not telling her son about the baby, she did the same with Bruce. You wouldn't talk much, just about Nia, but it was nice to know there was always someone looking out for your both safety. 

She was a bit extreme, always, but Nia knew who her grandmother was, knew who her uncle was, knew who your parents were, knew who your friends was. She was getting a normal life and lots of love, and that was all you could wish for. 

Nia did love Carter, a lot, and that was a bonus for your blossoming relationship. You didn't know how it happened, it feels like in this three years time passed so fast, and before you could even realize it there was a ring on your finger and a promise of new house, where there would be a start of a new family and future wedding. You were getting that happy ending you dreamed about. 

Talia took you and Nia out of town, said there was an upcoming threat and once you realized it, she had driven you three to the Wayne Manor. Specifically to the Cave, the last place you wanted to be, you never thought you would ever come back to this place, ever again.

"There is a League enemy seeking out revenge. We must keep y/n and the baby safe!" Was all she said, ushering you inside with Nia in your arms - who were trying to break free to explore her new surrounds "You protect them while me and the League deal with the matter."

Everyone just stood still, staring at the three of you. Damian felt like he was being punched several times while being stabbed at the same time. You were standing in front of him after three years. After three years of him missing you dearly everyday you were finally back. 

"Hey, what's going on here?" Tim asked, arriving at the cave with a fresh mug of coffee in hand 

Oh, how you wished he hasn't shown up. Nia's eyes went wide upon hearing his voice, she released herself from your grasp, running for dear life and throwing herself on Tim while screaming the happiest uncle Timmy ever. His eyes went wide as he grabbed her before she hit the ground, securing her with her legs around his waist. She hugged his neck, giggling in his ear.

He looked at you waiting for an explanation, but you were just frozen. 

"What the fuck!" Jason exclaimed 

"Language around the baby!" Talia repreenhed him, glaring in his direction 

This couldn't be happening, no, this is just a dream and you're going to wake up really soon to get to work. That's it. 

They were all staring at you, then Tim, then Talia and doing it all over again in a loop. You could almost see their brains functioning real fast to try and catch up with all of this weird and random stuff going on here. 

"Talia brought you here because there is a League enemy on the loose and therefor you might be in danger..." Bruce stated slowly, breaking the silence "That is your daughter?" He pointed at the baby that was still hugging Tim and smiling at him as he poked her sides. You nodded, too afraid to say something "And she called Tim her uncle because they already knew each other and he is her uncle. For Talia to be worrying about your safety means you can't get hurt because of the baby... And she is only worried about the baby because she is her granddaughter. So, I'm guessing Damian is the father?"

You couldn't even bring yourself to deny and say you had gotten careless after the break up and had a one night stand with a random dude who got you pregnant. There was to many evidences pointing Damian as the father, and of course, she had his damn eyes!

Damian was staring at you with pure love and adoration. You two had a daughter? A beautiful daughter? He looked over at her, seeing her dimply smile and chubby hands hitting Tim's shoulder. He couldn't help the jealousy that over took him, his brother knew his daughter better than him. 

"That's so cool! I have a niece!" Dick exclaimed, taking big steps to where Nia was "Hello! I'm your uncle Dick, what's your name, little one?"

Your daughter frowned at him, resembling Damian when he's mad. 

"Mommy says dick is a bad word and you shouldn't say it."

Everyone laughed at his face, the mood being lighten up a little by what she had just said.

"That's his name, little bird." Tim explained "He's my older brother, so he is your uncle too."

Nia nodded, still a bit taken a back with his name and holding on thiger on Tim, not really trusting the new said uncle. 

You looked at Tim, hoping he would know a way to get you out of this mess. He was going to listen to an earful of things too, I mean he kept your secret from his whole family, you weren’t the only wrong one in this - although you did kind of manipulate him into doing what you wanted, but that was what is best for your daughter.

“Alright, I’m going to give Nia her afternoon fruit and then some cookies if she behaves.” He announced, leaving with your daughter in his arms who waved you goodbye

Dick stood still, frowning sadly.

“I don’t think she likes me.”

“She is very reserved with new people, nothing personal.” You said, hoping it would ease the tension that had installed once more

Bruce cleared his throat “I’m going to talk to Talia about this upcoming threat. Dick, Jason, why won’t you let Alfred know that y/n and the baby are staying over?”

At that, everyone left the room. Your eyes lingered on Talia’s figure waiting for an outburst of her telling she wouldn’t leave and stay there with you. She only glanced at you as if saying talk to him, and then left.

You closed your eyes, it was now or never. You knew he was probably already standing behind you. You've known Damian for a very long time, so when you turned around you had to take a step back because he was too close for your liking.

You took a while to take in his features. He seemed to had gained more muscles over the years, his eyes were soft and he same a small, almost imperceptible, smile on his face.

He was trying to engrave your new looks in his memories. How you hair was a bit lighter and shorter than before, your face, your body. Everything.

“What’s her name?” He questioned

You thought he was going to yell at you, curse you and say he doesn’t want that baby in his life, not ask her name.

“Nia. She’s two.”

He nodded his head, pursing his lips before speaking again.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you leave?”

You frowned “You broke up wit me, said you got bored and didn’t want to see me again. You’re the one that left! I simply didn’t want you in my life anymore, I couldn’t risk it you growing bored of Nia and leaving her the same way you left me. I can handle being broken, but I wouldn’t be able to watch my daughter be heartbroken and thinking she did something wrong.”

Damian’s eyes went wide. Is that what you think of him? That he is just an asshole that gets bored once he gets what he wants? He should’ve handled the situation better three years ago, things would be so much different right now.

“Y/n, no, I would never do something like that. I’m sorry for what I did three years ago, I was trying to protect you! They were targeting you, they were going to kill you if they knew I still cared, so I had to do what I did. I get that I was an idiot and that I couldn’t handled this way better, and I am truly sorry. But never, for one moment, think I wouldn’t want to have been by your side during all those time. I dreamed about getting you back into my arms, and now we have a daughter?! A beautiful and incredible baby girl! I am not letting you go, ever again. I love you so much, I don’t think I will ever be able to stop loving you.”

That you couldn’t answer. What were you supposed to tell him? Obviously Damian had been a big part of your life, and although it ended badly, he was your first actual love, the first person you moved in together, you grew together until it ended and you started growing on your own. A part of you will always love him, but it doesn’t seem worth it anymore, not after all of this.

“Damian... you know that if you want to be part of Nia’s life you can do that, you are her father, but if you ever step out of line, I will no hesitate to cut off.”

He nodded eagerly “I will tell father and we will start the preparations. Until we find a house to move in together, I will make sure Nia has a room here and...”

“What are you talking about?” You frowned “I said you could be part of her life, it doesn’t mean we are moving back here. We are staying in New York, I have a life there, Damian. I have a job, friends, fiancé. I am not leaving all of that behind.”

“You’re... You’re getting married?” He looked like a lost puppy who got kicked, it actually warmed your heart a bit “Of course you are, only an imbecile wouldn’t put a ring on your finger when given the chance.”

You bit on your lower lip. This was getting deeper then you had wanted it to go.

“I’m sorry.” You weren’t even sure why you were apologizing “He’s been around me when I needed, helped me when I was pregnant and Nia really loves him.”

“You aren’t marrying Drake, are you?”

At that you couldn’t help but laugh, of coursed Damian would think something like that.

“No, of course not. Tim is just a really great uncle.”

“Why did you tell him? Why did you tell my mother?”

“None of them were supposed to know, actually. I ran into Tim and kind of trapped him into no telling anyone, in return I told him he could be around, that’s why he’s always going to New York, to make sure Nia is ok and doesn’t need anything. As for you mother, she just showed up on my apartament one day demanding to see her granddaughter. Ever since she kind of just stuck around or made sure there was always a League member near by to keep us safe.”

He nodded, his demeanor down. It was obvious he was disappointed with you being with someone else, he never thought about you moving on - deep down he always knew this could happen, he just didn’t want to believe in it. You are his everything, but he isn’t everything to you anymore.

Staying over at the manor was really weird for you, they had gotten you a crib and placed it on the room you were staying. Jason drove to New York to get some of yours and Nia's clothes only to find the place trashed, someone was really after you and the best plan of action was to the stay at the manor where you were both safe.

You just wished this whole enemy thing to go down as fast as possible so you can resume to your normal life. You couldn't stand looking at Damian trying to get Nia to warm to him anymore, every time you did it was like a constantly painful reminder of what you two couldn't have, and the engagement ring on your finger felt heavy until the day you stopped using it, having broke up with Carter over the phone and spending the night crying on Tim's shoulders for your ruined happiness. 

When Damian showed up the following morning at your bedroom, he almost lost his temper. You were sleeping with your head on Tim's lap, he had his hand on your hair and Nia was sound asleep on the crib. He walked further into the room, feeling his heart sinking once he saw your tears streaked face. There was no need to be jealous, obviously he used to be the one to wipe away your tears and give you some comfort, but he was glad there was someone to give you that. He stopped once he noticed you weren't wearing the ring anymore. That was his chance.

"You can't go out there, you are being targeted!" Damian exclaimed, following you down the stairs 

You looked at him over your shoulder, choosing to ignore him as you kept walking.

"Y/n, do not ignore me!"

"I have work to do, Damian. I got dragged all the way here, I am going to work at the office that's located in Gotham and you can't stop me. I still need a job so I can pay the bills."

He had to bite his tongue to not say what was really on his mind. Sparking a fight with you right now would do no good, it would only make you want to leave even more. 

"I know you do, but can't you work from home?"

"No, I have a meeting and I'm already running late." You pulled a paper from your purse, handing it to him "Since Tim is out, you and the rest of the boys are on baby duty. This is everything you need to know about Nia's allergies, food preferences."

He nodded, defeated he couldn't get you to stay, but glad you were trusting him alone with your daughter. 

"At least wear this, please." He pulled from his pocket a necklace with a small pendent "It will make me feel more at peace knowing you will call if you need me."

"Ok." You put on the necklace, the distress signal necklace "But I am not going to need to use it. Don't worry about me."

He smiled sadly at you. "It is kind of hard not to worry about you, y/n."

You should've known you would have to use the necklace, it was life being a bitch to you one more time. 

Everything was as good as it could be, one moment you were discussing business and taxes, the next one of the executives had pulled out a gun and shot you two times in a row. How did this happen? Was the only thing you could think of as you lied on the floor, a pull of blood forming around you as you tried your best to apply pressure on your wounds. 

"Hey, it is ok." Robin kneeled down beside you, taking in your almost limp form, tears in his eyes "It is ok, beloved, I've got you. You're going to be ok."

"Dami, I am so glad to see you." You tried to smile thought the pain "At least we will be able to say a proper goodbye this time since I am the one who's leaving."

He shook his head "Don't say this, beloved. I am still going to take you out on a second first date and get you back. There are still so many things for us to do together."

"Is... Is Nia ok? You will take care of her for me, won't you?" Your words was slurring out, he was running with you on his arms, yelling at people to get out of way as he reached the batmobile, pushing Nightwing away from the door

"We will take care of her together." He stated before barking at Batman "Drive faster!"

When you woke up, your whole body was sore and the lighting was too bright for your liking. You tried to sit up only to end up moaning in pain. 

"Hey, hey, easy there." Damian showed up on your line of vision, gently pushing you back down "You are still recovering."

"What happened?" You closed your eyes briefly "Am I dead?"

He chuckled, pushing some hair away from your face. 

"The enemy was dealt with. And no, you are not dead. Alfred managed to help you up, Nia is with Jason and everything is alright."

You nodded, smiling a little as he grabbed your hand. You squeezed it before allowing him to caress your fingers with his.

"I was so worried I was going to loose you, that I would never see your smile or hold your hand ever again." Damian sighted in defeat "I love you so much, y/n. Please, stay here. With me, we can work things out."

"I am not going anywhere, Dami. Not now and not ever." 

He leaned down, pressing a kiss to your forehead. 

"I promise you I will try my best, everyday, to be the best father and husband ever. For my two girls."

You hummed, content with him showing affection. Too lost in finally having his love back to think about the word husband. You would think about that later that week when he asked you the big question. 

[eat0crow]

Jasonette Prompt! Mari and Jason first meeting but it’s after a bunch of thugs tried to jump her (she beat them uppp). anyways they’re both in civilian form and she’s validly untrusting and he calms her down.

Bullies count as thugs, right?

116%

Partly by accident, mostly by self-preservation, Jason figures out that, in order to get everyone to stop looking at him like the poor-orphan-charity-case Bruce Wayne had taken in, he needs to instead get them to write him off entirely.

It’s a genius plan. Gotham Academy is nothing if not judgemental. All he has to do is wear his uniform loose, his tie undone, tell everyone exactly how little he thinks of their petty power plays, and get into a screaming match with his xenophobic history teacher about how people working minimum wage, “Absolutely should be making a living wage. Screw you, you bootlicking capitalist fuck!” within the first month of school. Honestly, he’s surprised he lasted that long.

So maybe he’s a little out of line, it’s not like he’s wrong. And it’s all worth it just to see the look on Bruce’s face when he walks into the principal's office. The man’s eyebrows are practically up to his hairline by the time he hears that Jason, in the face of his teacher's warning, had the audacity to ask, “What are you going to do? Expel me? unfucking likely.”

“It’s not like I’m actually going to be expelled,” Jason says. “Half the school’s annual budget comes from the money you donate. If I’m expelled I’ll have to go somewhere else. You’re not going to invest in a school I’m not attending and they’re not going to those funds.”

With unmasked glee, Jason watches the growing horror spread over his principles face-he’s a smart brown-nosing man after all. He knows exactly what kind of trap he’s walking into. It doesn’t matter that Jason’s history teacher is glaring the man down, looking like he's’ just bitten a lemon. Nope, Jason is not going to be expelled.

“Jason,” Bruce, simply sighs, looking far more put out than he has any right to be.

They settle for him being suspended for the rest of the week with detentions taking place after school on Mondays and Wednesdays for the next two months.

As all interesting gossip tends to, the rumor makes its way through the school before the day is even over-rich kids have way too much time on their hands-by the time Jason comes back the following Monday everyone seems to have decided that he’s a troublemaker unhinged just enough to be dangerous.

It marks the end of people trying to suck up to him, they all seem to have collectively decided that if they mind their own business and leave him out of it, he’ll do the same.

The thing about Jason Todd- fourteen-year-old high school freshman- is that he’s really bad at minding his own business. Like Dick’s Discowling suit levels of bad at it. He's a Robin, after all, you couldn’t be a Robin if you were actually able to keep your nose out of where it shouldn't be. It's practically a rule.

Never once has Jason ever had any fondness for bullies, it doesn’t matter if they were school kids or criminals or one percenters-looking at you Jeff Bezos, looking at you. He’s seen enough of them growing up in the Narrows, and maybe, it’s because his dad, the utter asshole, had been a bully. Maybe he just spends too much time fighting against people who think they can get away with pushing their weight around. It doesn’t matter.

Jason Todd could not bring himself to turn a blind eye, which is why by the beginning of his second semester he’s gained the title of actual-punk-you-know-the-kind-who-fight-the-man with his biweekly detentions being upgraded to triweekly and extended indefinitely. The number of fights he’s gotten into in the last couple of months has easily erased whatever Golden Boy standing Dick had established. Jason is confident that the only reason he’s yet to be kicked out is the fact that Bruce had almost doubled his donations.

So really, when he hears raised voices and the distinct sound of someone being thrown against a wall just as he’s leaving detention for the third time this week, he has to investigate.

Disgust is the first thing Jason can register when he turns the corner because there’s a ring of five students- two girls, three guys- all crowded around the new girl from France. Jason’s pretty sure he shares a class or two with her, maybe. She's easy to miss, small as all hell and stick thin.

This, this isn’t a fair fight. Or a fight she even has a chance of winning. Jason has a bad feeling about this.

But-

But Jason takes a closer look. Her back is pressed against the side of the building, yes. Her bag has been thrown to the ground and she’s shaking but that stance, it definitely doesn’t belong to someone who doesn’t know how to defend themselves. Sure these idiots have her backed into a corner, one point them, but her feet are firmly planted on the ground, her back is straight. She’s not going to run, at least, not before she throws a punch and, judging from the way she’s holding herself, a good one too.

Jason doesn’t really know how to approach this. This girl looks like a deer caught in headlights who will spook the second she hears a loud sound. Getting a teacher would be the most sensible thing to do. It would also require leaving, Jason isn’t confident enough in the situation to do that.

He’s almost talked himself into it, sure it might be a little off-brand for him but this seems slightly out of his depth, when Idiot Number Three, the smirking brunette addition, makes a move toward Marinette-Jason only just remembers her name-and Marinette lashes out.

Dead silence overtakes the yard as the girl goes down, her body crumpling to the ground like a wet paper towel. Marinette’s fist is still curled, her arm still outstretched. She looks like she can’t believe what she just did. Everyone stands frozen for one disbelieving moment before one of the guy's snarls, lunging to grab Marinette’s jacket.

If she was a deer in headlights before, Jason isn’t quite sure what to call her now. She looks like she’s on the cusp of a panic attack, frantically babbling a mishmash of jumbled up words. Jason sees what she’s going to do a second before the bully does, but by then it’s too late.

Marinette, with way more force than someone her size should have, brings her knee up and kicks her would-be attacker in the balls. Jason does not want to feel sympathy pains. He doesn’t, but still, if the way Idiot Number Five falls to his knees is any indication...well.

Idiots Numbered One, Two and Four run off without much fanfare taking their downed Idiot Number Three with them. Jason has a distinct impression they’re going to snitch and Marinette, who was only defending herself and is in no way capable of explaining her side of the story right now, is going to be in a hell of a lot of trouble.

Nope, not on Jason’s watch. He makes his way over. Closing the distance in three precise non-threatening strides. “So I’m thinking, this isn’t exactly what you had planned,” he says lightly.

“Fuck you, Todd.” Eloquent as ever Idiot Number Five.

“No thanks. You seem like you’re having enough fun clutching your balls for the both of us,” he says cooly, crouching down just enough to make eye contact. “Between you and me, I would run if I were you. Before she decides to come and knock your teeth in.”

“Like she would,” the bully scoffs.

“We both know she could and you know I would let her. Hell, I would help her if it kept your mouth fucking shut.” Jason cracks his knuckles, casually pressing his elbow further into the prick's collar bone. “Fuck, I kinda want to do it too. You really piss me off.”

At least he has the good sense to take Jason seriously. Jason can’t help the satisfaction that comes from watching him get to his feet and limp off. Some things really are poetic. Serves the bastard right, even if he promises that, “I’ll get you back for this, Todd.”

Jason snorts, as if he’d worry about what some schoolyard bully was going to do. Have you seen half the lunatics he fights on a monthly basis? “You good?”

“I-no!” Marinette cries, sinking to her knees in shock. “I am so going to be expelled. God, I’m going to be deported. I’ve only been in Gotham for a month! One whole month and already I’ve

messed this up. Momma is never going to let me out of the house. That’s if they don’t send me to jail. Oh, they’re going to send me to jail, aren't they? I can’t go to jail, orange is a terrible color!”

That's ... a lot to unpack. Jason feels something flutter in his chest. He has the strongest desire to comfort her. So, he does the only thing he can think of, he reaches out, wraps his arms around her waist, and promptly gets punched in the face. Hard.

He staggers back, clutching his eye, Jason barely registers Marinette’s steady stream of. “I’m sorry, so sorry I didn’t mean to hit you.”

Self-consciously Jason shrugs, he’s had far worse. The only thing in danger is his ego. “It was my fault. You were literally being threatened a minute ago, I shouldn’t have touched you. Sorry about that.”

“I’m panicking a bit,” Marinette says, pulling at the end of one of her pigtails. “I’m not usually...I just-I don’t want to be expelled.”

“You're not going to be expelled, Hermione,” Jason says dryly. “Yeah, those bastards are going to snitch but you were just defending yourself. They got what they deserved.”

“Do you think anyone’s going to believe that?”

Jason takes a moment to look Marinette over. There is so much earnest hope on her face that Jason...he feels really bad but... “Of course not. You kicked Pattrick Thomson in the balls, his dad’s on the school board. There is no fucking way any one of these teachers is going to believe that he actually got what was coming to him. No matter how much of a prick he is.”

“I’m doomed,” Marinette cries.

“You’re not doomed.” Jason catches Marinette’s look of pure utter disbelief and continues, “You’re not going to be expelled because you’re not the one who is going to be taking the fall for this.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Deadly,” Jason says scooting down to sit next to Marinette. He makes sure to leave a good foot between them. One black eye is enough, thank you. “Unlike you, I won’t get expelled, trust me this isn’t anywhere close to my first fight. If they could have axed me, they would have like a month in. The good news is that this is the one corner of the school security cameras can’t see. So as long as we make our story sound believable, no one is going to question it.”

“I’m pretty sure they’re all going to find it sketchy when no one can agree on who threw the punch.”

“See you would think that but, no offense, you’re a literal wafer cookie. A strong breeze could blow you over. No one is going to believe you took down those idiots. Not when it’s so much easier to blame the one who’s admitting it.”

“I did take them down,” Marinette says, narrowing her eyes.

“And it was badass, but for this to work, we need to milk as many of their sexist assumptions as possible. So,” Jason starts, pressing his hand a little further against his eye, there’s a bit of blood slipping onto his fingers. Marinette got him good. “This is what we’re going to say. We’re going to keep it simple. Tell them that those guys were picking on you and I came over to see what was happening. Things got heated, Thomson punched me in the eye and I bumped into what’s-her-face. You were panicking and didn’t really pay attention until you saw me knee him in the balls. Short, sweet, and believable.”

“What are we going to say when they ask about why everyone is blaming me and not you?”

“Well, why were they bothering you in the first place.” Jason shrugs reaching out to grab some of the stray papers that had fallen from Marinette’s bag. “Just use that. Trust me, Thomson’s going to jump at the chance to save face. Once he changes his story the rest will follow.”

Marinette grimaces. “It feels wrong.”

“Please,” Jason snorts. “They’re rich, they’re cheating at life. They’d get away with murder if they dropped their wallets. You could tell them all exactly what happened word for word and the teachers would still only hear their side of the story.”

“That’s awful.”

“That’s Gotham.”

Marinette falters, as if she wants to dispute the inherent corruption of this city. She stares at Jason, who would probably be blushing if it wasn’t for the excruciating pain coming from his right eye.

“You’re sure.” Marinette bites her lip, nervously picking at her nails. “You’re absolute, one hundred and twelve percent sure you won’t be expelled.”

“I’m one hundred and sixteen percent sure,” Jason says and then Marinette smiles.

It’s a nice smile, Jason doesn’t think he’s ever experienced the full force of someone's relief before.

“Thank you.” Sincerity is dripping off every word, so much so it almost aches. “I-you’re really nice Jason.”

Marinette knows his name. That’s-not necessarily surprising given the act that yeah they do share classes, probably. It’s just this is the first time they’ve talked.

“It’s cool,” Jason says leaning further back into the wall. He can hear people coming, it won’t be long before they have teachers to deal with. Jason might as well get comfortable. “You’re Marinette, right? I think we have English….Math..something together.”

Marinette nods, scooting closer to him. “Yeah, I’m Marinette. Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I sit three rows over in Math and two seats up in English.”

“It’s nice to meet you Marinette. Officially.” Jason takes the hand off of his eye and holds it out to her. “Jason Todd.”

Slowly, Marinette’s smile slowly morphs into a look of pure horror. “You’re eye!”

[primeemeraldheiress]

Damian always sleeps in Jason's bed when Jason stays at the manor.

Ell, what do you do to me?

Cut because it’s looooong.

——————–

Not a Betting Matter

They didn’t notice it at first. 

Why would they?

There was no need to check on him every single night. He was old enough to get himself to bed and stay there. Mature enough to know the value of a good night’s sleep. 

They only checked on him when they needed to worry. When he had a nightmare. (When they did.) When he might sneak out at night. When he was hurt.

 The first time Dick found them, he assumed it must have been an accident. A fluke.

All of them had had a rough night getting Joker back into his cage at Arkham. But Jason had had it the worst.

Dick couldn’t imagine what was going through his oldest little brother’s head.

The rogue had obviously had an agenda. Every one of his minions had been carrying crowbars. Red numbers flashed on all the walls; counting down to whatever the big showdown had been. The showdown they’d stopped. 

By the end of it, Jason had been savage. 

Dick wasn’t sure what had kept him to his promise not to kill. Even he could see the green leaking under the mask. Leaching into his movements and words. 

He wasn’t certain he’d show the same restraint.

He’d wanted to pull Robin from Hood’s side twenty times that night. Get him away from that acid Lazarus venom. But he didn’t. They needed him where he was at. 

When Alfred insisted that Jason stay at the manor tonight, his brother had only nodded

That alone told the first Robin how bad it must have been. Jason didn’t stay unless the world was ending. Unless he or someone else was hurt.

And now… Well, they must have both been so tired. 

Dick had gone to check on Damian. To reassure him that he was still there. That the Joker hadn’t gotten another Robin. (A common nightmare they all shared.) When he wasn’t in his bed, he nearly panicked. 

Of course, he went to Jason first. 

Jason who, no matter the barbs and taunts and hate, would always protect a child. Jason, who constantly threw himself in front of Robin when there was danger. Who always, no matter how much he tried to pretend he wasn’t, was tuned into Robin’s commlink. 

Jason would go to the ends of the Earth to protect and save Robin.

Which was how he found them. 

It must have been an accident.

There’s no way, with the amount of vitriol between them, no matter the carefully hidden protection, that they would fall asleep in the same bed on purpose.

It was still absolutely adorable and he needed pictures to prove that it happened.

This was going to explode in the morning. Fireworks. He needed to have popcorn ready.

He stepped out of the room and closed the door before sending the photos to Bruce.

But then -

Nothing came of it. There was no shouting. No avoiding each other. No embarrassed looks. If he hadn’t found them cuddled up with each other the night before he wouldn’t even have known it had happened.

Whatever.

He framed one of the pictures. 

But then it happened again. 

Damian had nearly drowned in the bay; knocked off the pier by one of Dent’s men. For a split second Hood had frozen (torn between diving after him and beating the bastard bloody) before throwing his helmet to Batgirl and jumping in the water.

It was Jason that carried the boy to the Batmobile. Jason that drove him to the cave and feed him hot chocolate and wrapped him in warm blankets.

And it was Jason’s body heat he shared as he slept, still shivering ever-so-slightly. Again, Dick only found them after trying to check on Damian in his room.

Dick just didn’t understand.

“I don’t understand.” He voiced, baffled, staring into his coffee the next morning.

“What don’t you understand?” Alfred asked, placing a plate of pancakes next to him.

“Damian… and Jason. This is the second time I’ve found them sharing Jason’s bed after patrol.”

“Is that all?” The older man drawled. 

“What do you mean?”

“Master Dick, Master Damian has been sleeping in Master Jason bed’s every time Master Jason has spent the night in the Manor.”

Dick blinked in surprise. “What? Why?”

“You’d have to ask them, I’m afraid.”

“How do you know that?”

The old butler arched a brow and Dick grinned sheepishly. Right. Alfred knew all. 

“What are we talking about?” Bruce asked wearily as he joined them.

“Damian sleeping in Jason’s bed.”

Bruce blinked slowly, “Again?”

Dick nodded, “Alfred says it happens whenever Jason stays over.”

Bruce looked thoughtful as he poured himself some coffee. 

Footsteps drew everyone’s eyes as the two they were talking about walked into the breakfast room. Dick’s eyes narrowed, watching. Paying attention in a way he never had before.

They stepped apart, moving to opposite ends of the table. Jason sitting diagonally from Bruce and Damian sliding in between Dick and his father. 

But… there was communication he hadn’t noticed before.

A flick of an eyebrow. A grimace. A glare across the table when Damian frowned at his orange juice. A cough and a finger tap. 

Holy shit. 

This whole time.

This whole fucking time. 

“You…” He couldn’t shake the awe in his voice. The audacity. It had been two years. Two whole years since Damian had come to them. “You two knew each other. Before Damian came to Gotham!”

Jason froze while drinking his tea, eyes wide as they darted from Dick to Bruce to Damian.

The boy choked on his orange juice. The orange juice that, through a series of minute facial expressions, Jason had ordered the boy to drink.

“You two hate each other!” Dick continued, bewildered.

Damian, airway now cleared, began to laugh. Genuinely. Sincerely.

Bruce just arched an eyebrow, too tired for this shit.

“I told you!” Damian took a sip of his juice again. “I told you, ahki! Grayson would be the one!”

“You can’t discount Cass. She keeps things to herself.” Jason grumbled, lowering his cup and glowering at the boy.

“Pay up!”

“I don’t have it with me.” 

“Liar!”

“How do you expect me to keep it on me? You know the rule of the Manor.” Jason asked, rolling his eyes.

“You owe me, ahki!” Damian’s eyes glittered in triumph.

“You don’t know that! We gotta check with Cass first.”

“You owe me!” 

“What exactly does Jason owe you. And what for?” Bruce asked, voice tired.

“We bet-” Dick knew, right then, the whole morning was ruined, “on who would be the first to realize that we don’t actually hate each other. It was a training exercise. I won. Jason owes me his best sword.”

Annoyed, Jason snapped, “I don’t owe you crap, habibi. Not until we clarify.”

“Training exercise… bet? What? Who put you up to that?” Dick asked, afraid to know the answer.

“Mom.”

“Mother.”

“Mom?” Bruce asked, incredulous, as he stared at his second eldest.

Jason flushed. He hadn’t meant to say that. “I didn’t say that.”

“Just wait until I tell Mother you finally slipped in front of Father.” Damian gloated.

“You keep your mouth shut, you little shit, or I’m not sharing the next batch of halvah!” Jason shot back.

“You wouldn’t!” The boy gasped, outraged. 

“Try me!” Jason glared.

Bruce rubbed his temples at the two descended into the first bought of the truest sibling squabbles he’d ever seen out of either of them.

Alfred politely coughed.

Silence descended. 

Heads turned to their grandfather figure.

“I think you’ll find, young masters, that you didn’t fool me for a moment.”

“Oh, Alfie. You don’t count.” Jason chirped, “We all know that you know everything.”

[onelastbreath-writes]

On Bruce And Texting:

Author’s Note: Hello and welcome, this is my first properly written fic, originally posted to my AO3, and now that I have finally created a writing blog, it’s here as well. Please enjoy!!  AO3.  Masterlist

Warnings: Hopefully none, its all cute and fluff <3

Summary: Bruce Wayne texts like he's sending correspondences to the Queen, so of course the little monsters he calls children just have to make fun of him! Brats, the lot of them, but he wouldn't have them any other way.

Features: Bruce Wayne/Selina Kyle, all the bats and birds, mentions JL, no crime fighting, only family fluff, jokes and nods to Millennial and GenZ shenanigans.

Word Count: 2.7k

---

Billionaire, genius, tech expert, father of many children, and all around up-to-date-with-just-about-everything type of person he may be, it is also a well-known Fact that Bruce Wayne, the Batman(TM) himself, can’t text to save his life.

Whether it’s due to his Very Proper English Upbringing, his inability to be informal via written correspondences of any type, his indifference, or the fact that it bothers his children so much, Bruce Wayne has not and never will text with anything less than perfect grammar, spelling, and formality. If he has not sent you a proper letter (featuring a dedication, indentation for every paragraph, signature, and post-script when applicable), he did, in fact, not send you that text. Informality is not his Batman Way(TM) according to his children... he’s not too sure what that even means, but it makes his young ones laugh so it’s probably fine?  

His oldest children (Richard and Jason) were raised in the time of Change, where computers, internet access, social media, and all things similar were only just being introduced into households en-masse. They were young enough to remember a time without such devices and connectivity (both for very different reasons, of course, but they grew up without the newest technology none-the-less). They could understand his relationship to the digital environment more so than his younger children, but they still tended to poke fun at his ‘texting blunders’ regularly. All his kids somehow ended up as brats. He doesn’t know how this happened. It’s certainly not his fault. He blames the League members, and especially Clark Kent, for their defiant personalities. 

His younger children, whom he loves dearly, like to confuse him as much as they possibly can with their slang, egregious spelling errors, and all-around ‘internet humour’. He doesn’t know what ‘wig’ or ‘worm’ or ‘oof’ or anything means. He has no idea what those dances are, or how they relate to the music that seems to always accompany them, and for the love of all that is good, don’t ask him what he thinks of this or that ‘meme’. What even is a ‘meme’, and should he be more concerned about his kids being obsessed with them? He tries, oh my god, does he try to follow the children’s conversations, but they somehow all learned a language he has no idea how to decrypt. His best response to them once they start speaking in tongues is as follows: smile but not too much, listen to child even though he is deeply confused, and pat child on head or shoulder when they are finished and are looking for assurance.  

He refuses to be a parent who ignores or tunes out his children, so he always makes sure to put down his work, his crossword, his tools, or whatever else is in his hands when a child searches him out for a conversation. But somehow, despite all the time he spends around them and their strange words, when he gets text from them comprised of abbreviations, acronyms, and completely random words, he goes a little cross eyed. He would never tell anyone, but he keeps a running list on his phone about the things they say that he has had to translate in the past. Spilling tea? Speaking the truth, usually to do with gossip. Wow? Multiple possible meanings: either a video game, or someone saying it (different pronunciation depending on context and who sent the text). Stickbug? A nice little prank with no ulterior motives, just for fun. Something along the lines of “this basic bitch Karen at the grocery store who is a dirty rat-licker and is def an anti-vaxxer just took 45 (forty-five) minutes to decide she didn’t actually want that almond milk. I Stan the cashier who had to put up with her. Rad af dude.” roughly translates to “A rude, middle-aged white woman who wasn’t wearing a mask and doesn’t believe in disease control or vaccinating her children wasted a great deal of an essential worker’s time in the checkout line. The cashier was very professional in their dealings with said customer and should be commended on their actions.”  

Given enough time, the internet for searching up new slang words, and occasionally some help from a friend (Alfred, Selina, Lucius, another of his children, etc), Bruce could decode and respond appropriately to most texts. He was quite proud of these achievements, and although he didn’t always like how often his children were on their phones or computers or gaming systems, he was quite proud of how integrated and easily they adapted to the ever-evolving world of electronics. All his kids were gifted in many ways, but their ability to learn, their hunger for knowledge, and their perseverance when exploring new and challenging ideas were always the things that he was most impressed by.  

He could do without their comments though. Yes, surprisingly, he did manage to get girlfriends with his type of texting. No, he doesn’t miss the ‘good old days’ when telegraphs were the main form of long-distance correspondence (how old do these brats think he is?!). And yes, he does know what a “tweet” is, and how to “post” on his social media accounts, and what “sliding into your DMs” is (thanks to a frantic search after a WE employee mentioned it near him). The Wayne children, truly whom and what Bruce considers his pride and joy, are cruel little jerks to him sometimes. His hoard of parenting books fails to mention what one should do when their children gang up on them. Bullying is covered of course, but he can’t really talk to a teacher or his guardian about how his second son calls him an idiot sandwich, or that his third son regularly tries to get him to do something “For The Vine”. His oldest and youngest boys are only slightly better in the bullying him department; Richard and his puppy dog eyes when he wants to do something dangerous or not-Alfred-approved, and Damian and his growing collection of pets because “Mother never let me have them, and I am deprived, and don’t you love me Father?”.  

His only good child is his beautiful daughter Cassandra, the flower of the Wayne clan. She gives him hugs, and pats his hands, and can sit with him and just enjoy the quiet and stillness when his other children are not around. Her language skills are improving by leaps and bounds every day, and her heart and spirit are unparalleled, but her main method of communication is in her movements. Her hands, her posture, her dancing; Bruce couldn’t think of a more graceful, fluid, powerful person if the world depended on it. His amazing little girl doesn't bully him (and if she ever does, he probably deserves it, he trusts her), so he turns to her most of all when it comes to communicating with someone else. She doesn’t let him send anything that is “sketchy” or “wrong words, bad meaning, Dad”. He would give the world to his children, but for Cassandra, he would destroy it and build her an entirely new one.

Social media, especially with his terrible children all having accounts dedicated to making him look like a simpleton, was another rocky terrain he had to navigate on the regular. He had professionals in place at WE to run the company’s many accounts, paid top dollar to help appeal and relate to the masses, but he mostly had to manage his personal accounts himself. And so, @TheRealBruceWayne was one of the greatest struggles in his adult life. Why can’t he just retweet every post from @WE_Offical and leave it at that? People should only want to know about what’s new with the company. What do you mean they want to know more about our family and private lives? That’s unnecessary, and not important to the running of the company, right? Right? Why are you laughing?!

Luckily, most people in his life aren’t so intimately aware of his struggles. He can act and lie all he wants about being “hip” and “woke” and whatever else the kids are saying these days when he’s with the JL or in board meeting intermissions, networking with his associates. The Batman knows all and sees all, Green Lantern, of course he understands how “Tiktok” works. The Batman is a robot without a funny bone in his body, Green Arrow, but I did witness him sigh and say “same” when he knocked his cup of coffee over while on monitor duty once. No matter how badly his darling children call him out, the Justice League would be so much worse. So, it’s one of his most importantly guarded secrets... even more so than his secret identity at this point. Being unmasked in front of every Gotham rogue would be less detrimental to him than his “friends” learning of his utter ineptitude in staying on top of the younger generations’ lingo.  

When questioned why the League doesn’t have a group chat or a forum or anything that they can use to contact each other outside of world ending matters and communicator (”because we’re friends, Batman! Ma and Pa Kent would love to have everyone over for a barbecue!”), the person who dared even mention texting isn’t even given a verbal response. They are just glared at, silently, often for several uninterrupted minutes, frozen in place only able to breathe shallowly in fear of setting off the Bat. “You know why” his glare says, “I’ll eat you, your family, and everything you have ever held dear” the younger members hear. No one makes the mistake of asking about it twice.  

Outside of his children and Alfred, and his small circle of true friends involved in all aspects of his life, there is only one more person Bruce allows to know of his Darkest Secret. Selina. Someone most people would recommend he not be involved with. Catwoman: accomplished thief, distraction, chaos-incarnate most nights, and his significant other. Sharp as a whip (ha) and crafty like no one’s business; he is head-over-heels. On again/Off again and all over the place their long romance has been, but no one has ever challenged him, intrigued him, like this clever, beautiful, amazing woman has. He’s brought his partners around his children before, both for their judgement, and for their worst behaviours to vet out any “unworthy” suitors. He trusts them explicitly to tell him the truth about those he allows into the manor; were they rude about Bruce wanting to have group outings, did they say something about Bruce’s money, did they get angry or shout or make anyone uncomfortable while they were here? If his children even looked slightly unhappy with someone he brought them to meet, that person would not be invited back. Children, he finds, have the best sight when meeting people; no motives other than finding safety and love, no fear of consequences from speaking honestly...  

Selina, or Catwoman, as they had known her first, was someone all of his kids liked without issue right off the bat. She would make puns and play word games with Richard, his first Robin, tiny, still working on his English, able to connect with him over their acrobatic abilities. His second Robin, Jason, skittish and feisty as an alley cat, knew of Catwoman and her daring escapades long before Bruce found him. The young boy had a few heroes, and no one (not even Wonder Woman) could compare to the incredible burglar who bought food and jackets and medicine for the street kids in Crime Alley. She was saintly in his eyes, and to this day, Bruce was still working on convincing Jason he was good enough for Selina. Tim and Cass and Stephanie (basically another daughter to Bruce, she spends so much time with the family) all joined the Wayne clan around the same time and officially met Selina as a friend and partner of his, and in the good graces of his first two sons. Selina, in all her nightly business, and many travels and acquaintances, had met the three independently, helping Tim get home safely back to Drake Manor when he escaped to photograph Batman and Robin in the dank darkness of Gotham when he was just a young boy, spending some time with Cassandra when her despicable father left her alone long enough to recover from his rough treatment, showing her the first scraps of kindness in her short life, and watching over and protecting Stephanie as she followed and sabotaged her father Cluemaster and his criminal activities. There was no need to win them over once they met her civilian identity, she had already gained their favour and acceptance, and they were happy to have her near their new family. Damian, his youngest, his biological son, took the longest to warm up to Selina. He would never fault his little boy for fighting so hard against a woman that was not his birth mother, especially after all the manipulation and cruelty dealt to him by Talia for the first decade of his life. But as he began to learn about his father, these people in his father’s life, and this woman that was Not His Mother but “still okay, I guess”, he grew to see her as acceptable. Her cats definitely helped, he’d say, no one with cats that loyal and happy can be a bad person.  

Selina, the love of his life, he’d admit quietly to himself, was also a dirty traitor and in cahoots with his terrible children. She would say his texting skills were “sweet” and “very gentlemanly” when she was asked by anyone outside the family, and privately to him she would say she thought they were “adorable” and “please don’t ever change, Bruce, I like it.” However, nothing seemed to bring her more joy than his children sending her texts and “Snaps” and “memes” about him to her. Sometimes it was screenshots of the family group chat that they forced him to join, where he would post “To whom it may concern...” and “In regards to...” when he needed to reach all his delinquents in a timely manner. Sometimes it was video clips of him staring at his phone intently, then typing something on his laptop, then him reading and nodding along, and then finally going back and responding to the text he received with a small, pleased smile. And sometimes, when he got too injured or was too incapacitated to text coherently, he’d have his nearest able child transcribe his text to her. Depending on who was texting her for Bruce, she could expect many different things. From Dick, she’d get lots of shorthand and silly emojis, and many, many, winky and crying/laughing faces in brackets depending on what Bruce had made him type. Jason, bless him, used proper English most of the time, but would never write a single word of Bruce’s soliloquy to her, instead she enjoyed the TL;DR version: “hurt again, missing you, come home soon, blah blah blah, sappy gross words here, love you”. Tim would allow speech recognition to run on Bruce’s phone, and just let it go until the man passed out. Stephanie, the little chaos child, would film it and send it to her, including all her muffled laughter and shaky camera shots of Bruce emoting with his available undamaged limbs. Cass, still more versed in physicality and emotive movement, would interpret Bruce’s text into mostly emojis, hearts and happy faces and animals, but would include photos, and phrases that she found important enough to type out for Selina. Damian, forever his Father’s son in any way possible, texts very formally, referring to her or his siblings Bruce mentions by last name only, and lots of “Father requests me to tell you...” and “Kyle, know that Father...”. She adores these kids, and once Bruce recovers enough to text her himself, or she gets back to the Manor, they get to laugh about whatever she was sent this time.  

So, while it’s true that Bruce couldn’t text his way out of a wet paper bag, and his kids are sometimes brats about it, there’s probably a lot of different reasons he doesn’t spend too much time trying to improve his skills. Whether it’s the smiles of his children, the giggles of his significant other, or the warm feeling in his chest when he sees all his important people bonding over him, well, in the end, who’s to say?