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#The lazarus pits work in mysterious ways Jason
thekitsunesiren · 2 months
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Dc x Dp #45
Danny becoming Jason's mom!
Because picture it! Jason, though been out of the Lazarus Pits for so long, fought against his entire being-his core! And because all of the fighting and resisting his new self caused it to repress into a smaller state. Thus, he had the core of a child, despite being an adult. It also doesn't help that he died as a child and clung unto his trauma.
But Jason didn't know this and continued with his former crime lord/vigilante lifestyle. Thinking that the rage pits was the only thing he had to be wary of and not what happens if he meets someone else that was from the Lazarus Pits or something similar.
He experienced this phenomenon when he took a walk through the park in his civilian attire as a change of pace and to clear his mind for the moment. The last mission he had with Bruce
As he walked, the sound of children laughter caused him to look up and see what was going on. In the park, two kids-siblings no doubt, were having a ball in the park simply chasing each other in their own version of tag. It was domestic enough to smile softly at the sight, a quiet chuckle escaping him.
Jason looked around to see if their parents were around watching them. And right on a bench was no doubtedly their parent. With black hair that seem to gleam in the direct light and blue eyes that seemed to be an impossible shade of blue. And those eyes were fondly watching the children laying around the park on their own.
Suddenly, Jason found himself under the heavy gaze of those eyes. Fondness turning to curiosity and hostility to longer he stared.
Snapping out his thoughts, he believed it was best to make a bit of small talk after no doubt seeming like a creep staring at them so intently.
Casually, or trying to seem casual, Jason approached them keeping his shoulders lax as not to seem as not too much of a threat. But the closer he got, the more this unfamiliar feeling bubbled within his chest. It wasn't the blinding rage that he usually associated with the pit. No, it was something different. Something positive.
It felt like a bubbling warmth that had the pits screaming for more. That the warmth was there. This person would take care of them. This person could help with the pits. This person was his-
"Momma." Jason murmured as he stared at the male, eyes widening with mortification as he realized that he said that out loud for the person to hear. He also realized that the pits had him in such a daze that he didn't realize that he had walked right over and sat next to the mystery person without a second thought.
Jason waited for them to react. To be called a creep or for them to storm away after gathering their children from where they were playing. Hell, he even expected them to scream and hit him in some manner.
Instead, he was met with eyes of confusion as well. The person beside him tilting their head as if debating something.
Then, Jason would've thought he imagined it if he wasn't looking at them, his eyes flashed green. The familiar pit green that Jason hated seeing. But his green held no anger or hatred that he was familiar with.
After their eyes returned to their icy blue, the person gave Jason an understanding smile. As if they knew why he called them that.
"Well, you're a bit older than my kids, but I'm sure we could work this out." The person said with a chuckle, reaching up and affectionately patting his shoulder. "What's your name, sweetheart?"
Jason felt as if his mouth dry as thought of how to answer. Was this weird? How could they be so calm about him walking up and calling them momma? Was this something pit related? How did this person know about the pits?
"Jason, mo-" He bit his lip as the name momma almost slipped out again. Instead, he coughed into his hand before looking at them again. "It's Jason."
The person chuckled affectionately at his hesitance. "Jason." The repeated with a fond smile. The way they said his name causing a familiar warmth to flutter in his chest that he hasn't felt in a while.
"I bet momma is a bit sudden since we just met and all." The person teased, smiling up at him. "But instead you're free to call me Danny if you want."
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fantastic-nonsense · 8 days
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Hi! I've never done this before but I'm new to comics (started with WFA and Zatanna and the Ripper) and I've basically got most of my information from posts on tumblr and r/hobbydrama (including yours.) I think I have a general idea of what Jason Todd is like, but I believe a lot of people are unhappy with his new characterisation.
So, if you were the one in charge, how would you write him? Would you write him with a team or as a solo character? Would you have him use the All-Blades or a crowbar or his guns? Would you have him properly rejoin the batfam or not?
Thanks!
Hi! Welcome to the fandom! I hope you're enjoying your time here.
In general, I think DC (and the fandom) has spent too much time milking Jason's death for trauma porn. They have refused to allow him to find closure, move past that, and exist beyond his daddy issues drama with Bruce. When DC has allowed him to have stories outside of that, they were often written with little consideration for what should be done with Jason beyond making him "badass."
None of this has been conducive to creating any kind of satisfying and coherent narrative or character arc for Jason, especially when both writers and editorial seem more obsessed with stealing traits, relationships, and stories from other people to give to him (most prominently Dick, Selina, and Helena). My hottake is that DC should move beyond "Red Hood" as an identity for Jason entirely, because it drags his character down and keeps him inherently tied to the same problems that have kept his character stagnant for years.
However! I don't think he's unsalvagable. I simply think DC needs to put a decent writer on him and commit to a character direction for more than 2 years at a time. I'm unsure of what Shawn Martinbrough is currently doing with Jason in his The Hill arc, as I'm not reading it, but I've heard that there might be some forward momentum finally happening there?
Anyway, my personal conception of Jason's future (as lovingly brainstormed by me and my friends in our comics discord server) is effectively this: he becomes a street-level paranormal detective who solves cold murder cases by talking with the victims' ghosts and providing closure to restless spirits. Think Lockwood and Co. meets Pushing Daisies with a superhero twist; basically, a supernatural detective noir book.
There's a lot of concepts and lore drops tied into this idea, but basically it was born out of a discussion where I was talking about Jason's many connections with the supernatural and occult across all continuities and how it's kind of a mystery why DC hasn't just formally connected him to the mystical side of the DCU. So I was like "they should just reveal that Superboy-Prime’s reality punch resurrection left him LITERALLY undead, make the event where he finds this out also spark his ability to see and communicate with ghosts, and make him an occult detective. Let him close cold case murder files and put those spectres to rest."
Which is also a great premise for a Bat book and a great unfilled niche for a Batfamily member. Kate's supernatural stories are much more high concept and connected to her family drama. Damian's supernatural/occult connections are traditionally very heavily tied to his family history and the Lazarus Pits. Dick's semi-regular magic encounters are usually stuff he deals with alongside his teammates in the course of working with the Titans. None of the other Bats have enough regular encounters with the supernatural and magic side of the DCU for it to encroach on their shtick, and a Gotham-based supernatural book is well within DC's ability to publish and market given books like Gotham by Midnight.
In terms of how that direction affects all the other questions you asked...I think Jason's relationship with the rest of the Batfam should be complicated. I personally don't think "good/bad relationship with the Batfam" is a particularly useful way to look at it because I think there are people he should never see eye to eye with, people he realistically shouldn't and doesn't have a problem with, and people he should get along with just fine. I don't think everyone needs to or should be friends or enemies with him, but his morals and past actions will (and should!) complicate those relationships in interesting ways.
And re: what weapons I'd like to see him use...using the All-Blades would certainly factor into my proposed narrative direction, as that would lean into the supernatural connections, but I generally prefer the concept of Jason using knives as his preferred weapon over guns/a crowbar/etc. That way he can still be a marksman without using guns, and I think that fits more with his character trajectory as someone attempting to be less lethal but also has no problem roughing people up when he thinks they need to be.
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proshipper-on-ship · 1 year
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Hellbrain is awake and craving arranged marriage and we all know I'm a slut for braindead and fem danny so here we go, casual reminder that canon is in a blender and we have crazy straws for a reason.
Please note that I don't do tagging people cause hands hurty, and we're off!
Due to Reasons being little bitches the Observants decided sixteen year old Danny Phantom can't rule as the Ghost Queen unless she's married by age seventeen, something something she's too immature to rule alone and needs a firm guiding hand, if she can't find a husband by her seventeenth birthday, which is about a month later, they will find a husband for her, and we all know the Observants won't give her one that will be good for her, all they want is to control her so they can keep being in charge.
Luckily Clockwork saw this coming and he doesn't like the idea of his daughter figure being trapped with someone she'd hate, so when the Drakes are desperate enough to summon something, anything, to keep their sickly nine year old son alive after they brought home the proto portal and Tim got into and accident with it, he answers their call.
In return for providing the cure for the ecto contamination, he asks only for Tim's eventual hand in marriage to his daughter Phantom, Princess of the Infinite Realms and soon to be it's Queen, when they both reach seventeen.
They agree.
Tim is cured, instead of dying, he becomes a Halfa, and the Lazarus Pit in the cave system under their manor is enough to sustain him along with Gotham's natural ambient ectoplasm.
Tim knows his parents summoned a god of time to help him, he worked up his powers and figured it out by trial and error, watching horror movies and trying his best to copy them.
His core is shadows, helpful and painful all at once, keeping him hidden from the sight of those who would do him harm, but also making it so it's hard to pay attention to him if he's not actively interacting with him.
His parents slowly drift away from him and he grieves their relationship, but he's determined not to waste his second chance at life, living his life to the fullest despite having one foot in the grave.
He does his research but can't find anything about his future wife, all he knows is her name is Phantom and she's the same age as him, just a few months younger, and nothing else.
Canon happens and he keeps up his search but puts it on the back burner when Jason dies and Tim needs to help Bruce to keep him Gotham's beacon of hope.
And when he's fourteen, he finally finds something about his bride to be, articles about a mysterious ghost girl with snow white hair and glowing green eyes fighting other ghosts, a bogus newspaper about her holding the mayor hostage with a picture clearly showing she's the one in a headlock, and articles about a mysterious circus heading into town the same time as she starts stealing things with sinister red eyes instead of her beautiful glowing green.
He makes plans to go to Amity Park, but gets distracted by the forming of Young Justice, once the dust settles and the adults are back, he gets online to look for the best and most discreet way to get to her hometown, and he's concerned to find a sudden media blackout and no signs that Amity Park ever existed, even though he knows what he saw.
There's only one message sent to the Justice League in all the time the ghosts have been attacking Amity, and it's from the same day the adults disappeared, only an hour before it happened.
The sky is green and the earth is gone.
He has to figure out the mystery.
He has to save her.
He has to help.
He searches frantically but finds nothing, and it makes him angry, his new friends worry about him but he isn't sure he can trust them with her yet so he spends more time away from them so they can brush him off their minds, letting his nature hide him in the shadows once again.
He doesn't know why he's so protective of her, he hasn't met her yet, but he thinks of his name, thinks Drake is another word for dragon, and he thinks he's finally found that Obsession he's heard so much about from the occasional ghost that manages to make it out of the Lazarus Pit under his manor.
She is his in a way no one else can take, and he'll be sure to take good care of her.
Canon moves forward, Danny shoots the Crown off Pariah Dark's head when they fight, and grapples with him to take the Ring off before she pushes him into the sarcophagus.
He attacked her home, her friends, her family, and she wasn't going to let that stand unchallenged.
She meets her future, he calls himself inevitable, she calls him son.
Her second son is unstable and she saves him, wipes the tears from his eyes and tells him she doesn't care how much of the fruitloop is in him, he's her baby and no one was going to take him away.
She stores the cracked cores of her other sons inside of her, hoping her own core can produce enough energy to keep them alive.
She's only met them when they were fighting her but they were hers and she was going to protect them with all that she has.
She is fifteen and she is a mother of seven.
May God have mercy on the poor unfortunate soul that dares to harm them, because she surely won't.
He is fifteen and Jason Todd is back from the dead, raging and grieving and cutting a path through Gotham's undercity as red as his helmet.
Jason Todd sees him.
Jason Todd is sick with something inside of him that burns and sizzles like a roaring flame and a bubbling spring all at once.
He's attacked at the Tower and some dormant instinct inside of him wakes up and purrs at the challenge.
They fight and it's a one sided brutal beat down.
Tim is only sixteen and he's short and sickly thin looking, creepy and eldritch and terrifying to behold when he lets himself become one the shadows.
Jason is nineteen and he's big and strong, trained by assassins and capable of beheading eight men in two hours without breaking a sweat.
Tim should've lost but Jason had the deck stacked against him from the moment he came out of the Pit.
Powerless against an entity that eats things like the corruption in him for breakfast, Jason loses and retreats into his core.
Tim panics, he didn't mean to beat him that hard, he just wanted to play!
He takes Jason's core and presses it into his chest, besides his heart, and feeds him with his own energy.
He feels really bad about it but he can't change the past, he's not a speedster, and time travel causes so many problems besides, plus he doesn't want to get on the bad side of the god who gave him a second chance at life.
It takes Tim a few weeks of feeding Jason's core for him to wake up and reform.
Jason has no more Pit Madness, and finds he can't actually find it in himself to attack Tim again.
After Tim explains everything, Jason goes home.
Canon continues and Danny faces gods and comes out the victor.
Canon continues and Tim faces gods and comes out the victor.
Danny is crowned Princess of the Infinite Realms.
Tim is forced out of the mantle.
Danny is summoned by the Panopticon and is told she needs a husband.
Tim is desperate enough to find Bruce that he summons the same god his parents did.
Clockwork gives Bruce back, and takes Tim's hand to lead him into the Zone so he can meet his bride.
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piedpiperart · 9 months
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Phantom in Gotham 3
Chapter 2
"Anyone see the ghost tonight?" Tim asked when they'd gathered around the bat computer after patrol. Out of all of them, Tim had been most focused on the mystery surrounding the ghost kid. He'd found a little bit about the extent of Casper’s powers, that he was young, alone, and was in danger but couldn't or didn’t want to ask for help from the bats. Nightwing also mentioned the ghost's favorite color was blue, but Tim thought he might be making that part up.
"He was with me for a while,"Dick said, climbing onto another chair with a cup of cocoa in his hands. Where he’d gotten it, Tim had no idea. "But he disappeared after I met with Jason."
"You think maybe he followed Jason?" Tim asked, sitting up straighter. "He just got back from some sort of mission, right? A ghost and a zombie hanging out doesn’t sound like a good idea."
"Yeah, and thanks for telling me you guys have been haunted for the past month,"Red Hood piped up. Everyone in the room turned to look at him as he stepped off his bike, signature helmet in hand. Jason ignored Dick's excited greeting and the Bat's hard stare. "You coulda’ told me he was just a kid. I almost shot the poor guy. Not that it woulda hit him,"Jason added under his breath.
The room was silent, and Jason made a face. "What?"
"You saw him?" Dick asked incredulously.
"Like, actually saw him? The ghost?" Tim added, fingers twitching to type on the computer.
"Yeah, goes by Phantom by the way," Jason said, commandeering a chair. "He's about Timmy's age, bit smaller. Short white hair, black jumpsuit, pointy ears, pale skin, and glowing green eyes. Cute little fangs too."
"Green eyes?" Batman grunted, the whole room once again tense at the implications.
"Yeah yeah, I'm getting to it,"Jason sighed, plopping down into the comfy chair. Without the green haze he didn't feel like starting an argument. If anything, he could really go for a nap. He dragged his hand over his face exasperatedly before continuing. "Anyway, after almost shooting him, Glowstick tells me that I'm contaminated with ectoplasm, or in our case, Lazarus water. "
"Ectoplasm?" Tim repeated, turning to the computer to start on a hunt for info about it. Jason nodded.
"It's what ghosts call it. Says his kind of ghosts are from a different realm connected to ours, where some portals open and let ghosts or ectoplasm through sometimes. Think that's how the pits were made,"Jason said, leaving out the part about Phantom telling the other ghosts about the pits. He hoped maybe the kid or his king might be able to do something about them so he wouldn't have to think about them ever again.
"How do you know he was not lying to you?' Demon Spawn scoffed, and Jason only rolled his eyes.
"If you'd let me finish,"Jason drawled. "He explained a lot of this stuff because he thought I was like him."
"He thought you were a ghost?" Dick frowned.
"Sort of. He said there's different types. A ghost is reliant only on ectoplasm, but there’s also Halfas, who are part human but have more ghost parts so they also need ectoplasm to function. And then me, who didn't have any ghost parts but still had ectoplasm,"Jason explained, feeling like he should have gone home for a nap before this whole conversation."Phantom said I was contaminated with it, and offered to get rid of it."
"He what?" Dick exclaimed, the room erupting in similar arguments.
"Did you let him?" Tim asked, and Jason let out a groan. He just wanted a nap.
Batman shot Jason a look, opening his mouth to no doubt say something about the dangers of ghost children lurking in alleys when Jason interrupted. 
"Shut up,"Jason snapped, and everyone quieted. 
"I did let him."Jason added, glaring at the others so they didn't interrupt him. "We talked. He didn’t even touch me. It worked, and he sort of just, pulled all the ectoplasm out of me." Jason explained, dropping his arms to his sides after waving them in a way the ghost kid was. 
"What did he do with it?" Bruce questioned, and Jason just reached into his bag to pull out his newly acquired paperweight. He tossed the sphere to Bruce, who reluctantly caught it.
"He froze it with ‘Ghost Ice’. Said it won't ever melt and I'll have a nice paperweight forever. He did apologize for not being able to make it into a cool statue though, so that’s fun,"Jason stated blankly. Batman observed the green and blue swirly ball before passing it to Tim, who was making grabby hands at it. "Not sure about his other powers, but he could manipulate ectoplasm, fly, freeze stuff, and go invisible and intangible. He also had a symbol on his chest on some sort of hazmat suit, sort of like a hero would, but it was.. Odd."
"Can you draw it? The symbol?" Tim cut in, passing Jason a paper and pen. Jason drew the flaming D with the P on the inside and passed it back, aware of all the eyes on him staring warily. 
"And how do you feel?" Dick asked, hovering a bit, arms stretched out to touch Jason but not actually touching him."Is it gone for good?"
Jason sighed. How did he feel? "Tired mostly, but lighter. Phantom said to find him if it came back, but it shouldn't. I don't feel angry anymore though, no green rage-"
Before he could end his sentence, Dick scooped him into a hug, proclaiming he was so glad and happy for Jason, who just leaned into the hug. Maybe he was a bit too touch-starved and tired for this sort of conversation, but Jason didn't really care at the moment. Bruce watched with narrowed eyes, but he could see the relief and hope swirling in them too.
"You should stay at the Manor tonight, for observation,"Bruce said, and Jason just shrugged, which made Tim give him an odd look and Dick looked like he was about to start crying with happiness. "Did he say what he wanted in return?"
Jason batted Dick away and shook his head. "He didn't want anything. Pretty sure the kid was just curious about the pit rage, and wanted to help in case I turned out to be like him."He scoffed,"Hell, if I knew all I needed was a scrawny ghost kid to get rid of the rage, my life woulda been a hell of a lot easier these past few years." 
Everyone nodded in agreement at that. Dick softened in relief that nothing bad would happen because of this, and if anything, the little ghost that followed them was more of a help than what Damian called an annoyance. "What about the Halfas? Did he say more about those?" Tim asked. "I haven't heard of the Ghost Zone, or anything about Metas with ghost powers."
"S'not a meta. Different species more like. All the ghosts and Halfas are in hiding,"Jason said,"Apparently there's a secret branch of the government that hunts them. Mentioned some sort of Anti-ectoplasm act or somethin’. Phantom didn't elaborate, but I'm guessing Halfa's are half human, half ghost, and very rare. Figured he was in Gotham because he's looking out for one or all of them."
"All of them?" Bruce grunted.
"Only three halfas in the world, that he knew of,"Jason nodded, letting the information sink in. "That's why the kid was so eager to help, I guess. The Ghost Investigation Ward hunts anything with ectoplasm, for experiments, weapons, power sources, you name it. Kid thought they might come after me since they have something to detect ectoplasm. He said something about no one choosing to come in contact with the stuff and once you have it’s hard to find someone to teach you about it. Think he’s probably a hero or something in the Ghost Zone."
"Definitely something we're gonna look into,"Tim nodded,"He'd mentioned he was in danger before on patrol, so I bet the reason he didn't want our help is cause we sort of work with the government and might have to turn him in, I guess."Tim said, then added. "I'm looking at the Anti-Ecto Acts right now. Looks like it was snuck in with a bunch of bills about the environment to get passed. Jason's right, anything with ectoplasm falls under this. States that they're not classified as sentient, and gives funding to the ‘Ghost Investigation Ward’ to get rid of them or study them with whatever means necessary should they 'invade' earth."
"How have we not heard of this before?" Damian asked, folding his arms with a scowl. Jason figured this sort of topic was one Damian hated most. Kid valued all life, even the afterlife apparently. 
"Well, if all the ghosts and Halfas are hiding, and the law is hidden, there wouldn't be any sort of outlier that would gain our attention." Tim muttered, skimming the documents pulled up on the computer. "There's blatant dehumanization in this, it’s horrible. This shouldn't have been passed."
"Did Phantom say anything about their dimension?" Batman asked, getting to the point.
Jason hummed, "Said it was also called the Infinite Realms. It's where all ghosts are from and they rarely come to the human realm unless there's a thin spot, or man-made portal. Some ghosts have the power to make portals too, but Phantom can’t, I don’t think. Didn't say much, just that it was all made up of ectoplasm and ruled by the Ghost King."
"Ghost King?" Tim hummed. The kid was typing away furiously on the computer, and Jason was pretty sure he'd be like that all night. Now that the kid had some sort of mystery on his hands, there was no way he'd let it go. Bruce merely grunted, in a way that Jason thought meant 'how could we have missed a whole other realm of super powered beings in another dimension who happen to come to their realm on so many occasions that a secret government organization was formed to get rid of them.’ It made Jason smile smugly at being the first one to find out about it.
Jason eyed his green and blue sphere, now being examined by the Demon Brat, and felt something like peace for the first time in a long time. He knew he owed it to Phantom to help him with their GIW problem now. Not that they wouldn’t have before, but he felt indebted to the kid. Glowstick didn't know how long Jason had been struggling with the pit madness, just offered to help as soon as he noticed. It was heartwarming. 
"You said Phantom was Tim's age?" Bruce suddenly asked, and the room groaned collectively.
"You can't adopt a deceased teenager, father."Damian scowled.
Chapter 4
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Halloween prompts no. 10
The demons instructions had been clear. Infiltrate the house the new Lazarus pit had taken over and report back. They were six highly trained assasins. This should have been easy.
The city of "Amity Park" had randomly appeared in the woodlands of Illinois with no warning or reason. All the buildings were in ruin and looked like no one had lived there for years, yet no vegetation had reclaimed them. The house the pit was in was the most eerie thing however. A thick glowing ooze seeped from the darkened windows, metal supports jutted up from the top of the building from where they had supported something massive once upon a time. He was embarrassed to admit he just now realized that the entire city was completely silent. Even the animals that should be out this time of night were no where to be found. Odd.
The Lazarus House- as he'd taken to calling it- opened its front door as they approached. The long unnerving squeal from the henges truly set the horror movie tone. It felt like something inside was mocking them. Daring them to come inside. Entering they found the living room to be a completely ordinary, save for the fact that all the decor and electronics were decades out of date and the glowing green ooze was all over everything casting a dim grow on the entire space. There seemed to be writing on the walls made in the slime, but they had no idea what it meant. Thankfully their goggles were capable of both video and audio recording as well as establishing a live feed from which the Demons Head was no doubt currently watching.
They came across a door with glow in the dark star stickers and space shuttles on it, but the door wouldn't budge. Even using explosives on it didn't seem to phase it at all. They came across another door with the name Jasmine spelt across it and this door opened easily enough inside was a very feminine room loaded with pinks and lace save for the window which was just as blacked and ooze filled as the others and filled with a heavy sadness. The saw a laptop and made a note to retrieve it on thier way out.
It didn't take long after that for things to start going to crap. First, one of his team had mysteriously disappeared. Then one of the doors slammed shut immediately after one of them entered and he knew that the screams that followed would haunt him for the rest of his life. Things continued this way with thier team being picked off one by one until he was the only one left.
He sprinted down the stairs after his attempts at breaking one of the windows proved futile and would up in the basement, which turned out to be the location of the pit. The vibes this room gave off were comforting on the surface, but had an undercurrent of apprehension. Like someone was holding thier breath and waiting for something to happen. This place seemed to be a lab of some sort with metal walls, scientific equipment strewn about and a machine in the far wall making large gaping hole that sparked with electricity every so often. His focus snapped back to the pit once he realized there was something moving in it. His other assasins? No. It was a single figure and far too small.
A white haired child floated to the surface of the pit, glowing just as brightly as the waters themselves and his eyes were filled with that God awful green. Instead of enraged he seemed distracted, dazed-as if half caught in a dream. "No, you're not the one." He said blankly, no emotion evident in his voice.
And then everything was black.
Ras Al Ghul stared at the screen, contemplating. A child living in a Lazarus pit? How would that effect the body? Was this child perhaps created by the Lazarus pit? Was that why he could seemingly control it?
---
Red Robin looked at the house warily, then back at Jason who was refusing the leave the vehicle they have in. Jason had tried to stop him from leaving it as well but that didn't work out very well for him.
He swears the house welcomed him in. Every door his came across was shut tight and wouldn't budge no matter what he did. The only exceptions were the door to the pink room where he found and retrieved a laptop and the door that lead to the basement were the Pit was most likely to be. Finally resolving to go down there he stood on the stairs as the door slammed shut behind him.
Taking a steadying breath he walked down to investigate the obvious lab, starting with the large hole in the wall. He was careful not to go inside it and get shocked by the electricity sparking in it. He stuck a USB stick into one of the nearby machines and began downloading whatever information was on them when he hard something behind him.
Spinning around he saw nothing. Wandering over to the pit he reached down to collect a sample when a white gloved hand grabbed his wrist from the waters. A figure slowly emerged with white hair and familiar glowing green eyes, "Its you. You're the one from my visions."
Tim only had time to hold his breath as he was dragged under. The...pit creature held his wrists as his legs fused together and formed a tail that was then used to wrap around his own legs, keeping his pinned at the bottom of the pit. During his thrashing he looked over and saw another boy that looked exactly like the one that was drowning him but the outfit and hair was the opposite of the original. It was by staring into the black haired teens glassy blue eyes did he realize what he was looking at.
A corpse.
He was going to die. This guy was going to kill him. It was only after the panic left him along with his breath that the infamous calmness that came with drowning seeped in and he heard what the being had been saying to him, I'm so sorry. I never wanted this. At least I can teach you how to use your powers
Powers?
Yes, so many powers! Flight, intagibility, plasma blasts, telekinesis-
Red Robin wanted to listen more even if to only gain a better grasp on this things abilities but he was fading fast. He was dying.
Soon
Tim didn't know what that meant since he was very clearly dying and just before everything went black he felt a kiss be placed on his forehead.
Thank you
The next think he knew he was waking up to the worst pain he had ever felt in his life. He was being electrocuted. No, he wasn't being killed again he was being resuscitated. He gasped as he sat up hurriedly only to realize he was still in the pit. Oddly enough all the pit water was gone and he and that guys corpse were laying on the dry ground inside of it.
A pained groan from the teenager next to him made him switch gears. He was alive? The boy immediately apologized to him after he came to, but wouldn't say anything other than that he was sorry. He grabbed Tim's wrist and flew them out of the pit. It was then that he noticed all the goo was gone but he didn't have time to question it as the other teenager flew them up and through the ceiling and out the front door. They stood there for a moment, silent while Tim watched the other boy shiver. Probably in shock, he thought. This must have been traumatic for the guy, heck it was for him.
It was then that Jason charged at them, not ran, charged and punched the other guy in the face, "What did you do to him?!"
"I'm sorry!" The other guy cried from his place on the ground.
Red Hood aimed his gun, "What did you do?!"
Tim reached out intending to stop Hood from shooting someone when he noticed his gloves were white instead of black. His heart dropped when he looked down at himself. All his colors were changed. The blacks had become whites, his reds had become a pastel yellow. It reminded him too much of the being from the pit. "What?"
The teen appearently did something Hood didn't like and a shot was fired into his shoulder. The guy cried out before giving one last apology before telling them, "I'm sorry. I was fading. I needed the creation of another to heal myself." He then vanished, leaving Red Robin and Red Hood alone in front of a brick building that was slowly starting to crumble before thier eyes.
No, not just the building. All of them. The whole city was crumbling around them and they needed to get out. Now.
They raced out of there with Red Hood cursing the entire way. RR pouted about needing a charger to start up the laptop seing as it was the only thing they got out of that crapshow of a mission. Hopefully the USB wasn't destroyed and he could access it later though it outside connection he used as a failsafe. He needed to know what was happening, not only with that kid but now himself.
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disaster-biraven · 1 month
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The Lazarus Problem Chapter 4
Jasonette Ch1 Ch2 Ch3 Ch4(you are here)
Ao3 Dedicated to @girl-in-thechair
Marinette was expecting Jason to come in, but she wasn’t expecting a familiar source of the Lazarus pits to also come in. She was caught off guard, as she blankly stared back at Jason who seemed to be trying to find the words to speak. Her trance was broken by Jason’s voice cracking.
“Marinette?” He still looked as though she wasn’t really there.
“Jason!” She rushed toward him, and he swept her into a hug and spun her around.
“You’re MDC?” His hands rested on her shoulders as he looked her up and down, like he still didn’t fully believe she was there.
“And you’re a Wayne! I didn’t know whether you were alive or not till I moved back to Gotham. Not only were you alive, but you got adopted?” She said while swatting his arm.
“Yeah, it happened about a month after we were separated, I was caught trying to steal Batman’s tires. He then took me to Bruce, and you know the rest.”
Marinette ignored the lie, it had been years since they’ve seen each other and she of all people knew the importance of keeping a secret identity.
“Really, Jason? Batman’s tires? Please tell me it wasn’t the Batmobile.” She already knew the answer though. Trying to steal tires from the Batmobile was a very Jason thing to do.
“Okay, it wasn’t the Batmobile.” Jason said with a grin.
“Oh that was so believable,” Marinette teased while rolling her eyes. “Okay let’s start the fitting.”
~~
After Jason had left the room where Marinette was working, he walked aimlessly around the Manor when he was accosted by Tim.
“Were you aware your friend is MDC?!” Tim grabbed Jason by the shoulders and shook him with urgency.
“Tim, don’t you think I would have brought that up if I had?” Jason swatted Tim’s hands away. “I was very much caught by surprise.”
It was well known that Tim was a huge fan of MDC. Getting to commission her was a big deal to Tim. After he had gotten confirmation on it he had sobbed face down for a good few hours in disbelief. If Jason had known, he might have kept it from Tim for shits and giggles, but would have most likely told him.
“Well, she lived in Paris for the entirety of the Hawkmoth situation. Should we see if she would be willing to help us with that?” Jason could see Tim’s mind racing. Marinette was a possible resource, because even though the Paris situation was known now, there was still a frustrating amount of mystery.
“We couldn’t ask, the Waynes have no reason to dig into Paris, while the Bats have no connection to her.” Jason paused. “Although maybe we could have one of the Bats come to her and ask, saying we let them know she might be able to help.”
“Well whatever we decide, you need to rekindle the friendship so I can befriend her. I can’t believe you know MDC.” Tim finally let go of him and started for the kitchen. Jason was pretty sure Alfred had already switched everything with decaf though. “I’m going to have to invite her to the Gala, even if she wants to attend anonymously.”
~~
Batman stared back at a very unamused Wonder Woman. This was a necessary briefing but was already really uncomfortable.
“I understand you don’t like magic in Gotham, but the business of the Miraculous isn’t something you should get in the way of. She is there to help you, the effects of the Lazarus pits is a weakness that hinders Red Hood and Robin. To have it removed is an opportunity you can’t afford to pass up. As for seeing if she is telling the truth, I must meet her.” Wonder Woman wasn’t pleased he waited this long to tell her. She had been looking for the current Ladybug as soon as Paris had been revealed to the world.
“If she is actually there to do what she says then I’m okay with the magic, but for now she is still an unknown. To give her access to Red Hood and Robin without confirming her claims would be unwise. Robin is still partially convinced that she may be a spy from the League. Ra’s does have an unhealthy obsession with obtaining the Miraculous according to him.”
Wonder Woman shifted uncomfortably at that.
“Before my mother was Ladybug, Ra’s succeeded at just that. He used the Ladybug and Black Cat to create the pits. To make a wish is to rewrite the universe and it always has to balance out, like the negative effects. I don’t like to think what his next wish might be.”
Batman thought this over, if just one wish could create something as dangerous as the Lazarus pits, then Ra’s definitely needed to be kept from the Miraculous. Lyca was the close they had gotten to finding Ladybug. She seemed to be able to take care of herself, but Batman wanted to offer the protection of the Justice League. He’d sleep better at night if he knew that the League of Assassins would have to go through him before they could get to the Miraculous. Not to mention Ladybug and Chat Noir would be great additions to the Justice League.
“Well after you meet Lyca, let me know if she is who she says she is, and if she is willing to help us contact Ladybug. Meanwhile I’ll still search on my own to see if any leads appear.”
Batman held out the phone Lyca gave Jason. It had taken some convincing to get it from him, but it was the easiest way for Wonder Woman to reach the Fox heroine.
“Trust me, Bruce. She won’t be found unless she wants to.” She accepted the device.
~~
So Jason was Red Hood, and Damian Robin. The kid had barely kept from trying to skewer her as she got her measurements. Marinette couldn’t blame the kid though. He had a significantly greater trace amount of Lazarus pit on him. As the grandson of Ra’s al Ghul she wasn’t surprised. But her commission had revealed the identity of the Bats, something she hadn’t expected to uncover.
While she was planning how that information could aid her in her mission, her phone rang. Not her main phone, the one that was connected to her yo-yo. She answered expecting a Bat to be the one calling.
“Lyca? This is Diana of Themyscira. I would love to meet with you, I believe I might be of some help to you.” Marinette dropped the phone in shock.
Author's Note: I hoped you like this! If you did please consider joining our discord server! It's an amazing community that inspired me to get into writing!
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halfagone · 1 year
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Hey! So I haven't watched Danny Phantom series for literal decades now, but somehow stumbled my way on this Fandom recently. Found DP x DC crossover is a thing and having absolute blast enjoying all those AMAZING fics, fancomics and arts!!!
What i want to ask is, since when DP x DC crossover is a thing? Sorry, i'm just really confused lol
One of us, one of us, ONE OF US!!
But in all seriousness, it's great to have you here! Always happy to see someone fall into endless pit with us (don't worry, it's a nice pit. Much better than the Lazarus Pits for sure). To answer your actual question, I will have to admit I'm not quite certain myself. I've perused DP/DC crossovers for quite some time, but haven't been around from the start. So if anyone knows any better, feel free to add on!
I know this was a very simple question, but I don't do simple. I write essays. So, sorry for that!
From my estimation, I would say most of this crossover starts with DP and Teen Titans. As you probably already know, FF.net has been around since before Ao3, and if you check the pages for DP crossovers on FF.net you can see that the DP x Teen Titans crossover has the most stories. You can also see that some of the very first DP x Teen Titans crossovers appeared in 2005. Which makes sense, seeing as DP and Teen Titans aired around the same time. This very likely contributed to some of the earliest crossovers between these two fandoms.
It definitely helps that Danny is, as we like to say, prime Wayne-adoptee material, and it all kind of goes nuts from there. I think early on there was a lot of either Danny/Dick fics, or Danny and Dick being twins or siblings of some sort. However, as more content aired with other Batboys, I'm sure that also helped with the variety of surprise (and/or mystery) siblings fics popping up. And then, of course, there's the ships. But we don't really need to get into that now.
I remember a time when DP x DC crossovers only had, maybe 100 fics on Ao3? Probably a little more than that? And this is with other fandoms thrown in there for some of these stories. I wasn't writing fanfiction for this crossover back then either, but as you can see it's grown a lot since then.
I don't know if this is technically correct (and perhaps an exact timeline would be helpful, but I wouldn't know how to find an accurate one anyways), but I think it was when Ghost Kings and Gotham Bats got popular, that I saw this huge surge in fanfiction for this crossover. Suddenly there were so many fics that had similar concepts, aka Damian and Danny being siblings/twins.
At this time, some of the most popular (by Hits, not Kudos) were:
Lazarus Green Eyes by Keetajet *One of the biggest fics of that time that really tapped into the potential of Jason's connection to the Lazarus Pits in conjunction to DP's ectoplasm.
A Ghost in Gotham by SassyAngel *Definitely one of my fav Damian/Danny fics. I hope the author's video game has been going well!
I Don't? Work Alone by DomesticatedOpossum *I think this was one of the only Jason/Danny fics I could find for a LONG time.
and
Crash Course by Carmic *aka the very first Anger Management fic that I know of!
(Do keep in mind this is not a full list, but simply some of the big titles from early on in the crossover days on Ao3 that I can recall.)
But if this tells you anything, back then the fics with the most hits only had... maybe 20-30k hits? Which is still a lot for a crossover, but when you think about how the top three fics of this crossover today is at, like, 300k? That's a huge incline of popularity.
All this is to say that I have no idea how it happened. I think it was a steady progression at the beginning, and then at some point it just blew up and never stopped blowing up? Not yet anyways. Tldr; it started with Teen Titans, it's never stopped. We have grown more powerful, we consume more souls into our fandom!
It's great to have you here, I hope this answered your question! Somewhat. lol
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urlocalgothamite · 1 year
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Accidental Samaritan// Jason Todd
CONTEXT: This is narrated by Jason, years after the events happened. The time period is shortly after he was revived and came back to Gotham. 
When I came back to life, angry was just about the only adjective you could use to describe me. You could tell I was nonsensical just by my lazarus-shot eyes. I roamed the once familiar streets of Gotham with a vision for revenge and a costume consisting of only a torn red cloth tied around my eyes. I believe I was well on my way to becoming a villain.
As I walked through the cold streets, noting the mysterious and overpowering chokehold that home had on me, I noticed a kid. He was crouched in a corner. It was honestly pitiful. It made me think of myself, as selfish as that sounds. But, I was that kid on the streets of Gotham.
I slowly approached the little boy. At this point in my life, I was scared of myself. I was scared of my anger. And, being around a child was something that I was unsure about. Nonetheless I continued to approach him. The closer I got, the more I realized how I towered on him. He looked terrified. I don’t blame him. I would be terrified if a man with eyes bloodshot with angry emerald eyes was standing over me as a child.
The boy backed up cautiously, clutching his little blue bear. Eventually the back on heel ran into a dumpster, cornering him. I took a gasp, throwing his blue bear at me- as his last line of defense. It bounced off of me, hitting the wet ground. I bent over to pick it up, the fur was dirty with a matted texture. I crouched down, handing it to him.
“Where are your adults, Buddy?” I asked, with a harsher tone than I probably should have had.
Little Buddy took his blue bear from me, furrowing his eyebrows. “I don’t know. Mommy left with our neighbor. She got mad at me. Me and Bloo were going to look for her.”
I stood up putting a hand on his shoulder. “Well I am taking you and Bloo somewhere safe. The streets of Gotham are anything but safe for a person of you guys’ size.”
“No!” He pleaded, “You’re gonna get Mommy in trouble.”
I honestly did not know how to respond to that so I just gripped his shirt sleeve and kept walking. We walked for a while with him squirming and crying. If we were anywhere but Park Row- someone probably would have called the police.
“Look, Kid- I know you are scared. But I am not putting you in no danger. And your mom should not be leaving you unattended like that. I can not help you much, but I am going to take you to people who can. You just gotta work with me here?”
The kid only nodded in response. After a while more of walking in the rain we made it to a satellite GCPD station.
“You are gonna stay here, these dumbasses are gonna make sure you get somewhere safe.” I hoped what I was saying was true.
The kid sniffled. So I bent down for the last time, handing him my tattered red mask. It just felt like the right thing to do.
“I hope the city treats you right, Little Buddy.” I said before walking off. Of course, I waited in the shadows for an officer to come out and find this child. Lucky for the tiny guy, the officer's badge read ‘Grayson.’
Even during the murderous spree of the Lazarus Pit, I knew I did right by that kid. 
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ao3feed-brucewayne · 3 months
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[Podfic] Home Alone: Christmas at Titans Tower
by Vox_la (Era_Penn) OP Summary: Tim is nine. Well, apparently he’s supposed to be fourteen and Robin (so cool!) but he’s nine right now because of a wizard. Batman left him alone in Titan’s Tower because he needs Tim out of the way while he deals with some new crime boss in Gotham. And now a mysterious bad guy in a red helmet has locked down the Tower from all outside communication and is trying to get in. Tim doesn’t remember being Robin, but he’s going to have to get Robin-y in order to defeat this enemy on his own. Luckily, the Tower is full of so many interesting toys…. Inspired by the Christmas masterpiece Home Alone. Words: 27, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Series: Part 35 of DC Podfic Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, Batman (Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: Gen Characters: Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne Relationships: Tim Drake & Jason Todd Additional Tags: Canon Divergence - Jason Todd's Attack on Titans Tower, Swearing, PG-13 Violence, Grievous Bodily Harm Described Vaguely, Concussions, Medical Inaccuracies, Comic Book Science, Tim Drake is a Menace, Age Regression/De-Aging, Young Tim Drake, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Bees, BEES!!!, Mildly Christmas Themed, Traps, Crack, Lazarus Pit Mad Jason Todd, Lazarus Pit Madness (DCU), Happy Ending, Humor, Enemy to Caretaker, Podfic, Podfic & Podficced Works, Podfic Length: 45-60 Minutes via https://ift.tt/J4XbCRM
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stonecoldspaghetti · 2 years
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I've been playing Batman: Arkham Knight recently and it's got me thinking that they really could have done something fun with Jason in that game. Like, they had none of the necessary set up for Under the Red Hood. Jason had never been mentioned before, the Lazarus pit was only usable by Ra's, there was no other means of bringing someone back from the dead. They still tried to stick as close as possible to the og story though, which, kudos for making it work as well as they did.
But imagine, they took a Jason who'd never died in the first place, who was let down by Batman day after day and suffered immensely for it. Then finally, he escapes by himself to find not only has Batman not been looking for him, but has a new child following him around for Joker to torture or shoot.
So now there's a Jason who has this deep hatred for Batman (for letting him down and replacing him and not training him well enough in the first place) and some hatred for Robin too, but masquerading under an at least partially true concern for all these kids Batman keeps getting hurt, and this new Robin he took on so soon after the last one went missing. To keep this new Robin out of the crossfire (and to make Batman hurt even more), he kidnaps him (instead of Barbara, which has the added bonus of giving any female character any sort of agency in this goddamn game).
His identity is revealed to Batman pretty early, their second or third meeting, because Jason wants to rub it in Bruce's face that he failed, that Jason is still around, that his failure put the new Robin in danger too. More time to explore Jason's motives and what happened to him without exposition beating you over the head that hey, Jason Todd is going to be important in this game for some ~~mystery reason~~. It also gives more time for his anger at Batman to be fully resolved instead of trying to kill you then saving your life the next time you see him.
It would have just been interesting to see a Jason that leans more into the tactical and "cleaning up the city my way" version of him rather than the versions we seem to be getting that are making him angrier and angrier every time he shows up.
Also who decided it was a good idea to have him get caught by the Joker when trying to murder the Joker? Isn't the point of Jason's return supposed to be that he's now someone very different?
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scandalsavagefanfic · 2 years
Note
In your reaction to Nick Robles' Robins #2 pin-up cover you listed Jason having an autopsy scar as a sign that he cares about the character. I'm a relatively new fan of the him, so I wanted to ask why?
I haven't yet seen it in any comics and it doesn't make much sense to me. Both why he would still have the scar after both the Reality-Punch and the Lazarus Pit and why he would have had an autopsy (with a Y-incision no less) in the first place.
It seems to be something Robles consistently includes in his Jay pin-ups (and I'll admit it looks pretty hot in them), but is it actually rooted in canon?
I'm sorry, this is such an old ask though by far not the oldest in my inbox lol.
You're absolutely right that there's no canon precedent for the autopsy scar. 
I feel like Jason almost certainly had an autopsy. He officially died from asphyxiation from smoke inhalation. I know nothing about how and when they do autopsies but I feel like they need one to know that. Not to mention that to anyone who wasn't Batman or Joker, it appeared that Jason died alone, under very mysterious circumstances. His body was entirely broken in many ways that are inconsistent with an explosion, which he was also obviously in... I feel like doing an autopsy would have been a given to discover how this child who was so badly injured really died. Like I feel like it would have been a legal necessity. He didn't die in a hospital where things would have been documented.
The Reality-Punch obviously didn't entirely heal him. Employees of the hospital he ended up in after dragging himself out of his grave noted as much and Talia threw him in the Pit to heal his mind. Not to mention, how the Lazarus Pit works is so inconsistent throughout comics that it's basically a deus ex machina for whatever level of healing you need that sometimes comes with a side effect of madness and sometimes not. Some people headcanon that since scars are already healed wounds, the Pit wouldn't erase them, so if Jason had an autopsy, it would have had time to heal after he returned and before Talia put him in the Pit which wouldn't have necessarily washed it away.
So that's the canon.
The reason I said an autopsy scar indicates that he cares about the character is because its inclusion means that the person has considered how death might affect Jason after his resurrection, something DC does, at best, as an afterthought, if at all. And there are plenty of sections of fandom (and writers at DC) who think that being brutally murdered is something Jason should just shrug off. Partly because they consider death in comics meaningless unless it's their fav and aren't willing to consider the context of Jason's death, both in-universe and in comics history.
Of course, the inclusion of the autopsy scar isn't necessary to prove you care about the character. I personally don't headcanon he has one (I prefer the headcanon that the Pit washed away all of Jason's scars including the ones from being Robin that he was so very proud of and that the thin white line at his throat from Bruce's batarang in UtRH is one of his first new ones). But it can be a good shorthand for "I've thought about how this surreal trauma has affected this character and how meaningful that moment is for his development" which is more than a lot of people do, even at DC.
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2021 JDSE: Final day of posting! Sep. 5
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[ ❤ Works posted so far! ❤ ]
Today end's our posting period for 2021! Check in tomorrow, when we reveal the anonymous artists & authors behind the ONE HUNDRED AND TEN works in this years exchange! :D :D :D
Without further ado, here are today’s posted works:
be my husband man I be your wife by Anonymous for elwon [Explicit, No Archive Warnings Apply, 4.4k words]
Tags: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Roy Harper, Donna Troy, Artemis of Bana-Mighdall, Jim Gordon, Barbara Gordon, Bizarro (DCU), Gotham by Gaslight AU, Explicit Sexual Content, Frottage, Light Dom/sub, Crossdressing, Sexual Tension, Es…(click for more tags)
Summary:
Dick both never wanted the Gotham Season to end while also having grown quite tired of all the expectant debutantes hoping to become his wife. Thankfully Jason, the ever dutiful Valet, is there to remind Dick that he has a spouse already in every way that matters.
Or Jason gently domming Dick and no one noticing because it's normal, with a sprinkle of Dick getting fucked while in a Victorian Dress
let me occupy your mind as you do mine by Anonymous for spacecapes [Mature, No Archive Warnings Apply, 3.6k words]
Tags: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd, Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Not Canon Compliant, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Vampire Jason Todd, Bloodlust, Lazarus Pit Madness, Mutual Pining, Seemingly Unrequited Pining, Insecurity, Blood Drinking, mildly dubious touching,…(click for more tags)
Summary: A forbidden fruit that Jason feared he would taint if he ever tried to take a bite. And bite he would; an all-consuming ache in his bones urged him to devour Dick piece by piece so that he was punished, so that he bled, so that he was Jason’s. Three burning desires that shook Jason to his core just acknowledging them.
Vampire!Jason comes home to find the most exquisite treat asleep on his couch. Unfortunately, he must fight the urge to do more than look when all three of his secrets threaten to expose him.
Open Up Your Window by Anonymous for justtoarguewithyou [Teen And Up Audiences, No Archive Warnings Apply, 1.1k words]
Tags: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd, Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd-centric, musings, References to Jason's death, And less than stellar upbringing, for catharsis and the aesthetic tbh, Also watch out for a tiny bit of general Gotham unpleasantness, Brief …(click for more tags)
Summary: Jason Todd walks the streets of Gotham.
the court magician by Anonymous for LullabyDance [Teen And Up Audiences, No Archive Warnings Apply, 2.3k words]
Tags: Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Talia al Ghul, Damian Wayne, Pre-Slash, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Nanda Parbat, But I spell it with an extra 'A', Sorry Not Sorry, Body Guard Jason Todd, Flirting, magician …(click for more tags)
Summary: Prompt: I'd love to see a fantasy AU!! With Dick as the new court magician and leader of the Titans? And Jason is the young prince, curious about this mysterious figure and if he's really as powerful as they all say? Or maybe Jason is the Captain of the Royal Guard who doesn't trust this masked newcomer at all and decides to investigate? Is Dick even a magician, or is he a dragon in disguise or just a human with a few tricks up his sleeve? You can go wild
I’d like a minute alone with your habitual proximity to death by Anonymous for justtoarguewithyou [Not Rated, No Archive Warnings Apply, 7.4k words]
Tags: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, with cameos by Cass & Zatanna & Alfred, Magical Nonsense, as an excuse for introspection, dick's self awareness sucks a little bit, jason is annoyed by his own improving mental health, …(click for more tags)
Summary: Jason gets cursed to know what he wants. It doesn't really go like he'd expect.
Family Dinner by Anonymous for Birdlovers4 [General Audiences, No Archive Warnings Apply, 0k words]
Tags: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Slice of Life, Fluff, humor(hopefully), …(click for more tags)
Summary: A belated treat. Hope you'll enjoy! [ART]
So lovely was the loneliness (of a wild lake) by Anonymous for Birdlovers4 [Teen And Up Audiences, No Archive Warnings Apply, 11.5k words]
Tags: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Damian Wayne, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Mermaids, mermaid dick grayson, Mermaid Damian Wayne, Protective Dick Grayson, Protective Jason Todd, Good Older Sibling Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson Loves…(click for more tags)
Summary: When his little brother Damian is captured by humans, Mermaid!Dick performs a spell that will give him a single night to be human. He seeks out the help of Jason to help him find his brother, and learns all about being a human in the meantime.
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please. i can’t do this alone.
Titans 3.01
thoughts! thoughts! thoughts! some red hot thoughts!
SPOILERS ahead.
1. one episode in, and this season already looks set to give me everything i want. its abandonment of plot and storytelling conventions as it goes from one point to the next at breakneck speed; its cheerful bastardisation of iconic storylines from the comics; the ‘as-you-know-bob’ clunky exposition on one end and extremely restrained, subtle explorations of complex character dynamics on the other; endless shots of neon bleeding into black and blue corridors, shadows and silhouettes; my delight in seeing it celebrate and deconstruct the dark nolan-y batman aesthetic at the same time; my bafflement that it’s so fucking goddamn obsessed with the batfam when it’s supposed to be about the TITANS; kory just... saving every overburdened, clunky scene that she’s in by her sparkling charisma. just... *chef’s kiss*. muah. my show is back, in all its glory.
MY SHOW IS BACK, Y’ALL!
1.5. i mean... this show is so artful and weird and not afraid to go absolutely bonkers in exploring its characters’ psyche, but can just about barely stage a passable comic book fight when every tom dick and harry and their new streaming services can deliver ones that are far more exciting. i love this show with every atom of my body.
(there’s something to be said about rooting for the underdog as well. a pleasure in finding something to love about what other people dismiss. but! enough navel gazing! i have fictional characters’ navels to look at! metaphorically! and maybe literally!)
2. i expected jason’s death to come about pretty early in the season as soon as i heard rumours that red hood was showing up, but for it to happen in the first five minutes of the first episode... that’s a record. 
(well. “happen.” still don’t know what exactly went down there.)
2.25. GOD. jason is such a tortured and tragic character in this show, used and passed around by people with alleged good intentions, never really fitting in anywhere. he’s veritably bleeding vulnerability and the need to belong, the need to be known, and yet the tragedy is that his death proves that nobody in his life knew anything about him at all; that they only saw the flimsy walls he put up to protect his soft core, and thought that that was all there was. that they say they loved him, but blame him for his own death. 
dick is flabbergasted that jason can read, though we know from last season, from what jason revealed to rose, that he has a love for plays and music. barbara is quick to dismiss his actions as ‘impulsive’. bruce has no idea that his supposed son was building his own little chemistry lab right under his nose, and beyond that, no idea that jason needed structure, stability and validation beyond being left alone in a huge house with a treasure trove of dangerous weapons. kory thought his decision to fight the joker was from not learning and growing when the guy tried to kill himself last season and nobody apart from dick even tried to talk to him about it! did you consider that he might still be suicidal? especially after the titans admitted to having “given up” on him because he was just “too hard”?
2.5. the one thing that’s been consistent across all three seasons (so far) of the show is the unreliable narrator trope. there’s a reason why the characters’ dismissals of jason’s actions as impulsive is so repetitive; why jason’s death is a mystery dick feels compelled to solve. it’s a flailing attempt to know his brother much too late--but with red hood, maybe he gets a second chance, just like he got one with the titans. this is what jason’s arc has been building up to. this is ‘death in the family’ but more fucked up in some ways. it didn’t linger on the death because the death wasn’t the point. the joker isn’t the point. everything that came before it is.
this way it will also make perfect sense that the red hood’s main enemy becomes the titans rather than batman.
2.75. goodness knows what’s going on with jason’s little chemistry project. at first i thought he was immunising himself to joker gas or something, but maybe it’s what passes for lazarus pit juice in this universe? 
anyway, it’s pretty impressive that jason learnt all of that from a college chemistry textbook. STOP BRINGING UP THAT HE READ SOMETHING, DICK--
2.8. i’m glad that dick doesn’t immediately sink into self-loathing and guilt and tries to investigate jason’s death while also acknowledging how he failed him. it’s like he actually learned something from the last two years! 
anyway. more about dick later. 
3. oh how i love titans!bruce. a lot of characters had a lot of Opinions on his reaction to jason’s death in this episode, but again, i ask you to consider that they’re unreliable narrators, and this universe’s bruce is a product of how it shaped him. bruce wayne has become a phantom to himself--an artifice borne out of vigorous discipline and crushing self-denial. 
bruce has been batman for a very long time, and without a robin for much longer. (dick must be... in his early thirties? so he was robin for about, say, 10-12 years according to the timeline of the show. that still makes bruce pretty old when he took on his first robin.) things have... calcified (possibly parts of his brain). the personal cost and the collateral from the mission he’s taken up for most of his life is too much to countenance; it has to be a war, and war requires sacrifice. 
on some level bruce knows that’s a lie. he’s so goddamned alone. what’s he going to do? sit down and cry? who’s going to listen to him now? oh, is he going to just stop being batman? who’s going to stop gotham from consuming herself then? he’ll just have to forge ahead, do better next time, maybe he’ll be firmer with them, or kinder with them, or notice more things, or train them harder, or spend more time--
3.25. don’t get me wrong: titans!bruce is an asshole and a half. his roster of potential robins was honestly bone-chilling. the fact that there’s a twisted root of compassion makes it more disturbing. 
3.5. alfred’s dead! it must’ve been pretty recent, because i could’ve sworn that dick tried to call alfred in the very first episode of season 1, or at least considered calling him... 
what a devastating double-blow for bruce then, losing his father-figure and his, uh.... son-figure so close together.
4. i don’t know about barbara yet. i mean, i like her, but she had so much clunky expository dialogue to deliver this episode, and for an episode that was named after her, she only showed up halfway through it. but i like the weight of history behind her interactions with both bruce and dick and her compassion to bruce before he cruelly crossed a line. i also like the implication that she and dick have been in touch recently, and that she didn’t immediately try to guilt-trip dick about some perceived abandonment. it’d be too repetitive.
4.5. there’s also a sense that she ran interference for dick a lot whenever there was something Too Big and Emotional for him to confront directly, and i like and appreciate that character beat.
5. dick, my man! it really does feel like a substantial length of time has passed between the end of s2 and the beginning of s3... kory’s got a new costume, they’ve become celebrities in SF, working missions together, and dick’s actually smiling! genuinely enjoying his work and having fun with it for possibly the first time in the entire series! it’s really a far cry from the fractured, dysfunctional mess that they were at the end of the last season.
i just hope this doesn’t mean that they’ve magically reached a resolution off-screen to all of their fucked-upness from last season, and that the repercussions--for gar in particular--are actually addressed on screen. 
5.25. i mentioned this briefly above, but it really is so refreshing that dick doesn’t wallow in guilt and self-loathing after jason’s death; he acknowledges his and the titans’ failure, is able to admit to barbara honestly that he’s not doing great, and is actively trying to reach out to bruce to make sure he’s ok, is trying to investigate what made jason seek out the joker on his own, and is probably the only person not immediately buying that it was jason’s recklessness that got him killed. i love that dick is finally beginning to trust his instincts or just employ them at all after years of guilt and paranoia and self-loathing. we love some positive character growth!
5.5. another thing i love? the bruce-dick interactions on this show. every scene they’re in together is so fraught with tension, both of them holding themselves back, their emotions on a whipcord-tight leash. dick wants to reach out to bruce, is even somewhat familiar with this brand of denial in the wake of grief, but wants barbara to make the first move because he genuinely does not know how to get bruce to open up. his instincts are right, and wonderful, and genuine, but his expression has been smothered by years of trauma, emotional and physical self-discipline, and what i suspect is poorly treated mental illness. 
it takes a lot for him to finally explode at bruce at the end of the episode--in a way he hasn’t done even when his only opinion of bruce was ‘fuck him’--and it’s all the more startling for how subdued he’s been through the episode, how much he’s been holding back his emotions for bruce’s sake. love it.
5.75. it sort of hurts my heart to see the flying graysons poster in jason’s room. there are a few implications:
a) jason settled into dick’s old room despite living in a giant mansion with dozens of other rooms he could’ve used
b) he didn’t take down dick’s poster--not when he moved in and was idolising him, not when he moved out of the titans and was sort of hating him. i wonder if the reminder of what dick was before robin--that he was forged out of unspeakable tragedy--gave jason the connection to dick that he so desperately wanted in real life
c) dick moved right back into the room and slept on the bed that was now jason’s. grief can be so quiet and piecemeal sometimes.
6. i spy the beginnings of actual arcs for both gar and kory! i just hope that with the move to gotham their stories don’t fall to the wayside...
6.5. i’ve known tim drake for less than ten minutes but if anything were to happen to him i’d kill everybody 
7. this review has gone on for too long and i am tiRED. however, before i leave: i miss some of the dedication-to-aesthetic that titans season 1 used to have. remember how the first few episodes didn’t really feel like a superhero show but something out of gothic horror? there was something gorgeous and raw about that, about open landscapes and the road and creepy buildings looming up at the end of it. moving to titans tower in s2 really ruined a lot of that for me, given its ripped-from-architectural-digest aesthetic, all smooth and clean and artificial. 
i hope that we really explore gotham’s hellscape in interesting and innovative ways instead of camping out in the batcave all the time and indulging in the show’s unending love for long corridors, neon backlights and silhouettes.
8.....
9.  wait, fuck, HOW CAN I FORGET ABOUT HOT PSYCHIATRIST GUY (TM)??? NONE of you prepared me for his return! NONE OF YOU! i gasped! i got up and did a happy dance! 
listen, titans writers, if you’ve had a peek at my titans s3 wishlist, please go ahead and give the other items on the list a go too, thankyouverymuch.
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fancyfade · 3 years
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okay time for a post with a small fandom intersection
but my and my sibling were thinking about tragedy
anyway
so one of the instances of tragedy that I really really like and still gives me feelings like 12 years after having played the name is the situation with Revan and Malak, where Revan and Malak were heroes of the republic, et cetera, whatever, the regular people (not the Jedi) had a hugely positive opinion of them because they were willing to get involved with the Mandalorian war and defending the Republic for Mandalorians
When the game starts, Revan and Malak are the bad guys. Well Revan is “dead” and Malak is the main bad guy. They used to be like the down to earth, relatable jedi who were willing to help when the other jedi wanted to guard against the presence of the Sith, which seemed to have been forever ago to the younger generation but was extremely present in the minds of the older generation, as the Exar Kun war was in their life time (speaking of which: there are some problems I have with the comic but this set up was not at all a problem in the Knights of the Old Republic comics, it was some of the strongest star wars world building I’d seen).
So spoilers for game that came out in 2003: The player character is Revan, with amnesia. Revan was attacked by the Jedi and then Malak took advantage of that and fired on the ship, hoping to kill Revan. The attack nearly killed Revan and destroyed their mind. Bastila force-bonded herself to Revan to keep them alive and Revan is implanted with false memories. This also had video game mechanics mesh really well to the storytelling: This explains why the player character “level up”s so quickly: They aren’t learning everything for new for the first time, they are re-learning Revan’s old skills.
Because it’s an RPG, the player has two choices, being cartoonishly evil (dark side) or being a decent person (light side). no matter what the player winds up finding out who they were and fighting Malak, either to stop him from taking over the galaxy (light side) or to take over his fleet and presumably use it yourself (dark side). No matter what you choose when you kill Malak he waxes about how Revan had always been stronger. His way of seeing hte world is clearly rooted in dark Jedi/sith stuff: kratocracy, being strong makes you right. The player doesn’t know whether Malak always thought this when he was a Jedi or if something changed when they went to the unknown region, but we get to see that even as he is dying Malak is still clearly locked into a world view that he may have not had beforehand that has not done him any good.
The player never finds out what changed Revan and Malak from heroes of the Republic. It’s just “Revan and Malak went to the outer rim, they came back trying to conquer the people they used to protect”. There’s no concrete explanation, which serves two functions: a) it’s a mystery b) the fact that it isn’t answered means there can’t be an “unsatisfying” answer, the player fills it in with whatever might have made sense.
Now I’m not saying that you always have to do that, I think that there is a time and a place for leaving the question unanswered and the video game format of this was very well served by it since it was backstory and video games don’t always have to answer backstory very clearly
Eventually in a tie-in novel, the reason why Malak and Revan betrayed the Republic and turned to the dark side is revealed: They were literally brainwashed into it! Wow that sure takes what could have been a compelling story about the fall of heroes (or if you want to assume they were expressing attributes that they always had buried, a type of commentary on heroes) into nothing! I think they probably did it because the player (and presumed reader of the novel)  played as Revan and they wanted ot make sure it wasn’t Revan’s fault. No one can be upset if Revan wasn’t actually responsible for their actions, right? right?
Obviously this didn’t work as I can’t think of a single person who actually liked the tie-in novel or that retcon
anyway now for the reason why this post was titled “a post with a very small fandom intersection” (and the reason I kind of explained this as if the reader hadn’t actually played kotor before)
I think that’s a huge narrative pitfall of “Jason Todd isn’t actually responsible for his actions as the Red Hood” (quick summary of who Jason Todd is for hte people who were only reading this due to the kotor stuff beforehand: Batman’s second Robin, Jason Todd, is killed by the Joker at the age of 15 and comes back 5 ish years later as the crime lord Red Hood. he now disagrees with Batman’s methods and wants to kill people as he thinks that’s the best way to do what he views as Batman’s job. There’s also resentment at Batman, his adoptive father, for not having killed the Joker).
anyway that’s the narrative pitfall of “Jason Todd was just Lazarus-magicked into killing people”. We COULD have a compelling story of someone who really wanted to do good, fully believed in what Batman was doing, and then.... he stopped. There’s a certain tragedy in that IMO and it is just rendered meaningless if it’s like “What could make a sweet kid like Jason turn into a mass murderer? Oh he’s messed up by the Lazarus Pit it’s not his fault”. It’s such an unsatisfying answer that removes any agency he had and any actual meaning behind the story!
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sixtyeightdays · 4 years
Text
you reap what you sow
prompt from @mialuvscats : i hope this meets your expectations ! im sorry this took so long, i tried uploading it from my phone but it glitched and i could only get my hands on the computer today 
i’d like to say that i think if sabine and mari are there, damian and talia willl be relatively looser and not as uptight . mari and sabine are cold but loving and sunshiney. they keep talia and damian in check, essentially. which is why i wrote them in to be loose and free but able to be openly happy when they want to be, even if they are only happy around each other.
with sabine here i also thinkt hat talia will be slightly easier on damian, which also ties to the fact that he will not be as cold and uptight.
talia will be a good mother in this fic bc i want her to be and itll be ooc but its okay its my fic anyway
and the timeline is kinda messed up and all over the place sorry
that aside, have fun reading and i hope you enjoy!
--
talia and sabine are best friends, and before most of the class joins francois, marinette ruled the school after coming to paris with sabine. mari and damian are betrothed and the two are best friends. they can be icy one minute and sunshiney the next, although the sunshiney part is more mari than damian.
maybe the waynes come to paris, bc if theyre in gotham the others wont really know if the queen is back, and theyre kinda unsure why marinette is being timid and very unlike her ice queen demeanor she sometimes uses. mari is closest to jason in terms of batfam because firstly maybe she cleanses jason of the lazarus pit after helping damian using tikki's creation magic to counteract plagg's destruction one. since the waynes are here theres no point in mari hiding her queen status anymore and queue lila reveal
-
Talia al Ghul and Sabine Cheng were an unlikely combination, but worked perfectly well.
The two women were extremely close. Sabine was almost as deadly as Talia, but she made up for it with her devious mindset. She was the one who steered Talia away from doing anything wrong --well more wrong than usual-- and the one who was assigned to dish out punishments to usurpers.
The two could read each other like open books, and hence, when both Talia and Sabine became pregnant, Talia one month before Sabine, the two knew immediately.
They had debated whether or not to have their kids be betrothed, and eventually decided to let their children make the final call when their kids were old enough to understand.
Nine months later, Marinette and Damian were born. In the League infirmary, an hour after the two were cleaned and left there to rest while their mothers did the same, the two had already grown rather close.
Their baby cribs were next to each other, and somehow they were staring at each other through the walls of the crib, and were making small grabby hands to the other.
When Talia and Sabine were sufficiently rested and came to pick up their children, they were slightly shocked, yet gratified by their children. Sabine smiled and draped an arm around Talia’s shoulder, smiling lazily.
“I guess they’ll be as close as their mothers, non?” 
Talia smirked, and the two walked forwards, lifting their respective children in their arms and walking to their quarters.
-
The two mothers did not regret it. Their kids were enamoured with each other, practically joined at the hip.
By the time Marinette and Damian were 5, they had a very extensive vocabulary, since they had learned to speak Arabic, French and English. They were also extremely smart and skilled with weapons. 
Marinette was extremely adept at using a yoyo. It seemed weird, I know. But when the League was stormed when she was 3, she had taken out 4 men with her yoyo alone. Since then, she had been teaching herself how to use the yoyo effectively.
Damian preferred to use a katana. He looked much scarier than Marinette, even if the two were the same age. He had found a natural talent in using blades, knives, katanas and daggers included.
Marinette was the Rain to Damian’s Fire. 
She was the only one who could calm Damian down when he was mad, mad.
But make no mistake, Marinette could switch personalities in a heartbeat. She was one of the League’s most skilled interrogators at the age of 5.
After all, who would suspect a pigtailed 5 year old in pink to be scary?
Damian much preferred his stoic and icy attitude. The only people he ever let loose around was Marinette, Sabine, and Talia.
Talia and Sabine loved the children to an almost deadly extent, and the four were extremely overprotective of each other.
Marinette had taken to magic as well. She had been trained by many people in the League about sensing magic. Damian did not have the patience for magic and rituals. 
Marinette knew Damian was more of a ‘attack first ask questions later’ type of fighter, a stark contrast to Marinette’s ‘i will curse you and you will suffer in agonising pain for the rest of your life’ preferred type of fighting.
She’d never really liked getting her hands dirty, hence the magic. Killing people with magic was so much cleaner.
Sabine and Marinette had to leave for Paris when she was 9. For what, she wasn’t sure, but regardless of the distance, she and Damian constantly traded calls and letters. They would never go even a day without contact.
They were staying with one of Sabine’s old friends. His name was Tom Dupain, and he was an old wrestler and had worked with the League before. He and Sabine pretended to be married and Marinette’s name had hence became Marinette Dupain Cheng.
Damian and Talia stayed at the League, although all of them knew that Damian was to meet his birth father when he turned 10.
Marinette adapted her icy demeanor in Paris, never wanting anyone to get as close as she was with Damian. 
A few hours in, walking around Paris, she had met an elderly man in a red Hawaiian shirt, emitting the aura of magic. She had confronted him, and eventually, he opened up to her about the Miraculous. Tikki, the Ladybug kwami, and Plagg, the Black Cat kwami had taken a liking to her.
Marinette was apparently something called a True User, a reincarnation of the first Ladybug miraculous wielder. Plagg just rather liked the aura of death and chaos she apparently gave off, from the League.
She and the other Kwamis also had a rather amicable relationship, and she’d go to the ends of the Earth for the tiny gods, and vice versa.
The elderly man, named Fu, had also started to train her into becoming the new Guardian of the Miraculous.
Before, Marinette had been planning on laying low and not drawing atention to herself, but once she had beaten up two upperclassmen for bullying her classmate and somewhat accquaintance Nino, she had been fiercely regarded by both the students and faculty. 
As a result, she eventually grew close to Nino, and his friends, Kim, Alix and Chloe. She only ever let down her icy demeanour around them, showing the bright and bubbly girl persona she kept hidden. She wasn’t as close to them as she was to Damian, but they were all still quite close friends. 
It wasn’t long after that Marinette became the queen of her school, at the tender age of 10, earning her title as the Ladybug. Or, as Chloe liked to put it, the Lady, because she was lucky enough to ‘get a friend like her’.
Marinette didn’t protest. She rather liked Ladybugs, and besides, it was ironic and it reminded her a little of Damian, who sometimes liked to call her his Maribug. Because she was sometimes a pest, he deadpanned. Marinette had whacked him with a pillow. 
Everyone in the school feared the Ladybug. No one knew anything of her past. She was a mystery, an enigma that no one could solve. When new students came in after Marinette turned 14, everyone was slightly shocked to see their Lady change.
She was much more bubbly and approachable. Word had spread around that Marinette, the Lady, was trying a clean slate for the new kids. After all, not everyone should fear her.
Probably.
School eventually returned to what it was like before Marinette became the Lady, although she did still rule the school, she did it much more subtly, with more restraint and secrecy.
One of the new kids, Alya, had taken a liking to her. Marinette did not like her  very much, she was loud and clingy and drew a lot of unwanted attention. 
Marinette and her old crew, who had playfully called themselves her Consorts before the name stuck, had split up temporarily, to cover more ground and spread their branches.
Chloe was to pretend to be Marinette’s bully, Kim and Alix rivals, and Nino a shy recluse. They had had a good laugh about it beforehand, before watching Moana, because Kim wanted to compare the size of his muscles to Maui’s.
None of them had accounted for Adrien Agreste, who had tried to get the gum off Marinette’s seat like the naive, sheltered boy he was. Marinette had admittedly gotten mad at him for screwing up a perfectly good plan, before ramping up her ice persona to like, a 2/10, to get the newbies off her scent and scare Adrien away.
It hadn’t worked, because the boy was apparently as stubborn as he was naive. But besides that, Alya had been really grating on Marinette’s nerves, especially since she was convinced that Marinette had a crush on the model. It was not true, of course. 
Honestly, Marinette thought dryly, as Alya dragged her all over the place to.. somewhere, she wasn’t even sure anymore. But frankly, she didn’t particularly care. Honestly, the only boy she’d probably ever have a crush on would be Damian.
Not that she’d ever admit it.
-
When Marinette and Damian turned 10, she and Sabine had taken a plane to Gotham to meet up with Damian.
Damian had not been having a good time. He was very much unwanted here, that was clear. 
Grayson seemed to be the only one trying to interact with him. His father, had been trying his best to stay out of Damian’s way, which he reciprocated. Todd was flat out ignoring him and Drake just seemed to be busy all the time.
After all, who would want to interact with a grumpy 10 year old assassin?
He missed Marinette.
It was the day Todd finally tried to open up to Damian, that Marinette had arrived. No one had told him that she was finally meeting him again for the first time in a year. Sabine had left Marinette to figure out where Damian was on her own. She was more than capable of it.
With a quick scrying spell, she found him, and Kaalki opened a portal headed in the direction of Wayne Manor.
Meanwhile, Damian just appreciated the fact that Todd was finally extending an olive branch. He was lonely.
It hurt seeing his father care for everyone in the manor apart from him.
He had been walking along the gardens in the manor. Todd had joined him.
“Listen, I know it’s hard to feel accepted here. Sometimes, I do.” Jason gazed wistfully at the sky above him.
Damian was unsure of where the ex-Robin was getting at, so he just kept quiet. It wasn’t as if Damian didn’t know who Jason Todd was. Before he had come to the manor with Talia, he had read the Waynes’ files. In addition, Damian had known of Jason while he was affiliated with the League. They had never talked, or interacted, but he had known of the elder boy. 
“I just, uh, wanted you to know that if you ever need anything, you can come to me.” He finished lamely, running a hand in his hair.
Damian opened his mouth, then closed it, hesitating. “Thank you, Ja--Todd. I will.” He settled on saying dryly.
Jason visibly relaxed and cracked a miniscule smile. There was a sudden ‘swoosh’ sound, and both Jason and Damian turned around, bodies automatically going on the defensive.
Stumbling out of Alfred’s rose bushes, trodding on a few accidentally, was Marinette.
“Angel!” Damian exclaimed, moving forwards to help her forwards.
She brushed her shoulders off, looking around before freezing, staring at something behind him.
“Jay?”
“Pixie?” He asked, sounding incredulous.
Marinette rushed forward and wrapped him in a tight embrace. Jason laughed and hugged her back, chuckling.
Damian quashed down the bubbling feeling of rage in the pit of his stomach and settled for casting a frosty glance in their direction. Not that they noticed, since they were too busy embracing each other, Damian thought scornfully.
The two pulled apart after too long in Damian’s opinion, laughing.
“Angel? How do you know Todd?” Damian asked coldly, ever so protective.
If Jason noticed the sudden reversion to his surname instead of his first, he didn’t say anything.
“Oh, he came to Paris with Lia once and I cleansed him of the Lazarus pit madness, like I did with you.” She replied.
“What are you doing here?” Jason asked. Damian had forgotten about that.
“Visiting, of course!” She winked. “Now, let’s give your old man a good scare.” She pecked Damian on the cheek before vanishing. (Thanks, Trixx.)
Jason and Damian looked to each other. “Did you know she could do that?” Jason questioned. Damian shook his head before pausing.
“Wait.. how did she get into the manor?” 
The only response was the faint echo of a laugh.
-
It was time for dinner anyway, and only Damian, Jason, and Alfred knew of Marinette’s presence. Marinette had voluntary evelaed herself to the elderly butler after noticing his aura. 
It was Miraculous tainted. If Marinette could guess, he had been either one of Duusu’s, Sass’s, or Nooroo’s.
When the butler had retired to the kitchen alone, Marinette had unraveled Trixx’s magic veiling her and waved at the butler.
To hi credit, he didn’t so much as bat an eye before his eyes widened as he took her in. Marinette cut to the chase.
“Who was your kwami?” Alfred had surveyed her for a second before seemingly trusting her.  
“Duusu.” He answered.
Marinette smiled. “I’m Tikki’s.” From her perch in Marinette’s left pigtail, the red Kwami pried open the folds of her hair, waving once at Alfred before sinking back into the recesses of the bluenette’s locks.
Alfred blinked. Once. Twice. “I’m presuming you’re staying for dinner?”
Marinette beamed. “I’m gonna scare the big bat.” Alfred nodded, accepting this. Marinette clapped her hands and she disappeared again. Alfred shook his head, smiling faintly.
Conveniently, it was one of the times where everyone was there. Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damian. Rare these days, what with Dick in Bludhaven, Tim at WE, and Jason off being Jason.
Bruce was currently on his way back from WE, although it would take around half an hour. He had told everyone to start eating first. Perfect. 
After Marinette’s encounter with Alfred, she had reappeared in Damian’s room, where she and Damian caught up. Just like old times.
She had disappeared again once she left the room, and Damian wasn’t entirely sure where she went.
Alfred set the the table as per normal, which Damian and Jason noticed right away. They looked to Alfred, who merely winked before stepping back into the kitchen and laying out the food.
There was a screech of a chair as Marinette, disguised as Bruce (Trixx in her right pigtail and Tikki in the left) sat down. Dick looked startled. 
“I thought you wouldn’t be back till later!” Dick exclaimed.
Mari-Bruce shrugged. “Faster than I’d expected.” She answered, securing the veil of Trixx’s magic around her vocal chords, making her voice sound exactly like Bruce’s.
Jason inched away slightly from Bruce, though she pretended not to notice.
Alfred nodded at her as he reentered the room.
Everyone dug in, occasionally talking. It had been about 25 minutes before the sound of the door opening could be heard. Damian and Jason’s head shot up, thinking it was Marinette.
Mari-Bruce smirked. Showtime.
Bruce entered the room, not noticing Mari at first. Until the batboys gaped at him. He looked confused. What--?
Mari-Bruce was a pretty great actress. “Who are you?” She thundered, internally laughing.
“Who are you? I’m Bruce Wayne.” He answered, looking befuddled and frustrated.
“Impostor.” Mari-Bruce accused. 
Bruce spluttered. “No! I’m the real Bruce!” 
Mari-Bruce scoffed. “That’s what an impostor would say.”
Damian and Jason seemed to figure it out, although they probably weren’t sure which Bruce was the real one yet.
Tim rubbed his eyes. “Am I seeing double, or?” 
Bruce said, “Ask me something the real Bruce would know.”
Dick looked torn, but did as requested. “Who murdered your parents?”
“Joe Chill.” They both said at the same time. Mari-Bruce and Bruce winced, selling the act.
“When’s my birthday?” Tim asked. 
“July 17th.” Both Bruces answered.
Tim looked surprised. “You actually know my birthday?”
“No shit, Tim.” Mari-Bruce said, rolling their eyes. She rather wanted to proceed to the next part of her plan. 
“Would I say that to you, Tim?” Bruce asked slightly desperately. 
“Maybe?” 
Bruce facepalmed. In the confusion, Mari took the chance to slink into the shadows where she rewrapped Trixx’s invisible magic around her.
Only Damian noticed. He smirked. “Where did he go?” He asked, placing a hand on the hilt of his katana for emphasis. He didn’t see Marinette smile at him.
Everyone looked panicked. “Search the manor.” Bruce ordered.
Jason still looked slightly skeptical but did as he said. Damian drew his katanas and tilted it in the direction he was going.
Amongst everyone, Bruce was the most attacked. While Jason and Damian paired off, Tim and Dick did as well, ("Don’t go alone!” Was Bruce’s admonished cry), Bruce had gone alone. 
If she were being honest, Marinette had always had a grudge against the billionaire. He hadn’t saved his son, he had tried to kill his son, even though he had a no killing rule --which Marinette thought was plain stupid--, and he had left Damian to suffer at the hands of Ra’s Al Ghul.
Talia could only do so much to save her son.
Yes, Marinette was aware that Bruce hadn’t know Damian existed, but now he was still treating Damian as if he didn’t exist. Marinette knew how much Damian craved affection, even if he never admitted it.
Yes, maybe Bruce was getting better, but maybe she could.. spur the process.
So Marinette retaliated in one of the many ways she knew how.
Messing with them.
So when the Waynes regrouped in the dining room, Jason, Damian, Dick and Tim came back unharmed, and Jason had been filled in by Damian of his suspicions. But Bruce? 
He came back covered in honey and feathers, drenched with water and covered in pink slime. 
“Why is he going after me?” Bruce had questioned in that annoying voice of his, after looking over his spotless sons.
Jason shrugged. “Maybe he doesn’t like you. God knows he’s not the only one.” 
Bruce looked slightly hurt but Jason didn’t seem to care in the slightest.
“Maybe this person is infatuated with you and is vying for your attention.” Damian deadpanned dryly. Marinette had smacked him on the back of his head, still invisible.
But the damage had been done.
Bruce snapped his fingers and ‘aha!’-ed at Damian. “That must be it!” Bruce crowed.
“Are you that narcissistic, you arrogant plebeian?” Marinette’s normally cheery voice was dry and dripping with distaste as she unwrapped her magic.
Bruce, Dick and Tim immediately went on the defensive, shifting into a battle stance. Marinette only scoffed.
“If I wanted to harm you, I would have already done so.” Marinette waved a hand in their direction dismissively.
Dick looked confused. “You’re like, ten.” He pointed out.
Damian glared. “I am ten as well, Grayson.” 
Tim butted in. “Are we not going to acknowledge the fact that this tiny ten year old broke into the manor unnoticed?” 
That brought everyone to their senses.
They were suddenly surprised by Marinette running at Jason, full speed. They expected him to duck or whip out a weapon, but all he did was stand still as she flipped in midair to land on his shoulders.
To their utter shock, Jason grinned, even as she fisted her hands in his hair for a better grip.
Damian only smiled fondly at his Angel. She was as short as he remembered, Damian noted. 
He missed her. More than anything.
Marinette beamed, and slid off Jason’s shoulders.
“Why did you attack me?” Bruce asked.  “Isn’t it obvious, fool?” Marinette revamped her icy demeanor and glared at the civilian Batman. “I despise you.”
Bruce looked very affronted. But Mariinette ignored him, even as he continued talking and made her way over to Damian.
“Damibear!” Marinette sang, as if she hadn’t seen him less than an hour ago.
The Waynes looked as if they expected Damian to attack her just for calling him that. They were not expecting him to grin and say, “Angel.”
Mari jumped on his back, and Damian merely repositioned himself accordingly, used to this from all her previous piggybacks.
“Okay so Jason and Damian helped her get into the manor.” Tim deduced, only to notice Jason and Damian shaking their heads.
“All by herself.” Damian and Jason chorused. Marinette made bunny ears on top of Damian’s head.
She kissed Damian’s forehead lovingly, replying to his ‘i am older than you’ with a ‘yeah by like a week’, and looked to his family. 
She winked.
Then disappeared.
There was silence, and then, “Wait, we didn’t even get her name!” From Dick.
Damian and Jason were interrogated that night, and they refused to tell them anything related to Marinette.
Marinette smiled from where she had hidden in the shadows, and made her way back to Damian’s room. She curled up in Damian’s bed, drifting into sleep. She was almost asleep when Damian returned.
And when Damian pressed his lips to her forehead and whispered, “Goodnight, Angel”, a smile made her way onto her lips.
By the time Damian had slipped into bed with her, her head leaning comfortably on his chest, she had fallen asleep.
-
When the two turned 15, Talia and Sabine sat them down and told them about the betrothal. Damian had been visiting with Talia.
It had been almost two months since Lila had turned her classmates against her, not that she cared, of course. She still had her Consorts after all.
“Marinette, Damian, we’d like to tell you something. An offer? Of sorts. I’m relatively sure you will accept, however.” 
Talia smiled as Marinette dragged a grumpy Damian over to them by the head, beaming brightly.
“Oh come on, Mian! Don’t be such a grumpy banana.” Marinette reprimanded the older boy who was rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
The boy only smiled lazily, and ran another hand through his best friend’s hair, the girl making a small noise of protest. “Thats what you get for calling me a noodle, Angel.” (if you didn’t know miàn means noodle in chinese)
Sabine cleared her throat but looked at the two with amusement clear in her eyes.
They straightened. “Sorry, maman,” Mari muttered.
“Now, before you two were born, Sabine and I had an agreement. We are perfectly fine with this and the implications of it, so it is up to you to whether to accept or not.” Talia got straight to the point.
The two children looked to each other curiously before turning back to their parents. Damian nodded in acknowledgment and Sabine picked up where Talia left off.
“How do you feel about each other?” Sabine asked, watching the two closely for their reactions.
“If that’s your way of asking us if we’re okay to be siblings, since you and Lia are dating, Maman--” Marinette started but was quickly interrupted by a barely noticeably flushed Talia.
“No, not that, and we aren’t dating, Nette.” Talia aimed a playful glare at the girl, who grinned and blew a raspberry at her.
“How would you and Damian like to be betrothed?” Sabine asked, smiling at her friend and daughter fondly.
Marinette spluttered and Damian coughed. 
Talia and Sabine burst out into laughter.
After the adults got their laughter under control and after a few glares from their kids, Damian spoke up.
“Marinette is my best friend. If I had to be betrothed to anyone, I’m glad it’s her.” Damian looked away and Marinette coughed awkwardly into her elbow.
“You misunderstand us. You don’t have to be betrothed. The choice is yours.”
Damian felt slightly attacked. He really did like Marinette, and the betrothal was an easy excuse to ask her out (even if he was a 15 year old). He didn’t know if Marinette felt the same way, and he didn’t want to impose that on her, so he kept quiet.
Marinette, who was looking deep in thought, answered.
“Can I talk to Damian for a while, privately?”
Damian, despite his better judgement, winced. This was probably the first time in a really long time that Marinette called him by his full name. It was normally Dami, Damibear to annoy him, or some other weird nickname like Mr Grumpy Banana this morning.
Regardless, the bluenette hadn’t called him “Damian” for a very long time. Two years, maybe.
She walked out of the room, Damian trailing slightly behind, before stopping a few feet outside the room.
Marinette slid down onto the floor, her back pressed against it and head in her hands. Damian frowned. He didn’t want his best friend looking so.. dejected. He ignored the slight pang of hurt that the thought of being with him could get this kind of reaction out of her.
He sat down next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder like he always did when any of them felt upset. He was happy to feel her lean into his side like she always did. 
She turned her head and buried it in Damian’s side, breathing in his comforting scent of paints and nature. He tightened his hold on her ever so slightly and she almost burst into tears.
It wasn’t that she was opposed to being in an engagement with Damian, it was just that she didn’t particularly want to be with anyone or love anyone, especially after her father died and Damian’s father abandoned him.
Her mother and aunt didn’t show it, but they were sad about their fathers. She had heard Talia interacting with her ‘beloved’ before, and it almost always ended up in tears or frustration. (Not that Mari blamed her, Bruce was kind of an asshole.)
She felt Damian’s chin press into her scalp and a hint of a smile grazed her lips. But this was Damian. Damian who was her best friend. Damian who supported her no matter what. Damian who comforted her and was there for her whenever she needed it.
Damian would never hurt her. And she was determined never to hurt him, ever, if she could help it.
She looked up and smiled at Damian. The smile he loved so much, the smile she always had on whenever she saw him, the smile that would unconsciously fly to her lips whenever she heard his voice.
Maybe it was then that Marinette should’ve known that she loved her best friend, but then again, she was only fifteen. She didn’t know what love was. But she would. Very soon.
“We accept.” Damian told Sabine and Talia when they reentered the room.
“We thought you would.” Talia replied.
-
When Marinette turned 16, her last year at Francois Dupont, six months since she’d made Lila’s time a living hell with her Ladybug (both in suit and in school), and fashion clients connections, the Waynes had visited.
Turns out, Damian and Jason got caught trying to sneak onto the Wayne private jet but instead of stopping them, they insisted they came along too, having pieced together that Damian and Jason were going to visit the mysterious tiny girl they couldn’t find the name of.
So they had no choice.
And os that leads to now, with the Waynes standing in the courtyard, elicting a growing crowd as they waited for Marinette, looking the part of scary rich people that can end your life without a problem.
Damian suddenly started running, and he hugged a girl. No one could see who the girl was because her head was buried in Damian’s chest and his body was shielding hers.
Not many people in the courtyard was surprised when they pulled away and standing there was Marinette Dupain-Cheng. After all, she was one of the most successful students in class that didn’t get fame from famous relatives. No, al her fame was hers alone.
In fact, the only people surprised were Marinette’s class, not-so-fondly referred to as the Akuma Class.  Her Consorts were the only one who knew of her betrothed, Damian. Other than that, Marinette had never been willing to share. 
When Marinette saw the other Waynes however, after hugging Jason, she rolled her eyes. Bruce, Dick and Tim stalked forwards, looking every inch the scary billionaires they were.
It was broken by Dick hugging the girl and gushing over how cool she was. Tim smiled at her and she had smiled back. Marinette flipped Bruce the bird.
“Why are you... so sunny? You definitely weren’t like that when you threatened us in Gotham. You were such an ice queen.” Tim mentioned, failing to keep the amusement out of his tone.
“What do you mean? Marinette’s always been like that, even if she is a bitch now. There’s no way she can be cold.” Alya remarked snidely.
Alix and Chloe stalked forward, raising thier fists threatningly. But Marinette only laughed coldly.
“You wanna see cold, Cesaire?” Marinette snarled, dropping all acts of being nice. 
The Lady was back. Publicly.
The silence was interrupted by Rose, who asked, "But Lila, don't you know the Waynes?"
Said Lila had been trying to slink away unnoticed, but when her name was mentioned, all attention diverted back to her, effectively keeping her in place. Her pale face and scared eyes were enough to tell that she had indeed been lying. 
Yells and screams broke out across the courtyard as the Akuma Class berated Lila for lying to them all this while. Until, Marinette interrupted, face set in a ice cold, stony position 
"Okay, blame her for lying." She started. "But why did you believe her?" 
The Akuma Class drew a blank and didn't respond. Partially because they didn't know what to say, and partially because Marinette's mere presence was overwhelmingly intimidating. Marinette sighed and pressed on. 
"Everything the Liar has said can be found faulty by a simple internet search." It was true, and the class knew it. When no one replied, Marinette shook her head sardonically. "You reap what you sow." 
She turned to her betrothed. In an instant, her icy mood was gone, replaced with the sunshiney-ness the Akuma Class had grown used to. 
"C'mon, Dami!" She gave him a quick peck on the lips, hoisting herself up on Damian's back. Damian grasped her legs tightly, as she continued to be piggybacked by him. 
"Onward!" She cried out dramatically, pointing to the school exit. 
Damian only rolled his eyes fondly at his beloved, steering themselves out, her Consorts and his family behind them. 
None of them looked back. 
If they did, they would've seen the expressions of disbelief and regret etched onto every one of her old classmates' faces. 
Not that they would care.
-
5k words yay
also uh yeah again, sorry this took so long, i kept hitting a mental block while writing this and it didnt manage to upload from my phone for no good reason :( 
but anyway its up now, i hope u find this acceptable! :)
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themaribatpit · 3 years
Text
Jasonette July Day 3: Grave
Written by: The Maribat Pit  @jasonette-july-event
Prompt: Grave (EDIT : trying to make it look consistent)
Rated: T
Side note: Tikki and Plagg being the ones who created the Lazarus pits is my favourite bit of Maribat crossover lore. 
Marinette had only known Jason for about a year, ever since that day he commissioned her for a new suit and leather jacket design.  She had seen news reports about the Red Hood, but she had never seen him in person ever since she came to Gotham.  That was until he visited her just as she was getting ready to close up shop.  Marinette needed to know why her mysterious client was asking her to work with a great big bolt of Kevlar.   It seemed like a challenging task for the young boutique owner.  It wasn’t necessarily being used for nefarious purposes. He was a crimefighter, one of many that tried to keep Gotham safe.  Tikki felt like there was something strange about him, but she couldn’t quite put their finger on why.
She didn’t think she’d ever see him again, until one night when there was a loud banging on the boutique door.  Marinette was about to say something about people having no manners when she saw a redhead in a red suit and a green cap…with someone’s arm slung over his shoulder.  Marinette rushed to the front door to find the Red Hood, with his helmet cracked to reveal a part of his face.  She could make out some matted dark hair and a red domino mask around his eye.  “Please, do you think he can lay low in here for a while? At least until we can get him fixed up,” the redhead asked, “we can’t take him to the hospital”.   Marinette looked around before hurrying them inside.
She got to know more about Jason, the person behind the red mask.  There’s only so much you can hide from a person after they end up cleaning and stitching your wounds in their apartment.  He told her that he slept on the streets of Gotham before being taken in by Batman when he was 13.  He told her that, when he was 15, he went on a journey to find his birth mother and he was never the same since.  Jason would say that the old him died that day.  Marinette assumed he meant that he was so drastically changed by the experience, that he was unrecognizable from his old self.  Still, she got to know the person he was in that moment, and that was what mattered.  The two became close and started dating shortly after, and Marinette told him that she had been a superhero since she was 13.  Marinette remembered seeing a worried look on his face, before assuring him that she was up against very different villains from what he was used to in Gotham.  Marinette wondered if he was worried that she could have ended up like him?
Marinette knew that there was a roguish charm to him, possibly a remnant of the young boy he described from his past.  She would occasionally help him as Ladybug, and he became impressed with her quick thinking in a fight.  Marinette told him about the time she got a rocket launcher as a lucky charm and discarded it because she only needed the targeting laser.  She was certain that she saw a tear in his eye at that moment.  Marinette also knew he was someone who cared about those close to him, a group of people who now included her.  She got the chance to meet the rest of his adopted family, that is when he wasn’t at odds with them.  Dick reminded her far too much of Chat Noir, Damian was a lot colder and more standoffish, Tim told her he’s like that with everyone.   Though he wouldn’t admit it, Marinette knew Jason would put his life on the line for his adopted brothers.  She came to know Roy as the more optimistic of their dynamic duo, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t battling demons of his own.  As the year went on, Marinette went from being unsure about him, to feeling safe and warm with him by her side.  Even Tikki came to see that whoever this person was, he made their Guardian happy, and that was what mattered most.
Today, however, Marinette had been worried sick.  Jason had left for a mission in a rush, barely able to say goodbye.  That was days ago, he had not answered any of her messages or her calls.   She paced around the apartment in a panic, “why isn’t he answering? Is he hurt? Captured? Worse yet…dead?” She slapped her cheeks, trying to snap out of it.  
“Jason’s strong, he can handle it.  If he’s in trouble, I’m sure Dick or Tim would help him.  If he’s really in trouble, Bruce would certainly help him,” Tikki assured her as Marinette paced around the room.  
Marinette decided to take a trip to Wayne Manor, having some of Alfred’s baking would calm them both and she could ask him about Jason’s whereabouts.  Ladybug sets off to Wayne Manor, changing back before she arrives at the front gate.   When she arrives in the kitchen, she is greeted by Alfred wearing an apron. "Welcome Miss Dupain-Cheng, you're just in time. I'm doing the finishing touches on the ginger biscuits. Why don't you take a seat while they cool?"
Marinette smiles at Alfred,  she could smell the biscuits from the front door. "Thanks, Alfred, I came to ask about Jason. I haven’t heard from him in a while,” she asked.
Alfred scratched his chin, "Master Todd? It would be best to ask Master Bruce then if it's related to work. He is currently asleep and should wake up in an hour or two"
“Thanks, Alfred, mind if I have a few biscuits to go then? I'd like to have a walk in the gardens, " she asked.
Alfred nodded and handed the biscuits to her in a paper bag. 
Marinette took a stroll around Wayne Manor, walking past Damian drawing something, whilst a large dog was curled around him.   She came across the private Wayne cemetery at the very edge of the estate. She was drawn in by the Gothic architecture and design of the area. Curious about the history of the Wayne family, she tentatively wandered into the graveyard.  She saw the graves of Thomas and Martha Wayne. Everyone knew the story of how Bruce watched in horror as they were killed in Crime Alley. 
She froze in shock as she saw one grave in particular, tears began forming in her eyes. “Here Lies Jason Peter Todd: Gone But Not Forgotten” in large bold letters.  She felt her heart breaking, many questions raced through her mind.  How did he die? Why didn’t anyone tell her? Did no one at least think to invite her to the funeral?  She was too stunned to move, Tikki floated down to take a close look.  Before she could utterly break down in tears, she heard a voice behind her.
“Hey, Pixie Pop” Marinette whipped around to see Jason standing before her.  He was casually eating a chilli dog, acting as if standing in front of his gravestone was the most natural thing in the world.  Marinette didn’t know if she should feel happy, distraught or furious.  At first, she slammed into him, hugging him tightly.  “Hey, Pixie, did you miss me that much?” He was about to return her hug, and maybe finish eating the chilli dog over her shoulder, when she softly pounded her fists into his chest.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” She asked, her fists punctuating her words, Jason was trying to make sense of what she meant.  He had told her that he had died before, or at least tried to.  Even he didn’t like to talk about it, the events leading up to it and how he was brought back.  Eventually, she stopped, and just curled into him with tears streaming down her face.  Right now, the last thing she needed was dumb jokes as he held her close to him. 
“I’m sorry, I” Jason tried to explain, only to be interrupted by Tikki.
“Marinette,” Tikki called, Marinette looked back at the gravestone to see the date written on the tombstone.  The year was 7 years ago when Jason was around 15.
She turned back to Jason “so when you said that your old self died…”, Tikki finally realised why she always felt there was something strange about him.  The Lazarus pits, the result of a wish that she and Plagg were forced to grant long ago.  Tikki could sense her magic on him, and a faint hint of Plagg’s magic that would consume him if left unchecked.  In the time he’d known Marinette, he had managed to keep it under control, for her sake.
“So what happened? These last few days I mean,” she asked as she pulled away, wiping her tears on her sleeves before crossing her arms.
“I was gonna call you, Roy and I were in Paris fighting killer mimes when one of them fried my phone,” he explained.  “I tried to get you something to eat from your parents’ bakery on the last day we were there, your parents said ‘hi’ by the way”, he told her. 
“Then what happened?” she asked, he wasn’t holding any paper bags or boxes with their logo on them.
“Roy ate them all is what happened, right after his little talk with Killer Croc,” he told her.
“So why didn’t you just drop by for a visit when you came back?” she asked.
“We tried to, but Roy was craving chilli dogs and I was just ready to crash,” he replied.  The look on Marinette’s face told him that if he didn’t do something, he might be back in that grave a lot sooner than he thought.  “Look, I’ll make it up to you, starting with taking you to that little craft store you love…” he suggested, the corner of her mouth pulled into a slight smile.  “I’ll buy you as much silk, satin and tulle as you want. Paid for with money we got from kicking killer mime ass”, he promised. 
“You mean I’ll get a chance to sew something that isn’t Kevlar, leather or your flesh? Who are you and what have you done with the real Jason?” She asked jokingly.  As the two of them walked away, Jason wrapped his arm around her.  He glanced back at his tombstone, that boy had been gone for quite some time now.  Right now, he was just trying to be a better man.
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