#YOU ARE JUST A GHOST WITH A BEATING HEART. ˛ meta.

[mediumsizedpidegon]

if i ever made art or fic depicting the events of the Silmarillion I think the thing I'd have the most fun with is setting up the sheer contrast between the previous High Kings of the Noldor and Gil-Galad.

Gil-Galad Erenion rises to kingship during the First Age's apocalypse. He is no one, unknown– he does not exist in the narrative until things go fully to shit– only to appear with the trappings and responsibility of leadership already upon him. This is not the sort of character that exists without hardship to shape them: these are the sort of names a person is earns, not born with. Whoever Gil-Galad was before, that person is dead, forgotten, and Erenion sprung fully formed from their ashes.

(All his names are titles. All his names are epessë, his mother and father names dead in the dirt. What was your name before you were Erenion, Elros asks him, and Gil-Galad says, Finellach. It is a lie.)

Gil-Galad is a king in suffering and starvation, in the end of times. He is not getting ceremonial gowns fitted or a crown commissioned. He is Noldorin, of a great people of many crafts, and still he wears no rings on his fingers, no earrings in his ears, neither necklaces nor bracelets upon his wrists and neck– a lack of ornamentation that is akin to nakedness. The only place he yields is his hair, woven with black ribbons into a crown of braids, small blades tucked between the folds forming a halo around the circumference of his skull.

Gil-Galad is High King of steel and brass instead of silver and gold. He is a King with no clothes for leisure– never is he seen without his many layers of furs or the bright armor laying beneath. He wears blue like the Nolofinweans before him, and his hair, silver veined with black, is almost Fingon's inverse. He has the silver tresses of the Teleri, so surely (surely?) he's Arafinwean. He wears none of the symbols of the many branches of the Finweans, only his own. His eyes have the unforgiving blaze of a white star, as if he absorbed the piece of one.

He is Fingon's son, except Fingon was not married and couldn't have hidden a child. He is Orodreth's son, except Orodreth's had one child, and she is dead. He is Lalwen's son, but she does not claim him.

The biggest difference between the preceeding High Kings and Gil-Galad is this: they have known peace, a time before Morgoth.

Gil-Galad, war-child, spear-son, soldier-king, has not.

[belayadeath-goner]

while b’yanka mikhailovna starkova is her given name at birth, she most commonly passes / or will be addressed as her anglicized name of bianca stark.

[honeybuckin10]

Code Blue - a Hawks x fem!lawyer!reader One Shot

Summary: Pre-Meta Liberation Army Arc. A hero’s birthday party on a night off blurs the lines of professionalism between the Commission’s rising junior prosecutor and a certain winged hero when secrets are exchanged [wc 5.2k (I'm so sorry)].

Warnings (nsfw): swearing, drinking, workplace romance, mutual pining, angst and fluff, everyone’s a dummy, mature themes, smut-ish, heavy petting. Characters slightly aged up (mid-late 20’s).

a/n: first time writing for Hawks and/or MHA, would love feedback. please don't be a ghost reader!

Nights off for heroes were few and far between. So when they did happen, usually all Hawks wanted to do was catch up on much needed sleep. But it was Best Jeanist’s birthday, which was how he found himself begrudgingly ordering a round of drinks at the bar for the handful that had gathered to celebrate their friend and colleague.

For the sake of Best Jeanist, he did his best to hide the fact that he was in sensory overload. His feathers only amplified the already deafening bass of the live band, coupled with the loud conversations, and the clinking of dishes, glasses, and silverware.  

“Happy birthday! Sorry I’m late,” he heard the squeaky voice behind him. He turned around to see you giving the birthday boy a friendly hug before handing him a small gift bag with a card sticking out. You were a prosecutor for the Hero Public Safety Commission’s District Attorney's Office. Due to the nature of your work, you crossed paths frequently with heroes to gather evidence and build case files to justly put away villains.  

The first time Hawks met you, you bumped into him in line at the Public Records Department on the second floor of the courthouse. Literally. Your face was buried deep in a case file, the *click clack* of your heels echoing as they hit the linoleum floor. Not paying attention, you walked right into Hawks’ wings, causing you to drop the plethora of papers in your arms.

-

“Oh my gosh, I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention!” you said, not even realizing at first who exactly you had bumped into, though you did think it was odd that you had to spit out a feather.

The halls of the courthouse, like any government building, were unfriendly, bureaucratic and slow. Annoyed, he was going to tell you to watch it. The words began to form in his mouth, but fizzled when he turned around and saw you crouched down awkwardly trying to gather all your papers, your range of motion clearly limited by your stiff skirt suit and precariously balanced in your heels. At one point your hair was probably pulled back in a sleek bun, but more than a few strands were now falling out of place. He felt bad. So instead of telling you off, he knelt down to help you pick up whatever was left on the floor.

“It’s ok, these things can be hard to miss sometimes.”

Confused, you looked up to meet golden irises and a sly smirk. Your already rosy cheeks deepened from pink to red upon realizing who was in front of you.

“Oh my God. Mr. Hawks Sir. I’m so sorry.” You immediately got to your feet, straightening out your posture. Your eyes fell from his face to the very prominent crimson wings that hung majestically behind him. You grimaced. “Wow I guess I was really out of it.”

“No worries.” He handed you back the rest of the strewn files, your fingers just grazing. “So… come here often?”

He earned a small laugh from you, finally able to put you at ease somewhat even if only for a moment. “No… or yes? I’m not really sure yet. This is my first case.” A newbie lawyer, of course. You gave a strained smile, but the furrow in your brow gave your nerves away.

“Ah, welcome to hell. Prosecutor or public defender?”

“Prosecutor.” He smiled.

“I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of each other, then.”

“I hope so.” Ever the professional, he was sure you didn’t mean for it to come off as anything more than introductory pleasantries. But he couldn’t help the little beat his heart skipped that caused his wings to flutter slightly. He hoped you didn’t notice.

“NEXT!” The voice of the elderly woman at the front desk boomed, hoarse from years of yelling and cigarettes. Hawks took one more look at you as your eyes kept darting to your watch.

“Why don’t you go ahead of me?” he offered. He could have introduced you to Beyonce and he was sure he wouldn’t have gotten the same reaction. You looked like a little kid on Christmas morning, but you did your best to hide your eagerness.

“Are you sure Mr. Hawks?”

“I’m in no rush, I insist. And please, just Hawks.”

“You’re holding up the line, you have five seconds to decide before I’m kicking you both to the back,” the old lady deadpanned. You looked at each other, eyes wide, both biting back shit-eating grins.

“You heard her,” he said. He took a step back, bowing slightly with an arm extended to motion you through.

“Thank you,” you mouthed wordlessly to him as you slid past.

“Good luck.”

-

That was almost two years ago. Since then, you picked up more high-profile cases, including the arrest and sentencing of Stain and had begun to make a name for yourself as a rising junior prosecutor. Two years of various long and agonizing depositions, witness prep, thousands of boxes of files combed through, late night arraignments. Almost two years of brushing elbows in the trenches, and this was his first time seeing you outside of a work setting. But for your voice, he wasn’t sure if he would have recognized you.

Your hair, free from its ordinary confines, fell effortlessly down your shoulders and framed your face perfectly. Sure, occasionally he thought about what your body might look like out of a suit, but the reality was better than anything else his imagination could concoct. Had you always had curves there?

Hawks had always thought you were pretty. But being the Number Two Hero with a predominantly female fan base, he wasn’t necessarily phased by looks. What did phase him was that big brain of yours. You wouldn’t be good at your job if you weren’t insanely intelligent with a work ethic to boot. Hawks realized he had a crush on you after the first time he saw you try a case in person. It was a trial for one of the villains he had taken down and you enlisted him as a witness. Seeing you in court charm every single juror in your opening and closing statements, expertly cross-examining hostile witnesses, keeping your cool in the face of a disrespectful opposing counsel – that’s what got his heart going a mile a minute.

So now here you were in the wild, not in a suit, saying hello to everyone like the social butterfly you were. Your exposed skin was like the answer to a riddle he didn’t know he was trying to solve. He tried not to stare, staring was rude. Staring was also causing his wings to have a mind of their own, puffing up and fluttering away ever so slightly. He turned his back again to hide them, and took a sip of beer trying very much to go unnoticed.

“Um, excuse me ma’am. I’m going to need to see some license and registration for the absolute dump truck you got behind you,” said a devilish Mirko after tapping your shoulder. Your laughter rang out, cutting through the other noise in the bar. Hawks tried to pretend he didn’t hear it, though the corners of his mouth threatened to tug a smile out of him. She’s not wrong.

“Hawks, doesn’t y/n look good in this ‘fit?” He didn’t know how or when, but he was going to kill Mirko. He blamed it on her sixth bunny sense that she’d somehow sniffed out his feelings for you - though it was probably the fact that she noticed he stopped entertaining one-night stands months ago.

“Mirko, have you considered that y/n would like to have a night out without being harassed?” Even in the dim lights of the bar, he could tell your cheeks were flushed. And despite the nonchalant act he was trying to put on, he was sure his face was about the same.

“Hey, I was just giving a compliment,” the bunny said mischievously. She gave Hawks a wink as she backed away, but not before mouthing “If you don’t fuck her, I will.”

“Hi,” you said cheekily, blissfully unaware of the chaos around you.

“Hi Counselor,” he said, no longer able to contain his smile. He dipped down to give you a hug, hoping the way he inhaled your perfume went undetected. His senses were permeated with vanilla and cedarwood, followed by the smell of your floral shampoo. The warmth of your body spread across his chest, and he tried to memorize the way your soft hands felt so small resting on his shoulders. Reluctantly he pulled away.

“So how much catching up do I have to do?” you asked. Hawks swirled around the last of his beer.

“This is my second, but I can’t speak for the rest of my – uh - colleagues,” he said as he glanced at Mirko who was now forcing Best Jeanist to take a shot.

“Ah, I see,” you said slowly, following his line of sight.

“So what can I get you to drink?” You raised an eyebrow at him.

“You buying me a drink, Hawks?” He rolled his eyes as you elbowed him in his side wiggling your eyebrows.

“I needed a refill anyways and my tab’s already open. Don’t let it get to your head,” he teased back.

“Oh don’t you worry, I will.” The bartender placed two beers in front of you. You took a long sip, as you watched the hero swirl is drink. Something was off and you were going to get to the bottom of it.  

What Hawks was actually thinking as he stared at his beverage, was that he suddenly had no idea what to say or do with his hands.

“So are you going to spend the rest of the night cowering in the corner? Didn’t think you’d be the wet blanket of the bunch.” He nearly spat out his beer.

“I’m not a wet blanket,” he said defensively.

“Prove it.” You stuck out your hand. “Since you bought me a drink, I think I owe you a dance,” you said with a smirk. He looked at you thoughtfully.

“You owe me nothing except your friendship.”

“Oh we’re friends now? I thought we were colleagues,” poking fun at his earlier comment. He didn’t like the hole you were digging him into. He could flirt with a brick wall, yet for some reason the workplace flirtations that had escalated for two years between you two were not translating to the place where they would be most appropriate.

“I, uh, tend to get in the way. Better not.” He tilted his head towards his back where his wings hung lamely.

“Oh come on don’t be a party pooper,” you gave an encouraging smile. His eyes met yours only for moment, but looking at you was like looking directly into the sun. So he kept his eyes on your hand while he found himself uncharacteristically tongue tied. He took your extended palm, but didn’t budge when you tried pulling him off the barstool. He sensed your breath hitch as he held you in place. Your eyes traveled from your now interlocked hands to his face. “Hawks…?”

*beep* “We got a code red. I repeat, code red. Over.” *beep*

The noise came from your purse, pulling you both out of whatever trance you were in. He raised an eyebrow. Sure enough, you pulled out a walkie talkie and brought it to your mouth.

“Rescue effort deployed, over.” *beep*

His golden orbs finally met yours, your eyes swimming with sympathy.

“I’ve been summoned. I don’t know what’s going on here, but come find me when you’re done sulking, yeah?”

He released your hand and watched as you disappeared into the dance floor, but not before he saw you ward off an unwanted suitor leering over Mount Lady who was still gripping the sister walkie-talkie.

He settled back into the bar seat and chugged.  

“I thought you were fun at parties.” Best Jeanist saddled up beside him, dropping off his empty round. Hawks groaned.

“Not you too.”

“It’s my birthday, you’re obligated to be nice to me. Not that I thought it would be so difficult for you.”

“It’s my first night off in months man, I’m just a little tired.”

“We’re all tired, that’s no excuse.”

Hawks felt guilty, Best Jeanist was right. Embarrassment bubbled in his gut, though maybe that was just the beer.

“Relationships are like a new pair of high quality jeans –“

“Please stop.”

“At first, the fibers are stiff. They take a while to break in, may even feel uncomfortable at first. But after a few wears, the fabric relaxes and molds to the wearer. The perfect denim…”

“Are you done?”

“No. You knew she was going to be here tonight so what gives?”

Hawks ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

-

You and Hawks had been at it for hours. You let out a low groan.

“Can you grab that box for me? I can’t reach.”

Hawks couldn’t help himself. You looked so cute on your tip toes arms extended. The persona you exuded in court was bigger than life, but outside that you were quite ordinary. He liked that you weren’t so infallible that you were beyond the need for his assistance.

The boxes of evidence filled the office, floor to ceiling. You had gone through most of them, only one pile was left. Technically he didn’t have to be there, but he’d bumped into you in the halls of the HPSC long past most had left the building. You explained your plight that the other junior associate assigned to the case with you had bailed. It was for one of the villains he’d captured anyways, so he volunteered to help.

“Yeah, I got it Birdie.” He walked over to where you were, but you didn’t budge. Stubbornly you continued to wave your arms as though you’d be able to summon the box clearly out of reach through sheer will alone. It was, in a word, adorable. So he perched himself behind you, pressing against your backside to absolve you of your struggle. He was being mindful of space - was the story he told himself, which was a lie. It would also be a lie to say he didn’t enjoy it.

You inhaled sharply and instinctively closed your eyes, his cologne infiltrating your nose. It’s not that you and Hawks hadn’t made physical contact before, it’s just that it was mostly in the form of professional or friendly touches. Like handshakes or pats on the back or nudging arms. There had only been a handful of other times where there was accidental increased contact, and each time felt like an out of body experience. This was no different. You tried not to push your ass into him as he reached above you, relishing the warmth of his body against yours. Meekly, you let your arms drop to your sides as a shiver rolled down your spine.

You only turned around when you heard him drop the box on the ground. You let your back land on the stack of boxes against the wall. You drank in his form, mere inches away from you. Jacket and gloves long discarded, you admired the veins in his forearms and the contours of his muscles that shown through his shirt. You knew he caught you staring, but you didn’t mind.

Hawks stared right back at you, silently enjoying the way the collar of your blouse, now partially unbuttoned and lopsided, showed off your clavicle. Your hair once perfectly coiffed now fell in a loose bun, strays falling around your face. Your half-lidded eyes beckoned him to close the tiny gap between you.

Maybe it was sleep deprivation that he forgot who you were (his coworker) or where he was (inside your office in the building of the HPSC). All sense of rationality went out the window the moment Hawks decided to take a step forward. Your eyes followed as he placed a hand next to your head, then trailed up the length of his arm back to his face, finally focusing on his lush lips that were suddenly very close. You held your breath as you patiently waited for impact that never came. His beeper went off, startling you both and cutting the moment short.

-

That was last night.

You were a lawyer. You followed rules. You enforced rules. Not that sleeping/dating a coworker was illegal, but it felt like you were doing something wrong. You weren’t each other’s superiors or subordinates, you weren’t in the same department, you checked the Commission’s bylaws and there was nothing else explicitly prohibiting romantic relations between employees. But you were still scared to disrupt the status quo.

You didn’t think much of it at first. You knew Hawks flirted with anything with a pulse. So you didn’t see the harm in giving him a taste of his own medicine every now and then. You weren’t sure when you started having actual feelings for him. It might have been a few months ago when you got to your office in the morning after a long night of work, only to find a coffee and a crimson feather on your desk. When had you told him your coffee order? All you knew was that the exchanges that once felt like an inside joke now seemed like cruel and unusual punishment, a reminder that you were nothing special and that this was just how he acted with everyone.

You weren’t sure how long you’d been out on the dancefloor. Your feet were starting to hurt. Mirko had fed you two shots and you were now nursing the remaining ice from your second gin and tonic. With clear liquor and cloudy eyes, you felt your confidence draining as the night wore on, no sign of The Winged Hero in sight. Did you go too far? Did you horribly misread last night’s events? Was he avoiding you?

You felt a pair of hands grip your hips, pulling you out of your daydream and realizing you had no idea where everyone else was. Your hand flew to your purse to grab your walkie-talkie.

“Don’t tell me you’re about to code-red me.” Your eyes immediately lit up as you turned around, too much alcohol in your system to play coy.

“You came!” Your hands excitedly drummed his chest. Your grin was infectious. He leaned in to make himself heard over the speakers.  

“Of course I did. Just took a while to find you, you’re pretty short.” His hot breath tickled your ear.

“You think I’m pretty?” you drawled, a lazy smile plastered on your face. The initial panic in his eyes softened as he realized your mistake. He didn’t have the heart to correct you, nor were you were wrong.

“That’s not what I – yeah… you’re pretty.” You pressed yourself up into him on tip toes, cupping a hand around his ear.

“Can I tell you a secret?” His heartbeat quickened, his own sobriety lacking along with his social filter. He should have shut it down, but instead he said:

“Always.”

“I – “

“Hey, watch it with those things.” His wings, again having a mind of their own, had inadvertently fluttered a drink out of a nearby patron’s hands - and he wasn’t happy about it. He was about to apologize, but you beat him to the response.

“Clearly it was an accident, why don’t you watch it you bitch-ass – ” On one hand, he thought it was very sexy how you tried to defend him. On the other, you were simply not threatening no matter how hard you tried and the last thing Hawks wanted right now was to ruin what felt like the most important moment of his life with a bar fight.

“I am very sorry sir, it was an accident. Feel free to use my tab the rest of the night,” he said to the man as he picked you up by your midsection and carried you away before you could finish the sentence. Even as you retreated, you continued your death glare towards the stranger who was left very confused.

Hawks placed you down in a corner where his wings and your sharp tongue hopefully wouldn’t cause any further disruptions. He leaned his back against the wall just to be safe.

“So do you usually go around starting bar fights?” he said with a smug smile.

“Me?! He started it and I was defending your honor,” you huffed, crossing your arms. “You’re welcome,” you said defiantly. To your dismay, the hero let out a hearty laugh. “Hey!”

“I’m sorry. You’re right, you were very scary,” he finally got out as his laughter slowed.  

“Don’t lie,” you pouted.

“It was really cute.” He was still laughing, but you were starting to sober up.

“I said don’t lie.” Your meek voice was barely audible in the still boisterous bar. His eyes softened at your hardened expression.

“I-I wasn’t.” He was suddenly very aware of your surroundings, which was next to the line starting to form by the bathrooms. Loud chit chatter and crying coming from the ladies’ room mixed with sound of someone audibly vomiting from the men’s room was not exactly how he pictured this going down. He took your hand and started walking again.

“Ugh, where are we going now? Our friends are still there,” you groaned. Friends. Why was that word so easy for you, yet rolled off his tongue like sand paper?

“We can go back inside in a minute, but I want to talk.” He’d led you out the backdoor of the bar. You looked around, clearly confused.

“Dude, what is happening?”

“I couldn’t hear you in there and we were next to the bathrooms.”

“So you dragged me out to an alleyway next to a literal dumpster. Got it.” He looked around just to check if you were correct, which unfortunately, you were.

You couldn’t be serious with each other if you tried. Snorts and stifled giggles filled the alley, overpowering the dull bass from inside.

“I guess I really know how to set the mood, huh.” He scratched the back of his head, admiring the scenery.

“I didn’t know there was a mood to be set.” Your tone was inquisitive, free of judgement. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on? You’ve been acting weird all night.”

Hawks took a deep breath, trying to gather his growing nerves. But he was a coward who’d rather fly into a burning building than share his feelings so he deflected.

“You said you were going to tell me a secret in there. What was it?”

Your felt your cheeks immediately burn. The liquid courage you had before was wearing off so you volleyed back.

“You have to tell me a secret first,” you said defensively. Hawks rolled his eyes.

“I’ve already told you two secrets tonight, you just weren’t paying attention.”

“Like wha- oh.” You brought a hand to your mouth to cover the audible gasp that left your lips. You wondered if Hawks was embarrassed. If he was, he hid it well under the guise of a knowing smirk. It was at that moment you noticed how his gilded eyes shone spectacularly under the dim glow of the nearby streetlamp. Perhaps the embarrassment, if any, was also pacified by how clearly flustered you were by the culmination of all that had transpired in the last 24 hours. You crossed your arms. “Well… I still need one more secret from you.”

“Wow, three for the price of one? Now you’re just overselling it.” He stopped teasing when he saw you pouting again. Not a playful pout, but the kind that made it look like you were about to break. He never thought of you as fragile before. He grabbed your hand, averting his gaze.

“You have to promise to keep it a secret, ok?” You nodded, squeezing his hand for reassurance.

“I promise.” He took a deep breath, finally gathering the courage to look you in the eyes again.

“Keigo.”

“What?”

“Keigo,” he said again. “Keigo Takami. That’s my real name.” Your eyes widened in horror realizing you’d made him compromise his own security. You frantically began scanning your surroundings for any unintentional witnesses. He grabbed your shoulders to steady you.

“Oh my god, Hawks, I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to –“

“Shhhh it’s ok there’s no one else around. You didn’t force me, I want you to know. Please, call me Keigo.” He watched the rise and fall of your chest, trying to monitor your labored breathing. Again, this was not going as planned. Not that he really had a plan to begin with. But even if he did, causing you to go into cardiac arrest surely was not on the list. Your breath finally started to slow.

“Keigo,” you whispered, more to yourself than anyone else. You liked the way his name felt on your tongue, so you said it again. “Keigo.”

He tried to suppress a smile, watching how the corners of your lips tugged upwards. His hand, seemingly acting on its own, stroked your hair as he continued to sooth you.

“See, that wasn’t so bad,” which was another way to say he’d never heard a more beautiful sound in his life than his real name falling from your lips.

He tried to lighten the mood, not wanting to cause you any more distress than he already had over the course of the night.

“Not to brag, but this better be one hell of a secret ‘cause–“

He didn’t get to finish the sentence. You grabbed him by the collar to bring his lips to yours in a messy, fervent kiss that took his breath away but was over in the blink of an eye before he could act or process.  

You pushed him away slightly as you caught your breath, looking just as surprised as he was about the whole ordeal.   

“I-I’m sorry I should’ve asked –“

He crashed into you as he held both sides of your face, afraid you may float away if that beautiful mind of yours started to overthink as it often did. The force knocked you into the building behind you, but you didn’t mind. Wandering hands traveled over each other’s bodies, both eager to explore foreign skin. Your tongues danced in unison as you body tingled under his erratic touch, grabbing your arms, back, hips, waist, hair, whatever he could hold onto unable to stay in one place for long.

You couldn’t stop your own hands from feeling the muscles you’d watched from afar for so long, enjoying the ripple of his abs, the sturdiness of his chest, finally landing around his neck. You pulled him impossibly closer, spiteful of the little space that still separated you. His wings protectively caged around you, shielding any prying eyes from your compromising position.

In an extraordinary display of restraint he kept a hand on your ribcage, his fingers delicately ghosting the band of your bra over your clothes, his intent clear but never crossing boundaries. You smiled into the kiss deciding to take advantage of the new privacy as you placed your hand over his to guide it to its true destination. He let out a groan that reverberated against your lips as he squeezed the soft flesh under him, still in disbelief that he should be so lucky to experience all that had only existed in his imagination. He swallowed the soft moan you let out when he grazed his thumb over your sensitive nipple that peaked through the fabric of your top. You rolled your hips forward desperate for friction, and he eagerly returned the favor. You gasped at the feeling of his bulge against your pelvis, which you realized was the first time you’d come up for air since you locked lips.   

His mouth traveled down your neck until he found a sweet spot that made you squirm. Your hand also made its way south, but your path was halted by his calloused hand when you reached the waistband of his pants. Hawks might fuck you in an alleyway outside a bar, but Keigo wanted to build you the softest nest to lay you on because you deserved nothing less.

He nuzzled his face into the crook of you neck as his other hand drew little circles on the small of your back.

“Technically… that wasn’t a secret,” he whispered into your skin. Your chests rattled against one another as laughter escaped your lungs.

“You’re an ass,” you said through fits of giggles. He nipped a little more at your neck, encouraging you on. “If you’re going to make me say it… I wanted to kiss you. Tonight. And last night. And the day before that. And the week before that. And –“

He kissed you once more to cut you off, but this time it was sweet and soft. It made you feel calm and centered. So when he pulled away, you decided to share more.

“Can I tell you another secret?”

“If it’s anything like the first one, absolutely.” He brought your captured wrist to his mouth, leaving a trail of small kisses over your hand. Your heartbeat that finally started to slow picked right back up.

“I’ve never flown before.” You not-so-subtly glanced at his wings before looking back at him, eyebrow raised. He gave you a wicked grin.

“Yeah I can give you a ride little bird. Not to be presumptuous, but uh… your place or mine?” You pretended to think hard about the proposition.

“Hmm. I’d say appropriately-sumptuous, and… dealer’s choice.” Hawks had found his way to your neck again which made thinking straight quite difficult, but you persisted nonetheless. “Though… maybe we go back inside and table this for another hour. I feel bad leaving without saying goodbye.”

Hawks moved up the column of you neck until his breath was in your ear.

“I’m gonna go on a limb and say, I think it would make the birthday boy very happy if we didn’t.” Despite the blush that crept to your cheeks knowing you may be the subject of workplace gossip tomorrow, your core clenched in anticipation at his words. The hero could tell from your dazed expression that it was time to go. That was, at least, until the walkie-talkie in your purse went off again.

*beep* “Code blue, y/n where are you? Over.” *beep*

You could see his sails deflate when you pulled out the device, assuming once again that his plans were foiled. Not one to put up a fight, he moved towards the door to reunite with everyone. But you didn’t budge, squeezing his hand to hold him in place. He watched closely as your other hand brought the walkie-talkie to your mouth. The playful twinkle in your eyes told him all he needed to know.

“The eagle has landed in the nest. Over.” *beep*

[luckyfox3000]

DC X DP PROMT #7

Lo' Kits! New promt!

Jason's been having weird dreams.

He dreams of a realm in green, small weird green blobs floating around, and strange creatures and people.

He feels like he knows what it is, that he left somthing or someone important there.

He can never properly remember how it looks when hes awake, but sometimes, when he relaxes, when he just takes in the fact his heart is beating, hes alive, he hears a soft voice whispering in his ear.

The voice sounds like a young boy, with a carefree laugh. He finds himself wondering who it could be.

For some reason when he thinks about the boy behind the voice he feels a strange sense of protectiveness and longing.

He never talk about the dreams, never mentions them to anyone.

They feel private, and important, like something just for him.

He never thinks about if the dreams could be real, if the cheerful and lively voice is a person. Never until he no longer just hears it in his dreams, and the whispers of his mind.

Theres a new case, one with a "ghost".

They found a possible meta in Gotham, who turns invisible and runs as soon as he sees them, yelling how he really doesn't want to fight.

And, for some reason his voice sounds familiar.

Batman thinks the boy could be a threat or trouble if someone gets his hands on him (batman speak for worried).

So, they track the boy down, they corner him slowly, not realizing their not the only ones.

Two people come speeding in a white van wearing white suits and send a shot at the "ghost" boy.

And jason. His body just moves.

He lunges to the boy, shoving g him out of the way, a panic he hasn't felt ina long time taking over.

He watches the boys eyes grow wide when he pushes him to the pavement, as Jason's shoulders shot.

And his then comes the pain.

Jason screams as what feels like hot fire runs through him. His eyes begin to haze as the pain becomes too much and he passes out.

The last thing he sees is the boys horrified face coming closer, mouthing something he cant hear. He welcomes the darkness enveloping him with open arms, anything to get away from the pain.

*static*

Jason?

Feel free to add on or use!

Ps. Quick question, but do you lot think I should stop with the greetings up top? Let me know!

[wandixx]

Ghost of fries and Hero of cookies part 4

All work words count: 14 643

Words in this part: 2999

Summary of whole work: Duke wasn't expecting to wake up from his quick rooftop nap to some meta kid with fries. He also wasn't expecting kid to stay

Or

Danny asked Dani to stay safe while she was in Gotham. Where would she be safer than under the wing of local hero? And he looked like he needed bad day combo anyway

This part summary: Dani haven't considered how hard it can be to save people from house fire

Beta read by @audhumla-sailor though English is second language for both of us, so proceed with this in mind. I also know all of the charaters through fics alone, so probably ooc. Stay catious if it's something you don't like

First part, Previous part

Trigger warnings: house fire, panic attacks, temporary character death (am I over dramatic to say this if background child character's heart stops for a long moment and Dani hears it?) slight dissociation (tell me if I missed something, I'll fix it)

Dani proved to be useful addition to Duke’s patrol routine even though she couldn’t always join him, had very little actual training and was a certified mess most of the time. It was nice to banter with her in the free time, she did help when needed and her enhanced hearing was great in finding trouble he would otherwise overlook. She also often brought snacks (he did too, because girl had no idea what was healthy and in the love of god, if he didn’t try to get her in better habits). 

“Fire on seven. Some people are stuck inside,” Dani blurted out and flew faster than baseline person should be able to withstand. Duke run and grappled after orange blur she became. It was less than perfect that she couldn’t tell more specifically where things were going down, but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t train. 

They rarely intervened with fires, unlike Gotham’s police and CPS, firefighters here worked pretty great. Dani knew this, so her going there in the first place meant something was up.

On a fly he grabbed his gas mask. It was made to withstand Scarecrow and Joker when they released their toxins and not smoke so it should do its job. He hoped that Dani would stop before entering so he could give her spare mask and well, coordinate. But she didn’t, of course. What did he expect from kid who body tackled Joker’s goon without second thought about idk, four other goons with guns being in the same room! He only saw end of her cape in between flames when he swung to the right street. Duke made sure his mask was secure when he stopped on a nearest save rooftop to assess the situation. Fire was too big to be put out with personal means like fire extinguishers so all they could do was to evacuate. 

“Hoopoe, you reckless idiot, don’t die in here,” he muttered, sure she would hear him before grappling inside too.

***

About five seconds after entering building, Dani decided that she didn’t like fires. It probably came from her time in Amity but she was far more comfortable when she could beat the root of the problem into submission. Also, it was surprisingly loud, like need-to-cover-her-ears-for-a-hot-moment type of loud. Not louder than a rogue attack, it would be really hard to beat that level of noise but fire was worse in some way. It was somewhat similar to nails on a blackboard. Not in a sound per se but in a vibe she got from it. How she couldn’t tune it out like she usually did.

She straightened herself and dove ahead to the nearest person she heard. Smoke rendered her eyes nearly absolutely useless. Though she saw, heard and felt enough to find safe routes. Of course she could go intangible and in theory wouldn’t be affected by anything from physical realm but even when intangible fire kept burning for some reason and she would prefer to stay raw to being crispy. Rescued people should stay unfried too.

She didn’t quite remember first few rescues, just that it went smoothly, she took a leaf from Danny’s book, throwing some puns and references she didn’t quite knew but from context thought they would fit. Then once outside, she kept telling them to wait for paramedics and went back inside. She was more and more on edge for some reason.

She was really glad she didn’t need to breathe as much.

Middle-aged man grabbed her arm and shook her violently, asking to save his children.

“Fourth floor, fifth window to the left. Please save them!” man cried. Dani felt kinda like snapping but took deep breath to stop herself from it. Signal would be disappointed if she yelled at panicking civilian. She could kinda relate to the man anyway. She was probably also panicking.

“I’ll save them, I promise,” she said instead, phasing out of his grip.

She heard them, little boy weakly whispering to his sister that everything would be alright as soon as the heroes would get to them. His voice was hoarse, choked, interrupted by shallow breaths while the girl sobbed. Dani darted their way. Fire unit and medics were finally getting closer.

Girl yelled when caped hero appeared in room full of smoke. They both were sitting, older boy slightly swaying.

“It’s okay, I’m here to get you out to your dad,” she soothed, grabbing them both into a hug like carry. She barely jumped away from under the crushed lamp that fell where they were half a second before. Girl yelped.

“It’s okay, I got you, it’s okay,” she muttered, hoisting kids into more comfortable position. She flew nearest way out of the rom, looking for a clear spot on an outer wall. Her stomach dropped and core spasmed when she realized that boy stopped breathing, going limp in her arms. She was panicking throughout whole of this fire rescuing mess but only then she became frantic.

Maybe it was because of the smoke that kept cluging in her throat. She didn’t need to breathe as often but now she felt like she was suffocating and was suddenly all too aware of each bit of air she managed to swallow in her lungs.

She almost dropped when they finally got out. It took less than a second for her to fly to the kids’ father. She put girl down a little to hastily before gently laying boy n the pavement. Adult was beginning to hyperventilate and honestly Dani wasn’t too far behind him. She wished Signal was there. He would know what to do. Dani only had been on one first-aid course and she spent the better part of it on reviewing memes.

She had to remember something!

Breaths! She had to make absolutely sure if he was breathing!

She remembered practicing this one, so she did as instructed, counting to fifteen instedad of ten for a good measure. Then to twenty just to be safe. She knew she was counting too fast anyway.

Boy wasn’t breathing.

He wasn’t breathing!

She wished her ears were deceiving her but there was no heartbeat too!

What was she supposed to do now?!

Oh, right, she remembered chest compression thing from movies. She could do it.

Someone yanked her back, so hard she almost hit her head.

“You’re doing it wrong. I’m nurse, I’ll do it,” young woman declared, already kneeling were Dani was mere seconds ago, unzipped boy’s hoodie and got to work. Only then halfa realized that they got circled by small crowd of people rescued from building. Two of them were calming boy’s family down. She would use some comforting too.

She scrambled to her feet, racing out the crowd. Nobody even glanced her way.

She turned around and flew back inside the burning building.

Why did it feel like running away?

*

First ambulance arrived three rescues after the boy. Dani was so relieved she had to stop for a moment because her knees buckled and flight betrayed her for a hot second. She heard only four other people inside and Signal. They would finish soon enough.

Good.

Her head was spinning slightly.

“Congratulations, you are being rescued, please do not resist” she announced with forced confidence, appearing next to the man who probably was in a gang. Thankfully he didn’t fight her. When she was back in Central City one of the Flashes told her to make sure that people know she was trying to help them especially if they seemed like the type to choose fight over other crisis responses. This man certainly did. He almost punched her anyway.

Next was boy who was far too little to be left alone. She gave him her cape. She assumed he could use the comfort it gave her. There was a reason she choose comfiest blanket to this role.

She heard Signal making his way to the last victim but for some reason it was slow going. She flew up there after the last reassuring words to the boy.

She learned why Signal got stuck about three seconds after appearing on the right floor. It was a literal epicenter or whatever it was called. The root of the problem. The literal Hell on earth. Dani stopped for a moment, downed by the coughing fit and tears making her sight absolutely useless.

Signal was talking to someone. Asking them to calm down. She wasn’t sure. Dani forced herself to stand up and go see what was happening. She was probably swaying a little.

There was young woman in the middle of the fire. There was no scent of burning skin or hair so Dani assumed there were some powers involved. Thankfully most likely she wasn't a ghost. Dani wasn’t in the right headspace to fight a ghost and as cool and competent as Signal was, he couldn’t fight ghosts either.

Woman was visibly terrified. She kept screaming, begging Signal to go away because she was too dangerous to be so close. Hero tried to talk her down. She yelled that it was all her fault and she shouldn’t be saved.

Oh.

Woman had to just learn about her ability and lost control over it. Go big or go home, right? She didn’t exactly have home anymore so…

Dani barely kept herself from hysterical laughter.

Ghost fights were so, so much easier, she just had to beat the cause of the problem into submission and trap it in the thermos. No persuade it into stopping.

It was all too hot, too loud, too suffocating.

Dani could barely think.

Creaking of the ceiling boomed through her brain, somehow getting over the overwhelming cackle of fire that made her just want to hide in the corner and cry, even ignoring absolute onslaught to her other senses.

Ceiling was going to fall down and crush all of them.

Dani could barely think, so she didn’t.

She forgot to turn intangible when she crushed through window, meta woman held tightly in her arms. Thank Ancients she was durable enough to not break her head for that. Signal could handle himself. Hopefully.

Dani gasped on fresh air. She felt lightheaded, barely cognizant from instinctual relief to be out. She was free falling, her body limp, eyes half-closed, wind rushing in her ears and on her face. It was paralyzing but not in a bad way.

It felt good.

It felt like freedom.

It felt like something she could do for the rest of eternity.

It felt-

“HOOPOE!” panicked yell cut through her haze.

Right.

She was plummeting to the ground. She held someone. They would die when they crushed.

She should stop falling.

Could she do it? 

She had to.

She dropped off the blue haired woman with the nearest medic squad and ran. Or flew. She wasn’t quite sure. Her brain still didn’t feel right. But she knew she had to leave.

Next thing she knew was the pain from practically collapsing on a wall and dumpster she hid behind. From what, she had no idea. She had no idea about anything.

So she did only thing she still could.

Dani cried.

***

Duke was getting frantic in his search for Dani after that room collapsed. He knew she made it out, he saw her falling head first to the ground. He was trying to catch her but he knew he couldn’t do it on time. And then she caught herself, left Abigail with medics and flew away in a blur. And Duke couldn’t go right after her because some cop had questions. Duke did his best to wrap it up quickly but still by the time he could look Hoopoe was nowhere to be seen. He was straining his eyes trying to see any sign of her but other than the boy with her cape as a blanket there was nothing. He was tempted to ask Babs for help.

Scratch that, he didn’t have time to do this on his own. Pride and this stupid bet be damned. He turned on his comm, not bothering to go off the main channel.

“Oracle, I need you to search for white-haired preteen girl dressed in white and black. Somewhere near Rossaire street. Probably there will be no clear footage”

“Need help in search?” Steph chimed in gently “Spoiler can be there five minutes flat”

Duke considered it for a moment. Steph knew how Dani looked (as much as anyone who saw her only in photos could know how she looked) and wanted to meet girl anyway. She could be useful help. On the other hand, she mentioned before she had some important stuff. And he wasn’t sure how Dani would react to someone unknown finding her in this state. Last thing he wanted was scaring girl even more. He searched road for Dani’s past light, again.

“No, don’t worry. She just got a little overwhelmed”

“Alright, good luck with finding your kid then”

“She is not my kid!”

“Signal who-” Bruce grunted but got interrupted by Babs.

“Turn right, she entered blind zone but I can lead you there”

“Thanks O”

“No invisibility?” Steph mused.

“Thank God for that,” Duke answered, while grappling to the left. He shoot forward as fast as he could ”Or maybe not. She has to be quite out of it”

“Left again”

“Signal, who are you looking for?” Bruce asked again.

“Next alley to the right. It’s the last place I can see her”

“Thanks O.”

“Signal-”

“Later B.”

Duke landed in the alley, turning his comm off. He knew that sooner rather than later he would have to explain himself and would probably get endless teasing but it wasn’t important at the time. He searched again for past light. He run after glimpses. He stopped when he heard sniffle from behind a dumpster. He slowed down, approaching loudly. It wouldn’t do any good to scare her.

“Hoopoe?”

Her breath hitched. Duke sat down next to her far enough to not invide her personal space but close enough to make her feel not alone.

Her face was black from ashes and smoke other than where her mask was and cleaner tracks her tears were making.

Her mask was laying on a ground (clearly forcefully thorn off which ouch), cape obviously nowhere in sight. When she calmed down, he would ask what happened with it. It would probably be a good distraction. But not now.

“Hey kid. Can you try breathing a little slower for me?”

She mumbled something, inaudible between loud wheezing.

“I know it’s hard but I’m sure you can do it. Who if not you?”

Girl visibly tried, shifting around as if she tried to find some much needed comfort. Clearly, the lack of pressure her cape was giving her wasn’t helping.

“How about you try putting hand on my chest and matching my breathing? It often helps”

She moved her hand and he led it to his chest. Dani shuddered.

Slowly, telegraphing his movements Duke extended his arm and put it across Dani’s shoulders. Girl leaned into it with choked sobs.

“I know it was scary,” he muttered as she shook silently “You did so well, Dani”

Girl let out quiet, high-pitched whine that didn’t sound quite human, trapping him in the hug much stronger than child her age should manage. He rubbed her back gently.

They sat in silence, as girl relaxed a bit.

“I officially despise fires. Just not my vibes, y'know,” was the first thing she managed to say. Duke smiled, still trying to comfort her. He knew far too well what she was trying to do. He let her. Every hero needed to retreat to humor every once in a while. Majority of his family and associated vigilantes did it constantly.

“Right here with you”

She looked at him, searching for something on what little she could see on his face.

“You see more, don’t you?” she asked but didn’t wait for an answer “It was too much even with normal eyes. How can you be so calm?”

“I have normal ears and after fifth or tenth time it loses its charm”

“Yeah, okay,” she wheezed out “I didn’t expect the fire to be so loud. And smoke was a bit much in terms of texture and smell and everything”

“I would give you a mask if you waited, you know?”

He felt more than saw how she shrugged. It seemed like she wasn’t exactly listening to him anymore.

“But since you didn’t, we should get you looked up by some professional. You breathed in some nasty stuff”

Dani didn’t respond. Then she sprung up with gasp, a little out of his grasp, not standing but sitting straighter. She grinned, wide, eased thing gracing her lips as fresh tears began to create new paths on her dirty cheeks. She let out a choked laugh, more sign of relief or release of tension than actual happiness. It sounded rougher than usual, probably because of smoke and ashes aggravating her throat.

He wanted to ask what was up but it felt like the wrong time for it.

“He is breathing again” Dani cheered gently, as if unsure before repeating loudly, letting herself believe “THE BOY IS BREATHING AGAIN!”

Girl was shaking again, no bothering with drying tears this time.

Duke could guess what happened. He didn’t want to think about it too hard.

“It’s great to hear”

“Yup!” she grinned between fat tears.

They sat in silence as Dani gradually calmed down again. He knew she didn’t feel all that well yet, she couldn’t but she was probably calm enough to not break down in the middle of the BatBurger.

“I think this day counts as quite bad one,” girl said, wheezing a bit. Duke smiled, knowing where this was going. He ruffled her hair.

“Yeah, I think so too”

None of them said anything for a long moment.

“You’re up for a ‘bad day combo’ Gotham style, Hoopoe?”

“Yup” she smiled.

********

Apartment building: *is on fire*

Dani: It can't be that bad

Narrator voice: It was in fact, much worse

Kid, whose heart stopped thankfully didn't have too many issues tied to it and nothing life treatening long term. Every person who was in the building during fire left relatively unscathed. This fic is supposed to be mostly fluff I'm not killing anyone

Kid who got Dani's cape-blanket refused to phisically let go of it for solid two weeks. Later it still had to be in his sight. Understandable since his life went of the rails and did it hard. Kids ripe age of seven shouldn't be home alone. Especially not for whole day...

Dani: *still clearly shaken* Does your bad day combo include fries?

Duke, on his way to The "I had mental breakdown and need calories" Waffle Foodtrack: No, but we can change it!

Underpayed BatBurger employee: ...

Duke&Dani looking like they've just returned from war:...

Underpayed BatBurger employee: ...

Duke&Dani:...

Underpayed BatBurger employee: *deciding they don't have enough mental energy to care* Welcome to the BatBurger, can I take your bat-order?

Duke: One kids meal, please

Employee at The "I just had mental breakdown and need calories" Waffle Foodtrack, used to seeing Bats crying: *sees Hoopoe munching on her fries but in a sad way* Ah, babiest one got christened by fire already?

Employee: *takes out notebook to note down crazy combo this kid will come up with**they have every Gotham vigilante in here*

Dani: I haven't had a waffle ever before so maybe nuttella and whipped cream? I don't know, sweet?

Employee, offended: Let me surprise you.

It was great waffle, sweet enough to give sugar rush quite big group of preschoolers. It had marshmallows, sprinkles, whipped cream, jellybeans, whatever else this person on the mission found and could mix. Dani absolutely loved and devoured it.

I finally didn't forget to add read more!!!

I really want to draw Dani and Duke togheter but I can't find any pose references that satisfied me. Do you have any good ones? Can be chibi though preferably not

Next part

[noras-dc-shenanigans]

Half-Ghost Billy Batson

(Inspired by a post that I can’t find😡😤. If you recognize it please let me know! I have searched. Everywhere. I remember it starts off with Billy contemplating how he’s different and his dad didn’t want him, and then Danny shows up.)

Danny Fenton grows up, gets crowned King of the Infinite Realms, and then discovers that time it weird in the Zone if the portal you came through doesn’t stay open. He’s been ruling for over a century, but it’s only been a few years on Earth. Early on he made sure to keep popping in and out to visit family and friends and keep up a human identity, and so was able to age normally too.

By the time he’s 25 (2015), he’s in a serious relationship with a woman named Mary Batson, and has decided to tell her about his other life. Before he can however, he is ‘killed’ in an explosion at his civilian job as an engineer.

He’s fine, but was weakened enough that he reverted to his core, and Clockwork retrieved him and took him to the Realms to heal. He does, goes discreetly looking for Mary, and discovers it been a year and she died in a car accident. Heartbroken, and with no civilian identity anymore, he starts spending all his time in the Zone, only making weekend trips to see family/friends.

Unknown to Danny, Mary was pregnant, gave birth, and little William ‘Billy’ Daniel Batson was saved via emergency C-Section after the accident and placed in foster care, because she had no family and no one looked into the father’s well enough. Mary only survived long enough to name her son and give them Danny’s name.

10 years later, Billy gains the title of Champion of Magic. The influx of so much magic also triggers his… other genes.

As Billy, he is faster and stronger and heals quicker and if he concentrates really hard he can turn invisible and walk through things— at least for a few moments. He also discovers that he’s essentially a cat, since he can hiss and purr and randomly sprout claws.

Billy only uses a mirror if he needs to give himself a haircut, but the next time he looks he notices the tiny little baby fangies. And that his eyes are more teal than blue, his hair has a few white spots in it, and his ears point a little more. No wonder no one’s been bothering him lately.

(He’s basically 75% human and 25% ghost, so unless he gets hosed down with pure ectoplasm and also eats a bunch of the stuff, he’s not going to be able to ‘go ghost’. He’s just hasn’t got enough Phantom in him to manage it.)

As Captain Marvel, the magic of his patrons and the Rock of Eternity kinda work as a counter-measure against the partially-dead thing, as the magic sees it as a threat to the Champion’s health and fights the genes’ effects like it’s a virus. So the magic is basically shutting down all of the actual powers he gets as Billy. But he does get little things that the magic doesn’t care about, like sharp little fangs and pointy ears.

Billy just thinks it’s all side effects of the magic, and uses his new ‘adaptations’ as Billy to survive on the streets.

The Justice League comes knocking about 6 months in, meet this huge chipper dude who can evenly match Superman and uses magic in a way that causes other magic users headaches and rage, and invite him to join.

That’s when they notice that he’s a bit… strange.

Not like, in a bad way! Just, the other day Batman did the ‘appear behind you from nowhere’ thing and when Marvel noticed he full on hissed at him, like a feral cat, before looking sheepish and apologizing.

A few weeks later, they’re rescuing some kidnapped meta kids and they find Marvel sitting cross-legged on the ground, several toddlers draped over him and a very distinct purring noice emanating from his chest.

A week after that, and Superman confides worriedly that sometimes Marvel’s heart will just… stop beating, and/or he’ll stop breathing, and that when his heartbeat is gone there seems to be a strange hum coming from the center of his chest.

Then another 2 weeks later, after a meeting, he and Flash were talking and they both laughed, but when Marvel did he just flashed these very sharp incisors that Flash swears are fangs.

And then one day they call him in to help fight some demons and one growls at him and he freakin growls back, bares his definitely fangs I told you so! And just freakin launches at the thing. They basically roll around like a couple of territorial tomcats, and at first Marvel is throwing punches and lighting but then the demon bites him and Marvel just… bites back.

And then he like… sprouts claws?! And then it really is like a cat fight, with these two just hissing and growling and clawing and biting until Marvel does something and the demon breaks away and flees, whimpering like a kicked dog. Superman has to snag Marvels cape and dodge some claws to keep the guy from chasing after it.

He’s covered in claw marks and scratches and there’s blood like everywhere but once they drag/convince/bully him into going back to the Watchtowers medbay, there’s nothing. The wounds are gone, the blood is fading away, and the suit is repairing itself. Marvel just shrugs and says magic, which, fair enough.

But then they have to have a talk about what the hell that was, and all Marvel can say for his feral-cat behavior is “I just heard him growl and had the uncontrollable urge to bite him. Like, he’s in my territory, and he’s gonna challenge me like that? Heck-no.”

…Territory? Territory?! What does that- does this possibly-immortal being consider all of Earth his territory? Is he secretly a Fae? An eldritch being in less terrifying form? Part demon himself? A cat transformed into a person?

Marvel shrugs.

“I never met my parents, so honestly any of those have a chance of being true.”

Oh No. Oh F*ck. Those were rhetorical!

Meanwhile, Danny is back on Earth and finds out from Tucker that Mary had a kid. They discover this because he was reported missing after he ran away and the cops tried to find out if there was any more family, and do a better job looking this time. Danny is ‘dead’ so they called the Drs Fenton, who told Jazz, who told Tucker, who dug around and realized oh sh*t, Danny has a son.

But they can’t tell Danny this, because some a-hole in a different dimension is trying to invade the Infinite Realms, so Danny has to go kick a**. The time in the other dimension is weird too, so several years pass on Earth by the time he stops the threat, locks away the demon Trigon, and finds a nice home in the Realms for the demon’s half-human orphaned daughter Raven, who fits in very well with the ghosts.

So, Danny’s back and between Tucker and Danny they figure out what city Billy is in, and Danny spends days flying around invisible feeling for any ectoplasm. He finds it, finds Billy facing down some wanna-be teenage gangsters, and watches with growing pride as his son hisses at them with his widdle baby fangs oh my Ancients!

So after the other kids flee from the ‘crazy demon kid’, Danny invisibly follows Billy back to his current hideout in the basement of an abandoned warehouse (only someone Billy-sized or smaller would be able to fit through the window, and then they’d have to do it again to get into his little blocked-off closet. Smart. Very smart. I have such a smart kid, the family will Love him!)

Danny doesn’t want to freak his kid out— strange man+small space=bad no-no— so he just settles himself in front of the exit and starts chirping. Calling.

Billy, who has never heard the sound before, still knows what it means. Can’t resist following it out of his hidey-hole. Sees the man, cross-legged on the ground, sees his blue eyes flash green-green-green and knows.

“Hi, Billy. Is so good to meet you!”

——————————

2015: Danny=25

2016: Billy born

2027: Billy=11, Danny=27

@im-totally-not-an-alien-2

@stealingyourbones

Hope you guys like this!

[demonslayedher]

Fic Announcements

115 of you have spoken.

☆The heartwarming (or heart-blazing?) Rengoku + Akaza family sitcom was officially renewed for a third silly season.

☆The ZenNezu + Freaking Kaigaku's Ghost Angst/Fluff now has its first whumpy chapter on the interwebs.

☆The Gokangumi Filler Arc first chapter is here for your reading pleasure in addition to the outline + character beats already out there for your imagination fodder.

...now how about some swords?

I like swords. You guys like swords, right?

I'm afraid you don't like swords enough, and that's why I underwent the Teppi project in the first place a couple years ago. And guess what? I have learned a whole lot more about sword production since then.

SO IT IS GETTING REVAMPED INTO A 10-CHAPTER AO3 VERSION AND YOU GUYS ARE GONNA LEARN SOOOO MUCH.

I haven't decided yet how much to do for visual aid, but I will need to keep it simple. The unabashedly educational survey of beginner sword nerdery has also dived more into typical meta and fic elements, including a couple chapters on sword polishing with a character we all know and love as far more than a background character swordsmith. It will take me a little more time to edit (especially since I want it to be easier to follow than it was before), but I just finished the full first draft about an hour ago, and I am stoked with all the new stuff I learned for the sake of polishing it off (whetstones!! Oh, whetstones, I have not loved and appreciated you enough!).

Phew.

Anyway, you will need to be patient for it, as well as for the remaining three ZenNezu!Angst chapters, because My Research is tying a lasso as we speak to keep me captured and very busy for the next few months. Speaking of things to have a little more patience for, I have one more announcement of what I've been up to recently.

[minty364]

DPXDC Prompt #58 Part 6

Everything happened so fast that when Danny finally got to flop onto his bed at the Wayne manor he let himself sink into the covers with a heavy sigh. Everyone broke off into their own rooms to change into more comfortable clothing once they had arrived. Jazz and Danny both had rooms, they started out as guest rooms but were quickly personalized since they tended to spend a lot of time here. Danny even brought most of his models and other various precious items that he didn’t want broken accidentally by his parents (again). His and Jazz’s rooms were set up just like the other bedrooms in the manor, with an ensuite bathroom. They both had dressers, walk-in closets, queen sized beds with ornate nightside tables, and decent sized desks with windows looking out to the backyard garden. 

They were allowed to decorate it any way they chose so Jazz had her room painted a dark teal color with an extra shelf for some books she’d been studying, most being the field of Psychology. Danny meanwhile chose to paint his room a dark blue reminiscent of the night sky, complete with glow in the dark stars and some that didn’t glow, that were painted by Damian, they had all worked together to map it all out as accurately as they could. 

Danny briefly let his thoughts wander as he tried to process the day's events. Was he okay? He wasn’t even sure at the moment, he was pretty sure he was a ghost temporarily and the weirder part was the cool feeling he felt from his chest was still there. 

Danny with a change of clothes in hand went into the bathroom attached to his room. He looked at his reflection again and he looked rough, his eyes were red from crying and he looked exhausted. 

He turned away and quickly got into the shower to wash himself.

The water felt hot on his skin but he marveled at the fact that he could still feel it. These thoughts helped ground himself as he finished up with his shower and got dressed in the comfy PJ’s he grabbed.

He found himself staring at himself in the mirror again. He couldn’t help it, his ghostly appearance from earlier had scared him and his normal looking reflection he now had was comforting. 

He looked like a normal person, like he always did, his bags were now gone. Some small part of him thought maybe it was all a dream? That small part was wrong and Danny knew it deep down, but that small part still hoped.

Did he still have a pulse? He was still breathing and he was sure his heart was still pumping so he probably had one. 

Going back over to his bed he picked his phone back up and after a quick Google search on how to check and what his rate should be he held two fingers to his other hand and counted.

He ran his hands through his hair and took a shaky breath. He counted his BPM at 29 BPM while the normal rate for him was around 60. So it was now less than half what it should be. He wasn’t sure how worried he should be about that or if he should tell anyone or keep his mouth shut. He couldn’t be a meta now either. Him and Jazz had spent hours discussing what it would be like to carry the meta gene and one day get powers.

He watched his reflection from the vanity above his dresser, would he turn back into that pulseless form? 

A knock startled him out of his thoughts as he let out a small yelp. He almost didn’t register his eyes that flashed green for just a moment as he felt his heart skip a beat.

“Danny! Alfred called us down for dinner, everyone else should be down soon as well…” Jazz called from the other side of his bedroom door, her voice sounding like she was trying to keep up a sense of normalcy. 

“Right… coming!!” Danny replied, his eyes lingered on themselves for a moment before he let out a small sigh and grabbed his phone and followed Jazz down the hall.

A few moments passed as they walked side by side in silence, Jazz kept sneaking glances at him, like she couldn’t believe he was here either. She hesitated for a few minutes before speaking, “...Danny? Are you… Okay?” She spoke slowly like she was scared he’d disappear and at that moment he wanted to do just that. 

He wasn’t sure exactly what he should tell her, he felt okay but he wasn’t exactly sure. Everything felt the same but different, everything was the same as it had been before his accident but now he felt a weird dissociation with the world around him, like he wasn’t really there. He couldn’t explain that feeling to Jazz so he shrugged.

“Honestly your guess is as good as mine as we know about the same.” Danny answered with a sigh.

Jazz gave him a look that he couldn’t quite decipher, “are you sure you should be up and around then?” Her voice was quiet again like she was afraid he’d disappear. Danny couldn’t help but stop in his tracks as he thought about it.

“I mean, nothing has happened yet? I can’t really explain it.” He rubbed the back of  his neck with his hand as he looked down and refused to meet her gaze again. 

He continued walking after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence and soon they arrived in the Dining room.

[hallowsden]

DC x DP Idea Thing #2

Child of Freeze AU

MR. FREEZE WOULD BE SUCH A GOOD DAD, YOU CAN'T TELL ME OTHERWISE.

Like

When I first discovered the DC x DP crossover, specifically when the realization sank in that Danny had ice powers, my brain immediately went into overdrive about that and added "WHAT IF DAD!FREEZE" into the mix here.

It's only now my brain wanted to expand on it.

We have the usual trope here that Danny's parents reacted badly to learning about him being Fenton, causing him to get experimented on briefly before running and later settling in Gotham. Here, they found out he was Phantom when his ghost form's appearance started to bleed through to his human form.

His black hair kept gaining white strands every day, his skin gained a paler hue with a tinge of blue only seen in the dead and the ghosts, his body temperature dropped while his heart beats were slower. Hell, he had felt some of the more subtle changes. How his eyes were sore and couldn't see properly for a week before they got better, how his ears became irritated as they shifted to be slightly pointed, and even his limbs throbbed in pain for a while.

At first, his parents chalked it up as a result of being exposed to ectoplasm for most of his life, leading to them practicing lab safety for once in hopes that these changes were temporary.

It didn't take long for them to come up with the conclusion the Phantom replaced their son and used his appearance as a disguise. At least, Maddie came to that conclusion and went immediately to dissect him.

Jack couldn't stand seeing Danny getting opened up like that. Even if he's still conflicted about whether or not Danny is Phantom or Phantom replaced him, he couldn't get the image and the cries of his son in pain out of his head. He helped Danny escape while he distracts Maddie.

Danny ends up coming to Gotham after flying as fast as he could while injured. He ends up finding a frozen place underground and proceeds to pass out as his body tries to regenerate/heal itself. He didn't notice the body suspended in a capsule nearby, having been too tired and too drained.

That's how Mr. Freeze finds him. A teen, likely 16 at most, severely injured, and surprisingly, not bothered by the sub-zero temperatures of his hideout.

I'm all for the idea that before Nora's illness came into effect, she and Victor wanted to have children. The two always had a bit of a soft spot for them anyways. (During the winter season, Freeze doesn't try to cause much villainy as this is the only time of the year he can go around without his suit. Instead, he ends up helping decorate Gotham with some Ice Sculptures and tends to entertain the children of Gotham if possible.)

Essentially, paternal instincts took over and helped Danny get better. Will he be surprised at the exponential rate Danny's healing? Yes, but he just chalks it up to him being a meta. Mr. Freeze will notice some of the unnatural traits present in Danny after all, but who is he to judge? Plus, Metas had it hard in Gotham, even if the no meta rule loosened up when Signal came about in the Batfamily.

Mr. Freeze now has two people to fret and take care of.

(Just- Danny gets adopted by Mr. Freeze, and later on, so do Ellie and Jazz even though she is already over 18 and needs to wear thick clothes)

[halfagone]

Danny Moves to Smallville

You know what, screw it- New DP x DC prompt, here we go:

The Fenton's get into a terrible car accident that (for once) was not Jack's fault, killing Jazz and Maddie as a result. Heartbroken, Jack decides to pack up their bags and move back to his home town of Smallville, bringing Danny along with him.

Danny is, understandably, upset by this at first. He was just hit by the loss of his mother and sister, and now he's been separated from his friends as well! But... Obviously his dad is hurting, and when they sold the house, Jack made sure to pack up the lab and turn off (even possibly completely destroy) the portal. So it's not as if he has to worry about ghost attacks.

He decides to go along with it (as if he has any choice) and thus, they move to Smallville. It's a small town, lots of farmland. But there is a school for Danny to go to, and, you know what? It's actually kind of nice? Definitely a slower pace than Danny's used to, but he actually starts to enjoy it.

His dad is also oddly popular here? Everyone knows everyone, and they're all commenting on how Jack hasn't aged a day or- Oh! Is that your son? My, isn't he a charming boy? Danny doesn't like the attention of being the new kid around, even worse the 'city' kid, but then he meets a teenager named Connor that comes by to visit the Kent farm.

Danny isn't really sure how the guy gets here and back from Metropolis, but Danny chooses not to question it. However, he can't help but tell that there's something noticeably off about this guy. If only he could put his finger on what it was...

Kon, meanwhile, is completely losing his mind. Who are these people, and why do Ma and Pa know them so well? The father is really friendly, and the teen isn't horrible either, if a little more reserved. He actually reminds Kon of Tim a little bit- Okay, maybe a lot, but Kon isn't about to tell anyone that. Especially considering his fat crush on his friend.

And, of course, there's the fact that sometimes he doesn't breath and his heart doesn't beat, and obviously this guy is a meta. Of some kind. Maybe that's why he's so good looking...

The two become friends, seeing as they've been experienced the city and can kind of relate to each other that way. Over time, they become closer and closer until one fateful day, the two share a kiss.

Uh oh. It looks like Kon's got two crushes now instead.

[imaginarylungfish]

Hello, if you don't mind, can I ask, who are your top favorite romantic relationship's couples in any media, like anime/manga, tv series, books, etc (can be canon or non-canon)? Feel free if you want to write the reasons or not of why you love them....Thanks if you want to answer....

Ooh how fun! I should just screenshot my ao3 dash lol. Let's see... almost all of these are all animanga (and not canon), but in order of my love for them at this particular moment in time:

TodoBakuDeku

BakuDeku

KilluGon

MatchaBlossom

SatoSugu

ShiGuang

TigerGhost

SasaMiya

ShunMio

KazuRei

Now, explanations, *spoilers*, and honorable mentions below the cut!

TodoBakuDeku (My Hero Academia)

Obviously not canon and never will be but oh does this ship have a chokehold on me. I just think this trio is so balanced in every way. Like we have our precious TodoDeku who connect by being nerds and the sweetest boys. Then we also have TodoBaku who are just lovely little menaces. And, of course, BakuDeku--can't beat friends to enemies to lovers. And then they all come together to form a masterpiece. Idk I just love this ship so much.

BakuDeku (My Hero Academia)

So I honestly really wasn't into this ship too much until reading the final war arc and meta. Other people's viewpoints changed my mind! Hori has done a really great job of portraying BakuDeku's complex relationship in the manga (for however you view their canon relationship). So like idk how can I not ship For-the-Rest-of-Our-Lives Katsuki with Control-Your-Heart Izuku?

Sidenote: I almost didn't include this on the list because I tend to only really ship this pair while reading the manga. I never shipped them in the anime unless it was TodoBakuDeku with Deku as a hinge. And I don't even read many fics with just Katsuki and Izuku. I just feel like fandom BakuDeku feels incomplete without Shouto for some reason. Like I'm Team BakuDeku for the manga, Team hinge TodoBakuDeku in the anime, but throuple TodoBakuDeku in the sanctuary of my mind/on ao3. (Maybe that'll change once I start watching Season 7 though.)

KilluGon (Hunter x Hunter)

I only watched this anime this year but ohmygod I immediately fell in love with Gon and Killua. They are so precious. I mean, Killua is just a little smitten kitten. And Gon? He's in it. Anyway, love their dynamic and of course I ship them. Gon is Killua's light after all!

MatchaBlossom (Sk8 the Infinity)

Literally just started shipping this so I'm in the throes of obsession rn but their dynamic? *chef's kiss* (hehe, you like what I did there?) Childhood friends? Pining while the other falls for another? Realizing feelings? Already married bickering old couple? Give me all the headcanons please!

SatoSugu (Jujutsu Kaisen)

I mean, c'mon. Tragic gays are my weakness. They're gonna be OG for me. No one can compare. They're on a different level. All I want is for them to have hopped on a plane and gone somewhere they can finally find peace, is that too much to ask? (Gege??)

ShiGuang (Link Click)

Again, I said I like tragic gays. But god, I do hope they don't end up too tragic! I love this pairing. They balance each other out well. We have puppy dog Cheng Xiaoshi and cat Lu Guang. Perfection thx.

TigerGhost (Nicktoons Unite)

Ok so this crackship was brought on by my serendipitous viewing of Nicktoons Unite fanart on this beautiful app and subsequent reading of all their fics on ao3 (a grand total of four, btw). And I'm obsessed. I was a diehard Danny Phantom fan as a kid (we stan our queer/genderqueer/bisexual/trans ghost boy). And I never watched El Tigre as a kid, but the way the fandom portrays him and Danny together just hits. Salty and sweet with a lil bit of darkness? Yum.

SasaMiya (Sasaki to Miyano)

First canon ship on this list lol. You want fluff? You got it. Give me some good pining, consent, and mutual respect, thank you.

ShunMio (Stranger by the Shore)

Second and last canon ship on the list! Love me some good ole sun and moon. Idk their story is so cute. Plus, I like how Kii Kana portrays Shun's feelings regarding his sexuality and how that affects his relationship with Mio. It's relatable.

KazuRei (Buddy Daddies)

I mean, this is practically canon, right? Well, at least queerplatonically (which we stan). Love our little found family. This anime had such a cute and goofy premise, how could I not fall for this ship?

(Honorable mentions: TodoDeku, TodoBaku, Labru, DabiHawks, Renga, VashWood, Kappa x Siren, Boyfriends, EraserMic, ItaFushi, InuOkko, ShokoHime, HaiNana, LeoPika, KudoIchi, TogaChako)

[siltyriver]

Justice is Swift (Vengeance is Sweet) — Ch.1 Shitposts

master post || chapter 1 || ch.2 memes ->

obligatory memes & shitposts for chapter one of jisvis :)

Danny, finally experiencing the horrors that are ice-breakers: What in the fresh hell is this

Bernard, who has been subjected to miserable ice-breakers his entire life: Don't tell my boyfriend but I would literally rather be kidnapped by the cult I used to be a part of right now

Danny, realizing this guy might be as traumatized as himself: Jazz is going to be so proud of me for making a friend

-

Danny casually making a morbid joke: Shit, am I being weird?

Bernard, also uses comedy as a coping method: Oh mood.

Danny: Oh cool we're bonding :D

-

Danny, walking home from orientation dead on his feet: sees a mugging happening

Danny, supposed to be laying low: Well, I have no choice but to stop this

Danny: turns invisible and beats the crap out of the asshole

Mugger: Holy shit did I just get beat up by a ghost?

Oracle, watching surveillance: Holy shit did that dude just get beat up by a ghost?

-

Jazz: So how’s life going without ghost attacks to worry about?

Danny, actively punching a mugger: Uhhh, yeah it’s so peaceful :)

-

Jason, on patrol catching sight of a cute guy walking alone through an alley: This guy’s gonna get mugged I better stalk him and make sure he gets home safe

Danny, getting mugged because he was distracted by someone stalking him: uses his powers instinctively despite trying to lay low

Danny: Well, fuck.

Jason: Oh shit he’s a meta, Bruce is going to kill me when I bring him home

-

Jason, wanting to spend more time with the cute meta he’s intrigued by: I’ll walk you home

Danny: The fuck you will, stalker.

-

Jason: I must know all of this guy’s secrets, let me interrogate him and hope he knows I’m flirting

Danny, sweating because someone’s getting too close to the truth: TIME TO BULLSHIT MY WAY OUT OF THIS!

Danny: What a fucking discriminatory asshole, how dare you throw baseless accusations at me—

Jason: ABORT ABORT ABORT

-

Danny, furious: easily pushes Jason Built-Like-A-Tank Todd back with zero effort

Jason, turned on by people that can beat him up: Gee, I really hope this doesn’t awaken anything in me

-

Also Jason: Damn my heart must be beating that fast because that meta is unsettling

Jason, sweating and ignoring his boner: No other reason…

-

Babs: Tim I need your help

Tim: With what?

Babs: …There might be a ghost.

Tim, having flashbacks to his ghost hunter phase that he dropped because it was bullshit: Bullshit.

Tim, watching the video and already pulling out his whiteboards again: Holy shit there might be a ghost.

[carefulfears]

kae’s sunday fic recs <3

this week i’m sharing @gaycrouton’s “words of” series (words of love & words of lust), which each feature a chapter based on every letter of the alphabet! nicole writes everything from her fic to her meta to her tweets with nothing but earnest compassion, and whether she’s taking you through the most unimaginably dark upsetting shit you’ve ever read in your life or the filthiest smut, every word is from such a position of affection, her love for the characters and their’s for each other.

she had so much room to play in this series and it was always so much fun to see where her creativity went next!

my top 3 chapters of each:

words of love

- Supportive (desc: Mulder had never heard Scully get called Mrs. Spooky before.)

everything will always come back to squeeze, honestly, and “mrs. spooky” encapsulates the choices made in that episode, what they mean. association with mulder is inherently derogatory, inherently ridiculed, but for scully, it’s also tainted by misogyny; she has to be more careful, and she knows that, but she’s unwilling to sacrifice her convictions in order to cleave to authority.

when this one-shot picks up a year later, what stands out to me is like…mulder’s obliviousness 😭😭 mulder is extremely socially-aware, i don’t think he’s actually oblivious of much, but he can fall into a lil earnest delusion when it comes to scully, i feel like. i love the way nicole explores the differences in their exposure to the outside world consistently in her work.

(also, like i said on twitter, scully heard “mrs. spooky” and said BET!!!! that association doesn’t scare her.)

- Unforgettable (taking place during s8/s9)

“She had ghost cramps that night. The doctors said it was from the stress, she figured the baby was mourning with her.”

this one just really broke my heart, lol. i think this is my favorite use of monica in fic that i’ve read though, and how much it means to scully for her son to have a believer in his life.

- Epilogue (post-ghouli, jackson’s POV)

y’all know!! how i feel. jackson’s randomly surfacing birth parents are weepy and weird but they really love him, and that’s something.

the end of their story was always going to be through this kid’s eyes, where he ended up himself, and i love that it’s where this story ends as a well.

(the line about going through photos and samantha being referred to as his aunt, something more than an experiment to “more than 2 people.” yeah.)

words of lust

(my FAVORITEEEE)

- Once (post-IVF failure)

okay this chapter had me weeping in my office at work….i personally headcanon their first time as around the end of IVF and this was such a sad (but hopeful) view of it. so much heart as always.

- Quiver

i promised y’all a dom scully list and i’ll try to get one done next week but for now i offer you… ❤️

- Yours

i really loved this one, LET DANA SCULLY BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF PEOPLE!! you know she wants to!!!

don’t miss the epilogue! 😁

this is kinda out of it because i’m exhausted from traveling but i had the best time with these stories!! love y’all

[aries-writingblog]

Enemy Fire: 2

Summary: There’s a new kid in town, and she’s got a city to usurp.

Pairing: Jason Todd x F. Reader

Word count: 2.2k

Warnings: language, misogyny, homelessness (not reader), mention of arson and some violence

AN: photos are from Pinterest

Jason’s eyes cracked open. Sleep still matted his eyelashes together. The desk creaked as he pushed away from it, his cheekbone aching from the hard wood.

He yawned, wiping his eyes clear. His phone read nine thirty. Not too bad for a five AM pass out.

He sighed as his focus shifted back to the papers on his desk. A couple had drool marks, others were crumpled. He smoothed them out, as best he could.

Squinting against the harsh sunlight bleeding through the windows, he attempted to decipher his progress from hours earlier.

He hadn’t gotten far, just compiled cases of arson from the past few years. It wasn’t much of a lead on the woman, but it was all he could think of at the moment. The only lead he had.

‘She came down from the sky, Boss. She was on fire but she could put it out on command… she just… materialized….‘

A meta.

Jason had seen his fair share of enhanced persons— hadn’t yet seen a girl on fire come down from the sky.

Though, he supposed he would soon enough.

Ray had been frightened into giving up his information. It would make things difficult— easy for her, maybe.

He sat back, his head tilting to the ceiling in errant frustration.

Without a lead, he would have to wait for her to come to him. But he didn’t want to be caught off guard by a woman that could melt his face off with a touch.

Jason’s stomach growled, interrupting his train wreck of a thought process. His lip stung— realizing he had been biting down too hard on the skin.

Pushing away from the desk, Jason stumbled his way through the apartment. Bleary eyed and near exhausted, he started out of the room. Only to turn back three steps out, to snatch two files and carry them along with him.

“What is a meta doing in Gotham?” He murmured, rummaging through his cabinet. Pulling out various breakfast materials before deciding on cereal. He wasn’t awake enough to work the stove.

Gotham was, he supposed, a beacon for all criminals. Meta and non-meta alike. Perhaps she was just there to beat out the biggest dog she could find. Take over their business. Have the city eating out of her hand.

Jason poured his cereal, taking a large spoonful before realizing he hadn’t poured milk.

Decidedly, it wasn’t his morning.

Finding the milk, Jason gave it a hesitant sniff, just as loud knocking— more akin to thudding— resounded from his door.

“Hey, Ghost Boy, open up.” A familiar, masculine voice called through the furious pounding.

Jason’s brow furrowed.

Abandoning his task in the kitchen, he swung the door open. Revealing Roy Harper, pushing past him into the apartment. A few steps down the hall, he could hear Artemis on the phone. Speaking in hushed tones.

“You have a key.” He stated, leaving the door for Artemis and following Roy into the kitchen.

Because, if unsupervised, Roy would demolish the stocked cabinets without blinking.

Which is technically, what happened. Upon entering, Roy zoned in on the bag of bagels Jason had left on the table.

“Left it at home. Who takes their keyring with them?” Roy scoffed, shaking his head before stuffing half a bagel into his mouth.

Jason’s brows furrowed— half concerned about his friend’s impending stroke, half amazed at his capacity to eat food at a rate of hippopotamus.

He ignored the nonsensical information he had just received, opting to finally eat his breakfast, properly this time.

Artemis held up her own keyring, tossing them at Jason.

“I drove.” She deadpanned, eyes dropping to the counter. They lit up at the sight of the bagels. “Ooh.”

Jason shoveled another mouthful of cereal down, dropping the keys to the table. Artemis maneuvered her way around Roy the Sword Swallower to the coffee pot. She pulled a mug down (that read ‘I heart Wonder Woman’) and filled it to the brim.

Rummaging through his fridge, she managed to unearth a creamer that wasn’t atrocious in flavor.

“While the two of you are here, do you mind doing the dishes?” Jason asked, hopefully.

Roy snorted, smearing jam onto his bread.

“Not it.” Artemis called, taking a bite from her snack.

“Also not it.” Roy replied around the bagel. Jason scowled, pushing his bowl to the side. “Your apartment, man.”

Jason opened his mouth; Intending on telling his friend just how often he was in Jason’s apartment and just how many of the dishes were his own, red-headed fault. Until Artemis cut him off.

“You’re looking into arson cases?” She asked, reading over the few papers she had picked up.

Jason glanced down at his incriminating evidence.

“You heard about the docks?” Roy interrupted, quickly crossing the room to scramble the papers as he studied them.

“I was called to the docks. One of my guys.” Jason responded, swallowing back the description of the scene. Burying it beneath the guilt and discomfort.

Artemis frowned, her features scrunching. Of his closer acquaintances, Artemis and Roy were the few who were aware of Jason’s grip on crime control in the city.

And because of that knowledge, both were continuously pressing their ears to the underground. Making sure Jason didn’t turn up dead somewhere because of a territory dispute.

So far, no one had even attempted to usurp him. The smaller gangs tended to their own— making their money where they typically did. Jason never extended his own reach and it seemed they all appreciated it.

There was one deal, four words shared among the entirety of Gotham’s underground: No dealing to kids.

“What does that mean in terms of your safety?” Artemis asked, already five steps ahead. Preparing to move him into her own apartment for his protection.

“Have they come for you, yet?” Roy tacked on.

That was a little trickier.

Jason heaved a sigh, leaning back in his chair. His arms crossed over his broad chest. While the mysterious pyromaniac hadn’t targeted him directly, it definitely felt personal.

Not to mention, Ray explained she had asked for him specifically.

He could only infer this was a new player to Gotham City. One who was hell bent on taking his place, any way they could.

And she had already proven that she would get her hands dirty to do it.

“Not yet. But she will eventually.” He conceded.

“She?” Artemis questioned, her intrigue only growing the more she heard.

Jason nodded, tapping a piece of paper, where he had jotted down Ray’s scrambled recollection.

“Whats your plan?” Roy asked, pulling the chair out beside his friend. The notes were all written in neat penmanship.

“A fire hose and a prayer.”

YN readjusted the tote bag on her shoulder. The Narrows were cold tonight— a bone chilling breeze swept through the alleyways and streets. She approached another group, all chatting and laughing around a fire.

She could only hope she was doing the right thing.

With the funds she currently possessed, she had put together care bags for the people on the streets. Hygiene products, socks and gloves, blankets. Nonperishable foods. Anything to help.

She fished a handful of bags out, passing them to people around the fire. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted two smaller figures huddled together near the edge.

Pulling away from the group she had been in, she approached them. Her face neutral and her stance non-threatening.

“Keep warm, tonight. The temperature is dropping low.” YN advised, passing off two of the bags to a pair of teenagers.

“Thank you.” One replied, her eyes portraying more gratitude than her voice ever could.

The boy beside her signed a thank you. YN smiled, quickly replying with ‘no problem’. His face lit up at her ability to speak his language.

She told them a final goodbye, heading further down the street.

Various fires were lit, being stoked and cared for by cautious hands. Food was being shared and traded over the hearth, blankets wrapped around shoulders and huddled masses sat on discarded, dirtied mattresses.

Anything to keep themselves and their families warm.

Gotham wasn’t unlike other cities in this aspect. The homeless were always overlooked by the wealthier end of the city.

YN crossed the street, over to a loner that sat guarding an alleyway. He was huddled up in a mass of blankets and jackets. Guarding himself from the cold breeze by using the brick wall as a windbreaker.

“Excuse me?” She announced her presence as she approached from head on. Not wanting to startle him, if he were unaware. “I’ve been passing out these bags, if you’d like one—“

“I don’t want your sympathy bag, lady.” He croaked, shuffling further away from her.

YN’s lips pursed. She wasn’t a stranger to less than friendlies. She herself was sometimes a less than friendly. That didn’t mean she wanted him to freeze overnight. But it also didn’t mean he had to be an asshole.

“You don’t have to take it.” She responded, shifting her weight back. Letting the bag hang at her side.

The man finally lifted his eyes, meeting her own. They glinted in anger. YN squared her shoulders, steeling her nerve.

“Cause you know what’s best, huh?” He muttered, glaring up at her. YN knew that he was only looking to argue; Deciding she didn’t have the time, she dropped the bag beside him. She turned on her heel, disengaging with his harsh attitude. “I’m talking to you, bitch.”

YN didn’t flinch— she just kept walking. Ignoring his angered tirade behind her.

Note to self, there’s a reason the loners are alone here.

She looked down into her tote bag. Only five more bags left. It was nearing midnight. She would have to pass these out quickly.

The hair on the back of her neck stood at attention; She felt a presence behind her. Assuming it was going to be a fight, YN spun around, steadying her stance.

Instead of the grizzled man from before, a different man stood before her.

He was mid-height and lean— athletic in a gymnast-like physique. His dark hair had a shine to it. Though his face was partially covered by a domino mask, YN could define clear Romani features. His aquiline nose, strong cheekbones, full lips.

A blue and black body suit that was skin tight covered him nearly head to toe. Escrima sticks hung at his hip, along with various other items.

“What’s a girl like you doing all the way out here?” He asked, a sly smile playing on his lips.

YN sidestepped, moving around his intrusion. Dick frowned, quickly turning to follow after her. She grit her teeth as he stuck close by— hoping that if she ignored him long enough, he would give up.

That didn’t seem to be the case, as he stuck close by. Strolling along like he had no where else to be in that moment.

“Minding her own business.” She stated, seeing as he apparently wouldn’t leave without an answer.

It wasn’t unusual to see Nightwing in Gotham, from what she read. Although most of his spottings seemed to come from Bludhaven now, he could also be seen in his original location from time to time.

Unfortunately, tonight was one of those times.

“I’m sure you’re new to Gotham— not many people would willingly come here in the dark. Especially not to help.” Nightwing explained, keeping his pace with hers.

YN ignored his words, extending another bag to a couple, huddled in close to a fire. They smiled gratefully as she returned it and continued on her way.

Nightwing was still hanging close to her elbow, looking over her shoulder. Lingering.

“I can handle myself. Have a good night.” YN told him.

“I Can hang around— maybe even help you.” He offered, his head tilting. His jet black locks ruffled in the wind, another smile threatened to overtake his lips.

She wondered if the body suit he wore was any good at protecting him from crotch shots.

“I said, I’m fine.” She demanded, abruptly stopping to face off against his insistence.

Dick’s tongue chased over his bottom lip, preparing himself to argue again; Until a glint of orange reflected in her eyes. It wouldn’t have been strange, had they still been near the fire, or had it been a bluish tint of the street lamps.

His eyes narrowed, just as his pager beeped. He glanced down, breaking their eye contact, to the screen of his device.

“Run along, little bird.” She murmured. Dick looked up. She had already escaped their conversation— halfway down the street. “The Bat calls.”

He stared after her for a moment— hesitated for half a second. His device beeped again.

Nightwing cursed under his breath, because she was right. Batman was calling. But this girl was much more interesting. She almost seemed more dangerous.

No one in Gotham did anything altruistic.

Especially beautiful women in the Narrows.

Abandoning the street, Dick made his way to the top of the nearest building. The scene wasn’t too far from here.

He escaped the Narrows— thankful that Jason hadn’t caught him slipping over the territory lines— and swung toward the next crime. For the first time, Dick was glad Damian insisted they wear body cams.

Because he had a face to run through the system.

[iviarellereads]

Harrow the Ninth, Chapter 52

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For detail on The Locked Tomb coverage and the index, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Fifth House icon) In which I struggle to choose just one thing to "in which", so I'm going full meta instead.

August and Mercy talk about how they could go back home now, as long as the undoing of the Resurrection isn't immediate. Ianthe asks what Mercy has done, and she admits she has killed Dominicus. It will form a black hole in a few minutes. August asks Gideon Senior if he has any retribution, to which he replies no, but there's something August should know…

Suddenly, white light blinds Gideon, and then she sees red. Particles emerge from everywhere in the room, turning the air pink, then cherry red, then scarlet. Powder becomes grit, grit becomes aggregate, and then bone.

Instantly, and in a laborious process, a body constructs itself, until the King Undying stands once again, behind Mercy. He kills her, a fist through the heart that explodes her whole chest, splattering it onto Augustine's. He says the sun has stabilized, and he hopes the Sixth wasn't destroyed in the flare.(1) He says he will ask them all a question, and if they give the correct answer, what happened to Mercy won't be repeated.

Augustine pressed his lips together; that was it. God said, "It was a lovely bit of work on Mercymorn's part. She must have been training for thousands of years, to bring that off. But I didn't get to where I am by being able to die, you know?" The Lyctor said, "The Resurrection Beasts--" "Can't kill me." "You acted afraid--" "Acted is operative. But this is not an FAQ.(2) Let's get a move on. Gideon," he said. Then he looked at us, gave a little crooked half smile, and said, "Gideon Episode One,(3) I mean. Gideon the First--third saint to serve me--my fingers and gestures. Mate, I'm not mad about Wake. I'm not even mad that you failed to either fix or put down Harrow. I just want your loyalty. Do I have it, or not?"

Without hesitation, Gideon the First says he does. John tells him to stand on the side of the room opposite the dead. Next, Ianthe, who says yes, he has her loyalty before he finishes naming her. He bids her stand with Gideon Prime. He despairs lightly that he can't ask Wake, though he knows what she'd say, because "why be an ass to the mother of your child?"

Which he takes as a prompt, to turn to Gideon in Harrow's body.

I said, "You told that bastard to beat up Harrow?" That was my job, after all. God said, "I was trying to save her."(4) Also my job. "Go to hell, Pops."

He says this isn't a question for Gideon, as his child. He won't give her an ultimatum on their first day together, and it's not her body so he'd hate to punish Harrow for Gideon acting out. She is tossed, gently, across the room to land next to Ianthe.(5)

He turns to August, who asks if he gets a chance to answer. Of course, says John. He's willing to offer August a clean slate, a fresh start. August says no, lifts his hand, and does something funky. He drops the whole station into the River, and wades out into it. Ianthe follows him, but G1deon drags Gideon the other way. The Saint of Patience says "Wish he'd given me the packet."(6) which Gideon finds rather irrelevant to anything.

They move through the station, as outside in the River, John and August fight, and the whole lot of them are descending.

Gideon suggests they swim for it, but Duty says they won't last in the River, nobody knows what it's made of but it's breaking everything apart with the pressure, and the ghosts will be back soon.

The station listed again. I said, "Okay. You're a necromancer. Are you going to do something, or what?" "My necromancer is dead," said Gideon.(7)

Truly, this is not any sort of Gideon Supreme. All that's left is Pyrrha. Initial Gideon died after fighting RB7. He fought it alone for hours, and then the ghosts (sent by Harrow and Abigail) showed up. They almost had Number Seven, but in the end Duty could never walk away from a losing fight.

Pyrrha introduces herself formally, and explains that she was able to hide her consciousness, even from her necromancer. Both she AND he had been having affairs with Wake, ahead of Gideon's conception.

At any rate, Pyrrha sees what August's plan is.

A hole had opened. It was big enough to swallow up the whole of Drearburh and have room to spare. It was a huge, hideous, dark expanse, and it had seething, weird edges; it took the lights pattering over them for me to see that the edges of the hole were enormous human teeth. Each one must've been six bodies high and two bodies wide, with the dainty scalloped edges of incisors. The teeth shivered and trembled, like the hole was slavering. And that hole had nothing in it; that hole was blacker than space, that hole was an eaten-away tunnel of reality.(8)

The stoma has opened, probably thinking John is an RB. Augustine has lashed himself to the Emperor, somehow, and is dragging him down toward it. God is making no apparent move to disengage or get away, even as the tongues emerge from the stoma.(9)

Pyrrha has a loaded gun, she and Gideon could end their own struggles quickly. Gideon watches John, Augustine, and the Mithraeum station get dragged down into the stoma. She thinks, really hard, about what dying was like the first time, and what to do now. She wants so badly to say that she was thinking of Harrow in those moments, but everything was literally and figuratively crashing down around her.

As I dithered, Pyrrha sandblasted me with the calm, "Your mother would've picked the bullet." "Yes, well, jail for Mother."(10)

The River rushes in, and she forces her way out. When she has some control over her direction, Gideon watches Ianthe break August and John apart, pull John to safety, leave August for the tongues emerging from the stoma.

Gideon thinks Ianthe did it wrong, she should have saved August, not the man who lied to everyone he ever loved.

And then, Gideon feels Harrow's chest cave in, from the pressure of the River-essence. She asks Harrow if she knew that your life is supposed to flash before your eyes. She doesn't know if dying like this, in Harrow's body, will cause them to merge, will make her see both their lives blurred together.

But as everything went black and I died the second time round, I didn't see you. I didn't even see me. The final thing I saw was a great sunshiny light: a blurred figure, hazing in and out around the edges. At first it looked to me like a woman--a grey-faced, dead-eyed woman, with a face so beautiful it almost went out the other side and became repellent; a woman with my eyes, dimmed dark yellow in death, whose hair fell in wet leaden hanks. I realized with exhausted indignation that, at the end of everything--after all I had been through--after the last word, the last strike, the last drop of blood in the water--your bullshit dead girlfriend had come to claim you. And she said in the wrong voice twice removed:(11) "Chest compressions! I know her sternum's shattered; ignore it. We need that heart pumping. On my mark." Hands pressed. We died.

=====

(1) So, it wasn't a lie that he's connected to the Sun somehow? Or at least, he gets to claim it wasn't for this. (2) What a curious turn of phrase for him to use. But then, he was the Resurrection, his world was our world, so he would remember phrases, wouldn't he? (3) Muir is playing with this one, as she seems to have fun doing. In this case, Star Wars Episode 1 came out after the original trilogy, despite being set before. So, John referring to his G1deon this way is a joke because we knew our Gideon first and the Lyctor showed up later for us, despite his time technically taking place before. (4) Why would constant attempts on her life be saving her? Was it a form of training? Was it trying to make her access power he thought she'd hidden, maybe from herself? Or is it all a lie? (5) I'm not sure John's making the first impression he might want to with Gideon, though given the end of the chapter… how much does that matter? (6) Like an information packet you'd get first day on the job. Pyrrha could use the operating manual for G1deon's body and life. (7) You know, there's something ominous about this statement. I know that it's G1deon, not Gideon, but it feels… weighty. (8) No wonder there's theory that the stoma could found another entire school of necromantic study. (9) Ew, with a side of ack. (10) Miette! (11) Who? How? What's going on here? What do you think the odds are we find out in the final two books? How about the one additional book that's been published?

[cyarskj1899]

These quotes need to be studied in schools someday

X

TVLine

YEAR IN REVIEW

2022 in Review: Quotes of the Year!

By Team TVLine / December 18 2022, 9:00 AM PST

Best TV Quotes 2022

Courtesy of Prime Video; HBO; HBO Max; Netflix; Peacock

7

Anthony Bridgerton confessed his true feelings for Kate Sharma. This Is Us‘ Rebecca Pearson got well-deserved kudos. Viktor Hargreeves introduced himself to his Umbrella Academy siblings. And The White Lotus‘ Tanya McQuoid realized something very important… just a little too late.

All year long, we’ve been collecting TV’s best sound bites in our Quotes of the Week compilations, which honor the dialogue that made us laugh and cry — sometimes simultaneously. But as 2022 draws to a close, we’re now looking back at the Quotes of the Year, highlighting 60 of the funniest, most poignant or most wonderfully meta moments from the past 12 months.

Best TV Shows of 2022 | Stranger Things, The Boys, Andor, More

0 seconds of 3 minutes, 52 seconds

In the list below, you’ll find Robin Scherbatsky sharing her romantic past with How I Met Your Father‘s Sophie, Ellen DeGeneres reflecting on how much has changed since her talk show began, Westworld‘s Dolores-Hale uttering a powerful one-word command, and Andor‘s precious droid B2EMO lamenting a major loss.

Of course, some shows — like ABC’s Abbott Elementary and Netflix’s Stranger Things — were just too quotable this year to select only one line, so they’re among the series making multiple appearances on our list. And it’s not just the scripted fare that made our cut: Unscripted programs like American Idol, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Big Brother are in the mix, as well.

As with all of our year-end lists, we should issue a quick spoiler alert for several of this year’s plot twists, romantic confessions and heartbreaking sendoffs. But if you’re ready to dive in, peruse the list below, then drop a comment with the lines that would make your cut for Quotes of the Year.

HARRY POTTER 20TH ANNIVERSARY: RETURN TO HOGWARTS

Photo : HBO Max screenshot

“I killed you, didn’t I? I’m sorry. Had to be done.”

Helena Bonham Carter apologizes to Gary Oldman for what Bellatrix Lestrange did to Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

WOMEN OF THE MOVEMENT

Photo : ABC screenshot

“I want them to see what was taken from me.”

Mamie Till (Adrienne Warren), before the doors are opened for the public viewing of her son Emmett Till’s body

STATION ELEVEN

Photo : HBO Max screenshot

“You walked her home.”

Kirsten (Mackenzie Davis) assures Jeevan that his 20-year-old goal was met

OZARK

Photo : Netflix screenshot

“I shot your d—k off. For that, I apologize. I went to the drug store to look for a card. No such card exists.”

Darlene (Lisa Emery) takes the first step at burying the hatchet with Frank Jr.

GHOSTS

Photo : CBS screenshot

“I cannot believe Elias is back. Till death do us part — it’s right in the vows.”

Hetty (Rebecca Wisocky) laments the return of her dead husband

GHOSTS (Bonus Quote!)

Photo : CBS screenshot

“A travel agent booking other people’s holidays while going nowhere himself.”

“Hey, we went to Epcot, buddy! That’s the whole world all at once!”

Pete (Richie Moriarty) defends himself when the actor (Mathew Baynton) portraying him in a “Dumb Deaths” recreation says Pete was pathetic

THE GILDED AGE

Photo : HBO screenshot

“I may be a bastard, Mr. Thorburn, but you are a fool. And of the two, I think I know which I prefer.”

The women of The Gilded Age may be experts at throwing shade, but they’ve got nothing on literal robber baron George Russell (Morgan Spector)

THE RESIDENT

Photo : Fox screenshot

“Hi, Mommy.”

Gigi (Remington Blaire Evans), upon hearing her late mom Nic’s donated heart beating in another patient

9-1-1: LONE STAR

Photo : Courtesy of Fox

“I always imagine the world of politics to be really smart people walking briskly down corridors, talking real fast and all sort of sounding alike.”

In other words, Owen (Rob Lowe) learned everything he knows about the political world from watching himself on The West Wing

THE RIGHTEOUS GEMSTONES

Photo : HBO screenshot

“Look, I know you may be a backwoods simpleton, who scrubs her dresses on tree bark and stinks up the entire house with roadkill stew, but Godd—n if I wouldn’t miss the pitter-patter of your filthy-ass bare feet, or the way you chew shrimp tails with the ice like an animal — you’re family. And the thought of you running away on this bus right now is making my gooch pucker.”

Judy (Edi Patterson) pours her heart out to her aunt Tiffany to deter her from leaving town

ARTHUR

Photo : PBS screenshot (2)

“Hey, this shows you how to draw an aardvark! I never knew their noses were so long. Weird!”

It took 25 seasons, but Buster (voiced by Daniel Brochu) finally addressed the fact that Arthur looks nothing like an actual aardvark

GREY'S ANATOMY

Photo : ABC screenshot

“… and your plan was to leave without saying goodbye?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Because if I say goodbye to you, Grey, I might not actually leave.”

Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Cormac (Richard Flood), giving us a taste of what might have been

GREY'S ANATOMY (Bonus Quote!)

Photo : ABC screenshot

“When Leo said that he was an owl, did you feel the need to call him silly and correct him?”

“No.”

“No. You just loved him. You just let him explore. Let’s just love Leo, Teddy. Let’s listen when he tells us who he is.”

Regardless of Leo’s gender identity, Owen (Kevin McKidd) refuses to let himself and Teddy (Kim Raver) become the child’s bully

SNOWFALL

Photo : FX screenshot

“Little late for this, but I’m sorry for shooting you and all. I’m glad you… didn’t not make it.”

Stripper-turned-hitwoman Black Diamond (Christine Horn) awkwardly apologizes to Louie for trying to kill her last season

THE GOOD DOCTOR

Photo : ABC screenshot

“Let’s run her bandit ass out of town.”

Dr. Audrey Lim (Christina Chang) vows to take Salen Morrison down, once and for all

HOW I MET YOUR FATHER

Photo : Hulu screenshot (2)

“I once had a guy who said, ‘I love you’ on our first date.”

“Wow, you win! Dude sounds like a real piece of work.”

“You have no idea. But a good piece of work.”

Robin (Cobie Smulders) recalls her very first date with Ted

BRIDGERTON

Photo : Netflix screenshot

“You are the bane of my existence… and the object of all my desires.”

Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) breathlessly tells Kate how he truly feels for her, despite being engaged to her sister Edwina

THE 94TH ACADEMY AWARDS

Photo : ABC screenshot

“I’ve been getting out of that Spider-Man costume. Did I miss anything? There’s, like, a different vibe in here.”

Co-host Amy Schumer masterfully eases the tension after Will Smith’s now-infamous slap of Chris Rock

THE WALKING DEAD

Photo : AMC screenshot (2)

“[Hershel] doesn’t exactly trust me, you know.”

“But I’m starting to.”

Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) reach a turning point as she asks her husband’s killer to babysit their son

THE WONDER YEARS

Photo : ABC screenshot

“Gwendolyn, but he called her Winnie.”

Bruce (Spence Moore II) reveals the reimagining’s unexpected connection to the OG series — that his friend Brian, who died in the Vietnam War, is also Winnie Cooper’s brother — and breaks our hearts in the process

ABBOTT ELEMENTARY

Photo : ABC screenshot

“Let me see these permission slips to the zoo, and they better be real, ’cause I can tell if you faked a Herbie Hancock.”

“Oh, it’s John Hancock.”

“Girl, I know. I just say whatever I want.”

Ava (Janelle James) doesn’t play by the rules

ABBOTT ELEMENTARY (Bonus Quote!)

Photo : ABC screenshot

“We’ve watched Nightmare Before Christmas but only the Christmas parts, Practical Magic without the witchcraft and Hocus Pocus without Sarah Jessica Parker.”

Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) describes her church’s Halloween movie screening tradition

KILLING EVE

Photo : BBC America screenshot

“I did it, Eve.”

“Don’t you mean ‘we did it’?”

“Yeah. But mostly me.”

Villanelle (Jodie Comer) lets Eve (Sandra Oh) know she’s taking the credit for taking down The Twelve

AMERICAN IDOL

Photo : ABC screenshot

“Noah, I feel like maybe you should Wikipedia me.”

Katy Perry, famously an ex-girlfriend of John Mayer’s, balks at Noah Thompson’s suggestion that Perry picked a Mayer song for him to sing

GIRLS5EVA

Photo : Peacock screenshot

“#AlbumMode is a state of mind that started when our deal was announced and ends when I’m at the Met Gala in a catheter because my dress is too complicated.”

Wickie (Renée Elise Goldsberry) has a very clear vision of how the girls’ new album release will play out

STATION 19

Photo : ABC screenshot

“My name is Matt, Mom. This is me. I’m sad for you. I’m sad that you don’t want to get to know me or the man that I’ll become. I’m sad that you’re going to miss out on loving me when I feel the most me.”

“But honey, I love you… I’m trying to save you. Honey, you’re a child. You don’t know what’s good for you.”

“I know that when you call me Mary, it makes me want to die. Do you think me wanting to die is good for me, Mom?”

Whether his mom (Romy Rosemont) wants to hear it or not, transgender youth Matt (Hollidae Livingston) speaks his truth

YOUNG SHELDON

Photo : CBS screenshot

“Wow. I might look too cool.”

Sheldon’s (Iain Armitage) first graphic tee is a total game-changer

THIS IS US

Photo : Courtesy of NBC

“You’re as tough as they come, Rebecca Pearson. And you, my dear, have earned a rest.”

Dr. K (Gerald McRaney) gives Rebecca one last (sniff!) pep talk

THE ELLEN DEGENERES SHOW

Photo : Warner Bros. TV Distribution (2)

“When we started the show, I couldn’t say ‘gay.’ I was not allowed to say ‘gay.’ I say it at home a lot — you know, ‘What are we having for our gay breakfast?’ or ‘Pass the gay salt,’ or ‘Has anyone seen the gay remote?’ — but we couldn’t say ‘gay.’ I couldn’t say ‘we’ because that would imply that I was with someone. Sure couldn’t say ‘wife,’ and that’s because it wasn’t legal for gay people to get married. Now I say ‘wife’ all the time.”

During her last show, DeGeneres acknowledges how much has changed since 2003 — and calls attention to wife (and front-row audience member) Portia de Rossi

STRANGER THINGS

Photo : Netflix screenshot

“I don’t want to talk about it. I’ll punch you so hard in your face that your teeth’ll fall back out.”

“Whoa. Too far.”

Steve (Joe Keery) instantly regrets the way he tells Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) to stop pointing out his lingering feelings for ex Nancy

STRANGER THINGS (Bonus Quote!)

Photo : Netflix screenshot

“You’ve grown.”

“You shrank.”

Reunited, Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and Hopper (David Harbour) compare the effects of adolescence vs. the Kamchatka diet

THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY

Photo : Netflix screenshot

“Who elected you, Vanya?”

“It’s, uh, Viktor.”

“Who’s Viktor?”

“I am. It’s who I’ve always been.”

Viktor Hargreeves (Elliot Page) introduces himself to his siblings for the first time

OBI-WAN KENOBI

Photo : Disney+ screenshot

“I am not your failure, Obi-Wan. You didn’t kill Anakin Skywalker — I did.”

Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen), reinforcing what Ben Kenobi tells Luke Skywalker in A New Hope — that Vader did, indeed, kill his father

THE BOYS

Photo : Prime Video screenshot

“How long have you been f—king it behind my back?”

“OK, it’s not an ‘it.’ It’s a ‘her.’ Get your pronouns right.”

Cassandra (Katy Breier) and The Deep (Chace Crawford) discuss his relationship with Ambrosius the octopus

TYLER PERRY'S SISTAS

Photo : BET screenshot

“Bitch, you’re f—king Black Panther and Eddie Murphy all rolled into one?!”

In case you couldn’t tell, Danni (Mignon) is pretty excited about Sabrina dating an African prince

THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS

Photo : Bravo screenshot

“2020 was bad for a lot of people, but I also think it was kind of like a spiritual awakening. This is going to sound crazy, but I made peace with my vagina.”

“Were you at war with your vagina?”

Not to discredit Sheree Zampino’s epiphany, but Dorit Kemsley poses a valid follow-up question

EVIL

Photo : Paramount+ screenshot

“Boop.”

During her hearing, Sister Andrea (Andrea Martin) subtly reminds Dr. Boggs that he knows firsthand how present demons can be in the world

THE ORVILLE

Photo : Hulu screenshot (2)

“I enjoy spending time with you. You are a male, and yet you possess many prominent female traits. Which I find appealing.”

“Oh.”

Topa (Imani Pullum) puts her crush on Gordon (Scott Grimes) into (awkward) words

BETTER CALL SAUL

Photo : AMC screenshot (inset: Everett Collection)

“Crazy? I’ll tell you what’s crazy: Fifty-year-old high school chemistry teacher comes into my office. The guy is so broke he can’t pay his own mortgage. One year later, he’s got a pile of cash as big as a Volkswagen. That’s crazy!”

Gee, to whom could Gene (Bob Odenkirk) be referring…?

WESTWORLD

Photo : Courtesy of HBO

“Chair!”

Dolores-Hale (Tessa Thompson), the “bored” god, summons herself a place to sit

WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS

Photo : FX screenshot

“Trust me: Gay is in. Gay is hot. I want some gay. Gay it’s gonna be.”

Laszlo (Matt Berry) thinks faking a relationship with Nandor is a sure-fire way to get Colin into private school

LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER

Photo : HBO screenshot

“We let the [monkeypox] vaccine sit unused on a shelf in our reserves like an expired Chobani — or a $90 million movie on HBO Max. By the way, hi there, new business daddy! Seems like you’re doing a really great job. I do get the vague sense that you’re burning down my network for the insurance money, but I’m sure that that’ll all pass.”

THE BACHELORETTE

Photo : ABC screenshot (2)

“Tino’s being a real baby back bitch.”

Ethan accidentally comes up with an alternate jingle for Chili’s while slamming his romantic rival

HARLEY QUINN

Photo : HBO Max screenshot

“I don’t trust clowns with secrets.”

“I am barely clown-themed anymore. I just think I look hot like this. I mean, check out how good these booty shorts make my ass look, right? [Off Bruce’s confused look] Never mind, you’re 8.”

Harley (voiced by Kaley Cuoco) tries to earn a young Bruce Wayne’s trust

ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO

Photo : The CW screenshot

“I think I might just take these as a reminder of my time in Roswell. … Fits like a glove!”

Seeing Allie (played by Shiri Appleby, aka the Liz of the original Roswell series) put on that alien headband was a full-circle moment we won’t soon forget

74TH PRIMETIME EMMY AWARDS

Photo : Kevin Winter/Getty Images

“When I was a little girl, all I wanted to see was me in the media: someone fat like me, Black like me, beautiful like me. If I could go back and tell little Lizzo something, I’d be like, ‘You’re going to see that person, but bitch, it’s going to have to be you.’”

THE GOOD FIGHT

Photo : Paramount+ screenshot

“Mother f—ker. Oh, I’m sorry, you didn’t hear that? Mother f—ker. F—k you and your moronic defund the police bulls—t. Why? Because you’re putting Trump back into the White House, you stupid f—kin’ tai-t lick. You never heard me swear before? Well, aren’t you in for a treat.”

After six seasons of watching his mouth on CBS’ The Good Wife, legendarily blunt political strategist Eli Gold (Alan Cumming) wastes no time taking his pent-up potty mouth for a spin in the Paramount+ spinoff

BLOOD & TREASURE

Photo : Paramount+ screenshot (2)

“So we are saying ‘Jeng-his’ now.”

“She does.”

“It’s the right way!”

Chuck (Mark Gagliardi) points out the Season 2 characters’ different pronunciations of Genghis Khan’s name

BIG BROTHER

Best TV Quotes

Photo : Courtesy of CBS

“Monte may have more blood on his hands than me, but as someone who has sat on this eviction block six times on eviction night, I have bled out the most in this game. But I have bandaged myself together every single time and gotten up and continued to fight, because like so many other women in the world, that is what we have to do to get to the end… I have overcome so much in this game, and I have come to understand that I am not a shield, I am a sword. I am not a victim, I am a victor… Jury members, I am challenging you to make the hard decision and change the course of this game. Choose progress for the course of this game. I can be the winner of this season, and I promise you will not do it in vain if you choose me tonight.”

Taylor clinches the game-winning vote with her epic final plea to the jurors

CHICAGO P.D.

Best TV Quotes

Photo : NBC screenshot

“You’re the love of my life, and if I’m yours, then you’ll know that you have to let me go.”

Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer), breaking our hearts in his tearful goodbye to wife Upton

SHE-HULK: ATTORNEY AT LAW

Photo : Disney+ screenshot

“That’s what Hulks do. We smash things. Bruce smashes buildings, I smash fourth walls and bad endings… and sometimes Matt Murdockkkk.”

Jen (Tatiana Maslany) reminds K.E.V.I.N. of her particular set of skills

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER

Photo : Prime Video screenshot

“When in doubt, Elanor Brandyfoot, always follow your nose.”

The Stranger (Daniel Weyman), giving off serious Gandalf vibes while leading the way for his new adventure with Nori

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON

Photo : HBO screenshot

“He can keep his tongue.”

Before King Viserys can cut out Vaemond’s tongue for publicly questioning Rhaenyra’s sons’ parentage, Daemon (Matt Smith) slices the accuser’s skull in two — but leaves the offending appendage attached

THE HANDMAID'S TALE

Photo : Hulu screenshot

“Hi, June.”

“Hi, Serena.”

“You got a diaper?”

Serena (Yvonne Strahovski) and June (Elisabeth Moss) are in the same boat — er, train — at the end of the Season 5 finale

CHUCKY

Photo : Syfy screenshot

“You think I’m scared to go to hell? F—k that. I’m from Jersey… Jersey!”

Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif) doesn’t have much love for his home state, it seems

ANDOR

Photo : Disney+ screenshot

“I d-d-don’t want to be alone. I want M-M-Maarva.”

B2EMO (voiced by Dave Chapman) isn’t ready to mourn

CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION

Photo : Paramount+ screenshot

“You’ve never pulled your gun in the line of duty, have you? Never faced down a psychopath…. You’re a hedge fund manager with a badge.”

Prentiss (Paget Brewster) calls ’em — in this case, FBI Deputy Director Bailey — as she sees ’em

TITANS

Photo : HBO Max screenshot

“This is insane.”

“Compared to what? Two hours ago I was in [Conner’s] stomach trying to kill a ghost snake.”

“And two hours before that we were fighting zombies.”

“And I kissed Bernard.”

Tim (Jay Lycurgo) experienced a different kind of pre-fall finale action

YELLOWSTONE

Photo : Paramount Network screenshot

“How ya feeling?”

“Like I got hit by a truck. How about you?”

“Like I got hit by a Prius.”

Beth (Kelly Reilly) offers Summer (Piper Perabo) faint praise the morning after their brawl

THE WHITE LOTUS

Best TV Quotes

Photo : HBO screenshot

“These gays! They’re trying to murder me!”

Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) has an unintentionally hilarious lightbulb moment about the men with whom she’s been spending her Sicilian vacation