#also side note that if anyone is of the opinion cass is the most like bruce of bruce's children then that's totally valid

[roobylavender]

i’m not sure if you’ve talked about it before but i’m soso curious about your opinions on how the interactions/relationship between leslie & post-res jason would go/be

i like to think it wouldn't be all that different from her interactions with bruce actually because i tend to be of the opinion that jason is the most like bruce of bruce's children. the quintessential "illogical" reaction to, reclamation of, and extrapolation of trauma; the slow suicide of the civilian self; the overwhelming despair over personal inadequacy in the face of crime; the consistent urge to project onto others. it's a lot. and obv jason is a somewhat more.. volatile character than bruce once he comes back from the dead. but i think most people would agree that had the red hood characterization not gone so haywire after under the hood that that volatility would mostly be an internalized thing. jason is a delusional person to an extent but he's not incapable of human interaction or parlance. whatever he does as the red hood—while powered by a warped sense of self and the world; while indicative of several social wrongs; while externally easy to perceive as an "extreme" reaction rather than as the natural conclusion to vigilantism in and of itself—is for the most part practical. he's not a loose cannon by any means. he can be talked to and reasoned with. bruce simply happens to be the worst person to even attempt to do that because he does not have the answers that jason, let alone he himself, would want. bruce is a very emotionally confused person and he's at a stage in his life by this point where all he knows how to do is say sorry. he's no longer the guy everyone goes to for solutions. people have started to lose faith in him as to that and he himself has started to lose faith in his own ability to do so. this is honestly where my strongest criticism of bruce would lay. he's not someone unaware of his various issues and transgressions. he thinks about them all the time. but he doesn't do much to solve those issues and transgressions. instead what he has a tendency to do is isolate and wallow and beat himself up meanwhile the people upset with him are stood in a corner like well.. ok.. what the fuck are we supposed to do with that.. and that is ultimately helpful to no one lol!

which brings me back to leslie. i've never been a fan of the later, rare iterations of leslie that take her into the realm of judge, jury, and executioner. although i haven't read war games myself (nor do i ever intend to) i can't ever imagine that leslie's means of expressing her aversion to and exasperation with bruce's lifestyle would culminate in her deliberately facilitating a child's death—or faking that child's death. whichever version of canon you want to go with is fine for the sake of argument—to teach bruce a lesson. for every horrible thing about the world or gotham or bruce specifically that leslie is privy to she nonetheless keeps faith in the latter's desire to do good. she doesn't agree with his methods nor lifestyle by a long mile but she's not loath to the batman in a way that would preclude her from recognizing bruce wants to do better and ultimately reach a point at which vigilantism is no longer the answer. leslie is the harsh and necessary critic of vigilantism, and purportedly a cynic with respect to the rest of the world, but in practice she is a far less unforgiving person than she portrays herself to be and her commitment to remaining in crime alley is a testament to that. it would probably take a good word (from talia, imo!) and some mulling over for her to come around to the idea of taking jason under her wing. but i don't think it would be something for her to put her foot down over. at best she would hold him to a higher standard of future behavior because she wants to know that when he says he is going to get better he means it. the stray lighthearted threat would be lobbed at him here and there but she wouldn't really mean the words. there would be the external impression of cut and dry dialogue between a begrudged employer and the random kid she decides to give a job because she knows he would end up a mess otherwise. but there would be a latent affection there too (if not immediately ascertainable by jason because he would still be too burrowed in his anger and grief and confusion to recognize it) because she knew him when he was a child and she suspects the part of him that existed before death is still hidden somewhere for people like her to find

[kald-dal-write]

out of the districts 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 11 what do you think the order is for who wanted to help rebel first or who wanted to the rebel the most, also the least willing rebels, because like I feel like maybe 1 person from a district didn’t want to rebel but their partner convinced them to, or the other way around. there was a fanfic where D5 F wanted to help the rebellion but her district partner didn’t want to and she respected that so she didn’t help, anyways your opinion on that?

So definitley have plans to get into that in TOFS, especially from D6’s side. So don’t think I want to go fully into this because it’s going to spoil future events of the fic :)

Can imagine the D8/D11 victors were some of the first involved in the plan though, seeing how rebelious those Districts are in the book. Definitley think that both of the District partners had to be fully in on the plan. But yeah going to touch on the whole rebellion soon in TOFS, so look forwards to that :)

Side note I remember I saw a post that questioned if the M.Morphling was even involved in the plan at all and in the context of my fic I just imagine this would have happened if that was the case

Plutarch/Haymitch: Okay you got it, that’s the plan, make sure you can help the rebellion in anyway you can and don’t tell anyone

Maureen: Yes got it perfectly :)

*Later*

Maureen: OMG CASS YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS!!!

[thedawningofthehour]

I am. SO conflicted.

The day to day life that you write between Donnie, Cass, Draxum, Tigerclaw, Huggin, and Munnin is like. Literally how I imagine my dream life.

The chess. The political debates. The regular Library trips. The problems they solve. The idea of solving climate change and creating solutions (using the term loosely) to Covid. The studying. Just how they're constantly working to fix things but it's also something they love doing. I love it all.

But. But but but. Draxum is evil. But I love his relationship with Donnie. Even if it's fake (which I don't know if it is). It makes me so happy to read.

And Draxum's cause in general! From what we get in the show, I immediately think he's going about it all wrong, but the way you wrote it? I don't know what to think anymore. I'm finding myself rooting for Draxum, oddly enough.

And I'm just wondering if Donnie actually likes his life right now. Cause sure. Maybe Draxum lied to get to this point, but what if Donnie is more happy now? Even after he remembers (or doesn't, who knows), what if he still understands Draxum and cares about his cause?

I genuinely don't know if it's a bad thing that this is all it took for me to (almost) side with Draxum, because I've seen other people who aren't even fazed. If I missed something, or if anyone wants to contribute their opinions and reasoning, I would be grateful. As briefly mentioned above, I love conversations like this.

Small note: The last chapter did slightly change my opinions on Draxum, but it's something that I could overlook in a long-term view. Assuming it doesn't get worse.

I felt like it was kind of important to give Draxum's cause a reasonable justification. Because irl, it's often framed that way. Genocide often happens after some widespread hardship, with a dedicated propaganda campaign to outline the future victims as being at fault. Germany fell into a depression after WW1, and the Nazis rose to power because they told Christian Germans that there was a way out, a way to punish the people responsible, which made them eager to start blaming Jewish people. Then they slowly kept pushing things further until they got to the death camps.

Humans as a whole are not the cause of climate change or anything else Draxum thinks he's saving the world from, at least not anymore than the Yokai would be if the positions were flipped. It's just a few humans in particular who are shit. And it's just that our society is set up to reward the most selfish among us, and those guys end up making the decisions for everyone else.

But at the same time I feel like I'm giving the subject too much nuance. Because I see a lot of brewing racial tensions and calls for violence right now that are not being disguised in the slightest. I see people openly calling for mass killings because women won't sleep with them, calls for civil war because 'it would be fun.' And I know there's a lot of what I was just talking about, far-right indoctrination and painting anyone not a red-voting, straight white Christian as an enemy coming to kill your kids and kick you out of your house, but it's just so...vitriolic. These people hate others because they want to hate people, it's their only source of happiness because they're so deeply miserable with themselves. They want to hurt others because it makes them feel powerful. And I just wonder if that's all its ever been. No mind tricks, no propaganda, just...wanting to stand on top of others.

[wenellyb]

Is Sambucky Canon or Not?

TL;DR: Yes, it is

I've seen some people saying that they only see friendship between Sam and Bucky, and I can understand that. Because depending on your education, the environment you grew up and the kind of media you’re usually exposed to, you will have a different interpretation of different situations, in real life or in TV. Just let me insert a short story before I dive into the Sambucky topic:

My best friend's uncle is in his fifties and has been living with his roommate (a man) for more than 10 years. They lived together, went on holidays together but officially were just roommates. My best friend wondered if they were a couple, but never talked about it to her parents because it wasn't her business. Two years ago, they decided to come out and get married. My best friend's parents and his parents were genuinely surprised, they were not expecting that, at all, not even a little bit. Let me tell you that it didn’t even cross their mind that it was a possibility, at all. For them, it had always just been two men who had decided to live together because they were single. And preferred to have a roommate rather than living alone.

What I want to say with this story is that people will see what they want to see, or what they're used to see, or what they were raised to see. It’s human.

What I mean is that you will have different perception of a same event, depending on your own circumstances. And I think the writers of TFATWS were counting on that a little bit when it came to Sam and Bucky’s relationship. They obviously didn't want to make some big announcement or big love declaration.

And yes, of course, I have my own circumstances as well, influencing the way I see things. I have shipped SamBucky since Civil War, when they were supposedly enemies. I never expected anything to happen between them on screen. But then they got a show together and I was so so happy about it but I didn't expect anything other than friendship between them.

I was perfectly fine with that because a show was already more than enough: my man Sam Wilson was becoming Captain America, the show was great, the characters were great, their interactions were great, and this wasn't a love story anyway but a superhero show. I thought that here was no way the showrunners would ever go there. I changed my mind after episode 5. I tried to stay objective, but it was clear to me that the writers were hinting at a relationship that went beyond friendship between Sam and Bucky. In some of my previous posts, I explained that there are some scenes and writing choices that make absolutely no sense if you read them as a scene between two friends. I can link them if anyone’s interested.

Side note: I would like to know if one person on this website can tell me what was up with Bucky's behavior with Torres (in episode 5)? What other explanation is there, if not jealousy? It's a scene they chose to keep, so it was probably written this way, there must be a reason. Please I’m begging someone explain it to me. I'm genuinely asking, because otherwise that scene alone is canon Sambucky.

After episode 5, I was convinced they would make Sambucky canon, one way or the other and I started speculating about the ways they could do it. What I said was that if they did make Sambucky canon, they would do it in a very subtle way, in order not to make it too obvious because that’s generally how Marvel movies deal with love stories. And also because they wouldn’t want to scare away their homophobic audience ( I guess Disney needs their money...who knows)

So here are the scenes of how I imagined SamBucky becoming canon and the comparison with reality:

1.

- What I thought we could get : AJ and Cass calling Bucky "Uncle Bucky" - What we got: AJ and Cass running up to Bucky and playing with him. This point is interesting because it’s also related to the point I made about how the environment you grew up in influences your perception of things. I grew up in a big family and I know that, at least in my family, kids don't run up to an adult like that just because it's their uncle’s friend or just because he's nice... There's a real bond there. They haven't seen Bucky just that one time when he slept on the couch. They're obviously close. But some people might just see this as kids being kids. Also, if you watch at how the kids were fake punching him, they were really coordinated with Bucky. They have done this plenty of times. 2.

What I thought we could see: A non-explicit scene where we were supposed to draw our own conclusions. I thought they could show us Bucky staying over for the night, and the last scene would be an empty couch, meaning we would have to understand that Bucky slept in Sam's room this time.

-What we got: Bucky arriving in Sam's car ( A few people on Tumblr pointed out that it was the car Sam was driving in episode 1) So here again we have a scene that a lot of people will not notice. But they still chose to put it there. 3.

What I thought could happen: Sam asking Bucky to stay in Delacroix

What we got: Bucky wrapping things up in New York, as if he was leaving the city for good and coming to Sam's party as if he already knew everyone there. You can read my take on this here. 4. What I thought could happen: The scene in the trailer where we see them looking in the same direction and then we get a shot from very far away where they're holding hands but it’s not so obvious because they are being filmed from a disctance. -What we got: The scene in trailer and then a blurry shot of Sam holding Bucky and then fondling with his neck to find the best spot to rest his hand on. So none of the scenes I was imagining happened exactly like I had imagined, but it felt like all of them happened but in a different versions, which is still crazy to me. If it had been only one scene. I could probably understand the people who see them as just friends. Actually, I still do understand the people who see them as just friends, because everyone has their own interpretation. What I am saying is that they are NOT being portrayed as just friends. There are TOO many scenes in the 6 episodes for it to be a coincidence. One or 2 would be ok but friendship doesn’t explain everything:

The therapy scene (not the therapy scene itself since it was improvised) but the therapist saying she had heard a lot about Sam and wanting them to do a couples’ therapy

Bucky following Sam no matter what

Sam saying ok as soon as Bucky says "do it for me"

Sam asking "what about Bucky?"

Bucky starting to touch Sam whenever he has the chance

Bucky being the one to bringing the suit for Sam

The boat repairing montage

Bucky wanting to stay at Sam's place, when a hotel room would have been more comfortable than a couch

The second day of boat repair in closed quarters with an intense staring scene.

And there are so many other scenes, soft touches, looks,...

These writing choices are not a coincidence, it’s not involuntary, and it’s not fan service ( Fan service is the roll in the flower field scene, or the therapy session). This is them telling a story.

Let’s not even talk about the scenes in Endgame:

Sam comforting bucky at Tony’s funeral

Sam looking up to Bucky for approval before accepting the shield from Steve.

So yes, Sam and Bucky are canon in the sense that Peter and Gamora were canon in the first movie, or Wanda and Vision were canon in Captain Civil War. Meaning that there was no big moment, kiss or anything, but the show is consistently throwing elements clearly showing Sam and Bucky as a romantic item and hinting at a lot more than friendship between them.

It is normal that some people have a different opinion. Because it is extremely rare, in big productions like this to have two male leads with romantic feelings towards each other, so not a lot people who see it will interpret it as such (I don't think it ever happened). You’ll see what you’re used to seeing.

I guess it also depends on what you expect from a love story. For me, the storyline between the characters, their scenes, their chemistry, the way their feelings towards each other are described, are the most important. The kiss scene is just there as a bonus, but I don't need it when the love story is told perfectly. If you’re used to seeing love stories with many kissing scenes, that’s what you will be expecting to see in most love stories.

If you're only used to seeing male friendships in superhero or action movies. The 1000th time you see men interacting in that type of movie or show, you are more likely to assume it is a friendship and nothing more, no matter how many codes and tropes usually associated with romantic movies, the writers and show makers are using.

Add to that the conviction that Disney would never approve Sambucky in a million years, and there you go, I can understand the people who see only friendship.

But, just think about it, if we had the same show, same scenes, same dialogues, but minus the action scenes and the project was being marketed as an Indie movie, would you think they were just friends or a blossoming couple?

If you read Sambucky’s relationship like a friendship: some scenes don't make sense. If you read it like a developing romantic relationship: it all makes sense. "When you hear hoofs, think horse, not zebra" If a writer or a film director chooses a last scene with a romantic setting and the two leads are staring at a sunset, smiling repeatedly at each other and then walking away together with one of them touching the other's neck, with a love song in the background, maybe friendship isn't the first thought they had in mind.

Some people may say “I see them as just friends” and other people may say “ I see them as lovers” and both are fine, because people have different perceptions, and that’s ok.

What I am saying is this post is that the show and the writers are portraying them as more than just friends, they’re portraying them as two characters who are romantically involved.

Perceive what you want but that’s how they are being presented in the show.

Bucky’s therapist said that the exercise she gave them was for couples who want to figure out what kind of life they want to build together. Then, the show ends with Sam and Bucky, staring at a sunset together, looking in the same direction.

“Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction. “  - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

What else do you need???

This show had more romance than half of the Marvel projects out there. Not every love story needs a kiss (for now...)

We'll see in their next projects which direction the writers want to go with this. But since it was said that the writer on the movie is the same as the writer from episode 5, there's no doubt in my mind that we'll keep seeing this dynamic. I don't think they would have made the same choices if this had been a movie. But I won't complain that we got this. I hope they keep this going even if it stays subtle like in the show. Just hope they will add one explicit scene where one of the characters acknowledges their relationship. But even if we only ever get this show, it’s already a great love story. Let me know what you guys think and sorry for the typos and grammar mistakes, I was tired when I wrote the last part. I hope it still makes sense!

If you think they're only being portrayed as friends let me know why! I would also like to know about the way you see this!

[ragingbookdragon]

Even Though We May Be Hopeless Hearts Just Passing Through, I Was Made For Loving You PT. 1

Batsis x Kyle Rayner

Word Count: 2.1K Warnings: Explicit Language

Author's Note: I realize the other story didn't follow the whole, dating the brother's best friend trope, so I decided to remedy it. And what do you get when you cross a hopeless romantic with someone who's new to love? Perfection. That's what. Enjoy! -Thorne

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

Saturday mornings, in Dick’s opinion, were meant for sleeping in and quite possibly going to IHOP when everyone finally crawled out of bed at ten. They were not meant for being shoved in the side by a little brother.

“Golden-boy,” a voice grouched from beneath the bedside. “Your phone’s been going off for an hour. Either put it on silent or answer the goddamn thing.”

Dick let out a tired ‘pfft’, rolling onto his stomach, face buried in the side of the bed as he looked down to the floor. “Annoyed much, Little-wing?”

“I am going to shove that phone so far up your—”

Reaching over, Dick put the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

Where are you?

“Still in bed,” he responded, sentence ending in a groan as he stretched. “Why?”

You were supposed to be on the flight back to Gotham two hours ago.

Dick’s eyes went wide, and he sat up, gaping at the bedside clock. “It’s today.”

It is today. I can’t believe you forgot it was today.

“Oh my God, it’s today and we missed our flight.” He stumbled out of the bed, barely registering the shout from Jason as his foot landed in his brother’s stomach. “Jason, get up! It’s today!’

“What’s today?” his little brother griped, rubbing his abdomen.

“(Y/N)’s coming back!”

Jason’s eyes went wide, and he scrambled to his feet, hurriedly finding his bag to change out of his nightclothes. “Christ, I can’t believe we forgot that (Y/N) was coming home today!” he looked at Dick. “This is your fault.”

“My fault?” Dick yelped. “How is this my fault!”

He scowled. “Big brother wanted everyone to be with a sibling for the night, so they’d be together and be punctual but you and I both know neither of us have any concept of time.” His scowl grew. “I knew I should’ve bunked with Cass. She’s on time no matter what happens.”

Dick threw Jason’s sweatshirt at him. “Dress now, bitch later.” He put the phone back to his ear. “We missed our flight, but we can drive there.”

Your car’s in the shop.

“Shit,” he hissed, spinning in a circle to help his brain circuit enough to think of something new. “Uh-uh-uh—”

“Kyle!” Jason shouted, pointing at him. “Kyle’s like thirty minutes away from Manhattan! We’ll go to him for a ride!”

Dick grinned. “We’ll find Kyle.”

You sure Kyle’s at home?

“Pfft, Kyle’s always home on the weekends. He’s lazy.”

Just get here. (Y/N)’s plane is going to land in less than four hours.

“We’ll be there,” he said. “Is Diana coming too?”

Of course. She is (Y/N)’s mother.

“Nice. Alright, see you in Gotham, Bruce.”

Love you boys. And be careful. I’ve already heard that Cass, Tim, and Steph got into a fender-bender with Damian and Duke.

Dick blinked. “They’re…they’re legitimately driving separate cars? How’d they hit each other?”

Don’t ask.

The line went dead, and Dick looked at his brother. “Ready?”

Jason nodded. “Already got an Uber to Kyle’s place.”

“We could always just Uber to Gotham?” he offered, and Jason recoiled with a shocked look.

“And pay a ridiculous amount of money instead of just paying Kyle’s gas? Fuck no, big brother.” He shoved his wallet and keys into his pockets. “C’mon!” he chirped, rather excitedly. “Our baby sister’s coming home!”

***

When he swung the door open to yell at whoever was pounding on it, he wasn’t expecting to see two of his best friends grinning like idiots. “Wha—”

He’d barely gotten a word out when Jason shoved a bag of fast food in his hands. “Get dressed. You’ve gotta drive us to Gotham City.”

Kyle blinked, glancing down at the bag before looking at Dick. “Why?”

“Our sister’s coming home, and we overslept and missed out flight outta here.”

“And you came to me…why?” he asked.

“Because you have the functioning car.” Jason retorted, antsy on his feet. “C’mon Kyle. We have to hurry! (Y/N)’s coming home!”

Figuring it was better to agree than to argue, Kyle relented, handing back the bag of food before he disappeared into his apartment, reappearing moments later, dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans, a graphic tee, and his usual slim casual jacket. He took the bag back and started digging around in it.

“Who’s (Y/N)?” he inquired, biting into a breakfast burrito as he locked his front door behind him.

“Our baby sister.” Jason said.

“I thought Cass was your baby sister?”

Dick nodded, getting out his own breakfast from the bag. “She is. But (Y/N)’s like…the OG baby sister.”

Kyle blinked, glancing over at him as he pushed the elevator button. “That makes no sense.”

“He means that (Y/N) was around before Cass was.”

“And she isn’t with you guys why?”

“She’s been on Themyscira for the last few years training with her grandmother and the other Amazons.” Jason answered as if it was the most normal thing in the world, stepping onto the elevator.

Kyle merely stared at the two brothers who were looking back at him; he felt like he’d been punched in the stomach. “Wait, your sister’s an Amazon?”

“Yep.”

“Who’s her mom?” he asked, stepping between them.

“Wonder Woman.” Dick said.

Strike two. “Who’s her dad?”

“Batman.” Jason responded.

Believe it or not, Kyle went three for three punches to the gut. “Bruce and Diana had a kid together?”

“Yeah.” Dick murmured. “I think it’s also why B’s so insistent against inter-team-relations.” He nudged Jason behind Kyle. “First time he attempts dating a coworker he ends up with a baby.”

Jason snorted. “And all those lessons about, ‘Children, whatever you do, don’t date anyone on your team. It’ll only lead to babies and limited visitation’.” He laughed again, then he frowned. “I don’t think any of us have followed that lesson.”

Dick opened his mouth to make an excuse but all that came out was a pitiful, deflate of air followed by, “That’s actually a good point.”

The elevator dinged and they watched the doors open before walking out towards the parking garage. They climbed into Kyle’s car, Jason in the front because his legs were longer than Dick’s, and Dick was a contortionist anyways so if anyone deserved to have their knees in their chest, it was him.

Halfway through the drive Kyle asked, “You guys are paying for my gas, aren’t you?”

All he received was unsure responses and he merely sighed.

***

He figured he should’ve just dropped Jason and Dick off at the airport in Gotham and drove home, but he couldn’t help but want to see just what the daughter of Wonder Woman and Batman looked like. He imagined a little girl dressed in a Batman suit three sizes too big and wielding a sword and a lasso way too heavy for her. It made him smile, the way that the two brothers gushed about (Y/N). From their praise, she was their world. Kyle had to see her though, because nothing was going to satiate that curiosity of seeing the big Batman’s daughter.

He watched Dick and Jason crane their necks like birds as they looked around. And honestly, the family shouldn’t have been that hard to find considering that every time Kyle was around the entirety of the Batfamily, they were like psychos on steroids—he very much so understood why the entirety of Gotham’s villains became flighty when every member of the Batfamily was out patrolling.

Kyle wasn’t expecting a voice to crack over the airport, loud and bubbly. “Brothers!”

All three of them stopped, even him who wasn’t even a sibling, looking over towards the call and Kyle’s jaw dropped as a young woman sprinted over to Dick and Jason, slamming into them with the weight of a train. The three of them collapsed into a pile on the floor, but they were laughing so Kyle assumed the siblings were alright.

“Princess!”

“Baby girl!”

“Oh, I am so glad to see you both!” she exclaimed. “I have waited so long to come home!” she was on her feet in moments, pulling them to theirs as if they weighed nothing. And Kyle knew Jason weighed a lot—he’d been crushed under his best friend before in fights.

Suddenly, she stopped and looked over at Kyle who immediately felt his heart lurch under her sharp gaze. “Who is this you have brought?”

Jason gestured to him. “(Y/N) this is Kyle. He’s a friend of Dick and mine. Kyle, this is our little sister, (Y/N).”

She huffed laugh. “I am not little, Jason. I am twenty-one.” Reaching out, she immediately pulled Kyle in for a hug, squeezing him tightly. “It is good to meet you, Kyle.”

“You too,” he murmured, feeling his cheeks warm as she pulled away and placed her hands on his shoulders.

“Any friend of my brothers is a friend of mine.” (Y/N) smiled. “Are you a superhero as well?”

He couldn’t help but toss a quick glance towards Jason who nodded. “Uh, yeah. I’m a Green Lantern.”

(Y/N)’s eyes widened in wonder, and she let go of his shoulders in favor of grabbing at his hands until she found his ring. She stared at it, murmuring quiet, ‘ooo’s and ah’s’. “That is simply amazing!” she chirped, looking at him, and then she silently gasped, raising his hand near his eyes. “Oh…your eyes are almost the same color as your ring.”

Her smile made Kyle’s heart beat a little faster as she expressed, “They are beautiful.”

They gazed at each other, too captivated in the moment to understand that the family had gathered around them by then. Someone’s hand curled around (Y/N)’s wrist and she looked over seeing Dick tugging her hand away.

“C’mon Princess, let’s go get your things on the belt.”

She smiled and followed, giving a small wave to Kyle, who returned hers shakily whilst grinning like a dope.

Someone elbowed him in the ribs, and he gasped, holding his side as Jason muttered, “Don’t ever stare at my sister like that again.”

Kyle blinked, glancing at him. “What’re you talking about?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about, you goddamn skirt-chaser.”

“I didn’t do anything!” Kyle spluttered.

“You’re thinking about it.” Jason warned, pointing a finger in his face. “Make a move on (Y/N) and I’ll kill you with your own ring.” Kyle recoiled just as she and Dick were coming back, both holding a suitcase.

“Father!” she called, glancing at Bruce. “Dick and I have retrieved my luggage.”

He smiled at her. “Let’s go put it in the SUV then.” He paused, looking over the large group. He and Diana had ridden together, and since his children had fender-benders, they’d picked up Cass, Tim, Stephanie, Duke, and Damian; there wasn’t room for (Y/N) too.

“Father? Is something the matter?” (Y/N) was staring at him with concern.

“There’s not enough room in the SUV for you too. Maybe we—”

“There’s room in my car for (Y/N)!” Kyle blurted out, smiling nervously at Bruce. “I can follow behind you.”

Before anyone could screech ‘NO!’, mainly Dick and Jason, (Y/N) lit up like the morning sun. “Oh, that is a wonderful idea!” she grabbed onto Diana’s arm. “We should all stop for ice-cream though! Mother, what do you say?”

She smiled at her and leaned over, kissing her head. “I say that sounds like a fantastic idea, daughter.”

Kyle grinned and held out his arm for (Y/N), her giggling as she took it. “You know, I don’t live in Gotham, (Y/N), but I do know a good gelato store around the area.”

“What is gelato?” she asked, and he groaned.

“Oh, I can’t believe you don’t know what that is.” He started off, pilling her along, leaving everyone behind. “Don’t worry, I’ll show you.”

Jason’s face pinched and he looked over at Bruce. “Can I break the no-kill rule just once?”

Bruce blinked, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched his daughter laughing along with Kyle, both looking like newlyweds already. “Believe it or not, I’m strongly considering it.”

“Bruce.” Diana admonished. “Let (Y/N) and Kyle become friends. You know she doesn’t have many outside this family here.”

Dick growled. “Except Kyle doesn’t want to be friends with (Y/N), Diana. He wants to be her boyfriend.”

“They just met though?”

“Yeah, and Kyle’s a propose on week two type of man,” Jason griped. “Jesus Christ, this is going to be a disaster.”

“I don’t know about you guys, but (Y/N) and Kyle said gelato and you guys are just standing here.” Tim said. “Can we go now?”

[timdrake-yumm]

Idk why anyone would pick Jason to be Stray (okay no, that’s a lie- he has the whole former thief and street kid thing going on, I get it), he has the completely wrong body type for it. Not to mention the fact that the whole reason he became Robin was because he got caught. Jason, as smart as he is, is more of an act first, think later type of guy, unless he wants to be dramatic and vengeful (see: Red Hood). He should stick to being a Crime Lord, it suits him.

The people with the best body types for Stray (in my opinion) are Dick Grayson, Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Wayne, and Tim Drake.

Now, Dick Grayson would make a wonderful Stray, if he weren’t such a show-off. He was born to be in the spotlight (literally, as he was born to famous circus performers). Is he capable of being stealthy and discrete? Absolutely! Is he happy being stealthy and discrete? Not really. It’d be better to let him be somewhere where he can shine and be a spectacle.

Stephanie Brown also has the whole “true Gotham blood” thing going for her, like Jason, but like Dick, I think she’s too loud. She’s not loud in the same way Dick is, but she’s loud nonetheless. I think her and Selina would get along great, but they wouldn’t work well as partners (side note- does anyone else think that Stephanie and Pru would make great friends?). If you took away the whole mind-games thing, I actually think her and Riddler run a similar vibe. Like, all Riddler really wants is someone to challenge him intellectually, right? He just wants Batman to solve his riddles! I think Steph would be similar if she were a rogue. Sure, she’d do the whole revenge thing with her dad, but after that, I think it would just be endless, harmless pranks on Batman.

Cass definitely has both the body type and skill to be Stray. She’d make a great Stray. She has neither the need nor desire to be in the spotlight, and she could go the whole Robin Hood route of stealing from the rich to give to the poor if she felt the need to redeem herself from her past actions under her sperm-donors influence (which she shouldn’t feel guilty for, in my opinion). The only reason I think it wouldn’t work out for her is because I honestly think she’d get bored. Cass is a fighter, not a thief, and while she’d make a very good thief, it simply wouldn’t satisfy her. (For that matter, I think Jason is the same way. Yes he was a thief, but that was really more out of necessity than actually enjoyment, which is why I don’t think he’d enjoy being Stray either). Cass needs to feel the flesh break beneath her fists, so to speak. (I also don’t think the Robin Hood shtick would satisfy her guilt either). Out of all of them, I think Cass is the one most likely to have eventually joined the Mission (and its rules) on her own, whether or not Batman was part of it. Not because she views killing in and of itself as bad, but because she’s probably sick of doing it but still wants to help people. It’s why Cass would be the best person to take over the mantle after Bruce.

Finally, Timothy Jackson Drake. I can see why some people might not think he would quite fit the mold of Selina’s apprentice. He’s already a trust-fund kid, why on earth would he become a thief? I believe the answer is simple: because he’d have fun. Tim isn’t a fighter, he’s a detective and a planner. Will and can he fight? Yes, and he can do so very well (Come on, he got trained by Lady Shiva and managed to beat/keep up with Ra’s al Ghul, of course he can fight). However, Tim has always enjoyed the hunt more than the actual capture. Each heist would be a new puzzle to solve, each escape an addictive shot of adrenaline. He found out the identities of Batman and Robin when he was 9 years old, and only went to Bruce to get trained after he saw his suicide campaign and Dick refused to return to help. He was content with just watching. Furthermore, he naturally has the skills to do it. He managed to follow and take pictures of Batman without getting caught for years! He may not be from the streets of Gotham like Jason and Steph, but he knows them just as well. I think he’d take a Robin Hood route to it as well. He admires heroes too much to steal for the sake of stealing, so I think he’d make an effort to only steal from certain types of people and help those he can.

Anywho, those are just my thoughts on Stray, feel free to let me know what you think!

[offtorivendell]

I don't understand the theory that Az and Gwyn are mates - at all.

Do not screenshot this post.

Full disclosure: I also didn't read any of their interactions as definitively romantic, though I know others differ.

I got more of a potential sassy friendship vibe from them whereas, the moment I read Az and Elain together, I had a sneaky feeling her marriage to Graysen wouldn't eventuate - and the hints have only got stronger since - but that's not why.

I know that something "sparked" in Az's chest at the end of his bonus chapter, but that is easily explained by the Lightsinger theory, which, in my opinion, has possibly been set up since ACOWAR, when Feyre mentioned that the Cauldron "sang its siren song" (chapter 63, when it abducted Elain). SJM loves to insert little nuggets that we won't notice until much later. This may (or may not, of course) be one of them.

Please don't misinterpret this; I'm not saying Gwyn will be evil, I don't want her to be evil. "Good" or "nice" female characters shouldn't have to go bad in some way to be worthy of being written, and SJM has not yet done that in TOG or ACOTAR (I haven't read CC, so I could be wrong). This could be a power that Az helps Gwyn master for Good; these lessons could possibly open up an avenue for them to talk, and maybe have the necklace come up? That's if it even reached her. Side note - I also don't want either Elain or Gwyn to suffer through a love triangle. They both deserve better. It also may not have been Gwyn at all, but Clotho, who was there to meet Az.

But I'm getting off track.

The following quotes suggest, to me, that Azriel and Gwyn are not mates; having said that, this is obviously not a prerequisite for a romantic relationship, so ship whomever you like - books are meant to be fun. For all I believe the text most strongly supports Az and Elain, I have a soft spot for well-written E!ucien... and anyone with Tarquin. 🙂

This passage exists in ACOMAF, chapter 49:

Rhys roared in pain, arching against me. I felt the impact—felt blinding pain through the bond that ripped through my own mental shields, felt the shudder of the dozen places the arrows struck him as they shot from bows hidden beneath the forest canopy.

These passages exists in ACOSF, chapter 68:

Cassian stared toward the castle. “You think she’s alive?” The question haunted him with every breath these last few days. “You’d know if she’d died,” Azriel said, pausing his work and looking up at Cassian. He tapped his brother’s chest with a scarred hand. “Right here—you’d know, Cass.”

There was no arguing with the logic of it, even if Cassian’s heart screamed at him with every flap of his wings to fly back home.

And this passage exists in ACOSF, chapter 76:

Rhys crouched at her side, gripping her hand. Panic and terror and pain warred on his face.

It is canon that:

Feyre felt "blinding pain" through the bond, enough that her shields couldn't stop it, when Rhys was shot from the sky by the Hybern soldiers who were tracking his magic - before she knew they were mates.

Azriel himself reminds us of this bond-property, when he comforted Cassian that Nesta was still alive while competing in the Blood Rite. This is after solstice, when their bond locked into place. A whole other post could be dedicated to just why/how Azriel knows what it would feel like to no longer feel a bond. 

Az was urgent when speaking about Briallyn having kidnapped Eris; in contrast, he was logical with his reasoning to follow Eris to see what might happen, rather than planning to take him as soon as possible. Cassian, on the other hand, struggled from the moment he knew Nesta had been kidnapped.

Cassian also didn't notice Az experience any pain, when we know Gwyn was severely injured in chapter 68, to the point that Emerie had to carry her up the final climb on Ramiel. Given that SJM likes her hints, if they were mates, we could have seen Az stumble or trip, at the very least.

Rhys felt pain when Feyre was in labour with Nyx, though this could also be interpreted as emotional pain.

Am I missing something?

[kingreywrites]

to treasure that heart like I do

Prompt: “You almost died and you’re making jokes?” for @royygbivv

Fandom: Tangled

Word Count: 2237

Summary: Rapunzel bites her lips. Looks away. The silence is tense between them, and he wants to reach out but he's not sure if that'll help at all. He can't… He can't recall what led them here, with him wounded and her upset with him but- Whatever he did, he wants to make it right.

Note: i finally manage to write something and of course it’s self-indulgent new dream hurt/comfort.... i’m a happy one trick pony :’)

Read on ao3

His return to consciousness is slow. Like his mind is working through a thick fog, unable to focus on anything, to grasp anything except the emptiness. He's aimlessly floating for the longest time - or no time at all? And then, it starts. A dull ache emanating from the back of his neck; the feeling of something soft under his fingertips; the heaviness of his body, solid and real; and a caress, a hand trailing down his skin, murmurs he can't hear around him. Little by little, the fog smothering him lifts, and Eugene blinks his eyes open, met by the familiar sight of Hookfoot's hammock above him, and the welcome sight of that same hammock being empty. (He always worries that Hookfoot is gonna fall on him one of these days, with how much he wiggles at night.)

Eugene's vision is blurry. The room is too bright. He feels exhausted which, considering he literally just woke up, is a little worrying. And his head hurts a lot, though he draws blank as to why. 

Slowly, he tries to raise his hand to his head, his limb clumsy and uncooperative. Eugene tenses, and his pain spikes, making him groan under his breath and close his eyes again. His head is swimming, and suddenly, he remembers that weird feeling of floating, away and away and away. 

"Eugene?" 

A whisper, from the only voice he wants to hear right now. And a hand, small but holding his own without any trouble, slowly bringing it back down to his chest. 

"Sorry, you shouldn't touch your wound." 

"Hey Sunshine," he says quietly, breathing deeply to try and get his pain under control. 

After... a minute, or maybe ten, Eugene opens his eyes again, a smile on his face when he sees the bright blond hair and the very green eyes peering down at him. She's frowning. Belatedly, his mind catches up to her words, and this wound he shouldn't touch - how did he get hurt? 

Thinking is hard. His mind is still sluggish, and he's parched, which Rapunzel seems to guess since she gently helps him up to drink. The change in position is nauseating, but Eugene does his best to hide it, hating the worry clouding Rapunzel's eyes. She puts a glass of water to his lips, and though he tries to hold it himself, he's too aware of how his hand shakes, and how it would fall if she let go. 

"Thanks," he mumbles when she takes it away, too worn out to feel ashamed. It's okay; it's Rapunzel with him. He trusts her with everything. 

"How are you feeling?" she asks, strangely quiet through it all. 

He looks at her again - wishes he could read her expression perfectly. Beyond the expected concern, he thinks he sees anger in the way her mouth twitches, but Rapunzel is better at restraint than most people expect, and because he knows her, Eugene also knows that loving her doesn't always make it easier to guess what she's feeling. 

"Sore," he says finally, and it's the truth, though it should come after the various aches and pains he can feel in his bones. "My head hurts a bit," he adds reluctantly, when her expression doesn't change. 

Rapunzel bites her lips. Looks away. The silence is tense between them, and he wants to reach out but he's not sure if that'll help at all. He can't… He can't recall what led them here, with him wounded and her upset with him but- Whatever he did, he wants to make it right. 

"You should rest," she says, in a tone clearly implying this sentence to be a conclusion, even though they barely talked. 

Eugene's heart is beating loudly in his chest, and he grabs her hand when she moves to make him lie down again. She raises an eyebrow, and he honestly didn't think that far - he doesn't know what he wants to say, to ask, and he feels like he should at least apologise but he can't even be sure about what. Rapunzel looks as exhausted as he feels, her clothes wrinkled and her hair in more disarray than she usually allows. 

"Are you okay?" he asks, because even when he doesn't know what to say, or do, he always wants to be sure of that. 

Rapunzel laughs. He hadn't expected that. She laughs, puts her hand in front of her mouth and turns her head to the side, and laughs again, the shake of her shoulders resembling a sob. All of the sudden, she's crying, desperately muffling her tears as she hides from him, and there's no pain in the world that could prevent Eugene from straightening up - no dizziness that could keep him from leaning forward and touching her. She doesn't react, not to his touch, not to his scared and babbled reassurances that he's fine, she's fine, they're all okay, so please breathe Sunshine, for me-

She shudders. Heaves. Turns towards him finally, and hugs him, a force in her grip that she can't contain. He thought that he was going to hold her together, but it feels like she's doing that for him, holding him tight so he can never fall through her grasp again.

Fall… There's an echo of his name being yelled in his mind. Of an outstretched hand he couldn't take, and of falling and falling, the moment quick and eternal at the same time.

"Of course he asks me if I'm fine," Rapunzel bites out wetly, interrupting his thoughts. The third person is a bad omen, even if she's holding him in his arms. "Of course Eugene 'I've got a death wish' Fitzherbert asks me if I'm fine as if I'm the one who fell down a cliff and right onto her head!"

Her voice gets higher and higher as she talks, and Eugene winces, fragments of the story falling into place. He doesn't say sorry. He won't say sorry because he was worried about her. So he nods quietly, knowing she needs to say that.

"Is it too much to ask you to worry about yourself? Why do you- Why do you keep doing that!" she exclaims, frustration and fear choking her, head still on his shoulder (which he guesses wouldn't make the situation look as serious to anyone else - but he hears in her voice something scared and little that he isn't used to from her, and her holding him doesn't change that).

That. Why does he keep doing that. His memories are still muddled, difficult to navigate through, but he sees her smiling next to him. They're alone - a date, he remembers, she took him on a date that day - and they're having fun but… He's not sure about that part. He remembers being scared. Looking at Rapunzel from far away, and knowing he had to get to her. He was scared, and she was too when he pushed her; he remembers her expression, the shock and the realisation, his name on her lips as he felt the ground under him give and-

He fell. He pushed her - fell to save her?

Eugene doesn't say sorry there either. Because he's not. His head hurts, everything is blurry, but he'd sacrifice himself a hundred times over if it was to save her. She knows it, just like he does.

"I'm okay," he repeats softly, and she snorts.

"Do you even- Do you even know what I- fuck," she cries, gripping him tighter as he startles. Rapunzel doesn't swear. She doesn't like it, and prefers to steer away from it, which is endearing in his opinion, but makes the occasional swearing so much worse. Her voice is wrung out, hoarse, and the guilt he was keeping at bay slams into him full force, because she's miserable and it's his fault.

He cranes his head around to try to look at her, and it's his worst idea of the hour - he's not quick enough to swallow his own grunt, and suddenly Rapunzel is letting go of him, trying to get him back in bed. Her eyes are red, tears staining her pale cheeks, and he wonders how long she had waited for him to wake up before now. Had she slept? He thinks Cass would force her to leave his side, (and for all that they bicker he's grateful Rapunzel has someone that dedicated in her corner), but even she couldn't push Rapunzel to really sleep if she wasn't able to.

He doesn't allow himself to be laid down just yet, resisting the hand on his chest easily. She's being careful with him. Rapunzel can't meet his eyes, and as he's about to say… Anything, really, to try and make her feel better, when she whispers, voice heavy: "I thought you died."

She doesn't say again. He hears it anyway. The weight in his throat triples, and he holds her hand like an anchor, unsure as to which of them is lost in the storm.

"You- You fell," she stutters painfully, "and then you weren't moving. There was… a lot of blood, around your head. From where I was, I couldn't be sure- I thought- I thought-"

"I'm sorry," he says this time, without hesitation. He's not sorry for worrying about her, not sorry for saving her, but he's so deeply sorry for putting her through anything like that, for making her worry and cry and relive the tower and- He's sorry, and he repeats it again, because he feels like he's choking with remorse. "I'm so sorry Sunshine, I- I never wanted-"

"I know." Soft. Resigned. Loving, too, accepting his apology because she really did know that.

When she pushes him back on his bed this time, he lets her, and lies down again. His head is pounding, and he's tired, but- he feels like he should apologise again, and knows he shouldn't. He raises his hand to her cheek, and she holds it here, closing her eyes.

"Head injuries bleed a lot," she explains, voice quiet. "I- Cass said your wound didn't seem deep and that you were lucky."

"How did Cass get there?"

"I… may have carried you all the way to the caravan. While crying." She rubs at her nose uneasily, but there's a small smile on her lips he's so glad to see again. "It wasn't my proudest moment."

"Can't believe I wasn't conscious for this," he grins. "I like it when you carry me."

"It was very romantic," she says, playing along as she strokes his hair. "A princess has to rescue her dashing rogue from time to time."

He laughs at that, a speck of pride at her agreement that yes, he was indeed quite dashing. "You save me all the time, though."

"So do you," she answers. She's smiling, but it dims as her eyes fall on his bandage again, and her shoulders slump. He saves her, and puts his life in danger, and that's the problem here, isn't it?

He knows she's scared of losing him. He knows, and understands, because he's just as scared of losing her, just as afraid that what happened with Gothel will happen again. It's a terror that used to keep them up at night, that never truly left, and he can't- he can't imagine what she felt, when she saw him down there and thought he died. Silently, he vows to make it up to her, any way he can.

"It's all good, then," he says after a while. When she looks at him, a question in her eyes, he smiles, hesitant and honest. "You save me, and I save you, again and again, until we just keep saving each other. That way, no one has to get hurt."

She considers his words, and chuckles. "I guess that's true."

A beat. His eyes are heavy, and Eugene feels exhaustion drape over him gently, trying to drag him down to sleep again. There's something else he wants to say, though, so he resists as best as he can.

"Sunshine?" he whispers, and she hums quietly. "Next time… I'll try harder to not get hurt if I save you. I promise."

He sees how she bites back her usual protests. She doesn't answer with optimism, or anger - doesn't tell him that there will be no next time, that he should stop all together. Instead, she breathes in deeply, and says "Thank you". It's honest, and relieved, and Eugene knows she means it.

The moment passes, and Eugene knows, now, that they are okay again. As good as they can be.

"Can't promise I won't ever fall off a cliff again," he notes, words garbled when he yawns in the middle of his sentence.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, because - no matter how much time passes," he says, a wide smile on his face, "I will never stop falling for you."

She stills. He wiggles his eyebrows. Her mouth twitches, not in anger this time, but announcing the full body laughter that follows suit, Rapunzel hiding her head in her hands to try to contain it.

"That was terrible!" she announces loudly, though she's obviously still laughing in her hands. "You- You almost died and you're making jokes?"

"Well, was it funny?"

"No!" she exclaims, laughing. He'll take it.

This time, when he falls asleep, the last thing he sees is the brilliant smile on her face, and he knows she'll be there when he wakes up.

[leiawritesstories]

Too Early For This

Nessian Week, day 7: free day!

Had a random middle-of-the-night insomnia image of Drunk Cassian, Drunk Fenrys, and the IC and this is what the writer bug decided to put out. 

Warnings: Language, alcohol, implied sexy action. Enjoy!

1089 words

@nessianweek

~~~~

“You know, sweetheart, at one point or another, you really are going to have to admit you can’t focus on that boring-ass paper and come have a drink or three,” crooned a familiar, distinctly tipsy voice. 

Without even looking up from her typing, Nesta raised a finger in Cassian’s direction. She heard her sister’s cackle and sighed. How long had she been sitting in Elain’s living room, trying without success to finish her most recent opinion? As if being a law student wasn’t enough work, she had to go and have siblings who invited a whole passel of heavy drinkers over on Friday nights. It’s bloody impossible to write anything at Elain’s house. Note to self: No more coming to Lain’s when you have an op due next class. Checking the clock in the bottom corner of her screen, she blinked. Only 10 pm? And everyone in the house was…drinking. Classic. Just then, Elain came waltzing into the living room. 

“Nestaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! Why’re you try’na do work?” she slurred. Azriel, one step behind, rolled his whiskey-bright eyes at Nesta, catching his fiancé as she stumbled. 

“Which one of you idiots got my sister wasted?” called Nesta, finally accepting the futility of her attempted homework time. As she saved the file and closed down her laptop, Fenrys stuck his head out of the kitchen and waved his bourbon bottle. 

“That would be me, Archeron!” he sang, clearly pleased with his success. And clearly having had more than a few, himself, given the half-empty bottle in his hand. And the tequila bottle in his other hand. 

Nesta’s eyes rolled. “Of course, Moonbeam. You’re literally the only person here who can manage to sneak liquor past anyone and everyone.” “All I did was refill her cup. With”—he checked the bottle in his hand— “bourbon, apparently.” He giggled. “Lainy didn’t even realize her cup had been almost-empty five times.” “FIVE?! Dammit, Fen, you know she’s a lightweight!”

“I am notta ligh’weight,” grumbled Elain from the couch.

“No, love, you’re not,” Azriel reassured her, “you just need to pay more attention to your drink, especially when Fenrys has unbridled access to the liquor.” Fen’s barked laugh echoed from the kitchen. “Speaking of liquor, you really should go have a drink, Nesta. You and I both know that our favorite idiot won’t shut up unless you have at least one shot.” He smirked. “And you know very well what he does when he’s drunk and you’re not.” 

Nesta groaned. “Yes, I do know. And this, dear brother, is why I tend to be the designated driver. Someone has to haul his drunk, loudly singing ass home and get him to bed before he becomes a public nuisance.” She slipped her computer into her shoulder bag, took Elain’s cup—“This won’t be returned”—and headed for the kitchen. 

Where she was immediately met with Cassian’s maniacal grin and a shot glass of vodka, courtesy of Fenrys. 

“Remind me again why, exactly, we invited you?” smirked Nesta as she tossed back the shot. 

Fenrys stepped back, a ridiculously affronted look on his drunken face. “Because, Nesta Archeron, I aM the LIFE OF THE PARTYYYYYYYYY!!!!!” he all but howled. 

“Looks like bedtime,” drawled a voice from behind Nesta. She turned and met a pair of sharp, glinting dark eyes. Elide saluted with her cup, drained whatever remained in it, and yelled, “Lor! We need to get Fen back home before he passes out on Elain’s floor again!” 

Lorcan tromped into the room a moment later, swiping the bottles, now eighty-percent empty, from Fenrys, who was barely conscious enough to register that his alcohol was gone, and draped his friend’s arm around his broad shoulders. Fenrys promptly tripped over his feet, nearly bringing Lorcan down with him. Lorcan sighed, shoved his friend upright, and headed for the door. Calling his thanks to Elain and Az, he, Fenrys, and Elide went out the front door and drove home. 

Nesta sighed in some semblance of relief. “With those idiots gone, maybe now I can get some writing done,” she muttered. Not quietly enough, apparently. 

“Uh-uh, sweetheart. Nope. No more work. You never have any fun.”

“And who, exactly, are you to tell me I don’t have fun?”

Cassian wiggled his brows. “Oh you have fun, all right, just not when the family’s around.” 

“CASSIAN!” Nesta felt her face turning crimson. 

“I’m not wrooooooooooong,” sang her boyfriend, slinging his arm around her. 

Nesta huffed out a breath. “You’re also not being appropriate. Cassian, we’re literally standing in the kitchen. Anyone could hear.”

“Anyone is currently either drunk, taking his wasted fiancée to bed, or noisily making out in the dining room.” 

The sounds coming from the dining room abruptly stopped, followed by “Godsdammit, Cass!”

Cassian cackled. “Get a room, you two! Just because you’re married doesn’t mean you have the right to obnoxiously slobber all over each other in public places.”

Feyre stepped around the partition, fixing her shirt. “Don’t act like you haven’t done your fair share of ‘obnoxious slobbering,’ you big drunk idiot.” 

Cassian’s smirk was positively wicked. “At least I haven’t been caught giving my significant other a hickey in the library study rooms.” 

Feyre turned scarlet. “Cassian Patrick Ilnair, I swear to all the gods—” Rhys placed a finger over her mouth, shutting off the likely tirade. 

“Mind the family, Feyre darling.”

“Right. The family. Who are currently trying and failing to mask the aftereffects of all that bourbon.”

The kitchen went silent. Down the hallway, Elain’s quiet but distinct voice sounded. And not in verbal form. 

Nesta snickered. “Well. As much fun as this must have been, I have an opinion I need to finish and a needy boyfriend who’s going to damn everything to hell and jump my bones right here if he doesn’t get home and to sleep within twenty minutes. So. I’d best be going.” With that, she put the loose bottles of liquor back into Elain and Az’s cabinet, grabbed her shoulder bag and her boyfriend, and headed out the door.

Cassian half-staggered after her; unable to get himself into Nesta’s car, he just stood by the open car door and started singing. Loudly. Off-key. Nesta sighed heavily, walked to the passenger side, shoved him into the seat, and strapped on his seatbelt. 

“Come on, Cass, we’re going home.”

“Home………..I wanna go hooooooooome. Take me home, Nesh,” he slurred, and then flopped his head back against the headrest, out cold. 

At least he wouldn’t be a singing nuisance on the drive home.

[writer-room]

Siblings: Chapter Four

AO3

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Summary: The Bats reflect on how their thoughts about siblings have changed over the years. Some opinions stayed, others didn't.

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

Tim didn’t know how to feel about being an only child.

He didn’t think about it all that often, there weren’t many kids he talked to at school who mentioned their siblings all that frequently. And, in some parts, he didn’t mind it so much.

The kids who did talk about siblings complained, whether their siblings were older or younger. There were those who said their sibling took up more of their parents attention, which was something Tim was already lacking in. Some said that they never had any time to themselves, something that Tim had an overabundance in, but still cherished. Others said that the accomplishments, and failures, of their siblings reflected onto them, making their parents expect more or less of them. Tim couldn’t afford that either. His parents already didn’t think much of him, he didn’t need it to be any less. And if they wanted more, he worried he wouldn’t be able to meet their expectations.

And yet…

Sometimes he liked the idea of someone else in that empty mansion. Someone to talk to when the rooms felt too large, when the loneliness was suffocating him. He liked the thought of sharing his recent theories, photos, and the like with someone. Wondered if he could go on for as long as he wanted without being interrupted.

Maybe they’d be someone who didn’t call him by a name that wasn’t his, then feign forgetting. Who didn’t treat his binders like they were assaulting their eyes. Who didn’t scrutinize his every movement for faking.

That’d be nice, he thinks. 

But there were pros and cons, he reasons. And for all he knows, if he had a sibling, they could’ve been just like his parents. Or they could’ve been kinder. Not like he’d ever know.

He had more important things to worry about than hypotheticals and wishes.

“Before you scold me, know that I took a five hour nap earlier today and I’m only getting a snack.”

Steph and Duke blinked at him from the doorway to the kitchen, their expressions a sharp contrast between exasperated and concerned, respectively.

“Wow, five hours?” Steph snarked. “That’s a new record. Are you dying?”

“Not yet,” Tim said, opening the fridge. “Give it a few weeks and I’m sure you’ll see rumors of my tragic defeat at the hands of, I dunno, Flamingo.”

“There’s a supervillain named Flamingo?” Duke exclaimed, staring at Steph incredulously.

“Oh, yeah, it’s a whole thing.” She nodded. “He had a scuffle with Jay and his kid a while back.”

“Jason has a kid?”

“Why are you up, anyway?” Tim talked right over him. “Duke I understand, he’s the disgraced child of the sun. But you patrol at the same time as every other nocturnal person in this house.”

“Hey-”

“I actually had to pretend to have a normal sleep schedule, my mom was getting worried and I didn’t want her finding me sneaking in with my full Spoiler getup on.” Steph explained tiredly. “I’m still trying to recover.”

“Tragic,” Tim hummed, pulling out a container holding a ham sandwich. 

“The only thing that's tragic is your outfit.” Steph snorted, looking him up and down.

Tim blinked, looking down at himself. His outfit consisted of a pair of knockoff Batman shorts, knee-high pastel dinosaur socks, and a long red robe that absolutely did not belong to him hanging loosely off him, exposing countless scars littering his body.

“I look awesome,” Tim said, popping the lid off the container. 

“Damian’s gonna start asking what battles you got your scars from again,” Steph tutted, striding further into the kitchen with a confused Duke following her. “Know that I will not be on your side when Dick notices and gets worried.”

“I’m more worried about Dami seeing this one,” He said, brushing the robe back slightly to reveal a poorly stitched surgical scar on his upper abdomen. “Because then he’s going to ask what happened, and then I’m gonna have to tell him that's where my spleen used to be, and then he's going to be reminded that oh, yeah, his brother has a missing spleen, and then he’s going to be treating everything like its diseased-”

“Does...he keep forgetting you lost your spleen?” Duke blinked, concerned. “I feel like that’d be something you were kinda always aware of…”

“Eh, everyone's worried about a different scar whenever they see ‘em.” He shrugged, glancing down as he traced over one of the surgery scars along his chest. “Which is frankly a little rude. I earned this right to be shirt free.”

“Hell yeah you did,” Steph grinned before her eyes dropped to the sandwich Tim was attempting to eat. “Isn’t that Cullen’s?”

“He didn’t label it, therefore it’s mine.” Tim said simply.

“Harper’s gonna kill you,” Duke warned warily. 

“Only if she catches me,” He said, taking a bite of the sandwich. “Why’re you guys here, anyway? Grabbing a snack?”

“Lookin’ for Babs,” Steph said, hands in her pockets. “Someone on Twitter started a war about which Batgirl was better, and Babs will probably get a kick out of being remembered as the ‘missing Batgirl.’”

“Oh she’ll be pissed about being remembered that way.” Tim agreed, shoving the rest of the sandwich in his mouth. “Babs will see it in five minutes or less, though. Swear she has a sixth sense for whenever someone mildly associated with the Bats is mentioned.” He mumbled.

“You wanna hijack the thread before she finds it?” He suggested.

“Hijack it?” Duke echoed.

“We’re gonna yell about random stuff that doesn’t contribute to the conversation until all hell breaks loose.” Steph explained, already pulling out her phone. “Tim?”

“How do you feel about discussing why the sun lightens hair, but darkens skin?” Tim suggested, leaving the container on the counter as he brushed by Steph.

“You just want to piss off someone from Metropolis.”

“It’s law as a Bat that I have to torment Superman whenever I possibly can.” Tim shrugged.

“Does that include me?” Duke blinked. “Because I personally think tormenting Superman is a bad idea.”

“Clark wouldn’t hurt a fly,”

“Yeah, but he’ll give me the face of disappointment and I don’t think I can live with that.” Duke protested.

“He can barely even manage--where are you going?” Steph looked up, only now realizing Tim was leaving the kitchen.

“I’m starting the mayhem on the big screens.” Tim grinned, looking back over his shoulder.

“Please don’t tell me he’s going to use Twitter on the bat computer,” Duke sighed.

“He’s totally going to use the bat computer,” Steph smiled, following after him. “C’mon! It’s initiation time.”

“Do you guys just call every weird thing you do initiation?” Duke called, hurrying behind them. “Because I’ve been told I’m part of an initiation five times in the last week.”

“You’re stuck in initiation until this becomes the norm,” Steph said cheerfully. 

“Of course,” Duke muttered.

Tim’s robe billowed behind him like an amateur cape as he wandered towards the door leading towards the steps into the Batcave. He threw open the door, the sound of it slamming echoing and startling the bats on the ceiling.

“Jesus!”

Harper jumped from the swivel chair in front of the computer, wide-eyed as she blinked up at the trio at the top of the stairs.

“Hey, Harps,” Steph greeted, hopping onto the stairs railing and sliding down. “We’re here to cause problems on Twitter.”

“Oh, well, in that case, by all means.” Harper snarked, getting up and grandly gesturing to the countless screens. “Not like I was using it for actual work.”

“Were you using it?” Tim asked, pointedly glaring at Steph to keep his recent adventure to the kitchen quiet.

“...looking for tasers to modify count as work, right?” She said after a moment.

“Technically,” Tim nodded,  ignoring Steph’s smug look that absolutely signified she was going to blackmail him later. “But you can just use Dick’s old escrima sticks. He goes through a pair every two or three weeks, but most still work pretty well, he’s just too lazy to fix them.”

“Sweet,” Harper grinned. She then paused, taking in Tim’s appearance as he slid into the seat she was previously occupying. 

“Why do you look like you’re auditioning to be the pretty girl who dies in a low-budget slasher?”

“First of all, how dare you assume I wouldn’t be the first one to die for representation points,” Tim said, pointing an accusatory finger at her. “Second of all, it’s called having fashion, and also being allowed to do whatever I want.”

“You have terrible fashion sense,” Harper snorted, crossing her arms as Steph and Duke came up beside her. “But fair, I can respect that.”

“See?” Tim said, looking at Steph. “Some people can afford to not be rude.”

“Keep talking and I’ll lose more blackmail material,” Steph calmly threatened.

Harper glanced between the two, to which Tim quietly, and quickly, turned back to the screen and ignored the both of them. Harper raised a brow but didn’t comment. Tim made a mental note to sneak into one of Jason’s unused safe houses after this was over. Steph couldn’t keep quiet for the life of her.

“What are you starting, anyway?” Harper asked, crossing her arms and leaning on the back of Tim’s chair. “A sob story about the Opportunity rover?”

“Another day,” Tim promised, opening up Twitter on the countless screens. He opened another one on the other half of the computer, which Steph quickly stood at and got her own Twitter set up. “Right now, we’re questioning how the sun makes hair lighter, but skin darker. And we’re dragging Clark into it.”

“If anyone asks, I had no part in this.” Duke said, watching the two typing with a frown. “Initiation doesn't include learning how to taunt Superman, right?”

“Eh, we can settle for you becoming close with a Kryptonian,” Steph shrugged. “Dick and Bruce share Clark, Jay’s got Bizarro, Cass and I got Kara, Babs I think counts with her, too, Damian’s got Jon, and Tim has Kon.” She listed off.  “Harper and Cullen took the ‘bully Superman’ route without befriending any of his family, which is a coward's way out, so you can take, I dunno, does Chris still exist in this timeline?”

“I can call in a favor from Bart to reset the timeline again so he exists.” Tim said with a casual shrug, pulling up the thread arguing about the Batgirls. 

“I’m sorry, what--”

“Finding Kryptonians who aren’t already taken is hard!” Harper protested, talking over Duke. “And Clark likes you guys being friends with his family. The only issue he has is Damian getting testy and Tim making heart eyes at Kon every five minutes.”

“I do not!” Tim squawked, whirling around in the chair to glare at the traitors he dared call family. In his head. Family in his head.

“You do,” Steph and Harper chorused.

“I’ve met Kon for less than twenty minutes and even I know.” Harper added. “I’m sure Duke knew.”

“I...yeah…” Duke coughed into his fist and turned away. “But in my defense, the gossip around here is practically shouted down the halls twice a week.”

“You were subjected to Dick having another crisis about Jay dating Kory for two months, weren’t you?” Steph said, trying to hide a snicker.

“There were so many things I didn’t want to know,” Duke whispered, face horror-stricken. 

“Eh, at least Jay hasn’t brought up Talia around Dami yet.” Tim shrugged. “At that point, it’s better to just vacate the premises.” 

“Wait--”

“Point is, you either befriend the Kryptonian or you torment them. That’s the rules.” Tim talked over him again, scrolling down the thread and boredly looking over the arguments. “You ready, Steph?”

“As I’ll ever be,” She grinned, giving a thumbs up. “How long till Babs notices and takes this whole thing down?”

“Few more minutes, tops.” Tim shrugged, already typing. “You two wanna give any input?” He asked, glancing behind him to Harper and Duke.

“Ask if Kryptonian skin can be used as extreme sunscreen,” Harper suggested. “That’ll rile him up.”

“Now I’m just curious if it can,” Tim said, but obediently began making his comment.

“You could just...ask?” Duke tried, clearly not taking in any of what was happening.

“Nah, Kon’s half human, I don’t think it works the exact same.” Tim shook his head, not looking back. “Kara would destroy me if I tried, Bizarro has the same problem, Jon wouldn’t know, and Clark would start telling Bruce he’s worried I’m deranged again.”

“Aren’t you?” Duke raised a brow.

“Only if I feel like it,”

“And when he forgets to sleep for ninety-eight hours.” Steph spoke up.

Tim rolled his eyes, tuning out his siblings as they continued to talk. He posted his comment before sparing a peek back at them, currently throwing off ideas to their hijacking plan like it was an everyday occurrence. Well, to Steph and Harper at least. But, to Duke’s credit, he appeared to be getting more used to it on prodding from his...sisters? Hard to tell, Steph was her own classification of family member. They were some weird choices for family, at least.

Tim watched them for a moment before turning back to making another comment on the logistics of sunscreen, a smile on his face.

He couldn’t find it in him to complain. Too much, at least.

[good-forthe-weekend]

Okay, so like, this blog has low key become an ACOTAR theory/headcanon blog. But here we go again. Because I’ve been thinking about the remaining books/novella, and what might be obvious about what the next book may be. So stick with me on this one, but here’s how I hope it plays out. (Gonna be really long, because 3 books worth of theories, so gonna make it a read more post)

Let’s start with what I’d like the books to be (not in a demanding bitchy way, just what I generally hope for)

Books 5 and 6 (in no particular order): Azriel, Elain/Lucien

Novella: Feyre’s pregnancy from her/Rhys’ perspective

While books 5 and 6 could be in any order, depending on the overarching plot with Koschei and everything, I really think the next book is going to be about Az. I know that the 2 main contenders for obvious choices are Az and Elain, but I don’t think their stories are meant to be told together. Their arcs are completely different. Az needs to be someone’s first choice and get over 500 years of darkness and self hatred, whereas Elain needs to find her own agency. Here’s how I’d do those things.

Az’s story, to me, is rooted in self worth. I don’t think he has much. I think that the events of his life have done everything to convince him that no matter how much good he does, no matter how many people love him, he will never be good enough. Similar to Nesta, tbh. Just rooted in different places. His family loathed him, Mor’s been stringing him along for 500 years, and most people value him for what his shadow singer abilities can do for them. I think his story should revolve around him finding self worth, and being his own first choice, but also realizing how inherently valuable he is to everyone around him. (If we get a brothers bonding moment in Az’s book, I will cry my eyes out in the best way) Now *personally*, as a lover of Gwyn, I would love to see her tie into Az’s story. (NOTE: No hate for any shippers, Gwynriel, Elriel, Elucien, idc. They’re all valid, this is a respect only zone. This is simply my personal opinion on what *I* would like to see) Gwyn has also been shown to need some help in the self worth category. She literally says how she believes she’s a bad person for not being able to save her twin. So I’d love if her and Az have parallel stories in Az’s book. Romance or not. Actually, I’d love to see them grow side by side without having to be all horny all the time. I’d love if Gwyn prioritizes her mental health and growth above having a relationship, and tells Az that she cares for/loves him, but needs time to herself before getting into a relationship. Mates wise, I do see the merit in the Gwynriel mates theories. (I’ll get into why I don’t like Elain as Az’s mate later. But also, I have no problem with Elriel, I just don’t like the idea of them being meant to be mated. Although I have this evil!Elain idea brewing in my head that would fit with Elriel being supposed to be mates that the cauldron effed up) but I also am on the fence about it, because even with my own headcanon about ACOTAR mates, I’m still getting a little tired of every single romance having to be mated.

For Elain, I have 2 theories that I favor. Either she gets kidnapped by Koschei, and her story is a loose retelling of Swan Lake, or she ends up going to the Spring Court, and we get Beauty and The Beast part 2, but different this time. Either way, I want her story to give her some damn agency and flesh out her character as more than the Cosette character whose whole personality is “Well, I went through a trauma and stayed kind”. Because there’s a way to do that meaningfully, but since it’s been coupled with her being a character that simply does not do anything for herself, it falls flat for me.

Also, side note about Elriel being mates who the cauldron messed up. I don’t care for that. First of all, I don’t think that the cauldron picked Nesta and Elain’s mates when they were Made. Which I mention in my personal theory on ACOTAR Mates, which I linked above. I think that the Cauldron picks mates when you’re born, which would mean that Elain and Lucien were always meant to be mates. Besides which, while I’m not a rabid supporter of either ship at this point, I see what people are saying about it not being a good thing that Az’s shadows disappear when Elain is around. His shadows are a part of him, they’re his friends. So I think it’s better for them to respond well to someone’s presence than disappear entirely. Also, with the light singer theories (which I see on both Gwynriel and Elriel sides), in ACOSF, it’s said that light singers weren’t good. They were beings that looked kind but ultimately were evil, just like shadow singers look all bad, but ultimately Az is an extremely kind, empathetic person with a savior complex. So, unless you want to make your fave be secretly evil (which, again fits in with this evil!Elain theory I’ve been stewing on lately) it’s probably not a good idea to say they’re ‘the light singer to Az’s shadowsinger’. ALSO ALSO. Azriel deserves to be someone’s first choice. Not their 3rd, behind the guy that the universe destined them for AND the human that they still aren’t entirely over. Azriel isn’t a ‘well, since there’s no one else to choose, I GUESS’. Azriel is someone who deserves, and should be loved as a first choice. And no matter if that person is Gwyn or not, we should see someone fall for him as a first and only choice.

Anyway, if she got kidnapped by Koschei, I’d like for everyone to freak out and be trying to save her (Lucien included, because protective fae mate), but Elain ends up saving her damn self. Without anyone knowing until she just sort of shows up somewhere in Prythian. Whereupon everyone is like “You escaped Koschei?????”, and Elain just responds “What, like it’s hard?”. I don’t have too many specifics in mind for this theory, but yeah, I’d love if that were to happen. I can even see a path for Elain and Lucien to fall for each other in that scenario, I just can’t find a way to verbalize it.

Alternatively, and hear me out on this one, I would love for her to go to the Spring Court. SJM keeps putting connections between Elain and Spring, and has even had several characters say she’d love the Spring Court. She doesn’t belong in the Night Court. And I would love, and again hear me out here, for her to help Tamlin. I know, I’m not his biggest fan either. But I don’t want him dying alone and angry either. He was an ass, and reacted poorly to many things, but I want him to grow from that. And learn how to be a better person. And not be so overprotective. How does Elain fit into this? Well, I’m not sure how to get her there, but I would love for her to end up in Spring Court, where she befriends him. Friends. Nothing more. Not a drop more. In fact, I want Tamlin to make an advance on her, thinking that he’s falling for her, only for Elain to be like “Dude, you only think you like me because I’m the one who’s been helping you, but we’re friends. We wouldn’t work as more.” Or even vice-versa. Either way, I would LOVE to have a story about a character coming into their own without a big romance, and frankly after the way Elain has treated Lucien and Az, she can stay alone (as much as I think her and Lucien would be cute together). But I also think that Elain befriending Tamlin, and eventually becoming a member of his court, could lead to some nice healing places for Feyre, and would afford her the opportunity to actually confront Tamlin about everything they went through. (It would also be cool if Tamlin made her High Lady of Spring, without them being together. Idk, I think it would be cool for him to abandon tradition so much when he held it up to a toxic level before)

‘But how does Lucien come into this?’ I hear literally no one asking because this post is so fucking long already. Well, beloved reader of this bullshit, I simply want him to officially be able to move on. I want him and Elain to have arcs that happen at the same time, and are tied loosely together, but are ultimately separate. I want Elain to find agency and finally make up her mind, and I want Lucien to call her out on stringing him along. And I ultimately want him to find peace. (And for him to find out he’s Helion’s son in the messiest way possible, but I digress) I really just want Lucien to ride off into the metaphorical sunset and be happy and content and finally value himself. If Elain is in the Spring Court, maybe call out Tamlin for the way that he abused Lucien too. As long as he ends up happy, I’m cool with it.

Also, I want a comeuppance for Mor/Eris. They’ve been hinting at something for several books now, and I damn well want to see what’s behind those hints. (I also low key want the Eris/Mor comeuppance to cause a confrontation between Az/Mor/Cass about their weird dynamic and how toxic it was, and how it kinda made Mor treat Nesta like shit. I just really want Cass to officially choose Nesta in front of the IC, esp Mor. I think it’s important for their relationship. I could go on and on about that tho.)

Personally, I kind of want Mor and Eris to have been Mates. Not only because I already ship Mor/Emerie and want to see a mated pair that don’t end up together, but I think there’s a ton of opportunity for angst there. Maybe they fell for each other, never actually let the mating bond fully set (because, up until this point we’ve never seen a mating bond click into place without sex, which we know they never had), and Mor realized that no matter how much she cared for Eris, she was in fact gay, and so she slept with Cass, and you know the rest of her story there. Eris didn’t care, and told his father that he would marry her anyway because they were in love (I don’t think he’d play his full hand and admit to being un-mated mates because it would put Mor in a whole new level of danger). Beron basically told Eris that under no circumstances would he marry Mor, and told him to abandon her completely. With a threat to Mor’s safety thrown in there for good measure (like “Go ahead, marry her. See exactly what will befall her her in the Autumn Court. It will not go well” except more eloquent and shit) When Mor’s family dumped her, I don’t think that he found her first with people with him. I think he would have found her shortly after she got left, and he’d have been alone. So he found a way to tip off Az that she was there, and staged it to look like he found her and semi-publicly abandoned her completely. Idk, I just feel like there’s a lot more to the story than we know, and given how extremely Mor responds to someone who never actually laid hands on her, I think there’s more to why she does that. Maybe it’s because she knows he’s her mate, and is terrified he’s going to get spiteful and let that info slip. I kind of want this to be a situation to be one where she didn’t outright lie about what happened, just the context, because she knew if the context was revealed, then she’d be forced to come out, so she lied by omission.

Personally, I would love for this to be a not insignificant piece of Az’s book, because I think there’s a not insignificant part of his personality that’s been influenced by Mor, so whatever comeuppance that Cass/Az/Mor have (and I’m praying they do), I hope it’s not just glossed over. I also wouldn’t hate if this story was told in the novella, but I also really want to see Feyre and Rhys’ side of their pregnancy story (I think it would be weird to have such a significant plot for them told during someone else’s story, and not give us Feyre and Rhys’ perspective). And that would really only fit in either a novella or bonus short story. Also, I think that Feyre’s pregnancy would make a better novella, and Mor/Eris would fold nicely into the plot of a book.

So yeah, there’s my ridiculously long rundown on what I want to happen/my theories for the rest of the ACOTAR series. Feel free to add/dissect/interact/tell me I’m horridly wrong. I wanna talk about these books at length so bad

[god-save-the-keen]

A complicated day

Pairing: Bryce Lahela x F!MC

Book: Open Heart 2

Warning: None

Words: 1589

Note: English it's not my native language so be patient with me 😌

Here is my collaboration for 12 days of Fictmas! Hope you all enjoy it! Thanks for hosting this again @leelee10898 and @emichelle! ❤️

Writers: @texaskitten30 @zaffrenotes @alj4890 @burnsoslow @kat-tia801 @darley1101 @msjr0119 @annekebbphotography @plumeriavibes @ofpixelsandscribbles @camillemontespan @ao719 @cocomaxley @cordoniansgonewild @twinkleallnight @the-soot-sprite @cordoniantrash @axwalker @innerpostmentality @lucy-268 @janezillow @katedrakeohd

Readers: @mom2000aggie @sfb123 @bbrandy2002 @debramcg1106 @desireepow-1986 @speedyoperarascalparty @hopefulmoonobject @drariellevalentine

Permanent tagg list: @eileendannie @desireepow-1986 @dawn-1994 @darley1101 @blackcatkita @flyawayboo @drakewalker04 @choicesficwriterscreations @mrawxs

Bryce Lahela x MC tagg list: @anotherbeingsworld

Open Heart tagg list: @mskaneko @x-kyne-x

"What are your plans for the holidays?" Casey asked as they walked to his place after a double shift. Her small hand was in his and her thin fingers were tangled with his as her thumb caressed distractedly his skin.

"Well, Keiki's coming back for the break so I guess we'll stay at my place."

"You aren't going to Hawaii?"

"Nah. I might have talked with my parents a couple of times and I might have put a stop to my resentment towards them, but that doesn't change what they did. Especially after all that Keiki told us."

"So, are you going to be the two of you here, alone?"

"Trust me, Cass, I've had worst holidays." His hand squeezed hers reassuring. "What about you?"

"I was thinking of going home… I haven't seen my family since I moved here."

"I bet you miss them. Like I'm going to miss you." He added with a playful wink.

"Maybe not. I'd like for you and Keiki to come with me."

"You really can't stay away from me, can't you Valentine?" Bryce shot a cocky smirk in her way as she rolled her eyes although the corners of her lips rose up a little. She stopped walking and tugged his hand, making him turn towards her.

"Hey, I mean it. I want to spend the holidays with you and Keiki as well."

"Are you sure?" He took a small piece of falling hair and put it behind her ear, gently brushing her skin and she nodded, smiling at the sweet gesture.

"Of course I'm sure! Talk with Keiki about it and let me know what she thinks." They started to walk again as Bryce's arm sneaked around her waist.

"Your family will be okay with that?"

"I may kinda tell them about you already."

Her cheeks redden a bit. "And there's a chance that they want to meet you."

"Did you tell them how great I am?" Bryce smiled confidently, his finger softly squeezing her waist as she giggled.

"Oh yeah, I told them to make the door hole bigger for your ego." She playfully nudged his side and he chuckled. "And… How you stayed with me during the attack and how worried you were about me. And how important you are for me."

"You are important for me too." He kissed the side of her head as their feet continued walking almost at their own.

The weeks passed and, after talking with Keiki about it, they organized the trip. The plan was easy. Or at least, it should have been. They had planned everything with Casey, the plane tickets, going for Keiki at her school, the presents, the luggage, everything was ready. But, sometimes, things don't work out the way it was expected.

"So, we finish our shift in one hour, you go for Keiki, I grab my luggage, go to your place and do the online check in, then we take an Uber from there to the airport." Casey closed her locker stretching her back a bit. "Should be easy."

"Ready to meet the parents-in-law, Lahela?" Jackie asked, smirked mockingly from her own locker.

"You kidding? Parents love me. Especially if they have good taste as their daughter." In that instant, all the beepers started to blare.

"E.R. A burning building." They all headed to the emergency entrar, a few ambulances already at the door. Casey ran toward an unconscious man with his face burnt as Bryce followed a bed in which a woman laid with an iron rod going through her leg. He washed his hands and prepared, once the patient was asleep, his hand started to move around the wound stable and firm as he slowly and with the assistant of a nurse pulled out the long iron tube.

"Suction." His voice commendatory and his eyes glued in the patient. The nearest nurse immediately reacted but the blood kept coming. Two hours and half, he was leaving the patient room after talking with the family and rushing to the ER once more. Before anyone had noticed, another four hours had passed and the hectic rhythm had finally calmed down.

"Okay, I'm not going to lie, that was a little set back--"

"A little? Going to Keiki's and back is four hours, the airport it's forty minutes away and we still need the luggages and do the check in and the plane leaves in seven hours!" Casey said incredulously, as they rushed to the parking lot to Bryce's car.

"--But we still can work with it!" He said so confident that Casey almost relaxed as his cell vibrated. "It's Keiki."

'Rushing late?' Keiki wrote with an annoying emoji.

'You think?' He answered with the same face. 'On our way.' He sat behind the wheel as Casey took the passage seat, they headed straight for Keiki's school, making one stop to take away coffee as Bryce asked her more about her family. He already knew that she had a big brother, two small nieces, a few cousins and a pretty good relationship with her parents. He knew that she missed them and talked to them at least once a week.

"Finally!" Keiki dropped her luggage in the backseat. "Hi Cass!"

"She gets a full 'Hi Cass' and I only received annoying emojis and complaints?" Keiki rolled her eyes and hugged her big brother and Bryce bearhugged her back. "That's better."

"Okay, we still have five hours until the flight, with a little luck we may have time to take a break before that."

"Casey?" Bryce looked surprised at his sister's shy tone.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for including me. You didn't have to."

"Not including you never was even an option Kei, it is my absolute pleasure!" She turned her head to watch the teenager in the backseat, grinning. "They will love you."

"What about me?" Bryce asked playfully, giving her his best puppy eyes.

"You are the one dating me so you are in a tough spot, Lahela."

"Ouch."

"Nervous, Bryce?" Keiki said in what was supposed to be an innocent tone.

"Please." He shrugged cockily.

"Hey, the road is pretty clear! Maybe we have time after all!" Casey pointed, cheerfully, watching through the window until her face falled down. "Oh no! I jinx it!" A police officer was standing in the, now closed, road swerving cars to the right.

"We still have time." Bryce took her hand and laced his finger with hers as the car slowed down, until stopped at the end of a long line of cars. "Don't worry gorgeous." She squeezed his hand back, leaning her back in the seat as her head fell back, sighing and closing her eyes for a moment.

"You are right. And there's nothing we can do about it." After three hours of frustration waiting, they finally pulled over in Casey's apartment so she could grab her luggage.

"So, did you bought it?" Keiki leaned in the space between the two front seats, talking conspiracy low and watching to the building front door.

"Yeah, I retired it before work, I still have it with me." Bryce took a small velvet box and opened. Inside a white gold heart locket sparkles as he hands it to Keiki. "What do you think?"

"It's perfect for her. She is going to love it." Bryce smiled. It was not only the first time that they spent a holiday together or the first time that he brought her something, it was also the first time he brought a gift to someone this special for him. And he was ready to put all his feelings for her out.

"Thanks for giving me your opinion about it, Kei."

"I know you would be lost without me." She said smoothly.

"Don't push it, kid."

"She's coming." Bryce shoved the box back in his pocket and rushed outside the car to help her. They went to his place, parked in the building parking lot in a space that Bryce had rented for those days, and dash to his apartment.

"You grab your luggage and meanwhile I call an Uber."

"Perfect." He went towards his bedroom and, checking that Casey couldn't see him, placed the box in the bottom of the suitcase, covering it with clothes and finally closing it. Bryce was convinced that if anyone ask him how they made it to the plane, he wouldn't know the answer, he knew they had ran through the airport, like the McCallister family in 'Home Alone', that the check in had been the most slow one he ever made in his entire life and the judging looks as they embarked after delayed the plane for twenty minutes.

Keiki took the window seat, immediately putting her headphones over her head as Bryce sat in the middle with Casey at his left. She scratched her back and rolled her shoulders, yawing.

"Cass, are you okay? Today was..."

"... Awful?" He chuckled.

"That's one way to put it."

"You are here so I'm more than okay."

"You flatter me, Valentine."

"Yeah, well… After all, there's a reason why you are the first guy I take home for the holidays." She leaned her head on the side of his arm, closing her eyes as her hand found his and gently took it.

"You want to know a little secret?" He asked close to her ear.

"Shoot."

"You are the first I spend the holidays with. Ever." Her eyes kept close but her smile brightened up her whole face, showing, without words, how happy she was.

❣️

[mischiefandspirits]

Colony of Gotham (4/7)

The Colony of Gotham is an urban legend that is whispered about in the dangerous city. It’s said the Colony is a family of demons and spirits that stalk the night, hunting for the souls of the guilty.

When Bruce became Batman, he’d never intended to be mistaken for a demon. He was happy to lean into it, though, and as he gained his partners – as his family grew – they all followed suit.

First Part ~ Previous Part ~ Next Part

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the record: the Flash and Aquaman in the story are Wally West and Kaldur'ahm, which is why they're referred to as second-generation JL. Kon has also passed on the Superboy title to Jon and taken on his own name.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Selina found Carrie Kelley when the girl was attacked on her way home from her gymnastics class by a group of older boys. The woman ran them off then checked the girl over. She asked why the girl was walking alone and was annoyed to discover the girl’s parents had forgotten to pick her up from class, and not for the first time. Apparently, she usually would have gotten a ride from her teacher after pretending her parents called to ask, but he had left early because of an emergency and the assistant teacher took the train.

As Selina escorted her home, she tried not to think about how much Carrie reminded her of herself.

She still found herself waiting outside the gym two days later when the girl’s class ended. She watched Carrie wait for nearly half an hour before Selina moved to talk to her. She was surprised when Dick appeared moments later. She’d known the gym was the one he worked at, but it hadn’t occurred to her Dick might be the girl’s teacher.

The two swapped notes after Dick drove the girl home and began an investigation. Selina was half-tempted to just spirit the girl away, but kept things to the legal side of the tracks in the end. Mostly thanks to Dick.

Soon enough, she was the proud adoptive mother of Carrie Kyle. She hadn’t planned on taking in the girl permanently when going into it, but she knew she trusted the system even less with the girl thanks to her own experiences with it. Besides, even if she didn’t know how to parent, she had a wonderful fiancé who had all kinds of kids. One was already even attached to the girl. It’d be a piece of cake.

That confidence lasted a week, at which point she heard a news report about some heiress getting kidnapped while Carrie was at school and the anxiety kicked in. She probably should have called Bruce to talk about it. Instead, she panicked and took Carrie aside when she got home to tell her about vampirism. She then asked if Carrie wanted to be turned.

Carrie, thrilled to have this in common with her new mother, agreed immediately.

Once the girl was sleeping through the transformation, Selina calmed down enough to realize she maybe overreacted and called Dick. Unfortunately, Jason had answered the phone for his brother and put it on speaker without letting her know, which meant he heard everything she said and proceeded to spill her sins to the entire Colony like the little hellion he was.

All of the Colony eagerly accepted the girl into her new life, except Damian.

Something had been gnawing at the boy, and Carrie’s turning brought it to the surface.

Damian was his father’s only child by blood. By right, he should be a vampire. But as his mother was human, he was born human. He knew that vampirism was no more important to being considered family than it was to being a competent vigilante, but it still felt as if it were one more reason he fell short compared to his brothers. He was not chosen as they were. They had had years with his father before he had even met the man, before he had even been born in Dick’s case. And they had all been claimed into his vampiric clan. True, neither Tim nor Duke had been turned by his father just like most of their non-sibling family, but they were still related through vampiric magic.

Damian was not.

Gathering himself up, Damian met his father in his study to request to be turned.

Bruce said no. He wanted Damian to be older before he made a decision like that. When Damian pointed out he and Carrie were the same age and Cass was younger while Tim had been the same age as him when he was turned, Bruce reminded him that none of them had been turned by Bruce. If he had had the choice, he would have made them all wait as well. Damian’s anger grew as his father refused to budge even under his arguments about the life experience he already had and the fact he should have been born a vampire to begin with.

Damian ended up marching off in a fury.

The next time someone saw him was that night when Wally, Artemis, and Dick got back to their shared Blüdhaven apartment from dinner to find the boy sharpening a dagger on their couch. Wally gave the boy a cheerful hello and ruffled his hair, not noticing when the boy was only held back from stabbing his hand by a look from Dick. He did hear Damian’s threat to eviscerate him, but laughed it off as he usually did. Artemis gave the boy a wider birth as she followed Wally into their bedroom.

Dick sat down next to him, but before he could ask him what was wrong, Damian demanded to be turned. While Dick would have been happy to help his baby brother, he had a feeling there was more to it. After a bit of digging, Damian admitted that Bruce wouldn’t turn him so Dick had to. Trying to play mediator, Dick told him he would talk to Bruce and if that didn’t work they could come back to the conversation.

The boy thankfully agreed as Dick knew he would -- he knew his brother really wanted Bruce to be the one to do it -- so Dick went to change while Artemis turned on a movie and Wally slipped into the kitchen to make Damian something to eat. Dick sent Bruce a quick message to tell him where Damian was and that they needed to talk. Afterward, once his brother was fed and Wally finished off the leftovers, they played a few card games until it was time to put Damian to bed in the guest room.

The next morning, Dick and Bruce went back and forth over the phone for an hour before Dick’s voice began to grow loud enough for Wally, Artemis, and Damian to hear him out in the living room. Wally stepped in at that point to help Dick calm down. Cuddled up to his boyfriend, he managed to stay calm enough to get his point across.

He understood that Bruce wanted Damian to be older when he made the choice, but there really wasn’t a choice for Damian at the end of the day. He was a child who wanted nothing more than to feel like he was accepted by his family and that family was made of vampires.

So Dick gave Bruce a choice: either Bruce turned him or Dick would. He gave his father until the end of the week before hanging up.

He then proceeded to spend the following fifteen minutes with his face buried in Wally’s neck.

“Bruce is going to kill me!”

All Wally could do was pat him on the back because honestly, Bruce could be really scary when he tried. Especially when it came to his kids.

Damian stayed with the trio during the week. Meanwhile, Jason was giving Bruce the cold shoulder and hiding out at Artemis Grace’s empty flat. Tim and Duke had made it clear they were siding with Damian, but otherwise kept their opinions to themselves. Barbara, Kate, the Kyles, and the Rows had elected to stay out of the argument altogether.

Stephanie and Bette had teamed up to leave a bunch of pamphlets and essays about the importance of teaching body autonomy on the desk of Bruce’s study, under his pillows, in the pockets of his suit jackets, on the desk in his office at work, and in the cowl of his suit.

Only Damian and Dick were at the apartment when Bruce showed up at the end of the week since Wally had work and Artemis had monitor duty. Both sons were anxious when their father first entered, but relaxed when he set his hand on Dick’s shoulder and squeezed it lightly. He admitted that he still thought Damian should wait, but if it was what he wanted, Bruce would support them both. Despite a bit of disappointment still lingering, Damian gave him a small smile before Dick pulled them into a group hug.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was nearly eight months after Dick turned Damian that Robin finally got his secret twin back.

People had whispered for years about a relationship between Gotham’s demon and the infamous cat burglar that pilfered its high-rises. Some said Catwoman had been trying to gain the Bat’s favor for years in a bid for immortality. Others said it was Batman who chased the Cat, looking to steal her away as his bride. No one could say for sure who was right in the end, nor was anyone sure when the hunter had finally caught their prey, but either way the result was the same.

It started with tales of criminals facing off with Robin, only to turn to find a cat waiting to step in instead of a bat. These tales led many to look back and realize the thief hadn’t been seen for months.

Some mourned her lost humanity.

The only sign of her descent was the way her eyes glowed in the dark behind her goggles, her irises and pupils large like a cat’s. She still had her claws and fangs, and she still knew how to use them. She hunted for blood now instead of jewels and watched over the demon child like he was her own.

And perhaps he was. Robin had come to develop a grace not unlike her own with the balance and reflexes she was known for.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first day of winter break did not go well for Thirteen. First, she had gotten woken up by her dad ranting about something or other. Next, they were out of Lucky Charms so she had to eat plain oatmeal. After that, she found out the Teen Titans were on a mission so she couldn’t go hang out with them to get away from her dad’s rants about… ghosts? She was pretty sure she heard something about ghosts. Then, when she finally decided to just do something on her own and took a zeta tube to Denver to go skiing, she ended up stumbling upon some wackjob sorcerer trying to summon a demon or monster or something from… Okay, maybe the day wasn’t a good day for Traci’s attention span.

The point was that the day sucked.

She watched the guy shuffle about the cave rambling to himself -- or maybe her, she wasn’t paying attention -- as she channeled power towards the summoning circle he was using in hopes of stopping his spell from doing whatever it was supposed to do. Apparently, it worked because when the guy raised his hands and started chanting in Sumerian, the resulting bright flash left a girl within the circle instead of some hell beast.

Carrie was confused when she went from watching a movie with her mother one moment to standing in the middle of a cave the next. She took in the shocked face of the guy in the puke green cloak and the nervous expression on the tied up girl and said, “I’m guessing I wasn’t the one you were expecting?”

When puke cloak turned towards his book, huffing and puffing about magic and teenagers, Carrie decked him. He was knocked out instantly so Carrie called him a wimp and went over to free the other girl using the butterfly knife she always kept on her since it was a rare gift from Damian. The two alerted the police then took off, collectively deciding they didn’t want to explain why they were there.

Since Carrie didn’t have her phone and hadn’t bothered memorizing any of her family’s numbers (something she knew would be corrected as soon as she got home), she couldn’t call someone to pick her up. What she did have was her wallet, which included Tim’s debit card (because he needed to keep a better watch on his wallet) and a fake Id claiming she was seventeen (instead of her actual fourteen, because she and Damian bonded by going to the movies). She used the card to buy herself and the other girl, who she learned was named Traci Thurston, tickets on a Greyhound. Traci, not wanting to leave the girl on her own, had pretended she had been taken the same way Carrie was and revealed she was from Metropolis. She tried to object to Carrie buying her ticket, but the other girl waved her off. Her brother wouldn’t miss a couple hundred dollars. And if he did, Bruce would probably pay him back.

The two’s serendipitous two-day road trip turned out fun. They played games and watched videos on Traci’s phone. Carrie bought a pack of cards for them to play with so Traci showed her some card tricks Zatanna had taught her. In return, Carrie showed her some knife tricks Jason and Damian had taught her during rest stops. Traci told her a few stories she’d learned during her magical education and Carrie told her some Gotham myths.

Myths like ones about the demonic bat-man who had slaughtered a child and stolen the soul of a woman so he could create a family for himself, the succubus queen that slit the throat of any man who laid eyes on her and fed them to her undead minion, and the false angels that stalked the daylight.

In Carrie’s defense, Dick was the one who taught her those stories and he’d been telling them to Wally for years. How was she to know that Traci would immediately call Zatanna after Carrie climbed into her cab to make sure demonic monsters had not, in fact, taken over Gotham? Wally just thought Dick was making stuff up! Besides, she didn’t even know Traci was involved with anyone from the Justice League until she reached home and -- after explaining where she’d been to her worried family -- was brought down to the cave by Dick to find out which hero her new friend was.

None of her siblings believed Traci could be a civilian due to their own experience, which turned out to be justified.

It wouldn’t have been a problem if Zatanna waved it off like she’d wanted to do, but instead, the woman had to promise to look into it to get the girl to calm down. She assumed it would just be a monster in the closet scenario.

She was not at all prepared to discover Batman existed, let alone his legion of demons.

Normally demons would be a situation she handled on her own, but the sheer scale of the situation combined with the lack of information on basically anything Gotham had her bringing the rest of the League in on the situation.

Wonder Woman, Superman, and Cyborg were there to represent the founders. Flash, Tigress, Troia, and Aquaman arrived together, representing the second-generation members. The five main Young Justice members came, Nightwing bringing Power Girl and Supergirl along with him since the two had been visiting the former Superboy when he got the call. Last were Green Arrow and Arsenal, who had both been on the Watchtower when the meeting was called and as such ended up joining in despite not being called.

Wonder Woman started the meeting, but quickly handed it over to Zatanna.

When Batman was brought up, Tigress went stiff and Flash frowned. When the magician started to list her findings, few as they were, he leaped to his feet. “Wait, Batman’s real?”

“Yes, and we need to find him.”

Tigress immediately stood and left. Flash was about to follow, but Cyborg saw it coming and caught his wrist. “Where are you going?”

“Far away from here. I thought all those stories were just that. Stories. I’d like to be able to sleep tonight without worrying I’ll wake up to find a bloody kid hanging from my ceiling.”

At the series of exclamations that came from that, Flash and Zatanna explained that Batman didn’t work alone and actually had a large group of spirits or demons that followed him. When Flash was asked how he knew about the Colony, he admitted that he and Tigress lived in the area and both she and their civilian partner had grown up in Gotham. He said their partner had been telling him tons of stories about the Colony since he was a kid, but he’d always assumed they were just urban legends.

The Young Justice members all shared a look, wondering why Tim had never said anything. Wonder Girl glanced at Supergirl, who shook her head. Stephanie and Bette hadn’t said anything either.

Arsenal spoke up, saying Artemis of Bana-Mighdall had never mentioned seeing any demons in Gotham when she stayed there to visit friends and Power Girl added that Hawk and Dove had a friend in Gotham and they’d never mentioned trouble there.

The rest of the members considered this until Aquaman asked Flash for more information. Reluctantly, he started talking. He told them about each of them in turn, putting off a certain bird until the very end and then skipping over giving his name when he did reach him. He tried to move the conversation on from there, but Troia cut him off to ask if the last spirit had a name.

Despite himself, Flash glanced at the former Superboy before he answered yes. Nightwing noticed and crossed his arms with a frown as he asked what the spirit’s name was.

Flash’s voice was barely a whisper when he answered, but that was plenty loud enough for the Kryptonians in the room. Superman went stiff, Power Girl glanced at Nightwing, Supergirl gasped, and Nightwing slammed a fist into the table just light enough not to dent it as he demanded Flash repeat himself. When he did, he did it loud enough for everyone to hear so sounds of confusion and shock filled the room.

“Now you know how we felt when Kon-El here decided to go by that name! I’d been hearing stories about the guy for years by that point!”

Nightwing began to explain that the name came from a Kryptonian myth, before cutting off and glancing at Superman and Power Girl. The latter reluctantly finished it by saying that the original Nightwing was a spirit sent by the sun god Rao to destroy the evils that hid in the darkness. He was a creature of shadows, which left him separate from the gods until he and a fire spirit named Flamebird met and fell in love.

A silence fell over the group until Hex pointed out the obvious. “So a shadow creature looking to wipe out evil has the same name as a shadow creature looking to wipe out evil? Are we entirely sure we’re talking about two different monsters?”

The group fell into an argument. The Kryptonians denied that their myth could be the violent spirit in Gotham (aside from Supergirl, who started panicking about Batman corrupting the original Nightwing) while everyone else was split between agreeing with the Kryptonians or arguing against them.

Flash considered sneaking out, but hadn’t made up his mind before Wonder Woman decided they needed more information and her eyes landed on him. Despite his arguments against it, he was assigned to get information about the myth. Arsenal and Power Girl were also asked to speak to their Gotham contacts, but everyone knew Artemis of Bana-Mighdall didn’t like Wonder Woman while Hawk and Dove were wary of the Justice League so they weren’t expecting much on that front. Flash sent a quick look Young Justice’s way, well aware all of them were friends with his partner’s little brother. None of them met his eye and they all kept quiet.

Rolling his eyes, he grabbed his nephew by the back of his suit and the two left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TFW I realize since no one realizes the Colony exists, no one realizes Nightwing's already technically taken so Kon can go the Chris route and call himself Nightwing :) Dick was very amused when he found out.

Vampires’ animal forms:

Carrie: Eurasian lynx

Damian: Azure-winged magpie

[leconcombrerit]

Blood brothers is kinda bittersweet too

I have lots of feelings about Blood Brothers, and some of them are good. Some aren’t. It’s not that beautiful, bittersweet atmosphere that Parting Ways encompasses -but more of a “wait wat wait how the hell am I feeling right now” one. Just as if the game rubbed a “but that’s what you wanted isn’t it” in my face, knowing full-well that no, it isn’t. Not entirely. It should be a good ending. And yet for me it’s not. It takes some talent to make me feel that “the Diaz brothers crossing the border and going to live together in Puerto Lobos” isn’t a good ending. 

Here’s a short analysis no one asked for, I need to put some order in my thoughts. I get that  we don’t all share the same opinions, so yes, if you think Blood brothers is happy and good and you’re happy with it that’s really cool too ! Please don’t bash me I’m a shy potatoe. 

SO LET’S SEE.

The scene at the border already tells volumes. Daniel goes rogue. He overdoes it, and by a lot. Deflecting the bullets ? Fine. Sending people flying ? Fine. But he didn’t need to crash all the cars to open the gate. Take Parting Ways as a comparison, and you’ll get what I mean. He held back, made minimum damage, and it showed. There weren’t any policemen left to shoot them. They were probably out cold -but Daniel made damn sure they’d stay out cold far after he and Sean left. 

Talking of Sean, there’s something about him as well. Daniel gets out of the car while Sean stays inside and nods. He doesn’t look especially phased. At that point, he’s encouraged Daniel or silently validated his violent outbursts and he stays in line with this behavior. Go check Parting Ways once again : Daniel gets the car through while staying inside (granted, it could have ended badly, as we’ve seen in Lone Wolf). He’s got a much more active role in Blood Brothers -they’re equals, not the little brother Sean needs to protect. Daniel knew what he was going to do and to hell with it. It wasn’t something he did in “the heat of the moment”. He intended to hurt them. Sean did too. It wasn’t just about getting through, it was about crushing their enemies. There’s a shot of all Daniel’s destroyed and no sign of life from anyone, and look at his face.

→ If they’d basically taken Parting Ways border scene and made Daniel stay in the car, and didn’t kill off Sean, it would have been the start of the ‘picture perfect’ ending I didn’t get. 

And then we cut to Puerto Lobos and boy oh boy. The “memories scene” hit me hard. Look at that drawing. Or the newspaper -I can’t read Spanish but I get the gist of it, it didn’t go smoothly and and dandy when they arrived. And the shirt. The shirt might be the most obvious sign that it wasn’t just “necessary violence” to them. It’s hung on the wall like a trophy. They’re proud of what they did. Of getting through. You’d think such an event would be slightly traumatizing, or that they’d have some sort of guilt, or that they wouldn’t care, but no, they’re proud. Proud of getting through is one thing and I get it, but the trauma seems absent. They don’t want to forget what happened and start a brand new, quiet life like they’d initially planned to. They want to remember. 

→ It wouldn’t have taken much either to turn this scene into something bright and nice : the shirt could have been shown in a bow in the drawer, kept as a reminder of their journey but hidden enough to make room for a new start. Same for the newspaper. It could have been put in between pages of Sean’s sketchbook. 

Then we get the gangster scene. It mirrors the border one pretty well : Sean’s passive, validating attitude as he lures them where Daniel will see them. Them relying so much on each other, and not just Daniel on Sean and Sean on himself, is pretty refreshing, not gonna lie. But still, they’re in Puerto Lobos, they should try to live quietly, and here we get to see that neither of them hesitate to stick to their old ways. They seem to have decided that better be the hunter than the prey and that they will not be stepped on, come what may. Have they tried to drive those people away before and only resorted to this solution now? Possible, but unlikely. First because that wouldn’t be in line with what we’ve been shown till now, and second because they look utterly… Used to it. Is that the face of a surprised, scared man ? It’s not. I can almost hear the “oh shit, here we go again” as Sean puts the gun away -but keeps it in case he’d need it, most likely. The way I see it, he doesn’t entirely reject the idea of shooting someone. Great point, Daniel doesn’t kill the guys. He scares them away pretty violently, but he doesn’t kill them. Which in retrospect might actually be worse : the brothers’ bond, them being together, seemingly happy with themselves, and not killing people randomly at every sign of danger is what make this ending so wonderfully bittersweet rather than bad.

And at least I could hate a bad ending instead of having those conflicted feelings. 

→ This scene is much harder to turn in a “good ending way” to me, since it shows they’re still far from safe. Maybe have Sean try to talk to the gangster. Maybe have Daniel scare them away different way -not knocking a guy off, and not giving him a death stare that made it look like he really, really wanted to blow the guy’s head off. Have Sean throw the damn pistol in a bin or anything that wouldn’t mean he’s keeping it (not using it though, once again they reach a kind of sick balance). Have the safe be empty and the brothers look even remotely worried, just so that we’d get the feeling these incidents aren’t all too frequent. 

Last but not least, the beach scene. Final nail on my heart’s coffin. A tiny heart-shaped coffin because Esteban. They. Use their father’s lighter. Maybe it’s just me, maybe some found it sweet, but I didn’t. It only reminded me of what their dad would have wanted for them. Of what he got out of, and of how far from his idealized version of Puerto Lobos reality was. They don’t seem to think their father would have disapproved, quite the contrary, but I as a player thought he would. I don’t know if they realize how ruthless they’ve become. 

Plus side that’s also a downside : they’re alone. The plan grows larger, wider, and you see no one there. Yes, they’re together. But they’re also just together. No friends shown. No Finn, no Cass, no unnamed-local-friend. They have each other, and that’s good, but I can barely see it as something healthy. 

On a side note, Sean’s a mechanic. Just like his dad. I get that he had to find a job to support Daniel and himself but Sean never wanted to be a mechanic and that makes me sad. I like to think he’s tuning the hell out of these cars cause damn.

[calumcest]

only you (and you can hear me)

[ao3]

hello everybody. did you know i’m obsessed with rocketman? 

last week i was like ‘i kinda wanna write the tiny dancer scene from rocketman and have michael have been in love with calum since childhood and be suffering’ and bella was like ‘i will absolutely not let you do that’ so i was like ‘okay what about if i rewrite the tiny dancer scene and elton/bernie end up together but elton/bernie are malum’ and bella was like ‘fucking do it you coward’ 

i also want to take a moment to plug bella’s two wonderful rocketman au fics that i (forcibly) commissioned: the rooftop scene and the your song scene. truly works of art i cannot express to you enough how much i adore them

this fic is for @clumsyclifford for being a wonderful, kind, supportive, genuine friend, treating me with the kind of respect that is so hard to come by, and also for listening to me break down about rocketman for at least half an hour a day. i am truly lucky to know you 

-

“Uh,” Calum says, looking out into the crowd, and Michael follows his gaze, trying to find what Calum’s staring at. “I’m going to go to the teepee with Heather.” Michael’s stomach sinks.

“Really?” he asks, before he can stop himself, looking over at Calum.

“Yeah,” Calum says, turning to look at Michael, and Michael whips back around before Calum can see the look of ‘please don’t’ written all over his face.

“Alright.”

-

His show - his first show, at least - has been a success. 

(Later, Calum will tell him that’s exactly his problem; he’s always doubting himself, always qualifying his successes. Michael will flip him off and tell him just where to stick his fucking advice, and Calum will grin wickedly up at him and tell him he’d rather stick something else there instead.) 

It’d been a little shaky to begin with, the quiet beginning to Crocodile Rock something that he hadn’t run past either Calum or Ray and had just hissed to the band as he strode out on stage, and he’d seen Calum’s brow furrow when he held his first long, sustained note, up in the circle, arms draped over the barrier in front of him. Michael had swallowed, pushed through with the quiet beginning, hating every second that he could feel the confusion and anticipation seeping from the crowd, trying to wordlessly tell them it’ll be worth it, it’ll be fucking worth it, and feeling a warm roar in his heart when he’d snapped it back to the rockier version, band joining in, and the crowd had cheered loudly. It had been smooth sailing from there, song after song, shouts for encores after almost every one, people clambering up onto the stage to sing songs they’d never heard before with him, eyes ablaze with joy. Michael’s never felt so fucking alive before, never felt like he’s actually meant anything before, and it’s in that moment that he knows this is what he wants to do for the rest of his life.

He’s back in the green room now, eyes flickering around the room for the only person whose opinion he actually cares about when he finally spots him, and Calum comes bouncing up to him with the most beautiful woman Michael thinks he’s ever laid eyes on in tow. 

“It was so good!” Calum crows, pulling Michael into a fierce hug before Michael even has the chance to ask (nervously) what he thought. “You were brilliant.” Michael grins into Calum’s shoulder, wraps his arms tightly around him, inhales the faint scent of pine, cedar, incense, home, that’s mingling with the stale alcohol air of the room. He never wants to let go.

“Thanks,” he mumbles, squeezing Calum just a little harder than maybe strictly necessary, and then Calum’s letting go, stepping back and gesturing at the beautiful woman accompanying him. She smiles, all elegance and grace, and if Michael weren’t both gay and head-over-heels in love with Calum, he thinks he’d probably be down on one knee by now. He’s not quite sure why Calum isn’t, actually. She seems like exactly the type of girl he’d go for, if the one night stands that have failed to sneak silently out of Michael’s mum’s house in the early hours of the morning are anything to go by. 

“This is, uh,” Calum says, gesturing at the woman, and smiling brilliantly. “This is Heather.” 

“Hi,” she says, smiling again, holding a manicured hand out for him to shake. Michael grins, reaches out to shake her hand, and casts a sly look at Calum, who’s gazing at Heather with a slightly dazed, faraway look in his eyes.

“Hello,” Michael says, eyes still on Calum and still too giddy from the high of the show to care all too much right now about just how pretty Heather is and just how much she’s Calum’s type. Everyone loved him, them, his and Calum’s songs, and that’s more than one girl in a Hollywood bar has the power to destroy. Even if that bar is the fucking Troubadour.  

“You were amazing,” Heather says, and she sounds like she really means it. Pride swells in Michael’s chest - yeah, he was pretty fucking amazing, wasn’t he? - and his gaze flits back from Calum to Heather. 

“Thank you,” he says pointedly, and then grins at Calum again, who’s finally managed to tear his gaze away from Heather, looking back at Michael with a slightly sheepish well, what d’you want me to do? expression on his face. Michael just raises his eyebrows at him, still grinning, and then notices Doug swaggering through the door, a cigar dangling lazily between his fingers. 

“Alright,” he says loudly, and everyone turns to look at him, because obviously they fucking do, he’s Doug fucking Weston. “Enough of this bullshit. Who wants to go to a party at Mama Cass’s?” There are a few murmurs of assent, and Michael’s about to turn to Calum to ask whether they should go - because frankly, it sounds like there’s going to be free alcohol, and who the fuck is Michael, struggling up-and-comer, to say no to that? - when Ray bursts through the door, brandishing a set of car keys. 

“I’m so drunk, and Doug’s just lent me his car!” he announces, swaying slightly on the spot. Michael’s eyes automatically find Calum’s, and they both dissolve into laughter, something warm blossoming in Michael’s stomach at the fact that it’s his eyes that Calum had sought, not Heather’s.

The car journey back to wherever the fuck this house is is short, seven people crammed into the car that Calum had physically manhandled Ray out of driving all screaming at the top of their lungs as the guy in the driver’s seat careers around the bends of the Hollywood hills. 

(“You’re drunk, Ray, you’re not fucking driving,” Calum had said sternly. 

“I don’t fucking care if I kill myself,” Ray had announced loudly, and the girl on his arms had shot him a half-amused, half-concerned glance. 

“It’s not you I’m fucking worried about,” Calum had said, and maybe Michael had imagined it, maybe it had been a trick of the light, but he’s sure he’d seen Calum’s eyes flit to Michael for a split second.) 

Michael’s wedged in the back seat, Heather on his right, Calum on on her other side, and he can’t hear what anyone’s saying over the rushing sound of the wind in his ears but he feels so fucking alive, so free, laughing almost hysterically at things that aren’t remotely funny and grinning out at the vast expanse of glimmering lights that make up LA below them. 

The car pulls haphazardly into the driveway of a huge house, nothing like anything Michael’s ever seen back home, driveway and garden lit up with a string of softly glowing fairy lights. They all tumble out of the car, Ray and the driver heading straight for the house with two girls in tow, and Michael dawdles for a moment, waiting for Calum and Heather to get out of the car. Calum catches his eye and grins - can you fucking believe this is our lives now, mate? - and slings an arm around Heather’s shoulders, heading for the door. Michael trails behind, adrenaline from the show wearing off now, trying his hardest not to care about the arm around Heather’s shoulders - Calum had still smiled at him over the car , still sought him out to laugh at Ray with, after all. 

Heather’s swept up in a group of girls almost as soon as they get inside, chattering excitedly about how someone called Lucille is there and Heather throws them a graceful, apologetic smile as she lets herself be led away, explains something about Lucille being a former flatmate, or maybe a cousin, or something, Michael doesn’t really care. He’s too busy trying to pick a path through the groups of people sat on the floor smiling lazily at each other as they take hit after hit from a bong, bottles clinking like wind chimes, and Michael thinks vaguely that he should maybe work that into a song someday as he trips over hands and feet and mumbled apologies spill from his lips. 

Calum picks them up a bottle of beer each, gives one to Michael wordlessly, like he knows Michael needs something to do with his hands. Michael downs half of it in one go, trying to dull the edge of nerves in him, and accepts when a guy walking past offers him a joint. He takes a deep toke, wincing as the taste of weed and alcohol combine in his mouth and handing it over to Calum as he holds it in his lungs, only exhaling when Calum passes it back and taking another deep hit until his vision starts to sharpen, time starts to slow down. Calum grins at him, hands the joint to a passing couple who accept gratefully, and heads for a little sofa in the corner. Michael follows in his wake, throws himself down next to Calum, relishes the way Calum scoots a little closer to him. 

“How cool is this, man?” Calum says, exhaling heavily, like he can’t believe what’s happening. Michael knows the feeling. 

“Yeah, great,” he says, because Calum’s the lyricist, Calum’s the one that can put these things into words. Michael’s never been any good at that. Michael is good, however, at making fun of Calum. “Apparently Dylan’s here, somewhere,” he adds, schooling his features into sincerity. 

Calum whips around to look at him, a look of pure shock and disbelief on his face, like Michael’s taking the piss (not unfounded, Michael thinks, since he is taking the piss), and Michael can’t help the small, fond smile that unfurls on his lips, gaze flitting from Calum’s wide, brown eyes to his slightly parted lips and back again. Michael’s stomach does a little roll, possibly due to the combination of alcohol and weed and possibly due to the mere existence of Calum Hood, and he can’t help grinning at the excitement finding its way into Calum’s eyes. Calum notices, because of course he does, he notices fucking everything, and realisation dawns on his face. He scowls, elbowing Michael gently as he looks back over into the crowd of people, and Michael snorts quietly and takes another sip of his beer. 

“Uh,” Calum says, looking out into the crowd, and Michael follows his gaze, trying to find what Calum’s staring at. “I’m going to go to the teepee with Heather.” Michael’s stomach sinks. 

“Really?” he asks, before he can stop himself, looking over at Calum. 

“Yeah,” Calum says, turning to look at Michael, and Michael whips back around before Calum can see the look of please don’t written all over his face. 

“Alright.” He nods, trying to convince himself more than Calum that he’s okay with this, because it’s not the first time Calum’s cut his time with Michael short for a fuck, but it never stings any less. Calum’s not his, after all, no matter how much Michael is Calum’s. “Okay.” He shakes his head a little, trying to clear it of the thoughts buzzing through his slightly-inebriated mind, and Calum pauses, still looking at him, a slight crease between his brows. 

“You’ll be alright, won’t you?” he asks, and Michael looks back at him, hesitating for a moment when he sees the look of concern on Calum’s face. If he says no, Calum will stay with him, he knows that. The selfish part of him wants to say no just to spite Calum, just to make him stay, just to stop him from breaking Michael’s heart a little more. Instead, the part of him that loves Calum, the biggest part of him, makes him swallow it down, frown like Calum’s just asked something stupid, and nod. 

“Yeah, ‘course, yeah,” he says breezily, and Calum looks relieved, pushing himself off the sofa at the same time as Michael. 

They head for the table with alcohol on it, because Calum always needs liquid confidence before a conquest and Michael needs to drink until he fucking dies, and Michael pours himself a glass of wine, steadfastly not looking at Calum, whose eyes still haven’t strayed from Heather. 

“So, are we still going to go to Tower Records tomorrow, then?” he tries, eyes flitting to Calum, wanting the reassurance that Heather’s just another one-nighter, that Michael’s still got Calum in his waking hours. 

“Uh, well, she’s talking about going to some place called Paradise Cove tomorrow,” Calum says, a little absent-mindedly. Michael stares at his glass, and nods tightly. He needs some more fucking weed. Calum notices Michael’s lack of response and turns back to him, and Michael smiles at him, nodding, but he knows he’s failed in getting it to reach his eyes when Calum adds: “We’ll go another time, though?” 

“Yeah, ‘course,” Michael says, voice about an octave too high in his attempt to be casual, but it’s enough for Calum who turns away with a murmured yeah, yeah.  

“America, man,” he says, eyes wide, grin big, reaching for his drink. “Wide open spaces, beautiful girls-” Michael makes a noise that he hopes isn’t taken for the derision it’s meant to be but rather assent, but Calum doesn’t even seem to notice “-it’s a dream come true.” He grins back at Michael, who forces a smile, and raises his glass to Calum's. “Cheers,” Calum adds, and knocks back his vodka, and Michael swallows a good half of his glass of wine in one go. 

“Let’s stay here forever,” Calum says, eyes glittering, and then he leans over and presses a kiss to Michael’s cheek. His lips are soft and warm on Michael’s cheek, stubble scratching Michael’s jaw lightly, and Michael has to clench his fists to stop himself turning his head, catching Calum’s lips in a proper kiss. Calum lingers for a moment, or maybe that’s Michael’s marijuana-infused sense of time, before pulling back, grinning widely, and heading off in Heather’s direction. Michael lets himself watch Calum leave, knowing he’s staring after him like a kicked puppy but not even caring who sees him pining as long as it’s not Calum. 

The room suddenly feels too hot, too stuffy, cloying heat of the weed surrounding him hitting him all at once, and he heads out of the door that’s just swung shut behind Calum and Heather, taking deep gulps of the cool, crisp air and leaning against the wooden fence of the patio. Something softer has started playing in the background, piano and voice and Michael thinks it might be one of his, but can’t hear well enough over the sounds of people talking to piece it together. Groups of people are swaying to it in the garden, giggles carrying with the gentle breeze, and Michael spots Calum and Heather among them and has to turn away, a bitter taste rising in his throat. 

He decides to head for a tree stump near a campfire that nobody’s sitting around, figuring he can always throw himself into the fire if he gets too miserable. Calum and Heather have disappeared from his line of vision, and Michael tries his best not to think about it as he passes the teepee and hears giggles and moans coming from inside, tries not to visualise Calum’s back marked up by someone that isn’t him. 

The fire’s hot on his face, and Michael wonders if he could maybe blind himself by staring at it for too long and force Calum to, like, become his personal guide dog, or something, before the (small) non-melodramatic part of his brain threads its way through the alcohol and weed and tells him sternly not to be such a selfish prick. He tears his eyes away, gazing glumly at the tips of his boots instead, listening to everybody laughing and chattering around him and trying to resist the urge to stand up and yell at everybody that they can’t be enjoying themselves in his vicinity, they’re not allowed to laugh near him, can they not see how fucking tragic his life is? All the way in California, just played a sold-out show at the Troubadour, and he’s all on his fucking own.

No one near, he manages to make out from the song, and grimaces as he kicks a stone into the fire, just because he can, because his own music is hitting a little too close to home right now. He strains to listen to the rest of the song, just for something to do that isn’t spiral in his own mind, but it’s drowned out by the rustling sound of someone sitting down on the tree stump to his right. 

“Hi,” they say, a little tentatively, and Michael’s stomach sinks. It’s Calum, the only and also the last person Michael wants to see right now. 

“Hi,” Michael replies, a little moody, gazing at the fire. 

“You okay?” Calum says. Michael shrugs. 

“Why wouldn’t I be?” he says, and it’s a challenge. Dare you to call me out for being in love with you. Go on. Say it. 

“Dunno,” Calum says, and Michael can hear the sound of his leather jacket as he shrugs. 

“Why aren’t you with Heather?” Michael says, and tries not to make it come out too bitter. There’s silence from his right. 

“Think we both know the answer to that,” Calum says quietly. Michael’s stomach twists uncomfortably, alcohol and weed and unrequited love. Fantastic. Now Calum’s magnanimously giving up getting laid, like he’s ever so sorry, it’s just that his stupid fucking songwriter friend - yes, the ugly, balding one - has a massive crush on him and it’d just break his heart if Calum had sex with someone while Michael was nearby. 

“Right,” Michael says, and it’s a little harsh. “Sorry for being such a fucking killjoy.” 

“What?” Calum says, and he sounds somewhere between surprised and confused. “Mike, that’s not-” 

“Look,” Michael says fiercely, gritting his teeth. “I can’t help it, okay? I’ll get over it, alright, and I’m sorry, but don’t fucking come over here playing the good guy, acting all sanctimonious-” 

“Mike, I- hang on, did you just say sanctimonious? ”

“Taking the moral high ground, making such a fucking show of i-” 

“I know what sanctimonious means, Michael, I’m-” 

“Oh, so you think I don’t know what sanctimonious means? Great, you think I’m a fucking idiot?” Michael says, throwing his hands in the air, knowing he’s not making any sense but wanting to goad Calum into a fight in whatever way he can, wanting a justified reason for the anger and the spite and the bitter sadness without the heavy guilt creeping into the edge of each one. 

“Jesus, Michael, I don’t think you’re an idiot, I’m just not being fucking sanctimonious,” Calum says, and there’s a hard edge to his voice now. “You’re such a fucking drama queen, you know that?” Another flare of anger flashes in Michael and he whips around to face Calum. 

“Are you fucking serious?” he demands, and there are tears pricking at his eyes that he can’t quite identify either with sadness or fury. “Do you have any idea how difficult it is, Calum? Fucking sorry that I fell in love with you, mate, but don’t act like it’s your cross to b-” 

“You’re in love with me?” Calum interrupts, eyes wide, lips parted in shock. Michael swallows. Fuck. Alcohol, weed, and the kind of melodramatic anger only an artist can summon are not a good combination. 

“Fuck you,” he bites out. “If you’re just going to make fun of me, I’m going to fucking fire you.” 

“You can’t fire me,” Calum says, and Michael wants to scream at him, even more so because he knows Calum’s right. Dick’s the only one with that power. 

“I can do what I fucking like, Calu-” he starts irately, but Calum interrupts him again.

“Why the fuck have you got it in for me tonight, Mike?” Calum asks, and it’s a little weary, and the anger immediately dissipates from Michael’s chest as a surge of guilt courses through him. He sags, hunching into himself with a sigh. Cat’s out the fucking bag now, isn’t it, and there’s no point in him lashing out at Calum just to try and get a rise out of him. Calum never gives, not when he knows Michael’s just doing it to try and make himself feel better.

“I don’t,” Michael says sullenly. “Just don’t want you acting like I’m a massive fucking burden, is all.” 

“If you’d just let me fucking speak,” Calum begins, and then breaks off, like he’d been expecting Michael to interrupt. Michael just raises his eyebrows. 

“Well, go on then,” he mutters, shoving his hands in his pockets just for something to do. 

“I thought you knew,” Calum says, and then stops. 

“That’s all?” Michael says in disbelief. “That’s what you wanted me to listen to?” 

“No, look,” Calum says, and he reaches out for Michael’s thigh, hand warm and gentle and Michael wants to flinch away, but his body won’t let him. “I went off with Heather tonight because-” he pauses, and swallows, like whatever he’s saying is taking more out of him than Michael knows, but presses on. “Because I thought it’s what I needed. And then we got to the teepee, and she started kissing me, and I...all I could think was it was wrong. She was wrong.” Michael stares at the fire steadfastly. 

“No offence, Calum,” he says, a little harshly, pulling his leg away from Calum’s hand, “but I’m not really in the mood to give you relationship counselling.” 

“Will you just fucking listen?” Calum says, and he sounds exasperated now. 

“Get to the fucking point, then,” Michael growls. Calum takes a deep breath. 

“I wanted it to be you, ” he says. 

“You wanted me to kiss Heather?” Michael says, and laughs humourlessly. “Look, mate, I know I’m fucking lonely, I don’t need your pity, alright, and how how many fucking times do I have to tell you I’m ga- ” 

“I wanted to be kissing you.” 

Michael hears the fire crackling for the first time, spitting sparks into the air between them. 

“You...what?” he says, and chances a look at Calum to see if he’s taking the piss. Calum’s staring at him, looking a little pale but very determined. 

“I want to kiss you.” Michael blinks. 

“Cal, you’re drunk,” he says heavily, and hesitates before adding, “and you’re straight,” pained, and voice cracking a little. Calum swallows, and shrugs tightly. 

“Apparently not,” he says. 

“I’m not going to be your experiment,” Michael says bitterly. “What, you find out you might want to kiss a bloke and you think ‘oh, yeah, Michael’s gay and lonely, I’ll give it a shot with him’? I’m not a fucking charity case, Cal.” 

“I don’t think you are,” Calum says. “I-” he breaks off, inhales deeply, and exhales heavily. Michael watches his chest rise and fall, feels his own heart thud a little faster. “Look. I’ve wanted to kiss you since I first met you. In that little café, remember? We started singing ‘Streets of Laredo’ and pissed everyone off. You were grinning at me, doing that little squinty-eyes thing you do when you’re really laughing at something, and I just wanted to grab you by your ugly fucking lapels and kiss you.” 

“But I kissed you,” Michael points out. “On the roof.” And you pushed me away, he doesn’t say, because it hurts too much, but Calum hears it. He sighs, and casts his eyes at the fire, avoiding Michael’s gaze. 

“I know,” he says miserably. “I just- I wasn’t sure. I value you so much, Mike, you know that. You’re my heart, my soul, my-” 

“Career?” Calum huffs out a laugh, lips quirking up in a smile. 

“Yeah, that too,” he says. “I had to be sure. I didn’t want to fuck any of it up, y’know? But I’ve wanted you since the café. Since before that, actually. Since I heard the tape you sent me.” 

“You didn’t even know what I looked like,” Michael says, and Calum shrugs. 

“Didn’t need to,” he says, still staring into the fire. “Your voice, Mike…” he trails off, like he’s reminiscing, and then clears his throat, catching himself. “Hearing you sing my songs, the songs I wrote about you- ” 

“Hang on,” Michael interrupts, because what? What fucking songs has Calum written about him? The King Must Die? 

“What?” Calum sounds surprised now. “C’mon, Mike. First Episode at Hienton? Take Me to the Pilot? Your Song?” 

“Your Song?” Michael repeats, dumbfounded. Calum finally tears his eyes away from the fire and looks at Michael, a little reproachfully, like it’s Michael’s fault he hadn’t noticed Calum’s cryptic lyrics had been about him.  

“‘I’ve forgotten if they’re green or they’re blue’?” Calum quips, and Michael blinks. 

“Oh,” he says, because he can’t really think of anything else to say, nothing that will do the velvety feeling of God, I’m so fucking in love with you justice. Calum huffs out a laugh, like this is funny somehow, and like their entire world isn’t teetering on a knife’s edge in the middle of a party somewhere in Hollywood, both of them drunk and stoned and tired. 

“This isn’t an experiment, Mike,” he says. “I’ve- I, uh. Experimented already, so. I’m sure about it.”

“You’ve- you’ve been with guys?” Michael repeats slowly. Calum shrugs, a little uncomfortably. 

“Had to be sure,” he says again. “Would never have experimented with you. You mean too much to me for that.” 

“When?” 

“When what?”

“When’ve you been with guys?” Calum bites his lip. 

“Few times, at clubs,” he says, and Michael thinks back to all the times he’d lost Calum in the crowd, searched for him in vain, given up and gone home alone because he didn’t want to face seeing Calum grinding against a girl in the corner of the room. 

“Huh,” Michael says, images shifting to Calum grinding up against a man in the corner of the room. He finds he kind of hates it, kind of doesn’t. Jealousy and pride are licking at each other in his veins, wanting to have been Calum’s first but knowing that Calum did it because he didn’t want Michael to be an experiment, because he wanted to be sure. The thought makes him feel worth something, the same way Calum’s lyrics have made him feel worth something for the first time in years. 

“So?” Calum says, and there’s a hint of nervousness in his voice. 

“So what?” 

“So...can I kiss you?” Michael meets his gaze, giving him one last chance to change his mind and pretend they’ve both forgotten about it by tomorrow morning, and Calum, although he looks fucking terrified, holds it steadily, breathing a little laboured. 

Jesus fucking Christ, Michael thinks, stomach flipping, adrenaline making his heart lurch. They’re really doing this, then.

“You did hear me when I said I was in love with you, right?” Michael says, unable to help the smile that plays at his lips, and Calum grins, fear and relief mingling on his face. 

“Is that a yes?” he says, and Michael rolls his eyes, leans forwards, cups Calum’s jaw and presses their lips together. Calum’s warm, soft against him, tasting like stale alcohol and stale weed, but Michael finds he doesn’t even care when Calum makes a little noise and melts into him, lips moving against Michael’s and kissing him back. A shock of something like dampened arousal shoots through Michael and he crowds in closer, almost falling off his tree stump, wanting to feel Calum everywhere he can. 

Michael’s not sure whether it’s the weed or whether it actually does last forever, but it feels like two centuries have passed before Calum pulls away, breathing heavily. He looks fucking obscene, eyes dark and lips plump and parted, and Jesus Christ, Michael’s way too fucking stoned for this. 

“Fuck,” Calum says, touching his lips almost absent-mindedly, and Michael huffs out a laugh.

“Yeah,” he agrees. 

“Well,” Calum says stupidly, blinking at Michael, all dark lashes and blown pupils and Michael can’t help himself, leaning forwards and pressing another soft, chaste kiss to Calum’s lips, because he fucking can. Calum’s eyes are wide when Michael draws back (reluctantly, but he’s about to lose his balance on the tree stump), following Michael as he pulls away. 

“You look pretty fucked,” Michael tells him, and Calum grins. 

“I am pretty fucked,” he agrees. “Fucked in the head for liking you.” Michael tries to scowl but can’t stop the smile breaking through, because fuck, Calum likes him. Jesus. 

“You’re such a dickhead,” he says, but he’s grinning, and Calum’s grinning back. 

“Yeah,” Calum says, eyes soft. “But at least I’m your dickhead, right?” 

“Yeah,” Michael says gently, holding his hand out, fingers splayed, even though it’s far too fucking hot by the fire for this, and Calum slots his fingers between Michael’s, his hand warm and heavy in Michael’s. “Not that you have much choice, anyway. I’m the only one that’d put up with you.” Calum laughs, and squeezes Michael’s hand. 

“You’re one to talk,” he says pointedly, and Michael thinks yeah, he’s kind of got a point. Calum hadn’t been wrong to call him a drama queen. 

“Well, at least you know how to shut me up, now,” Michael says. 

“Yeah,” Calum says, grin turning a little wicked. “What, you think there’s any other reason I’d want to kiss you?” Michael manages a scowl this time, and goes to elbow Calum, forgetting he’s balanced on a fucking tree stump and falling right off, pulling Calum with him. Michael lands on the grass between the two of them with a thud, ground pressed uncomfortably into his back, but when he looks up to see Calum sprawled on top of him, face inches from Michael’s, he can’t bring himself to care. 

“Good job,” Calum deadpans, and then they both burst out laughing, because fuck, this is fucking ridiculous. They’re on the floor at a party in California after Michael’s first night at the fucking Troubadour, drunk and high out of their minds, and Calum wants to kiss Michael. None of it makes any sense to Michael, a chronological string of non sequiturs, but it all makes warm embers burn in the pit of his stomach and he fucking loves it, fucking loves Calum. 

“God, I fucking love you,” he tells Calum, and Calum grins, resting his forehead against Michael’s. 

“Don’t blame you, mate,” he murmurs, capturing Michael’s lips in another kiss.

Lay me down in sheets of linen, Michael hears his own voice suggest over the crackling fire and the buzz of voices, but it’s Calum’s words in Michael’s mouth, and Michael grins into the kiss, thinking yeah, he might do just that. 

[rainyday-deer]

One more question... What do you like about Hector and Rapunzel? 😍💝

As a ship?? OHO BOY

So like-- First off, I do try to make it pretty obvious about why I like them in the lil scribbly scenarios I do for them, and the kind of dynamic I can see them having. Most of what I do isn’t even explicitly shippy, and can easily be read as a friendship. Which is a big thing for me, tbh. I want to make it seem plausible that these two could be friends, and then have them grow into something else.

I will be forward-- I really enjoy Heroine/Antagonist ships, especially for Rapunzel. Anyone who has followed me long enough, or knows me well enough, knows this to be true. I enjoy enemies to friends to lovers. It’s a very fun dynamic, and figuring out how it could work is a fun past-time lmao

A lot of this is based on context clues, speculation, and headcanons though, since Hector wasn’t touched on in depth in the show. C’est la vie.

Hector’s pretty interesting too, since while he’s an antagonist, he’s not necessarily a straight up bad guy. He’s doing what he thinks is right, even if it’s in an incredibly extreme manner. He believes he’s helping to keep the world safe, by keeping the moonstone a secret, and keeping everyone away from the dark kingdom. He could not have given less of a shit about Rapunzel, or the fact she MIGHT be the sundrop. Hell, he looks INCREDIBLY unimpressed with her when he finally gets close.

That said, when he shows up again, he’s still willing to fight on her side because it’s the right thing to do. It kind of reiterates that NO, he’s not a bad guy.

And that’s kind of the crux for me. Rapunzel has won over arguably worse people. The Pub Thugs were unapologetic thugs (and remained that way, even when chasing their dreams). Rapunzel won over Stalyan, who wasn’t above letting her father poison someone so she could force Eugene into marriage. Var and Cass both kind of count too; She forgave them after they BOTH committed treason and attempted murder because they were angry with her. She’s a very loving person who wants to see the best in people, and I don’t think Hector would be an exception.

And like-- They’re actually kind of similar. They’ve both got the long periods of isolation thing going for them. They both love animals (Did you see how Hector was comforting his Rhino?? He loves him, end of story), and they’re both incredibly loyal to the people they care about (arguably to extreme lengths). All these traits manifest in different ways, but they’re there. Sort of like a strange reflection of the other.

Even visually I kind of feel like they contrast against each other in a really pleasant way-- But that’s more of a personal opinion.

Also! There’s one subversion about them that is interesting (to me personally):

Rapunzel is technically more caught up in the world than Hector is. Rapunzel’s had about 2-3 years to learn about the modern world around her. New books, inventions, politics. She knows about most, if not all, of it. Hector’s knowledge is outdated, given his longer period of isolation. You’d think he’d be the more worldly one, and in some ways he is, but that doesn’t change the fact that Rapunzel is the one most up to date, so in a weird way, a little more knowledgeable.

Not about everything, mind you, but it’s an interesting note imo.

On a more emotional side: It’s pretty well regarded by Hector stans that he’s touch starved. Arguably, he’s a little socially and emotionally stunted too-- And so is Rapunzel! BUT, she’s a lot more willing to reach out and be compassionate. She’s genuine about it, and given their few similarities, I do think Hector would be willing to at least hear her out. And she does get it, which in turn, means he gets her too. I feel like they’d be able to notice easier if and when the other is overwhelmed.

(Also also on the touch starved thing: Rapunzel is a cuddlebug. She’s touchy. Hector would get SO many hugs, arm touches, kisses, etc)

Striking on the opposites thing though-- Hector is probably standoffish and grouchy with strangers. Rapunzel wants to be everyone’s friend and be liked. I feel like they’d help each other balance it out. Rapunzel would encourage Hector to try and make friends, and he might try to help her let it go and chill out if someone doesn’t like her (Because, lbr, she does struggle with it a lot.) Rapunzel is very forgiving. Hector is arguably more stingy with forgiveness and earning trust back (Not that he can’t-- He didn’t kill Adira, after all). They’d have a yin-yang dynamic, I think.

So I guess the bottom line is just... I think they’d have some interesting interactions, and I think their dynamic could be a lot of fun, be it romantic or platonic.