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ectonurites · 4 years

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idk how to quote tags on mobile where is the conner kent essay i NEED it

ALRIGHT OKAY! here’s 5k+ words plus panels & screenshots of me comparing and contrasting the two drastically different versions of Superboy (comics vs young justice cartoon) and going over what makes them such distinctly separate characters. someday i’ll refine this a bit more its kinda just a word dump that’s been living in my brain that i wanted to actually articulate after i read through Reign of the Supermen but here we go:

Pretty frequently I see the question “Why is Superboy so different in the Young Justice cartoon?” float around in DC circles. I think there are two main approaches to answering this:

Why did the writers of the cartoon decide to create a very different version of Superboy?

What factors make this Superboy so different from the comic version?

For the first approach the answer is relatively straight-forward, from the start Young Justice as a cartoon was never meant to be a direct adaptation of the comics. They just used the title and a few elements so they could create their own approach to the DC universe with a focus on younger heroes. For example, Artemis Crock in their show is also COMPLETELY different from her comic counterpart, Zatanna is aged way down to be a member of the teen team, and Kaldur’ahm was created for this show (and integrated into the comics as Jackson Hyde). They were always trying to do different things than the main comics universe, so them making a different version of Conner also makes sense. Their approach to him is also very clearly influenced more by how he appeared in the Teen Titans comic run that was still coming out as Young Justice started airing (his design, and some other elements we’ll discuss along the way), as opposed to his original version from the 90′s/the Young Justice comic.

So the basic “why” is that from the start they wanted to create something unique to their universe, which they definitely did accomplish.

The much more interesting subject to dive into, though, is looking at the differences in Superboy’s story that contribute to him becoming such a different person.

The drastic changes made to the following factors are what I view as the main source of his differences in personality/outlook/characterization:

The conditions and history of the world at the time he is introduced

The circumstances around him being introduced/leaving Cadmus

The reaction Clark has to him and how their relationship starts

The people he first interacted with & became close to, and how he interacts with the world

The timing of him finding out about his connection to Luthor

The State of the Worlds

In the comics, Superboy is first introduced in Adventures of Superman #500 by iconically saying “Don’t ever call me Superboy!”

during a 1993 event called “Reign of the Supermen”, a follow up to the 1992 event “The Death of Superman”. Based on the title of the 1992 event, I think you can, uh, guess what one major difference in the setting here was vs. the state of the world at the time he was introduced in the cartoon. Obviously Clark didn’t stay dead forever, but Superboy first comes onto the scene as a young clone of Superman who insists he is the new Superman (one of the four characters trying to do so during the event). This is in the main DC universe in the early 90’s, which means that heroes in general, including teen heroes, aren’t a new thing! Not only has the Justice League been around for a while but so has the Teen Titans. Once Clark is alive again, Superboy goes off on his own to establish himself as an individual teen hero.

So how is that different in the cartoon?

In the cartoon, Superboy is first introduced in the pilot episodes “Independence Day” and “Fireworks”

on the 4th of July in (what most people consider to be) 2010. This was supposed to be the day that Robin (Dick Grayson), Speedy (Roy Harper), Kid Flash (Wally West), and Aqualad (Kaldur’ahm) would get to see the true Justice League HQ at the Hall of Justice, which... doesn’t go exactly as planned.

In this world, superheroes are a newer thing, this is something that the creators have talked about before. At this point, while there is an established Justice League, there are no known teams of teen superheroes. Just the fact that as of season one Dick Grayson is still Robin is a pretty good indicator that this world is early in it’s time with a Batman. Now, the sidekicks aren’t a secret, as they appear very publicly in this first episode, but they are almost always seen acting with their mentors at this point. Again, there is no Teen Titans in this setting, and there never has been.

So when they do form the first teen hero team? It is kept covert-ops. They do not publicize that they act as a superhero team, and the members who weren’t already publicly known heroes (mainly Miss Martian and Superboy) end up being pretty… unknown to a lot of the world outside the hero/villain community! Again their existence is not strictly kept a secret, but they keep the fact that there’s a team of minors who are heroes going on independent missions VERY under the radar on purpose. Thus, those who aren’t going around doing super public hero activities just don’t have nearly as much of a presence.

So to summarize:

In the comics, Superboy is immediately put in a spotlight (he befriends a reporter and is all over tv and literally trademarks the name Superman) becoming known to the world and establishes himself as a solo acting hero YEARS before joining any teams.

In the cartoon, Superboy is kept relatively out of the spotlight, immediately becomes part of a covert-ops team and doesn’t act solo very often. The well known teen heroes in this setting are sidekicks working under a mentor, and Superboy does not actually act as a sidekick.

What does this mean for Superboy?

Superboy in the comics gets to, right away, act on his own and get a taste of what being Superman is like. In the cartoon, he’s brought into the world at a time where there already is a Superman. I think back to this bit from the therapy episode, where he says:

“See, from the moment I first opened my eyes in that Cadmus pod, there’s been one thing I’ve wanted, and feared. To know what it is to be Superman.”

Comics Superboy started out getting to do that! He immediately got a shot at filling that role, and he then makes the choice to relinquish it back to the original once he’s alive again. He (begrudgingly at first) understood that it wasn’t yet his time to be Superman, and knows he’ll someday fill those shoes for real- but in the meantime being Superboy is gonna be his own thing and he’ll embrace it and make it work.

Cartoon Superboy is left in a shadow, not ever truly knowing what it’s like to fill those shoes (except in a doomsday scenario training exercise gone awry that he then just feels intense guilt over). This leaves him a lot more frustrated and lost, and I think is a major contributor to how angry this version of Superboy is compared to his much more ‘chill go with the flow’ attitude in the comics.

Cadmus

In the comics, in that same issue he’s introduced, we find out that Superboy broke out of his cloning tube prematurely and left Cadmus with the assistance of the second Newsboy Legion, who also gave him his first leather jacket, before the programming that would allow Cadmus to control him was implemented.

He quickly gets up to speed with the situation, that Clark is dead. So he comes on the scene starting to save people and saying he is Superman, or at least the clone of the original one. A major thing that does influence his character here is the fact that… this is the 90’s. He is designed around the idea of what is ‘cool’ back in 1993. (look, even his original character design sheets call him cool)

So right off the bat he’s got a stereotypical ‘cool teen guy in that era’ personality, which is often played for comedy to add a little lightness to some of the dark things happening during this event.

Anyways, he has left Cadmus, he’s acting on his own, and he starts realizing that his powers aren’t exactly the same as Superman’s over the course of the Reign of the Supermen story.

After the main conflict is settled and Clark is fully alive and acting as Superman again, the two of them end up going back to Cadmus to find out what the exact deal is with him. I’ll go into this more in a later point, but they find out he’s not exactly a clone of Superman (or Lex- him being actually involved as a DNA donor is a retcon that happened a decade later). They agree to let someone from Cadmus (Dubbilex- the grey guy with the horns in this pic) leave Metropolis with him, as he sets out on a press tour to establish himself as Superboy now that he relinquished the trademark on the Superman name back to Clark.

Let’s pause and look at how this is different in the cartoon.

In the cartoon, when the trio of Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad decide to prove themselves to their mentors they run off on their own to attend to a fire at Project Cadmus when the Justice League got called off to do something else. Upon arriving, they accidentally uncover some weird things about Cadmus, like the crazy amount of sublevels, the creatures roaming around, and the fact that it’s not on the main power grids. They eventually find Superboy, still in his cloning tube. They break him out, but then get captured themselves.

When they are then put into tubes by Cadmus personnel, they manage to convince Superboy to help free them by promising him things like getting to meet Superman, and see the moon. The group of four now working together manages to escape from the building and it topples down, where they are then greeted by the Justice League who are Not Happy.

Superman flies away shortly after, and the group of kids explain to their remaining mentors that sure, they disobeyed orders, but they accomplished something good here, and they are going to keep doing it, whether the League likes it or not. The compromise is the formation of The Team, to be covert-ops while the Justice League acts publicly, and the boys are joined by Miss Martian.

So to summarize:

In the comics, Superboy leaves Cadmus pretty independently (with some assistance) to go act on his own as a hero immediately. He returns to Cadmus later for more information, and they reveal truths to him about his existence. After he knows his truth, he goes off to continue establishing himself as a solo hero but lets Cadmus still supervise what he’s doing through Dubbilex.

In the cartoon, Superboy is rescued from Cadmus by Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad, without knowing pretty much anything about himself besides the fact that he is a clone of Superman, and is immediately put on the covert ops team.

What it means for Superboy:

Comic Superboy goes to act on his own, even after he admits he’s not the real Superman anymore. Yes he’s not 100% alone in terms of ‘he’s got people (Rex, Roxy, Dubbilex, Tana) around him’, but as a hero he’s a solo act and ends up taking residence in Hawaii. In the cartoon, by joining a team right away, he’s taking on a very different style of being a hero, especially because the team itself is covert-ops. Rather than regularly saving the day all on his own much like Superman, which can help comic Superboy feel like he’s still living up to the name more, cartoon Superboy is working under the radar in a group setting, while still wanting to desperately fill those Superman shoes.

He is overconfident in his abilities and wants to be the hero he was created to be, so him being put into this very different type of superhero situation is another major contributor to the frustration/anger. Even later on when comics Superboy is part of forming the Young Justice team, they were never a secret covert-ops team, they were always publicly known. (hell, a reporter is the one who gave them the team name Young Justice because he’d misheard Bart)

Superboy & Superman

In the comics, as we have established, Clark was dead at the time Superboy first came on the hero scene. Clark comes back to life, during a little bit of a lull in the middle of the huge conflict. He immediately accepts that Superboy is one of four who came forward to try to replace him, and one of the only two (Superboy & Steel) who genuinely only had good intentions in doing so. Clark, Steel, Supergirl, Hal Jordan, and Superboy then all work together in the big battle against the Cyborg Superman.

Once things are settled, Clark is curious about him, and where he came from and his origin, so they end up going to Cadmus together with Guardian and learning more about him, as I previously mentioned. Once it is established that Superboy is in fact a metahuman clone who was created to mimic Superman, but is not actually a clone of him, Superman still accepts him and thinks he’s earned his right to continue using the ’S’ shield and have the name of Superboy.

They part ways so Superboy can go on his press tour, but in general they have pretty positive interactions where they mutually respect each other! Not too much later in the comics even (I forget exaaactly when this happens but it’s definitely before the 1998 Young justice comic), Superman is the first one to give Superboy a real name, “Kon-El”, something he is so happy about he literally cries.

How is this different in the cartoon?

When the boys first escaped, and Superboy first meets the Justice League, Clark is standoffish. Other members of the league need to nudge him over to go actually talk to Superboy, and it’s not much of a conversation before he flies off and away, leaving Superboy frustrated and alone.

This… turns into the standard for almost the entire first season. Other characters constantly telling Clark that he needs to reach out and be support for the boy (like in this iconic diner scene with Bruce and Clark), but Clark consistently being too freaked out by the fact that someone made a clone of him without his knowledge to properly accept Conner. While this does over time get better, this being the immediate reaction when Superboy is brand new in the world definitely… has an impact!

He is rejected by the person he idolizes, and feels neglected and abandoned, and definitely kinda overcompensates with ego to try to make up for it.

So:

In the comics, Superman and Superboy work together from the start, not falling into a hero/sidekick situation but rather acknowledging each other as individual heroes with respect for one another. They grow to see each other as family much faster, and little tension between them. A crucial difference in situations, though, is that at the time these versions first meet Superboy is not actually a clone of Superman.

In the cartoon, Superman at first avoids Superboy, and does not offer guidance or mentorship or anything the boy needs. It is clear that he wants to work with Superman and be like him, since it was what he was created to do. It takes a lot of time for Clark to accept Conner in this setting, and there is a lot of tension for the first several months Conner exists. (they seem to settle this towards the end of season 1/during the gap between season 2, but it still has it’s impact on who Conner is early in his life)

What does this mean?

I feel like this is another major factor that contributes to Conner being so angry all the time in the cartoon, he feels immediately rejected by the person he’s supposed to be someday, rather than accepted by him. Again, very different from how comics Superboy got a chance to be Superman, and a chance to then work with the real deal as equals.

Friendships, Relationships and Identity

When Superboy is freed by the second Newsboy Legion, it’s primarily out of a ‘we’re clones who are stuck here, but you need to be out there, you’re what Metropolis needs right now!’ kind of idea. The first person he actually becomes close to is a reporter named Tana Moon.

Tana and Superboy’s relationship is… bad once it actually becomes romantic due to their huge age difference (she’s around 23, he is for all intents and purposes 16), but during the Reign of the Supermen where they’re still just friends for the most part, it’s not as bad. Tana becomes the GBS correspondent who focuses on everything Superboy (at this time still insisting he is the new Superman) is doing as a hero, and they become close friends.

GBS then also brings in Rex Leech (and his daughter Roxy) to be his agent, to promote Superboy and manage things for him. Rex is exploitative as hell, but Roxy does become another really important person to Superboy. These characters along with Dubbilex are his main supporting cast at the start of his solo comic when he’s in Hawaii.

In this whole era, Superboy is pretty much a celebrity. He’s cool, he’s a superhero, and I think it’s very notable he does not have a secret Identity. For a decent chunk of time, he is always just ‘Superboy’ (until, as I mentioned earlier, Clark gives him the name Kon-El. Even so, he doesn’t adopt a regular secret identity [Conner Kent, although he actually used a different one, Carl Grummett, before that!] until he begins living with the Kents in the early 2000s). By the time he joins any teams, Kon is pretty damn confident in who he is as a hero and has a relatively good grasp on who he is in general, if anything he’s a little too confident.

Young Justice was created in the aftermath of World Without Grown Ups when the trio of Superboy, Robin (Tim Drake) and Impulse (Bart Allen) had teamed up. After they saved the day they realized they worked well together and formed their team, utilizing the old Justice League base in Mount Justice. They were eventually joined by more members, especially relevant here is Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark) who Kon later dates for a portion of the Teen Titans run that these four are in after Young Justice ends.

The four of them become close, and when Kon dies during Infinite Crisis it rips a hole in everything they had established growing up together over the past several years (Cassie joins a cult dedicated to bringing him back, Tim tries to clone a new Kon, Bart got aged up and took on the mantle of the Flash, etc) and Bart’s death that followed similarly shook the remaining Cassie and Tim. This group eventually does get to reunite, with Kon and Bart coming back during Final Crisis, solidifying how even things like death don’t keep them apart for long. It’s hard to look at the comic book versions of these four characters and imagine how they would be without their connections to each other... until you look at the YJ cartoon and see a world where they’re not even all part of the same generation, let alone a friend group.

Now in the cartoon…

The first people Conner primarily interacts with are Dick, Wally, Kaldur, and M’gann, along with the League members who interact with The Team pretty regularly, Red Tornado, Batman, and Black Canary. He’s shown to be friends with the other memebers of the team and get along with them relatively well, but in general he’s not much of a social person.

Much like in the comics, Superboy is considered very attractive, and immediately upon their meeting, M’gann is interested in him. Very, very interested in him.

At first it definitely does seem more just like an innocent crush, but it’s later revealed to be a little more… concerning than that. As in ‘Megan subtlety influencing Superboy to become her dream boyfriend based on a TV show she likes’ concerning. Like… she literally gives him the name ‘Conner’ after the TV show character that was the boyfriend of the character she bases her human self and entire identity on. The two date and once that becomes a thing, a lot of their plot lines in the following seasons revolve around the ups and downs of their relationship.

In general in this show, Superboy doesn’t really get much of a chance to establish himself on his own terms. Within months of him leaving his cloning pod, he and M’gann start going to high school with secret identities, so he’s already having to hide who he truly is to blend in with other people, before he even knows who he truly is.

So to compare:

In the comics, Superboy gets to figure out who he is as Superman’s Clone/Superboy very publicly, has multiple love interests and a celebrity status, and over time becomes part of a tight-knit group of friends. He doesn’t use a regular secret identity for the first several years he’s active.

In the cartoon, Superboy has one love interest with a very large impact on him, not nearly as much focus is given to his other friendships, and he immediately adopts a secret identity meaning he needs to hide who he is from the start.

What it means:

These factors play a big difference in his attitude, particularly highlighting how extroverted his comic version is and how introverted his cartoon version is. Comic Superboy never really needed to hide who he was until years into his career, vs being told to do so early on in his life. When you get used to needing to hide things so early, that can definitely lead to being more private/disconnected from others. Also somewhat related- in the comics, when Kon is given knowledge in his cloning tube, more pop culture got included. He mentions knowing Star Wars without having seen it, and references a ton of TV and Movies, vs the cartoon version of him that seems to have been given a lot of history of the world but not the current fun stuff. It’s the difference between knowing what’s going on in the world and what’s popular, vs only knowing the past and what’s fundamental. Not knowing pop culture like this can also really contribute to feeling alienated and lead to introversion. (I just... I think about how in the comics Kon’s favorite TV show is Wendy The Werewolf Stalker, in the cartoon Conner just... watches white noise static)

Also, having a completely different set of friends with different personalities has a big effect, people are always gonna be influenced by the people they’re close to to some extent. Bumping Conner up to Dick’s generation of heroes instead of Tim’s not only gives him completely different friends, but it also puts him in this position of being one of the ‘Original Team Members’. By this I mean, a member of the first iteration of the only teen team, one of the people that younger heroes coming onto the scene and joining the team in later seasons see as an experienced and older team member to look up to (despite the fact that cartoon Conner is permanently 16- they never fixed that for him like in the comics). That just creates a different dynamic entirely, because in the comics even when the Tim/Kon/Cassie/Bart group are more experienced on their team late in the Teen Titans run, they are still always going to have heroes like Dick Grayson, Donna Troy, Wally West etc as the older generation of ‘original teen heroes’ who came before them.

Also, while I am talking mostly about in-universe reasoning here, I do wanna bring up one slightly more meta reason that might also have contributed to them choosing to go for a more ‘introverted brooding hero’ characterization with him: the fact that their version of Wally already filled the ‘flirty jokey’ archetype original Comics Kon fits into. Having two characters like that in the show from the start would definitely get... overwhelming. And at the time this show was first airing, in the comics, he was relatively devoted to Cassie and not nearly as flirty anymore anyways.

Lex Luthor / Details of Cloning

In the comics, as I have already mentioned and will now actually explain, when Superboy was first introduced he was not the clone of Superman and Lex Luthor as we know him to be today. Kon was a metahuman clone, made with the DNA of Paul Westfield who worked at Cadmus, that they genetically altered to look like Superman, and gave powers based on the energy aura they discovered to exist around Clark’s dead body. This telekinetic field gave Kon the distinct powers he had for his first decade of existence: His Tactile Telekinesis (often referred to by him as TTK)

Lex Luthor was originally not directly involved in his creation, but he was aware that it was going on as is revealed during the Reign of the Supermen arc. Kon’s TTK allowed him to mimic Superman’s flight and strength, but not all of his powers. TTK also gave him powers Superman DOESN’T have, such as his ability to dismantle machinery or mold materials he is touching into different shapes. (The reason this is called Tactile Telekinesis is because there needs to be a tactile element, he needs to be touching the things)

It is not until 2003, a decade after Superboy was created, that writer Geoff Johns in his Teen Titans run decided to alter Superboy’s origin. He established that Lex Luthor had been the real human DNA donor and that Superman’s Kryptonian DNA was actually used in the cloning process. Around this time, Conner also begins to exhibit more of the typical Kryptonian powers, like Clark did around this age.

This information is at first only known by Conner and Tim, because the email had actually been sent to Tim directly. The two keep it a secret as Conner was not ready to tell the rest of the team, because he fears the implications it has, and is afraid of becoming evil or being rejected. This revelation about Lex being one of his ‘parents’ DNA-wise coming years into his hero career changes a lot of things for Conner, and makes him begin to question who he is. Unfortunately, Lex does at one point take control of Conner and force him to break Tim’s arm and attack Cassie directly (as well as the rest of the team, but these two specifically are what Conner expresses the most guilt over after the fact). This era of Conner in the comics is where he’s definitely closest to his cartoon counterpart, because he’s very troubled and dealing with a lot of heavy stuff regarding himself as a person. Yet there’s still traces of who he has always been in there. I mean, if you’re only familiar with cartoon Conner, can you really imagine his final words as he’s dying after saving the world being “Isn’t it cool?”

Now, looking at the cartoon…

Conner finds out about his connection to Lex in November, only a few months after having existed outside of a cloning tube. He finds it out on his own, from Lex speaking to him directly, after Conner went back to investigate the remains of Cadmus and ended up having a fight with Match (another clone who is able to pass for Conner’s duplicate who they… their version of Match is another thing they drastically changed from the comic version but as we’ve established that’s something they like to do so I’m not gonna dwell on it).

In the cartoon, Conner’s powerset is, from the start, different from both Superman and comic Superboy. Here he has heightened senses and strength and the ability to leap really far, but he lacks actual flight and some of the other standard Kryptonian powers, and has no TTK. The cartoon explains these gaps in his powers as being due to his half human DNA, and they introduce these patches that are able to suppress his human DNA and give him temporary access to full powers. Lex uses these patches as a way to manipulate him. Much like in the comics, Lex has a code word programmed into Conner that effects him, although it isn’t quite used for the same amount of ‘total mind control’, and he doesn’t get fully brainwashed and turn against the team or anything. Instead, the code word (here “Red Sun” rather than “Aut vincere, aut mori” [Translated as “to conquer or die" / "victory or death”]) just leaves him stuck in a hypnotic trance.

So:

In the comics, Kon finds out after years of believing he was a metahuman clone who was given powers to mimic Superman, that he is actually a clone of Lex Luthor and Superman, which alters his entire perspective on himself! This causes him to become a lot more unsure and anxious about who he is, in stark contrast with how confident he was before. There are still traces of his old self within him, but this is a development in his character that influences him moving forward, making him a bit more serious but still at his core the same person he used to be.

In the cartoon, Conner finds out after months of thinking he was a clone of just Superman, that he has half human DNA and the donor was Lex Luthor. While he always had confidence in his abilities, he was still somewhat lost as a person in knowing who he really was outside of things other people have assigned to him (teammate, boyfriend, superhero, etc), and finding out this information about himself just adds to the uncertainty and frustration.

What it means:

Having this struggle be something Conner has to deal with so early in his existence is one of the most fundamental changes in my opinion. Finding out that Lex Luthor is one of your clone parents is something that will alter your entire perception of yourself and who you are! In the comics, Conner had already been confident in who he was so it shakes his world in a really big way, but in the cartoon he still didn’t know who he really was so it just adds to further confusion.

I think that even with the more serious characterization Kon starts getting in the 2003 Teen TItans run, his history and past as the fun cool 90′s Metropolis Kid isn’t entirely forgotten, it’s still a part of who he is/was. Sure, maybe he’s sometimes even embarrassed by how he used to be, but it’s not treated as though it didn’t happen. All of his history comes together to create the character and who he is by the time he wears just a T shirt as a costume.

By skipping over the fun era of his life and jumping right into who he was when he started facing these huge changes, it creates such a completely different set of challenges for him and that contributes directly to how he’s characterized.

Putting it all together

The ultimate point I am trying to reach in all of this is that, beyond just ‘they made a writing choice to make him different’ the environment that Superboy was brought into and the events that took place right when he came into the world greatly influenced the type of character he would become. Every time an adaptation is made of something like comics, there are going to be changes and alterations to fit the world the creators want to make. Sometimes these changes are minor and don’t actually change who a character is (an example for the YJ cartoon’s universe itself: In the tie-in comics [issue 6] it’s established in this universe that the Flying Graysons weren’t just Dick and his parents, but other family members were active parts of it too. One was an uncle also named Richard, who actually survived the fall that killed the rest of his family but was left paralyzed and thus unable to care for him. This uncle already used the nickname ‘Rick’ which is likely why Dick ended up using ‘Dick’ as a name in a modern setting even though it has fallen out of popularity as a nickname because uh, connotations. This is something that is mostly unique to their world and helps to explain some things, but it’s not like tragically losing a few more family members changed their version of Dick and his backstory that drastically. At his core, he still has many similarities to his comic self) but they’re still changes, and that’s okay. Superboy, though, is such an extreme case where they made so many changes that at his core he really does become a completely separate character. Sure he has the name and design, but I was able to write five thousand words about differences here and am struggling to come up with more similarities beyond that.

I think there still could be specks of the original Superboy buried inside cartoon Conner, and that maybe he could have been more like his original version under other circumstances. Looking at these differences and where they come from is, I think, a cool way to begin to understand what elements contribute to who each version of Conner Kent really is. I think it’s clear from how I wrote this that I prefer the comic version, but there are definitely things that are fun to look at and think about with both.

if u read all of this UH thanks for listenin to me ramble! sorry if this is incomprehensibe!

#rainbowroadimpulse #sam writes #conner kent #superboy

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nephilim-problems · 3 years

Text

Can't keep a secret pt 6

This and next chapter will mainly focus on the arrowverse part of this fan fic. Hotch is talked to and mentioned but not quiet there.. yet ;)

Parings: Aaron Hotchner x reader Barry Allen x reader (past)

Warnings: kidnapping, mentions of pedophilia, and, mentions of murder.

I'm not linking 5 chapters here's the masterlist

I ran into S.T.A.R labs finding Felicity sobbing as Caitlin and Cisco tried comforting her. All three stopped as soon as I walked in and stared at me.

"Felicity," I whispered and she ran over to me. She wrapped her arms around me and continued sobbing. "We're going to find him, I promise."

"I know," Felicity responded. " I just-- is he okay? He could be dead or-- or people from the league could've killed him," she started rambling.

"Felicity," I said as she continued. "Felicity!"

"I can't lose him, I can't," she muttered as I held her.

"And you won't!" I responded. "Between all of us we'll find Oliver and Thea. But I need details."

Felicity took a deep breath and paused.

"It's okay, take your time," I smiled as best I could as I sat her down.

"We were hunting someone for A.R.G.U.S when the coms went out it happens sometimes-- not often-- but he always figures out a way they all do," she choked out. "but w-when he didn't come back I called Barry. Then Barry couldn't find him and-"

She stopped and started sobbing. I wrapped my arms around her and let her cry into me.

"Shh it's okay," I responded. "Oliver is okay, so is Thea."

Everyone else looked down. I could feel the depression in the room. It's almost like I was the only one still convinced they were alive. Cisco was trying to rub Catlin's shoulders as she cried but she still continued to sob.

I released Felicity and ran over to the computers.

"We already checked the traffic cam footage," Caitlin whispered.

"You did but I didn't," I responded as I pulled up every traffic cam in Star City. "There are things you guys may have missed."

I spent the next few hours going over all the traffic cam footage over and over again. There has to be something, even something small. Joe came to join me and helped. He didn't say anything which was nice. I wasn't in a talking mood. I had a great night with a man I really liked only to have it demolished by finding out my siblings were missing. No matter how mad I was at Oliver or how estranged our relationship was I love him and I don't want to lose him.

"Hey, (Y/N/N) check this out," Joe said and I moved closer to the screen. "Suspicious enough for you?"

"Is that Slade?" I asked sincerely as I saw the familiar eye patch and ruffled hair.

"Slade as in Deathstroke?" Barry asked.

I nodded and Cisco put the video up on the monitor.

"That's definitely him," I sighed. "This was recorded 2 hours before Oliver went missing. He cut the camera."

"That doesn't make sense," Caitlin said pacing around the lab. "Didn't Oliver cure Slade of the mirakuru and lock him on Lian Yu?"

"Oliver has a lot of enemies," I responded. "anyone could've recruited Slade and given him the mirakuru again."

"But who?" Caitlin asked. "Who knew Slade was even there?"

"A.R.G.U.S," I responded, taking my head in my hands. " Felicity said they were chasing someone for A.R.G.U.S when everyone went missing right?"

There was a short pause as everyone looked around the room.

"Whatever this is, A.R.G.U.S has something to do with it," I said finally and Joe shook his head.

"I don't think it's A.R.G.U.S," he said and I glared at him. "Maybe someone who was a former agent but there's no reason they would kidnap Oliver, Thea, Diggle, and Roy."

I nodded my head, " you're right."

Caitlin immediately ran to the computer and started looking through every single file.

"It's 5am. Do you think Jitters is open yet?" I asked and Joe nodded. " Coffee is a must have right now. send me your orders. Let Felicity sleep though. I know what she wants."

"Take my car," Joe said, handing me the keys and I looked stunned. "We can't risk you running into your team. use the drive thru."

"I'll be right back," I nodded and bolted outside S.T.A.R labs.

It wasn't until I got to the car I let the tears fall. Soft sobs escaped my lips as I laid my head on the steaming wheel. I was exhausted and scared. Scared for my siblings, scared for my friends, but selfishly I was scared for Hotch. What would he think of me when he found out? I knew he would. I can try to leave the past in the past but does it really ever stay there? I sat in the car for a few moments before turning my phone on. I didn't have any missed calls from Hotch, luckily. I didn't need to be reminded of what had happened just a few hours ago.

I turned on the car and made my way to Jitters without incident. I ordered the coffee and waited for the order at the next window. I wasn't sure what time it was but the sun was just starting to come over the horizon painting the sky a beautiful orange and blue. The girl handed me the coffee and I raced back to S.T.A.R labs. As soon as I threw the car in park my phone started going off. I quickly grabbed it hoping it was someone with information about Ollie but saw Hotch on the caller ID instead. I reluctantly answered it.

"Hello," I muttered, wiping my tears as if he could see me.

"Are you okay?" He asked and I felt a sob threaten to come out my throat.

"Fine, I'm fine," I stuttered as more tears came down my face.

"Where are you?" He asked and I shook my head. "What's going on?"

"You know I can't tell you that," I whispered.

"Please," Hotch murmured and I looked down.

I wanted to tell him so bad. My brother is the Green Arrow and his arch nemesis has escaped from a prison and kidnapped him along with our sister and his best friend. That would go over well. Maybe he'd immediately run to his bosses and turn us in, or maybe he'd keep the secret and put his life on the line.

"I-I can't," I replied and Hotch stayed silent.

"I just want to help," he responded simply and I felt myself break down.

"My brother and sister are missing," I managed to say. "We can't find them."

"I can gather the team," Hotch responded and I felt my heart hurt.

"No," I snapped. "It's too dangerous."

"Then let me help you," Hotch replied.

"No," I replied. "I'm sorry Aaron. I really am but I have to do this."

"You can't do this alone," He replied. "I tried."

"I'm not alone," I replied.

There was a long pause before Hotch finally spoke.

"I'm not going to stop trying," he managed to say and I cried.

"I know," I responded. "I'll be back, it'll only take a few days."

"I know it won't," Hotch sighed and I cried. "I'll file a family emergency with Strauss. She's probably going to call you."

"I may not answer," I said. "I have to get this coffee in, Aaron. I have to go."

He didn't respond as I hung up the phone. I was so distraught between Oliver and Hotch complicating things. Just a few hours ago I was hunting serial killers and now I was tracking down a villain we put down years ago. I was crying with my head in my hands when someone knocked on the window.

I looked up and saw Barry red eyed staring at me. I opened the door and he took the coffee.

"We found Deathstroke," he said and I jumped up.

"Where?" I shouted.

"He's in Central City," Barry said and I swear I turned green from anxiety. "Joe thinks he's looking for you."

"Then let me be bait," I shouted, jumping out of the car and slamming the door.

"No," Barry replied.

"No? what do you mean no?" I snapped, ripping my coffee from the tray as we marched in. "You know it's the best plan."

"I'm not putting you in danger," Barry responded as we walked into the cortex.

"To hell with that!" I screamed smacking something on the desk causing it to go flying. "If you can't beat Deathstroke with your speed you're not the superhero I thought you were."

"Oliver beat me," Barry muttered, hanging his head. "And Slade--"

Barry paused and touched my tear stained face softly.

"Slade trained him okay?" Barry shouted. "I'm not letting you go on some suicide mission."

"Fine," I blinked. "Then I'll do it myself."

Barry protested but Joe stopped him as I grabbed my suit and ran off to an empty room. I was trying my best to hold myself together as I held the kevlar in my hands. I slowly slipped it on. It was a lot more comfortable than I remembered. I wonder if Cisco had anything to do with that.

I admired my bow for a moment before slipping it on my back. Then I slipped my mask on and walked out to the Cortex.

"Wow," Barry said. "It's been awhile since I saw that on you."

"at least 3 years," I laughed. "Am I doing this alone or are you giving me some back up."

" We're coming," Barry sighed. " I don't like it but everyone else thinks it's a good idea."

"Because it is Barry. You're going to be right there," Caitlin smiled and took a seat at her desk. "She's not going to get taken."

"Please stay safe," Felicity muttered and held my shoulders.

"I will Felicity I promise," I smiled and grabbed her hand. "I'll bring them all back, we will bring them all back."

"I know," She smiled and I hugged her. "I love you (Y/N) you've always been like a sister to me."

"I love you too Felicity. You've been like a sister to me too," I smiled as we parted. "Ready?"

Barry nodded.

I felt Barry grab me and suddenly I was in the middle of the street very dizzy. I pinched my nose and steadied myself. Barry grabbed my hand steadying me.

"How can you handle that Barry?" I grunted as I felt better.

"Just used to it I guess," Barry said and I laughed.

"I could NEVER get used to that," I responded, which made Barry laugh.

"I'm going to check around," Barry yelled. "Be careful."

"I'll be fine Barry," I smiled as he ran off.

I decided to take a look around. I was careful to listen to every single sound. I watched Slade kill my mom and though Oliver decided killing was not an option, when I thought about Slade and what he did; I decided if I ever saw him I'd immediately put an arrow through his skull, no matter what Oliver thinks. I rounded a corner and saw Slade sitting down with his hands behind his back.

"I knew I'd meet you again Slade," I growled before feeling something smack my head. Things went dark after that.

I groaned awake to a pounding head and a cage. Great. I got taken, damn me for being so rusty.

"(Y/N)," I heard Oliver's voice before I saw him.

"Ollie," I muttered. "I'm sorry I was looking for you."

"I know," was his simple response.

"Slade is involved," I said and Oliver shook his head.

"Slade's a prisoner just like us," he replied and I cussed to myself.

He wasn't sitting down with his hands behind his back. He was tied up and sat down to make it look more normal.

"Been a long time," Thea smiled from a cell next to Oliver.

"Yeah," I half smirked. "That's my fault."

"Well now's as good a time as any to talk so..." Thea started.

"I don't think now is the best time, Thea," Roy said and I laughed.

" How's Felicity?" Oliver asked and I bit my lip.

" A mess," I said. "She really loves you."

"I don't think that was in any doubt," Dig replied, making everyone chuckle a little.

"Do we know who took us?" I asked and Oliver nodded.

"I've never met him before," Oliver said. "He called himself the Fox."

"The Fox?" I asked and Oliver nodded. "Did he have red hair? Large beard?"

"Yeah how did you-" Diggle started.

"He's an unsub my team tracked down a while ago," I said and tapped my chin with my hand. "But it doesn't make sense, everything is about the female child. He's a pedophile."

"Wait, so he's just a normal person? " Roy asked and I nodded.

"So you're telling me we fought a mirakuru army, killed the count, defeated the league of assassins, and we got beat by a serial killer called the fox?" Diggle said and I snickered.

"That sounds right," I said and Diggle laughed.

" You have to work on your aim man," Dig said, making the room burst out laughing.

"You know it's great we can have a laugh while we're sitting in cells after being kidnapped," Roy said as he laid back against the cell bars.

"Oh we're kidnapped, what is it? Tuesday?" Thea laughed and I nodded to her when suddenly there was lightning and wind in my face before my cell door opened.

I blinked and everyone was stepping from their cells and Barry was standing in the middle of the room holding keys.

"I knew you wouldn't fail me Bares," I smiled and hugged him.

"Don't hug me just yet," he muttered. "I-I have good news and bad news; which would you like to hear first?"

"Ya know some good news would sound absolutely amazing right now," Thea said.

"Karl Arnold will be spending a long time in prison," Barry said and I smiled.

"and the bad news?" Roy asked and Barry shifted uncomfortably.

"He gave Slade mirakuru and now he's destroying the city," Barry said and Oliver tensed up.

"So we have 1 over-hyped super soldier against 1 super speedster and 5 combat trained vigilantes who were trained by the guy who was trained by Slade?" Roy said and Barry put his finger up.

"This Karl dude was also working with Reverse Flash," Barry said as he slipped his mask on. "So I'm a bit busy. By the way (Y/N) your team is evacuating people into the precinct."

I ran my hands up my face and through my hair.

"Of course they are," I sighed. "Is Aaron with them?"

"Yes," Barry replied. " Derek and Spencer went to S.T.A.R labs."

"Where did Karl get the mirakuru?" I asked as Barry ran off. "He's not some criminal mastermind. He's a pedophile that killed families. Nothing more."

"There's got to be something more to it than that," Roy said and I shook my head.

" I mean he's a sick fuck but he's human. He hates my team but that's it," I shrugged.

" He might be part of the problem but he isn't the problem," Oliver snapped. " Let's go, coms are working now so stay in touch and call if you find Slade. He's mine."

Oliver walked off leaving us stunned but he was wrong. Slade was not his. Slade was mine and I fully intended to kill him.

#aaron hotchner x reader #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfiction #aaron hotch fanfiction #aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner x y/n #aaron hotchner x you #arrowverse #oliver queen x sister!reader #supernatural #barry allen x iris west #barry x reader #barry allen x reader #barry allen

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sparkleofpizza · 4 years

Text

The archer - Tim Drake x reader 1/?

Hey guys, how are you doing? I have been working on this story for a while now and decided to finally post it, I am currently still writing the next parts because I decided to change a few ideas I had previously, but this is mainly just me giving Tim Drake some love and incorporating a bit of my love for Arrow too. Hope you guys like it and feel free to request me anything if you'd like, I write for the batboys, Wally and Conner.

Requested: no

Warnings: some swearing

Summary: Y/n Queen will be living in the Wayne Manor for a while, and Dick Grayson decided to be the Cupid between her and his little brother Tim Drake.

Word count: 2.228

Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7

The Wayne manor was silent that day, Bruce had everyone prepared for the arrival of a guest. The four boys were pissed off as why they had to make sure their rooms were organized, it was not like the guest would sleep in there. Dick and Jason didn't even live there anymore, but they gave up on arguing after one pointed look from Alfred.

When the doorbell finally rung, the boys were all too busy playing around in the cave - somewhere they found out they would have privacy, after all there was no way the guest would get there. So they weren’t there to greet you as you found your way around the house, after being greeted by Bruce and Alfred, letting them take your bags to the room you’d be staying at and showing you around.

You ended up standing in front of the clock, you knew pretty well what that clock meant, your brother had told you about that. You had a vague idea that the boys would be there - you really wanted to meet all of them - but didn’t want to intrude, this wasn’t your house after all and Bruce was already being nice enough to let you stay over while your brother was away in some business. So you went back to your room, deciding to meet them when was the right time.

And it actually didn’t take long for you to run into one of them. You collided with a huge body, making you land in your butt as you looked up to see none other than Jason Todd. He started down at you.

“Who are you?” He asked, frowning "Are you the guest Bruce told us about?"

“Hello to you too, Jason.” You rolled your eyes at the boys antics, pushing yourself up “It’s nice to see you again.”

He started at you for a few seconds before realization drowned on him. You are Y/N Queen, Oliver’s young sister and Roy’s ‘sister’ as well. He hasn’t seen you such a long time he almost didn’t recognize you.

“Y/N?!” He questioned, too surprised, patting your shoulder “Oh, it’s good to see you again. You look so different from the last time I saw you.”

“That’s because the last time you saw me I was sixteen.” You smirked up at him “Which means you’re getting a bit old.”

He narrowed his eyes at you “You’re like eighteen now or something?”

“Nineteen, actually.”

He nodded, leading you downstairs to the kitchen “Well, you’re still underage so you still have to respect me and do what I say.”

“When have I ever done something people tell me to do? I literally went after a serial killer on my own when I was fifteen just because Ollie told me to stay out of it.”

Jason nodded his head, remembering Roy complaining about something like that. He didn’t pay much attention at the story at the time because he thought it was boring and he had better things to think of, such as his revenge on Bruce, but now it seemed amusing a small girl like you trying something like that. He made a mental note to ask you more details about it later.

“I hope none of you are doing anything imprudent, we have a visitor and that would be really bad looking for you all.” Jason exclaimed, entering the kitchen with you by his side

His three brothers were sitting on the counter, fighting over the last cookie Alfred had made earlier. Their heads shot up in curiosity trying to find out who was there with their brother. Hoping it wouldn't be the mysterious guest.

You stood still, pushing some hair from your face and offering them a friendly smile. Oliver has told you about them, even Roy filled you in on who they were, you’ve seen pictures of them, after all they were Bruce’s Wayne kids, but damn, you didn’t expect them to be this good looking in person.

“Todd, who’s this?” A small boy questioned, holding up a knife to point at you

You chuckled at that “I’m y/n, it’s really nice to meet you. Maybe you should let go of that knife, kids shouldn’t hold things that can hurt them.”

“I’m not a kid!” He yelled

His brothers laughed at his face, Tim already taking a liking into you. If you got to bother Damian in less than five minutes into conversation than you were cool. Dick though you were funny and Jason smiled proudly just because he knew you before everyone else.

“This are my brothers, Dick, Tim and Damian.” Jason introduced them to you

You smiled once again, taking a sit across from where they were.

“So...” Dick started “Y/n, when did you and Jason get together?”

“What? You think we’re dating?” You almost gagged, taking a look at the boy beside you. From all the stories you heard about him from Roy, you were 110% sure that you’d never be able to feel something more for him “We’re not together.” You chuckled at the end

Jason narrowed his eyes “Y/n is the guest Bruce told us about, but hold on a second... Why did you sound so disgusted?”

“Because anyone would be disgusted if someone thought they were dating you, Todd.” Damian rolled his eyes, earning a few laughs from his brother and you, and a death glare from Jason

“Roy just tells me so much shit about you, and you guys are glued. It would be like dating Roy, totally weird.”

“Oh, you’re friends with Roy?” Tim asked, leaning in a bit, curious about how much you knew about them all

You smiled directly at him, flipping some hair from your face. He stared at you for a while, mouth slightly open before quickly shutting it close. You were so pretty and what a perfect smile you have.

“Yeah, I’ve known him almost my whole life.” You replied, frowning a bit, thinking back into old memories of when things went down hill, but quickly smiled again at boy in front of you “So I know plenty about all of you.”

That gave him the answer he needed. You knew about their nightly activities, which was better than having to lie all the time. Not like he was expecting to have you around all the time, you were just staying for a while. But he wouldn’t mind staring at your gorgeous e/c eyes, and pretty conquer smile.

Dick’s eyes went wide, looking at his brother and than at you. An idea already popping on his mind, if you weren’t dating Jason, maybe that meant you weren’t dating anyone, since you stated you also weren’t dating Roy. Big chances of you being single. Watching you and Tim interact made him want to play match maker, oh he was desperate to play match maker.

“How old are you, y/n?” He blurted out loudly

“I’m nineteen, why?”

“Oh! Nothing! Just curiosity. Did you know Tim is twenty-one? Only two years older than you! Funny, right?”

You nodded, biting your lower lip to prevent yourself from laughing. Dick didn’t know how to be discreet.

It had been a couple of days since you’ve been at the manor and you noticed a couple of things:

1. Damian was a very hard person to socialize with, he was very judging and didn’t seem to enjoy your presence at all.

2. Jason was everything Roy told you about him, and that was kind of creepy.

3. Dick was definitely trying to play cupid, asking you random questions out of the blue and then stating facts about Tim.

4. Tim had a very weird sleeping pattern, was coffee addicted and the nicest to talk out of the four of them.

You tried to live your days as normally as possible, but nothing normal is really normal in this family. You thought it was ok their vigilant routine, your brother was one as well, but weren’t they extreme sometimes?! No wonder Oliver said Bruce was uptight. They show zero emotions.

You tried not to get in their way, not really bothering them when they were busy with patrol and cases. You figured your time of the day should be during the night, when the would be out of the manor and on the streets fighting crime.

Going down to the kitchen to get some coffee, maybe something to eat and then you could silently laugh while watching Brooklyn 99. What you didn’t expect was to run into Tim during that.

He was pouring down coffee on his mug when you appeared on the doorway. He glanced up, smiling once he saw you.

“Did I wake you up?” He questioned, leaning down on the counter

“No.” You shook your head, smiling back at him “I came to get some coffee. Shouldn't you be on patrol?"

"It is my day off." Tim replied, watching you as he took a sip of his coffee

"So then... Can't sleep?"

“I normally don’t sleep. What about you?”

You arched your brows at that, pouring some hot coffee in a mug for you. Who normally doesn’t sleep?

“Just wanted to watch some Netflix in the quite of the night.” You shrugged “What do you normally do since you don’t sleep?”

"I just work on some cases."

That seemed unlikely. How could someone stay up all night just working on some cases? He certainly did other things, maybe he had a secret girlfriend and he would sneak her into his room at night and that's just what he told everyone he was doing? Working on some cases.

"But you do that all night? I doubt it's healthy. Don't you like have a secret girlfriend you're sneaking in and you just don't want anyone to find out about?"

Tim laughed at your statement, shaking his head.

"I don't have any secret girlfriend or a real girlfriend for the matter. I like working at night. You could help me sometime, if you'd like?" A dust pink took over his cheeks, maybe he crossed the line by asking you join him in his room in the middle of the night, but you smiled at him

"I'd love to help you on some cases. Shall we start now?"

He nodded, grabbing your hand and pulling you in towards his room. You smiled at the touch of your palms, his hand was way bigger than yours, but you liked how it felt against your skin. His fingers were cold. You could get used to holding hands with him, it felt nice.

You entered his room, looking at the place around you and seeing how it had so much of him in it. It smelled like coffee and his cologne, a nice combination. He closed the door behind you, leading you to his desk.

"So, what do you want me to help you with?" You questioned, leaning on the desk and staring at him

He took a moment to admire you. Your face free of makeup, some natural redness on the skin that made you look cute, your hair down on your shoulders, and your comfy pijamas.

"Have you ever worked on a case before?" You nodded, making him look at you with surprise. You smirked before he kept on talking "I'm trying to track down some of these weapon buyers, there's supposed to be a sale soon, but I can't point out the location yet."

"What are our leads?"

Tim smiled, showing you all the evidence he got before splitting up the job and the both of you starting to work. You sat on his bed with a laptop and he sat beside you with his own. Both clicking at the keyboard, trying to find new clues to find out the place of the weapon sale before it's too late.

At some point of the night, you had decided to take a small break. Laying on your side, looking at Tim while he worked and holding a small conversation with him. But then you were too quiet and when he looked at you again, you had fallen asleep, holding on his shirt sleeve.

He closed his laptop, carefully placing it on his night stand, trying not to disrupt you, and lied down himself. He tried to put some distance between your bodies, but you shifted only getting closer to him once you missed his body warmth, and he found himself trapped when you plopped a leg over his thighs. His cheeks turned red and he was really glad you were asleep so you wouldn't be able to see how flustered he was right now.

Eventually, during the night, Tim wrapped his arms around you as your head was placed on top of his chest. And that's how Alfred found the both of you in the morning, having checked your room to wake you up for breakfast and being frighted to find an empty bed.

"What you're staring at, Alfred?" Dick asked, waking past him on the hallway only to squeaky like a little kid once he saw you two asleep holding each other "I knew it! I knew they'd end up together!"

He grabbed his phone, snapping a couple of pictures before being rushed out of there by Alfred. Tim deserved some sleep, and the both of you looked too adorable together to be disturbed like that.

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worryinglyinnocent · 3 years

Text

Fic: Forged Through Fire (2/13)

Summary: Amestris. Once democratic, now a military dictatorship. Prohibition is strict; personal freedoms curtailed. All alchemists must be state-licensed or face imprisonment. Foreigners are met with suspicion. It’s a grim place and a grim time, but there are some people able to bring a little light to the world. Behind an innocent-looking bookshop, speakeasy proprietor Chris Mustang has formed an unlikely alliance with unlicensed alchemist Van Hohenheim to provide alcohol to those who want it and medical care to those who need it. When Riza’s newly complete tattoo becomes infected, Roy brings her into this underworld, little knowing the way it will change their lives in the future – uncovering the secrets of the mythical Philosopher’s Stone and the schemes of a Fuhrer hell-bent on achieving immortality, all whilst navigating what they mean to each other.

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Rated: T

[One] [AO3]

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Content warning for this chapter: Discussion of domestic abuse – parent on child; implied self-harm and discussion of self-harm.

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Forged Through Fire

Two

The phone ringing startled Roy out of the doze he hadn’t realised he’d fallen into, and he jumped up out of his chair, massaging the crick in his neck as he went over to the phone on the wall.

“Mustang.”

“Hello Roy. It’s Riza. Riza Hawkeye.”

“Riza.”

For a good long while, Roy had absolutely no idea what to say to her. He hadn’t seen her since the day that he’d finished his training under Berthold and passed his state licence exam, although they’d kept in touch with the occasional letter. It was the first time she’d ever called him since he’d moved out of barracks and got his own apartment with his own phone line, and the novelty of hearing her voice again after all the time that had passed was enough to render him speechless. Finally he regained his tongue.

“It’s good to hear your voice again,” he said.

“Yeah. It’s good to hear yours, too.” She sounded quiet, her voice low and measured as if she’d been crying.

“What’s wrong?”

“My father died.”

“Oh. I’m so sorry.”

“Thank you.” There was a long pause on the other end of the line. “The funeral’s on Friday if you want to come. Please don’t feel obligated. There won’t be all that many people there. He wasn’t exactly a social man.”

“I’ll be there.”

“Thank you.” The relief in her voice was almost palpable, even over the phone. “So… How have you been?”

“All right. Not doing much, we haven’t been shipped out anywhere yet so it’s mainly just paperwork and patrols.” God, this was the inanest conversation ever. He hadn’t spoken to Riza for a year and a half, and this was what he was finding to talk about? “How are you holding up?”

“I don’t know how to feel right now if I’m honest. Everything’s so… weird. It’s not like when Mom died. Everything was easy then. I was sad because she wasn’t there anymore. This time…”

Roy knew exactly why she trailed off. Receiving letters from Riza in the time since he finished with Berthold had always been bittersweet. He knew the situation she was in, and he had no idea how to help her out of it. Now, she was out of it more by luck – if death could be considered luck – than judgement, and he still felt a stab of guilt that he had not been able to do anything for her.

“Yeah. I understand.” Did he really? “Do you need anything?” He didn’t want to think of her in that ramshackle old house all by herself. “Groceries, company, anything?”

“I’m ok. I’ve got everything sorted. I think I just need to know there’ll be a friendly face at the funeral. Thanks.”

“Any time.” He was reminded of the time he took her to the bar after her tattoo got infected. “How’s your back?”

“Sorry?”

“It was a long train of thought. How’s your back doing?”

“It’s fine.” For the first time, he thought that she might be smiling on the other end of the phone. “I’ve not had any problems at all since Trisha and Hohenheim fixed me up.” There was a pause. “Are they still there at Madam Christmas’s?”

“Yep. I don’t think they’ll ever leave.”

Riza laughed. “Well, send my regards next time you see them.”

“I will. I guess I’ll see you on Friday.”

“Till Friday. Thank you, Roy.”

They said their goodbyes, and Roy stayed staring at the phone for a long time after he hung up. It was only now that he realised just how much he had missed Riza in the intervening time. Perhaps it was because they had never completely lost touch with each other that the separation had not seemed as absolute as it did now; she had always still been on the periphery of his world, even if she wasn’t regularly in it like Aunt Chris and his new friends and colleagues within the military. Now he realised just how long it had been.

She hadn’t changed at all, and when he saw her standing in the cemetery on the grey and miserable morning of the funeral, he was almost relieved to see that she was still just the same Riza. Although, that said, not exactly the same. There was something behind her eyes, a little bit haunted. Maybe it was just grief, maybe it was something far more complicated. She gave a wan smile when she saw him, making her excuses to the scant other mourners and coming over to him.

“Hey. It’s good to see you again.”

“Likewise. Are you ok?”

She nodded. “I’m getting there. It’s still all so surreal.” She glanced over towards the grave and the drab preacher getting ready to intone the service. “Shall we go? It shouldn’t take too long, I don’t think. I mean, what is there to say about him?”

Roy would have given her the usual platitudes about Berthold being a good man and a great alchemist, but whilst the latter may have been technically true, neither really rang true to Roy’s ears in regard to Riza. Berthold might have been the one to teach him flame alchemy, but he had also been the one to permanently ink that flame alchemy on Riza’s back and shape the course of her life forever. The words she had spoken to him on that fateful day when she’d shown him the array had always echoed in his mind. What’s done is done. Nothing could change the fact that the tattoo existed, and that Berthold had been the one to put it there. Nothing would ever erase that. Nothing Roy or anyone else could do would ever be able to make that better. Did that mean he didn’t ought to try?

The service was short, just the usual empty words over a plain casket, and Roy hung back as Riza received the well wishes of the few other attendees until she was alone with the headstone again.

Riza sighed. “Is it bad that when everyone says ‘I’m so sorry’, there’s a part of me – a large part – that thinks ‘I’m not’?”

Roy shook his head. “No. I don’t think so. I think given everything, that’s natural.”

“When I looked in on him that morning and found him… I thought I’d feel sad, or that I’d panic, or maybe that I’d just feel numb. But honestly the thing I felt the most was anger. Not because he was dead, that he’d been taken from me in that respect. I wasn’t angry at the world. I wasn’t even really angry at him. I was angry with myself, because I hadn’t done anything, and now he’s dead and I don’t have the chance to call him out for everything he did.”

“It’s not your fault. What could you have done?” He paused. “It’s everyone else who should have been doing something.”

“Hey, don’t blame yourself either. He had just as much of a position of power over you as he did me. In a different way, but I’ve heard cynics say that apprenticing under an alchemist is equivalent to selling your soul to them until you pass your licence.”

“Yeah. But after I passed my licence. Anyway, enough about me. Do you want to come somewhere and talk about it somewhere that’s not a very windy cemetery with rain threatening any moment?”

Riza nodded. “Yeah. I could really use a drink right now.”

Roy smiled. “All right. Come with me.”

It was a quiet and contemplative walk through the city towards the bar, and Roy couldn’t help giving the odd glance sideways over at Riza as they made their way through the damp streets. It had rained earlier, and the clouds were still hanging dark and heavy in the sky. In a way, the weather reflected the entire city – dark, oppressive, unrelenting; constantly hanging over their heads like the Sword of Damocles.

Amestris hadn’t always been like this, according to those who’d seen it in its heyday. Roy was still too young to remember a time before the Fuhrer had come to power and democracy had given way overnight to the grim dictatorship they’d now found themselves living in, but Aunt Chris and Hohenheim remembered it. They’d made the best of things in the best way they knew how – defying the law and doing what was needed anyway.

A part of him wished that they didn’t have to do it, that he could somehow come into a grand inheritance and set them up comfortably for the rest of their days, but he knew them both and he knew they’d still keep doing what they were doing even if money was no object. There were some things that were more important than staying on the right side of the law.

Still, just because they had carved out their own little niche in the new world they lived in didn’t mean that they couldn’t be nostalgic for better times. Aunt Chris wasn’t one for reminiscing, but he’d found her and Hohenheim sharing the good Drachman vodka more than once after last orders had been called.

His thoughts ended up coming full circle round to Berthold and the many arguments they’d got into over Roy’s decision to join the military. Berthold could remember the time before and held no love for the military regime he was now living under. Roy had never known different but knew enough to be well aware that he was becoming part of the problem. With a problem like this, though, with something so well-established and deeply ingrained, it was impossible to effect any sort of change except from within, and when he had first joined the academy, Roy had been naïve enough to think he could be the one to make that change.

Four years later, he was not quite as convinced, but his determination still held fast.

Vanessa was on duty in the bookshop today, and if she seemed surprised to see them coming in at four o’clock in the afternoon then she didn’t show it, simply waving him through without a word. She gave Riza a little more scrutiny, but since she was coming in with him, there wasn’t a lot of point in giving her the third degree. Of everyone who was involved with Madam Christmas’s bar, Roy was the one who was most aware of the need for secrecy. One of the advantages of joining the military and becoming part of the regular city patrols was getting inside knowledge on which premises were about to be raided as suspected liquor hideaways and being able to subtly clear the bookshop from the records. If it was an abuse of power, well, at least it wasn’t hurting anyone like most of the rest of the abuses of power that the military undertook on a regular basis.

Aunt Chris was behind the bar as usual when they got down into it, and she nodded over to a corner table, where Armstrong and Hughes were already sitting with Gracia. Roy turned back to Riza as Hughes waved him over.

“They’re friends and colleagues. We don’t have to join them if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s fine.” Riza smiled. “I think some happy company sounds like a good idea right now.”

“Roy!” Hughes grabbed the coats that had been holding the other chairs at the table. “Is this the girl you were telling us about?”

“This is Riza Hawkeye, yes. She’s Berthold’s daughter. Riza, this is Alex Armstrong and Maes Hughes, and Hughes’ girlfriend Gracia.”

“Actually, Gracia is no longer my girlfriend.”

Roy raised an eyebrow. Considering how giddy Hughes sounded, he highly doubted that there had just been a break-up.

“She’s my fiancée!”

Gracia gave a long-suffering sigh, but the smile in her eyes showed that she still found Hughes’ antics endearing after being with him for a year.

“Congratulations.” Riza took a seat beside Gracia and the two were soon deep in conversation as Roy went over to the bar to get the next round in.

Chris gave him a look.

“I’m glad you’ve turned up. He’s starting to be insufferable. Why did I let you persuade me to allow your friends in?”

“Because you love me.”

“Unfortunately, that’s true.” Chris peered over his shoulder at Riza. “How did it go at the funeral?”

“Much of a muchness, really. What can you say about a man who was a complete recluse dedicated to his research above all else, including his daughter?”

“Roy, you can’t keep beating yourself up about that. And for God’s sake, not now. She’s got enough on her plate; she doesn’t need to prop up your guilt as well. Don’t make her carry more than she has to. If she wants to be mad at you for not rescuing her then that’s her decision and she can do it in her own time.”

She continued to pour the drinks, and Roy leaned back against the bar, watching his friends.

“You’re not subtle,” Chris said behind him. “Who knows? Maybe now that you’re back in touch, you’ll finally ask her out.”

“Madam!”

“I call them how I see them, Roy-Boy. Remember you’ve always got the perfect date location right here.”

“Yeah, with Vanessa and Fiona teasing me every time I go in and out and you watching like a hawk.”

“Freudian slip there?”

“Shut up.”

He grabbed the drinks and brought them back over to the table, where Hughes was now expounding the current barracks rumour mill theory that Tim Marcoh had faked his own death and was now serving as personal physician to the Emperor of Xing. At least Riza was smiling, and although that tired and haunted look behind her eyes had not gone away, he could tell that the smile was genuine.

It was only later, once Armstrong, Hughes and Gracia had left them, that he could recognise the sheer exhaustion and the willpower it was taking her to hold everything together.

“Do you want me to take you home?”

Riza shook her head. “No. Not yet. I don’t think I can face that big empty house knowing that there’s no one else in it and there never will be again. And knowing that I’m going to have to sell it. It’s not the selling it that’s the problem really, I’m not so attached to it. It’s just all the paperwork involved.”

“Well, you don’t have to think about it right now. And I can always stay over if you want.” Riza gave him a sharp look. “I mean on the sofa!” He tried to backtrack. “So that it’s not so big and empty and lonely.”

She laughed. “No, I’ll be ok. I’m just not ready to face it quite yet.” There was a long pause. “Your friends are nice.”

“They can be a bit much, but they mean well.”

“I wasn’t being sarcastic; they really are nice. Although I think Alex’s goodbye hug might have broken all my ribs.”

“Yeah, he’s not good with ‘subtle’.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Riza sat back in her chair, looking up at the ceiling. “The weirdest thing is not knowing what comes next. I’ve never really had any plans. Well, I had plans but they’re not going to work out. I always just thought I’d end up keeping house for my father until… well, until he died. I just hadn’t reckoned on it being so soon. I’ve got my entire life ahead of me and I have no idea what I’m going to do with it. It’s scary, in a way.”

“What were your plans originally?”

Riza shook her head. “It’s stupid.”

“It can’t be that stupid.”

“Fine. I was going to follow in your footsteps. I wanted to join the military and help you do what you’re doing, trying to change the system from within. But then my back happened so that’s out now.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“I’m not really much good for anything else. What other careers require crack shot aiming skills?” Riza snorted. “Looking back I’m honestly surprised he let me near a gun. Maybe he was cocky enough to know I’d never turn it on him.”

Roy wanted to say something, the urge to apologise again bubbling up in the back of his mind, but he squashed it down. Like Chris had said, Riza was dealing with enough conflicted feelings of her own, she didn’t need his guilt as well.

They continued to drink in silence for a while, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Back when he’d first started learning under Berthold, they’d spent quite a lot of time together like this in the kitchen of the Hawkeye home, and it was surprising how easy it was to slip back into that familiarity despite the intervening years.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the drapes along the back wall twitching and Trisha coming out of the clinic. There was a flash of red lightning as Hohenheim transmuted the door into the wall, and then he came out too.

“We’re off,” Trisha said to Chris. “We’re not expecting anyone else tonight, but you know how to get hold of us if there’s an emergency.”

They left the bar hand in hand and Roy watched them go. When he looked back at Riza, her eyes were following them too, with a kind of longing. She had never given voice to anything, at least not in Roy’s earshot, but he’d often had the thought and he knew she must have had it too. Her back meant that she could never be intimate with anyone. Well, at least not without literally trusting them with her life.

“Roy… Would you do me a favour?”

“Of course.”

“Don’t agree yet, you don’t know what it is.”

“Ok. What is it?”

“Will you burn my back?”

“What?”

“I want to get rid of this thing.” Riza wasn’t looking him in the eye, just staring at the dregs in the bottom of her wine glass. “I want it gone so that I can have a normal life and do all the normal things I should be able to do. I’m sick of it. I’m sick of him having control over me even though I just buried him. It doesn’t matter that he’s dead, he’s always going to have this piece of me, and I don’t want it anymore. I just want it to be over.”

“Riza, maybe it would be better if you think on this without three glasses of wine in you.”

The thought of doing it made him feel sick. He was a state alchemist, and he was career military; he knew that he’d be called on to use flame alchemy on people in the future. He knew he would have to use it to kill people. He’d almost made his peace with that pre-emptively, knowing he would hopefully be able to atone for it once he’d worked to make everything better.

Burning Riza though, even at her own request… Hadn’t she already suffered enough at the hands of flame alchemists?

“It’s not a new idea, Roy. I’ve been thinking about it all week.”

“I still think this isn’t the best time to be discussing it. Maybe tomorrow. I’ll come over and we’ll talk about it then. Honestly, Riza, it’s a large area of skin and the damage I’d have to do to destroy it completely, I think it would kill you.”

Riza nodded. “I understand.”

There was a long silence after that, and in the wake of Riza’s request it was an unusually tense one; the uneasiness remaining long after Riza had changed the subject and they were talking freely again. By the time he was walking her back to the Hawkeye house, though, things seemed to have lightened, and Riza seemed to be feeling a little better.

Roy had managed to put the conversation to the back of his mind for most of the following day. He’d taken a few days’ leave for the funeral to be there for Riza if she needed him; she had no other relatives to help her out and she’d lived an isolated enough life not to have any real friends either.

It was only when the phone in the bar rang and Chris passed it over to him that he remembered with a jolt what Riza had asked of him, and his heart was in his mouth as he heard her quiet and hitching voice on the other end of the line.

“Roy, I need your help. I’ve made a massive mistake.”

#FMA Brotherhood #FMA Fanfiction #Royai #Riza Hawkeye #Roy Mustang #Fic: Forged Through Fire

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arrancarscenarios · 4 years

Note

Imagine Grimmjow or one of his Fraccións having just this tiny sweetheart s/o who seems like they could never harm a fly and tears up anytime they accidentally hurt someone. Then imagine their reaction when the s/o comes back from somewhere covered in blood and bruises and when asked the s/o shyly says: “I kinda got into a little bit of a fight and I might’ve taken it a bit too far. I think the person’s going to recover though! Hopefully...”

I do be vibing

D-ROY

D-Roy Linker.exe has stopped working and is currently attempting to reboot. It takes him a minute to actually comprehend what’s just happened, because his brain just does the Hollow equivalent of the blue screen of death. He kind of just stares at his S/O, before asking them if they need him to do anything. He’s used to being the ‘weak one’, but between him and a human S/O, he expected to be stronger than them and fully assumed he was the scrappy one. This, uh… puts things into perspective a little. At least he won’t have to worry about them should shit ever get real. He might freak out a bit once he gets all of this new information processed.

EDRAD

… Uh. Wait. What? What??? At first he just lets out a long sigh, trying not to panic at seeing his S/O covered in a ton of fucking blood, once they explain what happened. It’s not that he’s happy they nearly killed someone when they’re usually so gentle, but he is happy that he now knows he doesn’t need to fear for their life if they get into a fight. That said, he makes sure to tell them as he patches them up however he can, that he doesn’t want them getting hurt. Though he doesn’t know what made them fight this time, he’d rather not have it happen again. His S/O is important to him, and he’s one of the few Arrancars who might verbally admit that.

GRIMMJOW

Well, damn! He almost didn’t think they had it in them, by this point! For the most part, their soft nature doesn’t so much irritate him as makes him worry that they’re in danger because they’re surrounded by inhuman monsters in Hueco Mundo. It’s sort of unsettling to see them covered in blood and bruises looking like they’ve gone a few rounds with someone, but all things considered, it eases his mind a little bit. They can take care of themselves, even if he wants to protect them. It means he doesn’t need to get all stressed whenever he’s not with them. He fixes them up as best he can, gives them a kiss, and jokingly calls them an honorary Hollow.

NAKEEM

That’s… honestly a little terrifying, if he’s being honest. He does his best to stay calm and just treat their injuries in any way he knows how, but he’s rather unsettled. To know that his small, sweet S/O who (like him, mind you) doesn’t enjoy fighting could have wounded someone so badly strikes him as, unfortunately, very pragmatic and scary. What happened that led to this? It scares him mainly because, despite their obvious strength, they’re still a soft, squishy human. Despite not saying too much, he does ask them to please, please be careful next time. He cares about them and needs them in one piece, even if he can’t quite bring himself to verbalize it.

SHAWLONG

What the hell were they thinking? On the one hand, he’s honestly heavily relieved that his S/O can handle fighting their own battles. This makes the two of them on slightly more equal footing despite the obvious giant power gap. On the other hand, however, that their showing up with blood and bruises nearly gives him the Hollow equivalent of a heart attack. They can’t scare him like that! They are a small, frail human, and he just… doesn’t want anything bad happening to them. It’s frustrating. At the end of the day, the relief wins over, and he simply settles on reminding them not to take on more than they can handle as he helps them clean themselves up.

YYLFORDT

The fuck… it looks like they’ve just spent a night with his brother!! For half a second he panics, hard, before their words get processed. And then he just — he laughs. As far as he’s concerned, it’s about fucking time his S/O showed some sign of self-preservation! It’s not like any Hollow instinct or anything, but he’ll take it. Now that he knows they can probably protect themselves, at least in the world of the living, this awful ache of worry coiled in his stomach whenever he thinks they might be in trouble can just stop, right? They know where Szayel’s lab is so he can patch them up, though Yylfordt will walk them down if it seems like they need someone to lean on. He also teases them about this for, like… ever.

#Bleach #Arrancars #D-Roy #Edrad #Grimmjow #Nakeem #Shawlong #Yylfordt #reaction #romantic #drama #hurt/comfort #HHHHHH GOOD BOYS #they tryin #D-Roy's reaction is just so fucking funny to me like ''WELP I'M LOWER ON THE FOOD CHAIN THAN MY S/O BETTER SUBMIT NOW''#and Yyl is just a jerk XD

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writingshirbert · 5 years

Text

A Royal mistake

Prompt: Gilbert is jealous at Roy. Set after 3x06

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

In the last few months a strange feeling of loneliness clouded his life. It was as if something was missing and the way it made him feel made him think the missing piece must've been crucial. He spent his summer working the farm with Bash, walking the woods with Delphine in his arms, accompanying Matthew Cuthbert in his barn in fixing an old typewriter of his, one that he had promised to give Gilbert afterwards. Sundays and Saturdays he went to Charlottetown to see Winnie, they went to tea or simply just walked around, sometimes dropping by to see doctor Ward, but that was all. He had found their conversations turning to idle chatter and started feeling more and more like they've ran out of topics to talk about. The lesson of tea etiquette she had given him on their first date had come in handy, Gilbert resolving to talking about the weather and decor much more than usual. He was certain Winifred felt this shift in their relationship as well, as she started talking about moving to Europe with her auntie. Perhaps she will find a better beaux there, Gilbert thought to himself. He also couldn't help but notice his decreased lack of interest in her romantically, she had become a good friend, however all the attraction he felt towards her in the beginning had faded away. Mary's words about marrying for love echoed in his head every time he thought about taking the next step in this courtship, making him unable to do it. This can't be what love feels like, right? It is the stuff of tales and novels, wars had been fought over love, so surely it must feel different... Anne Shirley-Cuthbert had accompanied him on the train rides in July, bit distant but still providing pleasant company. He didn't know why she went so frequently, but he had no business to meddle in her life. Marilla had allowed it, that's all he needed to know. In August, she was gone. After Diana Barry went away for finishing school in Paris, Anne had perished from Avonlea. It crossed his mind that she went to spend the last month with her, but he was sure the Cuthberts would never allow Anne to travel such distance. He thought it best he didn't ask, it was enough that the image of Anne flooded his thoughts every night before bed, appeared in his dreams and in the morning, first thing with the crow of the rooster. It was a strange unpleasant feeling, it couldn't be love either, because it hurt, right? He needn't think about her during the day. But he did so anyways. He thought about why she stopped coming by their house, stopped comparing their notes in class, stopped giving him excited glances during the science lessons, stopped teasing him about his grammar, didn't once look in his eyes during the barn dance at the fair and started snapping at him at the meetings of the Avonlea Gazette and much more. She was still there, but she just wasn't there for him anymore. He saw her sometimes when he came home to take a break from the heat, but she talked mainly with Bash and usually perished away quite quickly. When they tied for Queens she didn't come to congratulate him and only replied with a thanks when he did, using none of her usual witty humor. She was quite well in other ways, always being her gay shiny self with others, which hurt even more. He told himself he didn't care and that was that.

"Gilbert Blythe, how lovely to see you this fine afternoon," the voice of Rachel Lynde echoed behind his back. He was waiting in line at the shop, looking to get some cucumber seeds, as August was the time to plant them, when a bulky lady appeared behind him. He liked Rachel just fine, however he wasn't in the mood for her sharp chatter, so he prayed the line would move quickly. At the counter an older gentleman was carefully counting dried dates, an abundance of them in Gilbert's opinion, dropping some on the ground and picking them up very slowly. He sighed loudly.

"How do you do, Mrs Lynde?" He smiled at her.

"Such a nice boy you are... You're turning into a fine young man I can tell ya. And handsome, too," she winked. "I'm quite well, thank you for asking. I'm getting some flour for Marilla Cuthbert, seeing as Anne is staying with Miss Barry for the time being and Matthew and Jerry are busy with farm work, she hasn't anyone to run these errands for her. She doesn't know I went, of course. That woman doesn't like help, such a shame... She is getting older, you know. I went over to tea yesterday and saw she was running low on flour, so I thought I'd do her a favor and pick some up for her."

He had become accustomed to Rachel's rumblings, usually paying them no mind, for his father had always set a good example in such matters. Gossip isn't healthy, and howbeit it's more of a womanly thing, you still can't escape it as a man. However a part of her monologue caught his mind.

"Anne's in Charlottetown?" He heard himself say without thinking.

"Oh yes. Why, you see, she's become quite good friends with that Mackenzie boy Josephine Barry's taken into her care. Plus, she wanted to familiarize herself with the town more, now that she's going to live there while she's at Queens. Her house isn't close to Queens, but Cole rides to his academy in a carriage every morning, so there's no trouble taking her too. She's even started moving her things there! Oh, how I don't understand that Barry woman. Having had ten children of my own, I can't imagine taking more of them into my home at such age. But I suppose she must be all lonely in that big house of hers. Don't be so glum, Anne will be back in Green Gables last week of summer. I do have to admit, I gave that Anne girl hell when she first came to Avonlea, but I too do miss her company dearly. She's a strange one, to say at least, but one can't help but love her, can one?" she laughed.

"I can't imagine how Marilla must miss her... But she's almost a woman now and one must expect her getting on her own feet sooner or later. I heard she's even got a chum there... Poor Marilla, I hadn't had the heart to tell her about it. She still sees her as a little girl," Rachel shook her head disapprovingly...

"And what about you, Gilbert? I know you have a sweetheart of your own..." Rachel grinned.

The line has moved a little bit, so they both took a step forward. "Yes, she's great," he said rather unconvincingly. His mind kept trailing to an image of Anne walking arm in arm with another man and he felt an unfamiliar feeling rise up in his chest.

"And to imagine both you and Anne might marry into such wealthy families, you have a good life ahead of ya... I told you he's wealthy, did I not? Very handsome too, such as yourself... Oh, how wonderful it is to be young and in love... I would do anything to relive my youth with Thomas, but I suppose being an old married couple has it's charms too. It's so strange, after seeing you and Anne dance in school I thought you were sweet on each other. I can see now that I was mistaken, although I don't mind as much, seeing how well everything worked out anyways."

Sweet on each other, he thought... So if other people had noticed, it couldn't have been all in his head. If Rachel Lynde wasn't staring at him, he would probably go bang his head against a wall.

He was relieved when he saw Miss Stacy enter the shop and head towards them. "Oh, Rachel, please do relieve this boy from the reins of your chatter," his former teacher laughed. "Young boys don't care about the problems of us old folk."

Muriel Stacy winked at him. "It's good to see you, Gilbert. I hope you're not working yourself to the bone and have found some time for relaxation this summer. A good book always does good for one's soul."

The walk back home felt longer than usual, uncomfortable thoughts creeping into his mind. He thought about paying Anne a visit tomorrow while he's at Charlottetown, maybe he could even catch up with Cole while he's at it, but then changed his mind. She hasn't mentioned leaving, in fact she didn't even come to say goodbye, even if it was just a three week visit. She obviously doesn't want him getting involved.

The following day he felt especially lost at tea with Winnie, remaining silent for most of it.

"Is something troubling you, dear?" she asked. "I feel like Mr Bones would be a more garrulous company than you today," she cracked a joke, but he didn't laugh.

"I'm sorry, Winnie."

"You needn't apologize, just tell me what I can do to cheer you up."

He looked thoroughly at the woman sitting in front of him. She was smiling at him with her ocean blue eyes, her hair perfectly done as always. She was wearing a very fashionable golden yellow dress and she was undeniably beautiful. And smart. And funny. She was almost perfect. There was one fault however, which was preventing him from loving her fully. She wasn't Anne.

"I don't think we are right for each other, Winifred."

She looked down, a little shocked but not mad, like he thought she would be. After a little while she sighed, nodding. "You know I would be perfectly happy with you. But I have to admit this relationship doesn't give me much thrill, if that's what you're talking about."

"I feel that way too. I hope you're not hurt," he said, taking her arm. "I like you very much, Winnie."

"Oh, I am hurt a little, but I do understand, because I feel it too... We could marry and live a life that would be just fine, but maybe there should be more to it indeed. I like you very much too, Gilbert Blythe. I hope we'll remain friends."

He stayed sitting for a while after Winnie left, the tea was still warm and he had plenty of time before his train left, so he decided to think everything through.

If Anne had really felt something for him back then, it's natural she was hurt when he brought Winifred to the town fair. She did run off and acted rather strangely, but acting strangely isn't unusual for Anne and that's why he didn't put it all together... He smiled at the memory of the judges spitting out Anne's cake. He knows he shouldn't, but oh, that really was rather amusing. Poor Anne, he thought.

Gazing out of the window, he saw Cole MacKenzie on the street talking with a tall dark young man. He stood up abruptly, threw money on the table and left, running after them.

"Cole," he shouted and waved, crossing the street. Cole turned around and smiled, taller and older than Gilbert remembered him.

"Gilbert," he said, shaking his hand. "Long time no see..."

Gilbert nodded, studying the guy he was with. He was rich, that much was obvious from the way that he dressed. Gilbert thought him objectively handsome too, with his dark curly hair and dark complexion, Gilbert could see him being a lady magnet.

"This is my classmate, Royal Gardner," Cole introduced him and Royal shook his head, extending his hand to Gilbert.

"Just call me Roy, please. Cole likes to introduce me by my full name to make people uncomfortable and I can see it's working. My parents are rather funny people, you see..."

"Where's Anne?" He blurted out and earned himself a strange look from Roy, but he didn't care.

"She's in the library, you know how she gets around books," Cole grinned. "We were just on our way to see her, do you want to join us?"

Gilbert thought about it. He did really want to see her, but he thought it might look weird if he just appeared before her. "Oh no, I couldn't, you obviously have other plans, I wouldn't want to intrude."

Cole laughed.

"No, not at all, come... We can catch up on the way."

So Gilbert walked with them. Cole told him about his life at the academy, he was obviously much happier and Gilbert was glad for that. He hadn't seen him in two years, but it was as if they never parted, conversation flowing easily between them. Gilbert didn't have many friends his age, but Cole was much more mature than most boys in Avonlea and very easy to talk to. Roy was a funny lad, Gilbert observed. He too used a lot of big words, kind of like Anne, but it seemed as if he used them less seriously, just for fun and to show off his high class education. When they reached the library, Anne was already standing outside waiting for them. She gave Gilbert a surprised look but she didn't seem bothered by his presence.

"Gilbert, how unexpected..." she said, walking over to him. "How are you? How's everything in Avonlea? Is Matthew and Marilla well?"

He assured her they were well and promised to give them both her regards. He saw Roy leaning into Anne's side, she didn't flinch in the slightest, which showed this was something normal for them. He kissed her hand and she gave him a brief smile, but remained focused on Gilbert. "What are you doing here? Visiting Winnie? You know, I get what you like about her... We met a few days ago and I've discovered a kindred spirit in her."

He smiled at that. Of course she and Anne would get along, they're both amazing women.

"She and I, uh... Parted ways."

Anne's look was unreadable.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

He didn't stay long. Roy muttered something about them being late to tea at Miss Barry's and the trio took off, Anne holding Royal's hand as they walked. Looking at her in the arms of another man, a wealthy, tall and good looking man made anger bubble up inside of Gilbert. He realized right in that moment that not admitting his feelings to her back then was truly a Royal mistake on his part.

#i don't know how to use read more don't kill me #I think I nailed Rachel's character #awae #awae fanfic #anne x gilbert #anne and gilbert #anne with an e #shirbert fanfiction #shirbert

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redroseworks · 4 years

Note

you should talk abt your earth-116 oc kids 👀

Akajsjakakah ok you asked for it lol

Idk where to start

Oh wait the three dc ocs that are kinda sort of their own thing except for one anyway

Lynn Small aka Selkie. Gothamite. Half Atleantean. Hates their dad. Goth. Eventually a sorcerer. Bad at coping.

Quatashia McFadden aka Lady Iris. Wonder Woman stan. Her mom is the goddess Iris. Would be offended by the pjo books. Retires from being a hero very early in life.

Jivika Chabra aka Kali. Her bio mother is lady shiva who donated her egg for a gay assassin couple to use with a surrogate. Yeah it's a long story. Also jivika isnt happy that they wanted her to be an assassin later in life. But like she only finds that out when they're both dead? They weren't planning on actually training her till she was 18 anyway. At least she can yell at their ghosts. Would kin Danny Phantom. She ends up dating Emiko Queen while in college!

Now my dickroy kiddos

Valerie Harper-Grayson. Adopted when she was three. Part Atleantean. Damian is her favorite Uncle bc he is almost always up for taking her to the aquarium. Then again Damian is basically all the Harper-Grayson kiddos fav Uncle. She never gets into the whole vigilante/hero business.

John Bo Harper-Grayson. Yeah John Bo is his whole first name. He goes by Bo. Hes biologically Roy and dicks kid. He'll eventually become Nightwing but he stays out of vigilante stuff till hes about 19.

Dylras Harper-Grayson. He was adopted as a baby from New Tamaran! He was rescued from uhh human/alien traffickers. He becomes Flamebird to Bo's Nightwing.

So now Bo's best friend: Jordan Lance-Queen! Haldinahollie's kid.

Jordan is biologically Hal's and a surrogate. They literally tried to find a surrogate that looked like Dinah. Jordan ends up being nonbinary so luckily they already had a gender neutral name. They'll eventually become Green Arrow! Their main goal in life is to make Bo suffer.

And then there are the Kent-Waynes and Allen-Waynes. Timkonbart kiddos.

Logan Kent-Wayne is tim and kons kid. Hes a really sweet kid though I havent wrote him as well him yet since I've mainly written him in a time period where he hasn't come out yet. He literally named himself after an actor cough garfield logan cough from a science fiction show he liked but then he found out said actor is friends with his uncle dick and he will never admit this.

Then there are the actually older than Logan twins. Except their clones. Made by lex luthor with DNA from kon and tim, Clark and Bruce Kent-Wayne use to be known as Alexander and Alexa Legacy. Maybe they were a little evil but they changed. They wanted to choose new names for their new lifes and asked tim, bart, and kon about names. Bruce's gender identity came out when he choose the name Bruce. Bruce and Robbie Troy end up dating (for a second time, first time being back when b was a little evil) and doing humanitarian work around the globe while also being heroes. Clark ends up going to Metropolis University to study elementary education!

And then there are tim and bart's pair of twins Meloni and Dana Allen-Wayne. I've only written them as babies so far so I havent given them much thought

Oh that reminds me Thad Allen (used to be Thawne but I feel like thad would change it) has an adopted son who he named Max

Now these two aren't kiddos but: Ezra and Amber Kane, Bette Kanes parents. Ezra is the youngest kid of whatever the fuck martha and Jacob's parents names were. He was a bit of a surprise considering his parents were pretty old when he was born so hes like 20 years younger than his closest sibling in age jacob. Hes also only like 8 years older than bruce and doted on his nephew as much as he could and hes the inspiration of the whole brucue wayne playboy act despite him not being a playboy at all but anyway. Hes also a pro tennis player. Amber Kane is his wife and best friend. She once dated Janet Drake. She had a shitty life and despite being an actress her childhood is still mainly secret. A few vague details are known but not specific not that it matters anyway. Her parents died when she was young and was taken in by some not so good people who got away with it bc they had money. Ezra and Amber spend any minute they can with Bette bc they love her and she is the light of their lives (well besides each other).

Then there's Faith, Bane, and Soledad Kerzner. Scandal, Kay, and Liana's kids. Faith and Bane are biologically Lianas with Thomas Blake as the sperm donor. Soledad was adopted when she was two . Faith... is a bit rebellious and gets caught up in some shit she really shouldn't have. Bane and Soledad are two characters I havent really explored yet but anyway they all love their three moms.

Viola and Robin Thomas are Duke Thomas and Jackson hyde's adopted kids. Viola is Martian which is really difficult considering her abilities. Shes a sweet kid though and really likes to help her dads! Robin is an Atleantean baby Jackson saved and brought home and it was kinda like that icarly meme (duke: jackson what do you have there? Jackson, holding robin and a smoothie: a smoothie) but like more dramatic bc Jackson was injured and had only come home because it was close and he really needed to actually go to a hospital anyway yay. Viola will become the signal and robin will become aqualad on day

Oh and there's Lilith "Lili" Bloomberg. Shes rose Wilson and eddie Bloomberg's daughter. She likes to watch blue devil. Shes really sensitive. Rose and eddie never got married to each other but Rose and Mia dearden married when Lilith was sorta young and eddie was married to jason todd for a little while before they got divorced and later he enters a relationship with zach zatara but I havent decided if that will last or not. Lilith is really close with tommy Blake bc hes kind of like an older brother to her

And then there's mystery girl wilson... I have yet to name her but shes a character I'm working on but her dad is slade

And that's it for now. There's more but I dont feel like going into then right now. But there more like Jason Todd's group of adopted kiddos and some others but I feel like this answer is getting way too long

#red rose answers #tee tag #earth-116 #ocs #mg ass aint tagging all of them

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secondratefiction · 5 years

Note

Hi! Just an idea. I'd love anything with Roy Harper. Maybe a Roy x batsis where they're broken up but because of the fact that reader and Jason are very close and Roy is his best friend, reader and Roy slowly warm up to each other again and end up together?? Maybe some overprotective brother Jason? :) Love u!

-It had been for the most part and amicable break up. At least as little fall out as the end of a relationship could bring.

-Now granted things could still get a little awkward if just the two of you were left alone together; but over all you and Roy were fine.

-And then there was the fight with Dick. And you decided that any awkwardness that might come from cohabiting with your ex was a WAY better alternative to having to look at your brother's stupid face.

- Also, you were way less likely to give into the urge to punch Roy in the face right now.

- Jason of course was thrilled to have you staying. He didn't see you nearly enough since you moved back into the manor.

- Honestly, you fit in so well with the two of them it was almost comical

- Didn't matter how smart the two of them were, they had one collective brain cell, and after you got there, you were mainly the one in charge of it.

- Things only really took a turn one night when Roy came back early. Alone and bloody.

- Some wise guy got lucky with a busted bottle, and you spent the better part of an hour digging out shards of glass and stitching him up.

- Lecturing him the whole time, of course.

"Careful Y/N, someone might get the impression you still care about me."

You glowered up at him and pinched his thigh, "I never stopped caring, ass."

- Roy only hummed noncommittally but stayed quiet from there and let you work.

- Things even went back to normal for a while... well as normal as can be anyway

- ... except... Jason seemed to be a lot more on edge not that long after.

- You thought he was just getting antsy and was thinking about changing safe houses again. But almost a week later that still hadn't happened, so...

- After a very long game of "it's not that big of a deal"/"don't bullshit me" J finally breaks down and admits he's noticed Roy staring at you again "like before"

- You're not entirely sure what to do with that information, but Jason's not happy at all

"Look, I known you two say you're ok, but I was the one dealing with the crying and the 3 am phone calls. I don't want to see either of you like that again, and I don't want to have to pick sides."

▪︎the 'it would be you' is silently implied

- And that's when you start to notice it: subconsciously, you and Roy are slipping back into some very domestic habits...

▪︎handing eachother things you need right as or almost before they ask

▪︎picking up snacks and stuff you know the other likes, even if you're not all that fond of it

▪︎Short-hand communication that the two of you understand perfectly, but leaves Jason confused, out of the loop, and slowly growing annoyed with the both of you.

- By the end of your third week there you're begging to wonder if it might be better for all people envolved if you just pack up and go home... this has turned into incredibly murky territory.

#roy harper #roy harper x reader #roy harper imagine #roy harper headcanon #arsenal #arsenal imagine #arsenal x reader #red hood and arsenal #green arrow #dc comics #roy harper x batsis #jason todd mentioned #batfam #reader insert #requests

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fallinfor-youreyes · 5 years

Text

Like The Stars Miss The Sun

ao3

Sometimes, he lets himself think about her.

Usually, it’s late, when the kids are asleep and the sun is no where in sight, and he finally has a few moments to himself. Times when isn’t thinking about training the kids, or wondering if they finished their homework, or scouring the internet for food that is healthy and will also keep growing teenagers strong. Times when he should really be trying to fall asleep but old habits and training die hard, as he’s learned, and sometimes, he feels more awake when the sun is down and the the sky is black. Side effect of being raised by Bruce “I am the night” Wayne.

It’s then, when he lets himself think about Kory. And by let himself, he means finally allows himself to deal with all the thoughts he’s had about her all day come to the front of his mind, because for a few moments, he can. He doesn’t have to worry about other things. So he lets himself think of her, and where she is and what’s she’s doing and how she might react to things that are happening. Like Rachel learning to control her powers, or Gar turning into new animals every few weeks, or Jason not acting like dick for 2 minutes every once in a while, or if she would be able to help Rose stop walking on eggshells around the tower.

Dick Grayson know’s he lives a pretty dangerous lifestyle, but he thinks these moments, these silent, stolen moments when he thinks of Kory’s smile and her laugh and the way she knows what he’s thinking sometimes even before he does are the most dangerous parts of his day. Because, they are almost normal. For a few moments, he can be a 28 year old guy who may or may not be pining after beautiful, terrifying woman. Until he remembers he’s actually a somewhat retired superhero who is currently training a new class of superheroes, who may or may not pining after a princess of an alien planet.

They are dangerous because his life has never been normal. Because he has never been normal. Because no matter how hard he tries, he can’t stop thinking about her.

His thoughts get more dangerous the longer he hasn’t head from her. The sometimes in the middle of the night have started creeping into other parts of the day. Like when he’s coming back from the farmer’s market and hopes, that maybe, just maybe, he’ll open the door this time, and she’ll be sitting on the couch, smirk on her face, green eyes full of mischief and stories. Or when he’s making dinner and he thinks about making extra just in case Kory pops in. Or when he’s teaching the kids a new training routine, and he pauses in the middle of an explanation, stupidly listening as if she’ll appear behind him and tell him he’s doing it wrong, step in saying “here let me show you should actually do it.”

Or when he stops a half a footstep away from opening the door to his bedroom, trying to banish all thoughts of Kory tangled in his sheets, fingertips dancing down his chest as he tells her about everything and anything.

Dick tries to chalk it down it to the fact that he hasn’t heard from her in 3 months. That part of him is just curious about what she has been up to, if she is planning on staying on Earth, if maybe, just maybe, she’s thinking about him too.

It’s dangerous but no matter what he does, he can’t seem to get her out of his head.

Part of him knows that whatever they had for a few brief weeks would have ended in flames and blood and disaster. Part of him knows it's a good thing it ended like it did, careful, safe, smiles on both their faces.

But the other part of him, the much less logical side of Dick Grayson, can’t stop thinking about what would have happened if he kissed her by the car that day. That part of him wants to know, wants to wonder.

That part of him never wants to stop thinking about Kory ever again.

xXx

Sometimes she lets herself think about him.

By sometimes she means most of the time.

By most of the time, she means too much of the time, Dick Grayson is invading her thoughts in ways she did not give him permission too.

Kory knows there is lot about herself that she does not know. A lot of her time before earth and on earth and before she ran into Dick and Rachel and Gar and everyone else is a mystery to her. One she plans to figure out a remember. But, knowing so little about herself, she likes to think she has some sort of control over her own, current thoughts. But apparently her brain has a very different idea.

She’s up with the sun in the mornings, way to early in her opinion, but it happens every day without fail, and every day without fail, the smallest, most annoying part of her brain has a wish. That this time she will open her eyes and Dick Grayson will be there, softly snoring, his face peaceful, some part of his body tangled around hers.

It’s an impulsive thought. One she cannot shake free of. Even though she knows it's mainly her fault that it is just a thought, not an actual action. He asked her to come with him. In his own, round about way, eyes almost pleading with her as he casually said the car had enough room. But she said no. Because she needs to figure out who she is before she can do something as impulsive and reckless as allowing herself to get dangerously close to Dick Grayson. They both need to figure themselves out.

She spends too much of her time not allowing herself to think about him. Which means alot of her time is spent thinking about not thinking about him, which sometimes makes her want to fly all the way out to California to punch him in the face.

And the thing is, she knows where he is. The last time Donna had talked to him, her told her about San Francisco and Titans tower, which led to Donna telling her about the original titans, and now, Kory knows where he and the kids are. She has a decent idea about what they are doing, and it lends itself to her imagination more than she cares.

So she distracts herself. Donna has plans and lets Kory stay in her spare bedroom. When they are not tracing down criminals or the occasional meta human, Donna helps her translate her notes from the storage locker, and they try to figure out her life before she woke in the Vienna and the guns and whole plot to kill Rachel.

And when they aren’t doing either of those things, Donna is showing her Earth. She knows what is like for things to be foreign and unfamiliar and she’s opinionated and funny and Kory trusts her. It’s a hard thing for her to do, learn to trust others, but she Donna has her back, even if she make fun of her music choices. She knows thee best food trucks and drags her to all the fun dancing clubs, and sometimes, she smiles, and Kory can see just the smallest amount of Dick’s smile in hers, and Kory wonders if that’s something that happens with all siblings, blood related or not.

Which leads to her thinking about her own family who she can’t remember. And also, sometimes, (most of the time, too much of the time) leads to her thinking about Dick. Dick and his stupid smile, and his stupid fluffy hair, and his stupid, perfect, magical mouth. Dick and his family, before and after and now. Dick Grayson and Rachel Roth and Gar Logan and her, their tiny, broken, disaster of a family that somehow grew in the space a few weeks, a family that she misses, that she thinks about too often. A family that could be hers if she wanted.

A family she hasn’t heard from in about 3 months.

Donna asks her where she wants to go next and she says Florida because it’s warm, but California is also warm. Warm and has her family, and Dick, and his stupid, perfect, magical mouth.

Part of her wants to go to California. Part of her wants her impulsive morning thoughts to be a reality.

But the other part of her, the more logical and political part of her wants to run. Run away and never look back, because she knows it can only end in disaster, one she doesn’t think she would be able to pick up the pieces from.

But, before either part of her can weigh the pros and cons, everything goes to shit.

xXx

“What do you mean Kory’s missing?”

Donna makes a noise on the other end of the phone, one that sounds an awful lot like she is kicking something rather hard, but he waits for her to explain herself.

“I told you. Shimmer. Tacos. Roy. No tacos. No Kory. I’ve called all my contacts in Florida, and used just about every ounce of pull with anyone to see if they’ve caught a glimpse of her. But nothing. She’s just gone. I know it’s shitty timing with Dr. Light but I can’t leave Chicago. Not without knowing she’s okay.” Donna sighs, and then kicks something again, and Dick presses his head into the kitchen counter.

All of his thoughts about Kory Anders turn to a slow sort of panic. Kory is missing. Dr. Light is sending light bombs after them. Hank and Dawn are having some sort of argument he hasn’t figured out yet. Rachel is definitely hiding something from him, and he still doesn’t know how to talk to Gar, and Jason is a whole natural disaster bundled inside a 19 year boy, and Rose still won’t tell him who she’s running from, and he’s only one guy. One guy who was almost having a good few weeks.

He should have known. Things were starting to feel normal.

“Dick?”

“Yeah. Fuck.” He drops his head to the counter again, this time with more force. Kory’s missing. Has been for 2 days. And he didn’t know. “Why didn’t you call me sooner?”

He can almost see Donna’s glare the second the words are out of his mouth. “It’s been two days, Dick. You used to disappear for weeks when we were kids, so I was giving her the benefit of the doubt for a few days before I called in the calvary.”

“Your right, I’m sorry, I’m just-“

“Worried,” Donna says. She knows him better than almost anyone, and sometimes hates it. “You’re allowed be. But you’re also not the only one.”

“I know.” He sighs, resists the urge to kick something like Donna has been doing for most of the conversation. “I’ll see if I can find anything out from over here. Keep me updated,” he says. Dick squeezes his eyes shut, and tries not to think of any of the terrible scenarios that instantly are forming in his mind. “Please.” The word slips out from his mouth without his permission, broken and hopeless.

“Of course. And Dick,” Donna says, stopping him just before he hangs up on he. “If anyone can take of themselves, it Kory.”

“I know.”

He drops the phone onto the counter much like his head, almost hoping it cracks. But to do that he would need to chuck it at the wall, a few times, probably, and he doesn’t have the energy for that at the moment. Kory is missing. Kory could bee in danger or dead and he’s been too worried about everything going on in the tower to even think consider Koriand’r, alien princess who can shoot fire from her hands, finding herself in danger.

He wants to fly to Chicago. He wants to track all of the steps that led to her being there one minute and gone the next. He wants to know where she is. He needs to know if she’s okay.

But he can’t. Because he has his own problems and his own dangerous situations, and he has four teenagers he needs to keep safe from a bad guy he thought was stopped already, and he still hasn’t made dinner for the night.

Dick wants a lot of things. He doesn’t want normal, because that’s not who he his. That’s not who the people he loves and cares about are. But he wants safety, or at least some semblance of it. He wants the kids to be safe, and he wants Kory to be safe and okay, and he wants for the world to stop spinning so fast for single moment so he can breath.

He thought working things out with Bruce and letting go of the darkness inside of him would lead to something new, something better, something slightly less stressful.

But it hasn’t. At least, not in the way he wanted it to. And he doesn’t know what to do, or how to move forward, and for a second he wants almost normal again. But almost normal led them here to this mess. So he doesn’t know what he truly wants, and that only makes him want to smash his head into the counter until he has an answer, even if that answer is being unconscious.

“Dick?” Rachel’s suddenly behind him, probably able to read his mind or feel his stress through the walls. He knows he needs to tell her about Kory, and why Dawn and Hank are here, and why someone blew up their car, but he can’t seem to bring his head up from the marble yet.

“What happened to Kory?” Rachel forces herself next to him. He lifts his head and she’s staring at him with a glare that could rival Donna’s, and it give him enough motivation to push himself from the counter.

“I don’t know yet.”

Before he can say anything else Gar and Jason come into thee kitchen bickering about something, and the Rose comes, hovering by the door and Hank and Dawn follow the sounds of Jason and Gar’s argument until the kitchen is full and for a split second, Dick pretends its because everyone is hungry and they are here to talk about dinner.

But that’s not why they are here.

So he tells them, about Dr. Light and about Kory and everyone looks at him for a plan.

He doesn’t know how to tell he doesn’t have one.

xXx

She lets herself be embarrassed over being taken down with a single taser for about three minutes.

It was Tamaran taser, which lets her be slightly less embarrassed.

And then she turns that embarrassment into rage, and embarrasses everyone who thought sending one person to drag her back home would be enough.

She remembers bits and pieces about who she is. More than she used to but still not enough to really know who herself, so she gets him talking first, until she learns enough for even more memories to slowly unlock in her brain. Gets him talking until he’s close enough for her knock him out and tie him up, more efficiently than he did with her.

She kicks himself for good measure, hoping she’s hit him hard enough to stay asleep while she searches for her phone.

Kory gives herself a moment to be proud of herself. And then another to think about how proud Dick would be for her not killing him, even when he definitely deserved it.

She finds her phone and then rolls her head, working out the cracks and tension as she thinks for a second. A moment.

Really, at this point, she knows exactly what she wants.

She types in Donna’s number first.

“Oh , my god. Are you okay? Where are you?” Donna is talking a mile a minute and Kory is only able to confirm she is alive before Donna is off, asking questions she doesn’t give her time to answer.

“Donna. I’m okay. Stop for a moment.” Kory says, and Donna stops, taking a shaky breath that Kory can only barely hear over the phone.

She tells her where she is, and that she needs to know if there is somewhere they can keep him for now, and Donna goes into tactical mode, and she talks to her until she’s running through the door of the warehouse, wrapping Kory in a hug before she even hangs up the phone.

“I knew you didn’t go to Florida,” Donna says. “God, we were so worried.”

Kory doesn’t miss the we but she ignores it for the moment. “They are going to send more. So we should interrogate him a bit, figure out as much as we can.” She twists the ring on her finger, trying to figure out the best next steps.

Logically, she knows she should stay here in Chicago, figure out exactly what Tamaran has planned for her.

But, realistically, she’s been trying to figure out the fastest way to San Francisco since she first tied her assailant up.

Donna kicks the man, and he slumps over in the chair. “I know a place were we can keep him.” Donna breaks out into a smile, turning back to Kory.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Dick has a nice place in San Francisco. Which works out perfectly.” She pauses pulling out her phone again, and Kory is able to glimpse a terrible picture of Dick on the screen before Donna presses the phone to her ear. “Something’s happened in California.”

xXx

Donna tells him she’s found Kory and that she’s okay, but for some reason, it doesn’t sink in until she’s there, standing in his door way, hair straight but still in her signature fur coat.

And he just, stares.

Because, Kory is here, Kory is okay, Kory is standing in his door, the beginning of smile stretching across her lips.

He’s forgotten just how breath taking she is.

And suddenly, he’s forgotten how to breath.

“Oh, my god.” Donna rolls her eyes and pushes past the both of them. “Nice to see you too, Dick. I’ve dropped our friend in the sub zone. Thanks for not changing the locks.” She pats his cheek as she side steps him, and then it’s just him and Kory, still standing in the doorway, because he is still processing that she’s here. This isn’t one of his day dreams.

It had been two days since Donna called him, telling him Kory was okay and that they were coming to San Francisco, ‘friend’ included. Two days of Dick trying to come to terms with the fact that Kory was coming, that she was going to be here, that everyone was going to be together again.

Two days of Dick thinking maybe, just maybe, they could all make it out of this mess okay.

“Hi,” he says, rather eloquently. It comes out breathless. He wants to punch himself in the face.

“Are you going to invite me in?” Kory asks. She has a cut down the side of her cheek that’s halfway healed, and he wants to know who hurt her, wants to know what happened, needs to know that she is actually okay.

But instead, he steps aside, and her smile grows, and she lets her eyes travel around the room before spinning herself back to him.

“So this is where you’ve been the past couple of weeks.”

“Yeah. I’m sure the kids will take you on a tour as soon as they possibly can.” He wants to take a step toward her, but he doesn’t know what their protocol is anymore. He’s never really known, but now it feels like there’s a three month sized wall between them, and he doesn’t know how to start breaking it down.

“Hmm.” She hums, eyes still roaming before dragging her teeth over her bottom lip. “Any chance of you being the one to show me around?”

And, fuck. Kory Anders is literally two steps away from him, real, and alive, and flirting with him, and fuck he’s missed her. Dick closes the space between them in two second, his hand coming up to cup her cheek, thumb ghosting over the cut on her skin.

“Pretty sure the kids would severely injure me if I tried.”

Kory’s eyes flutter shut and wants to kiss her, wants to pull her into his room, wants to know everything about her last three months. But there’s seven other people in the house and about 18 different problems that need to be taken care of so he can’t.

He knows they only have a few moments before Rachel and Gar crash into the room. Only a few moments before everyone swarms and the he has to start explaining Rose and Dr. Light why they are all here. Only a few moments with Kory by themselves, a few moments to take in that she is alive, and she is okay, and she is here, before the peace is broken.

“Will you tell me what happened?” He asks, words barely a whisper.

Her eyes shoot open, and there’s a split second of fear that he is able to catch before she blinks it away.

“Will you tell me?”

He nods, not trusting himself to speak. Because he will. Because he finally wants to.

He wants a lot of things.

“Later. After the kids are done with you.” He can hear Gar’s footsteps now, so he presses a quick kiss to her forehead and then takes a step back, just before everyone else bursts into the room and then Rachel is in Kory’s arms and Gar is wrapping his arms around them both, and there is at least 10 different things that need to be figured out right now, but Dick feels something close to peace.

Everyone is here, and there is the smallest degree of safety in this moment, and together, all of them, will figure it out.

They’ll make a plan, and everything will be okay. Because this is their normal.

xXx

Kory wakes with the sun, and allows herself a single moment for an impulsive thought. It’s the same impulsive thought she’s had for weeks now. The one she keeps trying to banish but can’t.

She’s going to open her eyes, and be in Donna’s spare room, alone. And that’s okay, because she’s used to it by now, thinking about Dick Grayson when she shouldn’t.

Kory opens her eyes.

Dick’s arm around her waist tightens just slightly, and there’s the smallest worry line between his eyebrows that she would try to flatten if she knew it wouldn’t wake him up.

This isn’t a thought. This is real. Dick Grayson is wrapped around her like a cocoon and she’s in his shirt, and last night he talked to her, about everything and anything, and she told him what she had learned about herself.

This is real. She is here. And if Dick Grayson is going to be taking up too much time in her thoughts, then she wants to at least be able to tell him about at the end of day.

Kory studies his face until his nose scrunches up. She knows he’s awake, but he hasn’t opened his eyes yet, almost like he’s afraid that he will and she will be gone.

She knows the feeling.

“Good morning,” she says, a whisper almost lost in his giant room. His eyes are still closed the the side of his lip quirks up. Kory smooths of the worry line between his eyebrows, letting her hand slip down his face until she can press the side of smile with her thumb.

“I’m going to kiss you know, Dick Grayson.”

His eyes pop open, and then she’s kissing him, and he rolling them over until he can cage her between the bed and his arms, and this, this is what she has not let herself think about. Because nothing compares to the real thing.

“I’ve missed you,” he says, lips brushing over her skin as he kisses his way down her throat.

Kory tangles her hands in his hair and sighs, pulling his lips back to hers. “I’ve missed you too.”

#titans #titans fic #dickkory #dick grayson #koriand'r #my fic #this is my first time writing them

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queenarticlearchive · 5 years

Photo

September 11, 1976

Phil McNeill

New Musical Express

If punters queue when they’ve already got tickets…

…You’re witnessing A Phenomen. And such was the situation when Queen played the Edinburgh Festival - with supporters of The Young Pretender paying their man and his men the ultimate tribute… But what of the music? What of the future? Is our combination-clad Hero prancing up a blind alley?

It’s a freezing Edinburgh wind that whips up the bare slope by the Playhouse Theatre to torment the massed masochists who queue, strung out a full quarter of a mile, for Queen’s first British gig of 1976.

Masochists? Am I revealing my prejudice against the four wonderboys already? Actually, no: masochists because they’ve all got tickets already, and, while the pub the other side of the theatre stands almost empty, these kids are catching pneumonia for nothing in their impatience to reach their already allotted seats.

Baffled, photographer Chalkie Davies and I forsake the Scotch queue for the one inside the pub…

Later, in the Playhouse, Supercharge do their obscene thing to the delight of the packed audience. They’ve lost keyboardist Iain Bradshow, at least for tonight, and the consequent weakening in the band’s already clanky rhythmic mesh is disturbing. But that famed Scots audience does its nut.

Whether it’s the Bay City Rollers spot, the new punk rock leapabout or a completely serious, lopsided semi-funk song, the response is probably as strong as Superchange have ever had anywhere - and this is distinctly an off night!

The Liverpool layabouts troop off and the “We want Queen” chants strike up as scurrying roadies prepare a spartan stage: no clever backdrops and stuff, just Roger Taylor’s mounds of cymbals in front of that ever-present gong and Brian May’s mountain of AC30s.

Darkness...gaspo… a clashing gong… squeals of delight from the youth next to me...yer usual symphonic electronic atmospheric fanfare sort of thing… fading up into the Gilbert and Sullivan middle section of “Bohemian Rhapsody”...a welling up of dry ice...clamorous welcome from the audience..the youth next to me digs his elbows in my ribs and bounces on his seat in delirium…

And they’re on, racing straight out of the recorded “Bohemian Rhapsody” into a live rendition of the heavy riff section that follows. Lights flash madly, there’s smoke all over the place, the youth next to me is screaming with joy, as are 3,000 other lunatic Scotspeople. If explosions aren’t going off it feels like it, and I jot down what Freddie Mercury is wearing in an attempt to keep a grip on my reeling brain.

A white boiler suit, it says here. What professionalism. That’s like a war correspondent noting the time as the wall he’s leaning on gets demolished by a tank.

The relentless sensory bombardment continues as Queen bomb out of “BoRhap” - “just gotta get right outta here”, and how can I disagree? - into a harsh melange of heavy metal riffs plastered with flash harmonies, which in turn gives way to a fast intrumental.

Basically it’s rubbish, a theatrical synthesis of the grossest lumps of regimented noise the sometime power trio can contrive. As they thunder away Mercury emerges from the wings once more, looking like a frog in a balletic white skintight catsuit, and magisterially conjures up giant flashes that erupt deafeningly out of the stage.

The audience do likewise from their serried seats.

Queen have arrived, in more ways than one. Britain’s most successful group of the decade poutingly confront their loyal subjects.

The drift of the piece is obvious, maybe. The crowd loves ‘em and the critic hates them. Well, as it happens I quite like them, but generally that’s a fair picture of rock press attitudes to Queen: at the end of the gig, when the only possible view of the band involved standing on the shoulders of the person jumping up and down on the seat in front of you, I picked out two isolated, sour faces. Critics.

It wasn’t always like that: briefly, at the beginning of ‘75, Queen had a mass audience and critical respect. Dave Downing, whose newly published book, Future Rock, ranges incisively across the whole spectrum of heavyweight rock - Dylan, Reed, Bowie, Floyd, et al - reviewed “Sheer Heart Attack” alongside Sparks’ “Propaganda” in Let It Rock, January 1975:

“I find Ron Mael’s lyrics offensively lacking any conviction but pride in their own cleverness…. The arrangements conquer all in their streamlined assurance…. I have visions of a Gilbert O’Sullivan gone progressive….”

Change that to Gilbert and Sullivan and it could easily be directed at “A Night At The Opera”. However, Downing had this to say of “Sheer Heart Attack”:

“In stark contrast we have Queen’s third album….this is the best new band I’ve heard for a long, long time….Queen have convinced me that the division of rock into heavy soft has been largely a way of covering up the lack of energy in either. Whether rocking, ballading, whatever….they’ve got energy to spare. They have the old Beatles-style oomph.

“....Brian May’s guitar stalks Freddie Mercury’s vocals with as much power, and probably more ingenuity, than Ronno achieved in the heady days of ‘Panic In Detroit’....

“....Freddie Mercury’s voice is equally amazing, hampered only by the lack of lyrics to do it and the music justice. Some rock bands get hampered by depth-lyrics; I think Queen would just grow.

“But that’s a hope rather than a criticism. The superb gloss on this record covers the real gold, rather than, as I fear in Sparks’ case, just substitutes for it….”

Right, Queen at the time of “Sheer Heart Attack” were poised, ready to choose pretty much whichever direction and status they fancied. They had fought through the original drawbacks of being camp followers churning out rather grotesque Led Zeppelin rip-offs, to become a tough, stylish unit coasting on the back of a devastating single, “Killer Queen”.

Although they lacked Bowie’s way with words, the initial implications of the name still clung to them, and it seemed, listening to “Sheer Heart Attack”, that all they needed were some hot lyrics and a little discipline to instate them as not only the most popular Britrockers since Bowie, but also the best.

The first thing that hits you on that album, after a snatch of fairground FX is vibrant power as May leads the ensemble through the whirlwind of “Brighton Rock”. It explodes with a kind of seaside energy to match his mundane holiday romance lyrics, and stakes out May’s own preferred patch on the words map: storytelling.

That type of power is almost entirely absent from “Opera”, and even in “Brighton Rock” it gets horribly dissipated by a ridiculous guitar solo, May following himself up and down the scale in a meaningless exercise quite divorced from the rest of the number.

Another type of power also missing from “Opera”, is found in “Now I’m Here”, a Who-ish (“I Can See for Miles”) feel leading into brilliant beefy harmonies - very much in the mould of Roy Thomas Baker, Queen producer throughout their career, and now used to good use on Sunfighter’s “Drag Race Queen” - which wouldn’t get a look-in among all the breathy harmonies of “Opera”.

It’s great rock, strong and goodtime, apparently about Queen’s US tour with Mott the Hoople.

Elsewhere on “Sheer Heart Attack”, however, lay the seeds of Queen’s decline.

“Bring Back That Leroy Brown” was the first indication of their capabilities completely outside rock. As such it was immaculately performed, a camp minstrel pastiche, but unwelcome.

“Lap Of The Gods (Part One)” featured and unnecessarily ostentatious intro; “Flick Of The Wrist”, a murkily heavy song with a uplifting Baker buzz of a chorus, May’s guitar splattered all over the place in another facet of aggression that would soon disappear, was unfortunately a prototype for the appalling “Death On Two Legs”.

“Death”, the opening track of “ANATO”, is seemingly aimed at their previous manager to John Reid. Astounding dense musically, its lyrics are horribly strident and self-righteous, a blinkered, vindictive tirade that says more about the writer than his subject.

This sort of unflinching immaturity epitomises the Queen scene to some extent: infants on the loose with the weapon of technology, everything sublimated to technique.

“Flick Of The Wrist”, its predecessor, was similarly nasty - and apparently dealt with the same topic - but it succeeds where “Death” does not because the singing is sublimated to the music and, particularly, because the words are secondary to the melody.

In Edinburgh “Flick Of The Wrist” comes fourth, and it’s not as good as the record, possibly because they’re struggling somewhat on the faster songs.

They’ve already done “Sweet Lady” from ANATO”, Mercury singing well and the band thundering confidently. But suddenly Brian May’s guitar goes out of tune from all the crashing it’s received, and he drags the tempo. The final crescendo almost catches fire, but could do better.

Freddie toasts Edinburgh with champagne before he and May, moodily posed under blue spots, venture timorously into the medievally romantic “White Queen” from “Queen II”. Freddie goes to the piano for May’s curling, echoed solo, and we catch up with ourselves on “Flick”.

Here May’s problem is highlighted, he can’t get a decent uptempo solo together. The song is pounding along, but it’s like a cover-up, charging through seemingly pointless changes with throwaway solos, as if they’re attempting to dazzle you with workrate, a treasure trove of superficialities.

John Deacon plays a strong bass, holding up the song if necessary, and Roger Taylor, while seeming rather detached from proceedings up on his high riser, plays solid, varied drums. Mercury’s singing is superb, and on this might it’s mainly May whose playing isn’t quite up to scratch.

The medley comes next, and it brings a little warmth to the garish, posturing event. John Deacon’s “You’re My Best Friend” comprises the first part. Like “Misfire”, his semi-Caribbean pop-rocker on “Sheer Heart Attack”, it’s the friendliest track on “Opera”, and, while May and Mercury mess with every musical genre known to man, the only straight rock song apart from Taylor’s exhilarating “I’m In Love With My Car”.

Onstage, Mercury’s lead vocal floats beautifully on the band’s okay harmonies, and the audience clap along with the lazy rhythm. May’s guitar solo isn’t loud enough, and he hits a horrible chord at the end of it, but it’s a good break.

The two-note chime at the end of “You’re My Best Friend”, a similar device to the end of “Killer Queen”, leads into “Bohemian Rhapsody”.

On record, “Bo Rhap” epitomises the heavy-handed idiocy that bugs their last album. There are actually a few great touches in the rambling epic, notably the guitar break that follows the operatic bit, with its sudden halved phrases towards the end and the subtle way May’s fade out figure is continued by Mercury’s solo piano. But the rest is cumbersome and, where not plainly stupid, pompous and unimaginative.

For some reason Brian May seemed to have lost all feeling for rock on “Opera”, and the first guitar break on “Rhapsody” was the album’s sole unscrambled solo bar the period piece, “Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon”. And as for Beelzebub…

But the words of “Bohemian Rhapsody” are even worse than the music. The basic scenario would seem to be the romanticised alienation of a “poor boy” who indulges Mercury’s gun fetish by killing a man, leading to some kind of tug-of-war between, er, two forces. Life and death? Heaven and hell? Does Freddie know?

There’s that brief stab of “just gotta get out of here” defiance, but we finish on the fatalism of “anyway the wind blows…” A vague tale of idealised emotions that quite possibly means nothing at all.

Mercury’s songs do have a tendency to be vague to the point of meaninglessness - where they’re not utterly trivial anyway. Triviality I can take- “Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon”, for instance, where Queen’s technical skill turns a brief, twee ditty into a tour-de-force, with a great guitar break in what I think of as Brian May’s Mrs. Dale’s Diary style and one particularly wonderful harmony line on “there he goes again” - but the depths of pretension are plumbed on Mercury’s more “serious” songs.

These are actually fairly rare, but Mercury’s deepest opus outside of “Rhapsody” is probably “In The Lap Of The Gods” on “Sheer Heart Attack”, a portentous, monolithic singalong which I like a lot musically, but whose only discernible meaning is, like the conclusion of “Rhapsody”, that old vague predestination schtick.

The rest of Mercury’s oeuvre consists of live ballads (the melodically poignant, lyrically incomprehensible “Lily Of The Valley” from “Attack” and the more narcissistic, less focussed, meandering “Love Of My Life”, least memorable on “Opera”); bitchiness (that horrible duo, “Flick Of The Wrist” and “Death On Two Legs”); and weird period pieces (“Leroy Brown”, “Lazing”, and “Seaside Rendezvous” from “Opera”).

“Seaside Rendezvous” is pretty interesting stuff, illustrating the bizarre purism that prompts Queen to boast “No Synthesisers” on their album sleeves. A long, ‘20s-style piece, it’s fully orchestrated with instrumental passages by both brass and woodwind sections - performed entirely on vocals!

It’s astounding. Queen are perfectionists, as we all know; perfect confectionists. Even Mercury’s lead vocal is done, as on a lot of the album, line by line to get that bursting out of the speaker effect.

And therein lies their undoing, for they seem to have spent so long working on “A Night At The Opera” that they completely lost sight of the record they were making, coming out with shallow perfection without the least hint of the fire of “Sheer Heart Attack”.

However, returning to Freddie’s oeuvre: the next song in the Edinburgh medley, following on from “Bohemian Rhapsody” - and missing the operatics, thank god - is “Killer Queen”.

What a song. Although they take it slower than on record it still sounds slightly rushed, the ideas fall so thick and fast.

It has so many virtues that “Opera” lacks: interesting music (that got neglected on “ANATO” in favour of performance); brevity; flash (“Opera” is positively pedestrian compared to the swagger of this mid-tempo marvel); and it’s unpretentious in its triviality, something that none of the work - at - it - for - six - months - to - get - the - vocals - sounding - like - George - Formby’s ukelele trivia on “Opera” could claim.

Back live, it transforms into the noisy “March Of The Black Queen” from “Queen II” and thence to the end of “Rhapsody”. Kimono Taylor’s gong jerks us into a snazzy rendition of “Leroy Brown”, purely instrumental, and end medley.

“Brighton Rock” follows, red hot and awful tight, Taylor’s falsetto screaming over the top, until…

Oh no, it’s this guitar virtuoso bit, where the others go off and leave May to fiddle about with his patented delayed action devices. The man has little idea of stage craft standing awkwardly on Freddie’s promontory and dashing back to his amp every now and then to twiddle another knob. The performance is clever, but he’s hardly playing great music - enough’s quite enough.

At points during this intermediate solo May hits something good - a glassy, Japanesey section, a mellow, symphonic bit - but his individual slot is plagued by the fault that haunts Queen and devalues what good stuff they do play: they’ve got no taste. Don’t know good from bad.

They can perform, and they’re very bright boys (according to Larry Pryce’s unwonderfully written and uninformative Official Biography Of Queen, Brian may or may not have a PhD in Astronomy, Mercury a degree in graphics and illustration, Deacon an honours degree in electronics, and Taylor a degree in biology) but as for taste…

As if to emphasise that point, Taylor returns to do his dumb trick with lager on his tomtoms and they lumber into a bunch of monotonous, archetypal heavy metal riffs.

Next song, “‘39”, has the four down front - May on acoustic and Taylor on tambourine and bass drum.

My, they look well-coifed. Mercury demonstrates his fine voice again.

A newie, “You Take My Breath Away”, from the album currently known as “A Day At The Races” - half-finished - shows Freddie still pludding the fragile ballad vein, a hesitant, precious ditty accompanied by lone piano, old fashioned and unexceptional.

But then it’s Brian’s big moment, composition-wise: “The Prophet’s Song.” In Pryce’s book May explains that the plot came to him in a dream: “...a dream concerning revenge, only in the dream I wasn’t able to work out what it was revenge for.”

So out of the astronomer’s subconscious comes this Noah’s Ark parable seemingly set in the present, with a ship full of humans apparently heading off into space.

Musically it’s “Old English”, according to Roger Taylor, the rock equivalent of a Prussian military division marching to the Crusades, marred by the most fatuously self-indulgent acapella nonsense imaginable in the middle.

If Queen were chameleons to begin with (Zep meets Bowie), they’re even more that way inclined now, changing personality completely from one song to the next (George Formby meets Cecil B. DeMille meets…) It’s a treatment to which May’s songs lend themselves.

“Good Company” is a very English tale, another vague moral story, done Formby style, with an extraordinary guitar ensemble imitating a complete trad jazz band, another labour of months for a trivial piece of flash.

“‘39”, the acoustic song, seems to be another slice of science fiction, an obscure folk tale which disguises its meaning frustratingly well. Nice feel, though.

Onstage “The Prophet’s Song” is launched amid billows of dry ice and taped wind. As they muscle their way through the heavy chorus I keep expecting them to bump into one another in the confusion, but they manage not to. Anyway, the others clear off when Mercury goes into his ridiculous echoed vocals workout, a one-man Swingle Singers, appalling narcissism.

The audience, to their shame, seem entranced by the spectacle of the great poseur and his myriad voices. Nauseating.

At the end of the song to revolving globes descend and a tape of jangling piano speeds dizzyingly. The globes rise - UFOs taking off?

Anyway, it gives Fred a chance to change into a grotesque black outfit, and suddenly we’re back into the flashing lights/strobes.racing adrenalin scene again with “Stone Cold Crazy”, very fast and heavy, May playing a good scientific solo.

Freddie goes pianoing again for “Doing All Right” from “Queen”, slow and laconic with waterfalling guitar and lovely harmonies, but that gives way to a lousy solo over an unexpectedly Brazilian riff and more unnecessary changes. What are they trying to hide?

“Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon” is neat, and then the crowd get “Keep Yourself Alive”, which they’ve been baying for. It’s an okay song, but they do it terribly heavy and insult the listener with their soulless, declamatory attempts at communication.

Queen almost boogie on “Tie Your Momma Down”, also from the new LP, the most straightforward song so far with a slide break that veers towards a 12-bar. Freddie postures crassly under the rather inept lighting.

“Liar” from “Queen” comes in on a Bo Diddley beat, and as it gets into typical Queen HM jaggedness May slings out a real nasty phrase that sneers at the ineffectual stuff he’s played all evening.

As it dissolves into aimlessness it becomes obvious that Queen live are some great songs, an image and a lot of noise. Their heavy metal is no better than the likes of Nazareth, unfocussed, with no real dynamics outside of structural party tricks. A cover-up job for essentially lumpen music… yet they are capable of so much more.

“Lap Of The Gods” picks things up, its relentless chorus rising and falling on good chords - a rare commodity for Queen, as is its stable rhythm - and as the stage vanishes beneath dry ice they kiss goodbye.

Now this I don’t believe. Never in my life, outside of the likes of the Rollers, have I encountered such a hysterical response to a band. It’s like a riot, kids charging about in the smoky darkness, and if Queen don’t get back there soon this lot are going to knock the place down.

The encore is the great “Now I’m Here”, followed by their “Rock’n’roll” medley of “Big Spender” and “Jailhouse Rock.” They really shouldn’t do that. Mercury’s got no idea about getting down and having a good time, and his attempts to get audience participation are laughable. It’s scrappy stuff, and even their rock’n’roll is spoilt by too many changes!

As for where Queen go from here, the two songs they played from the next album were undistinguished, and can give no hint of what it will contain.

Nowever, it’s pretty obvious they’ve driven so far up their particular blind alley that there’s virtually no hope of them ever fulfilling the potential that was there in “Sheer Heart Attack.” They could have been giants of real music, but it seems they are destined to remain the most perfect indulgence in rock. Masters of style, void of content.

#1976 #a night at the opera #review #new musical express #queen

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ellana-ravenwood · 6 years

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“Wanna Join ?” Part 2/2 - Jason Todd x Reader x Roy Harper (erotica)

And here as promised, part 2 of this little dirty polyamorous fic of mine. If you haven’t read part 1, link down below :-). And hum...I don’t have much to add, hope you’ll like it !

FINISHED SERIES : PART 1

IMPORTANT WARNING : THIS IS EROTICA ! THIS IS NOT FOR YOU IF YOU ARE UNDERAGED, I GODDAMN MEAN IT. Like there’s cute and sweet feelings in the mix, but also...smut, so if you’re not 18 or more, or if you’re not comfortable with that sort of things etc etc, this story ain’t for you. I have tons of other very SFW story, for averyone to read, and if you wanna check those out instead, it’s right here, on My masterlist blog : @ella-ravenwood-archives.

_________________________________________________

Jason Todd was happy.

Right here, right now.

In fact, he doesn’t remember feeling that happy ever in his life...

Maybe before his death, when he was just a carefree kid and Bruce asked him if he could officially be adopted ?

The feeling, in his little nine years old heart, to finally belong, to finally have a real family that cared about him...It was overwhelming at the time.

Of course, things were cut short, ruined by that psychopathic clown, who killed him when he was fifteen. And by R’as Al Ghul, who wouldn't let him rest and brought him back...

Since he came back to life, Jason couldn’t recall being THAT happy.

He found new friends, forgave his father, bonded again with his family (becoming quite a protective yet cool older brother to Tim, and more recently, to Damian, finally making progress with him...Finally wanting to make progress with him), learned how to live again etc etc...

But there was always that gloominess in him. That sadness of being let down. Abandoned by his father, the only person he always thought would never let him go...

The constant feeling of not being important enough followed him everywhere, this pain dragged him down for so long...

Until he met you and Roy.

At first, he was such an ass to the both of you, but you stuck around anyway. You didn’t let him push you away...and before he knew it, Roy and you were the reasons he felt happier sometimes, just by being with you.

Before he realized it, he had fallen hopelessly in love with you.

With both of you...

And then you two started dating, and he thought it would be the end. Over. That he would have to burry his feelings deep down and watch you two be happy from a distance. That once more, he wouldn’t belong anywhere.

But one day...One day you invited him to join in on your sexy time, and after a few months of fun, of incredible sexual experience...you realized you were all in love with each others.

Polyamorous.

That’s the word Jason used. And how lucky was he, to have fallen desperately in love with his best friends who discovered they too, were poly ?

Very lucky.

So sure, at first it had been a mess of misunderstandings and hurt, but things cleared pretty rapidly !

After Roy thought Jason was trying to steal you away from him, you caught up with him and came back to the apartment, where Jay proceeded to explain himself.

He remembered how he was afraid because if you guys didn’t share his feelings...he could ruin everything. You’d never abandoned him of course, but it would never be the same again.

And now...

No Jason Todd was happy.

Here. Right here.

That night, he fell asleep in the best spot.

In the middle.

Your head was in the crook of his neck, and one of your leg was thrown around his waist, as you were cuddled against him, your warmth spreading to him pleasantly.

Roy was sleeping on his belly, his body also against Jason’s. One of his arms was laying comfortably across the Red Hood’s chest, fingertips touching you side softly.

And though this position might sound uncomfortable to a lot of people, sandwiched the way he was...Jason lived to feel you guys’ naked bodies against him.

Jason Todd was happy. Here. Between you two.

He was thinking about just that when...he felt like something was wrong.

Yours and Roy’s skin felt...weirdly sweaty and sticky. Not like it should have felt. It was slimy and warm and...It was blood.

Jason sat up in a panic, and shook both of you, but he already knew...he already knew by the empty look in your eyes, by the sudden coldness of your skin, by the amount of blood all around you...You and Roy were dead.

You had left him behind, you were gone, forever. What happened ?!

He...he...He woke up, screaming at the top of his lungs.

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

Jason felt as if he was back in time. When he was eight, and just started to live at Wayne manor’s. When he was all alone in this huge bedroom.

He used to have vivid dreams about his mother’s murder...And used to wake up screaming, just like right now. And each time, Bruce would come running, and would be there for him until he fell asleep.

And though Jason was far from being a kid now...Bruce came in when he heard his (adult) son scream in his sleep. It was mainly just a reflex. Tim and Damian still lived at the Manor, and sometimes they had nightmares.

They were still young enough to appreciated their father rushing in their room to reassure them, to be there for them. And so when Bruce was woken up by a scream...He followed his father instincts and went to the source of the scream, knowing it was one of his boys.

But half asleep, he didn’t realize that said scream came from one of his oldest son...Jason came back to live in the manor shortly after the huge fall out he had with you and Roy. He just didn’t want to stay alone in an apartment, he couldn’t stay alone in an apartment so...He moved back to his old home.

It has been a while, since he lived there. But of course, Bruce and Alfred welcomed him with open arms. And the old butler got his old room in order, with the help of a rather excited Tim (he always admired greatly Jason) and the reluctant help of Damian (who was actually pretty excited too...it meant he could randomly start fights in the corridor with someone else than Drake !).

It was a bit weird, to be back in that huge room...Some of his old stuffs that he didn’t take with him, and that were there since before his death brought memories back to his mind. Of times when it was just him and Bruce. Of Dick and him fighting, but ultimately become close brothers. Of finding a new family. Of Bruce being proud of him because he had good grades at school. Of roaming the mansion with Dick, up to no good. Of scaring Alfred by jumping all around expensive furnitures (though the butler was scared for his well being more than said furnitures). Of Alfred’s cucumber sandwiches...

It was a bit weird, but he realized it was exactly what he needed.

After the heartbreak he just went through. After loosing his two best friends, but also ruining their relationship...

He needed his home. His family. To not feel completely abandoned again.

And as Bruce, his father, half-asleep, came running into his room already saying :

“It’s alright boy, I’m here.”

Jason felt a bit better...But then his dad realizes it’s neither Tim nor Damian. It’s one of his grown ass kid. And he just stands there, between the door and his bed, not really sure of what to do.

He reconnected with Jason not so long ago, and he fears that him barging in after he had a nightmare might be too much for him. Might make painful memories of his father abandoning him (Bruce would never forgive himself, but he had his reason, and Jay finally understood them) resurface for some reasons...maybe some childhood memories that were too painful to think about.

And this was the last thing Jason needed. After what he just went through...

So Bruce stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do next, until he realized...Until he realized Jason was crying.

And once again, his father instincts kicked in. Especially since he never saw Jason cry...And so he goes to him, sits next to him, and holds him. Just like he used to do when Jay was eight...And he listens.

He listens to his heartbroken son, to his shattered boy...And he doesn’t let go.

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

Roy is angry.

Lately, he’s always angry.

Maybe it’s a way of ignoring that lingering pain inside him, the one that threatens to destroy him if he stops being so furious ?

But as Oliver Queen aka Green Arrow watch upon his ex-sidekick bashing a random low life head’s in...This has to end.

It’s not like his Roy to loose it like that. Especially not since he met you and Jason. He became a collected man, that always thought things through and..it just wasn’t his thing to use mindless violence.

And it was tarnishing his name. And by the same occasion, Green Arrow’s. Not that Oliver cared much, no. He didn’t give a shit what people thought of the Arrows right now, he just wanted Roy to feel better.

But it was dangerous. There was a high chance of him just getting mad and blowing everything up, telling Oliver to never talk to him again (right when they were reconnecting again at that !).

However, the archer was ready to risk it all. For the boy’s sake...He chuckled. The boy ? But Roy wasn’t a boy anymore. Or things would be easier.

When he was a boy, the one they used to call “Speedy” used to drink everything his mentor said, used to admire him so much and follow everything he taught him...Which is probably the source of their downfall. Of why he felt so betrayed and all when...But this was the past.

Right now, he needed him.

“You know, I think he understood your point...”

Oliver said, walking slowly toward Roy who was just about finishing beating up that low life drug dealer. The red archer turned around and...Had the opposite reaction Oliver was expecting.

He was waiting for Roy to burst in anger, to tell him to go fuck himself. He was almost expecting to fight him in order to calm him down ! But this ? This was a surprise.

Roy let go of the collar of the criminal he was holding, and the man fell back down limply, definitely knocked out. He looked at his former mentor as if he was an hallucination, or a dream, and seemed to come out of a daze and...

He sat down on the floor, or rather, fell down, sunk down on the floor. And his head fell in his hands. He didn’t say anything. He just...looked defeated.

And Oliver never saw, even at his worst, Roy look defeated...Almost shocked, he walked toward him and sat down beside him.

Roy jumped in the air a bit, as if he already forgot that Green Arrow was here and he looked at him curiously, but a lingering suffering was there, behind his eyes. And then, with a weak voice so unlike his normal one, he said :

“I lost her Oli’. I lost both of them”.

Oliver Queen didn’t need to ask who he was talking about. He knew.

Anyone who had seen those three together knew that if for whatever reason they had a fall out, it would be bad. For all three of them.

They seemed so close, even after Roy started to date you...

Oliver laid a hand he wanted consoling on his former sidekick’s shoulder, and was about to say something but...nothing could have prepared him for the flow of words that came out of Roy’s mouth.

He hadn’t talk to him that much in years ! And so Green Arrow stayed there, sitting next to him, and listened.

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

Your heart tightened as you looked upon the last picture that you took all together. You were all so happy then...Or so you thought.

Because if everything went as fine as you thought, then why would Jason decide to kiss you and tell you he loves you ? ...

The picture was taken by him, with his phone. He was a bit in front of you, smiling and making a stupid peace sign, while you and Roy were making silly faces and...You hid the photo, shoving it in your backpack.

It hurt too much to see it. Especially since you hadn’t seen any of them for now almost two months, had no news whatsoever and...Had those impossible feelings for both of them.

It’s funny, that it took Jason deciding to kiss you and tell you he loves you for you to realize what has been there all along.

That you were in love yes...with both of them.

Which is why you so often let Jason in on your intimate moment with Roy...After all, you were the one that initiated the all thing with your simple : “Wanna join ?”

But the way you grew up, the way society worked...You thought it was actually impossible to be in love with more than one person at once, and so you convinced yourself that what you felt for Jay was just a very strong friendship, and you were just in love with Roy.

You convinced yourself you were “normal”, that you just had a regular love story, with only two people in it...Only it has never been “normal”.

Because from day one, Jason was always there. And then when he joined in on your sex session...You should have known it was coming.

The disaster. Things were going too well, and yet not well enough.

Because every time you finished having sex with each other, you craved for Jason to stay too and...You shook your head.

What was the point in remembering and pondering all those thoughts now ? It was too late. You should have never told Jason to join, and stay the way you all were...At least, you would still be together.

And sure, it would have mean repressing a lot of feelings but...you’d still have them. Not like now, as you were in your now empty old apartment (empty of them), gathering a few things you had never dared to come get back before now.

In case you ran into one of them, you know ?

Because you couldn’t face Jason nor Roy, for reasons you weren’t too sure of...Maybe you were afraid of further rejection ? Of fighting and therefor definitely ending everything between all of you ? Maybe...

You didn’t really know, and you weren’t quite ready to delve into your feelings like that, to psychoanalyse yourself just yet.

You were about to leave the apartment when...You heard a noise coming from Jason’s bedroom.

For some reason, you were sure it wouldn’t be Jason himself, because it seemed like he was avoiding you too lately (which was good), and went back to live at Wayne’s Manor. So in your head, it was most likely an intruder and you’d be damn if you’d let an intruder come into your house ! Even if nowadays, it wasn't really yours anymore...At least, it didn’t feel like home without Jason and Roy.

So when you barged in Jason’s room, ready to fight whatever stranger came in, your surprise was huge to discover that it was...Actually Jason.

You stared at each others for a bit, not really knowing what to say.

“You um...look well.”

Jason finally broke the silence, and it brought you back to your senses. In a small voice you answer :

“Yeah well I’m...Well. You look...Alright too.”

Another silence, but it seems like none of you want to leave the room. In fact, you feel a sudden urge to stay, and to talk more to him. To work things out. To try and understand why he did what he did when he did it. To try and understand your own feelings...After all, you still love him too.

And Jason ? Jason doesn’t want to go out either. He wants to explain. He wants to tell you everything, as finally you’re not running away...

He originally came in just go grab some of his stuffs from his room, coming through the window as an old habit, and definitely didn’t expect you to be there. Not after two months...And yet. Yet here you were.

And here he was.

His chance to explain everything. To tell you how he truly feels. To maybe convince you to go after Roy ! And if you don’t love him back ? Well it was alright, he’d settle to see you and Roy happy...It’s all he ever wanted really.

The two people he was oh so desperately in love with to be happy.

You both speak at the same time.

“(Y/N)/Jason I...Oh, you first !”

And then you chuckle, and it’s been months since any of you laughed...

You take a step towards him, and he takes one towards you. And as both of your minds’ are overflowing with what you should say, with what you should admit to each other...Everything crumbles away when you’re just a few inches from each other.

Because the attraction is too strong. It always had been too strong.

And you both resolve to say everything later, as he catch you in his arms and your mouth are looking for each other...Find each other.

Your arms wind up around his neck, and he holds you close, his own arms wrapping around your waist. And before you realize it, both your lips part and your tongues dance around each other, as you press even further in his body. And he...

“I can’t fucking believe it !”

A cold chill ran in your vein, as you quickly get away from Jason (even if you don’t want to), and he does the same. You both turned around and...are faced with Roy, a sport bag on his shoulder.

It seemed like today, all of you thought it was a good time to come back and get some stuffs...But after all, it had been two months, it was suppose to be “safe”.

You’re about to say something, and you can see Jay is too, but Roy shuts you both down by continuing :

“I can’t...But I should know. Of course, with me out of the picture, you both had the way free to each others !

“Roy it’s not...”

“Shut up ! Both of you ! ...I came here because I saw some lights. And because I needed to take a few things. I came here knowing one of you would be here, and to talk. To not leave things like we left them. And what do I find ? My best friends, whom I thought would never betray me, doing exactly that. Again.”

Roy let his bag slip off his shoulder and walks toward you. By instinct, Jason takes a step back, afraid to get punched again like last time. But Roy stops a few feet from both of you and says :

“You know, I’d never think EVER in my life that you two would...Do something like that. I...I love you. I love you both so much ! And you’d do that to me ? Why didn’t you just tell me you wanted to be together ?! I would have accepted it ! It would have hurt, yes, but I would..I wouldn’t feel so betrayed. So left out. And it was the least you could do...”

It was interesting, the way he was talking about both of you, not addressing his speech to only one person. And did he say...He loves you “both so much” ?

“I don’t understand why you would do that. I just don’t...get it. I thought I could trust you. I thought I...I...”

His voice break, and you and Jason take the few steps that separate him from you, but as he notices, he walks backwards.

“Don’t touch me. Don’t come near me. Not after what you’ve just done !”

It hurts. It hurts so much, the way he walks away, fear in his eyes. Fear that you’d break his heart further...

Roy doesn’t want to hear you say that you love each other. That you’re going to date from now on. He doesn’t want to hear you say that everything between you and him was fake. He...He doesn’t want to hear any excuses.

There’s a silence, once again broken by Jason :

“I’m sorry. I...Ruined everything. As usual. I...The day you caught us, two months ago...I was about to tell you guys my big confession. The thing I hid for so long and couldn’t hold in anymore. Not after all this time spend in each others’ arms. I...”

“Let me guess Jason. Said confession is that you love her ? That you love (Y/N) ? Since when ugh ? Did you love her already when we invited you to join in on our fun ? Did you join in just because of that ? After all, it’s true that during our sex session you always paid more attention to her ! I thought, like you always said, that sex was just fun ugh ? That it meant nothing ? And so what now Jason, it does because you love her ?!”

The Red Hood flinches a bit as his friend reminds him of what vision he had of sexual relationships before meeting them. It’s true that, whenever he slept with someone, it used to only be fun but...With them ? Ever since that first night he joined you guys ? It was never fake.

It was never just pleasure. It was...So much more. For him, at least.

Roy seems to be on a streak of words as he keeps going, talking again about how betrayed he feels and how as soon as Jason joined he felt like he didn’t matter as much as he used to. How Green Arrow himself told him that this all situation was shitty. How...

“Oh shut up will ya ?! Let us talk too !!”

Jason says a bit harshly. Roy turns to him and anger, but also pain cross his feature as he says :

“How dare you ? How dare you say such a thing to me while you’re the one that...”

And Jason doesn't think. It’s the first thing that comes to his mind to shut him up.

He grabs him by the back of his neck and crashes his mouth on his, kissing him fiercely and passionately. And Roy...kisses back.

They separate and look at each other, an intensity that wasn’t there before burning in their eyes. But neither of them forgot you, and they turn to you.

They were expecting to see you hurt, even maybe crying or something, as you witnessed both of them kissing very eagerly. But...No.

You look...Turned on. Because your brains sometimes works faster than theirs and you figured things out. And you’re relief. Oh so relief.

You walk to them, and stop right in front of them. Jason’s hand is still behind Roy’s neck, and they’re both so close...You walk in.

In that little circle.

And you lay one kiss on Jason’s lips, and one kiss on Roy’s. It’s funny, they both taste like the other one...You cup their cheek, and despite the turmoil of feelings in their belly, they lean into your touch.

“We are all...Such idiots.”

You finally say, and it seems like the tension that was raised to the max since Roy came in suddenly deflated. Suddenly disappeared.

You all walk a little appart, and you continue :

“It’s...Almost to good to be true. And yet...Jason, do you love me ?”

“Yes.”

The man answer, without an ounce of hesitation.

“Roy, do you love me ?” you ask.

“...Yes.”

He says, albeit a bit slower than Jason, as he’s still unsure what to feel right now. You keep going :

“Jay...Do you love Roy ? And I mean, love beyond our friendship ? ”

There’s a small silence. Jason looks at you, unsure, and afraid to show his real him. His true feelings.

But his father’s words came back into his mind. “Don’t hide yourself, be who you are. And don’t be like me, show the people you love you love them, whenever possible, because they’ll be gone before you realize, and you end up realizing you never told them what you really felt...”

And so he says, firmly, sure of himself :

“Yes.”

You smile tenderly, glad that you understood what was happening with him. But now, you turn to Roy, and there..You’re not quite sure he’s like you and Jason. Not quite sure he can accept that, not quite sure he can love both of you.

And from his answer, everything could change. In two ways.

If he says “yes”, then there’s a chance loves you too, and you could all fix things together; But if he says “yes”, there’s also a chance that he doesn't love you, and just loves Jason and then...Your heart would be broken.

If he says no however, he might still love you, and then Jason’s heart would be broken. And so would be this little trio of yours.

From Roy’s answer...your world could either be turned to the best, or worst.

“...Yes”.

He finally says. And his head slumps down, and your heart drops. Does that mean ? ...He continues :

“I’m sorry (Y/N). I tried not to. But...Ever since I met him I had a crush, and then...we’re just so close. A friendship so strong, and it always blew my mind how much I cared and it was all because...it wasn’t just a strong friendship. It was also love. And I’m sorry (Y/N), I really tried not to love him...”

You freeze. Does that mean...Does that mean he doesn’t love you anymore ? Or never loved you ? It was all fake to forget Jason ? Then why was he so mad Jason kissed you ? ...Oh. Oh was it because since he was in love with him, he...your heart stopped.

You would be out of the picture. You had to step down now.

You could feel tears welling up in your eyes...But Jason’s fingertips caught them before they fell and said :

“We really are idiots, we keep getting stuck into those stupid misunderstanding that we could easily avoid if we...voiced our feelings more. Roy, do you love (Y/N) ? Truly love her ?”

Roy’s head comes back up, and with a vexed look in his eyes he says :

“Of course I love her !! I just said so a few seconds ago ! Why do you think I was so hurt when I saw you kiss her ? Felt so betrayed ? And how was I suppose to know you were going to tell us you both love us ?”

Relief. Again. Relief washes over you. And you start to laugh.

You can’t help it. All of this. Those two months of pain, and this tense conversation. All those quiproquos and such. All those times you didn’t understand the others’ meaning, or actions. How you almost all threw it away because of it...And here it was finally ending.

“Oh my god. I love you both so much...”

You hear yourself say. And they both turn and look at you, something new burning in their eyes. Jason says :

“You...you do ?”

“Oh yes. Yes. And if I’m being honest, have been for a while now...”

It’s Roy’s turns now, to have a small tender smile on his face as he brushes his own fingertips on your cheek, where a few seconds ago tears threatened to fall. And where now, there were tears indeed...But tears of happiness.

“You love us both ?”

You don’t even know which one of you asked that, but the answer is unanimous.

“Yes.”

And just like that, every pent up emotions fly into the air, and you laugh.

Oh you laugh so much...

And you tell each others. Those three words. “I love you”. You tell each other, all of you.

When you stop, you all look at each others, not sure of the next step now that you clumsily professed your love to each other...

Should you...talk more about it ? Try to figure out why you were all in love with two people ? Try to understand why you hid it for so long ? Just trying to be normal ? Should you just talk it through ?

But what was there to talk about. You loved each other. It was official.

Jason always knew it. He always knew he was in love with both you and Roy. You had discovered it right when you all fell apart. And Roy...Roy realized it only a few minutes earlier, when you asked him how he felt.

He knew since a very long time he was in love with you. But as you asked if he also loved Jason...He realized that, yes. Yes he did. And what else could you guys add ?

Nothing.

Or almost nothing.

With a mischievous smile, you turn to Jason and say :

“So...Jay. I think we have one last problem to fix.”

Jason’s eyebrows crease. What now ? More drama ? Please, please no more dramas...He didn’t think his heart could handle it.

But the look in your eyes as you said this...It was the same expression that you had just after him and Roy kissed. Raw heat. And a mind full of dirty ideas.

“I think our man here, doesn’t know how much we love him. How much he means to us. And I think we should refresh his...memory.”

Oh. Oh Jason knew where you were going with this, and he loved it. Your tone of voice was the same than when you were all doing the dirty and...It hits Roy too.

In the most sensitive place it seems, as you both saw something twitch in his pants. You turn to your ex-boyfriend now boyfriend again and say :

“Whaddaya think Roy ? Should we show you some appreciation ?”

Your voice is oh so sultry and it always drove him so wild...He looks at you intensely and says, trying to keep his voice clear though it was already hoarsed :

“Well, I think that would only be fair. After all, I’m the one that thought his girlfriend was cheating on him...That thought his best friends were betraying him so I feel like I deserve some...Appreciation.”

He smiles deviously, and looks between you and Jason. And your heart swells.

Was it really that easy ? Could you have avoided months of angstiness just by talking things through ? ...OH but you were all so stupid.

Because it was really that easy. Once you all realized that you were equally all too important. Once you realized that you couldn’t live without the THREE of you together.

It was really that easy. All that you needed was to...talk. To say : “I love you”. To admit you weren’t in love with just one person. To admit that little trio of yours was more than just friendship...And that you kinda knew it all along.

Of course. Jason joined in on your sex session so easily, of course there was more. You touched each others so tenderly, of course there was more. You got along too well and always craved each others presence, of course there was more...

And here. Finally. You realized it.

But Roy was the last one to realize it, and arguably, the one that suffered the most. Without speaking, you and Jason understood each others.

You would take care of him a bit more tonight. And next time one of you two would feel insecure, then it’d be your turn.

But tonight...Tonight would be all about Roy.

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

And this is how you ended up tearing off his shirt and licking his chest all over, while Jason’s tongue was in Roy’s mouth, kissing him passionately.

Instinctively, you placed yourselves on each side of your boyfriend. Of your lover. You were in front of him, Jason behind.

And when Jay moved away to take his own clothes off, you took his place kissing Roy with all the passion you had in your being. Your arms were around his neck, and his were holding you close by clinging your waist.

It’s only when you both felt Jason moving back in that you separated. Jason gave you a quick kiss, licking your lower lip, and went back to kissing Roy’s neck, sucking and biting there and there.

You pulled away to take your clothes off, stripping sensually under Roy’s intense gaze, before going back to him. He thought you were about to kiss his lips again, but instead you peppered his jaw, chin, all the way down to his collar bone, while Jason was kissing his shoulder blades.

You met again with Jason at the junction of his neck and shoulder, and kissed each others while massaging Roy all over. You then parted, and gave each other a wink, knowing exactly what to do to make sure that Roy would finally feel like he truly belonged.

To make sure he would never feel as if you and Jason focused more on each others than on him during sex.

You elicited so many moans out of Roy’s mouth, that you both feel more aroused than ever...

You’re not ashamed to say it, you are dripping wait at the sound he makes, and at the idea of what’s coming next. And seeing the bulge in Roy’s pant, and how rock hard Jason seems to be, there is indeed no shame to have.

Roy can’t handle it anymore.

“Guys, are you go...I...ah...I can’t...I...”

But he can’t formulate any thoughts, as you and Jason work him up to his limit. It doesn’t take that much, as you suck and bite at his skin, stroking him all over. His pants is still on, and it becomes unbearable for him, needing more friction.

It’s you, who release him slowly.

You kiss down from his lips all the way to his abdomen, and finally pull his pants and boxers down, and oh you missed the sight of his cock springing to life.

Roy moans loudly as he feels Jason slowly getting to his knees too, behind him.

One of the archer’s hand wind up in your hair, while the other want tangles in Jay’s mane, and he’s pretty sure he’s about to die.

You keep peppering kisses all around his inner thighs, without touching him where you want him too, and Jason does the fucking same, kissing his lower back, licking and biting but not going to the point !

He’s about to protest when finally, finally, so in synch that it’s so obvious you were meant to be together, you and Jason take action.

And it’s no better...Or rather, it’s better than anything. But it still drives Roy insane.

One of your hand loosely wrap around his cock, as your tongue leisurely run up and down his shaft in controlled movement. And Jason ? Fuck, Jason just spread his ass cheek and is giving him the best rim job he ever had.

You can feel, by the way his hands are tightening in both your hair, and by the way he kinda raises up on his tip toe, that he’s beyond his head with pleasure.

And so you both lick away. You both give it your all.

But you...You’re a bit sneakier. You take your time. You slowly work an orgasm out of him. Because you know Jason will have to do more, while you’ll keep sucking him...So you slowly swirls your tongue all around him. Sometimes moving to his ball, close to Jay, to grab at each other quickly, exchanging a quick french kiss while also driving Roy crazy by stopping, even if for a second.

You slowly suck on in, lick all over including parts all around his cock to enhance any sensation of his, while Jason preps him...

While Jason preps him for more. Because of course, he’ll do more than just a silly rim job, even if it is already, paired with the blow job, extremely pleasurable.

At one point, you can hear Roy groan in displeasure as Jason gets to his feet...but you know what he’s doing and so you suck on Roy’s head more intensely so he forgets Jay’s absence.

And you do a wonderful job, as both his hands are now in your hair and you feel his hips swaying in and out of your mouth of its own accord...You smiled around his dick, and patiently let him fuck your mouth as Jason comes back.

And he has something in his hand, that makes you moan knowing what will happen. Damn. So hot.

Oh you’re enjoying all this way too much, it almost makes you feel shameful...Almost, because you like too much giving pleasure to one of the people you love like that.

Jason, behind Roy, coats two of his fingers with the oil he went to get, and you feel Roy’s cock twitch in your mouth as Jason places himself right and, spreading his new boyfriend’s ass cheeks again, insert slowly one, then two fingers inside him.

Roy’s eye roll at the back of his head, and he almost falls forward, as Jason knows him too well and hit the right spot immediately. But this...this propels Roy towards you and you almost choke on his dick.

You pull away quickly, and the two men look at you, concern in their eyes. You cough a little, but then smile at them and chuckle.

“I guess that’s what I get for choosing such...Well endowed lovers. Just give me a second, which I think anyway, Coy Roy there needs”.

Roy scoffs, but...Yeah he kinda needs it. He’s pretty sure he could never handle your perfect lips and skills around his cock, while Jason was working him open from behind with his damn professional fingering...

Jason, his eyes fixed on you to make sure you’re ok, thrusts his fingers in and out of Roy. You exchange a look with him, and reassure him. Yeah. You’re fine.

Through half-lidded eyes, and through his intense pleasure, Roy looks at you too, and tries to convey to you his concern but...it’s ok. You get it. Jason is after all pretty skilled with his fingers.

You stand up, and leave a quick peck on Jay’s lips, before walking around Roy to go and slowly stroke your other boyfriend...Yes. Yes you said it was Roy’s night but you couldn’t help it.

You just imagined Jason, during those three years, being desperately in love with the both of you and never saying anything out of fear to ruin things. Suffering on his own...And you just have to give a little bit more to him too.

Besides, right now, there’s nothing you can do to Roy that won’t make him pass out in pleasure. Any more kisses, or blow job would be his end, as Jay works him up to his max.

So kissing one last time Roy on the lips, you walk around him and face Jason. He looks at you curiously, as you reach to stroke his cheek...but the way he leans in. Damn. You love that man.

Without stopping his thrusting motion on Roy, Jason kisses you, and let you stroke his dick slowly, reminiscing of that first night you all spend together, where he watched Roy fuck you as you jerked him off...

This propels his dick to twitch, and you look at him curiously. But he just smiles smugly as he reaches with his free hand to your pussy, and flick your clit teasingly.

You keep this little game of yours for a little while. As you want to show Jason that now, he’s in this too, for good. You stroke him lovingly, and he works you just as expertly as he works Roy. You kiss, passionately...Just for a little while.

Because this is Roy’s night.

With your own free hand, you reach in front of Roy to jerk him too, and the desperate moan he lets out is addictive.

You don’t realize it, but your own moans drive both your boyfriends crazy. And Roy blesses whoever gifted Jason with such a talent with his hands.

For a little while, you stroke both of their cocks, while Jason fingers you and Roy and...It’s mostly Roy’s night, but you also need release.

You move away from them, and they both groan, shooting you a disapproving look as you walk away...But you go towards the bed.

You sit on the edge, and slowly crawl in the middle, gesturing to them to come closer, with your most sensual and sexy moves.

And oh, both their dicks jerks up at the motion. And they know what you want, what you mean. You don’t even need to talk. You never need to talk. You always understand each other oh so perfectly.

Jason let’s Roy go, and they both walk towards you.

But tonights Roy’s night. And you had an idea that they understood in mind.

Roy kneeled in front of you, as you took hold once more of his cock, and started to play with it while Jason was getting ready...

This time, the Red Hood coated his own dick with oil. He settled himself behind Roy, and inserted a finger inside him once again, to be sure he was not going to hurt him...and then..Then Jason spreads Roy’s thighs.

And you see, through said spread thighs, as he gets ready, stroking himself a few times before settling at Roy’s entrance.

Roy takes a deep breath, bracing himself but...it’s Jason we’re talking about. The only man that you him that well. The only person he trusted entirely with handling his body. And as you were licking his cock head again...Jason slowly penetrated Roy.

Slowly. Not forcing his way. Stopping if he felt it resisted a bit, realigning and pushing further...Until he was fully sheathed in his boyfriend.

Roy growled out, as Jason made that sound you loved so much. That desperate little gasp of pleasure. You smiled to yourself as you took a little step back, sitting in front of them. You knew how things would unfold.

Both their eyes were closed, and it almost seemed like they had forgotten you, buried in each other so deeply...But they didn’t.

Jason’s eyes shot open, and he slowly bend Roy down, towards you.

Jay’s cock was easing itself slowly in and out of the man, making smooth thrusting motion, and Roy finally spoke up :

“I...I hated...I hated both of you so much...”

He sighs, as Jason fucks him slowly, and you stroke him tenderly, brushing your thumb over the head of his cock, where some pre-cum gathered.

“I...I can’t believe I hated you so much...”

Jason continues to thrust, with a little more force now, taking Roy’s moans as his queue to go faster and harder. But everything comes to a sudden stop...

Roy’s hand stops Jason’s hips to slam into him again, while his other free hand pulls you off his dick and shows to you to lay down on the bed.

Roy turns to a concerned Jason, who was afraid he just had hurt him, and says :

“It just doesn’t seem fair, that I’m only forgiving you right now...”

And Jay understands. He nods, and let himself fall forward with Roy.

You look at him curiously until...Oh. Yes. Of course.

Roy slides himself inside you easily, as your walls are wetter than they’ve ever been. He buries himself to the hilt, holding himself up with his elbows on each side of your face, and it’s your turn to roll your eyes to the back of your head, because damn, he knew you too well, and hit that particular spot with his first motion.

That particular spot that ached to be hit since the beginning of all this.

And just like that, Jay started to move again, in perfect synch with Roy’s movement inside you. Whenever the archer was thrusting deep within you, Jay was pulling out of him, and vice versa.

Thrust.

“Ah. You’re so fucking beautiful. So fucking beautiful...and I dreamt of this for so long...”

You’re not really sure of who says this, and to whom, but does it really matter ? In the end, no. Because it could have been any of you that said that, to any of you, and it would mean the same.

You all thought you were gorgeous. Beautiful. Sexy. Oh so fucking hot. So who cared, who said what to who ? It was meant for all three of you.

In, out.

"I wanted to fuck you, I wanted to taste you, I wanted to come all over you-"

And who the cares to whom that was destined ? Because you all wanted to fuck each others, to taste each others and man if the occasion arised, to come all over each other...The mere thought made you all moan, tighten around each other, hands tangling in hair, kisses lost on collar bones and tongue licking backs and shoulder blades.

Mouth finding each other hungrily, tongue dancing around each others, and who cared who did it with who ? Because in that moment, you were all so connected. You were all just one being.

Thrust. Gasp from one of you...Or maybe all of you ?

Thrust going faster. Inside Roy’s ass. Inside your pussy. In total synch.

"Your beautiful cock in my mouth. Your come. You taste so good."

Did you say that ? Or was it Roy ? Maybe Jason ? You didn’t even differentiate each others’ voice now, because all of you said what was on everyone’s mind. You were oh so perfectly connected.

Thrust.

“Oh God-”

Someone is on the verge of coming, and you’re not quite sure who...Maybe you ? After all, feeling Jay moving in and out of you so perfectly, lying above you, is driving you crazy...And now...Now...

Is that Jason’s fingers, slowly flicking your clit ? Yes. Yes it is.

Roy’s hands are on either sides of your head, to keep himself and Jay off of you (they would be too heavy), so it couldn't be you...You shoot a look up to Jason and...One of his hand is holding Roy’s hips firmly, leaving marks of his fingers on his skin, but the other one...the other one went down to your clit.

And maybe it was you, who was on the verge of coming and who uttered this “Oh God”, but you didn’t even realize it...

In, out.

Thrust.

Deep thrust.

Hard and fast now.

“Roy...”

Thrust.

“Jason...”

Earth shattering thrust.

“(Y/N)...”

Crippling pleasure.

“Oh Roy...I’m gonna...I’m gonna...”

“Jay, don’t stop, don’t...”

“(Y/N), you’re so warm and tight and...”

“Ah ! Mmm...”

You don’t know who says what. And it doesn’t matter.

Because now...Now...

Now Roy cries out desperately, as you feel him thrust three more times inside you before unleashing his own warmth deep inside, coating your walls with his seed.

And now you tighten around him as he helps you ride out your own orgasm that you didn’t even realize hit you a few seconds before, and through him over the edge. And you cling to Roy’s shoulder, digging your nails inside them.

And he...oh he can’t. It’s two strong, to have a double orgasm like that...Because as he was making love to you (there was no fucking between all of y’all anymore), and came inside you, Jason was hitting all the right spot and made him orgasm again, his ass tensing around Jay’s cock and...

It was the final cries, the final yell of pleasure, groans, growls...The end of this heated love making session.

Jason. Jason was last. And he didn’t hold back.

He thrusted a few more times in Roy’s tight ass, feeling how the man’s walls were closing around his veiny cock, and he came.

Oh he came so much.

Two months of pent up feelings.

And then he was falling on his side, in the bed, and Roy was too, ending up sandwiched between you and Jason.

And sure it was kind of a mess, and you needed to clean up but...Right now, right now you were too spend to move.

Roy couldn’t feel his legs anymore, and all his muscles were painfully throbbing after such two intense orgasms. You were cuddled up against Roy’s chest, a hand lost on Jason’s waist, unable to move ether. And Jason...Jason could have moved, but he didn’t want to. Because moving would mean letting go of both of you, and he just couldn’t do that just now.

Not just as he found you back. Not just as he discovered that he was loved as much as he loved. Not...Not just now.

Finally. Things were how they always were supposed to be.

With Jason falling asleep with you and Roy.

With the three of you falling asleep in each others’ arms (Roy having the best place that night, the middle).

You and Roy had dated for three years, but it’s only now that this little missing thing you always felt fell into place.

It was Jason all along.

Of course.

Roy was almost mad that you all wasted three years like that...

But now it was all over. The missing piece was found and in the puzzle.

You were together. And you all loved each other just the same...

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

Sometimes though, one of you would feel a bit less loved for some reasons (often a result of them overthinking). And it couldn’t be more wrong because the feelings you all had for each others was equal...But eh.

You couldn’t control your insecurities.

So sometimes, one of you would need a remainder that he or she was loved all the same.

If it was you, oh the treat you were in for, as they’d both take very good care of you (and of your holes). Working you to multiple orgasm, to exhaustion, so you would stop having such silly thought of “maybe they love each other more than they love me”.

Because you all loved each other the same.

If it was Roy, you’d have a reenactment of the night you all admitted your feelings to each other. It was always great, and extremely tiring.

And if it was Jason ? Well. Jason was particular. When he felt less loved, you had to leave everything to him. Let him in charge of every movements. Which often ended in both you and Roy sprawled on the bed while he was eating you out and jerking him off, or blowing him off and fingering you...

But you’d always make sure that every single one of you knew his or her place in the trio. Knew that there was none of that “I love you more” bullshit between you. You were all desperately in love with each others, equally, and nothing nor anyone could ever change that.

You were planning on having a long and fulfilling life altogether...And Alfred, aka best butler ever, was already preparing everything for the future “trio wedding”, because he was sure it was only a matter of time before you guys asked each others to get married, and man if the old butler wasn’t all for his master to be happy. And if you and Roy made him happy ? He’d prepare this impossible marriage with three party. Every day of the week.

The end (?).

_______________________________

Ok. Sorry if this is terrible, especially the sex scene (at first, I wanted to write multiple little scenes, but ended up writing a big one so...yeah. Maybe I’ll write more if you like this pairing...or like...trioing (how do we call them ?!)...If you like Jason x Reader x Roy. I’m not good at writing smut and I’m cringing so hard every time I do, but I still somewhat enjoy writing it so...Why not, if you liked it. Sorry...OK. The end. As usual though, feedbacks = life.

PS : Yes, as usual I did NOT re-read myself so sorry for typos. I just can’t proof read something of mine, I cringe too much.

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crazyfreckledginger · 6 years

Text

Batboys x Reader - “A Haunting Case Resurfacing On Halloween Night”

The boys agree to go trick or treating with you since it would be your first time. However, when numerous police officers are called to the outskirts of the city, the boys have to dig deeper into the mystery, leaving you to celebrate Halloween alone. What happens when the murders come your way and the boys become more and more distressed from the information they uncover following the murderer’s past?

A/N: Art found on Pinterest, credits to the author because I can’t find the source! Based off/ Implemented Halloween 2018 into it lol. I also want to thank the two anons that helped me! Even if I didn’t use all your ideas, they gave me so much inspiration!

Warning: A lot of violence and gore (in the second part especially), basically, if you’ve watched any decent horror movie like Halloween, Friday the 13th or even Scream you’re good!

"Guys please, I've never gone trick or treating here!" (Y/N) whined.

"Aren't you too old to be doing that?" Damian grumbled. Dick gasped dramatically.

"You can never be too old for Halloween," He scoffed. Jason rolled his eyes at the interaction, continuing to read the Stephen King book he started yesterday.

"Fine!" Tim grumbled, "we'll take you to Halloween."

"Um, hello, you are both the same age, your elders are supposed to decide that!" Jason mumbled from behind his book.

"And who are our elders?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips. Jason smirked and sent a wink the girl's way.

"Dick and I are, mainly me because-"

"Jason no, that's not even a valid reason!" Dick scoffed.

*****

After much persuasion, you managed to drag Dick as a vampire, Jason as Jason Voorhees, Tim as.... you can't tell what it's supposed. He keeps saying he looks like a witch but it's too similar to Harry Potter. The boys agree with you but Tim keeps denying it for some reason that you will not be looking into.

Somehow, you also managed to stuff Damian into a werewolf suit.

You negotiated with him that he could put a face mask on if he would keep the costume on him. The two elder boys decided to take you guys to the outskirts of Gotham since the atmosphere might have been more pleasurable since it would have been your first time celebrating in Gotham. Dick patiently waited in his police car.

"Did your boss seriously agree that you could use your car on a break?" Jason grumbled, leaning against the window as he took a drag from his cigarette.

"No, but, that's the only car I have at the moment. And stop smoking, there are kids around." Dick slapped his brother's shoulder lightly.

[x]

"Okay, okay, I'll stop after I finish this one," He grumbled, groaning as he looked out of the open window, "I'm bored, when is this over, oh- I know, I'll call Roy to dress up as Freddy Krueger so we can scare the shit out of kids together," The younger man chuckled, taking his phone out.

"Jason no!" Dick scolds, pulling the phone out of his hand, "you're not terrifying kids half to death,"

"But it's fun!" He whined.

"No!"

"Fine, I'll listen to the radio then!" Jason muttered, reaching towards the dashboard and switching it on lazily before relaxing on the seat. He released yet another groan, waving at (Y/N) from a distance house as Tim and Damian followed close behind.

~We've received multiple complaints of violence in the eastern outskirts of the city, any neighbouring officers are demanded to be on scene ASAP~

Both brothers looked at each other with wide eyes, knowing exactly what each was thinking.

"This is bad." Dick nodded.

"Very very bad," Jason agreed.

"I mean we can't just..ditch them..." Dick mumbled.

~Officer down, we need all available units now!~

"Jason, call Tim, we're going!" The eldest started the car, turning on the sirens and racing down the road "Our... other outfits are in the trunk, we can put them on later" The former Robin informed, keeping his calm despite the unpredictability of the situation.

******

"Damian, I need you and Tim up here right now!!" Dick yelled through the phone. Damian groaned, agreeing and hanging up the phone. He nodded as his brother as he looked back to (Y/N).

"Look, (Y/N), we're so so sorry for ditching you on your first Halloween here but we really need to go," Tim stared at her with apologetic eyes.

"Yeah, whatever, have fun," She grumbled frustratedly, watching the pair run off, eyes filled with regret. She shook her head, getting rid of the various emotions that had surfaced within her as her friends left her on her special day.

The girl decided she would make the most of it. It was getting late, only a few children had gone off the street and back home.

But the ambience hadn't faltered in the slightest. The street lamps illuminated the streets. She grinned as she got candy from a small area of houses, eating a few as she walked through a particularly dark area to the next set of houses.

She wasn't too preoccupied with the darkness. But she wasn't alert either. And given what was happening at this moment in time, she really should have been more aware, especially towards the set of eyes that were staring directly at her from the darkness.

******* "This is very haunting!" Red Robin stated through the intercom as he and Red Hood browsed through information about the murderer online.

"Yeah, it is," Dick mumbled through him, walking through the house with two other officers. He winced as his eyes locked with a woman's body that was gruesomely covered in blood.

~The target seems to be moving east according to the increasing reports of violence~

Dick's eyes widen as the radio buzzed on his chest.

"Did you guys here that?" He muttered, walking further into the house as one of the officers searched the gardens and the other crept up the stairs to the first floor.

"Yes, he's heading straight to (L/N)'s area," Robin muttered from the roof, gazing around the house under his Robin's hood.

"I'm heading there right now!" Red Hood informed.

"Without a car? I'm coming with!" Dick whispered before speaking louder, "I'm heading out for the recent events," he held upon the staircase, waiting to hear the officer's understanding. He heard a small mutter and raced out to his car, glancing up at the two figures on a neighbouring house.

"Stay safe," Red Hood grumbled to his younger brother before jumping down, getting in the passenger seat of Dick's police car as the eldest started the car and raced off once again.

******

The girl kept walking on the kerb and walking up to the first house she stumbled upon in the new area. Strangely enough, there was no one around, it almost seemed like all life had vanished but left everything intact. Brushing her intrusive thoughts away, she knocked on the door with a huge grin.

"Trick or treat!" She said cheerfully. No answer. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly before knocking again and placing her ear against the door. Still no answer. Weird, the lights were on!

"Umm, hello?" She asked, accidentally opening the seemingly-unlocked door. A small gasp escaped her lips in surprise as she peeked inside.

"Um hello? anyone?" She questioned, her voice coming out as barely a whisper as her gut was screaming at her to turn back and run. From what? She didn't know... yet.

******

"Where is she?" Jason grunted, scanning the number of kids that were running all over the place they were at earlier.

"I can't see her either!" Dick breathed out.

"What if she got sick of this place and trick or treated somewhere else?" Jason stared at him through his helmet.

"Shit, she either went north or south at that intersection a few meters away, we went past it!" The former Robin groaned, turning the engine on. They drove there, stopping in the middle and staring each way.

"Where do we-"

"No, we split up, we can't take the chances with a psycho out there, you take that way, I'll run this way!" Jason pointed in each direction. Dick nodded, instantly feeling the pressure. The second eldest started taking his gun out to run more easily. He turned back to his brother as he felt his hand clasp on his shoulder.

"Bring her back safe little bird," Dick ordered in a disturbingly calm voice, eyes filled with worry and hope.

"Yeah," Jason breathed out, "you too!" The man nodded, getting out and already shooting down the road as fast as his legs would take him.

"Hello?" Tim's voice echoed in both their ears.

"Yeah?" Dick answered for the both of them as he manoeuvred his big car in the opposite direction of that of Jason.

"According to the documents, his name is Michael Myers. They were transferring him to another Mental Hospital where he would have been imprisoned for life for killing 5 people 15 years ago," Tim continued.

"Shit," Jason cursed out of breath, seeing the very dimly lit area of houses in the distance.

"Okay, Tim and Damian, I need you to get all the kids in the area cleared out right now," Dick ordered again, "we're on our way to find (Y/N)".

Part 2 coming on the 1st, let me know what you think about this so far!

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