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aspitefulwriter · 9 months

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OUT OF TOUCH [Ch. 4]

(Poe Dameron x AFAB!reader)

warnings: a shove that can be considered physical abuse? i try to clear up that it’s not okay though. won’t happen again 🫡 light mention of SA because people listen to rumors

author’s note: i usually post on ao3 first!! also, so sorry about this wait. i started my first week of classes and i’m a stem senior….it’s rough out there y’all lol

word count: ~4.7k (i’m apparently incapable of writing less)

Series Masterlist

Something must be rooting for you.

It seemed with each challenge you faced where certain death was imminent, you slid by with hardly a scratch on your body.

Common sense tells you that ordinary humans escaping from a locked down militia base with Kylo Ren on board should not leave alive, yet you and Denel were able to bolt into hyperspace without incident.

Common sense also tells you that flying in an Order-affiliated cargo jet that was reported stolen should not be easily sold off after landing on Corellia. You ignored the coincidences at first, but it was getting harder to ignore.

The blankets and clothes lining the blackmarket you were in served as red flags, waving in the breeze as you and Denel followed a sketchy lead to a secret Resistance rendezvous where new recruits were loading onto transport to their base, the two of you hardly being asked questions to verify your intentions. From that point, your alert system had been on overdrive, allowing you to catch the occasional nervous glances sent your way as they fidgeted.

Perhaps coincidences aren’t really coincidences, you think to yourself, keeping your eyes trained on the people that fill the craft and the thoughts to yourself. Though, after landing on D’Qar the few suspicions you had were answered as Leia Organa makes her way over to you now. However, one was still left unanswered.

“How did you know?” Denel looks between the two of you questioningly.

She gives you a sly smile, one side of her lips going higher than the other, “It’s my job to know.”

You repress a scowl, displeased she brushed off your question,“Let me rephrase…How long did you know?”

“I would guess just as soon as you entered hyperdrive.” Given she’s likely to brush your question of ‘how’ off again, you breathe out a defeated sigh and relax the tenseness that’s been building since the blackmarket back on Corellia.

“Well, then you must have some sort of plan for us. What can we do to help?”

She gives a close-lipped smile that seems genuine, her eyes glowing with mischief, “Before we get to any of my plans, we have to make sure we’re on the same page. Though I’m sure I won’t be disappointed— I’ve heard great stories about you.” Your eyebrows pull together in questioning, but she doesn’t acknowledge it as she motions to two people who had been standing a few steps behind her since she first stepped into the unloading zone.

“We’ll have to keep our eyes on you two for a few days,” You look between the two of them before looking at Denel to see his reaction where he—much to your surprise—doesn’t show much.

“This is Tantin and Venon. They’ll be your guards.” She motions at each one, signaling their respective name. You drag your eyes back to them and appraise them.

Upon your assessment, you see Tantin looks less than happy to be there— you’d say even bordering on disgust; on the other hand, Venon stands closed off and emotionless beside him. Both of them hold a change of clothes that resemble the same shade of beige.

“Before room placement I’ll need you two to change under supervision and go through a quick search,” Denel scoffs out, and when he does Leia’s eyes stick to him, “There’s no such thing as too safe and we have many lives to protect. You understand, yes?”

Denel speaks up, “You just said that you heard great stories about her, why breach our privacy like that?” You look over at him with a tight look like a parent would give their child, ridiculing him for the ridiculous question. You look away from him with a tsk when he ignores you. Obviously they need to search the First Order defects, you prideful idiot.

“It’s like you said, there are too many lives at stake. We understand.” You say, glancing back at Denel whose nostrils flare in disdain as he still keeps his gaze from yours.

“I’m glad. I’ll see the two of you again when you get settled. We’re happy to have you here.” Giving a single nod with a smile, she walks from the zone that is now empty, spare your duo and the guards. Tantin releases a displeased hum and motions for you to follow, then leading you to a bland room that only holds a table.

“One at a time, we don’t need you conspiring.” Venon says, and at that Denel stalks forward to go first.

Tantin holds the clothes he has out, which must be meant for Denel and he snags them, muttering under his breath.

“Like we have anywhere else to go.”

As you wait for your turn, you lean on the wall and study the guards that are now silently murmuring between themselves. You strain to listen in, letting your nosiness overpower your want to be quickly accepted. Reasonably you know that being so obvious won’t score you any points on the likeability scale…but they’re not doing too hot on yours either.

Giving up, you put your attention elsewhere, looking up and down the long and narrow walls of the hall you’re in. It’s empty, which is a little bizarre given how many people seemed to be around when you landed, but you’re already ahead of the game today in ignoring things so might as well continue it.

You’re snapped back into this dimension when the door next to you opens and Denel shifts out of the room, the guards stopping their whispers. You push yourself off of the wall, getting your clothes that are outstretched from Venon’s single hand and letting the door close behind you. While changing you let your mind wander to the ineptitude of your guards, especially their inability to listen to make sure the people they think are spies aren’t doing anything suspicious. Their options for people really must be short…it makes you wonder how they’ve stood up to the power of the Order this long.

The thought amuses you, and you pick up your pile of old clothes with a ghost of a smile that promptly gets more pronounced when you see Denel being patted down, his heated glare transfixed on you. He rolls his eyes, turning his head to look away from you. Honestly, you can’t wait for what choice words he’ll use with you later.

When Venon sees you’re out, she motions for you to get up on the wall. You throw the clothes in your hand to Denel’s pile and spread your hands up on the wall, situating your body so that she can pat you down.

“This good for you?”

Without responding, she starts to slide her hands across you in standard procedure. When she gets to check between your buttcrack you jump slightly.

“At least take me out to dinner first.” She scoffs as Denel chokes back a laugh, covering his mouth now that he’s off of the wall.

“It’s protocol,” she says, voice monotone.

“If that’s the excuse you wanna use…” you mumble.

Once both of you were cleared, you follow your guards down the hallway to what must be the residence hall since more people are starting to fill the previously empty space.

You look over to Denel, who’s combing his eyes across the people in the hall, some that aren’t human, “You alright?”

Snapping his eyes over to you, he gives you a pursed smile, “Being patted down wasn’t all that great, but it was better than I thought I’d be.” Your eyebrows pull together in question.

“I thought we’d have to strip down in front of them and have them check us that way.” He shudders, an exaggerated grimace on his face that you laugh at, causing your guards to spare glances back at you two.

“I think if they had to do that, Tantin might have thrown up. Did you see the look he was giving us when he was behind Leia?” He nods, joining your laughing, but he goes silent for a second.

“Is that why you didn’t say anything about the search?”

You shrug at his question, “I thought they’d strip us too, but it’s either this or Ren. Not only that, but they think we’re spies.” Mulling over your words, he lightly rubs at his neck as his eyes stare off to somewhere behind you.

“Yeah…” At that, your conversation lulls and you turn your attention back to the guards as they stop in front of a door.

Venon points at Denel with her index finger, “You,” She pauses, pointing back at the room with her thumb, “This’ll be your room. Do whatever you want, but just know that Tantin’s following your every move.”

Denel gives you a sparing glance before he walks into his room, Tantin following closely behind him.

When the door shuts, Venon motions for you to follow her, “Let’s go.”

It’s a silent walk, and it seems with each step Venon’s body strings up a little tighter–almost like spring being crushed. You look over at her, becoming increasingly aware of her body language. Is she going to say anything? It’s like she’s legitimately coiling within herself.

When she abruptly stops, she glares at you and smashes the panel next to her, opening the door. Just as you’re about to step through the door, partially tickled at her collapsing display of faux emotionlessness, her spring is finally released.

“I don’t know why we have to waste our resources on you,” she growls out, “I don’t know what they see in you.” Biting back a laugh at the familiarity of the sentence, your face remains light and amused as you look at her.

“Are you saying I should care what you think?” You ask, moving to lean against the doorway with your arms crossed.

She looks a little confused by your response, seemingly anticipating something else before she sets back into her (what you hope isn’t) best intimidating glare.

“My word carries a lot of weight regarding your position in this organization, you really want to see where not caring will take you?”

“Is that what you’re going with? A threat?”

“It seems like it’s needed, yes.”

You don’t hold back the laugh this time, “Okay, well earlier you said you don’t know what they see in me,” You finger quote the ‘they,’ “So that leads me to believe someone else’s words carry a lot more weight than yours do.” She looks at you in surprise at your rebuttal, her face then pulling into a scowl.

“So I’m not going to be concerned what my guard…Vee something…thinks about me. Much less if she has to fall into childish threats because she doesn’t agree with others’ decisions.” You uncross your arms and push off the wall, making your way into your new room.

“I’m going to relax now,” You pause in the doorway, keeping eye contact, “Since running away from the First Order doesn’t give you time for much rest.” You try to emphasize that you’re no longer affiliated with the group before you go through the door the rest of the way and walk to the bed, falling down with a big sigh.

You look at the open door, half expecting to see Venon walk through, but she never does.

****

Later that day, you’re sat at a table with Denel and the guards in the cafeteria, one of them being the replacement for Venon after she had stepped down from her post following your conversation. From the time he introduced himself, you knew you’d like him a little better than the last one. He actually seemed to keep everything to himself.

As you pick at your food in disinterest, tuned out from Denel chatting with the guards, you feel eyes on you and look up to find none other than Poe Dameron absentmindedly staring as the people at his table start following his line of sight. You let your face drop into a scowl, not wanting to have any more drama surrounding your arrival that having him staring would surely bring. You take your eyes off of him but can’t help but to glance back.

Just as you do, he looks away blinking as his eyes refocus on the group he sits with, playing off his silence as his table hangs onto every word. You hum to yourself as you look away again, a revelation falling on you. It seems like everywhere he goes there’s a crowd of people that vie for his attention.

It kind of hurts your ego that you fell for the charm too by letting him go more than he deserved…but that’s water under the bridge, especially if you’re sitting at this table right now because of him. Taking a sip from your cup, you look at your group as you continue thinking about your situation. You imagine he probably said something to the General, which you’re more than grateful for.

A smile starts to build on your lips as you set your cup down and glance up at him. The game of trades going between you doesn’t look like it’ll be stopping anytime soon.

Your eyes catch each other before his shoulder is tapped and it’s ripped away, the person whispering in his ear before he quickly gets up, excuses himself, and vanishes from the room.

Coming back to the land of the living, you hear a snap by your head and turn to look at the source, seeing Denel and the other two looking at you in confusion.

“Yeah?”

“I was asking you if you wanted to check out the hangars and see what they have here?”

“Sure, yeah. I was done anyway,” You pick up the barely touched plate as you stand up, Denel and the others mirroring you as you get ready to leave.

*****

“You wanted to see me, General?”

Poe stands at parade rest in front of Leia’s desk, waiting for her to talk, her back facing him as she looks at the screens around her.

“Ever since our new arrivals this morning we’ve started to get some varying unrest around the base.” She turns to look at him and matches his posture. His eyebrows pull together at her words.

“Well we knew that people really wouldn’t like the idea at first, but if they just saw what I saw then they would come around.”

She nods appreciatively, eyes shifting to the datapad that just dinged with an alert before looking back at him, pausing.

“Which is why I called you in here, Poe.”

“Oh?” He relaxes his posture at the use of his first name, knowing the conversation will be a little less professional.

She continues, “Your commander’s guard just stepped down after what she says was an altercation that got out of control.” He brings his hand up to absentmindedly rub at his jaw, gazing off and thinking about how you didn’t look hurt in the cafeteria…in fact you looked happier than he’d ever seen you.

“I want you to be the replacement.” His eyes snap to her, letting out a disbelieving chortle as he’s taken from his thoughts.

“Wait—me? I don’t exactly have the time for guard duty. Not to mention, she already has a guard?” She waves him off, turning back around to the screens.

“You’re both pilots, she’s familiar with you, and other than me you are much more open to the change than anyone else. I can hardly think of a better reason to put you together.”

He hums, acknowledging her reasons, “Guess I don’t have a choice then?”

She looks back at him, a sly smile on her face that he reciprocates. What has he just been wrapped into?

****

Whispers and blurry images circle around your head, soft a feminine voice telling you to hide, the sound of ships landing, beams of red light. And then nothing but a black void. It surrounds you, choking you with the never ending emptiness. It felt still…too still.

You look down at yourself as you start to feel things touching you, your fingers dancing on the long, sheer gray dress that flows down your form into the ankle-deep water your bare feet stand in.

“What?” You mumble to yourself in confusion.

Silence is the only thing that responds to you.

Moments later, that’s torn away as the silence is replaced by a piercing scream that quakes through your head, causing your vision to blur as you crumble to the ground and clench your hands over your head. You’re unaware you’re screaming too until you’re pulled awake by it, sweat drenching your body as you heave, looking to your guard that scrambles awake from the sleep he was catching on the couch.

He gives you a panicked look, “Wha- Are you okay?”

Letting out a shaking breath, you nod, “Nightmare.” He nods, a concerned look still in his eye as he settles back on the couch, keeping his eyes on you. You fall back into your pillows, turning your head to glance at the clock. It was still a few hours until you were meant to get up, but you highly doubt you’ll be able to fall asleep after that.

What was it? Never in your life had you had such a planet-shattering dream. In fact, you pride yourself on the ability of dreamless sleep. Others would complain about how they would keep them up and because you were unable to empathize, you’d punish them when they would make a mistake due to the lack of rest. Now you regret ever doing it (kind of).

The dream just felt so…real. The scream splintered your head like lightning on a tree; you could still feel the pulses in your head, a headache building with every heartbeat. You roll to your side and glance at your guard briefly (you couldn’t remember his name), seeing that he fell back asleep. You breathe out from your nose, closing your eyes to try and chase the few extra hours like him.

However, you pass the rest of the hours left like that, sleep not coming to you given your mind stays stumped on the meaning of the dream and specifically why now?

It was still stuck in your mind as you made your way to the cafeteria, even while grabbing your rations and sitting at the table you designated as yours. You’ve so far said nothing to your guard or Denel, neither bringing up your soured mood; the guard didn’t even bring up last night after you had walked from the refresher this morning, eyebags settled under your eyes.

Taking a glance at the table Poe likes to frequent, you see he’s missing and your mood sours a little more.

Throughout the day that trend continued.

The first time you heard it, you were tuned out and walking back to your room after breakfast, hoping to catch a quick nap before one of your mandatory assessments.

“I heard General Organa turned a blind eye because Dameron has a real close relationship with her,” You tuned into the conversation at the mention of Poe and looked at the two casually posted in the hallway, the one who just spoke lightly hitting their friend in the ribs with their elbow.

“Who knew the clones were so easy?” The other said, and they both snickered as they looked at you, not expecting you to be looking back. At that they guiltily look away, but you’ve already stopped in your tracks, your guard nearly slamming into you.

“You wanna repeat that back to me?” Heavy harshness laced into your voice.

Their eyes widened and they walked away slowly, words stumbling on each other, “I–We–it was just a rumor, it’s probably not true.”

Your eyebrows pulled together, “Probably?” Before you could continue, they were nearly to the corner of the hallway in the blink of an eye, and just as you stepped off to chase them, your guard gripped your arm, shaking his head. You tsked, yanking your arm from his hold and continued your way to your room.

The next time, you were at your mechanical assessment, bent over a droid’s transportation system that had been said to be faulty. After your first hour there, you were reminded you’re glad that you can’t speak binary–however, you could speak basic. Regrettable, given when people spoke in it, it tended to light your fuse.

It was currently one of those times. 34 minutes (yes you were counting) had passed since a pilot started loudly discussing you with her mechanic, the two of them underneath her X-wing repairing Maker-knows-what since they’re paying you more attention than it. You look up to your guard and see that he’s absentmindedly picking at his nails, seemingly not tuning into the conversation. What is with this place?

“And Fara said he had sex with her. I mean..we all know how he is, but the First Order girl? She had to have done something to him.” The pilot lets out a disgusted noise and you glance up at them from your position, rolling your eyes.

“There’s no telling what was on that planet. One of my buddies got some weird dust out of the cockpit and ran it through the spectrometer. It couldn’t even register it!” The mechanic exclaimed as the pilot gasped.

“Maker, she probably took advantage of him. That poor guy.” They let out disappointed sighs and you slam your hands to the table, the small wrench you were holding clattering against the metal as you storm out of the hangar you were in, droid and guard yelling after you. They really want to imply you took advantage of Poe? If anything, they should be counting their lucky stars that you didn’t take advantage of your crew arriving first while he was asleep. Then they wouldn’t have their precious golden boy sitting alive in his nice little X-wing with his nice little squad on his nice little base.

As you're about to step off the tarmac to escape into solitude on a hill somewhere, you find an entire squadron of pilots appraising you with malice, snickering amongst themselves. That’s when your last sliver of good will blows away with the wind that whips around your body from the jets that land meters away from where the squadron stands.

You quickly change your destination, subbing the distant hill for the hangar that Poe’s squadron uses, where they are all so conveniently climbing from their ships after their training session, the droids not yet docking them.

The few who see you stare at you in curious wonder as you make a bee-line to Poe. Seeing as half his squadron is staring behind him, he goes to turn around but is shoved forward with a good amount of force, a noise escaping his mouth as he stumbles to right himself.

“What are you telling people?!” You yell, anger coursing through your veins, and Poe whips around to face you, bewilderment etched onto his face.

“What are you even talking about?!” He yells back, exasperatingly throwing his hands in the air.

“Just in the past few hours, I’ve been subjected to nothing but hatred and petty gossip about how I’ve taken advantage of you or gotten implicative stares like they know something’s happened between us.” You briefly pause, watching his expressions, “It’s tiring having left the undying pettiness of the Order just to come here and get it from the Resistance. Had I known it would be like this, the thought of coming here wouldn’t have even crossed my mind,” You cover your face with your hands, tears of anger threatening to fall from your eyes, “I can’t believe I thought it would be better he–”

“Hey hey hey,” Poe interrupts you, hand moving to touch your shoulder apprehensively, “I’m so sorry that’s happening to you, I have no idea where it came from.” You take a deep breath at his words, trying to stabilize yourself from the manic rant you were falling into and willing the tears to suck back up into your eyes. Once they do, you let your hands fall to your side.

“Listen, I’ll ask around and try to clear it up, okay? Does that sound good?” You nod, adjusting the clothes on your body that start to feel like they’re suffocating you as you become hyper aware of all the eyes on the pair of you.

Your eyes shift from his, cheeks burning, “Sorry...about the push. That was really out of line.”

He steps his right foot out, the hip popping out in turn as he then perches a hand on his waist and cocks his head. A curl falls into his face, an intrusive thought that tells you to push it back into the rest of his curls surfacing to the front of your thoughts. It kind of takes you aback, burning your cheeks even hotter.

“I’m glad you see the forceful shove was out of line,” he lets out a light laugh, “Hopefully you don’t do it again.”

You start to back away slowly, eyebrows pulling together sympathetically, “I’m super sorry, it won’t happen again,” You do an ‘X’ over your heart, “Promise.” He gives you a pursed smile in acknowledgement, which makes you sharply turn around and quickly race to make your way to your guard that stands at the entrance of the hangar.

Poe watches as you leave, the guard that temporarily takes his place saying a few choice words that you ignore before you both disappear around the corner. He sighs as he rights his position and turns around. When he does, his squadron and other onlookers snap into action, an awkward cough escaping a few of them as they pretend they didn’t stop everything to listen in. Snap lets out a whistle before he starts to shed out of his gear and Poe glances at him with a deadpan look.

“You’ve got a lot to handle there, Dameron.”

“Pftt, I learned my lesson on Coruscant,” he says, pulling off the rest of the gear, while Snap chuckles.

Even though that was Snap’s first meeting with you, he already saw how much of a handful you are. The thought makes Poe laugh when he finally takes up his guard position the next morning and you sheepishly step from your door holding a caf, offering it to him.

He takes it from you and studies your face, the corner of his lip upturned, “When did you get this?”

He watches as your tenseness washes away.

“A spy never tells their secrets,” You wink, lips curling into a grin to match the one that Poe has before it’s wiped from his face when your sentence registers.

“One, that’s not funny. And two, I’m so happy to know our internal defenses are so strong that a spy can safely stay here,” he says sarcastically, taking the cup of caf and bringing it to his lips and taking a sip.

Giving you an incredulous look, he glances between you and the cup, “How’d you know the way I like my caf?”

You go to respond, but he interrupts you, “Wait let me guess—a spy never tells their secret.” The laugh you give him takes him aback, making his cheeks start to burn at how heart-stopping it is (much to his dismay).

“I’m teaching you well, Dameron,” the door closes after you retreat back into your room, the fire still burning brightly on his cheeks as your laugh echoes in his head. He quickly blinks to bring himself back to the ground, subconsciously letting the corner of his mouth upturn as he thinks just how well that sentence fits with him. Because yes, while it is really mildly distressing, he finds that you’re steadily teaching him.

Like right now as he sips the drink in his hand, he learns he’s never had good caf until now because you gave it to him with a smile. He’s learning he likes to watch the way your expressions change faster than a switch based on the words of who you’re listening to.

And his favorite lesson is the one that never ends; it’s the one where each interaction with you leaves an imprint on his mind, your face and your voice gluing themselves into every available crevice. Yeah…you’re definitely teaching him well.

He brings the cup of caf to his lips, taking a sip and savoring the taste as it slides down his throat.

Oh man this is going to be hard.

a/n:

they are reunited <3

can i just say i was cackling during the pat down scene? like yeah..it may not fit with reader…but i was delirious when i wrote it and just decided to keep it in because it’s the funniest shit ever.

also side note, i was writing between classes one day and an acquaintance sat next to me and started talking to me. totally forgot to spam click out of everything and i’m pretty sure they saw my star wars research 😃👍🏻 (ha ha i hope they don’t perceive me)

#poe dameron #enemies to friends to lovers #enemies to lovers #poe dameron smut #poe dameron x female reader #poe dameron x reader #poe dameron x you #poe dameron/reader #poe dameron x reader smut

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gamebird · 2 months

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I'm reading this book called Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. I'm actually reading the Audible version but a quick google turned up a YouTube full audio version if anyone wanted to check it out without Amazon being involved. It was recommended by a coworker and I picked it up hoping it would help me understand how to make my brain work better, given the intermittent brain fog.

It's not that kind of book. It's more about the way people think, what biases we have and what fallacies we fall prey to on a systematic scale. There aren't really fixes for this, any more than there's a fix for being the height that you are or dying of old age. It's just a thing about people.

I have not listened to it under the best of circumstances. I've been sick off and on over the last two weeks, recovering from jet lag, and it's been busy both at work and at home. So while he talks, and I hear the words, I can't say I've always been listening (or maybe it's the opposite, where I'm listening but not necessarily hearing). Either way, my retention and understanding haven't been great.

Which is fine, because like I said, the book isn't giving me what I wanted it for. It's still interesting. Kahneman was a young man at the start of Israel and had a role in the psychology division of their military, crafting interviews for recruits to sort them and how to best judge candidates for officer training. When you're doing something like that, you want to do it right. What he found was that their efforts were no better than random chance. When he took human interviewers out of the equation and used simple ratings of objective performance or past accomplishments, they realized a slight improvement over random chance.

This ended up being something of a trend in his professional life. He would tackle things where people thought they were in control of a process, with their actions making a difference and improvement in things, then show they were either making no difference, or unwittingly sabotaging the process with biases.

Stock traders, for example. Since he was a big deal in the circles of decision-making psychology, a big stock trading firm wanted him to talk to them. He got 8 years of trading information on their various traders, who were all paid by performance so they had tracked this carefully. He went through it in detail. None of them were better than random noise. Even the ones who were hot pickers for a year or two would even out and be revealed to have had the usual lucky streak that happens. Just as the ones who were lousy pickers for a year or two would turn it around and have some good years. This wasn't because they'd learned anything. It was just normal statistics.

He showed this to the firm's management. They were very, 'Oh? Hm. Yes, interesting,' didn't act surprised, and changed nothing at all about their process as a result.

(This is a fascinating intersection with another book I read recently, Bullshit Jobs, which talked about how there are a lot of jobs and sometimes entire professions who accomplish jack shit but are still employed to fill a seat and pretend. Stock traders are one of them. The author of Bullshit Jobs was mystified as to why this happened, because from what he could tell, the upper management knew in many cases their subordinates were unnecessary. So it's intriguing to see here that one of the foremost experts in how to think told upper management to their faces their subordinates were bullshit, and they went right on employing them.)

So much stuff we think we control is just random. Listening to this book has scared me about my retirement portfolio, most of which is invested in stocks. Because it means my wealth manager's stellar performance in the last year is likely a fluke. I believe it is - because he's been unable to explain adequately to me what he's done in the last year that's different from previous years of poorer performance. And so I need to be sure I'll still be able to survive retirement on a baseline income instead of the returns I've been getting the last year. (I checked; I'm fine.)

Also, experts are less trustworthy than anyone else on most of this stuff. Your most reliable person in a field has been in the field for a few years, is not publicly acclaimed, and isn't listened to. Perversely, if people are seeking out your advice and acting on it, your advice is almost certain to get worse. Human bias drags your predictions toward extremes and unlikely events that garner more attention, and if people have lauded you as an expert, then they will downplay your failures or accept your (or even make up themselves) excuses for why you were wrong "this time".

It's a mind-boggling dilemma. All those people who feel like no one ever listens to them and the experts are fucked up? Are entirely right. However, if you swapped them with the experts, then in short order they'd be fucked up and the former experts, now humbled and sidelined, would start making better predictions.

It's a 20+ hour book and I'm 2/3rds through it. There's a lot of good stuff in it.

But no, it's not going to help with brain fog. In good news, and just as random as everything else, the brain fog has been gone for the last several days anyway. That's been nice!

#mundane

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noddytheornithopod · 1 year

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Attending Supanova Melbourne 2023

So yeah, went to Supanova this year. Gonna put everything under the cut in case it gets lengthy.

First, how did the big thing go? Well, here’s the autograph I got.

Wasn’t too surprised the wait for Tem was a decent amount of time, but I was standing there for a decent amount of time. Honestly the worst part was having to hear the Jurassic Park theme blared over and over because of this anniversary attraction they had set up.

The meeting was fairly brief and impersonal, but he seemed pretty chill. Was too nervous to really say much or speak properly, but oh well, at least I got to meet him for a minute. XP

The line to get in wasn’t too bad, actually. I saw many people in cosplay at the train station so was expecting a lot to get in, but it turned out fine for the most part.

Lots of food stalls. I’m sceptical of con food so I just got a smoothie, though I was offered some cookie later on which was nice. One of the weirder things we spotted was what seemed to be... recruitment for Australian intelligence agency? No thanks, not joining the army. :v

Got to see many stalls too. Mostly artist ones, saw some stuff I recognised both fandom wise (MANY modern cartoons) and even one or two artists I actually follow. Didn’t really do much in that regard, but it was nice to see. Probably what was most amusing was that I saw a stand with body pillows, another with those boob mousepads, lol. A couple of other nice stands too, like one focusing on Polynesian heroes, and a lot of the expected fan organisations like I think the Mandalorian Mercs?

Anyway... the most fun part was definitely seeing all the cosplay. Here’s everything I can recall that stood out to me.

So to start, I met up with a friend I occasionally see IRL, and he knew some other people, and they were cosplaying from the Guilty Gear games. I don’t know anything about the franchise, but I just have to commend the effort, because this guy got a whole ass coffin made, and he was wheeling it around everywhere with us. From what I can find, the character’s name is Goldlewis Dickinson? Two of the others were dressed as this one blonde girl with a yo-yo, and another was an alien that would pose inside the coffin.

So much Star Wars. Was to be expected, but still. So many Mandalorians (and many Din Djarins specifically). So many Grogus I wish I had a tally to count how many I saw. There were a few Boba Fetts, a few Jedi and Sith (only ones from memory I think I recognised were Obi-Wan and Kylo Ren, yes he’s not a Sith but whatever lol). Noticed some stormtroopers and TIE pilots too. There were some clones, one or two Rexes, and at least one 501st clone. Got to see a clone scout trooper too, which was cool. the only thing on my bingo Saw a remote controlled R2-D2 and another remote controlled astromech I’m not sure I remember, but I think it’s the one Obi-Wan took with him to Utapau in Revenge of the Sith? The colours were close at least. Think I saw some Leias and Padmes too, and even a Narkina 5 prisoner. Besides the clone scout, probably the highlight was someone in a whole Gonk Droid costume. They had the box and everything.

This was pretty small, but a guy was dressed as a chef and had a raccoon on their head. Yes, that was Raccaconie from Everything, Everywhere All at Once.

There was a guy dressed as Ronald McDonald... with Colonel Sanders’ decapitated head. Even had “I’m killin’ it” on the back of the outfit.

Yep, I found some Danganronpas. No Tsumugis (come on guys it’s such a meta idea someone please do it), but I did spot a Komaeda. without a Sans I saw at least one or two Junkos, but I noticed a surprising amount of Mikans? And like, I even saw Nurse Joy from Pokemon around, so I was able to tell when the nurse outfit was hers. Also found an Ibuki and I think a Chihiro and a Toko? Also a couple of Monokuma style outfits, one guy had cool facepaint that mimicked the character.

Saw a couple of Owl House cosplays. One person was I think Willow, I saw a Lilith, and maybe an Amity too? Think I saw someone dressed as Luz too.

Noticed a few Doki Doki cosplays. There was one really cool Monika as I was entering I wish I was able to catch a photo of. There was a couple I struggled to be able to tell, but maaaaybe I spotted a Sayori and Natsuki... or two? I recognised a Yuri though, and she was with one or two other Monikas.

Some Doctor Who stuff I noticed. A purple Dalek, and one of the classic ones at a stand. Think I might’ve seen an Eleventh Doctor and maybe also an Amy Pond? Was hard to tell.

I saw a few of those blow up dino costumes, lol.

I’m CERTAIN I saw someone with their head covered with Red Guy from Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared.

I did spot a group as MLP characters.

There were furries attending!

There might’ve been a Spyro? It looked like a Spyro onesie at least, but they were wearing something over it so IDK.

There were some She-Ras, I’m pretty sure one was even a guy crossdressing. And it was the old fashioned skimpy design too.

Someone had the Lord Farquaad dress up with the giant head, lol.

There was a Miles Edgeworth.

Lots of the expected superhero outfits, but one that stood out to me was Joker and Harley but it was the guy as Harley and the girl as Joker.

Many Pokemon cosplays, some Nurse Joys as I alluded to, but also a blow up Pikachu costume, and I think I saw this group of this one Pokemon I don’t remember the name of, but they looked like they had green hats or something? My friend I was with said they might be based on kappa.

I think there was one of The Last of Us zombies?

I didn’t recognise shit cuz I don’t know the franchise but apparently there was a lot of Genshin Impact?

Oh yeah... LOTS of Homestuck for some reason.

#supanova #supanova 2023 #supanova melbourne #convention #con

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thequeenofwands777 · 2 years

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𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗛 𝗢𝗙 𝗖𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗔𝗜𝗡 𝗛𝗬𝗗𝗥𝗔 | 𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗩𝗘 𝗥𝗢𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗫 𝗠𝗔𝗗𝗔𝗠𝗘 𝗛𝗬𝗗𝗥𝗔!𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗘𝗥 | 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗢𝗡𝗘: 𝗛𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗚𝗜𝗙𝗧

Synopsis — Captain America; America’s golden boy, and the world’s most righteous man.

He’s known by many names. But never once did anyone think Captain Hydra would be on that list.

Speculations were made, but no one could ever figure out the true reason for his defection.

Until now.

…

A fic documenting Captain Rogers’ indoctrination process into the criminal terrorist organization known as Hydra, and your role in it.

Pairing(s) — Steve Rogers x Reader

Fandom — Marvel

Status — in progress. Masterlist Chapter Two

Warning(s) — Graphic Descriptions of Violence, Swearing, Angst, Referenced Past Child Abuse, Canon Typical Violence, Manipulation, Power Imbalance

Tag(s) — Enemies to Lovers, Dark Comedy, Alternate Universe, Eventual Smut, Madame Hydra!Reader, Grey!Reader, Grey!Steve Rogers, Mean Steve Rogers, They’ve got history, Improper Use of Formalities, Pussy Power, I Do Not Endorse Hydra, Let’s Pretend They’re Not Nazis in This, Just Assholes, Other Additional Tags to Be Added

Author’s Note — Dialogue in italics are sentences spoken in German

The late morning sun beamed down on the snow-covered forest below, threatening to melt it away, and in turn, melt away the steady sheet of camouflage over your base.

“Viper, what’s your ETA ?” Dr. Faustus, the malevolent doctor that had been appointed by the Supreme Council of Hydra themselves as your second-in-command, asked through the comms.

You had just been attending a few galas down in the states, selling your values to some very important people, and were on the flight back to the training and recruitment headquarters now.

“10 minutes maximum.” You replied, before taking another sip of your celebratory champagne. It had been a successful trip. The underlying note of anticipation in his voice made you raise a brow. “...Why?”

He chuckled, making your intrigue spike. “We’ve got a little surprise for you.”

You cracked a smile, flashing your sharpened canines to the pilot. “Looking forward to it.”

As soon as the jet landed, you were off. The conversation before had made you impatient, eager to see what they had in store for you.

The thin heels of your stilettos clicked against the dull concrete floors, signaling your return to all under your command. Some ‘Welcome back, Madame’s from your subordinates followed you down to your destination, the eastern cell block.

“Ah, Dr. Faustus,” You called out to the smug-looking man posted at the entrance doors, who startled upon hearing your voice. You smirked. “Come to welcome me home?”

He chuckled. “Of course, I’ve even got your homecoming gift all wrapped up the way you like it. ” He said as he gestured with his arm, urging you towards the only occupied cell in the block.

The two of you soon arrived at the guarded cell doors, and strangely Dr. Faustus had yet to explain your surprise. The man abruptly turned and without a word passed you a simple black folder.

Flipping through its content, you paused on one of the pictures. Labeled as taken just a few hours ago. It was him, he was finally here. “Is that who I think it is?” You gasped.

“Yes, Madame.” He replied, his thick accent bleeding through his english even more than yours did. “ We found him ‘wandering’ around the perimeter a week ago. We had thought we were done for, our operation spoiled.”

As he spoke, your gaze fell onto the photograph once more. He looked so peaceful, no trace of his usual stoicness as sleep smoothed out his features, making his frozen appearance look even younger somehow in the slivered moonlight. You found yourself lost committing to memory every mole and scar marring his warm beige skin.

“-But the sedative you ordered made worked just as intended, he dropped like a fly. And we’ve found that if you lessen the dosage, containment is possible.”

You instantaneously snapped your head up in Faustus' direction, hardly able to contain your excitement now. “Are you serious?”

“Yes, Madame.” He smiled smugly, flashing you his rotting teeth, effectively ruining the moment and making your lip curl.

“Faustus, what did I say?” You sighed, dropping your gaze back to the snapshot, no one should have to see that.

His eyes widened and he quickly clapped a hand over his mouth. “Sorry, Madame.”

“It’s alright, just let me see him.” You said, eager to see the Captain again.

Inside the cell, Steve had slowly started to regain consciousness. The first thing he noticed were the pairs of hands holding him down by the shoulders, making his padded knees dig into the hard linoleum tiles below him, cold seeping up from the floor right into his bones. A shudder ran through him.

Steve lurched forward, trying to break free but he only managed to bow his head. A pained grunt left him. He tried to scan his surroundings, but it was no use with the pounding in his head, coupled with the doubling of his vision.

The guards noticed his pathetic struggle and exchanged a smug look. The Captain definitely wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Outside the cell’s thick concrete walls, Dr. Faustus sent a nod to the guard before a loud beep rung out and the seals on the heavy metal doors were released.

Steve’s head lifted at the sound of doors opening, squinting at the intrusion of brightness and then watching as two figures broke through it. As they got closer, he could just barely make out their features.

The first was a well-dressed woman with half of her face hidden behind a curtain of glossy hair, whose wide and bright eye gave the appearance of mania. There was a tall, stocky man at her heels, with a conniving look seemingly etched permanently into his features.

Your heart squeezed at his condition. His hands were in his lap bound with electro-magnetic cuffs, and he was on his knees with two guards flanking him on either side.

“Captain Rogers,” You waited for a flicker of recognition to cross his masked features, a widening of the eyes, a sharp intake of breath, anything. He remained stoic as ever. “We meet again-”

“Where am I!” He shouted, cutting you off. You sighed but maintained your composure, turning your attention back to the file, flipping to the field report. No matter, in time he will come around.

“We are in a Hydra training facility. One known to most as the Keep,” You shrugged as if what you had said was the most mundane thing in the world. You gauged for a reaction once again. Not even a blink. Interesting. “But you knew that already.”

The two guards shared a puzzled look, while a restrained smile began to grace Dr. Faustus’ features. The Captain’s eyes widened under his mask.

You clapped the file shut and walked a few steps closer now, looking down your nose at him. “That’s why you are here, isn’t it? One doesn’t just end up thousands of miles into the German wilderness by coincidence. Correct, Captain?”

Steve remained silent.

“I’ll take your silence as a yes. Now, let’s get that uncomfortable thing off, shall we?” You asked the latter with a kinder tone, making Faustus hide a smile. It was common knowledge that his Lieutenant had a soft spot for the Star Spangled Man with a Plan.

Steve watched as you slowly reached out your hand but hesitated over the buckle of his helmet, as if waiting for his permission to proceed. Quickly you recovered though, unclasping it with strange ease .

You gently pulled the helmet off before stashing it away under your arm. Steve’s brows furrowed. It seemed even a feather-light touch was pushing the boundaries, so you stepped back slightly. “Better, Captain?”

Steve simply blinked.

“Secure him and leave.” You ordered, to which the guards complied right away, no questions asked. The sedative still had Steve feeling groggy, giving him no other choice but to comply as well.

He dropped his head in defeat as they pulled him up to a standing position before connecting his odd-looking handcuffs to a chain hanging from the ceiling.

You tsked, lifting his chin with your forefinger. “None of that, Captain. You’re in safe hands now.” You whispered after the heavy metal doors slammed shut.

Steve’s face scrunched up in disgust and he tore himself away from you with a scoff, the chains above him momentarily rattling. “Don’t touch me.”

You simply smiled, taking a few steps back of your own. “No worries, Liebling. We have all the time in the world now to get acquainted.”

“‘All the time in the world’?” He scoffed again, making you raise a brow in anticipation of his harsh words. “You’re lucky if you get one week with me before my team comes around. And if it’s not them, it’ll be me getting myself out of here.”

“Sure you will,” You said, voice but a whisper. Steve's gaze followed you as you retreated to the cell doors before pausing and looking back at him over your shoulder, unintentionally exposing to him the mangled skin hiding beneath that wall of glossy hair. “If you decide that’s what you really want.” You added, before leaving him to decipher what the hell that meant.

Next Chapter

#steve rogers #steve roger x reader #marvel #madame hydra #x reader #reader insert #hydra #captain america #alternate universe

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deeptrashwitch · 6 months

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Third part! Now is Sergeant Jackson Blackwell!

Lights, camera, action!

The beggining (part 3)

The trip was long as hell, almost a day if they had to be exact and shifted more than once to drive, but finally arrived to Norfolk. Alicia ran her fingers through her hair and sighed, it was a long day. Luke on the other hand looked as he wanted to kill someone right that instant, but tried to pretend being somehow sane.

As the same as in Fort Jackson they were guided to another conference room, watching the aircraft carriers as they walked by. This time an hour and a half passed before they heard the door being open. Sergeant Jackson Blackwell arrived and froze for a second when he saw the black-haired woman sat beside the red-haired man.

Yet he composed himself and salute both of them until Alicia told him to rest.

-My apologies, sir, ma'am-said trying to remain firm-I was attending some recruits who hurted themselves during training

-It's fine Sergeant-muttered the woman-take a seat, do you know why we called you?

-Negative ma'am

-You see, she's Captain Alicia Marchant and I'm Lieutenant Luke Michaelis-explained the man as he saw how the blonde one got tense-we were looking specifically for you, because of your habilities. Some people told the Captain about how you manage yourself in the battlefield and how quickly you treat wounds during crossfire. Pretty impresive if you ask me

-I...need to ask, but, have you read my archive?

When he said that unconsciously scratched his neck, giving a hint to both of them. The woman straightened up and put her hands up when the blue eyes filled up with a visceral fear.

-We did-claimed as she left her hands over the table-and I understand that you feel uncomfortable being under my command and working with me. Yet I want you to understand something, if we are here it's because I think you are one of the best in your workfield and want you to be part of our team

-I see, I'm flattered you think that way about me, Captain-he whispered with his fists clenched-but even with that, I-I don't feel able to work with you. Even now I can barely treat my co-workers

-Then we can give you an option-said Luke calmly-just do it for a month, come work with us for a month and if you can't bear it, you're free to come back here. No strings attached. Can we give him that, ma'am?

-That's right, I won't make you stay if you don't feel comfortable around us, we need a team that can trust eachother blindfolded and hands tied-claimed and then smiled a bit, trying to calm the medic-we might not find another medic as good as you, but it still your decision

-What's the trick?-asked the blonde SEAL

-None, give it a month and then decide, that's it

-...If I say yes, when should I start?

-Today is friday, let's say we arrive to Black Tomb on Saturday...by Monday would be fine-muttered Alicia to herself-do you agree Lieutenant Michaelis?

-Completely ma'am

-With that said, tell me Sergeant, do we have a deal?

She extended her hand just waiting, not expecting anything. For her and Luke's surprise...Jackson shook her hand, even if his was trembling a bit.

-I'll be there, Captain

-We'll be waiting for it, Sergeant

Some minutes later both of them were walking back to the car, both thinking about the reunion they just had.

-You think he'll handle it?-asked the green eyed, curious

-Cannot talk in his behalf, Michaelis, but I hope he does

-I wonder what happened to him

-Maybe it's better not to know-said Alicia as they get into the car-whatever it was, still keep him terrified. The past haunt us, let's just leave it inside each mind

-That sounded bitter, Captain, bad past?

-We're military, Lieutenant, we all have a bad past at this point

-Fair enough

After that the car took direction back to Black Tomb, but Luke glanced at the woman. Her eyes now were dark, filled of something he didn't recognized at first. Then he noticed regret, a deep one, but said nothing and a second later it was gone.

Three months later

-I have to say, I'm surprised-said Luke while watching Jackson working in the medic bay

-Agreed, I was already looking for a replacement

-Glad that's not the case

-Yeah, but really, I never expected he would work with me

Luke nodded before just stare at the view of Black Tomb, frowning a bit when he took a glance of the enormous plane. He knew who was inside and he was divided. The talent of their pilot was a big one, but he gave him a weird feeling, he's...too quiet. Even Wraith was suspicious once the Captain told her about him.

But maybe was his fear taking the lead. Even if there have passed months, almost a year, it was a bit difficult to hop inside of a plane without evoke the images of his last time. And yet he does, go foward and do the mission, they don't have other option.

-A cent for your thoughts-said the woman as she took a crayon out of her pocket

-Just thinking about our new member...is that a crayon? I thought it was a joke

-Still not trust Eager?-asked as she keep the red crayon between her teeth and laughed-I don't know what you mean, Michaelis

-Can't say I do and you know that if Jackson catch you eating that crap he'll scold you, right?

-It's not that bad

-Is that a crayon?! Are you nuts, Captain?!-screamed Jackson and both jumped for the surprise

The woman practically spitted the crayon as she saw the pissed off face of the medic, and Luke just started cackling trying to breath.

-You're gonna get yourself killed if you eat that! Are all the Marines like this?! For fuck's sake, you'll get poisoned!

-It's edible damnit!

-Is it?!-asked both of them in awe

-Yeah! I mean, we're not stupid!

The silence just made the woman to role her eyes, it was a good joke, but God...

#call of duty #call of duty modern warfare #cod oc #cod mw2 #oc #call of duty mw2 #ocs #cod mwii #team charlie #alicia marchant #luke michaelis #jackson blackwell

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astolary · 2 years

Note

Hello! I love your chamber fics 🥰

I was wondering if you could write one where the reader (preferred female) is the new agent everyone has been praising, and it piqued chambers interest so he went to find out why she’s so special?

Thank you! I love your work and hope you have an amazing day❤️

𝐓𝐘𝐏𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐐𝐔𝐄 .

( Synopsis ) Someone needed to weigh down all the odds within the stubborn protocol.

( Author's Note ) Aww thank you \^.^/ Hehe Chamber just hits different.

( Pairing ) Chamber x F! Agent Reader

( Content Warnings ) Omen making dark jokes, mentions of trauma.

( Word Count ) 2.0k+ words // NOT EDITED!

A few weeks before Chamber joined Valorant, you were instantly the anchor of the protocol. At least that was what Jett claimed.

It was true. Reyna tolerated you despite her not-so-empathetic self while Breach toned down his aggressiveness just a tad bit while you were around him. You kept the team balanced and did what you do best.

A few weeks prior, you understood that the protocol had its fair share of problems running around. It would take a while for you to adjust to the workplace. I mean, it was suspicious beforehand when you were invited to join.

Cypher pretending to be a super creepy person that stalked you your whole life? No─ just no. Was that how a supposed "corporation" recruited people?

(He apologized to you, but you forgave him just a few weeks later. You won't let him get past it that easily.)

What you first noticed after getting accustomed to your dorms were the several disagreements each agent seemed to have. A tragic backstory sprinkled in. The losses they all were forced to suffer. How the stars played with them.

It caused you to feel like you were the odd one. Are you even going to be able to fit in with everyone? You were at the bottom of the list. Understanding the trauma they went through is practically impossible.

(Call it an excuse? They were facts.)

—

"INSECURITY ON the battlefield will lead to your downfall." Viper's spiteful tone was painfully obvious. Brimstone rolled his eyes, already used to her personality.

"Don't say that," Sage mumbled lightly, hitting her arm. Viper glared at her. "No. Physical. Contact."

"Yes, yes, of course."

The four of you were preparing to sign the contract, the contract that will bound a chapter of your life to the Protocol.

You were in the middle of expressing your concerns to the senior agents. Are they sure they wanted to recruit you? Someone who had no military experience? Who scrolled down the internet with full trust that their account was protected?

You tried to hold your ground and meet her jade eyes. The first impressions were always the moments in your life you would look back on. You were going to be fine, you were going to be fine.

Chartreuse. Her intelligent and watchful jade eyes were almost chartreuse under the filtered sunlight through the blinds. (You were not going to be fine.)

Even while she wore a mask, her frown covered half her face. You weren't the best at lying, so she must have noted the way your eyes immediately widened and darted to the floor. Anywhere but the poison specialist. A grumble escaped her when you tried to form sentences.

"Killjoy whiffed every shot on the training dummies when she first held a classic," Brimstone suddenly recalled almost fondly, "Sova would occasionally drop his sheriff while switching to his bow, he even shot an arrow to Omen's cape by accident once. That's why he only carries two to three arrows with him at a time during missions."

"Yoru and Phoenix almost fainted when they were going hand-to-hand combat with me. Breach even—"

Sage interrupted Brimstone's small speech, trying to save him from embarrassing the other agents.

"What Viper and Brim are trying to say," She paused, trying to find the right words. "Is that nobody expected this to happen. Nobody expected to become part of our organization. A mission to save the world."

A small, desperate, smile appeared on her face. "We need your help, please."

The words you furiously tried to form got stuck down your throat. Although Viper looked like she wanted to squash you under her heels, her posture dropped ever so slightly. They were tired. Extremely tired.

Each of them certainly had their own way on how to express their feelings.

You signed the paper. Might as well since you spent so much time there already.

(Did you fully grasp the concept of what you just got yourself into? Nope.)

—

It was hell. You needed to catch up quickly since a lot had already gone down. Somehow, months later, you managed to survive. You pulled it off. You were alive with all your bones intact.

Massive improvement in your skills was shown. Now, you wore tight clothes that hugged your figure. Small scars from harsh training littered your arms. Calluses formed on your hands after Reyna reminded you multiple times to hold your damn gun tightly.

Just aim for the head. Reyna told you. Yeah, sure. (You knew she was joking just the tiniest bit.)

And like everyone that joined the protocol, you were sent on your first mission after they enlightened you on what you were about to be sent on. A bundle of nerves clutching your gun, aimed head level.

—

SURPRISINGLY, OMEN was the one with you at the site. It was peaceful for the most part.

"Are you alright?"

You jumped in place, not expecting him to initiate the conversation. "Just nervous," You remarked, "But I know I'll get used to it sometime in the future."

"We don't even know if we have a future."

At least he tried to comfort me? That was what you thought.

You stood still as a statue. What he said sounded out of character. It was but at the same time, it was not. "Sorry," Omen nodded stiffly at you. He overheard from Yoru that people loved making horrid jokes.

"It's alright." The shadow was sweet. You could tell his intentions were good.

A full minute and the spike was not yet planted. The palm trees rustled against each other. Something needed to happen.

"Do you remember where we got dropped off? I heard the speakers calling for someone named 'Vincent Fabron.' Do you think he's the one behind the destruction of Fracture?" You jested light-heartedly.

Omen paused, taking into consideration what you just said. Huh.

—

Quick-witted. You were quick on your toes. Omen praised.

Reckless duelists running into the site like headless chickens? You're the only person who can talk things through them. Sage and Sova overworking themself? You like to call them the humble narcissists, always claiming you should take care of yourself but they barely check on their own well-being.

You weren't insanely enthusiastic like Raze, intelligent like Killjoy, clever like Cypher, experienced like Brimstone, or skillful like Breach and Sova. But, "You're a breath of fresh air!" Phoenix worded out for you. That was what made you special. Normal but eccentric.

By this time, Chamber was recruited, and he heard all the compliments that were thrown at you. Viper's mood got sour whenever meetings were held, and there was an awkward silence that would engulf the area whenever you would hear his foot pattern.

(Agent Name) this, (Agent Name that.) Whenever Chamber tried to talk with somebody, your name would get into the conversation.

So, with insanely high hopes, he sauntered off to look for you.

—

THE WALLS OF the room the both of you were staying in were paper thin. An abandoned workplace, but far enough from human interaction. If memory serves right, you were to be meeting up with Killjoy. Your base was far, far away from cities. More privacy and protection were always welcomed.

"Please, you do the paperwork much more efficiently than me, and that's saying something." Killjoy praised you from across the table. Pens and books were scattered on the table, laptops left turned on. The both of you were researching in a desperate attempt to power up the portal.

"Yeah sure. Totally, it's not like you're someone I barely know commending my work habits. Besides, you're just being modest. I just joined two months ago."

She sighed. "I'm not being modest,"

"What I'm trying to say, is that you understand when you overdo yourself. You build up, an amazing, small habit of helping others without crossing their boundaries. But at the same time, you make sure they don't take advantage of you and cross your boundaries. You know who's worth your energy." Killjoy rambled.

"You're selflessly selfish. The world shows us how everything is kept in balance, and you're a living representation of it."

Chamber listened behind the doors as you ended the rather wholesome conversation. Your voice was pleasant.

It was a completely opposite reaction to when he joined. Cypher? He hated Chamber. Brimstone? Disliked him. Viper? Absolutely loathed him. Everybody around him felt like they were walking on eggshells, even the French could see it. He would never say it out loud, but he was a little offended. A little only, of course.

He thought it was a good idea to make his presence known after you strolled off. The door was left slightly opened.

"Killjoy, beautiful as always." Chamber nodded in her direction, stepping into the room. He brought out the blueprints she desperately needed. Killjoy snapped her head up, not expecting him to be here after you left the room.

Suspicious. But he was probably here to give him the blueprints, so maybe it was all a coincidence. "Thanks, if you excuse me I'll be going to (Name) now." She practically jogged outside, thanking the heavens for letting her leave the situation.

Ah, that was your real name. (Name.)

"Didn't even let me bother to explain." What a series of misfortunate events.

—

Killjoy was not oblivious when business people wanted something.

Someone is suddenly ready to pop into your life at the most random time? And one of the most easy going people you know in the protocol is uncomfortable around him? And the person was Chamber? A French?

Nope, not today. He isn't enough for you, you deserve better.

She told you about what happened, so you simply decided to ignore his presence. You knew you could deal with it some other time.

Even if you both never met each other on a personal level, that was your first encounter. It certainly was not your last.

You couldn't blame her uncertainty. Anyone that joined the organization practically left the face of the earth. They couldn't casually go outside without approval from the higher-ups. They didn't even know the states of their family until the holidays.

Paranoia wasn't uncommon when they were browsing the internet. Drinks were offered to them? What if they were drugged or poisoned?

It didn't help that when Neon joined, it just confirmed everybody's suspicion of him. One of the youngest agents breathing down his neck? Well, there goes the idea of befriending him.

You can deal with it some other time.

(Until one fateful day.)

—

THERE WAS THIS inside joke that ran between you and Raze. Giving in to fatigue during training was embarrassing, but holding eye contact with the explosive agent as she watched the entire scene unfold before her eyes was a different story.

So now whenever the both of you were stuck in an awkward situation, the two of you would look each other in the eyes. Trumpets of colorful messages would be conveyed.

"Did you hear?" She whispered to you once. The both of you were lining up at the cafeteria to get a bite after losing to Maxbot.

"What did the both of you hear, mesdemoiselles?"

:D?

You glanced at the reflection of the food display counter. He was tall, easily towering over the both of you. Your heart skipped a beat. How was he able to hide behind that flimsy door?

"Ah! Chamber, right? The French?" Raze gave a strained smile, believing all the warnings Neon gave her. "We just heard that you joined! Welcome to the protocol, I'm Raze and this is my sister!" She hugged your shoulders, shuffling over to the end of the line with your empty trays.

Whatever Raze was saying, the both of you didn't hear it. He was stuck in a trance, and so were you.

You were absolutely gorgeous. (Yes, the both of you were still admiring each other through the reflection of the food display counter.)

"We'll get going now!" Raze's iron grip on your shoulder didn't affect you.

The world blurred and became invisible, it was just the both of you. Completely random strangers.

"I said! We'll get going now!"

,and you thought he was certainly handsome.

astolary 2022 — do not edit, repost, or translate.

#（ ❁ଓ.° ） astro! valorant #valorant #valorant headcanons #valorant protocol #valorant x reader #chamber x reader #chamber headcanons #chamber x yn #valorant chamber x reader

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stariwrites · 3 years

Text

Part One

Red: An Underground Hero Deku x Crime lord fem! Reader

18+ Minors DNI or else I’ll revoke your kneecaps

Author’s Note: All characters are aged up and this fic is a monstrosity so I figured I’d split it up into two parts this is part one and I’ll link part 2 as well when I post it

Tw: fem dom, corruption kink, praise kink, biting/marking, club setting, dry humping, slight choking, alcohol is mentioned (Izuku doesn’t drink it) use of the pet name baby boy, semi public sex

Thank you to @chaos-night for beta reading, I appreciate it!!

For @yixxes I hope you like it!!

Do not repost or share

“None are known to be good, till they have an opportunity to be bad”-Benjamin Whichcote

Summary: From the day you laid your eyes on Izuku Midoriya you knew you were going to be drawn to him.

From the day you laid your eyes on Izuku Midoriya you knew you were going to be drawn to him. There was something about the way the college student stood in front of you with his arms drawn into himself as if he shrank far enough he would disappear. You couldn’t help but smile softly at him.

The man in front of you was impressive to say the least even though he didn’t look it. He was able to track your group for days without your people even knowing. He documented everything in notebooks he carried with him. You watched as his Adam's apple bobbed the more he stared at you. He was trembling slightly, but his eyes never wavered. They held a fire behind them, one that you couldn’t even begin to describe.

“Midoriya, right?” you asked, folding your hands in front of yourself.

“What do you want with me.”

It wasn’t a question. Part of you grinned at the challenge. You had to give him credit, his voice only shook a small amount. Anybody else wouldn’t have been able to have the courage to do so, much less to you.

Standing up from your chair, you signaled to the guards on either side of the door to stand down when they tried to move closer, weapons raised.

“Do you know who we are?” you asked peering down at the streets below you. All Might was battling a water quirk user. You scowled at the scene before you, it was only a matter of time before he beat them to a pulp.

“I know,” he said slowly in an attempt to keep his voice level, “that you’re an organization dedicated to uprooting false heroes.”

Without turning around you gestured for him to continue. You watched his reflection in the window, he took a deep breath almost willing himself to talk once more.

“You took Endeavor down and made a deal with Stain.”

“Very good,” you clapped, turning back around to face him. He was focused entirely on you. ”Now do you know who I am?”

He didn’t hesitate, “The Woman in Red, heroes and villains alike haven’t been able to catch you. Nobody knows what your quirk is or if you even have one.”

You nodded to yourself, he showed promise. If you could use it to your advantage there would be no way your plan would fail. With his help you could uproot the fakest hero of them all.

“Tell me, what do you think of us Midoriya?”

It took him a couple of seconds to register what you said judging by the way his green eyes were transfixed on the destroyed All Might poster off to the side of the room.

“A reminder,” he jumped at the sound of your voice while his eyes fixed themselves onto you. “All Might isn’t the hero that everybody believes he is,” you watched his eyes widen at your words. Part you assumed it was from shock at the way you said them so carelessly, but there was something else there. It was swimming under the surface almost begging to be unleashed.

Before you could place it, he coughed and straightened his posture. He could’ve looked confident when he stood like that if he didn’t shrink into himself at the last moment. With the proper training he’d stand to his full size without feeling insecure.

“Why am I here?” his voice was softer than before, concealed. It made a vicious smirk cross onto your face. You couldn’t wait to help him unlock his true potential. The thought alone almost had you pouncing on him, but you refrained. You wouldn’t scare him away just yet.

You moved closer to him, allowing your nails to drift across the wood over your desk before using one of them to tilt Midoriya’s face closer to yours. He didn’t pull away.

“Because, Izuku Midoriya,” you refused to leave his gaze, “I want you to join Chimera.”

He gulped at the proximity, “And if I refuse?”

You couldn’t help the breathless laugh that escaped your lips. He was too cute for his own good. You flicked your eyes to his before locking them on his lips.

“Then, I guess I’ll just have to find a way to persuade you,” you emphasized the words by moving closer until your lips brushed against his. You watched as he unconsciously closed his eyes and leaned into it, but before your lips fully touched you turned towards the door.

You didn’t miss the pout that crossed onto his face when you broke away, but he missed the sadistic smile you wore as you gestured for the guards to file out. All you received in return was a nod from them until they headed out the door.

When it was your turn you held the door open, but before leaving you met his gaze one last time.

“I’ll give you two weeks to make a decision, until then I look forward to our next meeting,” you purred and leaned against the open door in a way that rivaled Jessica Rabbit, “Izuku Midoriya.”

After you spoke those final words you left with a laugh while he stood in the dark room wondering what just happened.

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“She wants you to join, huh?” Aizawa said from where he was perched on the rooftop. His eyes were scanning below, from the lights of the buildings Midoriya could make out the bags under the man’s eyes. It had to be a late night that was for sure.

Part of Izuku felt guilty pulling the man away from much needed sleep, but being an underground hero he needed allies and the only one with enough experience was Aizawa.

“What should I do?” he asked, moving out of the darkness and closer to the man. He watched the capture scarf blow in the wind slightly while he shivered. It was becoming colder even in Spring, he’d have to get warmer gear.

Out of the corner of his eye Aizawa seemed to notice because a soft smile slid onto his face, “I told you to bundle up problem child, but you never listen.”

Before Midoriya could say anything a jacket was flung his way, he jumbled it until he was able to hold it steady. Peering down his eyes widened with disbelief.

“Are you just going to stand there or put it on?”

He didn’t need to be told twice. Stumbling out a yes, he wrapped the jacket around him and zipped it up. It was sleek, light fitting but also warm. Izuku couldn’t help but sink into the feeling. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been hugged, but wearing that coat he felt like he received the biggest embrace in the world.

A peaceful silence fell over the two of them while they stared out at the streets below. It was a quiet night, the only sounds were of the cars driving by and an occasional group of friends walking past. Their voices echoed off the buildings and were burned into Izuku’s ears.

He wondered what that was like, having friends. He knew going down the path he was on would be dangerous. He couldn’t have time for them if he was going to save people, especially since there was a chance they could become targets.

Still, he couldn’t help but wonder if his life would’ve been different if he’d had them when he was younger.

“I think,” Aizawa began, causing Izuku to fix his eyes onto his mentor. “That you should do it. You can get into their organization and gain intel, be a double agent of sorts.”

Izuku’s heart stopped. “Me?” he sputtered, “Do you really think I could pull something like that off? Half of the pro heroes have tried to take Chimera down and they’ve come up empty handed everytime! And besides the only reason I followed them was to bring the information to you!

How do you know I won’t end up like the others?”

“I don’t,” came the response. Izuku expected that to be it and for Aizawa to leave, but instead he turned to Midoriya and placed his fist on his protege’s chest, “But if there’s one thing I know it’s that if anybody could take down Chimera it would be you.”

Izuku focused his gaze onto the ground until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Aizawa shot him a look of genuine faith. “She went out of her way to try and recruit you. I doubt she’ll want to hurt you, but keep your guard up.”

With a nod of understanding followed by an “I will”, the man took that as his cue and began to walk towards the edge of the building.

“You don’t have to of course, but if you do, don't try to do everything on your own kid. You’ve got me. And it’s about time you actually started working on the front lines rather than behind the scenes.”

With that he was off, a sigh left Midoriya’s lips. He’d been told time and time again that he wasn’t cut out for field work. Not with college he was juggling as well as the fact that his lack of a quirk was always taken into account. He stared up at the sky, he couldn’t remember when he became like this.

He thought back to the earlier times where he constantly believed he could be a hero. He still believed, but it was subdued. Sad even, but he’d try. If he could take them down it would mean helping more people.

“I wish you were here, mom,” he said to the stars while tears began to slide down his face, “I’m a little lost right now.”

————————————————————————------------------------------

The two weeks seemed to crawl by. Izuku was getting restless. He knew his decision, but he couldn’t find Chimera anywhere. He checked every back alley, store, restaurant that the members usually went in and came up empty handed. Even when he did find the members and tried to follow them shouting wait or slow down it was like they’d disappear at the last second.

After running around for nearly three hours he found a bench next to a nearby park and took a seat. He tossed his head back, attempting to get all of the air he lost back. His clothes stuck to him uncomfortably while his forehead was making his hair stick to it.

They sure can run when they really want to, he thought in between puffs of air. He didn’t know how he’d make it through patrolling, especially now. He dreaded the thought, clutching his side at the reminder. He managed to take Muscular down but not without the villain getting a few hits in. It was worth it though, considering Koda’s smile once he was discharged from the hospital.

Yeah, he thought looking up at the sky with a serene smile. It had been worth it.

After catching his breath, he was about to get up from the bench until a person sat down next to him with a note. They didn’t look at Midoriya, instead they were focused straight ahead. The shades made it difficult to see their eyes, while their hoodie and jeans made them look like an ordinary person.

“An invitation,” the person grumbled out, “Don’t be late.”

Izuku didn’t watch them go, flipping the envelope over he noticed neatly scrawled out cursive. The envelope itself was red with a wax gold stamp. A chimera was in the center while the cursive was in gold. He didn’t open it until he was safe in his apartment.

His breath hitched as he read the words over and over again to make sure he had them right. Once he realized he did, he texted Aizawa on the burner phone they used specifically for underground work and buried his head in his hands.

“What am I getting myself into?”

------------------------------------------------------———————-------------------

The neon lights bathed everybody into an ocean of colors. People were swarmed into the center of the room, dancing and grinding on anybody close to them. The bass caught in Midoryia’s chest as he navigated through the crowd. He glanced around, taking all the strobing lights in. The letter said to meet at The Tavern, but it never specified where.

After bumping into several people and almost being roped into dancing, he finally found the bar. He took a seat and checked his phone as he waited for his nerves to calm down. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been to one of these. He thought back to freshman year when he first started out he’d gone to a local club to see what it was like only to realize he wasn’t really fond of it.

“Not exactly your scene is it?” a bartender asked, sliding him a drink. Midoriya looked up at the woman with a sheepish smile. She looked to be about his age, her short hair framing her face. Earphones were dangling from ears. Must be her quirk, Izuku thought with excitement. Her pierced brow was raised as she stared at Midoriya.

“Is it that obvious?”

She hummed for a moment, studying him before she nodded, “Nobody wears a shirt that says ‘Club Shirt’ on it. It’s an interesting pick.”

He flushed slightly and rubbed the back of his neck. He knew he should’ve gone with something different.

“Yeah,” he said trailing off until his eyes landed on the drink.

“I don’t—”

Before he continued the woman stopped him, “It’s on the house, you’re waiting for her aren’t you?”

He was about to ask how she knew when you sat down next to him with a smile, “I see you’ve met Jirou, my most trusted friend.”

Izuku watched as the woman, Jirou’s face turned bright red. He almost thought he heard a don’t mention it before she went off to serve more drinks, leaving him with you.

He was nervous, that much was easy to tell with the way his eyes kept jumping from corner to corner. Poor thing you thought while his leg bounced up and down. Part of you cringed, he felt out of place.

“Do you want to go somewhere else?”

The sound of your voice over the music snapped his attention back to you. Taking his blank stare and furrowed eyebrows as a sign, you huffed out a laugh and repeated yourself. He joined in albeit nervously.

“It’s okay,” he said, stirring his drink with the straw, “You planned to meet here. I don’t want to cause any trouble,” he took a deep breath, “Boss.”

You turned to him with wide eyes before waving him off as you leaned closer to the table, “You don’t have to call me boss you know,” you said nonchalantly, “Not even the guards call me that.”

He couldn’t help but stare at you in awe. How you were able to be so calm in a place like this was beyond him, but it helped him relax. With furrowed brows he focused back on his straw. The ice clanked against the glass, but he couldn’t hear it over the song playing.

“What should I call you then?”

Just like the first time you met, you used one of your fingers to tilt his head up, he could feel your breath mingle with his while his face turned a vibrant shade of red. He silently thanked the lights for making it almost impossible for you to see it. He watched as your eyes clouded over while a sinister smile fell onto your face. It made him feel small underneath it.

Before he could say anything, you leaned in close to his ear.

“I have a couple ideas,” your words sent goosebumps to ripple against his skin while his mouth felt dry. He wanted to know what they were, wanted to ask. What was going on with him?!

He didn’t have much time to dwell once he felt your breath ghost against his neck. It was warm and sent shivers down his spine. He briefly felt the touch of your lips against him, part of him hoped you wouldn’t pull away.

“Please,” he rasped before he could stop himself. Your lips curled into a grin, one of your hands snaked from the table to bury itself in his green hair.

“Let’s get out of here.”

He didn’t need to be told twice.

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

The cool air of the outside clashed with the warmth from the club. Izuku barely processed your lips meeting only to find that in the next minute he was up against the brick wall behind the club. Your hands tangled themselves into his green curls causing him to whimper against your lips.

“Fuck,” you muttered, pussy clenching at the sound he made. You wanted to hear more, wanted him to scream. You placed your knee in between his legs, he instantly started to grind down on your thigh. He tried to pull away from you, but that only made you hold his curls tighter before letting him go. A string of saliva was all that left the connection until you wiped it away with the back of your sleeve.

Izuku’s face was flushed as he tried to catch his breath. Everything about you was intoxicating, especially the way you looked him up and down like he was your prey. He was still grinding against you, his puffs of air were visible in the night. It wasn’t until you touched his side that he flinched.

You pulled your hand away in concern, but he was quick to shush you with the way his lips latched back onto yours. He could tell you about the wound later, you thought. His lips were soft against yours, when you met for another kiss you opened your mouth. Catching the hint, he opened his mouth enough for you to snake your tongue into his mouth. Judging from the way he was grinding faster against you with broken moans you could tell he was enjoying himself.

You pushed him further into the wall, it was surely digging into his back by now, but he made no sound of pain. You made sure to avoid his waist, instead you grabbed a hold of his belt loops and yanked his lower body into an arch.

“Oh my god,” Midoriya groaned, tossing his head back against the wall. He needed more, you were everywhere, breathing into his neck, sucking and biting the skin there. Weakly he went to push you off.

“No marks-can’t ah-can’t ngh cover them.”

A grin casted onto your face. He was so cute like this, all sprawled out under you just as you knew he’d be. You kissed the skin close to his pressure point before staring directly into Izuku’s eyes. Your lips brushed against each other. His eyelashes fluttered as he went to close the space, but you held his neck with one hand and pressed him back.

“I don’t think so baby,” you whispered. Your voice lower in pitch. You didn’t miss the way his pulse jumped under your fingers. Your eyes widened in shock until you gained back control. This was more interesting than you thought. “Does the little hero like this, hm? You like being helpless?” To emphasize your words, you guided his hips with one hand and ground him against your thigh once more.

A high whine escaped his mouth before he could prevent it. He knew this was wrong, that he should stop this but the way your hand made him dizzy around him and the pressure against his cock caused his mind to become fuzzy. What Aizawa didn’t know didn’t hurt him anyway.

“Please,” he whimpered, meeting your leg. He wanted more--no he needed more. “I’ll do anything, I’ll do anything just please.”

“Such a needy little thing aren’t you?” With a huff you slowly stop moving. Tears sprang into the corners of Midoriya’s eyes as he thrashed in an attempt to bring some of the pleasure back, but you only moved your leg away. Broken no’s spilled from his lips and into the cracks of the brick wall. He’s a mess of babbles and pleas. You wait a second longer until you lick a tear from his face, starting at his chin and stopping just below his cheek bone.

He’s about to thank you when you send him a devilish smirk and drop to your knees in front of him. The sight alone causes him to reach his high. You let him calm down, rubbing his thighs through his jeans. You whisper soft encouragements that he can barely decipher.

Looking up at him you can see that his pupils are still blown wide while his chest is heaving up and down. Under the neon red light he looks perfect. You want to devour him, but you hold back. Soon he’d learn how to get hard just by your words alone, but first you’d have to train him.

It isn’t until he comes down from his high that he realizes what he’s done. Mortification falls over him faster than you thought from the way his face flushes even further. You wished he wasn’t in so many clothes, you could almost bet that the same would be found on his neck leading to his chest.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to, I tried holding it in but-”

Slowly, you rose to your feet and before he could stumble over more excuses you kissed his cheek whispering “Good boy,” into his ear. If Midoriya hadn’t just cum he would’ve from those words alone.

You laughed softly at his body’s reaction before breaking away from him fully. You don’t miss the pout that formed on his face when you stepped away. At first it was cute, but now seeing it after this made something snap. You quickly grabbed him by the jaw and traced your thumb over his bottom lip.

“Such a sweet little mouth, making all those pretty sounds earlier, but I think I have more uses for it rather than just pouting,” you locked onto his wide eyes. “Wouldn’t you say, Midoriya?”

He could only nod against you, completely trapped under your gaze. You had him right where you wanted him. “Well then baby boy,” you said detaching yourself once more. “Get to work.”

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Midoriya woke up in a cold sweat for the umpteenth time that week. He fell back into the pillow with a groan. It had been weeks since that encounter and he was desperate to do it again. He couldn’t escape the sound of your moans echoing in the night or the way your nails dug into his hair just right to send waves of pleasure zipping down his back. And the way you tasted, he craved feeling you against his tongue, drowning in you.

However now that he was officially part of Chimera after being tested the night after he was able to taste you, it had been pretty standard. There was nothing out of the ordinary, the organization ran just like how any other underground facility would. Midoriya had his own jobs that he had to handle such as keeping track of shipments and making sure nobody was caught. He didn’t have much to report back to Aizawa which caused the older man to worry.

Izuku huffed at the sound of his phone vibrating on the nightstand. Speak of the devil. Why couldn’t the man just leave him alone? He knew what he was doing and what he went there to do. Even if his mind was preoccupied with you, he would still put Chimera down first and besides you weren’t serious about him either.

Without looking at the contact he put the phone up to his ear. “Look Aizawa I’m fine I don’t need you checking up on me every second of every day so please just this once don’t contact me on my day off.”

Izuku expected to hear the gruff voice sigh into the other line and promptly begin telling Izuku why checking in is important because it could mean the difference between life and death which, being an underground hero, the lines tend to blur.

Instead, there was a delayed pause followed by a low whistle, “And he lets you talk to him like that? I’m impressed.”

At the sound of your voice, he instantly shot up from the futon. “Boss, hey um why are you calling?” His blood froze for a second. “I didn’t miss anything, did I?!” He tossed the covers off of him and was about to head to his dresser to change when his foot got caught in the sheets causing him to crash to the ground.

You heard the loud bang on the other line causing you to snort. There was a heavy sound of stomping followed by another brief crash that caused you to look out into the city with a smile. You were reminded in that moment that he was still a college student, so full of life.

“Nope, I was just calling to check in.”

Midoriya scowled on the other end of the phone. “You and Aizawa both. I’m fine if that’s what you’re wondering. I have all my body parts intact and none of them are broken,” he even wiggled his hands and sat back on the futon to swing his feet even though you couldn’t see him. “Thank you very much,” he said dryly.

You hummed, mulling over his response. Ever since he joined he’s been more sure of himself, capable. It was an accepted change, after all he needed to be strong. Especially if your plan was going to work. After all, the stronger they are the more fun to break.

“He and I are alike then. You do realize that there’s a very fine line between life and death, right? People like us have to stick together.”

“How are you both the same person?”

That question alone had you laughing. “I don’t know what you’re talking about Midoriya, but I do have something you can do for me.”

He perked up at that. “What is it?”

“I’ll pick you up, how does noon sound?”

“Yes-” he said all too fast before coughing. “I mean yeah sure, whatever works for you.”

“Good, be sure you’re ready early, I always come on time.”

With that you hung up the phone and spun back to face your office desk. Phase one was complete, now you could move on to phase two. Leaning your head on the desk, you could feel rather than see Jirou’s eyes boring holes into your forehead.

“Why aren’t you worried about Midoriya?”

You cocked you head to the side. “Why would I need to be worried?”

“He’s working with Aizawa.” It wasn’t a question, but it didn’t need to be. You knew Izuku was working with the man for years before he even discovered your group, but that didn’t matter. You thought back to his confidence, how he was able to give orders and stand up for himself now, but still looked at you to make sure he wasn’t speaking out of turn. It caused a fire to burn in the pit of your stomach.

“Rest assured, Midoriya won’t be a problem. After all,” you said interlocking your hands on top of the desk. “I have him wrapped around my finger.”

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mayasaura · 3 years

Text

Going on the record here that I don't think the Nine Houses uses child soldiers in order to utilize the higher thanergy output of their deaths. For a couple of reasons.

The first is just practical. The Houses in general struggle to reproduce, and even the reproductive technology of the Fourth still isn't fully assisted. I doubt they're cranking babies out like big ag cattle. According to Isaac's profile, it's typical of the Fourth House for babies to be a combination of vat growth and human carry. My guess is that the embryos are developed in tanks past the usual point of spontaneous miscarry, and then transferred to a parent for the rest of their gestation. If there weren't necromancers that specialized in non-traumatic incisions I would assume the transfer would be made at twelve weeks, when the fetus' organs are fully developed but it's only about four inches long. But since House anatomists can open and close people without leaving wounds or scar tissue, who the fuck knows. My guess is that the host parent would have been working with medical specialists in the development weeks, because there's a lot of physical prep a body needs to go through to be prepared to host a fetus. Maybe with necromancy they can speedrun the first four months, but some parents may opt to go through the stages at the normal pace anyway. Making people is a Lot of Work, and while necromancy probably gives some hella advantages in managing the process, we know constant thanergetic exposure makes it harder to complete successfully. Just for practical reasons, it doesn't make sense for House children to be routinely used as pulp for the death juice press. There aren't enough of them. If the Houses were going to do that, they would recruit children to act as shock troops from the colonies. Yes, that's even worse, but I actually don't think they do that either.

I don't think the purpose of sending minors into battle has anything to do with thanergy output. We know very little about House law, but we have exactly one example of what they are, under no circumstances, allowed to do. And that's use children as fodder for thanergy bursts. The language Harrow uses is extremely specific. Her birth was a war crime, or an action that is illegal and subject to criminal prosecution even under circumstances of open warfare. It is highly illegal in the Nine Houses to utilize the higher thanergy potential of killing children, specifically even in military circumstances.

Last and final argument against the use of minors as mana packs in Cohort invasions is that we've seen Fourth battle tactics in action in chapter 25 of Gideon the Ninth. Forth cadets are trained first and foremost in defensive warding and evasive maneuvers. They're not a cavalry charging to their glorious deaths, they're an infiltration force. Gideon was under the same impression, that first boots on the ground meant headlong charges and bloodbaths, and Isaac tells her outright that the Fourth isn't cannon fodder. He and Jeannemary progress slowly and carefully through unknown terrain, and he wards every doorway they pass so that no one can sneak up on them.

“I thought the Fourth were meant to be all about headfirst dives and getting all crazy,” said Gideon, who stared hard into every shadow.

“It’s stupid to get killed if it doesn’t help,” said Isaac, tracing his thumb in curious shapes along the doorjamb. “The Fourth isn’t cannon fodder. If we’re first on the ground we need to stay alive … wards were the first thing I learned. When we get shipped out next year, we’ll get them scarified onto our backs.”

The child soldiers of the Fourth House aren't taught to die for glory, and they aren't positioned in the field with adult necromancers who can utilize their deaths for the planet killing blow. If I had to guess why the Cohort sends adolescents as their first wave, my guess would be a combination of teenagers being more agile and able to move quickly and quietly, and psychological warfare. The Fourth may even drop before the target knows it's at war, which would give them a huge advantage in tactical maneuvering and intelligence gathering. A troupe of unfamiliar adults hustling around looking out of place is cause for alarm, a troupe of suspicious looking teenagers are cause to shake your head and say 'kids these days'. A well disciplined Fourth legion could probably invade a city and no one would know it until they started killing people.

#the locked tomb #the Houses are horrifying but I think their culture is a lot more subtle and interesting than just the evilest possible option available #not saying that a legion of child soldiers isn't extemely evil!!#but Harrow’s parents were aberrations even by House standards #making what they did standard practice on an industrial scale just doesn't make sense to me #either practically or thematically #harrow the ninth #gideon the ninth #the fourth house #tlt meta

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azenkii · 4 years

Text

A Long List of Trash Fire Lord Zuko Headcanons

...that i couldn't get out of my head:

(warning: SUPER LONG POST i havent figured out how to trim posts yet)

he's the one who unchains azula despite iroh's protests. she doesn't even try to fight him, just cries into his shoulder and keeps mumbling about how father's going to be so disappointed in her. he takes her to her rooms and has her drink a sleeping draught, then stations the best guards he has left outside her chambers.

his first council meeting takes place literally a day after sozin's comet. he hobbles into the council chamber shirtless with his entire torso covered in bandages and every council member just looks at him like '...what'

he does NOT sleep for like,,a week after sozin's comet and then another two weeks after his coronation. katara, aang and suki try to persuade him to sleep and he doesn't listen. eventually sokka, toph and mai team up to literally drag his ass to bed and tell him he's not allowed to get up until he sleeps (does mai pin him to the bed with her knives? yes. is it kinky or sexual in any way? definitely not.)

he drinks So. Much. Tea. at this point it's practically tasteless to him but he drinks it anyway because he just needs something to do and tea is something familiar. he keeps iroh on his toes because he's constantly asking for new tea blends, uncle, i think i actually tasted the last one,

he flat-out refuses to grow his hair for at least a year after ozai's defeat. the second it starts getting close to his chin he shears it off himself, with his knife, and his stylist has a heart attack every single time

when he's tired he'll occasionally jump up when one of his guards moves. it stops after a bit, but for the first month and a half or so he's really twitchy. when sokka asks, the only explanation he can come up with is that he's not used to having people stand behind him silently and not want to kill him, much less want to protect him (sokka immediately takes him out for a shopping trip and makes a point of walking behind him the entire time, but only on zuko's right side, where he can clearly see it if sokka moves towards him)

when the healer declares azula mentally unstable and in need of an institution, he shuts himself in his office for the rest of the night. no one's allowed in, not even iroh. he finally emerges in the morning, eyes red from crying and sleep deprivation, and tells the librarian that he'd like a list of the best mental institutions in the country, please, the best in the world if you can get them

he loves theatre (is this even a headcanon?). unfortunately it practically died out in the fire nation along with the rest of the creative arts, leaving nothing but small troupes like the ember island players. one of zuko's personal goals (meaning things he wants to accomplish that aren't as important as restoring his country) is to bring back theatre; he finally manages to do it after about eight months or so of being fire lord, along with other arts like dancing, music and sculpture

he establishes a national day of mourning, on the first day of autumn every year, to commemorate the genocide of the air nomads. from 100AG onwards, every calendar printed in the fire nation has it marked. at first it was called the day of repentance, but aang persuaded him to have it changed (by arguing that he didn't want guilt to be a literal staple of fire nation culture)

he introduces literally So Many educational reforms, plus a mandatory class that teaches students about the cultures of the other nations (air nomads included) and how some of their traditions overlap

he turns down the offer of having a statue put up of him in the capital. toph ignores him and does it anyway.

he visits azula regularly, makes sure she's (relatively) comfortable and well-fed, and sometimes just sits down outside her door and tells her about everything that's going on right now ('some of the far colonies have developed their own standardised writing, azula, you wouldn't believe it, and i've asked the fire sages to come visit more often—but you never liked them, did you? oh, well; i'll make sure none of them go into your chambers by mistake')

(he doesn't know it, but when he does this azula sits by the door and listens. she wonders what kind of writing the colonists have developed, and whether or not the fire sages have taken on some new recruits.)

he hates being above anyone else. never sits in the throne if he can help it, nor does he sit on the dais in the council room. when he talks to people shorter than him, he finds himself stooping a little bit to talk to them on their level (the exception to this rule is sokka, who he mocks for being shorter all the way up until sokka grows taller than him, the bastard)

the first time he visits the earth kingdom, the earth king's ministers call a toast. he ends up being the only one who has to sit out, because he's too young to drink by earth kingdom law

once his servants figure out he won't kill them for talking to him, they start becoming a lot more bold, telling him off when he doesn't take care of himself. at one point, they force him to let them take care of him so much that he literally just bolts into the gardens and hides there until the staff rope in mai and ty lee

when he needs to escape, he does one of two things: (a) he dresses up as the blue spirit and does some parkour until he calms down, or (b) he goes to work at the jasmine dragon. (b) happens less often bc the jasmine dragon's in ba sing se, but there's been a few memorable incidents when an earth kingdom diplomat walks in and yells, 'LEE?!' when they see the fire lord

the first court artist who draws him also happens to be the one who drew azulon and ozai. he draws zuko without his scar. zuko takes one look at it and tells him, very calmly, that he'd like him to leave, please.

zuko burns the portrait. he doesn't fire the court artist, but he never calls on him again unless he has to. a second court artist is called, and can't help but be a bit confused when the fire lord tells him to be sure to include the scar

he forgets the crown. a lot. sometimes he walks into council meetings in his sleepwear with his hair tied up in a messy ponytail and a bunch of scrolls tucked under his arm. none of his councilmen have the guts (or the heart) to tell him that this is not, in fact, formal council wear

he goes to feed the turtleducks when he's stressed. he thinks he's being subtle. he's not. the entire palace knows, and they consciously give him space when they see him in the turtleduck garden

most of his staff are older than him, so they look at him and see this teeny tiny fire lord who is So Small and who Must Be Protected. the day after zuko's coronation, the head chef holds a meeting where they commence Operation Do-Not-Let-That-Boy-Turn-Out-Like-His-Father (subsection He's-The-Only-Good-Thing-We-Have)

one night he wakes up to find suki sitting in his room, decked out in full kyoshi warrior garb and makeup, and just about screams blue murder. suki tells him there are suspicions of an assassin in the palace, and would you please stop yelling it's very distracting, we won't be able to hear anyone coming over that racket

zuko gets very, very paranoid of random spirits after that. yeah, suki looks like a possibly malevolent spirit when she's wearing her makeup, what about it? (when he tells sokka he's highkey terrified of spirit shenanigans, sokka just looks at him and says, 'man, the stories i could tell...', and THAT'S when zuko remembers sokka spent like six months more than he did travelling with the avatar)

on his first visit to the southern water tribe, he removes his boots and leg guards, rolls up his pants and kneels barefoot in the snow. even though chief hakoda immediately starts trying to pull him up, he's stubborn as hell and stays kneeling for the entirety of his very long, very sincere apology-on-behalf-of-the-fire-nation speech. he nearly loses his toes to frostbite after that, and both sokka and katara never stop giving him shit for it

the first time he grows a 'beard' is completely accidental. he's stressed over some trade miscommunications with chief hakoda, hasn't slept in a few days...and then when sokka arrives as water tribe ambassador to help smooth things over, he takes one look at zuko and says 'man, facial hair does not suit you'

zuko: facial what now

he checks a mirror to find that he's got stubble covering his chin, dark enough that it almost looks intentional, and holy gods how the fuck did he not notice this before

'UNCLE WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME' 'i assumed you were doing it on purpose' 'WHEN HAVE I EVER DONE ANYTHING ON PURPOSE'

he shaves it all off immediately, of course, which prompts a lot of teasing and rib-poking from sokka until zuko finally snaps that he's scared it'll make him look like his father. sokka stops after that.

(the day after sokka leaves, zuko finds that a mysterious someone has scribbled all over ozai's royal portrait, giving him a frankly ridiculous beard and moustache that literally CANNOT be grown in real life. oddly enough, he can't bring himself to care about the defamation of royal property. he's too busy laughing.)

his paths cross with toph and sokka more than any of the others, because sokka is ambassador and toph is technically still a beifong. most of the time, at formal functions, he ends up sequestered in the corner with toph and a hoard of snacks, and they talk and swear much more than they usually do (zuko's ministers once heard him when he was drunk with toph, and the servants swear the older ministers' ears started bleeding)

he restores fire nation cultural festivals, and in doing so subjects himself to learning a lot of complicated dances

during one memorable week, he wrote so many letters and drafted so much legislation that he ran out of paper. he had to go visit the nearest school and ask for some

he keeps up with his firebending and sword training even though it's hard to fit into his schedule. his ministers refrain from reminding him that he has guards to protect him now; it's still hard for zuko to trust his safety with anyone but himself (team avatar is the exception).

he started sleepwalking about two months into his reign. no one knew why. one time, he nearly sleepwalked right off the edge of a balcony, and one of his guards had to grab him by the back of his robes.

the sleepwalking stopped after around a month and never happened again. at this point it's practically palace legend.

after freeing the war prisoners, he went around collecting every single earthbender-proof wooden cell he could find in the capital and surrounding areas. when he'd gotten most of them, he gathered them into a huge pile in the city square and set fire to them with his own hands.

unfortunately he couldn't do that with the waterbender metal cells but he did get toph to come in and bend them all into pretty shapes (well, toph thought they were pretty shapes. everyone else thinks they're meaningless squiggles)

he learned how to write with both hands at the same time out of sheer necessity (he refused scribes until it became clear that he'd be putting some people out of a job; that was when he started letting scribes write very, very minor things, but all important documents/drafts/letters are still written by him)

he once put the wet end of an ink brush in his mouth instead of the wooden end by mistake. didn't even realise until he bit down to keep it in place and ink went oozing everywhere

when his guards rushed in to find him coughing and spluttering black liquid all over his desk they thought he'd been poisoned but no he's just stupid

on his 17th birthday, his first one after being crowned, he got tackled by team avatar in the middle of the ballroom and ended up at the bottom of a cuddlepile for like ten minutes

this cuddlepile happened at an event that was very much public and very much formal. it was a scandal for weeks

just. fire lord zuko, guys. so much potential

#holy cow this ended up so much longer than i intended #atla #avatar #zuko #firelord zuko #headcanons

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ventiskies · 3 years

Text

When he rejects you | Chongyun, Scaramouche, Albedo

a/n: hello friends!! i apologize for my somewhat disappearance TwT im currently having exam season but i couldnt help but write something for my favorite three (and yes, scara is there... and honestly, I don't know when I started simping for him either but you can now call me a future scaramouche haver >:)) so not a request, but do enjoy !! <3 (apologies if there are any errors!!)

pairing: chongyun x gn! reader, scaramouche x gn! reader, albedo x gn! reader (platonic)

Chongyun

★ Chongyun, Xingqiu and you had been best friends since you were kids. And although you were a trio, you and Chongyun had always known each other much longer.

★ If your life were a book, it would be a sweet childhood best friends growing up together genre, something that often piqued Xingqiu’s interests when he drags the two of you to Wanwen bookhouse

★ The books you had borrowed from Xingqiu about them all ended with the same thing; that they end up becoming a couple and growing up together. Reminiscing about their childhood youth when they were old.

★ You knew not to trust the books or use them as a guide, but just like the books, you had grown to fall in love with the icy-haired boy.

★ Chongyun was like a breath of fresh air. His determination in exorcising ‘evil spirits' to the point that he blindly falls for Xingqiu and your pranks were the things that you loved about him. He was filled with enthusiasm and positivity (literally).

★ You grew into enjoying his positive attitude, you couldn't imagine a day going by without Chongyun telling you and Xingqiu about a so called 'haunted' place he had found, and forcing the two of you to come with him. and even if it had ended without meeting a single spirit, he would still be in high spirits.

★ you loved it, seeing the rush of thrill he feels whenever he senses a spirit nearby, hoping the spirit was able to withstand his excessive yang energy. the repeating days without one successful exorcism, only to end up getting treated to a meal by Xingqiu, and the parting that always ends with a promise to see each other the day after. Chongyun speaks his emotions, and you were in love with that.

★ and him, just in general.

★ And one day, you had decided to tell him just that

★ You were both on the hunt for Jueyun chilies for Xiangling, a small commission that you had decided to take on while waiting for Xingqiu to finish his work at the guild. The sun had set, and you had returned from Qingce village with a bucket full of the chilies and had decided to rest on top of the mountain where you had both Waypointed to just to admire the sunset.

★ In the heat of the moment, you had spoken.

“I like you, Chongyun,” you had said, looking at him with a smile.

★ You would have accepted a silence. You had expected it to be like the books; he would gently laugh and look at you, admitting that he had been waiting for you to say the exact words, lean in to kiss you. It would be awkward at first, but it’ll also be something to look back to in the future when kissing becomes something you do every day. You’d return back to Liyue Harbor hand in hand, and be able to tell Xingqiu and Xiangling that he was your boyfriend now, and admit to the former that maybe his books were right.

★ But instead, you were met with Chongyun’s wide eyes staring at you. His cheeks flushed red with what you had tried hard to hope was shyness, but had appealed more like panic. He had stood up and cleared his throat

“We- we should get back,” he says, too quickly for someone as calm as he is. And you knew it was a wrong step, “I’m-,” he clears his throat, “I’m going to go ahead first. I'm sorry,”

★ You didn’t know if he was apologizing for leaving early, or for not being able to accept your feelings, but when you hadn't seen him the following day, you could only assume.

Scaramouche

★ Honestly, you had it coming for you.

★ Scaramouche is someone whose life is their job. There was nothing that could distract him from working for the Tsaritsa

★ You had (been self-entitled) as his best friend. And honestly, if Scaramouche knew of it, he doesn't blame you. Everyone in the Fatui and who worked under the Fatui knew how close you were. Which was odd because, for one, you were absolutely nothing like him. Although you weren't exactly liked by everyone, you weren't loathed by everyone like the sixth harbinger was.

★ Scaramouche was feared by anyone who hears his name or walks a foot away from him, while you carried a calmer aura. Without glancing, Scaramouche could bring his subordinates trembling, while they would greet you when you pass by them.

★ You were polar opposites, and yet, everyone has seen the two of you together so much that when he wasn't with you or the other way around, people would assume you were on a solo mission or just leaving the other’s quarters

★ Of course, being his best friend, you weren’t spared of his usual harsh words. As a matter of fact, you probably had it much worse than anyone else. It had almost seemed as if every time he spoke, he spoke like he was trying to get rid of you.

★ But if that really were the case, then he hasn’t been trying his best. You had stayed with him since you had become an ally to the Fatui, and ever since then had stayed by his side. When others shake in fear, you shake your head with a laugh and a retort.

★ It had even come as a surprise to you when you had realized you had fallen for the harbinger. You would think that spending time with such a foul-mouthed person who would murder someone in the blink of an eye with no hesitation would make you dislike him. But that didn’t happen.

★ In fact, it was quite the opposite. You had fallen in love with him.

★ It wasn’t obvious to anyone, and even you had to take the time to squint to look for it. But Scaramouche did care for you in his own way. Whether it be toning down the harsh words when he sees your mood dampen after a mission, or beating the shit out of a person who had attacked you ruthlessly, not stopping even after his hands were covered in crimson liquid and the person almost certainly died. Even if he calls you a hindrance afterward for dirtying his hands, he definitely thought of you the same as you thought of him.

★ A friend.

★ Or, you had hoped, something more.

★ It was a mistake to take his slight kindness as a sign of him liking you, it truly was.

★ During your journey to Inazuma for a mission, you had decided to confess to him out of the blue. You knew he was someone who could predict the outcome of something even before you said anything, so a slow confession when the sun was setting in a field of flowers would just be a waste of time. if there was something you learned, it's to cut to the chase with him.

“Hey Scara,” you had said quietly. He had replied with a low hum, not turning back to look at you, “I like you.”

★ Without a second thought, Scaramouche had taken you by surprise as well.

★ He had not stopped in his tracks, instead, his shoulders shook in laugher. His laugh wasn't the same laugh you hear whenever you make a stupid mishap or get slightly injured during a simple mission- no, those laughs were warmer. Although laced with unkindness, they were more familiar.

★ This one was condescending. As if you were a new recruit again, having to work under him. As if all those years as friends had just gone down the drain.

“Stupid. What a fool of me to assume you were different.” he says, voice clear as a bell in the night, “don’t be an inconvenience. I don't have time for people like you.”

Albedo

★ Ever since working under Albedo with Sucrose, your life had been nothing but full of wonder. Although some were dangerous, Albedo and you bonded easily as if you had worked together in a past life.

★ Albedo was a genius. He was someone you looked up to, and sometime during your investigations, he had become a friend. You didn't know when it started. When it had gone from two alchemists staying the night in Dragonspine to observe the different stages of new plant growth, to- with the permission of the acting grandmaster - just two people, two friends, going out to explore the seven nations.

★ Sucrose and Timaeus had stayed back in Mondstadt to finish experiments that you both had decided to put on hold for your trip, and with nothing to worry about, the two of you had gone out with nothing but the protection of each other (and your visions, of course), and a few packed meals from Good Hunter.

★ Albedo had a side that no one saw unless they spent nights camping with him in the middle of nowhere. You were one of the lucky people who were able to see that side of his during your trips around the seven.

★ The alchemist wasn't just curious about the way the world works, he had also been curious with, well, you.

★ Some nights when he couldn't go to sleep (which was often. You’d be surprised to see how messed up his sleep schedule was), he would sit in front of the fire you had both worked hard to make, and simply talk.

★ sometimes, it would be short conversations. but more than often, you find yourself talking about everything and nothing until the sun rose above the mountains, and you would have to continue your journey until one of you (usually being you,) were too tired to continue.

★ Albedo talks with passion, no matter what the topic is. He could be talking about what you were going to be having for dinner for the next night before you reach the first region in your trip, and he would already have you captivated.

★ Albedo also talks with gentleness. And this was the said side not a lot of people would be able to see from the chief alchemist. Whenever the tent was filled with comforting silence, you would be able to hear Albedo asking you questions about yourself. They weren’t your standard, what was your dream growing up? Kind of questions, but they were more specific. More… personal.

★ Is it not funny, how life works? What if a single moment had changed in the past, I and you wouldn't have met. He would question, eyes trained to the flames burning in front of him. It sounded rhetorical, but his tone was laced with wonder. He sounds as if he was expecting an answer, but he doesn't urge you for one. And every time he does, you merely hum.

★ Albedo was gentle in everything he did. Almost all the time you were with him, he had never acted brashly. He was patient, kind.

★ and that was most likely what had prompted your crush on the alchemist

★ crushing on Albedo was like looking up at the stars. he was someone who shined brightly, but you knew he was too far to reach, yet despite that, you had still attempted to.

★ you had decided to finally let it all out on him the night of your final stay before you reached your final region, which was Inazuma.

★ and that, you had realized a little too late, had been the icing on top of a really terrible cake.

"Albedo," you had stared, and the alchemist immediately turned towards you. that was something you had grown fond of. you knew Albedo was a man married to his work, so when he turns to you in the midst of it, you felt your stomach churn in delight, "I have to tell you something,"

“Hm?” he hums, setting his notepad down to give you his full attention, “what is it, y/n?”

★ You took a deep breath, and the moment you had opened your mouth to tell him, you had a sinking feeling you had made a huge mistake.

“I like you, a lot,” you muttered, “not just platonically, Albedo. I… I think you're really interesting. and if you'd like, I would love to be with you. ”

★ Albedo’s face had fallen, and although it had been the slightest, you had still noticed it. He looked at you as if the cogs were turning in his brain, and finally, he looks down

“I must apologize,” he starts, and you feel your stomach drop, “but I’m not interested in you that way, y/n. If it makes you feel better, I see you as a very dear friend,”

★ You nod, apologizing to Albedo before he offers a small smile before continuing his research

★ You both did not speak of it, but there was a very thick air of silence hangs over the two of you afterward, that didn't dissipate even after you both left the camp.

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folklorelise · 3 years

Text

Please don’t go out with someone else.

Synopsis: How did squad leader mom met the captain and how they got together.

MASTERLIST; ASK (request or anything else)

Your brother and Wylan, your childhood friend, always wanted to join the training corps. As you were only a year younger than them, you grew up with them constantly talking about joining the military – naturally, you wanted to join the military too. Your parents tried to talk the three of you out of this, but it was useless. Wylan always wanted to see what was outside the walls, therefore he knew he wanted to join the survey corps. Your brother tried to talk him out of this, but Wylan was stubborn.

When you finally reached the appropriate age to join the survey corps, you were beyond excited. Your brother and Wylan both waited another year so you could all join together.

“This is going to be so fun!” Wylan shouted the first day.

Out of the three of you, your brother was the best one – he was a great fighter, he was great with the gear and he was very obedient as well. Wylan was doing great – nothing exceptional but he could easily make into the top ten.

“At this rate, I’m sure the three of us will end up in the top ten and you know what that means?” your brother asked, “we could all move inside of wall Sina, and have a nice and peaceful life.”

“I don’t want to be part of the military police.” Wylan stated, “I’m joining the survey corps, no matter what happens.”

“Why would you do this?” your brother yelled. “Wylan, I didn’t want to bring this up but your parents –.”

“Yes, I know what happened to them.” Wylan argued. “I know they sacrificed themselves outside, they were both soldiers and having a kid was clearly a bad choice. That doesn’t mean I won’t join the survey corps too.” Wylan paused a second, “You think I’m stupid for wanting this.”

“No. It’s just that I want to grow old with you beside me.” your brother admitted. “And with you being in the survey corps, that won’t be possible.”

“I could visit –.” Wylan started.

“That won’t be possible because you might die outside!” your brother then looked at you, “you’re coming with me, right?”

“I might no be able to do that. None of us will if we’re not in the top ten.” you hesitated.

That night, before going to bed, Jesper, your brother, pulled you on the side so he could talk to you alone.

“Don’t mess up with tests tomorrow.” he told you.

“What?”

“I know you’re capable of doing the bare minimum, so you won’t have to choose. If you want to join the survey corps too, I…” he took a deep breath, “please take care of Wylan for me.”

“You could come with us.” you suggested. “You’re amazing, better than anyone else here, so why don’t you want to?”

“I don’t want to. I don’t want to know what it feels like to be in front of a titan and knowing that they’ll eat me when I can be safe inside.” Jesper worried.

“Please go talk to Wylan, I don’t want you two to fight. You’re both choosing different paths and you know, it’s ok.”

“Yeah. I should apologise.”

“Also, I will try my best to keep him safe outside.”

“Thank you.” Jesper smiled before leaving.

Without surprise, Jesper ended up being ranked first while you were third and Wylan fourth. Amongst the top ten, there was only you and Wylan who did not choose the military police. Before leaving, Jesper came to see you both to tell you goodbye.

“I’m going to miss you.” Wylan told Jesper.

“I’m going to miss you too.” Jesper held Wylan’s hand tightly.

“Great,” you added smiling, “I mean, great to know I’ll be missed too.”

“I’m going to miss you too.” your brother smiled before hugging you.

“Yeah, anyway I’ll leave first because I feel like a third wheel here. I’ll see you later.”

When you finally arrived at the survey corps headquarters, you had a few hours to clean your clothes into your dorm before meeting everyone else on the training grounds to meet your future squad leader. You were beyond relieved when you found out Wylan and you were in the same squad because making friends was not your specialty.

“Hi, I’m Erwin. I’m your squad leader.”

“You’re really young.” you commented which resulted in Wylan punching you softly.

“I’m sorry, sir.” Wylan apologised.

“No, it’s fine. I worked hard for this post and I am proud of it.”

Later that day, you both met Hange.

“Really nice to meet you. I heard you two ranked top ten.” Hange said. “You won’t regret your choice, I’m sure it’ll be fun!”

“I’m Wylan, and this is Y/N.”

That night, you all drank and ate together – that is how you became friend with Hange, Mike, Erwin – your squad leader – and many other comrades.

Your first expedition took place a month after your arrival – it started great. There were only a few titans. Unfortunately, after a few days, it started to rain. At first, it was fine but when it turned out to be an enormous storm – it started to worry everyone.

The order was to stay close to each other so no one would get lost. When the storm finally calmed down – you looked around and noticed a lot of missing people.

“Where – Where’s Wylan?” you asked loudly.

“Y/N,” Erwin held you back, “he might be with another squad somewhere else.”

“No,” you mumbled panicked, “he – he was just behind me. He should be here too!”

You walked away and sat down somewhere calm, hoping for Wylan to show up. The remaining squads arrived one after the another, each one missing some of their soldiers.

“Y/N, the commander arrived,” Hange said quietly, “let’s go.”

The expedition just started which meant that it had to continue. A few hours passed, and as you followed Erwin on your horse you noticed a few bodies sitting under a tree on your left.

“Squad leader Erwin,” you hesitated, “look.” you pointed at where the bodies were.

Erwin and the rest of the squad run to them. You pushed them aside when you saw Wylan was one of the injured soldiers.

“Wylan!” you sobbed, “Hey, it’s me.”

“Hey.” Wylan choked, “I’m… glad… you’re alive.”

“You are too.” you cried.

“I’m sor–.”

“No, it’s ok, we’re going to be fine.” you tried to hold your tears back.

“Tell him… I love him…” Wylan took a deep breath, “ok?”

“Ok. I’m sure he knows and that he loves you very much too.”

“Good.” Wylan smiled weakly, “thank you… for coming back...”

You stayed with Wylan until he passed away – then, the soldiers’ bodies were all put in the cart and as the cart went back inside the walls, you had to continue.

When the expedition finally ended, you headed straight to Wylan dorm so you could clean his clothes and other belongings. You sent a letter to your family and Jesper so they could come for the funeral the survey corps organised for all the loses.

“I’m so sorry.” you cried when you saw Jesper again. “When I – he was…”

“It’s ok.” Jesper hugged you. “It’s ok.” he repeated.

Your parents brought flowers with them – in front of Wylan tomb, there were only the four of you.

“I’m going to bring his things.” you said, “can you guys help me?” you asked your parents so Jesper could have some privacy with Wylan.

You had put everything in a small bag, except for Wylan cloak which you decided to keep. Everything else was giving to Jesper. Before leaving, Jesper spent some time with you in your empty dorm.

“Did you… did he said anything before…”

“He told me to tell you that he loves you.” you whispered.

You both stayed together, in complete silence before he got up and had to leave. You reluctantly walked to the mess hall for dinner and sat with Hange. They smiled at you and you both ate in silence too – no one really wanted to talk.

Years went by and at the age of twenty-four, you became a squad leader. Hange had been promoted a few years before you – everything was going great. Then, one day, Erwin brought in three new recruits from the Underground. After commander Shadis put them in Flagon’s squad, you left with Hange et Erwin.

“What did you do?” you asked Erwin once you three were alone. “Why would you bring three thugs from the underground here?”

“They could be an asset to the survey corps. You should go and see them fight.”

“They have zero experience; they had no training. Just look at how disrespectful they are!”

“They are better than some of us at using the gear with no training.” Erwin corrected you.

“We’ll pay them a visit later.” Hange said.

“Great.” Erwin smiled before leaving.

“I don’t want to.” you told Hange.

“Oh, come on, please come with me!”

On their first day of training, you and Hange joined Flagon. You were all talking waiting for them to arrive, but after ten minutes of waiting, you volunteered to go and look for them. The first place you went for was the changing room with all the gear you used.

“You’re late.” you stated when you saw Isabel still with her gear undone.

“Sorry.”

“Well, hurry. Also, where are your two other friends?” you asked, “doesn’t matter, I’ll go look for them.”

“Wait.” Isabel stopped you, “This gear is a little different from what we used. I don’t know how to put it on correctly, no one told me.”

You turned around and slowly walked to her and explained to her how to put it on easily and quickly. When Isabel was done, you both walked out, and her friends were waiting for her outside.

“Next time try to be on time.” you told them when you walked out.

“Sorry miss.” Furlan apologised.

“It’s squad leader Y/N.” you corrected him harshly.

When you joined Flagon, he was fuming – screaming that they were irresponsible for making him wait that long and that they should just go back to where they came. When they started to kill the wooden titans, you were all speechless.

“Oh my!” you shouted impressed, “Erwin was right.”

“I wouldn’t have mind having them with me.” Hange stated impressed as well. “Flagon, you’re lucky as hell.”

Flagon ignored you and left to talk to them while you and Hange were talking about how good they were.

“Levi’s the most impressive right?” Hange said.

“Hell yeah!” you agreed. “Now I just want to see them in front of real titans. Act cool.” you told Hange when you saw them coming back.

“You were awesome!” Hange shouted, “Even more because you didn’t receive any training. Right Y/N.”

“You were great, yeah.” you commented calmly.

The next expedition was announced a few days later – it would take place in a month and half. Isabel and you became quite close since you were in charge of teaching them how to ride the horses – Flagon traded with you. While you would do his work, he will do some of your paperwork.

Furlan was polite and nice – he was making a lot of effort to blend in like Isabel. The only one who did not try was Levi. You tried to talk to him multiple times, but he would never answer you.

“Oh right,” you said before they would leave, “this weekend you’re allowed to leave the headquarters so you can visit family or just walk around the market. If you don’t want to leave, I can bring things for you if you’d like.”

“Can you bring back some of the cake you had last time?” Isabel asked referring to the cake your mom had baked.

“I’d like that too.” Furlan smiled.

“Sure, I’ll send a letter to my mom. What about you Levi?”

“Bring me some tea. And not the one you have here because it’s disgusting.” Levi said.

“Tea? Ok, I can do that.” you smiled, “you know it’s the first time you ever said anything to me.” you laughed before leaving.

You went back to your room to write your letter asking your mother to bake some cake and gather some tea leaves. While you were in your room, the trio went to their usual spot in the roof.

“I like Y/N,” Isabel started, “she’s nice.”

“Weirdly nice to us,” Levi said, “you didn’t tell her anything right?”

“I didn’t!”

“I don’t understand why she is that nice though.” Furlan added. “She didn’t seem to like us at first.”

“She changed her mind, she got to know us better –.” Isabel defended you.

“We’re leaving soon so it doesn’t matter.” Levi said.

Two years ago, your parents had the chance to move inside of wall Sina thanks to their business growing. You left Friday night to your parent’s house. Jesper was the one who came to take you home.

Saturday morning, Levi found it odd that you were with them – because you would always greet them in the morning. They did not know that you left earlier the day before. Hange and Erwin noticed how Levi was looking around and staring at every new person entering the mess hall.

“You should go and tell him that she’s not here.” Hange told Erwin.

“You go.” Erwin said.

“Fine.” Hange went to their table. “Hi. I noticed how you were looking for Y/N… I think.” Hange told Levi.

“I wasn’t.”

“Oh, then never mind.”

“But now that you’re here, where is she?” Levi asked.

“She went home last night. She’ll be back in three days. No need to worry.”

“I wasn’t.”

Levi hated himself for missing you – he tried to convince himself that he wanted to see you because you promised him tea, but deep down, he missed your calm and joyful presence. You had a lot of baskets full of food your mother prepared which meant your brother had to come and help with it.

“Where is there a short man glaring at me like that?” Jesper told when you left the carriage.

“What?” you asked him confused.

Jesper discreetly nodded towards Levi.

“I don’t know.” you said.

“Well, I’m leaving you here.” Jesper said going back into the carriage. “You’re good, right?”

“Yes, I’ll see you soon, bye!” you hugged him one last time before he left.

There were in total five big baskets of food – you tried to take them all at once for more efficiency, but it was a failure. Levi from behind took three of them seeing you struggling.

“Thank you.” you smiled, “we should just put them in my room.”

You walked in silence to your room and once Levi put everything on your desk – he started to leave but you stopped him by grabbing his sleeve.

“You forgot your tea.” you let go of his sleeve. “Oh, I also brought you this tea set, because the one we have here is really old.” you explained as you gave him an entire basket. “There’s also Furlan and Isabel’s food in there.”

“Thank you.” Levi whispered before leaving.

Two days after you came back, Levi stormed in your room at night as you were ready to go to bed. When Levi saw you in a simple tee shirt and some short, he immediately left your room. You slowly opened your door only to find Levi still outside of your room.

“Are you ok?” you asked worried.

“Yes.” Levi blushed slightly. “Your mother, I don’t know how she organised her tea. I need your help.”

“Oh, okay,” you nodded, “let’s go then.” you closed your door.

“Are you not going to put on more clothes?” Levi asked you, “because it’s cold.”

When you noticed how Levi still would not look into your eyes, you decided it would be better to put on a long jacket.

You followed him to the kitchen, where he had prepared two cups and some water and every tea flavour your mother had packed.

“Each colour of bags represents a flavour,” you explained, “Mh, I thought she wrote on it which flavour it was, but I think with time she just stopped writing it – because she knew. What flavour you want to drink now?”

“You choose.”

“I like green tea, but it’s late in the night now so we should try something else. Like chamomile.” you thought.

Levi poured hot water into the teapot and you waited five minutes before pouring some into the cups. You sat in front of each other at the nearest table to the kitchen and drank in silence.

“Why are you staring at me?” Levi asked drinking his tea.

“I always like to look at pretty flowers and pretty things in general,” you said which made Levi raise his eyebrows, “that’s why I was staring at you.” you completed your sentence smiling.

Levi felt his cheeks getting hotter – he was speechless. No one ever before complimented him, ever so that was new. Meaning, he did not know how to answer.

“Are you okay?” you asked him, “you’re really red. Oh no, is it because of the tea?” you reached out your hands to touch his face. “Are you having a fever?” you worried.

“No, I’m fine.” Levi took your hands and put them on the table but did not let go of them. “Your hands are soft.” Levi said.

“Your hands are warm.” you smiled squeezing his hands softly.

You were both looking at each other when suddenly the door opened on Isabel and Furlan which made Levi back away from you.

“Oh, sorry.” Isabel said, “did we interrupt something?”

“No.” Levi said. “I’ll meet you in ten minutes.”

“Ok.” Furlan left with Isabel.

“You can go, I’ll clean this up.” Levi started to gather the cups and teapot.

“Ok, I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

Neither you nor Levi slept that night – it was not unusual for Levi, but for you it was. You could not stop thinking about what happened before Isabel and Furlan came in and neither could Levi.

After that, Levi would often make small talk with you when you were alone. He would often call you to drink tea with him before you went to bed. Then, a few days before their first expedition, Levi started to avoid you more and more which you did not find odd – it might be stress about the expedition. You were busy with your squad and paperwork. The day of the expedition, you went to see Levi because it had been a while.

“I’ll probably see you during the expedition though, but I wanted to see you before leaving. Good luck out there even though I know you don’t need it.”

Your squad was next to Hange’s and the expedition started. The few years after Wylan’s passing, every time it rained during an expedition you would start to panic and not be as useful as you would usually be. Surprisingly, the survey corps never experienced another storm during an expedition – it always happened before or after it. Therefore, when it started to rain heavily you started to be worried.

“Y/N,” Hange called you, “it’s ok.”

“Yeah.” you whispered, “no one walk away from me.” you ordered to your squad.

As the storm started, Hange’s squad and yours took shelter on high trees leaving your horses under you.

“Are you ok?” Hange asked you.

“Yes. It’s going to calm down soon, and it’ll be good.”

When the storm calmed down, Erwin’s squad passed on your way, so you joined them. After assuring him that no one was injured, you continued to ride on your horse. Erwin, Hange and you were leading the way, but very soon you stopped when you noticed all the blood on the ground.

“Wha – what happened?” you trembled. “Wh – who’s squad…” you got off your horse.

“That’s… the steam from the fallen titans.” Erwin said. “Are there any survivors out there?” Erwin yelled.

When you all approached the steam, you found Levi on his knees next to someone’s head which made you look away.

“Are you the only one left?” Erwin asked, “The corpses of these titans… you did this alone…?”

Levi stared at Erwin before tackling Erwin down of his horse. Mike, Hange and you took out your blades ready to defend Erwin, but he ordered us to stay back. Levi put his blade next to Erwin’s neck before speaking.

“Erwin, I’m going to kill you, you bastard. That’s why I’m here.”

Erwin showed Levi the envelope he kept on him and explained to him what happened.

“Why did you bring us into the corps?”

“Your military prowess…” Erwin started, “And to use you as partners to throw off Lovof…but now, it’s all over.”

Levi pushed on his blade, but Erwin stopped it with his hand.

“Who’s the one that killed my subordinates, your friends. Was it me? Was it you? Do you think that if you had come to attack me together that the two of them would have made it out alive?” Erwin asked, “No! It was the titans!”

Everyone else listened to Erwin’s speech including Levi.

“Fight with the survey corps Levi. Humanity needs your skill!”

The end of that expedition came sooner than you thought. You made sure that your squad members were doing ok then you went back to your room to clean up. You made sure to write a letter to your brother first so he would know that you were still alive and then you decided to go check on Levi.

“Levi?” you knocked on his door, but no one answered. “If you need to talk, I’m here.”

For the next few days, Levi rarely went out of his room. Furlan and him were the only ones sleeping there – meaning no one could bother him. A week after the end of the expedition, Levi came to your room one night.

“Levi.” you put your book down.

“You said… I could talk to you.”

“Of course, you can.” you sat on your bed. “I’m sorry for your loss.” you added as you saw Levi pacing around your room.

“I can’t…I don’t know what to do.” Levi sat next to you. “Whenever someone knocks on my door, I keep hoping it would be one of them.”

“I know…” you paused, “after that, you’ll feel anger.” you hesitated, “Then comes the guilt, thinking what if I was quicker or what if I made a different choice… maybe I could’ve helped. After that, you’ll feel sad. Eventually, it won’t hurt as much as it used to, to talk about them. It’ll get better.”

“How do you know it will get better?”

“It is terrible, but this probably won’t be your last loss. And I –… I lost my best friend a long time ago. It was our first expedition too…”

Levi and you were lying on your bed in silence.

“I can’t sleep.” Levi admitted. “It’s getting lonely in that room.”

“I can stay with you if you want.” you yawned.

“Sorry, I’m keeping you from sleeping – I’ll go.” Levi stood up but you held his hand.

“You can stay here. I don’t mind.” you looked at Levi.

You moved on the inner side of your bed so Levi could lay next to you. Levi did not let go of your hand when he laid down on your bed.

“Goodnight Levi.” you said before falling asleep very quickly.

“Goodnight Y/N.” Levi whispered looking at you.

Levi found himself getting sleepier and when he closed his eyes – for the first time in a long time – he fell asleep without any difficulty. In the middle of the night, you woke up feeling thirsty and noticed that Levi was sleeping. He was still holding your hand which made it impossible for you to get up.

You always have a glass of water ready next to your bed, but you were on the wrong side of the bed. You got up and tried not to wake Levi up or letting go of his hand and drank your water. When you went back to bed, Levi finally let go of your hand and turned on his side – his back against you. You took a deep breath before wrapping your arms around Levi.

Levi was the first one to wake up. You were clinging tightly around Levi which made it impossible for him to move without waking you up.

“Mh, morning.” you mumbled when you woke up.

“Morning.”

“Did you sleep well?” you asked still holding onto Levi.

“Yes, thanks to you.”

“We could do this every night…” you said. “if you want, because…” your cheeks started to heat up.

“Yeah.” Levi breathed.

After a few minutes of staying in bed, you both got up and brushed your teeth and changed into new clothes. You arrived together in the mess hall and when you saw Levi going to eat alone, you held his shirt back.

“Come eat with us.” you pointed at your usual table with Hange, Mike and Erwin.

“No, it’s fine.”

“They don’t mind.” you looked at your friends, “right?”

“We don’t.” Erwin smiled.

You sat next to Levi and while he ate in silence, you were chatting with everyone. Your friends noticed how Levi and you became a lot closer since that day:

- Levi would often finish eating first, instead of leaving he waited for you to finish eating.

- You would always come in together in the morning.

- You would always leave together at night.

- According to Mike, Levi smelled like you – logic since he slept in your room with you.

“Are they together?” Hange once asked.

“They have to be.” Nanaba said. “Right?”

“Should we ask them?” Hange said.

“You ask them.” Mike suggested.

“No thanks. Oh, here they come,” Hange said, “act natural.”

Everyone suspected you two to be together, but neither Levi nor you said anything about it. Levi and you both had feelings for each other, but no one was brave enough to make the first step. You acted like a couple without really being one.

Two months after this, Jesper paid you a visit which made Levi confused. He did not know Jesper was your brother meaning he thought you were going on a date with someone. At night when you came back, Levi took you to your room.

“I like you.” Levi suddenly admitted. “Please don’t go out with someone else.”

“I – I like you too. A lot.” you smiled.

“So… who was that man?”

“Jesper? He’s my brother!”

“Oh.” Levi looked away embarrassed.

“So, are we a couple now?”

“I’d like that.”

“Me too.”

—————

Bonus about how people found out about it — Hange saw your two like this:

#attack on titan x reader #levi ackerman x reader #levi x reader #squad leader mom au #levi ackerman #levi ackerman fluff #levi fluff #erwin smith #hange zoë #levi ackerman x you #attack on titan fluff #aot x reader #snk x reader #attack on titan #snk #aot

349 notes · View notes

stxleslyds · 3 years

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you know how dc keeps forcing this sudden "we're a family" narrative out of nowhere? I'd love batfam content but years of hurt among them make the recent content seem unearned.

bc you know more about dick and jason than the others, how do you think they would realistically become family to each other, or would it even be in character for them to be the "bros" they're written as now?

Oh anon, this question is amazing, I love it! I saw it when I woke up and since then my brain has been brewing this answer, I was thinking about it as I brushed my teeth and as I was making breakfast, and now I am ready to give you the answer, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed thinking/writing about it!

DC keeps forcing the wrong relationships, and they keep forcing the wrong centre of this supposed family, they make it out to be the Bat-Family when in reality the Bat (Bruce) should have never been invited to this party.

This is why I give you the… Dick-Family!

Oh yeah baby, I am going there. Dick is the centre of this “family”, he is the guy who is actually connected with everyone, he has been around for so long and he has been present when almost all of the remaining characters were introduced! Bruce might have come first but that guy has nothing on Dick Grayson.

Dick has cared and loved for everyone in this family in a true and beautiful way, no matter how much fanon and DC try to tell us otherwise. This man was an amazing son to Bruce and Alfred (my love for Alfred and Dick is brought to you by @hood-ex), a fantastic brother to Jason, Tim and Cass as well as a phenomenal father/older brother to Damian.

Dick Grayson is the centre of this whole thing, and thanks to DC now being an Omniverse I will be able to explain my line of thoughts. But first let me clear some ideas up.

The way I see it Jason would only get along good enough with Dick. I am not here for Jason and Tim having brunch together (honestly, Lobdell, what were you thinking), Jason never cared for Tim, and then writers that didn’t know how the Red Hood worked made him try to kill Tim so, to me, that relationship is non-existent, Jason doesn’t really perceive Tim (yet).

Jason and Damian, listen, I know that there is this fanon theory that Jason knew and cared for Damian while he was in the League, but that is just fanon talk and it doesn’t really fit in canon either. Jason wasn’t really capable of doing much other than fight, and after he was put in the Lazarus Pit he either had to leave because Ra’s wanted to kill him or Talia took him to the All-Castle. So, Jason’s only real interactions with Damian would be when Jason was written as a crazy, blood thirsty dude that actually tried to harm a child. So, him and Damian wouldn’t really have a good relationship (yet).

Jason and Cass… that’s just a no. Jason and Barbara, I mean Barbara was older than Dick when she first met Jason, so they wouldn’t have much of a relationship.

Now, lets move on to how I will make the Dick-Family work.

Dick (bless him) actually talks and listens to people, unlike Bruce, so the change would start there. Let’s set the timeline, I will stand right after the events of Under the Red Hood. Bruce just chose saving Joker over letting Jason kill the Joker and the building they were in exploded.

Batman keeps on being himself (trash) and Jason, having survived the explosion, moves on to keep on building his empire. He really wants to control the drug trade in Gotham, so he works on that, he slowly but surely takes his place as a drug lord again and is a constant pain in Black Mask’s ass.

While Jason is doing that, Dick is trying to put together his life after Bludhaven was attacked with Chemo. Let’s say that Bludhaven isn’t completely erased from the map but he does have to leave so the city can be re-built. He goes to Gotham, where the Red Hood works.

Let’s say that Alfred told Dick who was under the Red Hood, so Dick being a good brother goes looking for Jason. Their first interaction out of the mask wouldn’t be nice, Jason barely remembers his life before the pit and he really is convinced that Dick is the absolute worst.

But then Jason being a nosy man would make an appearance, for some reason, let’s say that he hacks into the Batcave and when he does that he finds some footage… The footage in question would be the one which shows Bruce punching Dick and sort of blaming him for Jason’s death. (Oh yeah, I am going there). The footage will make a memory come to mind, Dick taking Jason on a skying trip.

So, the next time that Dick and Jason see each other is because Jason went looking for Dick and here is where these two actually talk. The way I see it, Dick is more flexible with the no killing rule, he has worked many times with people that are villains or that just have different ways of doing things. So, I think that he would understand where Jason’s coming from with his ideas. As they begin to understand one another Jason begins to recover more and more memories from before the Pit.

They get together once a week and they chat about life as well as vigilante stuff. They become friends.

At the same time Dick is also very good friends with Tim and also acts like the amazing big brother he is with him. They chat, they sometimes work together and one day they come across a very complicated situation involving a new drug being introduced in Gotham.

Dick would call Jason and now both of them and Tim are reunited in a safe house working together so this new drug doesn’t fall in the wrong hands. Jason and Tim wouldn’t really like each other. Both of them are there for Dick and because they have to get the job done.

That’s how I see Dick forming the Dick-Family unconsciously. Hell, I will introduce Barbara now. Do you guys remember that in UtRH Barbara was mad with Bruce and didn’t want to work with him but she was still in contact with Dick? Well, I am using that so it can fit my narrative.

Dick, Jason and Tim need more intel so Dick calls Oracle (real Oracle) and because Barbara trusts Dick she works with them.

Here is where it gets interesting, through Barbara, Dick meets Cass, through Tim he meets Stephanie. You see that Dick’s connections are leading him to form a group of people. Cass and Stephanie are trained by Babs and Dick and they become the new Batgirls.

As all of that keeps developing Jason and Dick become “partners in crime” they help each other, they start building a brotherly relationship again. Although Jason refuses to say that out loud.

Then comes in Damian, a difficult child if there has ever been one but he has Bruce so Dick doesn’t have to jump in that fast… right?

Oh brother! Bruce is dead (omg what would we do? Battle for the cowl maybe? No!). with Bruce gone there is only one person who can take his place and everyone knows it has to be Dick.

Dick would feel a lot of things as he is taking Bruce’s place as Batman but he has a group of people ready to back him up (Alfred, Jason, Tim, Babs, Cass, Steph), and he also has to take care of Damian, he is a child and with his father gone then maybe his mother would want to take him back to the League of Assassins, Dick obviously doesn’t want that so he talks to Tim and tells him that he sees him as his equal and that he has a plan to make Damian stay and it involves making Damian his new Robin.

Tim would obviously be sad and a little hurt, but he understands Dick’s decision because they talked about it and Dick actually took the time to explain why he was doing what he was doing (really DC half of the problems you guys come up could be fixed in seconds if people would only take some time to just TALK!).

Dick and Damian work as Batman and Robin and Dick starts assuming the position of his father. They would live with Alfred in the penthouse and maybe Tim will join them from time to time (when he wasn’t busy with Young Justice/Teen Titans stuff). Slowly Dick and Damian will become the Dynamic Duo that we love today.

So, Dick would have his own Robin, Oracle (who is also managing her own team with Black Canary and (why not) the Batgirls), Red Robin and Red Hood working with him if he needs them. They are always a call away. Jason is the most difficult to reach and he will only involve himself in that kind of drama if its about controlling the drug trade or scaring the living shit out of some very shady people.

So, Red Hood wouldn’t be working with the new (and improved) Batman but Jason would hang out with Dick sometimes.

From there they build up. Dick renovates Arkham Asylum and makes it work they way that it is supposed to work. He might also recruit Catwoman when he needs someone really sneaky, they have known each other for so long, I bet Selina loves Dick, she would certainly help him out.

But as all things do, this happy and well-connected Dick-Family is disrupted when Bruce comes back, he inserts himself slowly back into his role as Batman and as he does that Dick starts to move away from it.

But Dick’s connections are strong and well cared for, so, even when he goes back to Bludhaven and starts fresh (again) as Nightwing those connections remain. Oracle still gives him intel, Robin and Red Robin come over to Bludhaven to patrol, maybe they even have their own rooms at Dick’s place.

With Bludhaven functioning again, all of the terrible people that were working there also come back, maybe some of them never left and they have been corrupting the city from its very core. So, when Jason tells Dick that he would like to expand his operations to Bludhaven, Dick says yes, as long as Jason keeps him updated on his work and also lets him know what is going on.

I think it works! What do you guys think so far?

From then on with the whole Dick-Family being connected and strong I think they can actually act and solve their problems as a family. All those arcs that didn’t work very well because Bruce was in the middle of it being a jerk, I think they will work if Dick is at the centre of it. Let’s say that Bruce hid the fact that Joker knows their identities and all that, with such a strong family the second that the Joker tries to manipulate Jason into believing that he created him, Dick will come out of the shadows and shut that bullshit down. If Joker tries to do something to the Circus, then the Birds of Prey and the Robins will be there in seconds helping Dick.

The Court of Owls, those little shits wouldn’t stand a chance against this team, this force of nature! Jason would be the one working from afar because you know my boy wouldn’t be subjected to the “no-killing” rule but if he does it, he has to do it away from the children (Damian) and away from Cass, if he doesn’t want to know real trouble. (He probably arranged those things with Dick a long time ago and he is happy with it).

Now, please forgive me but for angst reasons I will actually let the events of, Batman Incorporated #8, Forever Evil, Nightwing #30 and Spyral run its course.

Let me explain, after Damian’s death Dick holds the Dick-Family together, as well as Bruce because he is amazing like that, but then after Dick supposedly dies, things change just a little bit. Jason would retreat back to his own corner because the only thing attaching him to the Dick-Family was Dick but he would also keep his eyes open and he might also have a direct line with Oracle if things go south.

Aside from Jason, I do see the others working on keeping their connections intact. When Damian eventually returns the land of the living, I can see all of them coming together even more because that’s what Dick would have wanted.

And then Dick will come back from Spyral and here is where the Dick-Family will show the “Bat-Family” why its superior to it in every aspect possible.

The Dick-Family will notice that something must have happened, Dick would never play dead and leave them like that, but Dick loves Bruce and he doesn’t want to tell them the truth, Bruce has no memories now and his family doesn’t deserve that kind of drama BUT Jason and Tim are suspicious, they know Dick at this point and they trust him so they firmly believe that he is hiding something to protect someone. And here is where life repeats itself. Let’s review the Batcave’s footage, yes, I did it again, I just love the fact that Bruce has footage of himself being the absolute worst to his kids, how does DC not use it! Anyway, Tim and Jason find the footage from the events of Nightwing #30 and suddenly the Dick-Family have their “Dick defence squad” jackets on and they are ready to party.

After all that Bruce eventually gets his memories back and he is held accountable for his actions. Also, around this time the events of Robin War would have already happened so Duke is also introduced. Dick lets him join and all that, and then Duke and Cass become besties and they work together.

And yeah, as Rebirth comes closer the Dick-Family would be more united than ever.

The end.

That is how I would have done it. But this way is slow, and DC wouldn’t be able to monetize it as much as they would want.

Jason wouldn’t be giving hugs and calling everyone their brother or sister, he will only get along with Dick and he would be professional with everyone else.

Tim and Damian would get along but they wouldn’t go for ice cream together on a sunny day. Steph and Damian would and so would Cass and Tim or Cass and Duke.

Oracle would work with Dick and the others as a side thing because her main thing would be the Birds of Prey, this time with Helena too.

Alfred would spend his time with Bruce but he would also be very aware of Dick and his influence on everyone around them. Bruce eventually would be integrated to the Dick-Family because Dick is a sweetheart but Dick would also make Bruce follow his rules, Dick is a little bean but he is also the most badass person in the room (whichever room) so you better listen to what he has to say.

The Dick-Family would be something that grows silently and doesn’t need a “Joker War” in order for them to be there for each other, they would try their best each step of the way and they will talk things out when mistakes are made.

This is the way that I see this family dynamic working.

I would even go as far as to say that Talia can be part of the Dick-Family because she is connected to three people, Dick, Damian and Jason.

Dick is the person with most connections in the DC Universe, the Titans, the Justice League, Deathstroke, they all have connections to this treasure of a man. If he needs help in Gotham or Bludhaven then he can call people from the “first circle”, if things are beyond a “street level” threat them he can call the Titans and if shit really hits the fan, Clark and the others are a call away.

Anyway, this was unnecessarily long, I am sorry about it but I am also not because I really don’t know how to answer your question without going on a long rant.

In conclusion the Bat-Family doesn’t work and sadly it wouldn’t work no matter how much they force it. These people don’t have connections, Bruce is not able to make connections between people. And DC has erased entire relationships that Dick used to have. I mean, they got rid of Dick and Tim being close brothers just so they could give us a shitty brunch between Tim and Jason? Only yesterday we saw a true and beautiful interaction between Dick and Damian.

DC is handling the “Bat-Family” in all the worst possible ways. It just doesn’t work.

They should have used Dick all those years ago and they shouldn’t have destroyed Jason’s characterization with Lobdell’s ideas.

So, sadly, my dear anon, I don’t see the Bat-Family as a in character thing for any of these people as they are written currently, but I hope that you enjoyed my version of it. May the Dick-Family bring everyone who reads about it a little joy!

#Dick-Family #Jason Nation #dick grayson #nightwing #red hood #tim drake #damian wayne #red robin #robin #batfamily #alfred pennyworth #bruce wayne #dc comics #jason todd #asksss

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river-bottom-nightmare · 3 years

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zatanna said the word anchor point, and that's where she lost dick. anchor points and multiversal constants and universal stability. galaxies shattering into pieces behind his eyelids before swirling together tighter and more whole, before dick would inevitably wake, the lights from that goddamn recurring dream still flashing in his mind.

constantine was looking at him with sympathy, pity. dick wanted to wipe that look off his face with bleach. with acid. he normally wouldn't consider fighting john constantine, since he's always been able to sense the sheer power bubbling under the man's drunken and sloppy exterior. though, apparently, that ability to sense was what could possibly give him the edge in the fight he was imagining, but would never happen.

there were only a few people in the room, but someone would rip him off the man. maybe clark, whose features were painted with worry and concern. that, and the lights from the galaxies outside the watchtower windows, the eternity of the galaxy covering the entire room in a gentle wash that dick had been able to ignore for all of his life, excluding the past couple of hours. maybe diana, who was starting to look at dick with a bit of fear. not of him, but for him, and for everybody else. dick couldn't blame her. she had more than enough experience with powerful men who made themselves god. the only difference was that dick would rather let himself burn up from the flame that was inside of him before becoming whatever they said he was.

it's not about becoming, raven whispered in his mind. her presence was gentle, familiar. it took a certain length of self control for dick not to latch onto her, about the length of rope needed to make a noose. you already are. there are no new powers or abilities or anything that will happen to you. you always were a nexus being, and you always will be. it's just a part of you.

"just a part of him." just a part of him? like how wally's slowly failing heart had just been a part of him? or how jason's pit-induced fits of rage were just a part of him? or how cass' assassin training she fell back on no matter how hard she tried to override it was just a part of her?

bruce hadn't said anything. actually, zatanna had stopped talking, not that dick had been fully listening in the first place, and everyone was lost in their own quiet thoughts. but bruce's silence had been the most stomach-churning, the most horrific.

dick knew bruce didn't like metas. knew it because of the sighs he used to make due to the league's foolishness back when dick was robin, running a hand through dick's ruffled hair and telling him he was so glad you're not like them, dick, they're exhausting. he knew it because of bruce's fury every time someone powerful fought in gotham and destroyed the city, rubble on the ground as they went off, completely unconcerned of the damage they left behind. he knew it because of the extensive files in the batcomputer detailing each league-affiliated and known meta's weakness, or how their strength could be flipped like a playing card, until dick was almost convinced being a meta made one weaker. (according to bruce, it did.)

bruce didn't like metas. and dick wasn't a meta, but no one knew what he was anyway. no one but the magic users, whose vague explanations told them they weren't really sure what he was either.

"you're connected to the universe, dick," zatanna sighed. "the multiverse comes together in you. and as much as i don't like it, we need you."

all eyes were on him. dick was looking at his feet, but he could still feel them. that was one of his new "powers," right? knowledge of the multiverse? a gross misuse and bitter accusation, dick knew. but he couldn't get the fear out of his mind, and fear left unchecked grew fuzzy with mold until it disintegrated into anger.

"you need me?" dick said hoarsely. "the multiverse, what, comes together in me? you do realize what utter bullshit that sounds like?"

"i know it don't seem all that good, but trust me," constantine said. "it's a thing. it's real. you are one."

"you said these people are supposed to be beings of power," dick argued back. "so why aren't you a nexus being? or raven? or fucking ra's al ghul. i'm sure as hell not a being of power. i'm human."

"i suppose that's exactly what makes you one," diana murmured. "i have met many powerful men in my life. i've found the ones that i respected the most were the ones that were most in touch with their humanity."

this was crazy. this was crazy. dick felt like the particles that came together to make him were blowing away in confusion until he was one big cloud of unrecognizable light, before he was scattered in every direction. how the hell was he supposed to be one of the things that kept the universe together when he couldn't even keep his own damn self together?

avoiding bruce wasn't working. dick just felt like he was about to fray at the edges. so, gathering up his courage, dick turned to face the man and quietly, in a voice more delicate than china, said, "b?"

batman didn't look at him. batman didn't even look up. but batman did speak.

"alternate universe superman. he called you the multiversal constant. the one thing he could depend on."

out of the corner of his eye, dick could see clark nodding a little.

bruce continued. "you named yourself after a mythological figure who was known as the catalyst of change. or the great rebuilder. and kryptonians we've met have said how well you embody the role."

"it's...it's just a name, bruce."

"you, of all people, know it's not," clark said.

"so what am i supposed to do, huh?" dick whirled around. "fight this battle zee's recruiting me for that's entirely above my skill level. become some sort of, what did you say, universal anchor? i don't know the first thing about this shit, and i don't know what it'll do to me!"

"you're scared," bruce said, always willing to cut right to the chase with everyone but himself.

dick didn't answer.

"raven, establish a mental link between me and nightwing."

raven nodded, then with a flutter of her hands, dick felt a presence inside his head. it scared him to realize how easily he accepted it, how easily he had always accepted it. he never understood how unusual that was until now.

of course i'm scared, dick whispered into the mind link. i've gone my entire life knowing exactly who i was, what i could do, what i strive to be. and in the span of one day, that's all gone.

then what do you plan to do about it? bruce asked.

he said it so simply, so easily. like discovering something this monumental about himself was just another tricky case or difficult puzzle to solve. dick would have an easier time plucking each and every star in the galaxy and making a mosiac out of them.

raven's hood was lowered, but dick could still feel her eyes on him. constantine's features were still dripping in pity, zee looked imploring. diana was looking at him with hesitating acceptance, bruce was unreadable as always.

but clark. clark was looking at him with steady eyes and and a kind smile. he looked knowing, quietly vindicated. it was as if he'd known there was something...off about dick. something two hopscotches and a backbend away from "special," but close enough. something that had led to clark giving dick a piece of his people's legacy, and trusting him to fulfill it to the best of his ability.

clark wasn't scared of him at all. but clark couldn't make up for bruce.

"will you help?" zatanna asked.

everything inside dick was itching to say yes. jumping at the chance to help his friends, aching to be useful. it was a response he'd carefully cultivated years ago, and pushing it down was an almost physical ache.

but the stardust behind his eyes wasn't so easily forgotten. the hook behind his navel that seemed to drag him into the fabric of a universe that dick couldn't comprehend still dug into him. the world was spinning and the stars were turning and the earth was tumbling over itself, all of them in an effort to stop their twisting and turning and to right themselves once and for all. but dick wasn't moving. dick was completely, utterly still.

"i don't know," he said.

Dick Grayson Anniversary Week ‘21, Day 6: Universal Constant

"i don't know," the author says, because she truly has no idea what the fuck she just wrote. i started imagining nexus dick grayson and this just spilled out onto the page. it makes absolutely no sense, but there are some nice sentences in there that i don't want to get rid of, so hopefully yall can somewhat make sense of this ramen soup of a fic.

tag list: @woahjaybird @birdy-bat-writes @anothertimdrakestan @screennamealreadyused @subtleappreciation @bikoncon @catxsnow @pricetagofficial @maplumebleue-blog-blog @sundownridge @thatsthewhump @dickgraysonweek

#scribbles from the swamp #dickgraysonweek2021 #dick grayson #nightwing #nexus beings #nexus dick grayson #dick grayson headcanon #dick grayson fic #nightwing headcanon #nightwing fic #nexus beings headcanon #nexus beings fic #nexus dick grayson headcanon #nexus dick grayson fic #dc #dc headcanon #dc fic

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echoalyssa · 3 years

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Phantom | Dick Grayson

Authors Note: There’s some light language in this, but thats about all!

“Phantom to Nightwing, entering dead zone now. Start the clock and come in if I’m late. I love you.”

You now had an hour inside the base, unable to contact anyone. You were collecting intel and because you were the stealthiest and smallest, (Damian was too young for this particular mission) Bruce had sent you in.

Your boyfriend, Dick Grayson had wanted to come with you but Bruce had rejected the idea because two people was more risky than one.

Dick had been livid, it was more risky for your life for you to go alone. He was your partner even though you were all a team. Ever since childhood, the two of you fought together and somewhat seemed to share the same mind.

You push a vine our of your dace. Your black masks shows the digital map of the quietest places to step. Your hood is pulled up to disguise your features and skin tone that obviously didn't fit in with the darkness of the air around you.

You had left your mottled cloak behind, opting to only have to worry about your body and where you place it.

Joker was extremely active underground lately, he’d evolved and Bruce had only your mission as a lead.

Your mask displays your one hour timer on the left hand side of your vision. Fifty minutes to get into the compound and back to safety.

The compound comes into view, a flat stone building that just didn’t fit in with the forest that surrounded it. You creep forward, staying in the shadows and hugging the walls of the building until you reach the only vent.

The stone was practically flat but years of training allowed you to look your gloved fingers into a crevice and wedge a booted foot into the building.

You begin climbing, scaling upwards twenty feet. The screws of the vent are all different and you have to pull away from the wall, your body straining so you can unscrew the bottom two.

You’re small enough that you can pry the vent open enough that you can squeeze yourself in. Forty minutes your clock reads. You were going too slow. You crawl forward on your elbows, you trek forward, you should have asked for two hours. Shit.

You hit the record button on your wrist panel and pull the microphone out.

It’s a tiny one but the quality is amazing. You’re peering through a small vent above a research lab now and you thread the microphone and it’s wire through the vent. The audio feeds into your ear piece and also saves to the hard drive in your panel.

You’re holding your breath, only breathing when you have to to minimize any chance of getting caught.

“We need to move in now! He’s only getting more recruits and it’s only a matter of time before they find us again.” Says a voice.

“If they haven’t already! I say we try the new weapon on some unsuspecting crowd of bystanders now. Then they’ll be too busy trying to save those silly citizens to deal with us.”

“Yes but is it ready..?”

“It needs to be tested again and we need to find a more powerful energy source eventually.”

And then the joker walks into view of the vent. He’s holding a blueprint and he spreads it on one of the tables. It’s the paint schematic for the weapon because of course, the joker being the joker meant that everything needed to be green, purple, and white.

You raise a hand to your mask and tap twice. It takes a screenshot of your view of the blueprint and sends it to the bat hard drive.

“Did you have any luck with batons inner circle? Would anyone snitch?”

“A couple...” the speaker listens. It’s valuable intel and now Bruce would be able to feed false information to the rats.

You begin to tap their names away into the panel and then attempt to wirelessly hack into the mainframes. The firewall were strong and plentiful but eventually they all fall victim to you. Sixteen minutes your timer reads. Shit. The data downloading from their computers and into your drive is only halfway done.

It won’t be very detailed. Just minuscule bits of information because you couldn't connect physically to the computers. It’s a line of script here and there that didn't make much sense to you because you weren't super tech-y. Though every line counted and that you knew. Several addresses also pop up.

Finally, after what feels like an eternity, your panel signals that the download is complete. Seven minutes reads the timer. Double shit.

You scramble backwards knowing that you’ve done all that you can. Somehow managing to turn yourself around in the small space. You’re almost at the vent when you foot clangs against the side of the vent.

You freeze, no alarms go off, but then again why would they? The timer is still ticking and you continue on, sliding out of the vent. You fumble with the screws, attempting to get them back in in case your cover hadn't already been blown. You then plant your feet, push off and flip down to the ground. You land nimbly in a rolling crouch and then pop to your feet and take off, sprinting for the tree line.

They come from the shadows. Dozens of them. All focused in on you.

You suck in a breath and draw your longswords.

“Bring it on Goonies!” You call and they surge forward all at once. Some with guns, electric batons, and swords.

You stalk forward, meeting them in the middle. You begin slashing immediately at arms, legs, torsos, anywhere that wasn’t too lethal. You weren't a killer.

Except there were just so many, the sword in your left hand falls from your grip and you pull out a disc, throwing it into the incomers. It explodes, blinding some and wounding others.

You yank s taser out from your belt and stab it into an attackers neck while blocking an attack with your sword. And then it happens. A baton smacks into the back of your head and you stumble forward, dizzy. A blade slashes your thigh, splitting skin and muscle. A cry comes fro, your lips and you lash out desperately with your one remaining longsword. You're able to down the foe who had slashed you.

Two more take his place and then a dagger rips through your abdomen from behind. You scream, falling to your knees. Just as it gets put through your thigh, followed by your shoulder. You land in the grass face first and the world goes dark, sound fading out.

‘Dick.’ Is your last thought.

~~~

Dick is staring at the timer that is displayed by his make. 00:00:05. 00:00:04. 00:00:03. 00:00:02. 00:00:01. And the dreaded number... 00:00:00. It blares red and he stares at the forest, fists clenched. Where was she?

Tim steps forward and places a hand on his shoulder. “Give her five minutes okay? She’s smart. You know how these missions sometimes go overtime. She’s got this.”

“We never should have sent her in alone. It was too risky. Damn it!”

His fist rockets into a tree. He considers going after Bruce, giving him a piece of his mind. Then decides that it isn’t worth it and begins to prepare to go in after his love.

He makes sure to grab the miniature cauterizer and some other emergency medical supplies, stuffing them into the pouches on his belt.

“Wait, Nightwing, we’ll go together. We need a plan!” Damian calls.

His heart is pounding out of his chest and he can’t breathe. ‘What if he was too late? What if she was already gone?’

He doesn’t want to wait for a plan, time was ticking. He pushes past his adoptive brother.

“Dick wait!” Jason calls trying to grab his arm. But he keeps going, breaking for the trees to find her.

Jason and Tim look at each other, then they both look at Damian. “Stay here.” They say simultaneously/

“No way!” He yells back at his brothers.

The three of them take them off after Nightwing. And Bruce, having watched all his children run into danger, follows them in.

Nightwing is pushing through vines and branches, not caring if he makes noise or not. He knows the rest of his family will follow him, but quietly.

His mail enhances his vision in the darkness. He draws a thumb over his own panel and it activates the heat censor on his mask. Dick Grayson pushes forward quickly, scanning frantically for her heat signature.

And then he sees it. She’s always run cold. Her fingers and limbs always frozen. A small prone figure, running colder than the other surrounding bodies. He kicks up his pace, heading for her because he just knows.

“Phantom!” he yells, followed by, “Robin! I think I found her!”

He skids to a halt and falls to his knees, he can see the stab wounds. The way her blood has soared into the ground beneath her.

Nightwing rolls her over, jamming his fingers under her neck to find a pulse. It’s there. But weak.

He rips the cauterizer out of his belt and drapes her body over him just as Jason appears.

“Is she..?”

“Alive.” He grunts, “Not for much longer I need to..”

Jason helps him rip the uniform away enough so Dick has enough room to maneuver.

“Hold her down!”

Jason does as he’s told and Dick places the cauterizer to her skin.

“Only do what you have to, we need to get out of here. And soon.”

He pushes the two flaps of skin together and places the sparking tool to it. The heat melds the skin together. She’d need to be pumped full of antibiotics in case any of the blades were dirty and risked infection.

She only stirs slightly, too disoriented from her loss of blood. He talks to her the whole time he works on her.

He only does her abdomen, knowing that it’s her most serious injury. It might not even hold from the jolting and jostling that would occur in the journey back. Dick stabs a painkiller into her thigh, just in case she were to awaken.

He motions to Tim and Damian, who had been standing guard, to take up the rear. Grayson then scoops up his girlfriend, cradling her to his chest.

“Jason. Take point. Let’s get her home.”

~~~

He sits by her bedside. His hands are covered in her dry blood, along with his suit. He hadn’t bothered to change.

Y/N had needed a blood transfusion and he had offered immediately, hence why there was a needle in his arm funneling blood into girlfriend. Alfred had stitched do her wounds and hooked her up to an IV for hydration and anti-infection purposes.

She’d been changed out of her uniform after she was stable for cleanliness reasons and was now wearing one of his black shirts.

He’s holding her hand, his thumb tracing over the pulse point of her wrist occasionally.

It would be a long road to recovery for her though they all knew that she would bounce back and attempt to get back in to the field as soon as she could walk.

It’s days later when she finally wakes, her eyelids fluttering.

“Dick.” She whispers.

He’s right there, just like he had been, he’d only left briefly to shower but he ate and slept at her side. Jason had covered both of your patrols, with Bruce helping out.

“I’m okay. You’re okay, babygirl.” He places a hand on her face and she leans her head into his touch.

#nightwing #dick grayson #Tim drake #jason todd #Damian wayne #batfam #bat fam #bat family #dick Grayson x reader #nightwing x reader

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