#ghost fieldtrip

[prinnay]

“You want anything?”

[xysidhequeen]

It’s getting late (for me that is) but what about Jason first meeting with the rest of the council (Frostbite, Clockwork, Pandora and etc)?

You mean: Abominable Snowman, Benjamin Button and Mommy-sorry Step On Me? (Jason's crush on Wonder Woman did in fact transfer to Pandora)

Jason generally likes all of the council, and all of the council likes him in turn because he makes Danny happy.

He met Frostbite first. Danny took him to the Far Frozen to get checked out and to be sure the Baby Ghost was healthy and stuff. Jason had been forewarned and honestly, by that point, yetis were just one of those 'yeah that tracks' moments for Jason. Jason asked Frostbite, as a joke, if he could give him a piggyback ride. Frostbite picked him up, plunked him on his shoulder and booked it. 10/10 Jason had the BEST time. Definitely his favorite doctor.

Clockwork he met next, and it basically went:

Clockwork: I see you found your knight young king.

Danny: Yeah, thanks for WARNING ME

Jason: Who the is this fucker?

Danny: imagine a grandpa given unlimited power over time but retaining the 'stay off my lawn' energy but towards the time stream.

Jason: Ah

Clockwork: Wonderful. Off you two go

He then yeeted (yote?) Them through a portal because a member of the Flash Fam had severely fucked the timestream doing speedster shit. Luckily CW had smashed a hat on Jason's head first and he was in human form so the Flash fam member didn't recognize him. They were a bit too occupied with Danny yelling at them for fucking up and ripping them out of the speed force. The Flash fam member bought them lunch. (This was not the first or last time CW sent Danny to deal with the Flashes. They knew of him, and were all more than a little frightened of Danny. They think he's like. A speedforce demon or something. Theyre glad he eats burgers and not their souls) it was fun, even if they were stuck in the 40s for a bit until they cleaned everything up and got the Flash fam member back in the proper timeline. (You can imagine this as any of the Flash fam)

Jason met Pandora when she came to spar with Danny. And he just. Instant puppy crush. He watched this Amazonian woman beat the snot out of Danny and it was the best day of his life. If Fright Knight hadn't already claimed him as a protégé he would've been begging Pandora to train him. She thinks Jason is cute and is always happy to spar with him when she's around.

[callsign-bunnie]

What happens to slasher I am starving for a new chapter 😭😭

Alright, I finally have a new chapter!

--

Rodolfo leaned back on the couch while he watched Alejandro pace. “It’s an FBI agent, so what?” Ghost spoke up, sighing. “I doubt they’re going to look in our direction.”

“They already are.” Soap shook his head, looking up from the handheld game console he was playing on. Neither he nor Rodolfo were particularly interested in this conversation, it seemed.

Rodolfo just shook his head and looked down at his phone, taking deep breaths as he saw another text. Don’t keep ignoring me, Rodolfo. I know you know more about that night than you’re letting on. -Todd.

Rodolfo just blocked this number, too. He wasn’t going to give in to a sick joke by someone being an asshole. “I just don’t want this to impede the wedding plans.” Rodolfo crossed his legs, looking up at the ceiling.

“No, no, of course this won’t mi amor…” Alejandro quickly came over, taking his hands and softening. “We will still have our wedding on time. I will just…” He pulled away and got out his phone, shaking his head. “I will call someone to keep this Detective Graves distracted.”

“Who?” Rodolfo frowned.

Alejandro shrugged. “I have a few people in mind. I mean, I have no doubt Alex could keep him busy while we figure something out but I was more thinking-” Alejandro paused and looked at Ghost, furrowing his brows. “I don’t think he would…”

“You could always call him.” Ghost shrugged. “He likes to play with people. I think he’ll think it’s fun.”

“Who??” Rodolfo repeated, now alarmed. He met eyes with Soap, who suddenly looked a lot more interested in what was going on. “There’s not a fourth one of you guys, right?”

“No.” Alejandro laughed. “Just, let me make a call, Mi cielito, and I will explain when I’m done.” He waved his hand, leaving the room.

Rodolfo sat back, not appreciating constantly being treated like a child. In fact, the irritation built in his chest until he was shaking his head. “Tell Ale not to fucking bother.” He muttered and got up.

“Rodolfo-” Ghost sighed but Rodolfo just threw a glare at him as he went to the room. Once he was in the room, his irritation faded to exhaustion and he stared at the bed until he was trudging to it, pulling off his clothes and climbing into it. 

He was lucky he could even get out of the damn thing most mornings. The last almost 2 months had just exhausted him and now he felt like he was constantly running on fumes, barely hanging on by a thread. Oh well, he’d get better, eventually.

Eventually.

Admittedly, the murder wasn’t much of a hurdle to get over. He couldn’t tell Soap that, obviously, and he certainly wouldn’t tell Alejandro that but… he could just not think about it. It was more that his entire relationship felt like it’d been built on a lie. It was a pretty big lie, too. He’d spent most of this relationship believing that it’d been built on them both surviving something horrific together and the fact that it was Alejandro’s fault…

The terror Rodolfo had felt, the nightmares he’d gotten… and Alejandro had been there for him every moment. Of course, Rodolfo had tried to be there for Alejandro but it felt like Alejandro had only pushed him away and now he knew why! Well… oh… Alejandro hadn’t wanted Rodolfo to put in emotional work that wasn’t necessary… this is why his mind was so confused and what likely contributed to his exhaustion. Alejandro was so sweet and so wonderful and… maybe it made Rodolfo feel special that Alejandro had went through all of that in order to win him over. 

Maybe it felt slightly romantic… okay, maybe it felt really romantic. Rodolfo closed his eyes and shook his head, curling up. He opened his eyes when he heard the door open, unsurprised to see Alejandro had entered. “Mi cielito… why are you hiding from me?” Alejandro asked, sitting on the bed. 

“I am not hiding. I am in our room, I was just resting.” Rodolfo answered, closing his eyes. “I’m just tired, Alejandro.”

“I know that’s not true.” Alejandro shook his head, taking Rodolfo’s hand. “There’s something wrong, what is it?”

Rodolfo shook his head. “Alejandro. It’s the same thing that’s been wrong. This is a huge adjustment and everything is going so fast, I don’t- I’m just exhausted.”

Alejandro frowned and furrowed his brows. “But we have our wedding and-“

Rodolfo made a frustrated sound. “That’s contributing! I feel like I’m under all of this pressure to have a good wedding and now some fbi agent is poking around and I’m- I’m frustrated, Alejandro! I haven’t attended a physical class in months! I don’t talk to people anymore because I’m terrified of them finding out and I just- it’s- I’ll get over it. I will. But it’ll take time and I- I wish you could understand that but sometimes I feel like I’m talking to a robot when I try to explain these things.” Rodolfo rolled onto his back, looking up at the ceiling. “I thought we’d… we’d grow old together and have little dinner parties to entertain your business partners and I- that all feels fucked up now.”

Alejandro was silent and Rodolfo worried he’d upset him. “I’m sorry, Rudy. I… I… I wish I was normal. I really do.” Alejandro finally said. 

“I know, Alejandro. I really do.” Rodolfo did. He empathized with Alejandro’s lack of empathy, his lack of understanding. Maybe not the killing aspect, but he understood why Alejandro was like that. “I don’t want anyone else. I wouldn’t take you any other way. Well, maybe with less murder. But… it’s frustrating. I’m depressed. I’m- im tired.” 

Alejandro looked at Rodolfo and then he was laying by him and wrapping his arms around him. “I’d make it all go away if I could. I’d spend all the time in the world trying to make it better.”

Rodolfo smiled and curled up to him, because he knew Alejandro was telling the truth. “I know.” He nuzzled his chest and closed his eyes. 

His mind drifted back to Todd. He couldn’t let Alejandro take care of that. He was going to have to stop it, himself, because he didn’t want Alejandro going scorched earth over it. 

“Let’s take a nap, okay?” Alejandro murmured and kissed Rodolfo’s hair. “I know it won’t help much, but it’s a start.”

“Okay.” Rodolfo nodded and closed his eyes. A nap sounded nice. 

Alejandro pet his hair and so he melted, quickly dozing off. 

-

“Why are we walking through the woods??” Soap asked and Rodolfo sighed. 

Rodolfo considered lying but he shook his head. “Just… meeting up with someone.” He’d finally given in and texted whoever was playing this cruel joke on him to meet him around here. It was a small road that Rodolfo knew ran through the property that he was pretty sure Alejandro had forgotten about. 

When they finally made it to the road, Rodolfo saw a blue car parked on the side of it and a man- no. It couldn’t be. “It’s really you??” Rodolfo said as he approached Todd, surprised. “I thought it was someone fucking with me!”

“Who is this?” Soap raised an eyebrow. 

Rodolfo did not have time to explain. “He’s an old friend’s brother.”

“Ouch, not even a friend?” Todd huffed. “I felt like we were more than that.”

“We weren’t.” Rodolfo glared at him, suddenly remembering why he hated Todd. “Why did you keep reaching out?”

“Because I saw in your Universities paper that you got engaged. To Vargas.” Todd chuckled. “How romantic. Does your friend know he’s a psychopath?”

“Yeah, he does.” Soap answered, crossing his arms. 

Rodolfo shook his head. “He’s not a psychopath. We were both left with scars from that night.”

Todd laughed. “Yeah, sure. That’s why you never told the police you were there.”

“It was traumatic…” Rodolfo defended, hurt. “I didn’t know what to do, Alejandro didn’t, either. We just wanted to forget the whole damn thing! We didn’t know you were alive or we’d have gone back to you!”

Soap gave him an odd look but Rodolfo just ignored it. Up until a few months ago, this was the truth. So, he was telling it. 

Todd rolled his eyes and then he was stepping forward and Rodolfo gasped as his throat was harshly grabbed. “We both know you’re full of fucking shit, Rodolfo.”

“Hey!” Soap called but Rodolfo waved him off. 

Rodolfo glared up at Todd, not moving. “I am telling the truth.”

“Your fiancé killed my sister. I don’t know why he spared you- well, Nevermind, I guess I do.” Todd laughed, rolling his eyes. 

Rodolfo didn’t let his expression change. It didn’t matter that Todd was telling the truth, Rodolfo needed him to believe he wasn’t. “Alejandro wouldn’t do that! He’s been through therapy because of that night!”

Todd squeezed Rodolfo’s throat. “You’re lying.”

Rodolfo shook his head. “I’m not-“ He gasped as his air was cut off. He tried not to look at Soap too much, noticing he was moving. 

Todd looked into his eyes and then he was softening as his hand relaxed. “Maybe Vargas never told you the truth…” his other hand reached up to stroke down the side of Rodolfo’s face and Rodolfo tried not to think of how nauseous that made him feel. “Do you want to protect your fiancé?”

Rodolfo frowned. “But he didn’t do anything wrong-“ Rodolfo was struck across the face and he gasped, slightly. Already, the skin stung and burned. Rage boiled up in Rodolfo’s chest and he tried, desperately, to push it back down. 

“Answer the question.” Todd practically growled at him. 

Rodolfo stared up at Todd and he just couldn’t keep the rage down. He was sick and tired of being pushed around. He wasn’t small. He wasn’t pathetic. 

Rodolfo glanced over and saw Soap had somehow unearthed a bat from Todd’s car. Todd glanced over as well, likely following Rodolfo’s eyes, so Rodolfo shoved him down as hard as he could. 

Todd stared up at him in shock and then his expression hardened. “You stupid little whore, I’m going to tell the police everything about that night and you’ll both go to prison.”

Rodolfo’s blood ran cold. And then it boiled again. It was a painful change, but… no. Rodolfo wasn’t going to let that happen. Soap was staring at Todd, holding the bat in his hands and Rodolfo clenched his jaw. He held his hand out for the bat. 

And… shockingly, Soap handed it to him. Rodolfo expected to have to explain himself, but Soap’s own expression had just hardened. “I'm not a whore.” Rodolfo spoke evenly. “Say it.”

“Yes you are. Vargas gave you five seconds of attention and you were all over him.” Todd shook his head. “You’re not going to-“

Rodolfo brought the bat down hard across Todd’s torso, hearing a sickening crack as Todd screamed. It invigorated him. He wanted to do it again. “I’m not a whore!”

Todd held his torso and panted, rolling over onto his side. “Fuck you!”

Rodolfo didn’t make a sound as he raised the bat and swung it back down, this time slamming it across Todd’s side. “Say it, you disgusting piece of shit! Im not a whore!”

Todd had again screamed and he coughed up blood this time. “Fine! You’re not a whore!”

Rodolfo didn’t relax. He continued to stare at Todd. “Soap, do you really think he’s going to tell the police?” Rodolfo looked at Soap.

Soap’s own expression was deadly neutral. “No. But does it matter? You’ve already started. Don’t stop now.”

Rodolfo blinked at him and then nodded. Soap was right. Rodolfo was rarely one to leave things unfinished. 

Todd shook his head. “I won’t- I won’t go to the police- I promise! I won’t go to the police!”

“Soap is right. I already started. I might as well finish.” Rodolfo readied the bat, gripping it carefully. He brought it right back down, having to hunch over he realized. That probably didn’t look great so he took the time while Todd was recovering to drop to his knees and then-

It all blurred. He just started to hit Todd with the bat over and over, ignoring his cries, his pleas, his sobs. He just continued to hit him, slamming the bat over and over into his body. 

At some point, he’d gotten up and moved around to Todd’s head and then he’d just started on that until he was now staring at a bloody pile of mush and blood. He barely blinked as he looked at it, standing up and looking down at the blood on his body. 

Soap was smoking a cigarette, having a small amount of blood splattered on his own being. “So, are we telling Alejandro and Ghost?”

Rodolfo looked down at the bat. “No. Not yet, anyway. They’ll be… too excited.”

Soap snorted. “I didn’t expect to feel so… neutral.” 

Rodolfo looked at Todd’s body and then at the bat. “Me neither. It’s an odd feeling.” He wasn’t sure he liked it or not but he felt… energized. Renewed. “I want to take a shower before they get back.”

“What about his car?” Soap raised an eyebrow. 

“There’s a cliff nearby. We’ll put his body in it and then drive it over and push it off.” Rodolfo shrugged. 

Soap snorted. He put out his cigarette and then started to follow Rodolfo back.

[spookberry]

Whatever happened to the good ol fieldtrip to the ghost zone fics, i miss those, we never talk about them anymore

[terrestrialnoob]

Strange Friends

Fandom: Danny Phantom, Young Justice (cartoon)

Ships: N/A

Rating: Gen.

Word count: 8,228

Summary:

Being heroes has a negative affect on Danny and Valerie's grades, but luckily, they can sacrifice a weekend with Tetslaff to get their History grades up. A two hour bus ride to Chicago, and they find themselves in an anthropology museum when a nearby robot attack drives everyone outside. Luckily, the local heroes, The Martian Manhunter and his never-before-seen sidekick, are there to save everyone! Or maybe the Martians are the ones who need saving?

Danny and Valerie stepped off the bus in front of the Chicago Museum of Anthropology. The two stuck together mainly because there were only a dozen students there and everyone else were nerds and jocks these two didn’t have the time or patience to deal with. Coach Tetslaff checked the bus for stragglers then shouted at the assembled teens before her.

“Alright, everyone here is in danger of failing history, whether in my class or another teacher’s. So this is your punish- I mean, extra credit opportunity; you’re going to spend your entire weekend here with me. Today, you and your partner are going to choose any exhibit currently on display in the museum and write a report on it. Then tomorrow, you’ll both present your report not only to the class, but also the museum curator Professor Summer Davies.”

She stared out at the unfocused faces that had heard this speech ten times already, then she sighed and continued, “Meet here in front of the museum at 12:50 for the group lunch, if you didn’t sign up for the group meals, you’ll have to go find and pay for your own food. Now, let’s get to it people!”

“Ugh, I can’t believe I have to spend my hard earned weekend doing school work.” Valerie rolled her eyes and glanced at Danny. They’d chosen to sign up as partners on this fieldtrip because Danny knew Valerie would take him seriously and listen to his ideas, and Valerie knew Danny was dependable, despite being a goof, and neither of them would push all the work onto the other.

“Tell me about it,” Danny said as the two made their way into the museum. It was as interesting as most museums are when you’re forced to go instead of choosing to go; Danny would have loved to visit and learn about this stuff any other day, but today it was homework. There was a display on the history of kitchen technology, an intro to forensic anthropology, a collection of Native American musical instruments, and something about the evolution of Victorian house design.

“This should be fascinating,” Danny said, taking notes in a spiral notebook he’d been carrying with him.

“I’m very fascinated by the development of the knife,” Valerie said as she took a photo of some restored kitchen knives that were over a hundred years old when the security guard was turned away.

“I don’t know, they can’t cut ghosts,” Danny teased.

Valerie raised a playful eyebrow at him, “They do when I use them.”

“We both know that’s not how that works,” Danny chuckled and made another note, though, the Forensic Anthropology might be the best option, it was the widest category, and it could be useful with superhero work, two birds - one stone. They had been trying to improve that part of their lives. Valerie and Sam were trying to drag Danny to a workout every day, while Danny was working with Tucker to refine their ghost database and improve their equipment. There had to be something useful they could learn from researching forensic science, even if it was specifically focused on figuring out human history.

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion from outside.

Danny rolled up the notebook and stuck it in his jeans pocket as he and the rest of the students left the building in a group under the shouted orders of Coach Tetslaff. Outside, there was a crowd of scared citizens running past the museum. Danny and Valerie shared a look and, while Tetslaff was distracted by the other students, turned and headed towards the source of the commotion instead of away from it. Barely a block away from the museum, there was a large figure fighting two smaller figures in the air.

Once they got close enough, Danny recognized one of the smaller figures as Martian Manhunter, and another was smaller but very similar in appearance. She looked like a teen girl with Martian green skin, long red hair, a navy blue skirt matching the color of both their capes, and while she wore a white shirt instead of Manhunter’s black body suit, they both had the same red X’s on their chests and gold pins holding their capes (that probably only Danny could see at this distance with his weird ghost eyes). They were clearly working together despite Danny never having heard of Martian Manhunter having a sidekick.

Their enemy looked to be an nine-and-a-half-foot tall robot, with six long spindly arms sticking out from it's extended torso. There were sharp claws on two with arcs of electricity flitting between its fingers, blasters on two others that shot globs of white hot plasma, and the last too were fucking flaming swords. It flew around in the sky about fifteen feet in the air using rockets built into its feet, but it wasn’t a stable floating, the way its rockets were designed, it couldn’t stay still in the air.

“Wow, a real superhero fight!” Danny marveled as he watched, uh, Martian Girl? – sure – as she dodged one of the robot’s plasma blasts.

“And what are we? Fake superheroes?” Valerie shook her head, but watched with deep intrigue as Martian Girl kept the robots attention on her while Martian Manhunter flew up behind it, raising his hands towards it.

Danny could almost see the psychic energy radiating off Martian Manhunter as the robot’s two blaster arms were torn from its body followed quickly by the two claw arms. Then Danny felt more, stronger psychic energy coming from Martian Girl as she turned to face it. The rest of the robot was immediately crushed into a ball of jagged metal and electrical sparks. Danny couldn’t tell if it was because it was stuck between the two Martian’s telekinetic powers or if it was all Martian Girl. But Danny could practically see it, the psychic power rolling off her in waves and hitting the robot along with Martian Manhunter’s power at its back. Looking closely, Martian Manhunter had a lot of control, he could thread a needle with his psychic abilities, but Martian Girl had so much raw psychic energy flowing out of her, it sent shivers down Danny’s spine. It almost lit up his ghost sense, like it was enough emotional energy for him to sense it but not the right type of energy to fully ping for him; it kind of left him wanting his sense to go off to just acknowledge the power the two of them had up there. He glanced at Valerie to see if she felt it too, but no, it was just him.

The Martians lowered to the ground now the robot wasn’t a threat, and Danny heard the girl say, “- didn’t have a mind for us to read, so it’s not like we could have found out what its plan was.”

“There are more ways to get information from an enemy than simply reading their mind,” Manhunter explained, “And if this machine had remained intact, we could have downloaded information from its memory.”

“Oh, hello Megan, of course we could have!” Martian Girl said and facepalmed. “I’m sorry, Uncle J’onn, I shouldn’t have destroyed it like that.”

“Miss Martian,” Martian Manhunter pointedly said, and she meeped and mumbled an apology.

He sighed and said, “You are still new to this. I had years as a m’hontrr before coming to Earth, and more as a private investigator before becoming a superhero. You will learn these things with time and experience.”

Danny glanced over at Valerie, a familiar red glow in her eyes. “See anything useful?”

Valerie sighed, blinking the nanites away from her eyes, “No, there’s too much pollution to get a clear rocket trail, and its power signature isn’t unique enough to stand out.”

“And how would you know that?” Martian Manhunter asked, turning and flying over to them.

“And why are you here? We told everyone to evacuate the area!” Martian Girl said, coming up next to, apparently, her uncle.

“Sorry, it’s my fault,” Danny said rubbing the back of his neck and trying to look embarrassed on purpose, “I wanted to see real superheroes; I just couldn’t help it! You guys are so cool!”

Martian Girl blushed a little herself and tried, and failed, to firmly state, “It was still really dangerous and - you know, shouldn’t do it again.”

“Yes ma’am,” Danny said and gave an over-serious salute. She smiled and nodded at him.

“We should get back to the rest of the class,” Valerie quickly said pushing on Danny’s shoulder, “We don’t want our teacher to get worried about us.”

Danny weaved out from her hand and quickly pulled his notebook out of his pocket, “Actually, real quick. Can we get your autographs?”

Martian Manhunter nodded, and Martian Girl, or Miss Martian as she wrote it, signed her name before handing it over to her uncle to sign as well, and finally back to Danny.

“Good luck on your robot hunt!” Danny called as he dashed to where Valerie was already walking down the street.

Once they got back at the museum, Coach Tetslaff gave them an earful about running off alone during a supervillain attack, they should really know better. The two then learned it was going to be about three hours before the students of Casper High were allowed back into the museum; security needed to do a routine check to make sure nothing was stolen in the confusion. Coach Tetslaff decided the kids could go to the library to get a head start on their projects or go for lunch early, but made it abundantly clear that Dangerous Robot Attacks will not excuse them from doing their reports.

>><< 

The boy had felt weird to M’gann. She almost didn’t notice it, after her own guilt of messing up by destroying the robot and the chaos and fear she still felt from both herself and everyone around them at the beginning of the fight. It was odd enough that she hadn’t sensed any fear from either of the two teenagers, but she wasn’t sure what counted as a scary experience for the normal human teenager. It was similar to how the rest of the team was, so maybe this was just something teens on Earth were used to? But her uncle had heard the girl say something strange, and when he and M’gann went to see who had been watching their fight, she’d gotten a strange aura from the boy.

He had dark hair, light skin, and blue eyes, and he wore a white t-shirt with red stylized Saturn-like planet symbol in the center, and normal looking jeans despite the notebook he’d managed to stuff in one of its pockets. Very normal in appearance. But, the unusual thing was that he seemed to put out an aura of – it wasn’t quite emotion, but it wasn’t not emotion – and if it was emotion then it was so extremely raw and concentrated compared to most humans, like there wasn’t anything physical keeping the emotions in, or no, that’s not it. He just wasn’t quite… Solid? Human? No, no. She could see he was definitely solid and human, but there was just something off about him.

And the girl he was with. She wore a yellow tank top and an orange skirt with thick gold bracers on each arm and a red backpack, that seemed off somehow, but M'gann hadn't seen a lot of backpacks yet to be sure. She had dark skin and hair, but her eyes seemed to change color the closer she got and M’gann couldn’t tell if they were a shade of red or brown or green - or somehow switched in between. But she didn’t feel unusual to other humans, no matter how inhumanly her eyes behaved, and who was M'gann to say that human eyes couldn’t change like that?

But then again, Uncle J’onn seemed to have sensed something off too. He psychicly told her that he suspected the two might be involved with the robot, perhaps sent there to observe how easily the Martian duo could dispatch with it. He asked her to follow them to see what they were doing in the city while he tried to find clues off the remains of the robot.

M’gann wasn’t sure if he actually thought the teens were important or if he was just getting her out of the way after her screw-up. While the psychic link was a lot clearer on Earth, there was also an expected level of polite, what she deemed, “not looking”, not just for normal humans, but other psychics as well. She’d learned from the team too, that entering anyone’s mind without express permission and forewarning was not a good thing to do and could even hurt a human, or Kryptonian, who wasn’t expecting it. And Uncle J’onn wanted her to practice vocalizing her words more and only use a psychic link to communicate with other heroes. There were still so many rules she needed to get used to on Earth.

She followed the two humans to The Chicago Museum of Anthropology. She’d gone there with Uncle J’onn for one of her first days on Earth; it gave her a basic understanding of the history of humanity, how the species and society developed on Earth. She’d enjoyed the visit.

She stayed at a distance and morphed into her human form before venturing closer. She watched as they stayed with a group of about twelve high school students under the supervision of a large, muscular woman who liked to give orders. The group of students soon dispersed, apparently they’d come to the museum for a school project but the museum would be temporarily closed.

She quickly hurried to close behind her two targets, she wasn’t going to lose them. This was her first solo mission on Earth, she had already messed up with the robot, she wasn’t going to disappoint her uncle again by letting her targets get lost in a crowd. She got close enough, she herd the boy say, “Did you pay for the provided meals?”

“No. Full offense to Tetslaff, I do not trust her taste in food,” The girl responded.

“Yeah, I bet she’s taking the poor idiots who signed up for it to a sports bar or something,” the boy said and took out his phone, “The restaurant finder app I downloaded so we could find places that were vegan friendly for Sam doesn’t have to be used just for vegans. We can put in whatever kind of food we want and it’ll find something for us.”

“Anything but burgers,” the girl said.

“There’s an amazing pizza place a couple blocks down this street,” M’gann said behind them, and suddenly realized - she was just supposed to be listening this conversation. Hello, Megan! How could you mess this up already!

All three stopped and the two of them turned around to give her funny looks. “Sorry, I was just… uhm… also hungry and trying to think of a place to eat! And I’m – I…”

No, no, you’re making it worse! She panicked and suddenly shouted, “Do you want to be friends with me?”

The two stared at her in shock, then the boy made sure his friend was looking at him before he gripped his hands in the air in front of him. The girl shook her head, raised an eyebrow, and held a hand towards M'gann. The boy nodded and smiled and repeated his hand movements from before and then tapping his thumb and pointer finger together twice and rubbed one hand over the side of the other? Then, for some reason, the girl sighed and nodded.

The boy turned to M'gann and smiled as he said, “I like pizza.”

“Yeah, pizza’s good,” The girl added, dryly, each word, taking effort to but still, becoming less hostile, more friendly. “You live around here?”

M’gann smiled, she wasn’t going to fail. All she had to do was keep an eye on them, right? And it wasn’t like she didn’t want more human friends. “No, but my uncle does. I’ve visited him a couple times now, so I know where some of the good places are. I’m Megan, by the way. Megan Morse.”

The girl looked unimpressed, but held out her hand for M’gann to take. “I’m Valerie and he’s Danny. We’re not from around here either.”

“Oh? Then what brings you to Chicago?” M’gann asked as she shook Valerie’s hand. She used the physical contact as a bridge - a cover to scan the surface level of thoughts in her head without her knowing. There wasn’t anything too bad. Valerie was suspicious of M’gann’s eavesdropping and on guard against her. She didn’t want to trust some random girl who seemed way too friendly, but not wanting to come off as on guard to tip her off to just how suspicious she was. There was something else, she felt Danny was being too trusting? But that did nothing for her instincts. She reminded M’gann of Robin; his mind also raced with worst case scenarios and possible threats and solutions to those threats, even if they weren’t real.

“School trip,” Danny answered not taking M’gann’s offered hand and making her awkwardly have to put it down again. “We have to make a report-presentation-thing on one of the exhibits at the anthropology museum.”

“Oh, yeah, humans are very interesting,” M’gann said before she could stop herself.

“I love those humans and all their humanity,” Danny said with a snort and Valerie elbowed him.

“So, where’s this amazing pizza place?” Valerie asked and M’gann pointed behind them.

“Down a little further, I don’t know if it’s “amazing” amazing, but I like it.”

“Lead the way, M’lady,” Danny said, and motioned for her to walked next to him. He was starting to remind her of Wally, tying a little to hard to make her laugh, but still succeeding.

The three made their way down the street where M’gann had pointed; Danny talked a lot while Valerie watched M’gann with wary eyes. They were from a smaller city called Amity Park, northwest of Chicago and surrounded by a lot of wilderness, near Lake Eerie, with two E’s.

Danny chuckled at his own joke, then asked, “So, did you see that superhero fight? I didn’t know Martian Manhunter had a sidekick, but she seems pretty cool.”

M’gann tried to hide her blush and lie, “I didn’t get a good look at it. It can be pretty dangerous to get too close.”

“What do you know about them? Martian Manhunter and Miss Martian?” Valerie said her first thing since they started walking together.

M’gann thought for a moment about what she could and should say. “I’ve seen them around and heard the news talk about them. I don’t know if she likes being called a sidekick though, I know that other heroes don’t like it. Like Robin and Kid Flash.”

Valerie rolled her eyes, “She’s fighting crime with Martian Manhunter, wearing a matching outfit, and has a matching name all for the purpose of learning how to be a superhero from him, right?”

“Well, I guess so,” M’gann admitted. Is that what a sidekick is? M’gann thought there was a translation issue or something, that it was an insult. Why do Wally and Red Arrow hate it so much?

“Then she’s a sidekick, and there’s nothing wrong with being a sidekick,” Valerie confidently said and M’gann decided that she was right.

“And! It’s a good idea to learn from people who’ve been doing it longer than you and have more experience.” He gave Valerie some kind of look as he continued, “Even if you’re the same age, the extra time spend doing a thing can make one person a lot better at it.”

M'gann understood that, the rest of the Team were way better than she was and all of them are younger than she is.

Valerie raised her eyebrow at Danny, “Even if the newer person does more training than the older one because she actually takes being a hero seriously?”

M’gann looked between the two of them and asked, “I’m sorry, are you still talking about the Martians?”

Danny shook his head, “Sorry, there are heroes in our town too. Phantom, who’s been a hero for over a year and a half now, and Valiant, who’s only just started being a hero.”

“But she’s a better hero even though she’s newer,” Valerie added quickly to Danny’s explanation.

“You think she’s a better hero,” Danny corrected, “But I think she’s still really wild, overly violent, and messes up a lot. Valiant doesn’t have to try to intimidate everyone she thinks is a bad guy, it’s better being friendly sometimes. And Phantom does take it seriously, he’s just having fun while being a hero.”

“Valiant is just driven to get the job done!” Valerie defended, “And Phantom goofs off too much. Not everything needs to be pun, you can just catch the bad guy and be done with it, no jokes necessary.”

“Excuse you, puns are an artform,” Danny said with an overdramatic handwave.

“Oh please,” Valerie said exasperatedly.

M’gann laughed, they really reminded her of Wally and Robin; they must have been best friends for a long time now. They finally reached the pizzeria her uncle had taken her to when they’d had their trip to the anthropology museum. It was a quaint little family run place that was pretty emptied out. It should have been the second half of the lunch rush, but the robot attack must have scared everyone off.

“So, do you know how old she is?” Valerie asked as the three ordered their food.

“Sorry?” M’gann asked, she’d been distracted wondering what was a normal food order for a human. Last time she’s coping Megan’s order from episode 24 , and that was apparently too much food for a normal human teenage girl.

“We were just talking about how it doesn’t matter how old you are,” Danny said, and M’gann couldn’t tell if he was trying to avoid their previous argument or still trying to win.

“She’s the Martian equivalent of a teenager,” M’gann said, but realized halfway through that, a human wouldn’t know that. “Probably.”

Danny looked at her with wide eyes, “Really? So Martians really do age at a different rate than humans? That’s so cool!”

“You might too,” Valerie said under her breath, but Danny ignored it and M’gann didn’t understand what it meant.

“Do you know how long she’s been on earth?” Danny asked with growing excitement as they sat at a booth in the corner; the two of them on one side with her on the other.

M’gann couldn’t resist feeling that same excitement, very few people showed interest in her normal life. “Yeah, about three months!”

 “How do y- I mean, does she like it here?” Danny asked, his excitement becoming so strong, M’gann didn’t think anything of his tripping over his words.

“I re- really think she likes it.”

Valerie raised an eyebrow at her, “Why do you think that?”

M’gann floundered for a moment, “Uh, prob- probably because she’s still here. Like, if she could get to Earth, then she could get back to Mars, but she’s chosen to stay.”

Valerie gave her an oddly intense look, “Is that really how you know?”

“I bet she has a lot of friends here,” Danny said, seemingly saving M’gann from answering, before he added, “I mean, you are really friendly and I like you well enough.”

M’gann blushed, “No, no! I’m not…”

“You don’t hide it very well,” Valerie said and M’gann dropped her head in her hands.

“Oh, come on, don't be hard on her!” Danny said and playfully shoved Valerie's arm, “I only knew because you have the same, like, aura as Miss Martian. If you hadn’t come up to us so soon after we met you in costume, I wouldn’t have made the connection. And don’t let Val get to you, she only realized after I pointed it out.”

Valerie glared at him as she pulled her wallet out again and passed some money over to Danny. “I had all the clues though, and would have put it together eventually. Unlike you, I don’t cheat.”

“You’re not going to tell anyone, are you?” M’gann had to ask while peaking between her hands. She can’t believe she messed up this much in one day. Who knew some humans could read Martian auras?

“Of course not! We’re not snitches,” Danny said, and shared a glance at Valerie, who shook her head violently and mouthed the word “no”. Danny shrugged and turned to M’gann to whisper, “We’re actually in a similar situation.”

M’gann blinked at them, and was just about to ask what he meant when there was an explosion. The front wall of the pizzeria was blasted open and a robot that looked exactly like the one they’d seen earlier stepped through the hole. Its featureless face locked onto M’gann; it lifted one of its blasters and shot a ball of hot plasma at them.

All three teens ducked under the table and Valerie asked, “Didn’t you just junk that guy?”

“It must be a new one!” M’gann said as another blast tore through the wall behind them, shattering the plastic table and dropping a pile wall and roof on top of them. A second robot stepped through the new hole in the wall and locked onto M’gann.

M’gann had somehow ended up on top of the rubble, but Danny wasn’t visible and she saw Valerie’s arm sticking out from under a chunk of table for a moment before it gave a thumbs up and was pulled completely under. She did a quick psychic scan the pizzeria, there was only the three of them and the robots in the building. Her eyes glowed red and her skin shifted to Martian green, her face became slightly less human proportioned and her red and white cloths turned into her hero costume. She telekinetically lifted herself from the rubble and motioned to lift the debris off her new friends, but they acted before she could.

Danny, or who she assumed was Danny, phased through the rubble and floated above it. If she hadn’t been looking at his face moments ago, she might not have recognized him. He was the same general size and build, but subtle changes. He had a sharper chin and ears and nose, and even sharper teeth, but he also had bigger, rounder eyes that glowed a toxic green. His hair was the same length, but so pure white, it looked more like mist than strands. His clothes changed too; his t-shirt and jeans had been replaced by a jumpsuit. It was mostly black but with a big white rectangle around the neck that became a little thicker and lest plastic-like as it curved over his shoulders. There were white gloves that reached half way up his forearms, and a pair of white patches on his elbows that looked to be made of the sturdier white material around his shoulders. Thick white lines went from his armpits down the sides of his torso to a white plastic looking utility belt. His boots were white too, coming up to half his calves and having patches of the sturdy white over his knees. There was a hero symbol over his heart, a white P where the long straight side of it looked almost like it was either on fire or fading into mist. Phantom.

At nearly the same time, the rubble shifted and some of the smaller bits flew out in different directions and something that looked like a robot stood up. A black helmet that encircled her entire head with only a red triangular faceplate breaking up the black, except for small lines that seemed to mimic the look of computer circuits that branched off the sold red into the black. The small pattern pulsated red light from a set of red triangles on the center of her chest, one solid while the other was a thin line around it. There, the pattern branched off in all directions, but with specific places where the red energy settled into solid lines that didn’t fade with the pulsing energy. Two solid red triangles on her shoulders, mimicking shoulder pads, and a thick red line around her waist like a belt that had a sharp downward point in the center that echoed the points of the triangles on her chest. There were also red lines around her wrists and calves that made it look like she was wearing gloves and boots. It was like she was covered in a black and red circuit board, but after a moment, the red pulsating glow of the circuitry faded, leaving her in a mostly black armored suit.

M'gann had been distracted by the sudden appearance of these two and was shocked when Danny appeared in front of her, hands raised in a defensive position as a bast of white plasma shattered across a shield of green energy that suddenly surrounded them. There was the sound of a machine powering up and a blast of red energy shot from a blaster that sprung into existence on Valerie’s arm, the red circuitry around it glowing momentarily before fading to black again. The blast hit the robot that shot at them from across the building. Valerie hit the joint of one of its arms, partially melting it and limiting its movement. Two shots hit the shield behind them, as the second robot moved closer to them through the wall leading behind the pizzeria. It reached its electrified claw towards Valerie.

“Look out!” Danny shouted and lowered the shield so he could fire a blast of green energy at the robot reaching for Valerie, causing it to stumble backwards. But she ignored it and fired at the first robot again, hitting the exact same place as last time and melting off its arm completely.

M’gann used her telekinesis to throw the robot that tried to grab Valerie out the hole in the wall it had come through. Danny flew out after it, firing his green energy at it. She followed outside and saw him flying around erratically. She was worried for a moment before she realized, Danny was too fast for the robot to be able to aim its blasters at him, continually firing into the open sky and missing its target. M’gann decided to take advantage of its distraction and telekinetically tore the blaster arms from the robot’s body. It turned its attention towards her and must have seen her as an easier target. It dived for her and she pushed it back with her mind so it stood frozen in air, rockets blasting with greater force trying to break through the invisible wall she’d put in front of it. Suddenly, it was hit with a rain of green energy balls, they burned holes through its outer shell and melted through its electrical insides. Its rockets failed and it crumbled to the ground in pieces.

The two quickly returned inside to find Valerie in the middle of a sword fight. There were melted stumps where the robot’s blaster arms and left claw arm had been melted off, and Valerie was wielding a black sword made of the same material as her suit that glowed with red energy. She was able to block the two flaming swords that bore down on her with the all the artfulness of a poorly rendered video game opponent. But it had one too many arms for her to keep up with and a clawed arm weaved its way through her defenses to grab onto her shoulder. It tried to send an electrical shock into her, but the black suit turned red under its touch as it absorbed the energy. M’gann could actually follow the energy through the suit’s circuitry over to her sword, that glowed brighter and started to melt through the flaming blades it was pressed against.

M'gann decided that was enough of that and threw the robot against the wall with her telekinesis, and regretted it immediately. The clawed hand had been embedded deeper into Valerie than M’gann had realized, and as it flew across the room, it tore through Valerie’s shoulder, taking some of her suit and skin with it. She cried out in pain and turned to look at M’gann who threw her hands over her mouth.

“Oh my god! Oh my god! I’m so sorry!” She quickly hovered over to Valerie, but she didn’t know what to do about the injury. She didn’t have any medic training yet. It was on her list, and there was even a training session for the team planned for it, but she hadn’t done it yet. How was she going to fix this? Valerie had just risked her life to help M’gann and she’d been repaid by getting her shoulder torn up!

“It’s fine,” Valerie said in a such a firm voice it almost convinced M'gann, but it was clear by the way Valerie moved; it wasn't fine but she didn’t want attention drawn to it. Valerie cautiously walked over to the robot, her sword was somehow pulled into her suit and replaced with a blaster that she trained on the downed robot. When it didn’t react to her coming up to it, she placed her hand on it. M’gann could see the red circuit board pattern spread from the red pad of her hand over to the robot like an infection. After a moment Valerie said, “I have a source, and we should go now.”

Danny nodded and asked, “What did you find out?”

>><< 

J’onn was worried. He sent M’gann to follow the odd teenagers who had watched their fight with the robot much closer than any sensible person would. He knew teenagers were often unaware of the level of danger around them, especially when famous heroes were present, but there was something strange about these two. The girl had something strange in her eyes, something that glowed and changed color, and the boy -  there was simply something wrong about him, something wrong with the way psychic energy moved around him made him seem – less physical somehow, but J’onn couldn’t begin to guess why, what, or how. He sensed no malicious intent from them, if anything, he sensed a strong desire to protect from the boy and a powerful desire to fulfill responsibility from the girl.

He wasn’t sure if M’gann would have been safer following them or staying with him, but this was her first public excursion as his sidekick and he knew for certain that he didn’t want her fighting a robot that seemed tailor made to hurt him. The flaming swords, the hot plasma, the projected electrified field to prevent phasing into them, and no mind to read. The only clues they had were the strange teenagers and a serial number on the hunk of metal that had once been part of the robot. He would trust M’gann not to get too close to the humans or come to him if trouble stirred. She was naive and inexperienced but not an idiot or a pushover. She would keep proper distance, he was sure; reconnaissance was what she was learning with the team after all.

J’onn’s personal computer was patched into a number of databases, and it was a simple task to search for the source of the serial number. It belonged to a robotics company that specialized in custom joint systems. The piece with his serial number had been part of a large order by the Defense Lab of Classified Exobiology, a lab that researched alien life. The D.L.C.E. was a private organization that was owned by a parent company called VladCo. that also owned an advanced technologies development firm, a paranormal research lab, a pop-technologies designing firm, and several other smaller labs and factories, including the company that made the specialized joints. It was an unfortunately common scheme of a company buying from itself to make money; not illegal but shady nonetheless.

J’onn went to the listed address of the D.L.C.E. and found a very normal looking office building. He did a mental sweep of the building but didn’t find anything other than the usual office drudgery. He disguised himself as human, one of his usuals of a white man in a white suit under a beige trench coat and matching fedora, and entered the building. There was a middle-aged woman sitting at the front desk that J’onn didn’t need psychic powers to know was bored.

He pulled out an old police badge and prepared to sweet talk his way past the bored woman. “Excuse me, miss, but I’m from the-”

She didn’t wait for him to finish before pushing a button on a dashboard on her desk, “There’s another goo here for you, Dr. Copen.”

“I told them to give me a few more days!” Dr. Copen seemed to respond from the other side, and then said, “Send them down, I’ll come up with something.”

The woman hummed disbelievingly. She stood up, “Follow me, please.”

J’onn didn’t correct her and followed her down a hall to an elevator bay. She waved her I.D. card in front of a scanner and one of the elevators opened. Once inside, she scanned the I.D. again and the button panel lit up completely before a symbol lit up indicating they were going down. The foundations of the building went deeper than they should have, but eventually, the elevator stopped and they were let out into a large underground laboratory.

A man came up to them in a disheveled lab coat, wild dirty blond hair, circles under his eyes, coffee stains and burn spots on his cloths and arms, a pair of safety goggles pushed up on his head. “Ah, welcome Agent – uh?”

“Operative J,” J’onn provided from the top of the woman’s mind.

“Right, Operative J, sorry, yes, I remember you now.” The man said, “I know I told Director Beta that I’d have results by the end of the week, and while things didn’t go as planned, I assure you, by the end of today, I’ll have something big to show you.”

J’onn scrutinized the man, then probed, “What is this big thing? And why is it worth my time?”

“Yes, Dr. Copen, what have you got?” The woman asked incredulously.

Dr. Copen ignored her as he turned and waved for them to follow, “Earlier today I almost got a subject. The data was inconclusive on why the retrieval unit failed, the hyper connection antenna was damaged somehow before it was able to send any useful information, but I’ve sent out two retrieval units with the same tracking system.”

“Tracking system?”

Dr. Copen grinned and nodded, “Didn’t Director Beta tell you? We got a sample of a an enzyme that’s created when a Martian shapeshifts, we can use it to locate any Martian that has recently changed form, no matter how human they may seem.”

They stopped in front of a large monitor array and the doctor pressed a button and it flickered on. Two robots like the ones that had attacked J’onn and M’gann earlier that day, one with the other in its camera view, they few over the city and started to lower themselves towards … a small pizzeria J’onn recognized.

“Now, so long as whatever interfered with the previous hyper-link connection doesn - uhg…” Just as he said it, and the first robot broke through the front wall of the pizzeria, the camera feed turned filled with static, not receiving a clear image of anything within the building.

“Damn, what is messing with the signal?” The doctor typed furiously at the keyboard under the monitors, there were occasional flashes of clear video.

M’gann was there - and another person in black futuristic armor? There was a clear video, but only of the black armored person shooting the robot to pieces with some kind of arm mounted plasma blaster, before they charged the robot, the blaster somehow being replaced with a sword. After a minute, everything went black. The monitors weren’t off, but they stopped receiving information.

“AGAIN? What are they doing to my retrieval units?” Dr. Copen groaned as he desperately tried to pull data from the robots. He was saving the clearest images of M’gann and the armored person, not enough to identify them, but too close for J’onn’s comfort.

J’onn’s anxiety was increasing, he needed to get to M’gann to make sure she was okay. While the doctor was distracted, J’onn would find a way to destroy the lab. There were plenty of dangerous chemicals lying around; looking back the way they’d come, he saw some large containers with a label warning “oxygen-flammable liquid”. He reached out with his psychic power, only to be suddenly struck in the back of the head and filled with an electric shock. He felt his form revert to its most familiar shape, the form of The Martian Manhunter, the hero he’d created all those years ago.

“Mildred?” Dr. Copen shouted.

“He’s one of them,” The woman said with disgust dripping from the words and a taser pointed at his head.

J’onn’s vision blurred and he felt something latch around his neck. He couldn’t concentrate past the pounding in his head and he couldn’t get to his feet until he felt a hand grab his arm and pull him up. Then he was shoved into a tight confined space, between a wall of glass and a bed of hard metal. Just as he forced control over his movements again, he was suddenly cut off. He could feel his powers being shunted behind a wall, out of reach from him, as energy radiated from the black collar around his neck.

The woman stared in at him, a grimace on her face and the doctor behind her, clearly confused. “Wait, but- My retrieval units? They were just locked onto the Martian signal?”

“There must be two of them,” The woman said, her eyes narrowing and teeth gritting, “It’s multiplied like a cockroach, at this rate, they’ll be crawling all over the place.”

Panic was setting in, not just for the situation he was in, but M’gann was fighting off two Martian Hunting robots by herself, he didn’t know or trust the armored person who could have been working with these people for all he knew. He needed to get out, but without his powers? He was helpless and trapped, and M’gann needed his help! What-

Suddenly, there was an explosion, and the lab filled with thick grey smoke. The black armored person burst from the smoke behind Mildred and slammed her to the ground. Mildred jumped up with the taser discarded for a gun and fired at her assailant, who was apparently bullet proof. J’onn barely caught sight of something glowing green impacting Dr. Copen deeper in the smoke. Suddenly, M’gann was in front of the pod he’d been put in, worry written in her face. She looked around the pod for the way to open it, but she was too panicked.

The grey smoke started turning black and a fire could be seen spreading through the other side of the room. J’onn couldn’t hear what M’gann was saying, but after a moment, there was a boy next to her. He had white hair, green eyes, and a black and white jumpsuit. He phased his hands though the glass front of the pod, grabbed onto J’onn’s clothes, and pulled him through. Once out, J’onn saw M’gann and the person in black (on a flying surfboard?) carry his two captors up through a hole in the ceiling, and the boy flew J’onn out as well.

M'gann and the girl in black left the receptionist and the doctor outside the D.L.C.E. building. The four of them went to the roof of the building across the street from the D.L.C.E. and they watched as first responders put out the fire.

“Thank you,” J’onn said as the boy set him down. It was interesting, the way the boy flew was different from the way J’onn flew. The boy seemed to have gravity simply not affect him vs a Martian's telekinetic flight.

“No problem, Valiant?” The boy said, hovering back and allowing the girl in black to approach him.  She reached up and pressed the red pads on her fingers to the black collar around his neck, and after a moment, it clicked and came off.

“Thank you as well,” J’onn said.

“Uncle J’onn, are you okay?” M’gann asked rushing forward for a hug as the girl in black stepped back and examined the collar.

He returned her hug and looked her over, “Yes, and you?”

M’gann smiled broadly, “Yeah, but –“ She looked at the girl, “Are you sure you’re okay, Valiant?”

The girl rolled her shoulder, and when she spoke her voice was slightly distorted through her helmet, “I said it’s fine.”

“Her suit takes care of stuff like that,” The boy said, “It’s a pretty cool piece of technology.”

Valiant, as the boy called her, growled, then sighed. “Now that this is taken care of, we have our other work to do, Phantom.”

“That’s right, you two have to get back to the museum,” M’gann said and smiled at them.

“Is there anything we can assist you with? It would be rude for us to not thank you for your help,” J’onn said, both from honesty and curiosity. He wanted to learn more about these two teenage heroes. They had to be the two from earlier, Phantom had the same somewhat ethereal bend of psychic energy around him as the black haired boy they’d seen earlier.

“Oh, no, we’re literally just here on a school trip. We’re supposed to do our own work,” Phantom supplied. “But, it was super cool meeting you!”

Valiant took a step towards J’onn; he couldn’t see her face through her helmet, but he could feel an intensity radiating from her. She took a deep breath and said, “If you’d like to repay us, then I’d like to make a request.”

Phantom gave her a questioning look, “We don’t need a reward or anything.”

Valiant nodded in agreement, “But we do need training.”

“He’s already got a sidekick! And a pretty cool one, I might add,” Phantom winked and M’gann blushed. "He doesn't need to waste time on us."

“I would not mind an occasional additional tagalong. Though, there are other’s out there who would better suit being your mentors," he glanced over Valiant, "such as experts in human technology, that I can introduce you to.”

J’onn felt the sudden connection of a psychic link, Do you think they could join the Team?

He looked at M’gann and replied, I will speak with Batman about the matter. But there is no guarantee that he will agree to it.

She giggled happily, then pulled a cell phone out of her pocket, “Uncle J’onn just got me this, I’d love to have your numbers, maybe we can team up or have pizza together again sometime?”

Phantom blinked at the two of them, then widely smiled, “That’d be cool!”

There was a second where J’onn saw something in Phantom’s eyes. He ventured a guess, “Did you hear any of that?”

Phantom paused in typing his number into M’gann’s phone, taking a second to process what had been asked and responded with, “Were you talking?”

Phantom went back to typing as J’onn clarified, “You looked at us, each in turn, as we had a psychic conversation.”

“Oh!” Phantom said as he handed the phone to Valiant, “I could tell you were doing something. Like, I felt you using your powers, but I didn’t know what.”

“I see.” J’onn would have to investigate further. If Phantom could sense the use of psychic powers, and it seemed those with psychic powers could sense him, then learning to work together could be an immense advantage when devising countermeasures to either ability. As it stood now, though, J’onn was a little proud. It was hard to get his niece out of her shell; he’d learned from his recent call with his sister that M’gann’s life on Mars had been a hard one, but here she was, making friends remarkably quickly and easily. Even if Batman didn’t agree to them joining the team, even if there wasn’t the possible advantage of training with someone who could sense their psychic abilities, J’onn would keep an eye on his niece’s new friends.

"I'll call you next time I visit Chicago!" M'gann said as they prepared to fly off.

Valiant paused on her hoverboard just over the edge of the building, "I guess you're not too bad. We'll have to bring you down to Amity some time too."

"You'll have to come around a lot actually," Phantom said, "I need you to tell me all about space and Mars and how you got here, and-"

"Okay, space boy, let's get going," Valiant said, grabbing Phantom by the scruff of his jumpsuit.

Then Phantom shout to the heavens as he was being dragged off, "I love having an alien friend! Please text me all the time!"

Yes, J'onn was definitely keeping an eye on these kids.

[fangirlingpuggle]

A super super dumb DP AU/fic prompt idea with protective Amity and again dad clockwork.

AU where Danny doesn’t have powers as under control as he thinks he does eyes glowing bright green, turning invisible or phasing through things without noticing accidentally floating just it’s super obvious and literally nearly everyone in Amity has noticed but aren’t sure if other people have noticed. Everyone’s a bit unsure about how to feel until mayor Masters has Maddie and Jack do a seminar on ghosts (As he thinks town hates Phantom and is trying to encourage it) They spend a lot of it talking about dissection and Phantom and every single person there is horrified, they’re all very glad that Sam and Tucker snuck out with Danny at the start.

After that universal agreement nobody mentions Danny is Phantom and they all protect him. Sam and Tuckers parents are now always inviting Dany to stay over other civilians if a ghost is attacking will make excuses and get out of the way so Danny can transform in ‘secret’.

They also start making own views on ghosts based how kids talk about them like if they see Ghost on motorcycle with sentient shadow driving about, they don’t freak out but will is it’s the hunter in the exoskeleton and the one called Plasmius is apparently a creep and trying to forcefully adopt/kidnap phantom and may or may not have cloned him?

But there are times when they really need to contact a parent or need some adult to look after the kid, one who’s not talked for 2 hours about dissecting him also they need to talk about ghost things because they have no idea if this ghost stuff is normal ghost stuff or we should be worried ghost stuff like the sneezing and freezing the entire gym... IS THAT A NORMAL GHOST THING? DOES DANNY HAVE A GHOST COLD? CAN GHOSTS GET A COLD?

While hearing kids talk about ghosts, they hear about ones who kids clearly trust and most common name is Clockwork...Amity as a whole just decides yep you are a responsible ghost adult, please parent this child...

Clockwork isn’t sure how he ended up sitting in on a parent teacher conference and going to PTA meetings or arranging sleepovers but...this is a thing now.

Danny:...what is going on?

Clockwork: Daniel I have no idea either.

Clockwork:....

Clockwork:Here’s your permission slip for the next fieldtrip

Bonus: Wes was not there he is the only one in Amty besides Vlad and the Fentons who don’t know

[little-cereal-draws]

Button House dog rescue au pt 2

Alison and Mike turn Button House into a dog rescue instead of an event hall and the ghosts are the dogs they have. Just some headcanons abt how their life would be. Read pt 1 first for this to make sense

pt 1 pt 3

"bath time" is an all day activity that is also a fully body work out. Some of the smaller dogs like Fanny and Kitty are able to get baths in the sink and are the easiest to do. Fanny looks like a demon when her fur is wet and glares at everybody the whole time. Kitty will cry at the beginning but if she can take one of her toys with her, she usually forgets and has a great time

the medium to large sized dogs get to go in the bathtub (but not the Cooper's personal one). Whenever Mike bathes Julian he wears his swimsuit bc Julian has so much fun splashing around that the entire room is going to be soaked by the end. They have to keep the towels in the hall so they don't get wet too. The Captain hates bathtime and will do anything to avoid it. He usually ends up trying to hide somewhere but is never any good at it. Multiple times, Alison's found him just standing in the corner, tucking his head against the wall. He tries to climb out of the bath every two seconds so you have to use one hand to keep him in and use the other to wash him. He cries the whole time. Humphrey just sits down in the warm water and goes to sleep. It's like a nice relaxing spa. A few times Alison has come in asking what's taking so long and he's gone to sleep in Mike's hand. Mike doesn't want to wake him up so he just has to hold his head until he wakes up by himself

Robin's too big for the tub and just gets hosed down outside. He doesn't particularly enjoy it and will try to walk away if he can. Whoever's holding him in place also gets hosed down by proximity. The other dogs love to run through the hose and try to bite the water which can make this process take even longer

unfortunately, a lot of the dogs they have now are herding dogs (Pat, Thomas, and the Captain) and they will try to herd the other dogs, Alison, and Mike. There have been a few particularly disastrous occasions where all three of them had conflicting ideas on where the group should go and pushed them back and forth until everyone on the inside was confused and terrified of what was going on. The easiest targets are Mary, Humphrey, and Kitty but occasionally Julian will find himself lumped in too. Despite his tiny size, only Pat's brave enough to go after Robin and will nip at his heels until he listens. (Corgis are used to herd things ten times their size like cows and horses so he's not scared of a big dog like Robin at all. When it comes to herding, corgis fear no man and no god)

Alison took them on a fieldtrip once to a farm that had a bunch of actual sheep for them to herd and it was the best day of their lives. As they pulled up and saw the sheep, there were so many happy tippytaps and butt wags. Getting them out of the car was probably the hardest because they kept wanting to run over there right this instant!! The Captain especially; Alison had to say, "No, Captain, we're going to wait and we're going to stay" like twenty times which was a very disappointing number for him. She even had to push his butt down to get him to sit when it wasn't his turn which was very embarrassing… but how could he be expected to listen and follow orders when there were real live actual sheep right there, Alison!? He kept creeping forward one inch at a time when he thought she wasn’t looking

when it was Thomas' turn to herd them he was pretty good except he kept stopping to check if Alison was watching every five seconds. She was but he just had to make sure again

Robin has a bad habit of chasing birds and rabbits. Usually it's just for fun and he has no intention of doing anything when he catches up but on several occasions, he has killed them and brought them back to the house. He gets in huge trouble every time he does tho so he doesn’t do it super often. Alison and Mike try to figure out a way to use the meat either for their own food or the dogs’ so it doesn’t go completely to waste

Unfortunately, as they adjust more to being normal dogs, Julian and occasionally the Captain join Robin in these hunts. Julian is always very proud of himself when he catches something and doesn’t mind being yelled at. The Captain hates it so he usually lets whatever animal he’s chasing get away

Mike buys a remote control car and all the dogs chase it around the lawn. It’s a madhouse every time he gets it out. Robin, Julian, and surprisingly Mary are always in front followed by Thomas, Pat, and Kitty. The Captain tries his best and can stay near the front of the pack if he really wants to but because of his bad hips, he can only do it for short bursts before he has to lay down. Fanny never runs after it but loses her mind barking from the side. Humphrey tried to chase it the first few times they got it out but wasn’t able to sprint across the lawn at nearly the same speed with his little doggy wheel mobility aid and got left behind every time. He lost interest after he decided he would never catch it and just lays around while the others run now

Once Mike didn’t see him laying in the grass and ran the car right into his ribs. The Coopers will never forget the horrible yelp he let out. Mike held him and apologized the whole ride to the vet. Luckily nothing had broken but they did have to ice his ribs for a week. Mike felt so bad and gave him extra treats for a month. Humphrey wasn’t complaining lol

Mary likes to snuggle now. She didn’t used to when she first came but now she’ll try to climb in Alison’s lap crushing Fanny, Kitty, and usually Thomas in the process. She doesn’t understand she’s too big to be a lap dog. Alison moves her off and as long as she keeps petting her head, Mary will accept that

Pat follows Mike around the kitchen and “cleans the floor” as he cooks. He’s always too fast and close to the floor for Mike to grab the food before he can eat it. Mike's given up and will sometimes “accidentally drop” food he knows Pat particularly likes like cheese, tiny pieces of bacon, or eggs. This has to stay their little secret tho bc Alison will not be happy if she finds out

Kitty loves trying to play with Robin but Robin only notices she’s there abt half of the time. Their height difference is ridiculous and if Alison didn’t know Robin so well, she would worry that he’s going to accidentally step on her

Julian has peed in the house multiple times (he’s a jerk) but bc of the sheer number of dogs in the house, they can’t pin it on him for sure. He’s really good at acting innocent unlike Mary who looks guilty as soon as anyone's voice raises even if they're not even talking to her. Alison is suspicious of him but doesn’t have enough evidence and she’s determined to catch him one day

Alison balanced Fanny on Robin's back once. She looked terrified and started shaking with fear immediately. That was the end of that adventure

[fruity-astronomer]

DP Prompt

I am currently recovering from getting my wisdom teeth removed and have been losing my shit from the absolute boredom. First time actually posting for Danny Phantom, so we'll see where this goes.

------

"Fenton, how are you so fast at this?"

Danny looked up at the crowd of A-Listers that were watching in awe as he systematically hoed an entire field on his own. What had once been rock hard earth was now a loose field- ready to be planted. "I uh... I play a lot of Stardew Valley?"

And by 'play Stardew Valley,' he meant that he went into the game and actually lived the life of a small town farmer when he needed a break. Pelican Cove had a lot of perks from hot gossip to an actual wizard. The dateable characters were also a plus.

"But you just click for that."

Danny shrugged, putting his hoe back into the earth. "I don't know what else to tell you."

Casper High didn't send their students on many fieldtrips in general- the constant ghost attacks and lack of funding made that certain. The one fieldtrip that happened every year for the graduating seniors was the only constant, the only definite. For a single week at the beginning of spring, the class was shipped off to some small camp that had a barn, a hobby farm, and multiple craft stations. Tucker was interested in learning how to ride a horse. Sam was excited to give loom weaving a try.

But Danny? Danny was just here to farm.

-something-something-something-

feel free to add on

I'm just writing this based on my own experiences from middle school. to this day, it is still the best field trip I ever went on.

but fuck Gus the alpaca, all my homies hate Gus the alpaca

[nerdy-girlramblings]

So I'm reading Ninth House for the first time. I'm about 130 pages in and just read a part of Alex's backstory. I'm in shock. When it was hinted earlier that Alex had experiences with ghosts physically interacting with her, I didn't think it was going to be something as extreme as what the ghost did to her on the fieldtrip. That's so scary and my heart breaks for her. Having that context when, I think it was Darlington, says he wishes he had her "gift"... I can't imagine.

[ao3feed-zukka]

The Southern Ghost

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/0qABaOT

by anna_was_here

Ever since that little stunt with Hei Bai, Sokka's been able to see ghosts. Talk to them. Touch them. ...Probably not doing wonders for his mental health, but hey - he'll burn that bridge when he gets to it. Right?

Or: The Southern Raiders, but Sokka can see his mom the whole time. And she has some thoughts.

Words: 13643, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Avatar: The Last Airbender

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Sokka (Avatar), Katara (Avatar), Kya (Avatar), Zuko (Avatar), Aang (Avatar), Suki (Avatar), Toph Beifong, Lu Ten, Hakoda (Avatar)

Relationships: Katara & Sokka (Avatar), Kya & Sokka (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)

Additional Tags: Episode: s03e16 The Southern Raiders (Last Airbender), ooh boy, Angst, Canonical Character Death, they're ghosts, :0, southern watertribe fam, no beta we die like jet, calling your little sister squirt is something that can be so personal, i say that as if i have a little sister, but like it's such a cute nickname, the inherent homoeroticism of going on a fieldtrip with your boyfriend's sister, anyway that episode really fucked sokka over, So here we are, let's let that boy grieve

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/0qABaOT

[yumethefrostypanda]

Leah x Ghost

WIP snippet, this is just an idea sketch 8)

WITHOUT MY RAMBLING: (...) A small icebreaker what got them a bit closer was the interesting jokes Ghost rarely spoke. No one really got it, or laughed. Untill Leah heard it for the first time in a full room whilst Ghost was telling someone his joke "Two goldfish are in a tank..one turns to the other 'You know how to drive this thing?'" ..for everyone to hear. Leah burst out in laughter, her first genuine cry laughter since they found her. She laughed so hard that tears were starting to flow down her cheeks, quickly putting her hand flat against her mouth from embarresment of not being able to stop laughing. Everyone had a smile on their face. Especially Simon, smiling behind his skull balaclava. His brown eyes following her frame as she waved everyone goodbye with her free hand as she left the room, still laughing. (...)

A small icebreaker what got them a little bit closer was the silly/weird/dad jokes Ghost rarely spoke. No one really got it, or laughed/found them funny Q_Q.. untill Leah heard it for the first time.. in a full room with 141, Laswell (etc.) whilst Ghost was telling someone his interesting joke (idk yett, how or who or what let alone the joke.. halp, would he even tell a joke in a full room tho? he must have reason right? maybe i'll even change the whole ass setting WIPP). I like his jokes tho, esp; "Two goldfish are in a tank..one turns to the other 'You know how to drive this thing?'." Leah burst out in laughter, her first genuine cry laughter since they found her (months later after being held captive for 6ish years, underground WIP). She laughed so hard that tears starting to flow down her cheeks, quickly putting her hand flat against her mouth from embarresment of not being able to stop laughing and (almost) everyone had a smile on their face (or something argh idk yet). Esp. Simon, his smile and soft (short?my brain is fried)chuckle behind his skull balaclava. His brown eyes following her frame as she waved everyone goodbye with her free hand as she left the room/area, still laughing.

But just imagine ^_^ Thanks for reading! Hope u like it.

Some quick facts about Leah: - Female - Early/mid 30's - Halfblood - Height; 160cm - Hair; brown - Eyes; brown - Occupation: Trauma Surgeon in training in the end she will be the field surgeon for TF141/under Laswell's command.. she has no military experience (yet) tho, but i got it 80% worked out how it's gonna work :3 Seeing Ghost learning her how to use a sidearm in later stages *_* - Was in a serious relationship with John Price (in one/this universe 8)) - Went on a fieldtrip with other students, got caputered and used/abused for her/their skills (heavy WIP) - Was pronounced dead a year later, police reports seemed believable - Laswell received an audio file -from one of her contacts- 6ish years later. On that (short) audio file she heard Leah in distress, calling out for help.

No faceclaim for her yet, but i'm leaning towards Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII, since she's my fave female fictional character.

©Square Enix. FFVII If u want to know more about my OC Leah Vos (who is barely alive rn as in, me too busy and not serious enough to finish it since i lack writing skills.. but i like the thought Q_Q) my askbox/dm's is open :) I got the blue print/story in my head for about 80%. There should be a snippet of Leah x Ghost and Leah Vos x John Price on my tumblr somewhere.

Well then..

[limetimo]

RAB fics I read (Aug pt2)

Ice Ice Baby by Calypte ICE SCATER REGULUS also trans reg in poly ship with rosekiller AND james (who's with lily, multishippers be winning). Also the Blacks are divorced and reg grew up in France

Watch The Lights Go Wild by HuffleStar for xpandorasbox, definitelynotttheo, vianexa James/Regulus/Barty/Evan

New Beginnings by Azkaban_Jailbird jegulus, and they were roommates

honey honey by aeoneskova it'S about Marlene being a war survivor and Harry's elementary teacher and there's a really neat Regulus subplot (boy's dead) I fucken love it

Love Potion No. 9 by crackspines Regulus drinks alove potion and falls madly in love with James... or does he?

Werewolves of London by crackspines Regulus gets bitten under the Willow, jegulus

Mortal Once More by SheOfTheBookAndSong Regulus survives cave and goes to Dumbledore ect ect v nice

as if I've ever seen the stars align by Zazzander baby regulus is upsetti

the slow corruption and atonement of Regulus BlackLanguage: English Words: 110,036 Chapters: 32/? Comments: 32 Kudos: 89 Bookmarks: 13 Hits: 2,215Last visited: 13 Aug 2023 (Update available.) Visited 32 times

Declared False Start by Wanderingdonut I LOVE THIS SO MUCH regulus is crumbling under the weight of his parent's expectations/abuse and sirius reaches out a helping hand. aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh this one hit so many good spots!!

A Snake in Wolf's Clothing by PortraitofEmpathy regulus gets chomped by moony

mess it up by regulushasanewmomitsme regulus and remus make out a lot but really it's about wolfstar being stupid

So Happy To Serve by KrisKikstorky Omega Regulus gets bonded to Alpha Voldemort. It's not a healthy relationship on so many levels but Regulus is determined to make it work and be happy! So Eager To Please by KrisKikstorky Regulus may be an Omega willingly and happily bonded to a genocidal evil overlord but he has RIGHTS and he will NOT have them abused. I fucking love them your honour

My Jamie by twisted_tales_told jegulus angst comfort

Vows Made Of Wine by twisted_tales_told jegulus if we were villains au

the wrong brother by ThesteralQueen regulus and remus fake date to get their crushes (james and sirius) jealous

A Passing Dream by Elfflame lily accidentally discovers remus/regulus is a thing, sad ending

We All Have Our Kinks and Limits and There Is Nothing to Be Ashamed Of, Right? by KrisKikstorky jegulus kinky times

A (somewhat unconventional) Black Family Getaway by Trex_patronus regulus and sirius, Azkaban escapees, are on a fieldtrip :D

starling by Zazzander baby regulus is not having a good time rn

the art of losing by pangaeaseas Regulus is Dealing with Sirius' ruanay-ness

but I am not resigned by pangaeaseas on the horcrux hunt, hermione encounters a ghost

For The Greater Good by Anna_Bell_Bri jegulily, jily survies halloween

All That Remains by CelesteMagnolia for Artemisia_Black_95, MerlinsSequinedHotPants regulus is a dumbass i want to beat him up in tesco parking lot

and I Looked Back on a Broken World by raziella harry and hermione time travel to marauders era

carpe diem by els31 :D :D modern muggle au jegulus doctor regulus

Twins Potter and The Goblet Of Fire by BeastlyRose023 regulus was reborn as harry's twin

Infested feast by Jsp_Jsp prank goes wrong, sad regulus, eating disorder

The Dawn of a Star by vini213 sirius and regulus scramble around to hide that regulus is trans from their parents

tides of the sun by kissyshima for sapphistic jegulus trans regulus

Swipe Left for Safety by Remy_Writes5 cute wolfstar, regulus is also there

From Fire to Fire by greyeyedmonster18 Sirius gets sorted to Slytherin to protect Regulus, took the mark, dropped out of hogwarts, spied, survived. Now he's back in London and Regulus signed him up for evening classes so that he can take his NEWTS. and the evening classes professor? No other than Remus Lupin!

ten reasons (to go to michigan) by greyeyedmonster18 writer remus meets artist sirius, Regulus is a good bro

Listening to your heartbeat (if only you knew how much I love it) by thestarsforus bartylus! also evan and regulus are vampires

L'Astre Noir by Calypte sirius wants to protect regulus, regulus can protect himself thank you very much, it'S fun

my pussy tastes like pepsi cola (my eyes are wide like cherry pies) by PsychiatristGirl underage animagus blackcest

Tiny Hands (or, Heg loo) by featherprongs jegulus raising harry

[withered-tears]

"Peter's class goes to a tour of Stark tower" is just modern "Danny's class goes on a fieldtrip to the ghost zone"

[callsign-bunnie]

Hellooo I saw ur post about fic requests and how u want to write parts that people will read so I wanted to ask u please for more of slasher field trip! :)) I’ve found it very compelling and I like it a lot! No pressure to actually write, just thought I’d tell u I would like it a lot!

Sorry, I know I lollygag on this and Slasher Party, I am trying to get them done, but they require a bit more energy and thinking

--

Gaz sat on his bed and tried not to focus on how overwhelmingly lonely he was. He got up and decided to go to a cafe in order to ignore it. The notes had slowed down and… Gaz would have been lying if he said he didn’t miss them. 

He’d had another hookup on Friday. Some random guy named Evan who had ended up dead the next day. So, Gaz was no longer having hookups. He didn’t want to blame himself, but Tyler, Mr Smith, and Evan all ending up dead…

It was a massive coincidence, one he very much wanted to ignore. Though… who would kill for him? Who the fuck would kill anyone because they slept with him? Alright, reasonably he knew it had to be connected with the notes that kept popping up. 

Or, used to pop up. He hadn’t received one in a couple days. Why did that upset him? Why did he care? Why?

He shook it off and carefully headed into the cafe, despite how early it was. This cafe was open 24/7 for studying students, since a lot of night classes let out late. He ordered a tea and a snack before going to a table, sitting down and holding his head. 

Laswell had suggested he see a therapist but… what would they do? He wasn’t really that depressed, he definitely wasn’t suicidal, he was just lonely… He doubted a therapist would be able to fix that. Besides, maybe they’d just try to fuck him, too.

Frustration settled into his chest and he just tried to sip his tea and push the issue out of his mind. What did it matter, anyway? 

“Hey, are you okay? You look upset.” 

Gaz blinked and looked up, flushing when he saw Alex. “Oh. Yeah… Just… having trouble sleeping, I guess.” Well, he definitely couldn’t consider Alex, now. He did not want him to end up dead. How unfair… He’d maybe had a chance with Alex, but that had been killed before it even began. “What about you?”

“I have troubles sleeping at night. Nocturnal, I guess.” Alex shrugged and sat in the seat across from Gaz. “Any particular reason you’re having trouble sleeping?”

Gaz hesitated before just shaking his head. “After Mr Smith died, I just… I don’t know. It’s weird, I feel like every guy I’ve hooked up with lately has ended up dead.”

“I’m sure it’s not every guy…” Alex frowned, and Gaz furrowed his brows when he noticed him fidget. Ah, probably grateful he never went for it. 

Gaz snorted. “No, I mean… I’m sure it’s just a coincidence but… I don’t know, it’s had my head full, I guess.”

Alex smiled, sympathetically. “I understand… I can imagine it’s a lot.” More than a lot. Gaz felt antsy just having a conversation with Alex but… He doubted anything could come from just a conversation… Besides, he was more than convinced it was just a coincidence. “Hey um… you want to come back to my place? Not for… anything just… I don’t know, we could like watch a movie or something?”

He looked awkward and Gaz’s heart just melted. Oh, he wanted to. He wanted to so bad but… What if it led to something? What if Alex died? No, he couldn’t handle that. Rational people would go to the police when three of their hookups die. Gaz wasn’t rational, but he wasn’t going to let Alex die. “I… I can’t…”

Alex frowned. “Oh uh… Alright. No, that’s okay.” He shrugged it off and smiled. “I’m content to keep talking to you, here…”

Oh, Alex respecting his boundaries shouldn’t make Gaz want him more but he did… He wanted Alex so much more, now, and it was hard to ignore… “Okay.” He smiled, trying to fight temptation to give in and take Alex up on his offer… Oh, it was probably coincidence, anyway, right? 

Surely nothing would happen, right?

“You know, maybe a movie wouldn’t be so awful… might take my mind off of things.” Gaz decided, against his better judgment, and smiled. “Just a movie, though… right?”

“Whatever you want it to be.” Alex nodded. “Nothing more or less.”

“Well, then a movie sounds fun.” Gaz relaxed and then gathered his stuff up, following Alex out of the cafe. 

They went back to Alex’s place, and it was only a short walk from the cafe, though it was in the opposite direction of Gaz’s dorm building. He followed Alex up to his apartment, surprised by the size of it. Apparently, Alex got it for half of the normal rent because he also worked for the apartment building on the weekends. He revealed this while rambling to Gaz about it and taking Gaz’s jacket from him. “I love it, though.”

Gaz thought it was very nice. A bit empty but… Alex claimed to have just moved in a month or so before. Not much time to make it a home, yet. “It’s a little big for just me but… I’ve considered a dog.” Alex sighed.

Very nice furniture, but it was furniture Gaz wouldn’t be afraid to sit on. Black suede, it looked like, and it was very comfortable looking, an L shape with a very nice looking black coffee table. He took a seat when offered and Alex went over to a very large entertainment center where a massive amount of DVDs and a huge tv rested. “I have a lot of movies on DVD and whatever I don’t have, I could probably stream if you give me a minute, so any idea what you want to watch?”

Admittedly? Gaz didn’t watch many movies. He just… couldn’t focus on them long enough. So, he just shrugged. “Whatever you pick will be fine.” He looked around the apartment, liking how open it was. The kitchen was separated from the living room not by a wall, but instead by a kitchen island, which had two stools sitting in front of it.

The kitchen itself, while not massive, had a decent amount of counter space in it. Not useful for Gaz, he didn’t cook much. “Do you cook?” He asked and saw Alex glance back at him.

“Oh. Yeah, a decent amount. No one to cook for me and I’m not one for eating out. Not that I want someone to cook for me, I’m self sufficient.” Alex chuckled and shook his head, finally picking out a movie. “My mom wants me to find a nice girl, settle down… I’m not really for that, though.”

“Oh?” Gaz tilted his head. “Is it the girl part or settling down?”

“Oh, I’d love to settle down.” Alex came back over to him. “Getting married, making a life, that sounds nice. It’s the girl part. I’ve never been interested in them. Probably her fault.”

Gaz frowned. “What do you mean?”

“She sexually abused me.” Alex was blunt, it shocked Gaz. “Pretty heavily. She would have me dress up like my dad and… have sex with me.”

“That’s awful.” Gaz frowned, furrowing his brows. He couldn’t imagine… “I… I hope you don’t still talk to her.”

“No. She’s dead.” Alex sighed. “Someone… broke into our house and stabbed her to death. When I was 17, it was pretty horrible. I don’t think they knew I was in the house, or they might have killed me, too. I found her body in the morning.”

“Oh…” Gaz blinked and then bit the inside of his lip. Alex was so open about it… Gaz doubted he’d tell another soul. He hardly wanted to talk about what happened with Tyler, he’d barely been able to tell the police about it. “I… I’m sorry… being around Tyler when he died… that was bad enough, but I couldn’t imagine it was my mom… Even if… if…”

“It’s alright.” Alex smiled at him. “It’s been three years, I moved on. It was… difficult, I’ll admit, but I did. It helped me get away from her, as horrible as that sounds.”

“I don’t think it sounds horrible…” Gaz admitted. “She was abusing you, I… I’m glad you were able to get away.”

“Me too.” Alex sighed. “But, yeah, never interested in girls. I prefer pretty boys…” His eyes turned to Gaz and Gaz looked away, flushing. “Alejandro, Ghost, and I have that in common, though, I guess. Well, we have a lot in common.”

Gaz nodded, able to pick up the unspoken implication. He settled into the couch, unsure what to say, and tried to focus on the tv, though his mind was racing. He really couldn’t imagine… He used sex as a coping mechanism, but it was always consensual. 

Though, what was Gaz really coping with? Was loneliness a good excuse to call it a coping mechanism? 

He blushed when his face was touched and he was made to look at Alex, biting the inside of his lip. “God, you’re so beautiful when you think.” Alex murmured. “It’s like I can see every thought as it passes through your head, right across those eyes… I can’t comprehend them, but… I’d love to.”

Gaz felt his skin go dark red and he couldn’t help just melting. He wondered, briefly, if this is what romance felt like and… maybe he was easy, he could accept that about himself, but he wanted nothing more than to give in… “I can hardly comprehend them, myself.”

Alex shook his head, smiling. “You’re too intelligent, I highly doubt it.” He let go of Gaz’s face and then his eyes moved down to his mouth.

If Alex was trying to seduce him, it was working… Whatever you want it to be. Nothing more or less. Fuck… Gaz leaned forward and Alex met him, and the kiss was soft… delicate. Wonderful. He understood that moment in movies where there were fireworks, because he swore he felt them. 

Gaz went to push forward, but then Alex was breaking away. “I don’t-” Alex started and his eyes opened, though they were soft as they met Gaz’s. “I don’t want you to mistake my intentions, I don’t want just sex.”

Oh. Disappointment coursed through Gaz’s body, because he knew he’d never be worth more than sex. Alex didn’t want him. “What do you want?” He murmured, furrowing his brows. “I…”

“I want love,” Alex shrugged. “It’s cheesy, but I do. I want a relationship. I want to be happy, I want…” He paused and then he reached up and touched Gaz’s face, his thumb running over his lips. “I want every piece of you and then I want more…”

I want every piece of you. Of you. 

Oh… 

Gaz softened and then he was just melting. “But… nobody wants me for more than sex.”

“I do. Anyone who doesn’t is an idiot.” Alex shook his head and he moved his hand down to Gaz’s neck, resting it there, gently. “Tyler was an idiot. Mr Smith was an idiot. Evan was an idiot. I mean, Tyler had the opportunity in his hands and he was just going to waste it. I would never do that. I would never waste having you like that.”

Gaz stopped. “What?” He’d never given Alex details, just said they’d gone on a date and Tyler had died. “I-” He went to back away, and thankfully Alex let him.

But, he kept talking, “I would have just let it happen but then he had to speak to you so cruelly, too, and that just wouldn’t work for me. Being stupid is one thing, but to waste the precious time he had with you and then to just… insult you like that. No, no, I couldn’t let that fly.”

Realization struck right into Gaz’s chest. “What are you talking about?” He knew what Alex was talking about. Blue eyes… Looking at him not with malice but… affection. 

“I was just so angry… I tend to get carried away, I’m a bit passionate, and… I was going to explain to you, then, everything. Take you home… keep you, but you were so scared and… I wanted to wait. Until you were comfortable. I thought, later, when you were going to meet with Mr Smith, that then would be perfect. But… you were preoccupied. I thought you might think I was bombarding you. So, I backed off. And wouldn’t you know it? He was an idiot, too. Those pictures you sent him? He would show his friends. He bragged about how easy you were. How much you cared for him. You didn’t deserve that… So, he had to go, too. Evan was just collateral damage, I have no real reason… Just another careless idiot that didn’t deserve you.”

Gaz stood while Alex was talking, about to back away towards the door. “You… You killed them.”

“I did.” Alex nodded, his eyes watching him. He smiled. “Gaz, you don’t think I’m going to let you leave, right?”

Gaz wasn’t going to give him the choice. He turned to rush to the door, but Alex was there before he made it, standing right in front of the door. “Oh, Kyle…” He didn’t look malicious, even then. But, Gaz looked up into Alex’s eyes, at the bright blue eyes that had been in his nightmares, and he shivered, stepping back. They still held that same affection. “Alejandro said Rodolfo and Soap had similar reactions… Farah warned me that her girlfriend had freaked out, too.”

Gaz paused. “Farah… Farah… what?”

Alex reached and touched Gaz’s face, and Gaz couldn’t find himself backing away. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“You’re a murderer… You… You murdered Tyler and Mr Smith! Evan and… who else?”

“Eh… It’s a list.” Alex shrugged. “You don’t want to know. No one else that you know, don’t worry. I don’t feel bad for who I’ve killed… I wish I could, but I just don’t. I just feel bad for frightening you.” 

Gaz stared at Alex in horror. “Why?? Why would you… you do that?!” His mind was caught on the names. Alejandro said Rodolfo and Soap… Farah said her girlfriend… Did that mean Alejandro and Ghost were… were murderers too? He needed to get away, he needed to tell the police, he-

Alex leaned forward and kissed him, again, soft and tender and… gentle. Loving. His arms moved around Gaz and pulled him close, carefully. 

And Gaz…

God, he really was easy, wasn’t he? Because he gave in. He was so lonely, he was so desperately lonely, and he wanted nothing more than to be loved, and to be held, and to have someone want him, so he gave in. 

He kissed Alex back.

--

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[angelic-din-mortem]

Time for the family to go on a fieldtrip to ghost island. Don’t worry your grandpa a professional with dead things.

[ao3feedzukka-blog]

The Southern Ghost

https://archiveofourown.org/works/45291016 by anna_was_here Ever since that little stunt with Hei Bai, Sokka's been able to see ghosts. Talk to them. Touch them. ...Probably not doing wonders for his mental health, but hey - he'll burn that bridge when he gets to it. Right? Or: The Southern Raiders, but Sokka can see his mom the whole time. And she has some thoughts. Words: 13643, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: Avatar: The Last Airbender Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: M/M Characters: Sokka (Avatar), Katara (Avatar), Kya (Avatar), Zuko (Avatar), Aang (Avatar), Suki (Avatar), Toph Beifong, Lu Ten, Hakoda (Avatar) Relationships: Katara & Sokka (Avatar), Kya & Sokka (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar) Additional Tags: Episode: s03e16 The Southern Raiders (Last Airbender), ooh boy, Angst, Canonical Character Death, they're ghosts, :0, southern watertribe fam, no beta we die like jet, calling your little sister squirt is something that can be so personal, i say that as if i have a little sister, but like it's such a cute nickname, the inherent homoeroticism of going on a fieldtrip with your boyfriend's sister, anyway that episode really fucked sokka over, So here we are, let's let that boy grieve February 24, 2023 at 03:01AM