#he used the locker to escape and Tim finally noticed

[nelkcats]

Journey to another world

Gotham Academy is the least mysterious place in the entire city. Or so you would think, the place where students of all ages attend to learn (and sometimes discover that their teachers are Rogues).

On one occasion, Damian became bored and decided to explore. He didn't see the point of attending the academy when he was more advanced in his studies (Tim agreed with his brother) but his father insisted, probably because he thought he would make "friends".

So, the first chance he got: Damian escaped from class and explored. He wasn't missing anything anyway. During his exploration there was an attack from a Rogue, and he ducked into one of the lockers in an attempt to hide to put on the mask.

He was surprised when he was transported to a completely different school. One that looked very destroyed (much more than the Academy).

Forgetting about his mission, Damian explored the school with curiosity, many students stared at him in confusion and asked if he was an exchange student, to which of course, the son of the bat replied yes.

So, for months: instead of going to classes, Damian escaped to the dimension and learned from it, sometimes just because he wanted to escape from home. Of course, he didn't notice the suspicious look Danny Fenton was giving him. Nor Poindexter pointing out to the halfa that someone was using his locker as some kind of transportation, again.

Danny knew the "exchange boy" wasn't a ghost, but he had no idea where he came from. All he knew was that the boy was too proud to recognize his city as a danger (Danny had kept Damian from encountering so many ghosts), the boy snorted at the mention of ghosts and said it was absurd. Danny just wanted to avoid him being killed, and maybe close the damn portal.

The worst part was when more "exchange students" started showing up, students who were obviously taking his dimension as a vacation. The halfa growled in frustration, knowing he had a lot of work ahead.

[dc-gt-plantbox-ideas]

A Small Date

Hello hope you guys like this lil story with Tim and Steph! This is like 3k so its not that long, have a good day!

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“Just one more test and we should be done Tim, then we can finally get to work on getting you back to normal.” Bruce reassured as he carefully took another small blood sample from Tim and headed over to the batcomputer to start having it tested, this was not how Tim wanted his night to go.

For you see, Tim was not experiencing a normal side effect from some new rogue's gimmick, he was currently standing at 4 in tall and barely audible to anyone if he wasn't using a small microphone Bruce had gotten for him. Tim slowly sat down on the tray he had been left on bandaging up his arm. It had taken some time but Bruce had found a safe way to draw some blood from Tim and now could hopefully look into the serum that made him this size.

It had already been a very long night and this was definitely the cherry on top, only Bruce knew about the situation (for now) so Tim thankfully wasn't being too overwhelmed with how much bigger everyone was compared to him. That was about to change when Tim heard a motorcycle roaring down into the Batcave and quickly covered his ears as it got louder.

“Bruce!” ‘Oh no it's Dick’ “Why did you and Tim go quiet? Where is he?” Dick yelled as he marched over to the batcomputer and completely missed Tim on the examination tray, despite knowing the fight that was about to break out without his brother knowing his location he was a bit thankful for being ignored.

When Dick Greyson, the first Robin and current Nightwing, was angry you could feel it radiating off of him.

“He's fine, he didn't take any natural injuries after getting attacked by the new rogue we dealt with tonight.” Bruce stated bluntly not really trying to reassure his eldest son, Tim noticed Dick’s hands slowly balling up into fist and quickly grabbed the microphone he had been given.

“I'm over here!” Tim yelled and flinched as his brother snapped his eyes towards his direction, Dick found him quickly and started walking over to where Tim was.

His brother was normally taller than him but at this small size it was almost impossible to look up at Dick’s face, when Dick leaned over the tray placing both of his hands down on it. Tim stumbled back falling to the ground and still struggling to make eye contact with his brother.

“What the hell? Are you okay Tim?” Dick asked and Tim fought back from covering his ears with how loud his brother was, oh this was going to suck.

“Yeah-” Tim realized he didn't have his microphone and quickly grabbed it. “Yeah I'm okay, a little sore from the fight but besides that I'm fine!”

“I mean with the shrinking part.” Dick crouched down in front of the table, probably noticing how much his brother was struggling to meet his eyes well standing.

“Oh this? I'll be fine, you guys know where I am and no one that could pose an actual threat to me would be able to get into the cave so it's fine!” Tim put on his best smile and hoped that would satisfy Dick but with the way he narrowed his eyes at Tim and instantly went over to Bruce whispering something, yeah this was going to be a very long night.

And with how the universe wanted to mock Tim Drake it decided right now he would be getting an important phone call and heard his phone going off from the lockers, he looked over at Bruce and Dick to see if they were paying any attention to him and thankfully they weren't.

Tim thankfully hadn't had his gear confiscated after being shrunk so he still had his grappling hook and could easily get down to the ground without much trouble. Tim walked over to the edge of the table he was stuck on and shot his Hook off to wrap around the nearby med bay legs. With extreme ease and no real concern of anyone seeing Tim’s grand escape he got down to the floor and started making his way to the locker room.

It took much longer than usual with Tim being at such a small size but once the teen finally reached his locker and successfully got his grappling hook lodged in between the small window at the top of it Tim could finally make his way up and open the locker. Tim considered himself lucky he had so haphazardly thrown his phone into his locker, he didn't have a second grappling hook to get himself up onto the top shelf of the locker and there was no way with how smooth the walls of the locker where he could climb his way up.

So Tim slowly descended down to the ground and walked over to his phone that laid among the small pile of dirty clothes he had left in the locker. He quickly turned his phone on and checked the messages he had received well on patrol. Tim felt his body run a little cold as he saw the new message from Stephanie.

Hey, are we still on for tonight? Babs mentioned you suddenly went off the grid with Bats.

“Ah shit…” Tim mumbled to himself as he finally remembered what else he was supposed to do tonight. He and Stephanie tried to have occasional date nights where it would just be the two of them and they wouldn't have to worry about anything else, Stephanie had had to cancel two of their most recent dates well Tim had canceled three.

Tim already felt guilty about the reason why he canceled the last one and the idea of canceling four of their dates in a row just made the young hero feel worse, Stephanie deserved to do something nice and Tim was going to do his best to give her a nice night.

He would just have to change up some of their plans. He quickly texted her back.

Yeah, we're all good! But I can't really leave the manner so would you be okay if we have a date here? I'll get you whatever take out you want and we can watch your favorite movie?

Oookay we can do that, I didn't really want to wear heels tonight anyway. Be there soon! 

See you soon Steph!

Tim then quickly pulled up to one of Stephanie's favorite takeout places and started placing an order. Thank God he could do this over text because he genuinely did not know if his phone would pick up his voice. With how frantically fast Tim was moving he didn't even notice the large shadow that slowly fell over him and peeked down at what he was doing on his phone.

As Tim finished filling out his order for his and Stephanie's Chinese food a cold finger poked him in the back and caused his entire body to shiver, he very slowly looked up at his brother and instantly put on a nervous smile.

“So instead of canceling your date you're going to have one here? Do you really think you can argue with B like this?” Dick asked, resting his chin on one of his hands and still crouching down by his brother's locker.

Tim went from awkward smiling to pleading with his brother, there was no way he would win the argument at this size but if a particular older brother who loved and adored him very much was nice and helped him out? Maybe.

Dick seemed to catch on to this plan and let out a deep sigh as he slowly stood back up and headed towards wherever Bruce was.

Tim simply waited in his locker to find out what was going to happen, he really hoped Dick was helping him.

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

Stephanie waited by the door of Wayne Manor as she checked her phone and texted Tim again that she was here. She really hoped no one would intrude on her and Tim's little date but they were going to be having a date in Wayne Manor, the place was crawling with detectives who liked to put their nose in places they shouldn't.

No Stephanie wasn't going to be negative, she was going to have faith that Tim had taken the right precautions to get everyone to leave them alone. It would be fine.

Steph looked up from her phone as the door finally swung open and surprisingly instead of being greeted by Alfred she was greeted by Dick, Stephanie didn't think much of it as she walked inside and took her shoes off by the door.

“Hey Dick, is Tim still setting up where we're having our date?” Steph asked as she hung her coat on the nearby coat rack.

“Um, you can say that.” Dick bounced back and forth on his feet and Stephanie instantly catched on to his nervousness, oh god what did Tim do?

“What did my boyfriend do? Should I run while I have the chance?” Stephanie asked as she turned around to face the oldest Wayne and instantly became confused, Dick was holding out his hands revealing a small earpiece that was very different from their normal comms.

“So with the small incident that occurred that makes it so Tim can't go out you need to wear this special earbud, once you see him it will make more sense I promise.” Dick gave his award-winning grin to the confused blonde, Stephanie wanted to ask more questions but she had learned a long time ago questioning the bird boys was just a waste of time.

So Stephanie took the earpiece, put it in, and began her walk into Wayne Manor to find out where her boyfriend was hiding. Dick helped a little, only stalling her from finding the room once or twice, as usual Tim wanted to make sure things were perfect.

Once they found the room Dick slowly walked off, obviously waiting for Stephanie to go into the room, Steph simply rolled her eyes as she pushed the doors open and walked into one of the many living rooms in Wayne Manor. It was one of the more casual ones that obviously was reserved for the younger family members, the only odd thing about the room was the fact that Stephanie didn't see her boyfriend anywhere.

She hesitantly poked her head out into the hallway hoping to ask Dick where he was but the elders had already ran off to god knows where (hopefully keeping Bruce distracted so he didn't interfere with their date), so Stephanie realized she was on her own with finding her boyfriend.

Which turned out to not be too hard when she heard a quiet voice call her name from the coffee table in the middle of the room.

“Steph! Over here!” The blonde haired girl snapped her head over and narrowed her eyes when she spotted the small figure moving around on the coffee table, her mouth fell open as realization slowly dawned on her.

Tim was standing in the middle of the coffee table, he was no taller than the tissue box next to him, and well he was wearing more casual clothes. They were definitely clothes you wore during the colder season.

It was summer.

“Steph?” Tim’s voice wasn't very loud but thankfully it was still audible. “I know this is weird but-”

“Tiny.” Stephanie finally blurted out.

“I- yes I am.” Tim admitted not planning on denying his shrunken state.

“Itty bitty.” Stephanie continued.

“Steph please-”

“Tiny little man.” 

“Steph our takeout-”

“Super shorty. That's it, that's your nickname for tonight Super Shorty.” Stephanie's shocked face had disappeared long ago and now was replaced with a mischievous grin. She slowly walked over to the coffee table and sat down on the floor in front of the couch.

Apparently the fast sudden movements shook the coffee table as Tim lost his balance and fell onto his butt, Steph just continued smiling as she gently poked Tim’s face.

“Can you not? Also our takeouts going to get cold.” Tim shoved the large finger away trying to look angry but Stephanie could tell Tim was simply his normal annoyed self with her, if she really wanted to push it she could even say he might actually like the nickname she came up with.

“Yeah yeah, so what are we watching Tim thumb?” Stephanie asked as she opened up the bag containing their Chinese takeout, Steph was about to question why there was only one box but then remembered her boyfriend's very small size. 

“I thought my nickname was Super Shorty.” Tim walked over to the TV remote using his foot to hit the power on button and then started scrolling through the streaming service they were using to find a movie.

“Your nickname is whatever my brilliant brain comes up with next.” Stephanie responded as she noticed the small bowl that had been placed next to the carryout and started dishing some of her fried rice and a piece of her sweet and sour chicken into it, Stephanie rarely ever shared her food with anyone but with how little Tim usually eat she had gotten used to sharing some of her stuff with him. Plus Tim actually knew how to take a small bite out of something. 

“Whatever, I guess calling me mean nicknames is more important than asking what happened to me.” Tim said dramatically, pressing his hand against his forehead and pretending like he was about to faint, Stephanie couldn't help herself but laugh.

“You're not dead and you're obviously fine if you decide to still have our date tonight, plus you're good at giving me the information I do need when it's important.” Stephanie sneakily took the remote causing him to fumble forward a little and started typing into the search bar ’Honey I shrunk the kids’.

“Really?” Tim asked, crossing his arms and jokingly glaring up at Steph. “Don't you think that's a bet on the nose?”

“Yeah but I'm kind of in a horror mood, y'know?” Stephanie responded back she found the movie and pressed select. Tim walked over to his bowl of food pulling tiny utensils out of his hoodie pocket.

(Where the actual hell did Bruce get that???)

“Horror? You think Honey I shrunk the kids as a horror movie?” Tim asked, looking up at his girlfriend, quite a spectacle.

“Have you ever actually seen this movie before?” Stephanie asked gently poking him in the chest with her chopsticks, Tim shoved the sticks away, sticking his tongue out at Steph.

“No but I highly doubt this movie is that scary.” Tim rolled his eyes as he started eating his dinner.

“We'll see about that.” Stephanie said ominously ignoring how Tim rolled his eyes at her, she pressed play on the movie that she started eating her own dinner.

~~~~~~~~~

Tim seriously regretted his wording earlier from when they started the movie, it was an old Disney movie before they had started to pull back their punches and wouldn't hesitate to lean into genuine horror of the situation at hand. Tim had very slowly since the bee incident in the movie inched closer and closer to Steph and sometimes even mumbling her name to make sure she could hear him, Stephanie must have caught on at some point as she would quietly whisper his name back instead of looking down to face him.

At this point Tim was hiding behind one of Stephanie's arms as they continued to watch the movie, Tim wasn't actually scared of any of these things happening to him but it was still a bit unnerving to think if he had gone any smaller than he was now something similar could have happened.

Thankfully it was Tim's turn to pick the movie once ’Honey I shrunk the kids’ ended, he decided to pick a generic movie. Tim ended up finding schoolhouse rock and just picked it without thinking much of it.

Surprisingly the two really enjoyed the movie and got completely engrossed in it, once the movie ended and Stephanie checked her phone. Stephanie instantly rolled her eyes and put her phone away in her purse and started gathering up her stuff.

“Looks like I need to get home now, my mom thought she saw a certain bastard and wants me home now.” Stephanie explained, obviously getting frustrated. Tim frowned as he realized he couldn't follow Stephanie home as Robin just to also make sure her mom had actually just been seeing things.

“Do you want Dick to drive you home? I'm sure he would do it since it would give him a chance to avoid having to stay the night here.” Tim asked, as he stood up on the coffee table and followed after Stephanie and she got up to walk away, he stopped right at the edge of the table staring up at her.

“Yeah I would appreciate it, I'll go ask him- oh wait I need to give you something!” Stephanie crouched down in front of the coffee table and gently scooped Tim up into her hands, Tim simply stared at his girlfriend extremely confused as she brought him closer to her face.

“Steph what are you-” Tim went completely silent as Stephanie gently pressed her lips against Tim's face and some of his chest giving him a small kiss, before the Raven headed boy could respond he was carefully set back down on the coffee table.

Stephanie quickly got back to her feet, turned around and walked out of the room. Tim looked over at the reflective surface of the metal cup Stephanie had been drinking from.

And no Tim couldn't decide what was worse. The fact that he looked like a cartoon character with the big lipstick stain Stephanie had left on his face and shirt, or the fact that he couldn't tell the difference between Stephanie's pink lipstick on his own face anymore.

Bonus-

Dick had just gotten back from dropping Stephanie off at home and doing a few laps around her neighborhood to make sure a certain someone wasn't around, the coast had been all clear thankfully but he had sent a quick text to the huntress to check out the area before she headed home from her patrol.

Once Dick had announced he was back Alfred had asked him to go check on Tim who apparently had been sitting in the living room completely quiet since Stephanie had left, and with Dick being a very good big brother he happily agreed and eagerly went to go check on Tim.

What he saw almost caused him to burst out laughing but he quickly composed himself and cleared his throat to get his little brother's attention.

“Hey Tim, how did your date with Stephanie go?” Dick asked, walking into the room and crouching down by the coffee table.

“Oh it was great!” Tim quickly answered, rocking back and forth where he sat. “We had a great time, ate great food, and watched really fun movies!”

“Mhm mhm, I've got to say I really love the new design on your hoodie.” Dick commented no longer being able to hold back his laughter as he started chuckling.

Tim only for a moment looked at his brother confused until he looked down at his hoodie and realized some of Stephanie's lipstick was still stuck to it. It's obvious he had tried wiping it off but bright pink mixed with dark green wasn't the easiest thing to hide.

Dick fell to the floor with laughter as Tim’s face slowly started to turn a similar pink color and looked at Dick with venomous eyes, he would definitely be facing his little brother's wrath later but quite frankly he found it worth it.

[kudosmyhero]

Robin II (vol. 1) #1: The Funniest Thing Happened

Read Date: January 06, 2023 Cover Date: December 1991 ● Writer: Chuck Dixon ● Penciler: Tom Lyle ● Inker: Bob Smith ● Colorist: Adrienne Roy ● Letterer: Tim Harkins ● Editor: Kelley Puckett ◦ Dennis O'Neil ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers

Reactions As I Read: ● as of January 5, the DC app FINALLY allows full-page AND panel-by-panel view!! happy dance ● (pg 1) “This is madness!” THIS… IS… SPARTA ARKHAM! ● (pg 2) Aunt May? ● (pg 3) of course this can only go one way… ● the heavy-lidded Joker is kinda creepy. Creepier than usual, anyway. ● there’s a file hidden in that bible, isn’t there ● (pg 4) ok, not a file. That really wouldn’t have been Joker’s style though, would it

● I approve of these final words ● Aunt May, how could you? ● (pg 6) Be nice to that cabbie, Joker ● Ah, Tim’s first solo in Gotham! ● (pg 7) I wonder if there are any cases where Gordon has used the signal but Batman just wasn’t around to see it. Surely that has happened, right? ● (pg 8) oof, going against Joker on his first time solo. Talk about trial by fire. ● aww, apparently Tim feels the same way.

● (pg 9) whew, cabbie is safe ● awkward… ● (pg 10) heheheheh ● (pg 11) I wouldn’t do well in Joker’s gang if Joker doesn’t allow others to make jokes…

● (pg 12) Aww, Tim has a little Batman logo in his locker! ● “Warlocks and Warriors” - ha! I love it ● (pg 13) No party, no WnW either. ● (pg 14) ooo, imagine being a librarian at Arkham Asylum! ● (pg 15) most of the books and magazines Joker checked out were about someone named Dr. Osgood Pellinger ● (pg 16) I love that “Alfie” has to drive Robin around in a van ● (pg 17) First time seeing a snow plow in comics! Not sure why that makes me happy, but it does ^_^ ● uh-oh, not an innocent snow plow (I’m still happy, though)

● oof… though it doesn’t happen often that Joker is rocked back on his heels like this ● (pg 20) “Wow. He is crazy.” LOL ● 👏👏👏👏

Synopsis: At Arkham Asylum, bureaucrats debate whether or not the Joker should be allowed to visit his mother. Conditions are arranged so that his mother can visit him in the asylum, but when a bible she gifts him turns out to be a device that expels Joker Gas into the room, things go awry. The Joker manages to escape, and his 'mother' is simply a man under his influence.

Meanwhile Robin goes on his first patrol in Gotham City without the accompaniment of Batman, who is in Rio De Janeiro. Things are slow until he notices that the Bat-Signal is lit. When he arrives at Gotham City Police Headquarters, Commissioner Gordon is disappointed that Batman isn't with him, especially since it's the Joker who's escaped. Tim is unsure of his readiness to deal with the Joker on his own, but Alfred tries to be reassuring.

The next day, Tim goes to school, where he is invited to a party by a jock named Karl. He turns down the invite, but he disappoints his real friends when he has to turn down plans with them too for his duties as Robin. That night, he goes to Arkham to investigate the Joker's cell. Inside, he finds a number of computer related magazines, and wonders what reason they might be of interest to the Joker. He finds a number of references to a Dr. Osgood Pellinger, who has theories about the pervasiveness of computers.

Robin stakes out Pellinger's home and follows him when he goes out in his car at a suspiciously late hour. Unfortunately, Dr. Pellinger's car is scooped up by a plow driven by the Joker, and he is kidnapped. Robin jumps down onto the hood of the plow, and the Joker is surprised to see him alive, not realizing that there have been other Robins before. He knocks the boy off of the vehicle and escapes.

Tim is worried that the Joker will realize that Batman is out of Gotham, and go on a rampage. In order to keep him in line, Tim and Alfred agree to form a plan that will convince the Joker that Batman is still in the city.

(https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Robin_II_Vol_1_1)

Fan Art: Robin Poster by pinkhavok

Accompanying Podcast: ● Everyone Loves the Drake - episode 18

[goggles-mcgee]

Hi! Three questions! Sorry, I have so many. Can you tell us more about the relationship between Marinette and the batfamily in Wish me away? Can you tell us more class salt and Adrien salt in Ivy’s sampling? And... Can you tell us more about the daminette relationship in Ivy’s sampling? Please and Thank you.

Hi! Don't apologize! That's perfectly fine OuO

Wish Me Away:

It's hard at first for them all because they have never been around a baby, nor have they cared for a baby. The only one capable is Alfred but they all want to help out with her and get to know her, especially after hearing what she went through. Bruce really tries the hardest as he is now her father after the adoption and everything, and this time he really will get to experience one of his child's childhood with them. So he is taking it very seriously, but it means he's kind of a really big hoverparent.

Dick is in love with little Marietta and can't wait for Barbara to meet her. He tries to show her as much love as his parents gave him growing up in the circus, and he definitely takes her on the trapeze and everything just like his parents said they did with him. He just wants to make her happy.

Jason loves her too, but he's like Bruce, he's very protective of her. If he takes her anywhere he always carries her or has her in a stroller or has her on one of those backpack leash things. He will always go running when he hears her scream, even if he thinks it could be a false alarm or something small like she accidentally bumped into the wall again. He just wants her to feel safe. It's why when she has nightmares, he's one of the only ones that can calm her.

Tim liked to teach her things, he caught on that she was already pretty smart for her age so he takes time out of his day to teach her whatever he can think of. She already can count to ten in French, so they're working on doing it in English. He always makes sure to take breaks. If he sees Mari take an interest in something, he already makes a note to teach her a little something about whatever caught her eye. He wants her to know that no matter what catches her interest, he will be there to support her every step of the way.

Damian took awhile to get used to her and get over his feelings of jealousy but when he did, he felt such love for his little sister. There was a respect for her there after knowing what she had survived. He decided he would be the one to teach her to not bottle up her anger or other negative emotions. So everytime he saw her get angry and throw things he would take her to his room or the library to draw out her frustrations or paint them out. Or he would take her to play fetch with Titus. Or let her "spar" with him. He wanted her to know what his family had taught him over the six years he had been there, it was okay to have emotions, to have anger, and you could always find something else to do than resort to violence.

Alfred took to her the fastest. He was probably the most heartbroken about her situation when Tikki and Plagg explained it so he liked to spend time with her and get to know her. So he baked and let her watch or "help" (he really just put water in a bowl and asked her to stir it) he found she really liked to talk. She knew a lot of words, in French, Mandarin, and English but she did babble like any baby did, and she would babble at him like she was telling a story. Which, he guessed, she likely was, so he would listen and he would ask questions or would hum to let her know he was listening. He wanted Marietta to know she would always be heard in the manor, that she would always have someone who would listen to her.

Ivy's Sapling:

The salt. Adrien's salt is he's getting more aggressive in his passive aggressive ways of "dealing" with Marinette, and her "unwillingness to follow direction." Specifically his directions about the high road. He doesn't realize that he is essentially turning into his father with Marinette. He points out all her faults to her at the end of the day when they talk, he says it's to help her but Marinette knows he's doing it because he can finally tell someone they are wrong.

No matter what she does he always tries to get her alone at the end of the day so they can talk, and he always guilt trips her. Basically saying they won't hang out if she continues in her behavior or he won't be by her side anymore if she can't take the high road and just let Lila be. But then Marinette starts to snap because the class step up from the isolation. They start playing "pranks" on her and basically say they'll stop if she apologizes to Lila for bullying her.

Marinette finally tells Adrien no at one of their daily talks and genuinely asks him what she has done wrong. Tells him to tell her specifically what she has done that is wrong or lying or bullying behavior towards her former friends and/or Lila. When he can't say anything he gets mad and grabs her, he has always been a touchy person but when she tells him to let go, he won't. She gets more mad and demands he give her a reason why she is in the wrong.

Then Adrien yells at her, "Why can't you just keep the peace!? This is my escape from home and you're ruining it! Why can't you just fall in line and keep quiet!?"

That's when Marinette truly understands that Lila had turned all her friends in that class against her. Adrien wasn't with her. He never was probably, he just wanted her to pretend everything was fine and continue to let their friends get hurt and manipulated all so he could continue to have a stress free escape. It doesn't stop after that because he starts to visit as Chat Noir and she thinks that Adrien has talked Chat into being on his side. He's basically starts to threaten her as well and says she really will be all alone if she doesn't stop her attitude and go back to the way she used to be.

Unlucky for him Chloe, Sabrina, Aurore and Mireille had all been in the locker room and heard all of it. Aurore had videotaped it too.

That's how Marinette gets her little squad of friends.

Adrien as Chat gets worse in his advances on Ladybug and starts sitting out on fights, keeps trying to kiss her without her permission, has gone to several papers and said they are dating despite what Ladybug has said, and just in general being a slimy guy.

He's basically becomes another Lila in her life.

The class as a whole, like I said pull pranks on Marinette but it's really just bullying her. They spill things on her, her seat seems to always be wet with something in the mornings, she started to laminate her homework since some came up shredded or stained or soggy, nothing gets left in her locker if she can help it, if it is she makes more booby-trapped things to keep them safe since they go missing or are defaced or just utterly destroyed. And of course Mlle Bustier does nothing about it.

Marinette has tried to step down as class president but Lila convinced the class she is trying to do it to punish them for siding with Lila. Mlle Bustier firmly denies Marinette's request and just continues to lecture her about the Marinette's of the world.

Even despite her friends trying to help her anyway they can and collecting evidence to make a case for the Board of Education, Marinette, no Marigold has enough and moves back to Gotham with the help of Bruce Wayne.

When the class comes back from the weekend and Marinette isn't there, they think nothing of it, they just think she's sick but then Mlle Bustier frowns and goes to the principals. When she gets back she announces that Marinette's parents sent her away and that she has moved, is that the wrong information? Yes! Did Mlle Bustier care and check her facts? No!

The whole class is stunned because they did go to Tom and Sabine and tell them about Marinette's behavior, but they didn't think they would send her away!

Lila is also stunned because she also didn't think they would send her away because they seemed to love Marinette so much, no matter what she did (or didn't do.) Now they had no class president and really she had been trying to keep Marinette in that position because as loathe as she was to say it, the girl was good at it.

Adrien is more mad than stunned. He thinks Marinette was just running away from everything.

Marigold met Damian when she was out buying fabric after she finished getting settled at home with Ivy and Harley that week. He was out walking when she accidentally knocked him over with her shopping bags, of course he was originally annoyed at getting knocked over but he had to at least be polite. He noticed she wasn't from there and well, she was a foreigner with a lot of shopping bags, she was small, and a girl, she would run into trouble whether she wanted it or not. So he decided to play tourguide in a sense and went shopping with her and eventually they went out for a bite to eat at the end of it.

Of course they did end up finding trouble and a couple of thugs tried to rob them. Damian had sighed because really, he had seen it coming, what he didn't see coming was Marigold pushing him behind her, her throwing one of her shopping bags at one of the robbers and while he was distracted she took him and his friends down. When it was all said in done she had checked to make sure Damian was okay. And honestly he had to take a minute to ask himself that too.

That was the start of their friendship.

It took awhile for both of them to admit they had feeling for the other, but it was well into their friendship. Damian had had a good meltdown over the fact she was Ivy's daughter, while she had had one over the fact he was The Damian Wayne. She didn't treat him any differently but she had been shocked and even more determined not to let him pay for their outings like he insisted he should.

The more time they spent together the more they fell for each other. The tipping point was when Marigold finally told him everything that happened back in Paris, about the class and Adrien and Lila, and about being Marinette and Ladybug. He in turn told her about the League and about being an Al Ghul and about being Robin. That's when they started dating.

[afewnovelideas]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story, DCU (Comics), Batman (Comics), Young Justice (Comics), Robin (Comics), Red Robin (Comics), Teen Titans (Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Kyubey (PMMM), Tim Drake, Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Selina Kyle Additional Tags: Tim Drake-centric, Tim Drake is Robin, Tim Drake is Not Okay, Tim Drake Needs a Hug, Tim Drake Gets a Hug, Alternate Universe - Madoka Magica Fusion, Soul Gems (Madoka Magica), Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Magical Boys, Origin Story, No Beta We Die Like Mami, Don't Have to Know Madoka Magica Canon, Bruce Wayne Tries to Be a Good Parent Series: Part 1 of Eques Magi: Originem - Magicka Knights: Origin Summary:

"The Labyrinths of Gotham City are so tightly concentrated, no human born here can escape the influence of at least one or two Witches, if not more. Despite the aura of despair and the constant work of the Witches' various Familiars, there are still those souls who persist in clinging to hope and will do whatever they can to try and make this city a better place, even though all their efforts will ultimately fail in the end.

"It's the perfect environment to find a new Magicka Knight."

---

"Have you ever seen an albino cat?"

Catwoman, aka Selina Kyle, glanced over at Batman's newest Robin curiously. She hadn't been expecting to cross paths with him, but since it was obvious the Big Bad Bat was out of town and Nightwing hadn't shown up at all in the past week, she decided to keep an eye on the new kid for at least the evening. He certainly wasn't like the previous Robin. This thirteen-year-old boy was quiet and thoughtful, which had been quite a change from the previous brash impulsive kid Batman had been mentoring a little over a year ago before they were murdered by the Joker. 

She also noticed that this Robin was glancing over his shoulder at something on the rooftop on the other side of the street. "An albino, huh?" she said as she tried to follow his gaze. However, despite using her binoculars to zoom in on the far rooftop, she couldn't see any sign of any animal, feline, albino, or otherwise. "I've heard of them, but never seen one in person," Selina admitted casually as she put away her binoculars. "They are extremely rare." She smiled at Robin. "Have you seen one around town?"

Robin leaned against his bo staff thoughtfully. "I think so, but I'm not really sure." 

"Not sure?"

The boy looked up at Selina earnestly. "Y'know how a cat has two pointed ears about here?" Amusingly to the professional cat burglar, Robin made a vague pair of cat-ear shapes with his hand at the top of his head.  She smiled affectionately. 

"Yeah. It's kind of a defining cat trait, having pointy ears."

Robin pouted slightly at the teasing tone he caught in Catwoman's voice. Then he continued. "Well... This cat I've been seeing... It looks like they have a second set of ears too."

"A second set?" 

He nodded. He made a motion with his hands that seemed to make another vague shape that started at the base of where the cat's ears ought to be and downward along either side of its head. "Yeah. They kinda start out here and go all the way down there."

"Are you sure what you're looking at is an albino 'cat'? That kinda sounds more like a white rabbit to me."

"But it has pointy ears like a cat," Robin argued. "And its got a long fluffy tail, and its legs are like a cat's." The young teenager frowned slightly. "It's really weird looking."

"Well it does sound like a unique creature, whatever it is," Selina said thoughtfully.  "Maybe it's some sort of cryptid or mutant? This is Gotham after all." She smiled at Robin. "Tell ya what. If you can catch a photo of the critter, I promise I'll take a good hard look and let you know if it's a cat, a rabbit, or something completely different." Then she gave him an almost stern maternal look. "But be careful. Don't get too close. If it does turn out to be something 'not normal', it could be dangerous."

"Okay."

 ---

  It was two nights later and Tim Drake, fully decked out as Robin for another solo patrol, had just finished trussing up a pair of would-be carjackers. As soon as he placed the anon call to the Gotham PD for pickup, he glanced up to fire his grapple gun and froze.

There, on the rooftop above him, was a familiar white shape with two sets of ears and red eyes. The "cat" was peering down. He could see the animal's long fluffy tail swishing this way and that. Tim's breath caught in his throat. This was the closest he'd ever seen the animal come to him before. Rather than risk his grapple gun startling the animal and scaring it away, the young vigilante quickly indulged in some impromptu parkour up a garbage bin and a chain link fence to reach the metal fire escape attached to the side of the building. 

When he pulled himself on the rooftop, Tim was disappointed to find that it appeared to be empty. Not a trace of red eyes or white fur anywhere. He walked across the roof slowly, scanning the area for any sign of the small creature as he pulled out a small portable camera from his utility belt. "Hey there," he whispered softly. "Here kitty, kitty, kitty. I'm not going to hurt you. C'mon out please. I just wanna take a picture." 

When no one came out of hiding, Tim tried a different tactic. He reached into another pouch on his belt and pulled out a small package of beef jerky. He shook the bag temptingly before opening it and setting it on the ground before stepping away from it. "Got some food here if you want. All for you."

"Thank you, but no. I'm not hungry."

Tim froze. Then he glanced around himself as quickly as he could before zeroing in on the form of the albino "cat" sitting on top of a large A/C unit just a few yards away from him, its white body practically glowing against the cloudy night sky of Gotham City. This close, Tim could see this was not a normal "cat".  It did appear to have two sets of ears, but the two longer rabbit-like ones had golden rings attached to them and were tipped in pink with red spots. Its tail also appeared to be unnaturally long as it swished back and forth casually.

"Did you... just... talk?"

The cat-like creature flicked its smaller pointy ears. "Of course I did!" it said in a childlike voice without moving its mouth at all. Its long white tail finally stopped swishing and settled into a question mark shape behind it. "How else am I supposed to introduce myself?"

 ---

  Tim Drake gave up caffeine for the rest of the week. When the boy returned to the Cave from patrol and declared that he was quitting cold turkey, Alfred asked about it curiously. All the old butler got from the thirteen year old was a confusingly vague answer about talking albino cats with pink ears and clearly not enough sleep with too much stress before marching himself into the showers before he would make his eventual way back to his bedroom. 

 ---

  Unfortunately for Tim, giving up his favorite sodas, teas, and coffee did not stop the appearances of the strange cat-like hallucination that had introduced itself as "Kyubey" and seemed hell bent on following him and talking to him both day and night, in and out of uniform.

"You think I'm a figment of your imagination?"

Tim sighed as he reached over the creature sitting in his high school locker in order to grab his workbooks for math and english. "I'm not talking to you here," he whispered as he slammed the locker door in hopes of locking the hallucination behind it.

"It's probably better that you don't, at least not out loud," Kyubey agreed, after reappearing on the top of the locker to look down on Tim. "If people catch you talking to something they can't see, they might think you're losing your mind."

Somehow, Tim managed to choke down the near hysterical giggle that wanted to bubble up at that matter-of-fact remark. Kyubey had made it quite clear that night on the rooftop that no one else could see them except Tim.

"Besides, why waste your breath?" Kyubey said as they trotted along the top of the lockers, keeping pace with Tim as he walked to his next class. "We can speak telepathically just fine."

Tim paused at the end of the lockers and glanced at Kyubey. "Telepathically?" he asked experimentally without voicing the word.

"See! Easy!"

"Oh my god, I AM losing my mind," he thought with a grimace before sighing and stepping into the classroom and tried to ignore Kyubey as best he could for the rest of his school day.

 ---

  "So why are you here?" Tim finally asked Kyubey after tossing down his pencil and finally giving up on trying to concentrate on his homework. "What is my subconscious trying to tell me?"

"I'm not your subconscious, and I'm not a hallucination. I'm a messenger of magic." 

Tim raised his eyebrows at Kyubey as he echoed incredulously, "A messenger of magic?"

The cat-like creature made themself comfortable on Tim's bed. "That's right."

The teen noted with a slight measure of concern that he could see the disturbance Kyubey's form made on his pillow and blanket, proving that, at least right now, they had a solid physical state. Still, he was not about to reach out and try to touch the creature. "I'm probably going to regret asking this, but why is a 'messenger of magic' in Gotham City, and why am I the only one who can see and speak with you?"

"I'm on a mission to find people with the potential to become Magicka Knights to fight Witches and save the Universe, and you have that potential."

"Seriously? Magical knights? Actual witches?" Tim shook his head as he scoffed lightly. "This sounds like the plot of some generic magical girl anime."

Kyubey titled their head to one side. "And you and your mentor go out at night in masks to fight criminals who can control plants, have freeze guns, are living clay, and are occasionally half reptiles. How is that more believable than Magicka Knights and Witches?"

Tim snickered awkwardly. "I guess I'm in no position to throw stones in glass houses."

"You really aren't."

 ---

  Finally! Bruce was back from his Justice League mission and he was going to go out on patrol with Tim. Batman and Robin flying through Gotham City for the first time in over two weeks.

At least that was the plan until a call came through from Oracle barely an hour into their patrol.

"A report of potential Joker gas exposure has been put out by the GCPD in Chinatown near the Dragon's Den."

Batman and Robin paused on the roof of St. Peter's Cathedral. Tim felt a weight settle in the pit of his stomach as he took in the tightness of his mentor's jawline. He knew what was coming next.

"Go home, Robin."

"But B--"

"It's the Joker. I need to handle this alone."

"You don't have to. I can stay out of the way and watch your back. Make sure no one gets the drop on you."

Batman shook his head. "Head back to the Cave, Robin."

The leather of Robin's gloves creaked a little as he clenched his hand into a fist and turned away from his mentor. "Fine."

Without even looking, Tim could tell when he was left alone on the cathedral's roof with just the gargoyles for company.

Then, he wasn't alone.

"He doesn't trust you?"

Tim looked up to see Kyubey sitting on the head of a nearby gargoyle. He sighed. "It's not like that," he said telepathically. No need to risk Oracle or Agent A overhearing him talking to Kyubey. Not like the mic would pick up the magical creature's voice anyways. Still, better safe than sorry. "The Joker is really dangerous. He killed the Robin who came before me. B just doesn't want to risk me being anywhere near him."

Suddenly, Tim heard a pinging from his comm link, a sign that Oracle was attempting to signal him. "Yes O?"

"I know B ordered you home, but do you think you could swing by Amusement Mile along the way? I got a report on a Mad Hatter sighting there."

Tim brightened visibly at the prospect. "Sure!" He reached for his grapple gun and loaded a cartridge. "Any idea what he's up to?" 

"There have been earlier reports over the last few months of missing girls fitting the Hatter's preferred victim profile. Children with long blond hair under the age of twelve. But since the children are usually street kids or runaways, most attempts to investigate by the police have been half-hearted at best. Those that have tried haven't found anything but dead ends."

"Well, that's going to come to a stop tonight." Tim declared confidently. 

"Be careful Robin," Oracle warned. "Focus on recon tonight. Don't engage Hatter unless absolutely necessary."

"Understood!"

 ---

  "What's this?" 

At Amusement Mile, Tim was just in time to stop a kidnapping in progress. While the sudden appearance of Robin was enough to send the Mad Hatter scurrying away into the shadows, the young vigilante reluctantly let him go in favor of caring for the victim, a child of eight or nine who appeared to be in a catatonic state.

However, nothing Tim did seemed to be able to wake her up. He was about to notify O to call an ambulance when he noticed a small red mark, like a tattoo, on the girl's neck, right above her pulse point. It was about the size of a quarter and looked like the symbol used in chess to designate the Queen piece. 

"Hey O. I found a weird tattoo on the girl. Sending you a pic now." Tim quickly snapped a photo and sent it electronically to Oracle. A moment later, he got a response.

"Are you sure you sent me the right photo?"

"What do you mean?" 

"There's no tattoo in the pic. All I see is a bare neck."

Tim opened the monitor of his camera and his eyes went wide. Even on the camera, the girl's neck had no tattoo. He took several more pics to be sure, but despite being able to see the crown icon with his own eyes, they defied being photographed.

"Not sure what's going on, but I can't take a pic of it," he told Oracle. "Maybe it's some sort of weird ink that comes up invisible on cameras?"

"That's not it."

Tim glanced at Kyubey, who was sitting beside the girl. The white creature sniffed at the tattoo. "That's a Witch's Kiss."

He felt his chest tighten a bit at Kyubey's words. Tim carefully masked the sudden nervousness he felt in his voice. "Can you call an ambulance to pick up the girl? I'm going to investigate the area and try to find out where Hatter ran off to."

"Will do. Be careful."

Once the comm was silenced again and after the EMTs came to pick up the rescued child, Robin backed into a secluded alleyway and hid within the shadows before addressing Kyubey telepathically.

"What's a Witch's Kiss?"

"It's a mark used by Witches and familiars to control the minds of their prey."

Tim felt a shiver run down his spine. Still he continued. "Is... the Mad Hatter a Witch?"

Kyubey tilted their head thoughtfully before shaking in the negative. "No. I think he's just a familiar being used to bring humans to a Witch's Labyrinth."

"Why? Why would a Witch want a human child?"

Kyubey sighed. "A Witch is a creature that feeds on misery and sadness," they said very matter-of-factly. "What could be more delicious to a Witch than the grief and fear of a kidnapped child? At least this one seems to prefer the despair of children in particular."

A sudden sensation of dread settled over Tim. "That's.... That's horrible! We can't let this continue!"

"But you can't stop them."

"Why not?" Tim's righteous indignation flared up. "Batman's stopped the Mad Hatter dozens of times. Why can't I?"

"Most likely it's because your mentor has never captured him near his Witch, and never within an actual Labyrinth." Kyubey stared at Tim with their round red eyes, their stoic tone never wavering. "You're just a human being, and so is he under all that armor. Even with all your training, there's no way your frail human bodies can endure the strain of fighting a Witch and their familiars in their own Labyrinth. If you get trapped in a Labyrinth, there's no way out until either the Witch is dead or you are."

Tim watched the retreating lights of the ambulance carrying the nearly kidnapped child away. Then he took a deep breath and released it slowly.

"Can you help me find the Witch's Labyrinth?"

"I can."

 ---

  He was going to die.

Tim leaned against the wall and watched helplessly as his blood flowed freely from beneath and between his fingers to pool on the floor under him despite the pressure he tried to keep on the wound in his stomach. The Witch's familiars, not just the Mad Hatter, but a March Hare and other fictional characters pulled straight from the story Alice in Wonderland, had been too numerous and too merciless for him to fight off alone. 

The Witch herself, in the guise of a twisted Queen of Hearts, shrieked for his head through the twists and turns of her Labyrinth. 

   ͙̹̫ͪ̆̏͝  "̶͚̜̪̣̬͇ͭ͑ͅOͩͫ̄͏̬͖̳ Ḟ̖̝̟̜͖̭͑͢ F̡̜̼̰͓͍̟͎͇̆̾̐ ̨͚̫̗ͮ̚ͅ W̐ͧ̑͏͍͎͍̖̤̥ͅI͓͙̤͔̺̦͌̓̌̍͠T̖͍͒͛͢H̡̳̪̭̹̺̒̓̿ ̹̥͉̟͙̝͓̅ͫ͝H̸̝̬̘͕̩͙̤͇̾ͥ͂Į̯͔̦͖̳̣ͥ̌͆̂S͆̑ͪ͏̦̥̭̺̞̳̪͔ ͙̪̯͗̑͞Hͧ͏̤̯̪̩ E̶̯̣̰͌̆ͨͯ A̬̦̻͍͒͝ͅD̖̹͂͒͟ !ͫͯ́͆҉̺̦̩̹̺

 ̠͓͈͎ͧͨ͡Ō̵̪̻̭̩̯F̣͙̲̖̈́̋͝ F̌̅̾̓͏̭̺̰͉̹̖̯ ̡̮͔͇͚̬͎̝͊̆ͪͅŴ͙̠̽ I̘̬͇̖͑͂̏̂͞ T̨̗̫̜͙̩̖̮͒ H̴̙̝̀ͥͣ̚ ̘̯̮̺̥ͣ̑̄H̻̭͇̮̮͕͗͗ͬ̊͠ͅ Iͮͪ͋͏̬̺̖̝̥̭̘ͅ S̵̝̖̙̿ ̛̬̳̠̪̰̑͗̽ H̸͙̟̱̝̳̰̄͑̃̊ Ě̳͓̝̗͎͟ A̴̤͖̬̖͓͇̖͗̆ͫ́Ḋ̜͚̬̐̋͟!̨͇͚̞̩͚̗̣̿                                        

                  Ơ͚̹̜̥ͮͥ͑̏F̴̯̤̮͉̰ͫF͈̱͍̌ͩͥ̍̕ͅ ̧͎͕̱͚͍̥͔̐W̩̦̯̹̏͊̏̌̕I͐҉͕̪͔̥̞̭͈̲T̖̝̖̪̑̿̓͢H̤̠͍̣̻̠͚ͧ̍̐̿͢ ̴̲̖̫̫̺ͭH̗̤̒̆͆͡Î̤͓̭̻̝Ș̵͉͔͙̗̝̌̍̍ͬͅ ͎̫͉̞̲͆͡Ḫ̨̪̅ͧ̏E̵̮̲̩̤͓̱̙ͦÁ̻̦̘̜̂ͩ͝D̸̯͖̦͔̲͕̠̜̓̓̆̚!̨͖̓̐̈́ͪ̏ͅ҉̬͉̰̫"̙̺̬̯̹̦͖͛͗͘  

  Her magic.. too powerful.

His… everything... too weak.

Trapped in this magical Labyrinth that resembled a scene from Wonderland, he couldn't even get a signal out to call for a rescue. He'd tried early on to call Oracle... Nightwing... Agent A... Batman... But the only thing he got for his troubles was static.

Tim felt tears flow down his cheeks as his vision became dark and hazy around the edges and his limbs began to grow numb. He could hear the sounds of his pursuers coming closer, searching for him, and he just didn't have the strength anymore to run. All he could do was hide and wait for the inevitable.

Batman was going to lose another Robin.

Dick was going to lose another little brother.

Jack Drake was going to lose his only son.

He was going to die.

"Oh dear. I was almost too late."

A set of dainty white paws walked into his sight line, contrasting starkly against the pool of crimson blood on the floor. Weakly, Tim lifted his gaze.

"Kyubey?"

The magical creature stepped closer to the fallen teenager and took a seat in front of him. They tilted their head slightly. "I tried to warn you. A normal human isn't able to fight a Witch. Only a Magicka Knight has the power to defend against a Witch's curses and attack them in kind."

"I know," Tim whispered. "I should've listened to you."

Kyubey titled their head to the other side. "It's not too late. You can still listen to me."

Despite the cold feeling in his limbs and the shadows in his vision, Tim did his level best to keep his gaze locked on Kyubey, on the one bright spot in his dying world. 

"If you enter a contract with me, you can become a Magicka Knight." Kyubey explained. "You'd be duty bound to fight Witches, but in return I can grant you one wish. Anything in the world your heart desires."

"If I become a Magicka Knight, I'll have to fight this Witch right away, right?"

"I'm afraid so. It's the only way to escape her Labyrinth."

"And there's no guarantee I'll win?"

"I won't lie to you. Turning you into a Magicka Knight is not a promise of victory. But at least you'll have a fighting chance."

Tim closed his eyes and smiled sadly. "Then I want to make a wish that can outlive me, in case I die." When he opened his eyes, tears slipped down his cheeks again. "I wish Bruce Wayne's son, Jason Todd, was alive."

Kyubey's round red eyes seemed to shimmer in the darkness, and the twin gold rings that encircled their longer set of ears started to glow brightly even as Tim's vision finally faded into blackness. As his consciousness slipped away, he heard Kyubey's voice, as if it was very far away.

"As you wish."

 ---

  "Dinner was great, Alfred. Thank you." Tim set down his fork and watched as the kind old butler retrieved his dirty dishes.

"Will you be heading out with Master Bruce this evening?"

Tim got to his feet and placed the cloth napkin that had been on his lap onto the table, though he fidgeted with it a little before finally letting it go. "'Fraid not. B wants me to stay in and 'do my homework'."

Alfred gave him a knowing compassionate look. "I see. Well, if you want to take your dessert upstairs to have while you work on your homework, I'll allow it for tonight. If you need anything else, I'll be in the Cave on comms tonight..

"Thanks Alfred," Tim said with a smile and a quick side-hug. "You're the best!"

Tim made his way upstairs with a small plate of cheesecake topped with strawberries. Once in his bedroom, he closed the door behind him with a sigh.

"Bruce isn't letting you patrol again tonight?" 

The teenager glanced over and watched as Kyubey unwound itself from the fluffy white ball it normally curled into while it napped on Tim's pillow. Tim couldn't help the fond smile as his little friend stretched leisurely and indulged in a wide mouthed yawn. 

"Nope. He's still got his cape in a twist over Jason's whole empty grave thing." Tim shook his head before making his way to the window seat and making himself comfortable. "I think he just wants to make sure I don't wander off either, but it's still annoying! It's been nearly a month and B still won't let me go on any solo patrols." 

"Well, look at the bright side. Now you can get a full night of sleep and wake up early to go Witch hunting before school."

"I suppose."

Tim and his sullen mood weren't alone for long at the window before Kyubey leapt gracefully from the bed to his shoulder. The startled expression on Tim's face lasted only a second before it melted into one of amusement as Kyubey headbutted him affectionately against the cheek. Once they'd managed to wring a chuckle out of the boy, Kyubey hopped down to the window seat where Tim had placed the cheesecake and began sniffing at the selection. Tim watched as his friend picked up the reddest strawberry it could find and popped that into its mouth first, eating it with obvious relish. Then he looked out the window and thought back about the night he became a Magicka Knight, about the moment he set foot back in the cave after defeating his first Witch and claiming his first Grief Seed.

 ---

  "Where have you been?!" 

Batman had stormed up to him the moment Robin pulled up on his motorcycle into the Cave. Tim froze the moment he saw his mentor barrelling toward him. "You're back already?"

"The Joker gas was a false alarm," Bruce said as he pushed back his cowl and grabbed Tim by his upper arms, Tim was startled by the frantic way Bruce's eyes were darting over him. "Where were you?! Barbara sent you to investigate a Hatter sighting, then you didn't check in for hours! It's nearly sunrise. Where have you been?!"

Tim swallowed hard. "I... I got lured into a maze trap by Hatter," he admitted quietly. "The place had some weird interference so my comms were scrambled. Hatter got away and it took me forever to find my way out. I'm sorry."

"Are you hurt?"

Tim shook his head. "I'm fine B. Just... tired. It... was a really long night."

After another long moment of Bruce looking over him, the older man finally seemed to relax. He released his hold on Tim's arms and raked his fingers through his cowl-mussed hair. "Please don't go running off like that ever again, Tim. If anything had happened to you--"

"I know," Tim murmured, his eyes focused on the floor even as he wrapped his arms about himself tightly. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"Master Bruce?"

Both Bruce and TIm turned to see a shaken Alfred coming toward them with a phone in hand. 

"What's wrong?"

"Commissioner Gordon is on the line."

Bruce and Tim shared a confused look. "Why is he calling at this hour?"

Alfred swallowed hard. "He needs 'Bruce Wayne' to come to the precinct as soon as possible. There's been a robbery."

"I don't under--"

"Someone broke into Gotham Cemetery tonight. They stole Master Jason's body."

As Bruce immediately went after Alfred as the old man gave him the phone, Tim stood in the Cave in shock before daring to glance at Kyubey, who had materialized at his heels. 

"My wish... It really came true?"

Kyubey curled their tail around Tim's legs in a comforting gesture. "Of course it did. We made a contract."

 ---

  "I wonder where Jason is," Tim mused aloud as he continued to stare out the window. "I thought he would've come straight home. Bruce has looked everywhere. I've looked everywhere..." He looked at Kyubey who had taken a delicate bite of the cheesecake itself. "Do you have any idea where he went after I made my wish?"

Kyubey looked up at Tim, a curious tilt to their head as they stared back at him with their round red eyes. "I was with you in the Labyrinth when the wish was made," they said matter-of-factly.

Tim shrugged. "Yeah. I know... I guess I was just hoping... Well, I hope he's alright, wherever he is." 

Quietly, Tim studied the new silver ring encircling the ring finger of his right hand as well as the green alchemical symbol of Mercury that was now on his fingernail. The small emerald gem inlaid within the ring itself shimmered with magic. With a smooth motion, Tim turned his palm up and the ring morphed before his eyes into a brilliant green gem encased in an intricate cage of gold, just like a faberge egg. 

His Soul Gem. The source of his power as a Magicka Knight.

For several minutes there was nothing but a comfortable silence as Tim watched the swirling glow of his Soul Gem and Kyubey ate their fill. Once the plate was empty and their paws and muzzle were thoroughly cleaned, Kyubey trotted onto Tim's lap and laid down comfortably. Unconsciously, Tim began to stroke Kyubey's soft whilte fur with his free hand. 

"I just hope Jason comes home soon," Tim said as he finally put his Soul Gem away, turning it back into his ring. "That way, he and Bruce can reunite, they can be a family again, and I can step away from being Robin so I can devote myself to being a Magicka Knight instead."

"In the meantime, it's not so bad for you to be both Robin and a Magicka Knight," Kyubey mused. When Tim glanced down at them, they continued. "You have to admit that nearly every night you go out on patrol as Robin, you stumble upon one or two Labyrinths. Even if we can't get to them immediately to flush out the Witch, at least we know where they are for later!"

Tim grinned. "Yeah. I guess there is a silver lining there." Impulsively, he picked up Kyubey and gathered them into a gentle hug. "Thanks for staying with me."

Kyubey nuzzled the underside of Tim's jawline. "Of course I'm staying with you. You're my Magicka Knight. We're in this together." Kyubey flicked their short pointy ears cutely. "Besides, it's not like Bruce or anyone else can separate us. You're the only one here that can see and hear me."

"I'm glad," Tim said. "It's nice to not be alone all the time." He smiled gratefully at Kyubey. "And it makes being grounded by Bruce easier to swallow when I've got you for company."

Then he glanced back out the window at the dark outlines of Gotham City's skyline when the appearance of the Bat-signal lit up the night sky above it. "Still--" he mused. "I really hope Jason shows up soon. I can't wait to meet him."

[sgtbradfords]

Please could you write a Chenford prompt with this: “Who were you with?”. Thank you! 💖

Thank you for the prompt hon! I hope this does what you requested some justice! It almost stumped me, but then I had an idea about the future and well lord knows my muse had enough fun with it then. ;) Enjoy!

Captain Tim and Lieutenant Lucy Bradford had both turned in for the night, laying in their king-sized bed, talking off and on about things they had heard throughout the day at the department as Tim read the book in his hand, Lucy reading something on her phone.

“He’s going to be late.” She mumbled, noticing the time.

Tim never looked up, turning the page in his book. “He won’t be late.”

“Admit it, he’s going to be late and you can finally pay up.”

Tim looked over at the clock on the nightstand. “He’ll cut it close but he won’t be late, he’s never been late a day in his life.”

“No, because he’s your son. But you may as well pay up now Bradford, he has less than two minutes.”

“Only when he walks through the door at 23:01 Bradford, will you be getting any form of payment.”

The clock hit 10:59 and Lucy began counting down the seconds in her head, making it to twenty-three seconds left when the sound of a thud, something heavy hitting the ground echoed through the house.

They both jolted, Tim’s right hand and Lucy’s left reaching for their guns in the nightstands before thinking better of it.

Heavy footsteps sounded as the person climbed the stairs, stepping on the eighth step, the wood creaking under the pressure as it always had over the past twenty years.

“You ok?” Lucy asked, arching an eyebrow as the person walked into their room. “Just learning to walk?”

“I’m fine, tripped over my feet.” He said, carefully falling onto his stomach on the bed, burying his face into the comforter.

“Did you lock up?”

He sighed, rolling his eyes as he lifted his head. “Yes dad.”

“Did you turn off the lights?”

“I think?” he said after a second “I’ll check before I head to bed.”

Lucy wrinkled her nose as a smell assaulted her senses, “Larson Wade Bradford. Did you not shower after the game?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you use soap? Because you smell like a locker room.”

“Yes mom. You can smell test me if you want.” The teen said as he stuck an arm out.

“I’d prefer not to.” She told him, pressing his arm back down. “Just shower again before bed.”

“You done good tonight. That hit in the third looked brutal, you feeling ok?” Tim asked, placing his book to the side, taking off his reading glasses.

“Conners checked me out and said I was good to go but I swear that linesman hit me right in the lung, knocked the breath out of me. I’m sore, and my head hurts a little.” He shrugged.

“Let me see.” Tim said as he got up from the bed, moving next to his son.

Larson lifted his shirt, the left side of his skin black and blue as Tim began pressing on his side, Larson wincing when it became painful.

“Shit!” he cursed before gritting his teeth.

“Nothing’s broken.”

Lucy cringed at the sight of his marred skin as she got out of the bed, moving to the bathroom, searching the drawers for what she was looking for. She came back, two small white bottles in hand.

“Here, take these.” She said, opening and shaking out two pills into her palm, as he grabbed them and threw them back, dry swallowing. “And put this on after you shower again.”

“Was she this nice to you after you almost died?” joked Larson as he sat back down on the bed.

“Which time?” Tim asked as Lucy lightly slapped his shoulder.

“There’s not been that many.” Lucy told them, rolling her eyes as she climbed back into the bed.

“I was shot on your second day, you flipped the shop, I was infected with a virus, yet another car crash, you were buried alive, another car crash, and how can I ever forget the day you had to ride with Harper and you found that bomb. All within your first year as a boot, sweetheart.”

“You weren’t there for the bomb, I threw the guy out the window.” She smirked. “Besides, look at all the fun we experienced together!”

Tim rolled his eyes. “Your mom calls getting stabbed and shot at fun.”

“No, I’m not talking about that!” She said with a look on her face. “We used to have to go undercover together all the time even after my probationary year.”

“Why?”

“Pretty sure Wade shipped it.” Lucy told him simply.

“No one says shipped any more mom.” Said Larson.

“I’m pretty sure half the department shipped it Luce, you know how much money Wesley won from that bet.”

“Uncle Wesley won over like seven hundred dollars, right?”

“Correct, each person had to bet a hundred dollars.”

“A bunch of cops betting for when two people would hook up, who would have thought.” The seventeen-year-old said rolling his eyes.

“Hey! We got nine hundred dollars to put in your college fund from a bet so no complaining. It’s go big or go home.”

“What is a bet going on right now that involves us?”

“There’s the one of whether or not you father will retire with in the next five years.”

“Not happening.” Tim said as he placed his glasses back on, returning to his book.

“That’s what he thinks.” She stage whispered. “You were cutting it close to curfew tonight.”

Larson grimaced as he rubbed the back of his neck, looking away, a tell-tale sign he had inherited from his father. “Sorry.”

“Who were you with?”

“Hailey, Tyrell, Jonas, Nyah and Max. We went to the diner on Apex.”

“The one with the smiley face pancakes? And you didn’t invite me?”

“No I didn’t invite you, you’re kinda old mom.”

“I am not, I am forty seven! Forty seven is not old! Your father’s closer to sixty than fifty, if anyone is old it’s him!”

“Leave me out of this Luce. Besides, your daughter already thinks I’m a grandpa.”

“She’s twelve, besides she’s only calling you that because she doesn’t like it when you pick her up from school in the shop.”

“It was one time. When you get a call from the principal asking you to come for a meeting because your child punched someone and broke their nose, it warrants the shop. Besides that was before I knew she had punched another kid for bullying someone. We even went for ice cream! I think she is just calling me a grandpa to spite me.”

“Are we sure she’s not adopted? Because I was an angel at her age.”

They both looked at Larson, giving him a dubious look. “Sure you were and remind me again, who broke the window with a slingshot when they were her age?”

“Don’t forget he called 9-1-1 when he was six because he couldn’t remember a phone number.”

“Why remember a number when it’s programmed in your phone!” he argued.

“Scared me to death when you came flying up the drive, I had no idea what was going on.”

“He hung up the phone! And when I couldn’t get ahold of you, not knowing he hid the phone, I freaked out ok.”

“I know honey.” She said placing a kiss on cheek. “To answer your original question Larson, I know for a fact I spent thirteen hours in labor with her, she is in fact your sister, thank you.”

“She’s just inherited your mother’s rebellious streak a few years early.”

“My rebellious streak? You were the definition of a stereotypical bad boy Mr. Bradford.”

“You would have loved it.” He smirked.

“I find it hard to believe you had a rebellious phase mom.”

“Have you met your grandparents?”

“Good point.” He said as a yawn escaped. “I think I’m going turn in for the night, coach wants us at the field house by nine to review the tape.”

“Night kiddo, love you.”

“Love you guys too.” He said as he sluggishly walked out the door. “Oh, I’m taking Hailey out for lunch so I won’t be home until sometime tomorrow afternoon.”

“Ok, be careful. Text one of us if something changes.” Lucy said as he closed the bedroom door.

“You know, I think we’ve done a pretty good job with him.”

Tim smiled a twinkle in his eye as he placed the glasses and book on the nightstand. “I think we have too. Let’s just hope Angela and Wesley are ok with our son dating their youngest daughter.”

“How much you wanna bet Bradford, that they’ll both be boots by the time they’re twenty-five?” Lucy asked smirking as she walked her fingers up his arm, causing Tim to growl as he tackled his wife to the bed, his bodyweight pinning her to the mattress.

“How much do you wanna bet boot, that they’ll be married to each other by the time they’re twenty-eight?

“Wager the usual?” Lucy asked as Tim began kissing and sucking on her neck, causing her to shiver, even after close to being married for twenty years.

“As long as they don’t give us grandkids within the next ten years, it’s a bet.”

“We haven’t done this while they’ve been home in a while.” She gasped in his ear as his lower half thrusted against her, Lucy pulling down the sweatpants he was wearing. “Think we can still keep quiet and not get caught old man?”

Tim smirked as he reached for the hem of her nightgown, pulling it up as she pulled her upper body off the mattress, placing a thirsty kiss to his mouth before mumbling against his lips. “Guess we’ll find out tomorrow sweetheart.”

[thefuriousstarlightstudent]

Best Friends

So I’ve got another fic. This one is pretty much pure angst and has a few different warnings. So without further ado, here are the warnings:

Horror of the psychological variety. Some description of injuries. Panic Attacks/Metal Breakdowns, brainwashing, and death. Some allusions to depression, but those are lighter. Also swearing.

Onto the story! Link is also up here because this is a long one!

Ao3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17595908

Then

2015

The terror, pure, unfiltered, terror hit him almost as soon as he fires the gun.

Daddy's not gonna like that, a voice says gleefully, snickering the whole time. Mommy's isn't either. You've been a bad boy. Better get ready to be PuNiShEd!

Then the flag hits Daddy's back and goes through his chest, piercing his heart. The voice in his head goes silent for the first time in days and he feels a giggle bubble up in his throat and escapes.

"That's not funny…"

Then Daddy stops laughing and falls to the ground, twitching. He continues to stare in sick fascination until the blood slowly staining the floor is a huge puddle instead of just a few drops. He grins even wider until his mouth starts to hurt. He looks at Batman and giggles again. He drops the gun dangling from his fingers. A blood-wrenching cackle bursts out of his mouth, dark and dangerous and gleeful. He's free. Daddy's gone - Dead as a doornail, the voice sings - and Mommy's nowhere in sight.

He hardly notices someone grabbing his shoulders and holding him as he collapses to the ground, still laughing. He's crying too, but that doesn't matter as much. He's safe. He's safe. Daddy's gone for good and now he can just laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and-

"Tim, snap out of it," a voice begs brokenly. He looks up and through the tears streaming down his face, he sees a girl with red hair wearing a cowl. He's sure he knows her from before, but he's not allowed to think about before. Before is for good boys. He's not a good boy. Daddy and Mommy both say so. They punished him a lot, he thinks giggling out loud. "Please, Tim, please."

He doesn't like being called Tim. Tim is from before and thinking about before is bad and it means he'll be punished and he doesn't want to be punished he wants to be a good boy for Daddy and Mommy and he doesn't want to be punished anymore and he can't be called Tim because he's Junior, not Tim. He's a good boy. Not a bad boy. He listens but Daddy's dead and Mommy's gone so maybe it's okay to think about before but thinking about before brought pain so maybe he shouldn't.

He can't decide so he just laughs. And laughs more. And more. More. More. More. More! More! More! More! More! And laughs more! Laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing!

He just keeps laughing and crying and crying and laughing and laughing and crying and crying and laughing until something pricks his neck and his vision slides into darkness.

When they first arrive, Barabara still has hope. She and Bruce both think finding the Joker and Harley Quinn doesn't have anything to do with Tim being missing. That neither of them is involved in the newest Robin's disappearance. That's why they don't call Dick. They have him continue working with M'gann and Conner looking into the Light, who they suspect is responsible for taking Tim.

She wishes it had been the Light.

Because Tim is like a little brother to her. He doesn't deserve this. He hasn't even been Robin for two months. And now a whole month of that has been spent with the Joker.

At first, neither she nor Bruce understands what they've walked into. It's supposed to just be another mission to catch the Joker. Then there's that reel of film the Joker has rolling. It doesn't even show everything, she thinks, feeling sick. Just some electroshock 'therapy' as the Joker says and the result, Tim, huddles in the corner of the room, no longer strapped to the table and mumbling answers to every question the Joker asks.

Then the Joker appears from behind the screen followed by Harley, both going off in a monologue about children and adoption. Then they call for 'Junior' and Tim appears. He's smiling unnaturally wide and his eyes are glazed. He trots right over to Harley, giving her a stilted hug. She responds by patting his head.

When she first sees him she almost throws up. Tim is so pale he's almost white. He's always been a paler kid, but not like this. Not white. His hair is green and she can't see his roots in it at all.

The fight after that is over simultaneously quicker than she can blink but also takes a lifetime. It ends with Harley gone and the Joker dead on the floor. Tim kills him.

Then he laughs. And he doesn't stop. Not until she makes him.

"God, Bruce," Barbara says, pulling her cowl down and looking at him. "God. That… that monster!"

"I know, Barbara," Bruce whispers, staring at the Joker's body. He's not looking at her or Tim, who's knocked out in her lap thanks to some quick thinking. At the rate he'd been going he probably would have kept laughing until he died. "I know."

"Tim is thirteen. He's thirteen and that sick fucker did this to him," she growls. "I need, God, we need to get him home, B. He needs help. The Joker bleached his skin."

And it is bleach, she can tell now, being this close. God, Tim's skin is going to be burned all over. He has burn scars on his forehead from the shock's the Joker kept doing to him who knows how many times. At least, she finds herself thinking, he'd left Tim's mouth alone. She's seen what he's done to people when they don't 'smile' big enough for him. She doesn't want Tim to have to deal with that too.

"Get Tim home, Barbara. Tell Alfred you're on your way. Call Leslie and Dick. Get them there too. No one else."

"What about you?" she asks.

Bruce finally turns to look at her. He looks… sad. Defeated.

"Someone's got to make sure no one finds the body, don't they?"

When they arrive at the Batcave, Tim is just starting to stir. He's not laughing, so that's good, at least in Barbara's head. He sits up in the backseat as she parks, rubbing his eyes blearily and looking confused.

Barbara takes a deep breath, preparing herself, and turns around. She pulls her cowl down and smiles gently at him. Tim merely looks at her, slightly perturbed. There's no sign of recognition anywhere. At least he doesn't seem scared of her.

"How are you feeling?" she asks. She hopes her smile isn't coming off as a grimace.

Tim, for his part, almost seems to be… curious. He tilts his head, considering. He doesn't answer her.

"Alfred is here and Dick is on his way," she forges on. "So is Dr. Thompkins. She's going to take a look at you. Make sure you're okay. Do you want to… how about we get you into some better clothes."

Tim looks down at his clothes then and frowns slightly as if just noticing the sick replica of the Joker's own wardrobe he's wearing. He looks back up at her, brow furrowed. Then he nods, just barely and very jerky, but it's still a nod.

"Okay," Barbara gasps, relieved beyond words that at least he understands her, even if he seems unwilling to talk. God, if the Joker were still alive she'd kill him herself.

She opens the door and hops out of the driver's seat, then she opens the back door, grabbing Tim by the hand and gently tugging him after her. He follows silently, letting her bring him towards the showers.

"Here we are," she says cheerily, all false. Alfred isn't down here yet, probably still getting a hold of Dick. So it's up to her to get Tim cleaned up. "I'm going to get the shower started. Why don't you sit there," she adds, gesturing to a plastic chair kept by the showers. She's not actually sure why it's kept there, to be honest. She's just glad it is.

Tim listens, walking over there and sitting down. He plays with his fingers, interlocking them and releasing them over and over again. His green hair falls in front of his face, blocking her view of his face. She watches him a few moments longer before turning the shower on, waiting for the water to warm up.

It doesn't take long before it's plenty warm. She shakes her hand out and tosses her gloves to the side of the room. Tim is still sitting there. Still playing with his fingers. God, he's thirteen. Thirteen! The Joker isn't just a monster. He can't even be called human. He took Jason away from them, blew him up. And now he's broken Tim's mind. Tim, who's the smartest, kindest, most amazing person she's ever known.

"Come here," she says softly, tapping Tim on the shoulder. His head snaps up, fixing her with a curious stare. She gestures for him to stand up. "I'm going to get you some new clothes. You take off these ones and shower, okay? There's a towel for when you're done over there," she says, pointing to the stack on a shelf. "I'll be right outside the room. If you need me just call, okay? Or make noise."

Tim nods again, this time it's less jerky that when she'd asked him if he wanted to take a shower. She takes that as a positive. She probably should make sure he showers alright, but after what he's been through he deserves a few moments to himself. He deserves to have his privacy.

They keep warm sweatpants and sweaters in the Batcave's locker room that fit everyone as a precaution. She never knew what they could possibly be used for before tonight.

She waits outside the showers, listening to the water run and leaning the back of her head against the wall. After a few minutes, the water turns off. Tim emerges, wrapped in a towel. His hair is still green, but at least his skin isn't as pale. He'd been bleached, but it looks like it was only his face and arms. The rest has washed off and revealed his normal skin tone. Even his face isn't as pale as it had been. That, at least, is a relief. Not as much damage as she'd first thought.

"Here are the clothes," she says, setting them down on the ground. "I'll turn around while you get dressed."

She does just that, listening to the slight rustling sounds of him getting dressed. A few moments later the noises stop. She waits until she's sure he's dressed and turns around.

The sweatpants and sweater dwarf him, despite being his size. He's lost a lot of weight under the Joker's 'care'. His face is gaunt and his fingers are too bony. He looks like a lost little kid. He looks confused like he doesn't quite understand what's going on around him. That almost hurts more than anything else. Tim is sharp as a tack. He's not one who should be this confused, not ever.

"Let's go and sit down in the medical bay," she says. Tim grabs her hand. Barbara's eyes shoot to him, but he's hiding behind his hair again, which is falling into his face, dripping slightly. She squeezes his had, which seems to comfort him because Tim leans against her. "This way."

They arrive, and it's only once they're there that she realizes maybe being here isn't a good idea. Tim immediately starts to hyperventilate, looking at her with big, scared eyes.

"It's okay," she tries. Tim just pulls away from her, hugging himself around the middle and shaking like a leaf. "Here, look. It's fine. I'll sit here with you." She hops onto the hospital bed, patting beside here. "I'm safe and you'll be too. I promise, Tim."

This, finally, seems to work. He stops, moving closer to her timidly. His eyes are darting around him, but he finally sits down carefully next to her.

"See, it's safe," she chirps. "I'll stay here the whole time, Tim."

He leans against her again at that, humming slightly, the first time she's heard him make noise since she knocked him out. The first noise she's heard him make in about a month that isn't bad. Isn't a sign of how much the Joker messed him up.

"Oh my," a voice says quietly from behind her. Tim spins around, tense and scared. Barbara looks slower, placing a hand on Tim's shoulder to let him know he's safe. Let him know Alfred won't hurt him.

"It's okay, Tim. It's just Alfred. He's safe," she whispers to Tim.

"Master Tim," Alfred says softly. "How is he, Miss Barbara?"

Barbara smiles sadly at him. "He's tough. He'll get better, eventually. I'll tell you later. Did you call Dick and tell him we found Tim?"

"Yes, I did. He's on his way now," Alfred replies.

"Okay, okay," Barbara says, stroking Tim's hair until he finally relaxes and leans against her again. "When he gets here, make sure he doesn't just come running down here. I want Leslie to look at him first."

"Of course," Alfred says, then looks around. "And where is Master Bruce?"

"He's… he's taking care of a body." Barbara doesn't meet Alfred's eyes. "I'll explain later. But we can't have anyone finding it."

Alfred raises an eyebrow. "It will be explained to me."

"It will," she promises. "Just not here. Not where he can hear."

"Of course. I will go and wait for Dr. Thompkins to arrive. We don't want to overwhelm Master Tim."

"No, no we don't" she agrees, glancing down at Tim. He's closed his eyes, but he's obviously still awake. This is probably the first time he's felt safe since he went missing. God, how messed up is that?

Alfred leaves.

"I'm so sorry it took us so long to find you, Tim. I swear we were looking, even if that monster said we weren't." Barbara sighs. "We missed you, Tim. I really missed you. I'm sorry this even happened to you."

And Tim, he looks up at her and for the first time since he's been here his eyes are clearer, filled with tears and wavering, but clear.

"Mi-mi-mi-missed y-y-you-ou to-o-oo," he manages before closing his eyes, breathing deeply.

Barbara feels tears fill her eyes too and squeezes them shut, pulling Tim close and hugging him tightly resting her head on top of his.

After everything, once Bruce is back and Dick's here and Leslie's checked Tim out and chewed Bruce up, Tim is asleep peacefully. They have a long list of what to do, including calling Black Canary over as a therapist. It isn't like they can just use a normal one, especially in Gotham.

"The Joker, Bruce!" Dick snaps, quiet enough so that Tim doesn't stir. "The Joker had him! You're lucky he's alive."

"You think I don't know that, Dick?" Bruce snaps back.

"Dick, let it go. We can all yell at each other later," Barbara says tiredly, rubbing her forehead with her fingers. "Bruce, just stop getting mad too. We need to focus on Tim."

And that means a lot. Skin treatment to repair the damage the bleach had done. A cocktail of anti-infection medication to make sure nothing gets infected. Trying to figure out what the hell the Joker had done to Tim's hair because it's growing in green at the roots too. It's not just dyed. Making sure he has no permanent brain damage from being electrocuted. Therapy. This isn't a quick fix.

"Tim's going to need a lot of love. And he doesn't need to hear you two trying to kill each other!"

"I'll get to work on something for the Joker Venom in his system," Bruce offers, which is the closest thing they'll get to him admitting he'll listen.

"I'll let Conner and M'gann know we found Robin," Dick adds.

"No details," Bruce says. "Tim wouldn't want them to know. If he wants to share he can, but only when he wants to."

"Agreed," Barbara says. "You don't have to lie to them, just don't tell them what happened to him."

Dick nods. "Okay."

Barbara looks over at Tim again. He looks peaceful, almost like the same kid he'd been a month ago. But he's not. His hair is green and his face is white and he has electrocution scars on his forehead. He can't even talk, not really. He started laughing, earlier. When Leslie was checking him out. The Joker Venom is really messing with him. But he's still Tim. He's still their Tim.

"But… how do we know the Joker won't do something like this again?" Dick asks. "That he won't come back for Tim? He knows who we are, you said."

"He won't," Bruce says grimly. "The Joker is dead."

It's quiet for a moment. Dick's face goes through a large range of emotions but eventually settles on shock. And disbelief.

"Bruce, you didn't…"

"Tim killed the Joker, Dick," Barbara says, looking him in the eyes. "The Joker told him to kill Bruce and he shot the Joker."

"God," Dick breaths. "Oh my God." He's looking at Tim now. "Timmy…"

"He'll get better, Dick. Tim is strong." Barbara smiles crookedly, glancing at Dick.

"I know he will," Dick says fondly. "But Tim didn't deserve this."

"No one did, Dick," Bruce says. "And that's why we're going to help him."

"And no more Robin," Dick says. "This has been twice now, Bruce. He's going to die. I can't deal with another little brother being killed."

"No more Robin," Bruce agrees.

"Good luck with that," Barbara whispers, looking over at Tim, quiet enough that neither of them hears her.

After a week Tim is already improving in leaps and bounds. The bleach burns on his skin are healing, but his skin is healing pale, almost as pale as it was from the bleaching. Bruce suspects Joker had something that made it permanent in the bleach. It's the same with the hair. It's been growing in green, not Tim's normal black. Barbara hopes it'll stop, but for how crazy the Joker was, he was a genius.

Tim's been talking again. He doesn't say much. They suspect because of the trauma. Talking meant getting punished. And even though he knows logically that won't happen, it's a lot to get over.

He hasn't laughed since, and that's probably good, to be honest. Bruce has been trying, but he hasn't been able to get all the Joker Venom out of Tim's bloodstream. None of them know what will happen if he starts laughing. None of them know if he'll be able to stop.

He seems to know what happens when he laughs and he doesn't try to anymore. He doesn't smile either, but that's okay for now. As long as he gets better, Barbara doesn't care what it takes.

Leslie is coming every day. She has other patients, yeah, but she also cares about Tim a lot. Bruce had offered to get a doctor from the Justice League. She'd turned him down. Told him that Tim was her responsibility.

The only other person who knows what happened, fully, is Dinah Drake. Bruce calls her right away, sets it up for her to come over every day for the foreseeable future. She's Tim's therapist.

It helps, Barbara can tell. He's still healing, but he's getting better. His violent outburst sopped completely after the first few days. He's more like Tim again, just quieter. Sadder. He carries a weight with him, one he didn't before.

Tim gets better. It takes weeks, months, really, but he gets better. He can tell he's still damaged, scarred. He's not an idiot. He's not going to pretend that he doesn't have nightmares. That he doesn't hate himself for what happened.

(He can't bring himself to regret killing the Joker though. He doesn't think he'll ever regret that.)

He hates his stupid skin and he hates his hair. He hates the Joker for doing this to him, marking him as a victim forever. Tim takes to wearing turtlenecks and sweaters that make it hard to tell he has such a large difference in skin tone. He dyes his hair monthly to keep it black, to keep the green from showing. He practices meditation. Black Canary, Dinah, comes over once a week for him to talk to.

The point is Tim's better, maybe not as good as before, but better. And he wants to be Robin again. Bruce and Dick are firm. They refuse. But Tim isn't going to let that stop him. Why should he? It didn't before when Bruce said no.

He prepares for weeks, hacking a backdoor into the zeta beam and adding himself in, making sure no one catches it. He keeps up on his training behind locked doors. He steals his spare uniform out of a locker.

H waits until Bruce is at the weekly Watchtower meeting for the Justice League and Dick and Barbara are on a date. He goes to Mount Justice.

People must hear him the zeta beam power up because when he gets there he sees Superboy, Miss Martian, Beast Boy, and Aqualad waiting. Staring. At him.

"Hi," he says quietly, raising his hand in greeting. "I'm Robin."

"I am aware," Aqualad says sternly. "I was told by Nightwing you were not joining the Team for the foreseeable future."

It's a question hidden in a statement. Tim shrugs. He doesn't smirk or smile. It's still dangerous for him to with the Joker Venom Bruce hasn't been able to get out of him fully. Probably won't ever be able to free Tim from.

"Plans changed. I got sick of waiting around. I figure may as well not give anyone a choice."

"I like you," Beast Boy declares. "You seem cool. Want to hang out?"

"Sure?" Tim says.

He's never really hung out. Heck, he hasn't been to school or near anyone his age in months. He's not going to be allowed back in school until Bruce is sure his 'violent outbursts' are finished with. It's hard though. The anger sneaks up on Tim when he's not paying attention, biding its time until he's so full of it he may burst.

Sometimes he can feel them coming, but it just feels better to yell and scream and kick things and throw things. Dinah says that it's not a symptom of the Joker Venom. She tells Bruce it's normal for children who've been exposed to stressful situations to be prone to bursts of anger.

Doesn't help him if it's normal or not though. Tim's well trained. That makes him a lot more dangerous than any normal kid would be during bursts of anger like his.

He follows Beast Boy, smiling. There's no way Bruce will be able to keep him from Robin.

"What were you thinking?" Bruce asks. He's calm, calmer than he usually is when he's mad. Granted he had to act calm in front of the Team when he caught Tim and dragged him back to the Batcave.

"I was thinking I'm ready. I'm not some kid, Bruce! You can't keep me from this. It won't work. We both know I'm too smart."

"So you weren't thinking. Tim, you're-"

"Dangerous," Tim spits, tearing his mask off and throwing it to the floor. "I know. I'm a danger. I'm violent. I'm angry. I'm a killer." His voice breaks on the last word. He's ashamed to notice that angry tears are spilling out of his eyes.

"Tim, I don't want you to get hurt," Bruce whispers, almost too quiet for Tim to hear.

"I won't, Bruce," Tim says, also quietly. He's facing away from Bruce. He can't show weakness. "The Joker is dead. I killed him. Harley is in the wind. And unless I suffer another mental breakdown I should be okay. We both know most of the Team can take me down if need be."

"Please, don't do this," Bruce begs. And it is begging, Tim can tell.

"I think I have to," Tim says, turning around a furrowing his brow. "I need to help people. I just… Bruce, you know what I mean. You wouldn't be able to just stop, would you? It's like that. Every moment I'm here instead of helping people I just bottle up all of this energy and I feel like I'm always bouncing my leg waiting for you. Hell, you don't even let me in the Batcave without supervision!"

"Fine, Tim! Fine!" Bruce says, somehow throwing a massive amount of energy into those three words without even raising his voice. "Fine. You can join the Team. Nightwing will bring you next training day. But not Gotham, not yet. Not until you've shown me you can handle it."

"As long as I can run comms here while you're out," Tim negotiates.

Bruce cracks a smile. "If I'm out later than 1 am you go to sleep and trade off with Alfred."

"If that's what it takes," Tim says, holding his hand out.

Bruce grabs it and gives it a firm shake, sealing the deal.

Now

2017

"Intel was off," Cassie's voice says across the comms. "We've got Harley Quinn with Poison Ivy. Better get them both."

Tim feels himself freeze.

"Robin, you work with Blue and take down Harley. Kid Flash and I will handle Ivy," Cassie continues.

"You got it," Jamie says from next to Tim. It rings through the comms a second later. "Robin and I will handle her."

"Just wait until Wonder Girl and I lure Ivy away," Bart says. "Better that we don't have to deal with them working together. You know how much that'd suck."

"Affirmative," Jamie says. He turns to look at Tim and flips his comm off. At least the part that lets them hear what he's saying. "You okay, esé? You're kind of pale."

That is almost enough to make Tim want to laugh. But no, he wasn't okay. He couldn't just tell anyone that though. He'd just have to deal with this one his own and hope Harley didn't say or do anything.

"I'm fine," Tim manages, giving Jamie what probably isn't a very comforting look. "I'll be fine," he amends. "I just don't like dealing with Harley."

"At least it's been a few years since the Joker popped up," Jamie offers.

Tim turns away.

"Yeah," he manages. "At least."

From there it all goes according to plan, mostly, that is. Except for the end. When Harley manages to see him in the shadows. He'd been able to land hits on her without her seeing him while she was looking at Jamie. That didn't work forever, apparently.

"Birdie?" she asks, cheery and pleasantly shocked. "I'm glad to see ya! I see those scars Mr. J gave you healed! Too bad about the hair though; I've always been fond of green."

"I haven't," Tim snaps. She blocks a series of kicks, flipping away and dodging Jamie's blast.

"I've missed Mr. J since he died," she goes on fondly. "You were a bad boy, killing him, Junior."

Tim freezes. Harley takes advantage of that and goes after him. Tim is only saved by Jamie finally hitting her with his sonics and knocking her out against a tree. Another attack pins her.

"Robin, you alright!" Jamie exclaims, grabbing Tim by the shoulders when he's finished. "What happened there?"

"N-nothing," Tim stammers. "I'm fine."

"You froze, hermano," Jamie says. "What was she talking about? Calling you Junior and green hair? Scars? Killing the Joker?!"

"It's not important," Tim tries, shaking his head furiously. "Please, Jamie, let it go."

"What's going on?" he asks. "Tim, tell me. It's okay."

Vaguely Tim realizes he's shaking all over. His eyes are tearing up. He collapses like a puppet with his strings cut. He feels Jamie wrap his arms around him in a hug.

"We're back!" Bart cheers suddenly, appearing next to them. "Poison Ivy is neutra-"

He falls silent, no-doubt at the sight of Tim sobbing and Jamie hugging him tightly. Tim hardly hears Jamie tell Bart to get Cassie. Even more vaguely he hears Cassie arrive.

"Tim, you're okay," she says. "Just please, please tell us what's wrong. Please, Tim."

He should be telling them no names in the field. He should be okay, shrugging all this off. He should be a million other things, but he's not. He's scared and alone and thirteen again, trapped with the Joker and Harley, being tortured and electrocuted and terrified.

He doesn't even know what he's doing when he starts laughing and sobbing. All he knows is he can't stop and he's not sure he wants to. God, he's so scared and lonely.

"Tim!" he hears someone exclaim distantly. He can't bring himself to care. He just laughs and he knows he shouldn't be laughing but he can't help himself. Nothing's okay and he doesn't know if it even has been since he was thirteen and innocent. Since before he was Robin. He doesn't really think anything ever will be okay again.

Then the world goes dark.

When Tim wakes up he's alone in one of the medical bays on the Watchtower. Okay, not alone, he amends, seeing Bart, Cassie, Jamie, and Dinah waiting for him. Bart is asleep. Cassie's face is buried in her hands. Jamie's on his phone. Dinah is looking over what must be his chart.

"Hey," he croaks. Wow, his throat is sore. What happene-

Oh.

That's what happened.

"Tim!" Cassie exclaims. "You're awake."

"Tim!" Bart shouts, jerking awake.

Jamie levels him with a look.

"Good to see you're okay, Tim," Dinah says gently. "They refused to leave until they knew you were okay."

"And what happened," Jamie says.

"Yeah!" Bart cheers. "No way we're leaving you alone until we know what's going on."

Tim starts to shake his head.

"Tim, you really scared us, you know," Cassie says.

And Tim knows his secret isn't going to be a secret from his best friends (and girlfriend) any longer.

"I'll tell you," he whispers, looking at the ceiling. "Promise. Just, tomorrow, okay? You can come to my house."

They all share a look before nodding.

"Now shoo," Dinah says fondly. "I need to talk to Tim."

His sessions are upped to twice a week. They'd been down to twice a month before all this. He goes home a few hours later. Alfred makes him spend the day in bed, sleeping. Dick probably hasn't even heard about it. Not that Tim expects him to have. Dick's been… distant since Wally's death.

The next day Tim beams Cassie, Bart, and Jamie into the Batcave.

"Hey, Tim," Cassie greets him, unusually subdued. All of them are, actually, even Bart. That, beyond anything else, is weird.

They all stand in silence for much too long. Awkward doesn't even begin to describe it.

"What do you want to know?" Tim finally offers.

"What happened to you?" Jamie asks seriously.

Tim averts his gaze from all of them. "I guess the closest term would be a mental breakdown. I know, it's not what you may expect, and I know it's dumb, but I just hate it when she calls me Junior."

"Tim, you're the strongest person I know," Cassie says. "It's okay to have weaknesses. It doesn't make me, us, any of us, love you any less."

"Ditto," Bart adds helpfully. "But, why Junior."

Tim shudders at the word. "It's a long story. I just, I never wanted to share it. Have you guys ever heard about how I started as Robin but didn't join the Team for almost seven months and when I finally did I had to sneak to the cave?"

"Once," Jamie says. "But I thought Batman was just protective of you."

Tim laughs bitterly. "He was, but more he didn't want me to hurt anyone else." They all look slightly alarmed. "I wouldn't have meant to, but I wasn't exactly in the healthiest mental state at the time. The Joker, I'd been Robin for a month and the Joker caught me. He killed the previous Robin, you know? I thought he was going to kill me. He wasn't."

"What happened?" Cassie asks.

"The Joker wanted a sidekick, I suppose. And to hurt Batman. He tortured me," Tim says, looking at them for the first time since he started explaining. "Electrocution. Wanted me to be pale like him, so bleach. Green hair dye. It was, three weeks of that, I think. Not just electrocution, but you get the picture. I was pretty willing to tell him everything I know."

Tim closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

"He dressed me up like him, I think. I don't remember it all that well. Batgirl tells me he did. They - Harley and the Joker - called me Junior. They tried to get me to shoot Batman."

"What happened?" Bart breaths.

"I shot the Joker," Tim says. "He died. Just… I haven't seen Harley since. It was harder than I thought it would be. There are still scars, I guess, and not just mentally. My skin, I'm pretty careful, but whatever chemicals the Joker put in his bleach have left my skin pretty pale, a lot paler than it used to be. My hair still grows in green. I dye it a lot. It takes a lot since most of it doesn't stick long."

"Tim, you could have told us. We would have understood," Cassie cries, grabbing him in a tight hug.

"Yeah, hermano," Jamie says, joining in the hug. "We're friends."

"Best friends!" Bart exclaims, wrapping his thin arms around all of them in a surprising show of strength. "Just say the word and we'll listen, no judgment!"

"I know," Tim says softly. "I know."

[dreadnought-despair]

[CHAPTER 2 - 003]

A few of the other students glanced up as I entered the lobby. I was one of the last to arrive-- the only one missing now was Tiffani.

Nikola noticed her absence too, and doubled back towards the dorms. "Maybe she won't slam the door in my face this time!" he'd said... Good luck with that.

Nobody looked like they were in much better shape now than they were this morning, after the trial. Maybe they didn't say anything out loud, but you could see their grief in the weary glances they shared, the ways they slumped on the furniture or bowed their head in sorrow.

The only one who didn't seem affected by the oppressive atmosphere was Salvatore. He paced around the room thoughtfully, scribbling in his little black notebook-- always watching, always taking notes.

When he saw me, he snapped the notebook shut and sauntered up to the head of the group.

"Hey Tim. Good to see you up and about." He smiled, but his voice was solemn, like a pastor at a funeral.

"I am up and about... That's about all I've got going for me."

"Don't sell yourself short, dear. That's still impressive, given... everything that's happened."

Everything that's happened...

It didn't matter how indirectly he addressed the terrible events of the past twenty-four hours-- the memories still hit me, and everyone else, like a ton of bricks. The silence that followed was stifling.

Finally, someone else spoke up. It was Aoi, leaning against the spray-painted door, picking at the hem of their oversized sweater.

"...Is Ishi, um..."

"Oh!" Right, that was literally the whole reason I'd come here. "She's okay! Or well... alive, at least."

"Oh thank god." Vasundhara heaved a sigh of relief, echoed by the rest of the crowd.

"Finally, some good news..." Yusra's voice was as steady as ever, but she fidgeted constantly with the ring on her right hand.

"It is good, that we do not have another death on our hands..." Siegfried's frown only grew deeper. "But two... It is still far too many."

"Such a pointless waste of life..."

"You can fuckin' say that again."

"..."

"God... poor Honoka... an' Guga..."

Jurou was in the worst shape of all of us-- the eyeliner made it painfully obvious just how many tears he'd shed today.

The room fell into mournful silence again. Each of us waited for someone else to say something comforting so we could nod in agreement, but... What could we say? Honoka and Gugalanna were dead. Our lives were in constant danger. Things really were this freaking awful.

Eventually, though, Jurou sighed and dabbed at his makeup with a polka-dotted handkerchief.

"B-but she said.. dun' cry too much. So I'll try an'... sorry..."

Right. Don't give up, work together, keep a smile on your face... Those were Honoka's last words to us. Would she have said the same, if she'd known those would be her last words?

Vasundhara put a broad hand on Jurou's shoulder.

"...It's okay."

"Of course you're allowed to have feelings, dear. You're human."

"...But we also have to keep moving forward. I don't think those two things are mutually exclusive.”

Jurou nodded silently, though he didn’t look all that convinced yet.

"Yes, the best thing we can do for them now is try to escape before we lose anyone else."

"We have to take any chance we can to get ahead of MONO-9000..."

"...Where is Herr Robot?"

That was a good question, actually. Shouldn’t he be here, cackling at our misery?

"Haven't... seen him."

"I guess he could be busy with, ah-- whatever he's-- he's doing to Ishi."

"That was..." Yusra's brow furrowed. "... a strange ordeal."

"Y-yeah... But she's alive, so!"

"...Hopefully..."

Before I could ask them what the hell that was supposed to mean, we heard Tiffani's endless stream of complaints echo down the hallway. A defeated Nikola tagged along behind her as she slumped into the lobby.

"Looks like everyone's here now!"

"Not by my own goddamned volition," she growled, kicking Nikola in the shin.

"Ow-- I-I'm sure it's something important!"

"Is it?"

Everyone turned to look at Salvatore. I wondered how many pens he went through in a week, chewing on them like he did.

"Well... it may not be practical, but it's definitely important."

"What--"

"Has anybody else looked at the map on their ElectroID since the trial?"

"I don't think I've looked at my ElectroID, like, ever..."

Truth be told, if I hadn't gotten that text from Ishi, I probably would've forgotten about my ElectroID, too. I'd definitely forgotten about the map-- there were only five rooms aside from the dorms, right?

Well, not anymore, apparently...

The map for [Sector 2] is now available.

"A whole new sector?!"

"The... athletics sector?"

Tiffani shot Nikola a glare of utter disgust and betrayal.

"What the fuck, man? THIS is what you dragged me out of my room for?!"

"Heyheyhey, I didn't know what it was gonna be! P-please don't yell..."

I can't say I was pleased about this turn of events, either. Classrooms or archives might have had paperwork that could shine light on our situation, a computer lab or communications room could have gotten us contact with the outside world...

But that would've been too easy, I guess. Instead we have a gym.

"Well, this is fantastic."

"What, are you allergic to exercise?"

"N-no, I just--"

“--hehe--” It’s not that funny, guys.

"--I think we should all go look around, even if it's not to our tastes, hm? Maybe we'll find something useful!"

"Like what? A dumbbell? We've got plenty of those already."

"Th-that's not very nice..."

"Dumbbells are an important part of any strength training workout!"

"I-I don't think that's what she meant..."

"At least we have a clinic, should something... happen."

“Happen again, you mean. Could’ve used a clinic a few days ago.”

"And there's a pool... Ain't we in space? Howzat work?"

"I wonder what that bit is about the lockers..."

"Well, if we hurry, maybe we can scope the place out before MONO shows up to further ruin our day..."

Salvatore nodded for us to follow and stalked off around the (metaphorical) corner, heels clicking against the metal floor. Some of us were... more reluctant to join him than others, but we all eventually found our way into Sector 2. Like Sal and Yusra said, we had to stay on top of whatever MONO-9000 threw at us.

...And maybe, I told myself, I won’t hate the gym so much if we don’t have gym class. Maybe.

[PREVIOUS] [NEXT]

[writtenwordsoffic]

Hidden Rooms - Part 2

Part 1 

Jughead has followed a mysterious new girl to a room that provides students with escape. He starts to learn more about the girl to only find himself infatuated with her.

Jughead x Reader

Word Count: 2,578

Masterlist

Taglist: @sgarrett49

It was the final bell and I was off to my locker. As I turned a corner, there she was again. She was leaned up against the wall of lockers and upon seeing me, perked up from her position.

“You knew where my locker was?”, I gave an eyebrow.

“Not that big of a school Jughead”, she gave a small smile. “You’ll want to leave your stuff here”, she motioned to my bag and such.

“Where are we going?”, my curiosity had grown since earlier that day. Once again I felt like I was about to follow her to another secret.

She looked down at her phone, “Come on, it’s almost time”. She slightly grasped my wrist after I closed my locker door and I followed her step. We seemed to be going an opposite direction to every student we passed. We made it back up to the hallway that we were in earlier that day but instead of turning left, she made a right.

She opened the door in front of her as I was pretty sure where we were, “isn’t this the auto shop?”.

She passed me some darkened eye gear, “put these on when you’re in this room”. I followed suit to what she was doing. She looked at my clothes for a second, “take off your jacket, your going to get hot in that”. She led out a hand near a coat rack on the wall.

“It’s November…”. I knew I had a questionable look on my face.

She gave an arched eyebrow.

“Okay okay…”, I gave her my jacket and she hung it for me. I once again followed her step as I saw the rather large garage door to the room open.

“Hey Ben”, she gave a slight shout as there was music playing and a guy with a rather large torch against the wall gave a wave while going back to his work.

“Where are we going?”, she was making her way outside and I could feel warmth coming from the air.

We were outside when she took the darkened goggles off and I did the same. “If you go back in there, put these on if Ben is working okay?” I gave a nod.

She made her way up to a side of the school and while I could feel a slight breeze from the air, warmth was radiating in the direction we were heading.

I saw a couple of adults and once again Tim . Y/N seemed to be the only female in the group.

“Hey Mr. G this is…” her words were cut off from a guy who couldn’t have been older than his mid twenties.

“Y/N, call me Jeff. You know I hate that”, he turned his head and gave a curious look to me.

“He can be on bin covers with Tim”, she gave a motion towards me and I wasn’t really sure what I had signed up for.

We were somewhat crowded against the building where this rather large metal tub was sitting above a stack of bricks and another man started to pass out gloves to everyone.

“What is this?”. Even though we were outside, I could feel myself starting to sweat.

“We’re raku firing. Isn’t it cool?”, the gleam to her eyes had returned while she started to put on her gloves. “It’s a different technique for glazing. You’re going to help Tim on that side while I pull out his and my work”, she pointed to the large tub that I could see smoke and fire radiating from.

Now Tim came up to me and started to converse, the most I had heard him talk yet. “So once she puts the pots in, one in each trashcan”, he motioned to the large old metal cans in front of us that seemed to be filled with sawdust, “we need to pour buckets of this over it. Gently, and it will burn up pretty fast so don’t lose any eyebrows”, he gave a smirk as he saw some fear come to my eyes. “Then we put the lids on. And for the love of god pull up your sleeves”. He motioned to my clothing.

“What is she going to do?”, I motioned to Y/N while pushing the sleeves of my shirt.

He gave a smile, “You’ll see. Don’t worry she’s done this before”. The other man used a metal clamp to pull out what I assumed to be a lock to the large bin. “That’s Jeff’s brother. Don’t worry, we have some fire extinguishers if anything goes wrong”, he motioned to the back wall. My nerves were heightened but I looked to Y/N who now had her hair tied up and had a metal clamp of her own in hand. They were almost longer than her height. I followed Tim behind the trashcans, bucket in hand. “Just follow what I do and you’ll be fine”.

“You guys ready?”, everyone gave a nod to Jeff while Y/N made some sort of knocking motion with a fist to Tim. I wasn’t sure what the gesture was about. “3, 2…1”. Both Jeff and his brother lifted off the top half of the large silver tub to reveal two very nice urn looking pots that looked bright red. They were essentially on fire as I caught on. 

Y/N grabbed a pot with her clamp and came towards our direction, to Tim’s trash can first. He gently poured what was in the bucket (more sawdust) over it and flames and smoke had shot up. After he was done pouring he quickly grabbed the lid and covered it. He looked back at me “Get ready”. I peered back over to Y/N who was already back with another pot while the metal kiln was now covered again. I followed the directions Tim gave me and did the same as him.

The exhilaration of the large fire in front of me was dazzling and I quickly covered it after emptying my bucket, smoke still came up from beneath the lid as I was catching my breath. She gave a smile while I stood a bit back from the smoke. She carried her large tongs to a bucket of water and it smoked for a little bit until she lifted them back up and leaned it against the wall. 

Jeff started a black stopwatch, “alright, that’s 10 everyone”. 

Tim took off his gloves and gave me a slight pat on the back. Y/N started to undo her gloves so I followed in fashion. “What’d you think?”, she had rather large smile on her face as she looked at my face. Almost laughing as she could tell I was finally out of my panic. “That was…oddly thrilling”, I looked back to the cans that were still smoking. 

“Right?!”, she gave a small laugh. “Good job by the way”. 

I chuckled, “thanks. So does the school know about this?” 

“The teacher for auto shop does…”, she gave a slight shrug. “If you couldn’t tell, this can be a rather rebellious group. All for educational purposes though…”, she gave another small laugh. 

Tim had returned with his own pair of darkened goggles on and passed me a can of soda as well as one to Y/N. “I thought you were about to run there for a moment Jughead” he gave me another pat on the back. They both gave a small laugh almost in unison. 

“So who is that?”, I pointed to Jeff still not sure how he orchestrated such a thing. 

“Jeff? He’s S’s student teacher…”, I gave a puzzled look to her comment. She chuckled. “S is the teacher whose room we used today”. 

I gave a nod in realization “ah”. 

“He doesn’t like the Mr thing either. You’ll meet him next time you ditch. If you want to I mean…” her voice got softer a little out of nervousness. 

“Oh no, I’m already fascinated by what was going on here under everyone’s noses”, I made a gesture with my arms. 

She smiled, “Well good then”, she paused as if realizing she had another thought she needed to continue. “Jeff used to go here too and jumped at the chance of being a student teacher for it. S pretty much let’s him do whatever”, she made a motion with her drink before taking a sip. “Although technically he should be teaching himself by now but he took a few years off. He went to the craziest places. Thailand, Indonesia, Japan…you pretty much name it really”. She gave a pause after realizing she was rambling and hushed her voice. 

“So what’s next?” I looked back to the kiln that looked like was being put out with water slowly by both Jeff and his brother. 

“Next part is just Tim and I but you can lift the lid if you want again. It won’t be as much on fire…promise”, she gave a smirk. 

I shrugged, “I’m in”. 

“Alright, it’s ready!”, both Y/N and Tim began to put their gloves back on and I did the same. 

“Just lift it until we pull the pots out and put the lid back on”, Tim made sure I heard his words well and I gave another nod. They both grabbed their own large clamps and two buckets of water were now behind them. 

“Ready when you are”, she gave a wink to me. 

I lightly blushed before raising the first lid and stood a bit back while she grabbed the pot. I placed the lid back on quickly while she hurried to the bucket of water behind her. I then did the same for Tim and he followed her while both trash cans were now covered. I peered over to the buckets and they steamed up from the heat from the pots being sunk into them. 

“Good job guys. We got it from here and you can get them Monday”. Both Y/N and Tim nodded while undoing their gloves and I followed them. 

Y/N gave me back my goggles and then put on her own. We made it back through the auto shop where the guy named Ben was still doing work. She grabbed my coat for me while I gave her the goggles back. I looked over to the small stack of coats and noticed a familiar leather jacket. But before I could get a closer look, she ushered me out of the room and I followed both her and Tim out.   

“I’ll see ya back at home. I’m going to hang with Jughead for a bit”, Y/N tilted her head back to me while Tim nodded. 

“Thanks for the help”, Tim gave a slight smile and then made his way down the hallway. 

“So Pop’s?”, I looked back to her and she had this gorgeous smile on her face while she was letting her hair back down. She nodded while we made our way back to my locker. 

She had a strawberry shake in front of her while her mouth slowly sucked the pink drink up her straw. I had never seen someone drink something so delicately. I decided to make conversation before staring too long at her movement. “So you two live together?”, I took a bite out of some fries. 

“Well technically I live with his family. Ever since the summer anyway”, she glanced out the window. 

“You guys cousins or something?”, my curiosity about the intriguing creature in front of me had captivated my mind. 

“Nah. My mom was best friends with his mom. I’ve known Tim since I was little. He’s a junior and essentially like a brother. We always saw each other during summers, holidays, stuff like that”. Her voice had become quieter since entering the diner, as if she wasn’t as comfortable in her surroundings anymore. 

“Well where are your parents?”, I bluntly asked. 

She gave a small look of sadness while looking back out the window and chewing on a fry. I quickly spoke up to her reaction, “sorry, you don’t have to tell me…” I looked out the window with her. 

She gave a breath with a small sigh. “It’s alright. My dad left us when I was a toddler. I honestly don’t really remember him”, she began to mush the whipped cream of the shake around with her straw, almost out of nervousness. “My mom…well she died over the summer”. 

“Oh. I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to pry or anything…”, I felt my nerves pick up as I felt guilty for asking in the first place. 

“It’s alright”. She became quiet for a few moments while eating a little more and then began to talk again. “Anyway, Cheri…Tim’s mom…got custody of me through her will. She asked me first, I jumped at it though. They are essentially family”, she gave a slight smile now while taking another sip of her drink. “So what about you?” 

I gave a smirk, “What about me?”. 

“Well, I know a little about you but you got any hidden secrets I get to know about now?” Her sarcasm sprang out. 

“Well I’m writing a book…” I looked to my bag that had my laptop inside. 

“I know. About Jason Blossoms murder”, she said as if she wasn’t surprised.

“Does everyone know that now?”, I gave a slight raise to my eyebrows. 

She chuckled lightly, “apparently. So have you figured out who did it yet or are you and Betty Cooper still threading the clues together?” I gave her a slight raise in eyebrow, “It’s a small town Jughead”. 

“Fair enough. We have a theory about the Blossoms and another guy but we don’t know where it’s leading just yet”, I threw another fry in my mouth. 

She smiled while her head then turned to the clock. 

“Aww crap. I gotta get going”, she shuffled some things inside her bag while she popped one last fry in her mouth. 

“Another secret adventure?”, I leaned back into the booth some more. 

She gave a smirk, “something like that”. For a moment her eyes were drawn to my hands and a light in her eyes perked up as she started to give me a smile. “Hey Jughead, you trust me?” She started to put her bag on her shoulder now while standing up against the table. 

“Considering I was willing to almost put myself on fire earlier and lived unscathed, I would say yes…why?” My eyes were once again questionable. 

She smirked. “You have a free period Monday?”. 

“Yeah…4th…after lunch…”, I put another fry in my mouth but my eyes never left hers. 

“Perfect, meet me in S’s room during lunch. If you want to help out with something again”, she gave a slight shoulder gesture while the end of her sentence turned quiet. 

“I’m sold. But why me?”. 

She gave a coy smile and with a rather seductive voice as she leaned a little into the booth, “you’ve got good hands”. With that she perched back up, gave me a wave and was out the door. 

I just sat there, with a red blush over my face while my eyes followed her where she walking out the window. “What the…” 

“Juggie!”, I peered up to see Archie’s face. 

“Hey what’s wrong?” I was still in a state of being awestruck. 

I coughed a little while catching my breath. “Nothing”. 

Archie gave me an eyebrow before sitting down, as if he knew better. “Uhuh”.

[buddyrabrahams]

10 NBA coaches on the hot seat this season

The NBA is a “get wins or get out” enterprise. The business can be callous at times, spurning head coaches who have seemingly earned job security — a lesson Dwane Casey learned the hard way in May. It’s still hard to imagine Casey on the Pistons’ sideline.

It may seem ridiculous to already be speculating about which coaches could be fired this season, but the 2018-19 season is practically upon us, and before we know it, some team will be searching for a new leader. With the preseason already underway, here are 10 coaches on the hot seat.

10. Alvin Gentry, Pelicans

You could argue Anthony Davis’ impressive late-season surge saved Gentry’s job last season. The Pelicans won their first playoff series in the Davis era — an encouraging sign — but the Warriors quickly vanquished New Orleans’ momentum. This seems to be a pivotal moment for the franchise. The Pelicans didn’t have much spending money this summer, as the squad had already dished out hefty contracts to players like E’Twaun Moore, Alexis Ajinca, and Omer Asik. The team allowed DeMarcus Cousins to bolt and signed bargain-basement assets Jahlil Okafor and Elfrid Payton, in addition to Julius Randle. The Pelicans are reliant on Davis sustaining MVP-level production; if he and Jrue Holiday crash back to earth early this season, however, GM Dell Demps — left with little flexibility to add another impact player — may opt to make a coaching change.

9. Tyronn Lue, Cavaliers

It seems the pressure should finally be off of Lue now that LeBron James has joined a new team, right? We disagree. It’s no secret that King James was highly influential in Lue replacing David Blatt midway through the 2015-16 season. Though Cleveland reached the Finals in each year under Lue, the Cavs’ success was always served with a hefty side of drama. With his ties to LeBron now irrelevant, Lue’s job security appears precarious. The Cavs’ talent level is suddenly average — if you’re looking at it optimistically — and the team this summer doubled down on Kevin Love, giving him a four-year extension. That indicates the team will presumably build around the 30-year-old Love. With Cleveland’s finances in disarray and no real prospect of competing for a title in the near future, the Cavs appear headed downhill fast, and Lue could lose his job as a result of a bad season.

8. Mike Malone, Nuggets

In April, Denver GM Tim Connelly said Malone’s job was safe. “I guess [questioning Malone’s job status is] the unfortunate narrative of professional basketball, but Mo’s done a fantastic job,” Connelly told the Denver Post. The Nuggets narrowly missed out on the postseason. With a roster that’s brimming with young talent, you have to wonder whether Malone’s job will indeed be safe if the Nuggets limp out of the gate. With a young core centered on Jamal Murray, Nikola Jokic, and Gary Harris, expectations are high. Malone’s contract is up after 2018-19, so it wouldn’t be a big surprise for Denver to part ways with the former Kings head coach. To hold onto his job, Malone will need his team’s defense to improve; last season, the Nuggets had the fifth-worst defensive rating in the league.

7. Luke Walton, Lakers

With great (star) power comes great responsibility. As Lue noted, having LeBron on the roster generates “outside tension,” which puts “added pressure immediately on the coaches.” Walton now has arguably the toughest role in the league: coaching LeBron. Walton’s job already seemed in jeopardy last season, when LaVar Ball was calling out the young coach. The Lakers have improved in each season under Walton, but expectations are at a new level this season. In Cleveland, Lue got a bit of a break because fans — and management — recognized LeBron had little talent surrounding him. In L.A., however, the situation is different. The Lakers are flush with promising young pieces, and they shelled out cap space to acquire veteran role players like Rajon Rondo and Lance Stephenson this summer. Though the Lakers’ long-term prospects are encouraging, the situation this season has all the makings of something that could go wrong out of the gate. The team lacks shooters and a reliable second scoring option. If the early season goes poorly, the 38-year-old Walton could be the fall guy.

6. Doc Rivers, Clippers

The Clippers have officially moved on from Lob City — Chris Paul was traded to the Rockets, Blake Griffin was traded to the Pistons, and DeAndre Jordan signed with the Mavericks. With that era in the past, the team may also look to move on from Rivers, who’s been with L.A. since 2013. He’s no longer heading up the front office, and when he shifted to focusing exclusively on coaching last season, the results were surprisingly good. Despite the roster lacking noticeable talent, the Clippers — led by surprise star Lou Williams — hung around in the West playoff race and finished with a winning record (42-40). Given the team’s performance last season, Rivers’ job isn’t in major jeopardy, but it’s also not entirely secure. L.A. could retool with two max-contract players in 2019, and if the team wants to usher in an entirely new chapter, it may change its leadership as well.

5. Terry Stotts, Blazers

Stotts is the leading candidate to replicate Casey’s fate this season. He’s done a tremendous job in Portland, but his team hasn’t found success in the postseason. Shortly after Portland fell to New Orleans in Game 4 of their first-round series, completing the Pelicans’ sweep, Marc Stein tweeted that “murmurs have already started in coaching circles that 10 consecutive playoff defeats will cost Terry Stotts his job.” GM Neil Olshey elected to keep Stotts around — for now. Rumors have also indicated the Blazers are open to shopping C.J. McCollum or Damian Lillard, but it’s tough to imagine the team breaking up the electrifying young backcourt. Portland also this summer re-signed big man Jusuf Nurkic, doubling down on its current roster. With Stotts owning an uninspiring 12-28 career postseason record, he could be the scapegoat if this team falls short yet again, or falls behind in the competitive playoff race by the All-Star break.

4. Fred Hoiberg, Bulls

Who knows what’s going to happen with the Chicago Bulls this season? That team looks entirely unpredictable. Hoiberg was successful at Iowa State, and he was considered one of the hottest young coaching commodities in hoops circles — but his move to the NBA, like Billy Donovan’s, has not been ideal. His Bulls teams haven’t escaped the first round since he took over, and his win total has declined every year. Chicago has an enticing group of young players — Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter Jr. are particularly promising — but it isn’t clear who will bear the Bulls’ primary scoring burden. Zach Lavine? Jabari Parker? Is having one of those players as your primary option even remotely encouraging? Hoiberg’s system has not translated well to the NBA; the 45-year-old may not make it through year four of his five-year deal.

3. Dave Joerger, Kings

Seemingly everyone was baffled when the Grizzlies didn’t bring back Joerger. The Kings were thrilled to sign the emerging young coach, who had pushed Golden State to six games and had led Memphis to 55 regular-season wins. But his time in Sacramento has been a letdown. In Joerger’s first season (2016-17), Sacramento won 32 games; last season, the Kings won 27. If their win total declines yet again — which many expect it will given the proliferation of talent in the West — the Kings may allow Joerger’s contract to expire. The wrinkle in this situation: Sacramento has embraced a rebuild and is focused on developing its young talent. If De’Aaron Fox, Marvin Bagley III, or Harry Giles seem to be blossoming into a star, the Kings may hesitate to switch coaches, fearful of stunting the young player’s development.

2. Tom Thibodeau, Timberwolves

Minnesota made the playoffs last season for the first time since 2003-04, but Thibs is in serious trouble. Despite the playoff berth, last season was a letdown. With Jimmy Butler, Andrew Wiggins, and Karl-Anthony Towns in tow, pundits expected the Wolves to challenge the top teams in the West. Instead, they limped into the playoffs and barely challenged Houston in the first round. Now, Butler — who also played for Thibs in Chicago — wants a trade to a major-market team with space to sign him to a max deal. Butler’s camp can try to spin this a different way, but there’s no denying the dynamics in Minnesota’s locker room were off. The three stars just didn’t play well together, and personalities seemed to clash. Some responsibility for that funky dynamic has to fall on the coach. Thibs’ coaching approach may have worked with the hard-nosed Bulls, led by Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, but he hasn’t replicated his success in Minnesota. This situation looks poised to blow up.

1. Billy Donovan, Thunder

You have to wonder whether Donovan regrets leaving Florida. In his first season, the Thunder took a 3-1 lead on the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals — but, of course, they blew that series (and have not escaped the first round since that point). Then another blow: OKC lost Kevin Durant to Golden State. Then Russell Westbrook turned into a one-man wrecking crew, driving basketball purists mad. Last season featured the awkward Carmelo Anthony Experiment, and the season ended in disappointing fashion with a hasty exit at the hands of the Jazz. OKC brought back Paul George this summer, and GM Sam Presti said “continuity is (Donovan’s) best friend going forward.” With George back, Anthony gone, and Dennis Schroder added to the rotation, OKC is starting to gain some title buzz — they could challenge Houston as the West’s No. 2 team, people are saying. Fans are expecting a contender. Donovan inherited a tough gig with high expectations, and this appears to be his final chance. If his team doesn’t escape the first round yet again this year, he’ll all but certainly be looking for a new job (perhaps back in the NCAA ranks).

Aaron Mansfield is a freelance sports writer. His work has appeared in Complex, USA Today, and the New York Times. You can reach him via email at aaroncmansfield@gmail.com.

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