#i’ve truly done so little today it’s embarrassing. i’ve turned in 1 assignment late and spent literally the whole rest of the day | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

baticorngirl · 3 years

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Title: “Dad, you’re embarrassing me!’

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Relationship(s): Talia Al Ghul/Bruce Wayne (Brutalia), Talia Al Ghul & Ra’s Al Ghul, Bruce Wayne & Ra’s Al Ghul, Dusan Al Ghul & Ra’s Al Ghul, Nyssa Raatko & Ra’s Al Ghul, Talia Al Ghul & Dusan Al Ghul,

Characters: Talia Al Ghul, Bruce Wayne, Ra’s Al Ghul, Nyssa Raatko, Dusan Al Ghul,

Summary: Bruce Wayne, an average (other than his parent's death) billionaire, was nervous. Very, very, nervous. It was a simple task, really, but meeting his girlfriend's family seemed rather intimidating at the moment. She has mentioned her father being strict or whatnot many times, and it had gotten many worries to arrive in his mind.

Unfortunately, Bruce had every right to be worried.

A/N: I don't own the characters, DC does.

This fic was originally made (or at least started) for @brutalia-week Day 4: Family. Since I wasn't able to finished it in time, I tried to make it a "day 8" kind of thing.... although I'm a teeny bit late for that, too, lol. It was originally just supposed to be a short humor fanfic, but... let's just say it got out of hand. Fair warning that some of the characters may be a teeny bit OOC (nothing too bad, though) because of humor or just plot-convenience.

For context, this takes place in an alternate universe where Bruce doesn't become Batman, but that's the only big difference. Anyway, enjoy!

Related Links: Read it on FF.Net (x), Read it on Ao3(x),

Day 1(x), Day 2(x), Day 3(x), Day 5(x), Day 6(x), Day 7(x),

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Bruce was uncomfortable. His tie felt itchy, and hot, like a fever that somehow didn't spread to his forehead. In fact, his whole body felt hot, and the tiniest bit shaky. Bruce's stomach twisted up in a knot, making his face turn visibly red with discomfort. His breathing was a bit quicker and shorter than normal. He was nervous. Very, very, nervous. But considering the situation, he had every right to be.

Talia and him had been dating for quite a while now. Over 6 months, actually. They met up when they could, and every time they went on a date, they started enjoying each other's company more, and more, and more. Talia often had things she needed to do, though, and they would often come up out of what seemed to be nowhere. She'd always say she just had an assignment from work of some kind, but it often occurred to Bruce that she never mentioned what she did as a profession.

Perhaps, today would be the day he found out. Now that their relationship was feeling more serious, Talia had finally decided she would introduce her boyfriend to her parents, and the rest of her family. It had taken some convincing for her to do it, but her father had been adamant that meeting and evaluating any of her potential husbands was necessary.

"What if they're not worthy?" He had insisted, pacing back and forth in urgency. "What if they plan to spy on you, or hurt you, or are simply a failure? Besides, my Dear Daughter, what's the issue with him meeting us? Please, tell me you're not seriously acting embarrassed of your own family at this age." Ra's stopped to look at her, a disappointed look on his face.

"I-" Talia hadn't wanted to upset him, or even worse, make her view her as immature. She sighed, "Fine, but please…. try to stay calm with him. Be understanding if he's not quite up to your qualifications of worthy, and…. Just try not to kill him, okay? You can be very overwhelming, and although he's a very nice man, he's not used to murderers." She had tried to put it lightly, but truthfully, she wanted to yell the list of commands in his face. It was ridiculous -absolute ludicrous- that she had to tell him such simple things.

"Of course, Daughter. Whatever makes you most comfortable." Ra's smiled at her, and leaned in to kiss the top of her head affectionately. Yet again, she was reminded by why she had spared his feelings, but quickly forgot it as he spoke again. "But you can't truly expect me to hide my whole personality, can you? I'll try to make sure there's minimal stabbing at the family dinner that night, but you can only expect so much of me."

Talia had stared at him, with her eyes squinted with concern, but she pushed a smile on her face regardless. "J- Just do your best, Father. Thank you." The minute she had gotten out of the room, though, her smile immediately dropped. She let out a huge, tired, sigh. She loved her family, but sometimes she just wished they could hold their murderous instincts in for a moment.

Now, as her and Bruce inched towards the door, Talia felt that wish more than she ever had before. Even if Bruce was nervous, thinking of the times Talia had mentioned her Father being strict, controlling, and painfully traditional, he was nothing compared to Talia. She flinched every few moments. Her every instinct told her to lead Bruce away, to come up with an excuse, but it was too late now. She gulped. Maybe, if she had the best luck in the world, her father would only talk about his Endangered-Species-Saving Programs, and not his Murder-Most-Humans program.

But when Bruce looked down at her, he felt a sense of excitement. He surely hadn't heard the best things from Talia about her family, but if they have raised someone as wonderful as Talia, he was sure they couldn't be too bad. He knew they may not have the most similarities, but wasn't caring about Talia the most important similarity of all?

Despite his slight optimism, inside the Al Ghul house, not everyone was on their best behavior. Screams echoed through the dining room as everyone got settled down. Nyssa and Ra's, specifically, were the ones having the heated argument. Heated arguments were not uncommon for them, so much that no one had any clue why she was even invited to the family dinners. She didn't even consider herself part of that family, but Ra's was convinced that it was such a special moment, no one could miss it. His little girl has her first boyfriend! Inevitably, he lived to regret this decision.

"You're a dirty excuse for a father, Ra's! You left me to fend for myself when I needed you most!" Nyssa yelled, standing up from her chair. Her breath was heavy with rage. "You should be ashamed of yourself!" She quickly picked up her fork, throwing it as hard as she could in Ra's' face.

"No, you should be ashamed of yourself! You're the one that betrayed me, before I had done a thing to you!" Ra's screamed back, throwing the fork aside. Fortunately for Ra's, the fork hadn't done any damage. He quickly pulled himself out of his seat to balance the dominance in their positions. "Everything that happened was your own fault, so stop pushing the blame on to me just because I blatantly decided you weren't worth saving from torture!" Unaware of how bad that sounded, he picked up the fork again and threw it back at her.

They continued throwing things at each other, screaming endlessly. The danger of the things thrown escalated as they went. At first it was simply things like forks and spoons, things that wouldn't do too much damage. But it started getting worse, and worse…..

Outside, at least Bruce was getting some kind of a warning. Talia stopped him just before he opened the door, turning him to face her. She stared at him, a glint of dead seriousness in her eyes.

"Beloved, you are not ready to meet my family. You never will be. They're a lot to deal with." She warned. Talia's hands gripped his shoulders even harder than a villain does when threatening a hero. "Every single one of my family members is weird. Very, very weird. A bit absurd, even. Albeit a nice guy, you're also only a simple billionaire, so it's definitely going to get on your nerves. They even get on my nerves, they-"

Bruce gently tugged her arms off of her, "Talia, I can handle it. I'm not a judgemental guy, I swear. It's fine if they're a little weird." His face rested in a blank, -but more importantly, not a horrified or angry- expression. "Come on, let's go inside. They're probably waiting for us." He pointed towards the door, beginning to open it. Talia, still frazzled, immediately swung her arms over to stop him from opening it.

"Please, Beloved, you don't understand! It's not a difference in culture, tastes, or even opinions! I swear on my life… they're crazy." She stared into his eyes. Her pupils were huge, and her hands were shaky as she held him back. "I don't care if you don't believe me, but just… promise you won't blame me for them?" Talia looked down desperately. Her words slowed for a moment.

"Of course," Bruce nodded, but before she could even communicate her gratitude, he abruptly swung the door open. "I've told you a million times, though, I'm sure I won't even be blaming them! You're worr-" The second he took his eyes off of Talia, and on to the room in front of them, his mouth dropped. Every word he said about it being fine was regretted almost immediately. It was so very, very, not fine.

Bruce had looked just quick enough to see Nyssa cross a final line with the throwing… a full, sharp, assassin knife. It shot directly into, and right through, Ra's' guts. Blood dripped down his stomach area and onto his shirt and cape. Ra's looked down at the injury for a moment, before quickly realizing that Talia and her boyfriend had officially arrived.

"Look what you've done now, Nyssa!" Ra's scolded, pointing to Bruce angrily. "Our guest has arrived, and you've done this right in front of him! Look at him, so startled at your audacity to stab me that he can't seem to speak…. Congratulations, you've embarrassed the whole family!" Bruce couldn't seem to listen to Ra's, with his eyes stuck on his stomach. Blood kept spilling out of it, yet Ra's hardly seemed to mind.

"...Are you okay?" Bruce took a slow, hesitant step towards the dinner table. His eyes were as wide as he thought they could go. "Shouldn't someone call an ambulance? You're bleeding out!" With the pure shock of it all starting to fade, he whipped out his phone and started navigating to the dialer.

Now dripping even more blood on the ground, Ra's pranced over to the front door to greet Bruce. "No, no, no! Don't mind my other daughter's ill manors. She's never well-behaved anymore, I'm afraid. But you're the guest, you shouldn't worry about this. Just sit down and relax." He led Bruce over to his seat, nudging him to sit down onto it. Ra's turned his stomach away from the chair to be sure he didn't get any little drops of blood on it. As he made his way back to his own seat, he gestured towards his stab wound. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to have to get changed and cleaned up. I'm afraid this stab wound has created quite a mess."

Still recovering from the shock of the stabbing, Bruce attempted to reason with him, "But don't you need to get medica-" Before he could even finish his sentence, though, Ra's was already out of the room and down the hallway. As hard as Ra's had tried to keep the floor from too much damage, there were still drips of blood every few feet. Bruce considered following them to make sure he was okay, but quickly realized that with all the servants here, at least one person would help.

Talia sat down next to him, surprisingly unstartled by her own father's stabbing, "Try not to worry too much about it, Beloved. This happens a lot -sometimes even ending in the opposite- and as you can see, it has never resulted in his -or even Nyssa's- death. Oh, and don't worry for your own life, the stabbing is very personal. I doubt Nyssa thinks you have enough of a connection with him to be worth hurting." She explained matter-of-factly. Her hand gently reached over to pat his hand, in an attempt to sooth him.

"Okay… I just, I don't want you to lose him. I don't want you to feel the same pain of losing your parents as I did…" His voice quivered at the thought of his own parent's tragic murder. Talia nodded, understanding his pain, but in no way attempting to agree with him.

"As I've said before, don't worry. I'm afraid my mother already died when I was a child, and her death frightened me, but him? No, no, no, he's quite the survivor. He's survived so many ridiculous situations, in fact, I believe he's practically immortal!" She exclaimed the strong statement, seeming a bit excited, but not quite cheerful. Seeing the statement as a casual joke, Bruce laughed nervously. Talia did not laugh with him, though. To his discomfort, she stared at him, just as dead-serious as she was with her original warning.

The sound of her father's pattering footsteps knocked them both out of their odd conversation. Ra's entered the room, his blood now nowhere in sight. Despite how formal the arrangement was supposed to be, he was shirtless. A new shirt, looking very similar to the one he was wearing when Bruce arrived, was tucked under his arm.

As Ra's started pulling the shirt on, Bruce noticed something. The place where the stab wound had been just a moment ago was perfectly visible, with no clothes covering it, and yet it just… wasn't there anymore. Certainly no blood, but not even any bandages, or any kind of scar! The only thing in the victim's gut area was skin. Pure, undamaged, skin. Talia's family was starting to seriously freak Bruce out.

Once Ra's had gotten his upper-half dressed, he promptly began making his more formal greeting to Bruce, "I'm afraid, with all that chaos, I never got the chance to introduce myself! I'm Ra's Al Ghul, Talia's father. You can call me Ra's…. At least as long as I haven't found you unworthy of casual nicknames." He narrowed his eyes, scaring away any joy in Bruce for the moment. "...And you are…? I'm afraid I don't think Talia's mentioned your name."

"I'm Bruce… um, Bruce Wayne." Bruce stuttered, trying to shake away the strong sense of uncomfort Ra's was starting to give him. Ra's smiled politely, and shook his hand.

"Welcome to our home, Bruce… Or Mr. Wayne, whatever you prefer to be called." He gestured to the grand mansion they were having dinner in. Having had enough of leaning over to be eye-to-eye with Bruce, he slumped back down onto his chair. His grand, collared, cape got thrown back in the process.

"..Bruce is fine," Bruce answered, still a bit nervous. Ra's nodded at him. Surrounded by a thick layer of eyeliner, his eyes seemed to stare into Bruce's soul. Bruce hated to judge someone for their clothing style, but the way Ra's dressed was certainly off for a meet-the-family type dinner. In fact, with the gold button on his cloak looking eerily like a demon's face, he was practically dressed like a supervillain.

Everyone began eating the food in peace. Nyssa did not try to stab anyone during that time, and neither did Ra's. It was pure silence at the dinner table, with everyone focusing purely on their plates instead of making conversation. Eventually, Ra's finally brought his head up from it and started speaking to Bruce.

"So… You want to marry my daughter?" Ra's asked, looking at Bruce sternly. His eyes carefully moved up and down, evaluating every single part of Bruce to see how worthy it was. He squinted at Bruce's jacket, his shoes, his expression… everything. As much as Bruce tried to seem calm and collected for Ra's, both the sudden assumption of marriage and the intense staring were only making him feel subconscious.

Fortunately, Talia immediately cleared it up, "We haven't even spoken about marriage yet, Father! Please, you're going to overwhelm him. Didn't I already tell you not to do this?" She pleaded. Talia gulped, just as she had been doing consecutively for this entire dinner. Watching her father act this way always felt a bit off, but having her boyfriend there just made it so much worse. She could easily feel what Bruce was feeling, -or at least what she thought he was- and she knew it was far from positive. Talia looked back down at her plate, hiding her face as it turned bright red. She didn't think she'd ever felt quite this embarrassed in her entire life.

"I apologize, but you do realize, Talia, that if you ever want your relationship to go anywhere you must marry him at some point. How long have you two been dating, again?" Ra's looked back at Bruce, waiting for him to finally speak for himself.

Bruce took a deep breath, "Somewhere around 6 months? Or possibly 7, it's hard to get it exact." Ra's raised an eyebrow at the number.

"You two… have not even been thinking about marriage yet? Let me tell you, every single one of my marriages has always started with a month -at most- of prior dating, and I have had at least one perfectly good marriage. You all remember Sora, may she rest in peace, and we had the happiest of marriages. Yet, we married out of convenience! We hardly knew each other! Sometimes, you young ones must just let-" Ra's rambled, only to be cut off by Talia sighing. The gush of air was so loud and obviously exasperated that it completely cut off his story. After a second or two of silence, he continued despite it, "As I was saying, sometimes you young ones need to understand that dating isn't going to secure a marriage. A good attitude will! Both Sora and I had a good attitude, and she managed to be the light of my life. But of course, that only lasted so-"

This time, Talia simply used her words to stop him, "-So long because she got strangled to death in front of your eyes. We all know, Father, and frankly I don't think Bruce needs to know your life story. Why can't we just talk about something a bit more.. Conventional? We already talk about murder and death so much, can't we just lighten up a bit?" She begged, biting her lip uncomfortably. Her eyes looked at Ra's softly, almost as if she was attempting to do puppy eyes.

"Fine, fine, I really should get to the point, anyhow. We must tell if he is worthy enough to even date you! Only the finest in the lands are worthy of you, my darling, and so far I doubt he's up to that standard." Ra's scoffed, and Bruce couldn't help but roll his eyes in return. Talia looked down again, rubbing her temples. She was just about ready to fall asleep on her father's nonsense. "Hmmm…." Not paying any attention to his daughter's misery, he stared into Bruce's eyes for what must have been the fifth time.

"He's…. Very….. Wealthy…." Talia stated. Each word was separated by a ton of sighs, groans, and deep breaths of frustration. Even as she spoke to her father, she kept her eyes locked down on her plate, in a painful stare. Ra's rested his chin on his hand as he considered her words. He looked side to side, while tilting his head every which way in correspondence.

"Well… I suppose a bit of extra money surely isn't hurting his worthiness." Ra's titled his head one last time, glancing up at Bruce from a different angle. Slowly, he adjusted his head back to normal. His arms were lightly touching down on the table, propping up his hands to wrap their fingers in between the other one. Ra's leaned forward, with his face now less than a foot in front of his hands. "But… you can already get as much of that as you'd ever possibly need from me. Worthiness, you see, is about much more than that. It's about the intelligence. The skill. The strength. The willpower…. The grace." His index fingers, now pointing up from the rest of his hands, tapped against each other. Each tap was methodical, rhythmic… like the ticking of a clock, clacking each second away.

Bruce felt a cold, thick, drop of sweat roll down his forehead, "I… I once took an IQ test. Mine is… higher than normal. Quite a bit higher, I believe." He picked up his napkin and quickly wiped the sweat off, attempting to push a smile onto his face. Or, just some sign of confidence, at the very least. Unfortunately, he was just a billionaire -and not a very emotionally-mature billionaire at that- so it wasn't exactly helping his case.

"Good. That's very good…." Ra's nodded approvingly. His index fingers tapped together again each time his head bopped up and down. Finally looking up from her plate, Talia started to smile, a glint of hope in her eyes. "But if you really have such an impressive intelligence quotient, you better start acting like it. Hit it where it really counts, not just some meaningless quiz. If you want to receive my daughter's hand in marriage, you will prove yourself worthy of such a thing in real life." His head's nodding quickly came to a stop.

Talia sighed again, but didn't even try to bother stopping it. Her mind was much more focused on the worse tests she reckoned would come after… the ones her beloved, as wonderful and skilled as he was, was still bound to fail. She glanced up at Bruce, noticing how wet his forehead looked. Her warnings had not done a thing, as even now, he was acting as if this was a big problem in comparison to the other thing her father most valued.

As she silently brooded, Ra's began to start his opportunity for Bruce to prove his intelligence, "Bring. It. In!" His voice boomed through the room as he looked at his assassins servants expectantly. To his dismay, they all simply stared at him, waiting for some more clarification. Their eyes blinked unknowingly. Ra's cringed at his servant's lack of understanding. "I said, bring. It. In!" Yet again, he got nothing brought in at all. A long, exasperated sigh, -almost as heavy as Talia's had been all night- escaped his mouth.

One of the servants, still unsure what to do but eager to help, went over and stood by his side. The servant bowed, but didn't dare ask for clarification. Not wanting to anger the master, the servant made sure to be patient and let Ra's have time to explain himself.

Ra's turned directly towards the closest servant, looking him in the eyes desperately, "You know, it. The thing. The one you should be bringing in right now. Whipping up out of nowhere." The servant nodded, but continued to wait for even more of an explanation. Ra's waved his hand in front of the person, unsure if they were even listening. "Come on! Get to it! Bring. IT. IN….. Ah, forget it! I was really hoping I wasn't going to have to ruin the suspense and the drama like this, but the chess board! The one I always pull out dramatically when attempting to test whether I should respect someone! The grand assessment!"

"Ohhhhh…." The servant slowly nodded. They spun on their heels, beginning to make their way off to get the chess board. Every breath Ra's took was long and agitated, gushing out like the wind as he watched the servant disappear into the next room.

He turned back towards Bruce, "I apologize for that mishap. It seems I really should just keep my chess board nearby in these kinds of situations, but I promise you, my assassins did say they'd have it handy." He scoffed at their incompetence. Bruce, on the other hand, was a bit more focused on another thing. He stared at Ra's, his eyebrows furrowing.

If this family wasn't already freaking him out, they certainly were now, "A… Assassi-?!"

But before he even got to finish expressing his frantic confusion, Ra's quickly interrupted him. These 'assassins' of his were back, now with the chessboard that he desired so badly. Ra's rapidly swiped the chessboard out of their hands and slapped it down in front of the two of them.

"Finally, we can begin!" He exclaimed, a tint of annoyance still in his voice. He turned back towards his assassins for a moment, gritting his teeth. "We'll talk about this whole 'ruining my drama' thing later. All of you." Ra's pointed at his own two eyes with two of his fingers, and then pointed the fingers back down on the League of Assassins members.

"And I think we need to talk about this whole assassi-!?" Still more focused on the other matter at hand, he persisted in attempting to get some kind of explanation. But yet again, Ra's was simply not listening.

"You may go first. It's only fair that the guest gets privileges. Besides, I think you'll need every advantage you can get when playing with someone who's been playing this game for centuries." Ra's pointed to Bruce's end of the board, waiting. Bruce's lips quivered as he stared at it. From the corner of his eye, he watched as Ra's folded his hands together calmly. "Go on,"

Bruce chuckled nervously, "You're exaggerating… right?" His finger slowly inched towards the board as he thought about his first move. It was a strategy game, and Bruce was good at such games, but the claims Ra's was stating were more than intimidating. He bit his tongue, thinking back to all the games he'd won against Alfred.

"Exaggerating? Oh, hardly." Ra's shrugged, "You see, young man, this game has been going on far beyond even an old man like me's lifetime. I've been playing it for a long time, and I haven't gotten bored. But I have, as a matter of fact, learned many, many, strategies. I'd find it incredible for this to even last more than 30 minutes before you lose." Bruce leaned towards the board in concentration, attempting to ignore the chills running down his spine.

After what felt like forever of them playing chess, Talia finally saw an ending as she looked at the chess board. All of Bruce's pieces were blocked, in some way or another. She sighed in relief. Not only was this game not going to last forever, but her boyfriend wasn't even going to lose.

"It seems we've ended with a stalemate…" Ra's grinned at the outcome. He pulled out a clipboard from under the table, scribbling down the points this gave Bruce. Quickly tucking the clipboard back under the table, a look of awe sparkled in his eyes. "This is… incredible. Quite entertaining, actually! I haven't had a good opponent like this in years! Decades, even… if not centuries!" Bruce smirked, a sense of confidence raining over him. Talia rolled her eyes. She had certainly stalemated with Ra's at least once.

"Good, but now, can we please focus back on the fact that you called these… people around us... assassins?!" Bruce shook off the pride as he finally remembered the eerie mention. Talia's face flopped back down to face her plate. Her breaths were thin and short as she held back the urge to stand up and run straight out of this embarrassment.

"I did, didn't I...? Is that a problem? Did I offend you with that term?" Her father's voice rose. Despite the innocent questions, he fought back the urge to roll his eyes or scoff yet again in annoyance. "Would you prefer them to be called ninjas, murderers, or simply 'the people around us'? …..You're the guest."

"Murdere-?!" Bruce leaned back, unsure how to even say such a terrifying word. His mouth dropped open as his eyes anxiously darted back and forth. "These people are really… actual….." Talia reached over to Bruce, squeezing his hand.

"Are you alright, Beloved?" Talia asked. Her hand was warm, or possibly even a bit fever-ish to the touch. As was her cheeks, so very red with nerves. Bruce stared at her face, observing the not only embarrassed, but almost shameful expression smeared across it. A thought suddenly occurred to him… a quite unnerving, but eerily plausible one.

Bruce sighed, "...yes," He muttered through gritted teeth. Talia's shoulders slouched down, feeling her tense muscles relax at the reassurance. Bruce turned back towards Ra's, pouting his lip in a disapproving frown. "But… I don't want to stay here any longer than I have to. Let's get on with it, Ra's." Talia's muscles tensed right back up.

"Very well then, young man," Ra's aggressively shoved the chess board to the side. He pushed himself up from his seat, pulling out a sword that he had apparently been hiding in his pockets. "The next test is all about your ability to fight. Not only do I expect you to protect my daughter if the need comes up, but you also must be capable of winning wars if you want to win my daughter's love."

Talia pulled herself up from her seat, as well, "He already has my love, though, Father! No offense, but your tests and evaluations are all for yourself, and yourself only. We've already dated for long enough that it's ridiculous to act as if we aren't already in a romantic relationship." She crossed her arms, starting to get seriously fed up with her father's absurd behavior.

"Yes, yes, of course. But if you want me to treat you as my son-in-law, much less, my equal, you need to complete this test. It's about the respect! You've already shown competence in a battle of wits, now you must show you are just as skilled in physical battles for me to respect you." Ra's pointed his sword towards Bruce, making a stabbing motion towards the air. Bruce flinched as the sharp blade reached towards his chest. "Go on, get your blade out. This may not be a duel to the death -since Talia did go out of her way to make me promise I wouldn't stab you- but it's still a battle that you need to be prepared for."

"My… blade?" Bruce raised one of his eyebrows in confusion. He shook his head and squinted his eyes at Ra's. "I was just trying to go to a formal dinner, to meet my girlfriend's family. Why. Would. I. Have. a. Sword. With. Me?!" After having to listen to Ra's constantly scoff throughout the dinner, he finally managed to gather the courage to scoff back.

"You must always be prepared, young man. Always. You are obviously immature. You know strategies, but you lack the true wisdom to use them properly. But, I suppose that is only to be expected with your young age, so…. I will still give you a chance." Ra's slid his sword back into his pocket. His lips rested in a strict frown, but began to curve up ever so slightly for a moment. "Besides, you already stale-mated me. I love a good stalemate! I can't believe I found someone who could achieve such an outcome! You're wonderful, Bruce. Just wonderful… Assassins, get him a sword!"

Bruce could only stare as a woman, dressed in all black attire, handed him her sword. He opened his mouth to reject it, but only a small, frantic, l uttering sound sputtered out. Everyone, including Talia, Nyssa, the assassins, and a man who's name hadn't been mentioned yet, stepped back, leaving Bruce and Ra's alone. Bruce slowly wrapped his hands around the handle of his weapon, still adjusting to the odd feeling of holding such a sharp object in his hand. By the time he realized what was happening around him, it was much too late to eat his last bite of food.

In fact, it was too late to even stretch before the battle. Ra's, who was seemingly having enough of Bruce's shock, was already lunging over. His sword slashed at Bruce's. With Bruce's fingers barely even holding on to it, Bruce's sword immediately got flung to the ground upon feeling any kind of impact.

Clang! The metal blade chimed as it hit the hard floor. The sound instantaneously knocked Ra's out of his intense battle-focus. His teeth were not gritted anymore, and his eyes widened from their stern glaring. He looked down at the stray weapon, then back up to Bruce. Now realizing what had happened, Bruce's face turned red. A tiny spray of sweat appeared on his forehead as he looked down with embarrassment.

"With all due respect, I have never had a weaker or less skillful opponent." Ra's blinked at the pathetic sight, shaking his head. He bent down to the ground and picked up the sword. The woman who it belonged to eagerly reached out to take it from him. Ra's turned back towards Bruce, who gulped as he saw the disappointment in his eyes. "I suppose I should've expected this kind of thing from such an average billionaire, although that chess game had sure gotten me hopeful. I mean god, was that a good game!" Ra's mumbled, holding back a smile.

Bruce sighed, "Let me guess, you want me to never date or even speak to your daughter again." He looked back at Talia, his shoulders slumping at the thought of leaving someone so lovely. But almost just as quickly, his shoulders pulled back up again. "Because if I may just say, this is completely unwarranted! You could've at least given me a warning about this nonsense…"

"You.. have a point." Ra's nodded, "Which is why I haven't completely ruled you out. That chess game still proves your utter excellency in nature, so perhaps it is rather cruel to blame you for this one time. But-"

Out of pure instinct, Bruce punched Ra's in the gut and kicked him to the floor. Ra's quickly jumped back up and dusted himself off, hardly bothered physically. But mentally, he was shocked. Talia ran to her father's side to make sure he was alright.

"Why would you do that, Beloved?" She yelled at Bruce. With Ra's obviously unarmed, she took a step towards her boyfriend. "You already weren't doing very well on his evaluations, so how do you think attacking him is going to help you?"

"I've proved I can defeat him." Bruce narrowed his eyes, still confident in his reckless behavior. Talia sighed, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "He was doubting my ability to fight, but I've proved that I'm perfectly capable of throwing a punch or two. Since he's so obsessed with my fighting, it should help me be 'worthy' or whatnot." He crossed his arms.

Ra's rested his forehead against his hand, facepalming, "Yes, you got me on the ground for a bit, but at what cost? Ambushing may be a great strategy, and I already admitted you knew many strategies, but what kind of true warrior would use it on his own friend!?" He snapped. His large boots rattled as he stomped his foot on the ground. "A little agitation and frustration towards me does not take away the fact that you never declared us at war!" He began to stomp back to his seat at the dinner table.

"For goodness sakes, you're really going to lecture me about my morals when you've got a freaking assassin cult surrounding us!?" Bruce yelled back in return, "In my defense, when I see assassins, it really seems like anything I do would be in self-defense… Even if you weren't currently attacking me…" He argued. Every sense of nervousness had spiraled into anger.

"Exactly, we never attacked you except for a formal, well-mannered, spa-"

"Shut up! Can't you both just agree to disagree?!" Now shaking from frustration, Talia finally let her voice really rise and scream at them both. She tugged Bruce back to the table, and motioned for them both to sit down. "Apparently you're both a bit crazy, but two different kinds of crazy that apparently don't mix. I just- I just want this dinner to not be the worst experience of all of our lives…." As she settled back down into her own chair, her voice began to lower again.

Bruce and Ra's both begrudgingly nodded. Everyone's muscles began to relax, and their breaths were much slower and calmer. The ticks of an old clock clacked in the background as everyone went back to eating calmly. After a few minutes of peaceful silence, a soft conversation began again.

"I don't think you two ever introduced yourselves." Bruce pointed to another man and woman who were seated at the table with them. They had been simply watching and speculating as him and Ra's did their shenanigans. "You're Nyssa, right?" He pointed to the woman who had stabbed Ra's not long ago.

"Yes, and it's been quite amusing to watch him be kinder to you than he is to me." Nyssa sent him a cold glare across the table. He shuttered. "I'm Talia's older sister… or technically half sister, but you get the point."

Ra's quickly took up the introductions once she was finished, "Yes, yes, she's my other daughter. Much older than Talia, but nowhere near as wonderful." He smiled at Talia, who blushed uncomfortably. Being the favorite was better than being the least favorite, but it could certainly be embarrassing, too. Ra's turned towards Dusan, "He's… my son? I think. I'm sorry, it's been a long time since his birth, so I sometimes forget it even happened! His name is… hmm… I'm fairly sure it starts with a C…"

"It's Dusan, Father. It doesn't even start with a C…" The man corrected. He sighed at his father's forgetfulness. Ra's titled his head at Dusan, displeased at the answer. His expression was questionable, with an eyebrow raised, like he was about to question Dusan on his own name. Dusan sighed even deeper.

"I… supposed that's his name, then…" Ra's gave in, his tone still indicating his lack of certainty on the matter. He looked Dusan in the eyes, making direct eye contact, "But don't call me Father! You're hardly my son if I can't even remember my name." Dusan returned the eye contact with a look of sadness and disappointment.

"If it makes you feel any better, Dusan, I still consider you my big brother." Talia stated, smiling towards him shyly. Dusan shook off the eye contact with Ra's to send a bitter glare back to his younger sister.

"Oh really? Like I care, Favorite! One day, he's going to realize that I'm the better child and you're going to be forsaken considering how much trouble you've caused him!" Dusan scowled at Talia. She groaned, but stayed quiet in an attempt to avoid another embarrassing argument.

"Don't you dare speak to your superior that way!" Despite her silence, Ra's was far from quiet. He immediately looked back towards Bruce as he finished speaking. His speech was completely polite to Bruce now, as if the spontaneous attack had never even happened. "I apologize for his foul behavior, Bruce. It seems that sometimes immature children will act out if you forget to treat them kindly."

"Um… okay." Bruce squinted at Ra's, concerned but still confused. He was still certain that despite the uncalled-for attack, Ra's was still indefinitely the crazier one. But of course, in an effort to not upset Talia, Bruce kept this thought to himself. "I… suppose you must have another test for me, right?"

"Of course! Even though your manners aren't the very best, I will admit you did get me on the ground for a bit there, so… I still haven't counted you out. With a little teaching, you could be a very worthy man." Ra's complimented, "I'd just like to ask you a few questions, to get a grip of your personality just a bit better." He explained, pushing his food to the side.

"Go ahead," Bruce said. Despite his encouraging words, though, he was frowning in utter disinterest. He slowly pushed his food to the side to clear a path between them. Ra's pointed to Bruce before he asked the first question.

"How do you feel about the environment? More specifically, the planet. Innocent animals made endangered by man-made devices and pollution!" Ra's began. He eagerly stretched his hand over to grab a nearby globe, pulling it into his clutches. His thick, strong, fingers spun it nonchalantly.

Bruce thought about the question for a moment, "I feel bad for the animals. Since I have so much money, I've donated tons to helping them, and I feel the environment is a very important cause. I will admit I haven't done a ton of work with it myself, though…" He answered the question as truthfully as possible, figuring it probably wasn't too important.

"That's good… although I would appreciate a bit more enthusiasm for such an important cause." Ra's nodded, quickly moving on to the next question. "How about… murder? Assuming there's a good cause for it, of course."

Bruce froze, "Do I… do I have to answer truthfully?" He whispered into Talia's ear. She nodded, pointing towards her father. With a couple of her fingers pressed up to her neck, she made a cut-throat gesture. Bruce shuttered and shook at such a threatening signal, even if it was more of a simple warning. "I think it's horrible. One of the worst crimes imaginable. I would never commit it, even if it cost me my life. I don't think there's any excuse for taking another human being's life, no matter what that human being has done."

Ra's frowned at the blunt response, "But what if it saved other lives? The animals, which we've hurt so much with pollution's lives, perhaps?" He argued, continuing to spin his globe fidgetly. His eyes peered down at the bright blue paint, thinking of the dolphins, fish, seals, and whales that all inhabited that precious space. The space humans were constantly taking over, with their plastic, machinery, and oil spills. To Ra's, such horrid actions seemed surely worthy of the death penalty.

"I said no," Bruce shook his head stubbornly. "No one deserves to die, period. I'm not going to be persuaded on this." He glared at Ra's, starting to get more and more confident by the minute. Ra's glowered right back at him.

Talia sighed, "You know, Beloved… You didn't have to be this blunt about it." She leaned her head on chin on her hand wearily. Her eyes began to close softly, having no energy left after all the messes that had gone on. "I just didn't want you making up something too-good-to-be-true…."

Bruce rolled his eyes, "Well maybe I want to be blunt-"

"Well, I'd like to remind you that my father isn't exactly the person you want to upset!" She gestured back towards all the highly-trained assassins surrounding them. Every single one had belts with an arsenal of weapons tucked inside, and half of them had enough muscles to take down most people without the help of the weapons. "Only a fool would mess with such a man. After months of dating you, I hope I am not misled when I say you're not that much of an idiot."

Bruce gulped, immediately realizing his mistake, "I…. I'm sorry, Mr. Al Ghul." He looked back at Ra's nervously. He quickly tightened his tie and fixed his posture, hoping even that small of a change could make a difference. . . Whether that difference was a matter of life or death, or simply whether Talia and him were allowed to keep dating.

"You know... '' Ra's considered his options, peering at Bruce judgmentally. "That kind of rebelness does show courage, if you squint. I'll be fair and say it's bound to come in handy at some point in your life… so, I have decided that you two may keep dating. From what I've heard, you make my daughter happy, so I suppose I'd feel bad being too judgemental." He smiled at Talia. Getting up from his seat, he wandered around the table to kiss her forehead lovingly.

Despite the loving gesture, though, Talia was much more focused on the wonderful news this meant for her and Bruce. The minute her father was done giving her the kiss, she ran over to Bruce and hugged him. Bruce wrapped his hands around her as well, squeezing her against him.

"Thank you, Father," Talia turned back towards Ra's for a split second before leaning back into Bruce's hug. She rested her cheek against him affectionately. "You're alive. I can't believe you're still alive. Everyone's still alive…." She smiled, tilting her to the left to peck him on the cheek.

"Yes.. although I will admit it's a bit sad that we even questioned that.. Not that we didn't have the right to." Bruce glared at Nyssa and Ra's bitterly. Fortunately, they were both looking the opposite way. He really had to stop doing so much of this rebellious, impolite, glaring at those he was attempting to make fond of him. "But more importantly, we get to stay together! I knew I had made the right move by attacking your father." He smirked.

"Sure you did," Talia's smile twisted into a smirk along with his, "There's a reason he didn't kill you, though, Beloved. You were wonderful… and the stalemate? That's more than impressive. It took me my entire childhood of playing chess with him to start being able to get those! You're so intelligent, and brave, and… well, I'm just very glad I fell in love with someone as wonderful as you. Even if you did punch my Father." Her eyes softened for a moment, now taken over by a bittersweet gaze.

"...Thank you," Bruce smiled softly back to her, but it was quickly taken over by a more solemn, concerned, expression. "Can we talk outside for a moment, Talia? After all this, I think there's a lot we need to go over… privately." He nudged her out of the comfy hug.

Talia's smile immediately dropped, "Of… course," She stuttered, now remembering that Bruce had just learned tons of secrets in this one evening. Her head turned slightly back towards Ra's, "Please excuse us for a moment." Taking Bruce's hand, Talia led him outside to a nearby courtyard.

Once they got there, Bruce let out a long, painfully loud, groan. He flopped down onto one of the benches drowsily. Talia sat down with him, letting out a smaller groan herself. They sat there, with all masks and forced smiles dropped for an awkward minute or two. Their eyes were closed for the most of it, only flickering open every few seconds.

"I assume you want to break up with me, anyway." Talia finally spoke, her words slow and quiet above the peeps of nearby crickets. She stared straight down at the ground, neglecting to blink or let the aching tears stream out of her eyes. Bruce slowly looked up at her. Both their heads were still dropping forwards for the most part, but he peered at her from the corner of his eye. Another gap of silence stood between them before he finally opened his mouth to answer her question.

"...No, not necessarily." Bruce finally answered. He looked back down at his lap, avoiding any kind of eye contact. Her chin twitched upwards at the good news. But as he spoke again, Talia's chin lowered. "But… out of curiosity, if I did, would your father kill me?"

"Well… yes, probably." Her skirt gently flew up, caught in the airy breeze. She breathed in and out, as slow and soft as the wind. Bruce bit his lip, pouting ever so slightly. He swallowed in consideration. "But I would try my best to stop it from happening, Beloved. As much as it would ache me, I would never want you to die, of course. …..You could fake your own death." She suggested, finally lifting her chin enough to really look at him.

Bruce flinched, but kept his head down, "I'd… rather not do that." A muffled groan escaped his lips. Talia's lips quivered at the uncomfortable sound. Her head dropped again, spinning towards the opposite direction. As she turned away, Bruce continued thinking over his options. Everything felt wrong, but somehow right in an odd way. They sat in silence for another couple minutes as he fell deep into his thoughts.

"You promised," Talia suddenly blurted out. Tears had begun to well up in the corners of her eyes. She continued to look away from him, hiding the weak, desperate look on her face. "You promised you wouldn't blame me for them….. You promised." Her voice was careful as she attempted to keep her tone as calm as possible.

Bruce nodded, "You're right," He stated. For a second, but only for a second, did his voice crack into a much shakier tone. It pained him to look at her, to hear her faltering voice, and most of all, to know that she hadn't truly done a thing. At least, as far as he knew. "Your father's a criminal. The leader of a league dedicated to murder. So, with that knowledge in mind…. How many people have you murdered?"

Talia gulped, "You- You don't want to know." She shook her head shamefully. Bruce winced at the cold, gut-wrenching answer. "You and I both know you don't truly want to hear the answer to that question." She repeated. Talia pressed her eyes closed, letting tears seep out out and on to her trembling cheeks. Bruce was going to go. She was sure of it.

"Why…? Why would you-" Bruce stuttered. He finally fully lifted his head to face the apparent-murderer. Talia turned even farther away from him in response.

"Can't you see? My father is an ecoterrorist, Beloved. A mass-murderer. A genocidal maniac. I spent my entire childhood in his care… Of course I've killed for him!" Her voice rose a bit. Talia's eyes peered back at Bruce to see his reaction, but she didn't move a muscle in her neck to truly look at him. "I swear on my life, I didn't enjoy it. But I couldn't let him down. I still can't let him down. He's still my father, and… I can't betray my own family, can I?" She wrapped her arms around herself. A sad look sparkled in her eyes, almost mirroring the stars above them.

Bruce felt a tinge of anger run up his spine, "But…. you want to, don't you?" Talia's neck shook as her head flopped even closer to her lap. He moved his hand a bit closer to her, considering whether he should place it on her shoulder or not.

"Maybe I do," Talia whispered, her words barely audible. It was if she was simply mouthing them to herself. She squeezed her eyes shut as she spoke the tiny, quiet, little words. As she slowly opened them again, she gradually turned her head to finally face him. Their eyes met for a moment, "But maybe I don't. It's more complicated than that, Beloved ..." Her head still faced him, but her eyes broke out of the eye contact. They wandered in the opposite direction wistfully.

Bruce sucked in his lips, every muscle in his body cramping together. He resisted every urge in himself to touch her, hug her... or simply just reach a bit closer to hold hands. She was a murderer. He shouldn't have felt this way, he knew he shouldn't, but the urges were there. Bruce. Still. Loved. Her. It hurt to say the words inside his head, but not quite as much as it hurt to deny it. He kept his hand still, worried even a small vibration of movement could result in him fully wrapping his arms around Talia. But as he focused on stillness in his body, Bruce felt another hand reach over and squeeze his.

"All I know now, Beloved… is that I don't want to betray you." Talia looked straight at him now, adjusting her entire body to lean towards him. Bruce looked straight at her, as well. Her green eyes were glossy, with wet tears glistening in the moonlight. "We could still work out. My father actually seems to admire you, and I do, as well, but…. I'm not sure if you return such admiration…. After everything you've learned."

"You have a point," Bruce pushed himself off the bench. He began to tread forward, wandering around the courtyard. "I lose nothing from staying with you… except perhaps my lack of relations with murderers. It's not like I'm completely innocent myself. I may not have taken anyone's life, but I certainly started some fires against people who didn't completely deserve it. My poor math teacher…. Besides, I made a promise." He paced back and forth, gradually walking faster and faster|.

Talia sighed, "But that promise only included what my family did," She stood up with him. "They are my murders, not my-"

"Yes," He looked down for a moment, lost in thought yet again. His mouth rested in an aloof frown. Bruce's eyes narrowed. "But even then, it's more than clear you wouldn't be such a murderer if it weren't for where you were raised. Blaming you for such a thing could be considered breaking my promise either way." His hands spun up and down, gesturing as he explained his logic.

Talia's hand reached over to his, "Please… I'm not some kind of damsel in distress. I may have tears coming out of my eyes, and I may look pathetic right now, but…you still must make the choice that suits your heart. I don't want your pity." Her eyebrows arched, a stern focus taking over. Bruce's hands stopped twirling. A stillness crept over, with her hand just barely resting on his arm peacefully.

"-And I will not give you any, Talia," Bruce cleared his throat. Finally giving in to the undying urges, he wrapped his arms around her. Talia felt him pull her into a soft embrace. "Even through mistakes, and even, well... crimes, there is one thing standing. One thing other than pity- and that is love. It may make me crazy for doing so, or even a criminal, but I will give you mine."

"What does that even mean, though?" Talia asked, looking downwards. Her eyelids flapped up and down as she quickly blinked. "I… suppose it doesn't even matter, does it? Not now, anyhow… If you will give me your love, then I will give you mine." She quickly peeked back up, now with a wide smile across her face.

"I think we both know what that means, then… and what it doesn't." Bruce sighed, carefully taking a step back from Talia. Their loving embrace loosened. Talia's smile began to drop, but still not fully hit a frown. "I'm sorry. I… may have gotten lost in the fairytales there. Or maybe I was right. I'm not even sure anymore, Talia…"

Talia took deep breaths as she thought everything he was saying over, "You… you said thought we both knew what it meant… and what it didn't, of course. But perhaps…" Her hand, hesitant and unsure, began to slowly nudge him back towards her. Despite his overall reluctance, he easily let her lead him in the movement. "Perhaps for now… we can just focus on what it does mean, Beloved." She whispered the endearing nickname, a hopeful smile appearing on his face. Bruce couldn't help but smile back.

With their arms already wrapped tightly around each other, Talia slowly began to lean in for a kiss. Bruce closed his eyes, gently following her affectionate behavior. Both of their soft hugs towards the other one tightened even more as they leaned in close. The soft glow of the moon shimmered behind them as they finally kissed. Talia and Bruce held the other one happily. Happy. Even for just a moment, they were happy.

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dragonydreams · 6 years

Text

The Light and The Heat - Coldwave

Title: The Light and The Heat Fandom: The Flash, DC's Legends of Tomorrow Rating: Mature Pairings/Characters: Leonard Snart/Mick Rory Summary: There was something familiar about Mick that Len couldn't pinpoint, and that fact kept drawing him back here - to the coffee shop and the chair. Timeline: AU Word Count: 3,785 Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over these characters. I am merely borrowing them from Berlanti Productions, DC Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Television. Betas: Thank you to my regular betas for looking this over for me. You know who you are. Author's Note: This is my DCTV Secret Santa gift for @sophiainspace who asked for 1) anything coldwave (especially young coldwave e.g. in their 20s) and/or 2) fluffy coffee shop AU. I'm sure you won't mind that I managed to include both. Enjoy! Author's Note 2: Title from "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel.

Len's pace quickened as he approached his destination, one hand on the strap of his messenger bag, keeping it tight against his body, as he rushed down the busy street just off campus, cursing how far away he'd had to park his car.

He wasn't late… technically. It wasn't like he had an appointment or class that he was trying to get to. No, this was a far more important destination he was aiming for.

He pulled the door open, cursing the jangle of the bell on the door for announcing his self-imposed tardiness, and paused in the entryway. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that his chair was available. He strode quickly over to it and dropped his bag onto the worn leather before turning to the counter.

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons this was his chair. Ever since he'd discovered that Elemental Coffee served the best hot cocoa and was on his way from campus to Lisa's high school.

Len approached the counter and found his order waiting for him. As usual.

"Want me to freshen that up?" the burly man behind the counter asked. "You're late."

Len picked the mug up off the counter, mini marshmallows melting slightly in the still hot, but no longer steaming, liquid.

"Nah, this is perfect," Len said, after taking a sip. "How'd you know?"

Mick grunted. "Could set my clock by your schedule."

Len dipped his face to his mug to avoid the blush he could feel creeping up his neck. "Thanks," he muttered as he paid and left a healthy tip in the tip jar before returning to his chair with his drink and a blueberry scone.

His chair had a perfect view of the counter, and, more importantly, the man behind the counter. The perfect study distraction for Len.

Mick was a mystery that Len had been trying to solve for months now. Without, you know, actually talking to him more than to give his order and other small talk.

There was something familiar about Mick that Len couldn't pinpoint, and that fact kept drawing him back here - to the shop and the chair.

After settling himself in the chair, drink and snack safe on the small table beside him, Len drew out his textbook and notepad and tried to focus on the chapters assigned in today's engineering class. Every few paragraphs, Len felt his eyes being drawn up to look at the man behind the counter.

Mick wasn't the kind of man he was usually attracted to, which only added to the mystery. His past male lovers had all been lean, like himself, where Mick was broad-shouldered with a shaved head. Definitely the kind of man you'd expect to find at a biker bar instead of behind the counter of a coffee shop. He was gruff, bordering on rude, to most of the customers - except with Len.

In what felt like no time at all, Len's phone beeped, reminding him that it was time to go pick Lisa up from whatever after school activity she'd had that day. They lived far enough from the high school that he didn't want her walking home through the not-so-safe neighborhood alone. So when she couldn't get a ride from a friend, which was most days, he picked her up in their only car.

He stowed his school materials back in the bag, shouldered it, and took his empty dishes to the bin set aside for them by the door.

"See ya Friday," Mick called out to him.

"See ya," Len called back.

~~*~~

Mick circled the counter and went to the seat Leo always occupied, wiping down the table and chair to remove stray crumbs.

It had been months now since Leo had wandered back into his life; so Mick felt like it would be rude at this point to mention their shared past if the other man didn't remember him. Not when Leo had meant so much to him in their youth. He couldn't bear it if he truly didn't remember their time together in juvie.

They'd lost touch after Leo had gotten out. While they'd been close while inside together, especially after they'd become cell mates, Leo had been determined not to follow in his father's footsteps.

From the big text books that he was always bringing in here, it looked like he'd made good on that promise.

He'd inspired Mick to want to lead a criminal-free life, too. It would have been so easy for him to fall into a life of crime. He would have been a great arsonist for hire.

Instead, he'd ended up in a foster home for a few months before he turned eighteen with good foster parents. They'd insisted that he go to therapy for his pyromania - rightfully afraid that he'd set their house on fire, like he'd done to his own parents' home. He'd been resistant to the therapy at first, but eventually started listening to what the therapist was saying and actually found it helpful. He had never been much of a talker – still wasn't – but his therapist found ways to work with him anyway.

His foster parents, who let him keep living with them even after he turned eighteen and were no longer getting paid to let him live there, helped him get his GED and into community college. He took all kinds of classes, trying to find something that interested him, and in a business class he was taking he'd met Mark and Clyde Mardon, brothers who were taking the class with hopes of opening a coffee shop.

This coffee shop.

Mick knew he didn't have a head for business, but he enjoyed working in the kitchen and making the fancy coffee drinks. One of the girls who worked here, Kendra, loved telling everyone that she was a barista, but Mick didn't need a fancy title like that to describe his job. He made coffee, end of story.

And making coffee allowed him to be in the right place when Leo walked through the door at the beginning of the semester.

Leo had gotten taller, finally - he'd been such a small kid in juvie - and his hair was shorn short now, but Mick would have recognized those eyes anywhere.

He kept waiting for Leo to recognize him, but so far, it hadn't happened. So he didn't say anything, not wanting to embarrass the guy.

After all, Leo had been his first crush; his first kiss. He was the first boy that he'd admitted being attracted to; and juvie was hardly the place for such admissions. He was just lucky that Leo had felt the same way.

Only, how much could he have meant to him if he couldn't recognize the boy he'd been in the man he was now?

~~*~~

A few more weeks went by. Len kept to his routine, Mick always had his drink and a snack ready for him when he arrived, and his seat was always open. Until one day his drink was ready but no snack.

When he was about to request something, Mick said, "Bring it over to you in a minute."

Len raised an eyebrow at that, but took his drink and settled into his chair.

A few minutes later, Mick brought over a snack - a red velvet cupcake.

Len whistled. "What'd I do to deserve a cupcake? I didn't think you sold those here."

"We don't," Mick said, staring at his boots. "Know today's an anniversary of sorts, wanted something special."

Len stared up at Mick wondering how he could possibly know.

Mick met his eyes and the nervousness and hope was like an icicle to Len's heart.

"Mickey?" Len whispered.

Mick set the cupcake he was still holding on the table and pulled over a chair from a nearby table and sank onto it, eyes never leaving Len's. "'Bout damn time."

"You've known who I was all this time?" Len asked.

Mick nodded. "Could never forget those eyes."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Was kinda hoping you would have figured it out on your own," Mick admitted.

"So why now?" Len asked.

"Because today's the anniversary of the first time we kissed," Mick said. "It was an important day for me, Leo."

"Me, too," Len admitted. "Although I go by Len now."

"OK, I'm just Mick now; which you already knew," he said, gesturing to his nametag.

Len grabbed Mick's hand as he lowered it, staring at the bigger man's face.

"You've changed so much in the past decade," Len said. "I knew you felt familiar, but I couldn't figure out why. It's one reason I come here so much. I've been trying to figure you out."

"And here I thought it was for my superior hot cocoa," Mick said with a smirk.

"That, too," Len agreed. "So you went straight when you got out?"

"Well, I wouldn't exactly say straight..." Mick said, his voice dropping as he turned his hand over in Len's and squeezed it.

Len swallowed; hard. "That's very good to know," he drawled.

The both startled when Len's phone beeped.

Mick frowned and glanced at his watch. "Isn't that goin' off a bit early?"

"Yeah," Len looked at him apologetically as he released Mick's hand, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "Lisa's practice was a short one today."

"Lisa… your baby sister?" Mick clarified, praying that she wasn't a girlfriend.

Len huffed out a laugh. "Now a bratty teenager, but yes, my little sister. She's been living with me full time for about a year. Can I get these to go?" He asked, nodding towards his cupcake and cocoa.

"'Course," Mick agreed, taking the items to the counter and transferring them into to-go containers. When Len approached the counter to retrieve them, Mick caught his hand. "Can I see you later tonight? Or tomorrow? Away from here?"

Len mentally ran through his calendar. He worked the afternoons and evenings he didn't come to the coffee house, but he wanted to continue his conversation with Mickey - Mick. "Yeah, tonight. Give me your phone." When Mick handed it over, Len quickly entered his contact info, then texted himself. "I'll text you later with where we can meet up. When is your shift over?"

"I get off at eight," Mick answered.

"Perfect," Len said. "I'll see you soon."

Len gave Mick's hand a squeeze before he released it and then he rushed out the door, cocoa and cupcake in hand.

~~*~~

"So, who is he?" Lisa teased, flopping down on Len's bed as he got ready to go meet Mick.

"Nobody," Len answered quickly, knowing the answer wouldn't satisfy his nosy sister, but not wanting to try to explain Mick to her right now.

"Oooh, nobody," Lisa said knowingly. "That's why you've been staring at your closet for the past ten minutes when everything you own is either dark blue or black."

Len frowned, but couldn't disagree with her. Instead, he asked, "Is your homework done?"

"It's Friday night, what do you think?" Lisa countered. Len simply glared at her. "Almost," she grumbled.

"Finish it up while I'm out, then you won't have to worry about it over the weekend," he said.

Lisa rolled her eyes, having heard this every Friday since she'd come to live with her brother. "Yeah, yeah, I know."

Len grabbed his leather jacket off the hook by the front door and patted his pockets to make sure he had his wallet and phone.

"You're really not gonna tell me about this guy?" Lisa wheedled.

"I will, just, not right now. I don't want to be late," Len said, grabbing his keys. "I'll try not to be home too late."

"Pfft," Lisa waved him off. "For your sake, I hope you don't come home at all tonight. It's been ages since you've gotten laid."

Len stiffened. "What makes you say that?" he demanded.

"Because I know you, brother dear, and you have been ornery as fuck for the past several months," Lisa said.

Not wanting to discuss his sex life with his little sister - especially since she was right - Len said, "I'll be home later tonight."

~~*~~

Mick picked at the label on his beer bottle as he waited for Leo. No, Len, he had to remind himself.

He'd been surprised when Len had suggested that they meet at Saints and Sinners, but he always did like a dive bar.

"Hey, sorry I'm late," Len said, sliding into the booth across from him. "Lisa decided to start pestering me about where I was going as I was heading out."

Mick glanced at his watch. "You're not late, I just got here early."

Len signaled for a waitress and ordered his own beer before returning his attention to Mick.

"You know, now that I know who you are, I can see the kid I knew in you," Len said. "I'm sorry that it took me so long to recognize you."

"S'okay," Mick grunted, feeling a pleasurable warmth in his chest. "So you've got custody of your sister?"

"Not exactly," he paused as the waitress dropped off his drink. "I became an emancipated minor when I was sixteen, needing to get out from under my dad's roof. But I couldn't go too far away because I didn't want to leave Lisa all alone with him. I'd been volunteering at the library since I got out of juvie and Gideon, one of the librarians, hooked me up with her friend, Rip, who owned a bookstore, and got me a job there so that I could afford a shitty apartment when I was emancipated. I still work there four days a week," Len explained.

"The days you don't come to the shop," Mick guessed.

"Yeah," Len agreed. "I got my GED early since I spent all my time around books and started studying engineering at the local college. I'm almost done with my Masters."

"You always did need to know how everything worked," Mick remembered.

"Anyway, Lewis and I worked out a sort of custody arrangement with Lisa after I tried and failed to get legal custody of her. The more time she spent at my place, the less he had to worry about feeding her. But it also meant that he no longer had anyone to take his anger out on with both of us no longer living under his roof, so he wouldn't let her go completely."

"He hit her?" Mick growled.

"Both of us, yeah," Len reluctantly admitted. "And I've got the scars to prove it."

"Want me to teach him a lesson?" Mick asked, flexing his muscles.

"Thanks, but no," Len said. "He's out of our lives now. Rip gave Lisa a job, too, and the second she was old enough, we got her emancipated and she moved in with me full time. She's seventeen now."

As he finished talking, Len let his fingers brush against Mick's. He looked at him through his eyelashes and asked, "And what have you been up to since juvie?"

Mick shifted in his seat as all his blood rushed south. He took a swig of beer, having forgotten the power that look had on him.

"I, uh, ended up with a really good foster family. They were patient and found me a good therapist. Helped me get my GED and into community college. That's where I met the Mardon brothers, the guys who own Elemental. Best thing that came out of that stupid business class I took. When they got the funding to open the shop they brought me in to work behind the counter and in the kitchen."

"Do you mean that you make all those delicious treats you pick out for me?" Len asked, drool threatening to give away how much he enjoyed the sweets he ate at the shop.

Mick's chest puffed out a bit at the hungry look in Len's eyes. "I do," he admitted. "Turns out that I'm really good in a kitchen."

"Next time you're making me dinner," Len declared.

"I'm glad you want there to be a next time," Mick admitted.

Mindful that they weren't in a place where they couldn't do much more than flirt, Len carefully brushed his fingers against Mick's again.

"I'd like to show you just how much I'd like there to be a next time," Len purred.

"Wanna get out of here?" Mick suggested, breathing heavily.

"Thought you'd never ask," Len drawled. They both threw money on the table and tried not to rush out of the building.

Mick dragged Len into the alley next to the bar and pressed him against the brick wall as his mouth slammed down on his. Len's hands fisted in Mick's open coat, dragging him closer as the kiss grew sloppy and more desperate.

"How far's your place from here?" Len asked between kisses.

"I walked here," Mick admitted.

"Good, then we can take my car," Len said, slipping out from against the wall and dragging Mick towards his car.

"Give me the keys. I'll drive since I know where we're goin'," Mick suggested, holding his hand out.

Len rarely let anyone else drive his car, but he didn't hesitate to drop his keys into Mick's outstretched hand.

Five minutes later they were stumbling into Mick's apartment, barely able to keep their hands off of each other.

They made it as far as the couch.

Len roughly pushed Mick to sit in the center of it and straddled him, their bodies pressed as close together as possible while still wearing clothes, as their mouths found each other's again.

Mick ran his hands over Len's close-cropped hair. "Miss being able to bury my fingers in your hair," he admitted as he left open mouthed kisses down Len's neck, biting lightly when he reached that sensitive point where shoulder and neck met.

Reaching up, Len dragged Mick's hands down to his ass. "Got something else for you to hold onto."

Mick bucked up against Len, pressing their bodies even closer together. "Fuck, I've missed you, Leo," he growled, forgetting the new name in his eagerness.

"Missed you, too, Mickey," Len said before recapturing his mouth.

Mick's hands slid around to grasp Len's belt, but Len stopped him. "No, we're gonna come just like this," he said, rolling his hips hard against Mick. "I'm so close already, aren't you?"

"Wanna touch you," Mick huffed. "Need skin."

Hesitating only briefly, Len pulled off his shirt. Mick's eyes widened at the sheer number of scars littering Len's chest and arms, but refused to let that ruin the moment they were in. He dipped his head to take one of Len's nipples between his teeth, biting down gently.

"Yes," Len hissed, holding Mick's head against him as he continued to roll his hips.

Mick ran his hands down Len's equally damaged back and slipped them into his pants beneath his underwear, grabbing his bare ass and yanking him hard against him as he pressed up.

"Shit, I'm gonna come," Mick grunted.

"Yeah, me, too," Len panted.

Their mouths met with a clashing of teeth as they both came in their pants.

"Fuck, I haven't done that since I was a teenager," Len said, sliding off Mick's lap to sit pressed against his side.

"Don't think I've ever done that before," Mick admitted, running his fingers over Len's back.

Len shivered and reached for his shirt, pulling it back on as he got to his feet. "I hate to come and go, but I should probably get back to Lisa."

"Stay," Mick said, catching his hand. "I'm not ready to let you go yet."

Len sank back onto the couch and pressed a kiss to Mick's lips. "How can I say no to a request like that?"

"You can't," Mick answered, wrapping an arm against Len's shoulders. "We'll watch a movie and then we can talk about you leaving."

Len laughed. "So we need to talk about me leaving? I do have a teenage sister at home."

"Operative word being: teenage. She'll be fine on her own," Mick said.

"I have one condition," Leonard said, shifting in his seat.

Mick glanced at him out of the side of his eye. "What's that?"

"Let me borrow a pair of shorts?" he requested. Nodding towards his lap, he added, "This is gonna get really uncomfortable, real fast."

Mick frowned and realized Len was right. "Yeah, good idea. C'mon." They both stood and Mick led Len to his bedroom. Mick rummaged through a drawer and pulled out two pairs of boxers. Handing one to Len, he said, "Might be a bit big on you."

"Still better than what I'm currently wearing, thanks," Len said, tearing his eyes away from the small pile of books on the nightstand. "Bathroom?"

Mick pointed to the door across the hall and Len entered the small room. He poked through cabinets until he found a washcloth and slipped out of his boots, jeans, and underwear. He cleaned himself up before pulling on Mick's boxers, a thrill running up his spine as he did so. He quickly finished dressing and rinsed out the washcloth before heading back to the living room, carrying his boots with him.

Mick was already seated on the couch, DVD ready to play.

"So what are we watching?" Len asked, settling comfortably against Mick's side.

"Thought this was appropriate, given the time of year," Mick said, pushing play on the remote.

"Die Hard?" Len asked as the movie started.

"Best fuckin' Christmas movie ever," Mick said.

"Yippee-ki-yay," Len said as they settled in to watch.

He was going to get so much shit from Lisa the next day, but Len couldn't bring himself to care. Right now, he couldn't imagine being anywhere else than right here; with Mick.

The End

#dctvsecretsanta #coldwave #leonard snart/mick rory #leonard snart #mick rory #Fic: The Light and The Heat

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lululululipop-blog · 6 years

Text

Ch. 1

Sweet Like Candy...?

Hmmm... first two chapters are done. I honestly had to do all the revision, and editing myself, so it took way longer than expected. But please enjoy and keep a lookout for new stories I’ll try to post faster. Haha

Just a Little Something~ 🌸

“She’s not talking to me,” blond hair and red eyes was what trademarked the hot tempered male that spoke.

His friend, Kirishima, saw that he was looking away towards the end of the lunchroom, admiring the small girl who would look back occasionally to give a grim look, only to turn away once more as if making a point.

Kirishima took some of his mate’s food, stuffing it in his mouth; his friend didn’t even pay much mind to it. He simply waved him off which showed immediately how much this ordeal was bothering him.

“Yo, Kacchan, what’d you do? She’s not usually like this,” Kirishima spoke through mouthfuls of Bakugou’s food.

Bakugou growled at his words, “Damn it if I know! I’ve been thinking since this fucking morning and nothing has come up that would be considered out of the ordinary! All I know, is we were fighting that random villain out in the streets, then she decided to stop talking to me! Didn’t even bother to visit me in the hospital, dumbass.”

Kirishima hummed in understanding, “Girls are confusing.”

Bakugou nodded at this, “No shit. And she’s making it rather obvious that she’s angry as well. That idiot.” His statement seemed gentler than his usual tone, showcasing how truly he was worrying about her.

Kirishima found this admirable, so he offered his own advice, “Why don’t you just ask her?”

Bakugou turned as if he had just been electroshocked by Kirishima’s sole words, “Huh? You’ve got to be kidding me. If she wants to solve whatever is going on, she’ll come up and talk to me first! I’m not going out of my way to talk over something when she’s the one angry about it.”

He took his water bottle and drank it quickly, extinguishing the flames that were starting to grow even stronger inside him. Water could only do so much, however.

Kirishima seemed to be taking a liking to playing around with Bakugou’s food, and he began building a large tower out of the sauce packets Bakugou had brought, “Then... how about you try acting sweet for a while?”

Bakugou seemed confused at this. How would one act sweet? Sweet was something quite out of his Kacchan-dictionary that consisted of specifically vulgar language with the addition of a few superhero terms and the occasional, “Stupid” and “idiot” added in. “Don’t look down on me,” would be the summary in the back of his dictionary.

Kirishima shrugged, “Nothing is gonna get solved if neither of you do something. Instead of talking it out, perhaps you could try different things until she’s happy again.”

Bakugou didn’t like the idea of that, “Why do I have to be the one to make the first move?”

“Hm, would you rather admit that you’d give in to her if she was the one who spoke first?” Kirishima spoke without thinking, but couldn’t take the words back. They were already out there, disintegrating into the very depths of Bakugou’s brain.

Standing up, he took a strong grasp of Kirishima’s shirt and pulled him to meet him face to face, the pile of sauce packets toppling over, “How the hell am I supposed to act sweet?”

Surprised that Bakugou seemed to actually be thinking of taking up the offer, Kirishima nodded, smiling a toothy smile, “Well... first...”

“Delivery for (y/n) (l/n)?!” A mailman called out from the class doorway.

Now, (y/n) wouldn’t be considered unpopular, she had her good number of friends and she was deemed as a promising hero, but she definitely wouldn’t be considered popular enough to have a secret admirer. And, from the large bouquet after bouquet that appeared behind the mailman, arranged with a variety of balloons, clearly someone had it bad for her. Or perhaps she had won a prize, which seemed like the more likely answer even though she hadn’t participated in anything that would call for a reward.

Her friends urged her up, so, hesitantly, she began walking up to the ever so happy mailman, as he handed her the pile of bouquets in a wagon, and a letter. “You’ve got quite the caring boyfriend,” the mailman finished, before moving to the side.

(Y/n) seemed bewildered. What boyfriend could he possibly be talking about? The one she did have would never do anything like this, clearly it was some sort of stalker.

She opened the letter, slightly nervous but trying to bite back the fear from showing on her face. The handwriting was perfectly printed and the scent that engulfed her was that of spicy peppermint; fresh. The only recognizable part of it that could possibly pinpoint the source of the letter, was the signed name at the bottom: Bakugou. She turned her head to the side to ensure that she hadn’t just imagined the name, and rubbed her eyes. Opening them again, she squinted at the paper, almost burning a hole through them with her sharp stare as if somehow the name would suddenly change. Nope, Bakugou’s print was still on there, making fun of her. This must be some sort of prank Kirishima or maybe one of the other guys were playing on her. There was no way—

Interrupting her thoughts, the mailman moved to the side and the balloons made way in the middle of the long school hallway. There, dressed in a delicious suit of crisp black with matching, polished, black shoes and a red undershirt, stood Bakugou, with an assortment of roses and yellow daffodils. (Y/n) covered her mouth to keep from laughing. Although he looked oddly stunning in that suit, it did not at all match his personality. And she didn’t want to attempt at embarrassing him after he did all this, but it was a very non-Bakugou sort of thing to do. He must have been forced by someone to do this. As he strolled up to her, it took all she had to keep back a silly smile while everyone else stared in complete awe of Bakugou’s sudden turnaround. Just as she was about to give up and just laugh out loud, Bakugou came up face to face in an incredibly suave and swift move, taking (y/n)’s waist and dipping her, that (y/n) couldn’t help but gasp out in surprise.

“Good morning,” he stated, handed her the flowers, kissed her cheek and then entered the classroom, not even shoving his way through the crowd of students.

(Y/n) stood with the letter in her left hand, the bouquet of flowers in her right, and a mailman and wagons of balloons behind her, eyes unbearably wide.

“Class is starting,” an unknown classmate whispered to her.

Slowly, so very slowly, (y/n) trudged towards her seat. The hot-headed, hard-to-maintain Bakugou... that was definitely not him.

It must have been a joke, a very odd and bizarre joke that, maybe once the punchline was thrown, she'd be able to understand. But there seemed to be more occuring, all in just the span of a single morning. She was probably going to have to take him to the nurse to make sure he hadn’t been hit by some very clearly powerful quirk.

(y/n) pulled out her notebook and began jotting down every bizarre occurrence that she believed would provide as useful information when asked what she deemed was wrong in her usually temperamental boyfriend. She did well hiding her spying glares towards his spot.

[8:00 a.m.]

A fellow classmate (Kaminari) came up to Bakugou and began making fun of his attire.

"Damn, red? Making some sort of fashion statement, are we?"

Kaminari then proceeded to tap the back of Bakugou’s head with his pointer finger. Bakugou simply continued trying to take notes that (y/n) would later have to ask for. This went on for a few more seconds until Bakugou grabbed the boy's finger, giving him a piercing glare. Perhaps this would finally break Bakugou into at least showing a little bit more of his original self?

"If you have enough time to be commenting on an outfit, perhaps you should have entered a fashion school. You're here to learn how to be a hero, act like it," With that statement, he let go of the boy's finger and returned to writing more notes.

Kaminari looked astonished, but ashamed and went back to his table, grumbling about how even heroes should know how to dress.

Bakugou caught (y/n) staring at this moment, and shot her a cute smile and wave. It was a double hit that would have worked if that were how he always acted, but it simply caused (y/n) to shiver and turn back around.

[8:40 a.m.]

"Everyone, turn to page 64 of your History of Heroes and fighting throughout the world. Raise your hand if you would like to read once you reach the page!”

And just like that, not only had (y/n) missed an entire forty minutes of notes but, now, she had even forgotten her book at home. Which meant she would not be able to go through that lesson that day either. And to make matters worse...

“All right, since no one’s participating how about.... (y/n)? Please read the first paragraph out loud.”

(Y/n) was positive the teacher must have some sort of radar that sensed distraught in her students and was glad to use that to her advantage.

Sadly, (y/n) stood from her chair and apologized, “I’m sorry, but...”

And just like that, a knight in shining flames appeared next to her.

“What she’s trying to say is, that, we haven’t been able to see each other lately, so is it all right if we sit next to each other today?” Bakugou asked, giving the teacher a sad sort of glance.

The teacher shook her head, not really being able to believe that Bakugou was genuinely asking and not screaming that he demands her obedience, “I’m sorry, but, seats are assigned and it wouldn’t be fair to the rest of the alumni if you got to switch and they didn’t.”

Surprisingly, the teacher actually looked apologetic. Probably a sucker for romance.

Bakugou peered down, almost as if he was trying to keep from looking sad, “Ah, I see. No, I understand. You are a just and fair teacher after all, I wouldn’t expect less from you. But, you see, we’ve already been unable to see each other outside from school since we’ve been so busy preparing for our own futures that we’ve hardly had time to think of where she and I will be heading... together! I just fear that we’ll grow apart... after all, we’re already told by so many adults that,” Bakugou sighed and held on to (y/n)’s hand, “Romance... doesn’t exist in an adolescent’s heart. Could it end up being true?”

He ended the blow by giving the teacher a forlorn look straight into her eyes. The teacher seemed to be in tears and the whole class was silent.

Finally, she took a large, shaky breath and nodded, “Yes, I understand. I don’t wish for you to end up believing in what they say about you and,” she smiled joyfully at (y/n), “your girlfriend and end up giving up on a past love like me. NO! Please, take a seat next to her. And, what is this, are you sharing a textbook with each other? Ooh! Romance IS alive still! All right kids! Settle down, I think we’re going to do some partner reading instead.”

Of course there were grumbles, but the closet romantics were silently cheering the couple on.

The teacher came up, wrapped her hands around Bakugou’s, and smiled, “Stay strong!” With that, she disappeared to the back of her desk and pulled out her phone. Perhaps to make a call from a long forgotten lover... or something.

For the next twenty minutes, it was a k-drama of Bakugou leaning in so she could smell the sweet scent of cologne (which he’d never used before), and slight blushing coming from (y/n).

Something was definitely not right. She had seen something from Bakugou in the middle of his speech. Everyone else had seen him as proper and a romantic during it, he seemed incredibly sincere. But the real Bakugou would never dare even attempt to utter such sweet sonnets, and she knew this for a fact.

What made it even more clear was the slight twitch of his eyebrow that showed clear frustration. Bakugou was still in there somewhere.

#my hero academia #katsuki bakugou #x reader

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