#in this hypothetical fic Robin might not be named Robin

[captainkirkk]

✩ WEEKLY FIC ROUND-UP ✩

All the fics I’ve read and really enjoyed in the past week-ish. Reminder: This list features any and all ratings and themes. Please look at tags and warnings on ao3 before reading.

The Magnus Archives/ What We Do In the Shadows (Crossover)

gaslight gatekeep girlboss by thepolysyndetonaddictsupportgroup

"Look, believe it or not, I had no intention of killing the Vampiric Council when I came here,” declares Nadja, sitting alone on the couch. “But Guillermo and I arrived at the first council meeting and did the whole, you know, the whole thing, the first day thing. Introductions and all that, yes hello wonderful to meet you, yes this is my bodyguard, yes he has slaughtered a tremendous number of our kind”--she flaps her hand absently--“normal first day things, you know? It was fine.” She pauses. “It got really fucking weird on the second day."

Or: Nadja and Guillermo seize control of vampiric politics, puppeteer world powers, and have the hottest of hot girl summers.

Unfortunately, they also really miss the stupid assholes they're in love with. With no way left to find them, they have no choice but to consult an Archivist.

DC/Danny Phantom Crossover

Teenage Hero Burnout #56: Interview With A Ghost. by STOVE

Red Robin, (aka Tim Drake) decides to host a YouTube series called "Teenage Hero Burnout'' after he makes a video by the same name talking about his own experiences. He interviews current and past heroes who started their careers as teens and discuss how it shaped their outlook on heroing & life in general.

(This fic is a one-shot. Teenage Hero Burnout is a hypothetical series that I will not be writing, but others are welcome to write their own episodes.)

All For the Game

One More Time (With Feeling) by elesary

Andrew Minyard went to sleep next to Neil Josten in their bed in Denver six years after graduation. He woke up on plane to Tucson between Wymack and Kevin, on their way to recruit Neil Josten, striker sub.

boyfriend privileges by mostly_maudlin

Andrew knows he treats Neil different. So why is it so bothersome that everyone else seems to know it, too?

Five times Neil gets boyfriend privileges, and one time it doesn't piss Andrew off.

SVSSS

The Peace Between Divine Pec- ah-hm sorry - uh…Peaks by AceOfDivineChlorophyll

Well, being kidnapped and tied up had to be the worst part of Shen Qingqiu's day right? Surely it couldn't get worse even if he was being presented to some new and upcoming demonic warlord as tribute after all it would all be mote when Luo Binghe escaped the Endless Abyss right? Well... unless the demonic warlord in question WAS Luo Binghe.

Thankfully... it might not end up going at all how he, or the demons, thought it was going to.

invasive blindfold removal surgery by postcardorigami

Part 1 of side effects may include indefinite photosensitivity

Oh, he thought absently, dizzily. Oh. I love him. I really, really love him.

That wasn’t a new thought—Shen Qingqiu had always known that he loved Luo Binghe. Thinking otherwise wasn’t a concept that had occurred to him. He’d loved him as a fictional character, as a sticky and eager-to-please disciple, as a troubled young man. He loved Luo Binghe the same way he loved the world around him: easily, wordlessly, endlessly, and in full acceptance of all faults and flaws.

But this- this felt like-

I think, Shen Qingqiu thought, for the first time in this life or the one he’d left, I think I’m in love with him.

And- and then-

I want to tell him where I come from.

or Shen Qingqiu, in order: hits the ground, pulls himself back up, and comes out. About several things.

Dreaming of Gardens in the Desert Sand by TGP

Huan Hua Palace master Luo Binghe never thought there'd be any reason to worry about the master that threw him away all those years ago. Surely, he was safe and cared for by the martial siblings he'd so thoroughly enamored.

Luo Binghe was wrong.

(Or, the one where the Jinlan City event doesn't happen and Luo Binghe's plan to slowly show he can be a righteous cultivator actually goes as he expected, with consequences he did not)

starry-eyed by shoutowo

"Shi-Shizun,” Luo Binghe says, going cross-eyed in an effort to see what Shen Qingqiu just placed on his forehead. “What is this?”

“A star,” Shen Qingqiu explains, while not explaining at all.

or, Shen Qingqiu has a sticker sheet.

Clone Wars

(you were) meant to save them by cjwritesfanficnow

The building was only five stories. With the gravity on Melida/Daan, it should’ve been over in seconds... but he—

just—

kept—

falling—

And then there was nothing around him, but he was still falling, down down down, infinitely, through space, stretched thin, twisted and pulled and the Force curled so tightly around him that he couldn’t tell where he ended and it began, and then—

And then he was falling straight out of a clear sky and down down down—

Onto another battlefield.

-

In which Obi-Wan is abruptly transported from the civil war on Melida/Daan to the Clone Wars.

(Alternately, in which I noticed how few clones there are in all my other fics, and this wouldn't leave me alone.)

Tactical Engagements by elwenyere

Even before he managed to open his eyes, Obi-Wan felt the tug against the base of his neck, the snarled thread of energy that only ever meant one thing: something had gone very, very wrong.

-----

Or, Cody, Obi-Wan, and the 212th are sent to Ringo Vinda with Anakin and the 501st, and it changes the field of engagement.

[garden-of-gay]

You're On Your Own Kid

Summary: A fic inspired by the Taylor Swift song of the same name in which Eddie helps Steve heal from the loneliness left by his parents.

Did I read all the lyrics to the song and proceed to write this entire fic based on the storyline it created in my head maybe? Does it make total sense, probably not, did this fic get away from me? Definitely

Summer Went Away

As the heat of August had winded down and the chill autumn breeze rolled in, the kids had gotten back to school and back to a pretty normal life, as normal as possible for Hawkins. However for Steve, things still haven’t returned to normal. Sure, he had healed from the demobats and had gotten back to slaving away at Family Video with Robin but, the one thing he had not prepared for…….. was the presence of one Eddie Munson. 

-

It had been 7 months since Eddie Munson had come crashing into his life in all his dramatic glory, and uprooted everything Steve thought he knew about himself. It had been a muggy day in July when he decided to broach the subject with the one person he knew he could talk to….Robin

-

“Hey Robs?” said Steve

“What’s up Dingus?” replied Robin

Steve glanced around the empty store before continuing

“You’ve never liked a guy right”

Robin sighed, “Steve we have been over this, I like women and women only”  

“Okay, okay but like… what if you thought you only liked girls but then there was a guy…..?” Steve got more and more nervous as Robin stared at him saying nothing

“You know this is just like a hypothetical, a weird question, you know forget I said anything” he said before panicking and laughing to try to cover it. Robin took that as her cue to finally say something

“Oh dingus” she replied gently

Steve could feel the tears building threatening to spill over but he wouldn’t let them, not here, not ever, “Harrington’s DON'T CRY!'' his fathers voice echoed in his mind and he willed the tears away.  

“I think, I like a guy and I don’t know what to do because I thought I liked girls and girls only but then Ed– a guy has been talking to me and I think I might like him. “ he told her

“Well, that's okay, we don’t have to put a label on anything until you feel comfortable but when I was figuring it out myself I read up on bisexuality. It's where you like both that might be you? It might not but…… what I do know is that I love you, you dingus and you’ll figure it out” she told him before crushing him in a hug.

“You good?” She asked

“Yeah…. no, but I will be, thanks Robs” Steve said

 Then a customer walked in and they broke apart going back to their job earning a strange look from the customer and a small smile from Robin.

-

It had been two months since that conversation, summer was whisked away and yet Steve’s yearning was still ever present. Robin gave him some stuff on bisexuality and had comfortably adopted the label as his own.

Robin had also in that time learned through deduction that the person Steve had a burning crush on was none other than Eddie Munson.

She took great joy in teasing Steve for his attempts to be cool and suave around Eddie while he failed miserably she even considered bringing back the You Suck, You Rule board from Scoops.

“I swear Rob’s, the Harrington charm always works but everytime I try to use it, I just turn into a stuttering mess. I think it’s broken” He said

“What’s broken?” Eddie announced 

“Steven thinks the Harrington charm is broken, because he can’t keep his cool” Robin replied

“ooOoOo, what lovely lady has caught the attention of Stevie here that is turning him into a mess?” Eddie teased

Stevie. Steve could feel his face heating up. He thought he was used to Eddie’s pet names but everytime he got used to one; Eddie would throw another at him breaking him all over again. 

“Come on Stevie, tell me who the lady is???” Eddie asked

“Ughh, no one. Like you care about my love life anyways. What do you need anyways, Munson?” Steve retorted

“I came to bother you guys because it turns out when you are an accused murderer and triple senior not a lot of people want to hire you.” He said

“Well, bother Robin all you want but I’m going to go restock movies” Steve huffed

“Awww Sweetheart, what if I came here for you not Bobbie?” Eddie teased

Steve had to take a deep breath because the thought of Eddie coming to see him specifically may cause him to combust internally. 

“Haha, very funny” He replied dryly

“You definitely missed me Harrington” Eddie teased as he turned to Steve with a cheshire grin

True to his word, Steve gathered the recent returns and began to place them back on the shelves. What he should have seen coming was Eddie following him like a shadow; pestering him as he put movies back. Occasionally Eddie would pick up a movie and make a comment about the film and scoffed at how anyone could watch it. 

“Come on Harrington, Footloose!?” Eddie asked with a mocking tone

“What, it has good music and fun dancing, what's not to love!” Steve replied

Eddie chuckled

“What, what’s so funny?” huffed Steve

“Nothing, nothing Stevie, don’t worry your pretty little head about it” He said

As Eddies words about his “pretty little head” rolled around in his mind, Steve retorted

“Whatever Munson, it’s not like your movie tastes are any better”

Eddie grabbed his chest as if he had been stabbed

“Oh you wound me Harrington, but at least I have actually taste”

“One of these days you should swing by the trailer and I’ll show you real movies and good taste”

“Fine, I’ll take you up on that Munson, when are you free” Steve asked

“Dude, I’m an unemployed super senior, I’m always free so the better question is when are YOU free?” Eddie joked

“Uhh…I have the opening shift tomorrow and the closing tonight so…Thursday?” Steve supplied

“Thursday is fine, swing by whenever you feel like” replied Eddie

“Okay, cool…I have to drop Dustin off at the Wheelers at 4 o’clock so how about I swing by around 4:30?” he asked

“Sounds good, it's a date” Eddie replied with a smile

“Yeah” Steve replied as his face once again became bright red

“Well, I will leave you to it, have a good shift sweetheart” Eddie said as he walked towards the door turning to blow a kiss to Steve before chuckling and walking out. 

Steve had about 10 seconds to process what had just happened before he heard a squeal from where Robin was standing

“Dingus!! Do you have a date!?” She exclaimed

“Uh no, Eddie just wanted to hangout and watch a movie, that's hardly a date, we do that all the time” He replied with a slight sadness in his voice.

“He’s gonna notice you, I guarantee it, there is no way he doesn’t like you” she said

“It’s okay, I’ll just wait; maybe forever if I have to but it’s okay we’re best friends anyways” He replied sadly

“Best Friends!! I thought I was your best friend!!’ Robin teased

“No, you're my separated twin and platonic soulmate, Eddie is my best friend; or maybe Dustin?” Steve joked, before mumbling about how Dustin is a brat and more like a little brother than best friend.

-

Steve hadn’t seen Eddie since Tuesday and decided that it would be a good idea to call him to confirm that their plans for the next day were still on. 

“Munson residence, you kill’em, we grill’em how can I help you?”

“Jesus Eddie! Is that how you always answer the phone” Steve exclaimed

“STEVIE, what’s up man? I thought we were on for Thursday?” Eddie asked

“Yeah, I was just calling to confirm that's all, what are you up to?” Steve said sheepishly

“I’m smoking with the band, what about you?” He replied

“Oh, I’m not doing anything, I didn’t know you had people over, sorry” Steve apologized

“Don’t worry, the boys don’t care” He chuckled causing Steve to relax a little bit

“Okay…cool, well I don’t wanna keep you” He said, despite not wanting to hang up

“What if I do, What if I want to talk to you? Hmm?” Eddie said. He had meant it to be teasing but it had come out too sincere.

Steve could hear it in his voice, the low grit that entered Eddie’s voice when he was high and starting to get properly buzzed. He touched the phone as if it was Eddie’s face and imagined that for just a moment Eddie was reaching back. He hadn’t realized he had fallen silent until Eddie spoke up.

“Hey Stevie, are you still there?”

“Yeah, yeah still here” Steve chuckled

“Good, good” Eddie, replied softly

“I didn’t choose this place and honestly dream of getting out of here” Eddie said suddenly

“Yeah?” asked Steve

“Yeah, I was dumped here after my old man got himself locked up. They placed me with Wayne, and I’ve been here since.”

“I love Wayne, but I still wouldn’t have wanted to be in this town in bumfuck Indiana, you know?”

“Yeah, I do”

Eddie chuckled “You know that there is only one reason, I’m still here in this stupid town? I mean it's not a reason as much as it's a person”

Steve softly asked “Who is it, who is keeping you here?”

“Don’t you worry about that Sweetheart, it’s not too important” Eddie replied

Steve allowed himself to imagine that maybe just maybe that person was him; the one keeping Eddie from skipping town at the earliest chance. He was pulled from his thought when he heard Eddie’s voice

“Why are you still here Harrington, it seems like you hate it here?” 

“It’s mainly the kids and Robin, you know the summers with them playing and splashing around in the sprinklers or piling around the fireplace during Christmas, letting it burn to ash only. These are the memories and things that keep me here I guess.” Steve replied, he loved the kids and Robin; loved the life he has with them. 

“Damn, Harrington I can’t argue with that” Eddie chuckled before asking

“So I guess people are the reason you stay? just like me”

Steve laughed “yeah, I guess so” Steve was quiet for a bit before asking

“Hey Eddie, do you wanna know why else I’m here?” 

“Yeah, why not, what else you got Harrington” Eddie asked

Steve waited a minute before proceeding “I’m also still here because of my parents”

“I know it’s stupid but I think part of me is still waiting to see them, see them come back.” He laughed wetly. 

“You know, I still find myself searching large bodies of people for their faces wondering if they are there, looking for me too” Steve choked out

“But they never are, they don’t care, I think they never did, I can still hear my dad telling me; You’re on your own kid; the first time I was left all alone for them to go on a trip and the more I think about it. I think I always have been” He sobbed

Eddie's heart broke, as he listened to Steve draw ragged harsh breaths, and sob over the phone. He heard Steve profusely apologize for crying and it only broke his heart more. How could someone hurt such a beautiful, caring person, like Steve?

Eddie decided that it would be his mission to make sure Steve never felt alone again; that he would never feel on his own. Not anymore. 

Part 2

Soooo, this fic got away from me pretty heavily so I'm planning on splitting this into 2 more parts? I have never actually sat down and written a fic before so if this is actual garbage I blame it on that and the fact that it was written at 2am and then beta'd by no one. Anyways.....let me know if y'all like it and if you wanna be tagged or something idk. Also yes, I'm sorry this is a hurt and comfort because that's just Steve's general dynamic with existence. We got the hurt now but promise there is comfort coming.

[evilwickedme]

A question that a lot of Jason Lives AUs try to answer is what does Jason actually become later on?

The easy and most boring answer is that he still gets traumatized by the Joker and still decides to become Red Hood. Just because this is a boring answer doesn't make your fic a boring fic, don't @ me, just saying it's the simplest one and doesn't require a lot of thought.

One I see a lot is Jason becoming the Flamebird to Dick's Nightwing. I like this fine, but the whole point of Nightwing was that Dick found an entirely new identity for himself outside of Batman, and I feel like having Jason's arc go from defining himself as Batman's sidekick to defining himself as part of Nightwing's story ain't it.

I've seen some people attempt to come up with other names. I like Phoenix, especially if the story still includes Jason being traumatized by the Joker but not dying, because it's about his own personal journey. Like that name means the exact opposite of what Red Hood means. Red Hood is about defining himself through the man who murdered him; Phoenix, instead, can be about defining himself despite or against what happened to him. Both approaches make sense for the story they take place in (or hypothetically take place in).

Something I don't think I've seen is Jason just... staying Robin? Like I remember reading that when DC comics revisited Earth Two (the original DC universe) it turns out that Dick never stopped being Robin, even when he became an adult, and I think that in a way that would actually make a lot of sense. I think Jason is the only batfam member who didn't choose the vigilante life but rather found himself in it. Not that he didn't take to it like fish to water, but between eight year old Dick running off to kill Zucco and baby Damian trying to kill Tim over the Robin mantel, all the other members of the batfam actively chased this life, while Jason joined the WayneFam first and foremost and became Robin because Bruce was Batman.

So since Jason does enjoy being a vigilante but isn't actually motivated to it naturally, I can see a reality where he just... stays Batman's sidekick, eventually graduating to full adult partner, but keeping the Robin name. He might protect Crime Alley more than Batman does, but overall maybe in this universe nothing really truly terrible happened to him. He might've gotten angry and frustrated with Bruce, but they worked through it and had a better relationship for it. Even Dick eventually gets over his issues and sees how Good Jason is, that he just wants to help. They'll never be close, but they start becoming a family.

You can have this au never include Tim at all and that would work, or maybe he steps in specifically because he sees Jason and Bruce having issues and just wants to see his heroes to get along. Maybe even then he doesn't become a vigilante; Bruce and Jason like having him around, and they're not going to stop keeping an eye on him when he knows their secret identity, but he doesn't ever really need to put on the pixie boots, so he doesn't. He's good with computers, though, and he gets along well with Barbara, so eventually he gets a mask and some little codename and he helps with Oracle duties.

Cass is Cass. She's more dedicated to the cause than to Batman, but also Jason is a great little brother, joyful and supportive. They both understand the need for violence and both have witnessed immense suffering and death. In a world where Jason is still Robin, Cass and Jason get along so well. Jason is patient with her and her words, and she likes listening to him read his favorite books aloud to her.

In a world where Jason is still Robin, he doesn't get hit by Spoiler's brick, but he finds it incredibly amusing that she tries. He advocates to add her to the team early on, and Bruce isn't seeing a dead kid when he looks at her and hears her Alley accent, he just sees his son, his partner, and he feels this urge to protect her. Bruce trains her, and she has the same sense of humor as Jason, and she meets Tim when he's just hanging out in the Cave, and she meets Cass because Cass still Lurks sometimes, and she just seems to fit right in, you know?

And then Damian shows up, and instead of dealing with a sixteen year old who's still insecure about his position in the family, he's dealing with an almost twenty year old who has this large support group and friends and family and also is way bigger than this tiny assassin who just tried to stab him. He doesn't love the fact that the little gremlin thinks that he can just take Robin away from Jason, but he understands coming from a life of violence, and he can understand thinking that being Robin and being Bruce's son come hand in hand.

I don't know enough about Duke to know how he'd come into the family in this au, but I know that Jason and him get along just fine in the comics, so it seems to me that a Jason that isn't even as angry and hurt as canon!Jason would get along with him even better. He probably thinks Duke's powers are the shit, and empathizes with him over his parents, even though it's not the same.

Anyway I just spent like forty minutes writing this au out and I'm (probably) never going to write a fic for it so uhhhh yeah idk I'll end this here for now

[robinrunsfiction]

OTPTOBER - Tattoo

Author’s Note: Wait, but Robin, it’s December 31st. Shut up, do you want these last two fics or not? Actually because these are x OC fics, yall probably don’t really care that much. Too bad. Finishing this is important to me, thanks.

🖤🐍🖤

“I finally got it!” Ghoul announced as he burst in the doorway of the diner.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Jet asked the smaller Killjoy who was practically vibrating with excitement.

“My own tattoo gun! Tommy finally got one and I was able to haggle him down to a fair price and now I can do my own tattoos on myself!”

“Oh, that sounds like a great idea,” Lux rolled her eyes.

“I can do tattoos for all of you too for practice!”

“And that sounds like an even better idea,” Kobra smirked.

“Party, you want one?” Ghoul asked, turning to their leader.

Somehow Party managed to get even more pale than he normally was. “Hard no.”

“Prove that you aren’t terrible at giving tattoos and I might let you give me one,” Jet spoke up.

“Seriously?” Lux asked condescendingly.

“Seriously?!” Ghoul grinned.

Jet shrugged. “I’ve had an idea or two that I’d like to have done.”

“I’ll do one right now, you’ll see how good I am!” Ghoul beamed.

Not much later Ghoul had demonstrated his surprising ability to tattoo by inking a tattoo onto his lower leg, and set to work on a set of initials on Jet’s arm. 

“Does it hurt?” Lux asked from a safe distance across the room, as she liked needles only slightly more than Party did.

“Nah,” Jet answered as he watched Ghoul work. “It’s not that bad.”

“I think I wanna get another,” Kobra nodded.

“Really? What are you gonna get?” Lux asked. Kobra had the same spider from the hood of the trans am tattooed on his wrist. Lux liked to trace her fingers over it sometimes, but he never expressed any interest in getting any more ink.

“I dunno, you pick,” he smiled at her.

Lux scoffed. “Oh you don’t want that.”

“Why not?”

“I’ll pick something dumb and you’ll regret giving me such power,” she grinned.

“Nah, because it’ll remind me of you either way.”

“Ugh, you’re so in love with me it’s gross,” Lux rolled her eyes, but her grin never faltered. “But I dunno what to tell you to get, maybe something symbolic? Don’t get my name though, everyone knows that’s bad luck.”

Ghoul clearing his throat drew the couple’s attention. Ghoul nodded subtly toward the tattoo he was almost finished with on Jet’s arm.

“I mean, not always bad luck. I mean… Maybe… fuck,” Lux faltered. “Sorry.”

“It’s ok, there’s nothing that can change between me and… her anymore so…” Jet trailed off with a faraway look in his eye.

The rest of the tattoo session was silent until Ghoul announced he was finished. The piece was simple, but well done with clean lines and Jet expressed his appreciation.

“You up?” Ghoul asked Kobra.

“Yea, but not right now. I gotta think about what I wanna get.”

“Lux?”

She shook her head. “It's gonna hurt.”

“It’s not that bad,” Ghoul said, cleaning up his supplies. “Besides, you got enough scars on ya, you’re not afraid of a little pain, are you?”

“No! But, I mean… it’s different.”

“How so?”

“...Shut up,” Lux grumbled.

A few days later and it seemed like every Killjoy that was allied with the gang had stopped by for some ink by Ghoul. Lux watched person after person get a piece of art that was special and personal to them. 

“Ghoul?” Lux asked quietly.

“Sup?”

“Can you… maybe… hypothetically draw something for me?”

“On you?”

“On paper. And then we’ll see about letting you put it on me.”

Ghoul smirked. “You gonna let Kobra hear you talking like that?”

“Shut up,” she rolled her eyes. “This is maybe a surprise sorta.”

“Ahh,” Ghoul nodded, understanding what she meant. “Consider me sworn to secrecy.”

A while later the Venom Brothers arrived back at the diner from their supply run. Kobra was more than a little concerned when Lux wasn’t right there to greet him. It wasn’t that he expected her to be there, but she always seemed so happy to see him when he got back from going someplace without him.

“Hey Jet, where’s-”

“In the back with Ghoul,” the older Killjoy cut him off, already aware of what the question was.

“With Ghoul?” Kobra muttered, heading to the back room. The door was ajar and he could hear their conversation.

“You good?”

“Yea, it wasn’t that bad actually,” Kobra heard Lux say. For a moment panic swept through him, before he shook his head, knowing Lux better than that.

“Hey Lux you in here?” He asked, pushing the door open. He found Lux sitting on the edge of the cot, and Ghoul, tattoo gun in hand, sitting across from her. “What’s going on?”

“Just a bit of art,” she smiled. “Wanna see?”

Ghoul picked up his supplies and left the couple alone in the room.

“What’d you get? Not my name right?” Kobra laughed lightly.

“Nah, just something sorta symbolic of, ya know.” Lux turned her arm over and on her forearm was the faint outline of a heart, with a snake wrapped around it.

“Lux, that’s…” Kobra was speechless.

“What can I say, you’re wrapped around my heart,” Lux shrugged. “I just wanted to make it sorta… permanent.”

Kobra looked up at Lux, the soft smile on her face. “I love you Lux, so much,” he breathed, before leaning in to kiss her hard.

[loregoddess]

📓?

Recently I got the idea for a fanfic about Robin and Grima but expanded with the lore from Echoes, and weirdly enough Yen'fay. It would follow the general gist of Awakening's story but instead of being totally unaware that she's the vessel for Grima, Robin totally is aware that there's another entity existing within her, and can even kinda "talk" with Grima to some extent. After getting memory-wiped (or, in this version, having her and Grima's memories sorta just messed up and jumbled into a mush of confusion) Robin still joins Chrom and Co. and becomes the Shepard's tactician, but has this feeling like something terrible will happen, like she'll do something terrible (bc surprise! she also now has the Other Robin and Grima's memories tangled with her own and therefore knows bits and pieces about the other timeline, but again, it's a jumbled mush so she's not able to sort through everything right out of the gate and only starts to piece things together after various key story events). More focus would be put on Robin's inner struggles and sorting through memories and stuff, rather than just straight retelling the story to Awakening.

There would also be a lot of focus on Robin's ability to dialogue with Grima, and she'd gain a lot of insight into Grima's "heart" so to speak, which is to say their general attitude about humanity born from their messed up past as a Frankenstein's monster homunculus born and confined to an ancient lab filled with dead things puppeteered by bugs. In the original timeline that Other Robin comes from, Other Robin eventually came to agree with Grima and willingly became their vessel to destroy the world due to like, severe feelings of self-doubt and unresolved issues regarding her dead mom (who of course I would expand on, I love to give dead moms stories). The Robin of this timeline, with both her own memories of her altered timeline and the original timeline of Other Robin, would come to a different conclusion, but it wouldn't really be a clear-cut path to defying her destiny or anything right out of the gate because to Robin, sealing away or even using Grima's power to destroy Grima, aren't really good options since, again, she's started to kinda understand Grima, but wants to prove to them that humanity isn't all evil, and that Grima also deserves a chance to live in peace and be treated kindly.

Of course, in line with how long it takes before any of the spotpass characters can be recruited, it takes nearly the entire plot of Awakening before Robin's able to find an answer, because while lots of events are different in this timeline, she's still not finding an answer to how to defy Other Robin's decision while also not giving up on and forsaking the Grima living within her. Enter various story arcs from the spotpass stories, and from the DLC stories with heavy emphasis on the Future Past stories (and a headache-inducing amount of theories around Morgan and the DLC stuff). Which is how we get to Yen'fay (bc I actually like his character a lot despite the fact that he's *vaguely gestures* really, really not popular with most fans, but his Heroes quotes are what actually kickstarted this entire little idea in the first place so). In this story, Yen'fay is still a different Yen'fay from an entirely separate timeline and therefore has lots of stuff to resolve with Say'ri, but in regards to Robin instead of following the conversation arc of F!Robin and Yen'fay a la the game script, the conversations between the two would follow as a mix between M!Robin and F!Robin's leaning towards M!Robin's (and a mix of stuff from Heroes), and through trying to get Yen'fay to work through his self-worth issues and get past thinking he's nothing now but a tool of destruction (and later talking with Morgan and seeing things in the Future Past timeline), Robin is also able to start addressing her own issues with feeling like she had been "destined" to be nothing more than a vessel for Grima who was nothing more than a failed experiment, and in this way is able to finally start devising a plan to face Other Robin. (If this part reads as kinda messy it's bc I haven't actually figured out the exact way any of these conversations and side stories would fit in with the main plot thread).

Anyhow, the final confrontation would come, and when Robin get's like, sucked down into the darkness before the final battle, she's actually able to use her renewed sense of self-worth and hope to try and sway the Other Robin, and to speak to Grima directly (which she'd been trying to do on and off, but Grima's pretty set on hating humanity, so it was an uphill battle). In the end, Robin isn't really able to come to any sort of compromise with Other Robin, but does convince Grima enough to lend her a bit of their power via a deal. She then returns to the battle, the fight with Other Robin ensues, and Robin allows Chrom to "seal" Grima away, but also uses Grima's power to do...uh, something that I haven't been able to work out in a way that doesn't sound insane, but essentially Other Robin ceases to exist in some way, and only Grima's power as a world-ending dragon gets sealed, with Grima's consciousness still existing within Robin. In essence, Robin made a deal with Grima to allow her to seal their power and try to show them that the world was worth the effort of protecting or at least ignoring, rather than destroying. Grima tentatively agrees to this bc Robin truly does not see them or treat them as some failure of an experiment or tool, but in Grima fashion also tells Robin that if she doesn't convince them, then they're going to destroy the world anyhow when they get their powers back, which Robin concedes is the best deal she'll be able to strike, noting that future generations will fight against Grima just as desperately if Grima does decide to destroy them. Despite Grima's attitude, I'd want the fic to end on a hopeful note, with the sense that even though Grima's saying these things, there really is hope that once they can experience a better life, they won't be hell-bent on destroying everything, and moreover, that Grima is given the chance to have a nice life, and so is this version of Robin who's spends a lot of time dealing with issues (and Yen'fay, and Morgan, and whoever else would work their way into the narrative weave).

So...yeah? I think despite what kicked this off being a few Heroes' quotes from Yen'fay, my imagination really ran with the extended Grima lore and was just like, dude, Grima's entire existence really sucks and I just feel like they deserved better, got a chance to be loved and happy, y'know? So, yeah.

[perlukafarinn]

a tiny snippet set in my ‘kids in the dark’ series on ao3 but no prior knowledge needed. i wanted to include this conversation in the most recent fic but i couldn’t fit it, so here it goes

Steve’s not sure how they got here, all four of them lying on his living room floor in the middle of the night, having the dumbest conversation of their lives without even the excuse of being drunk, but he’s not complaining.

“Okay, I got one,” he says. “Which one of us would die last in a horror movie?”

“Nancy,” Robin and Eddie immediately answer in unison.

“She’s like Laurie Strode and Nancy Thompson rolled into one,” Robin adds. She laughs. “The name even matches!”

“I don’t know,” Nancy says. “Don’t you have to be a virgin to survive in those movies?”

Eddie points at her. “You’ve got a gun, though.”

“I’ve got a bat,” Steve mutters. “I could totally take Freddy Krueger.”

Eddie reaches over and gives him a pat on the chest. “Sure you could, big boy.”

“I hate to say it, but I think you’d be the first to go,” Robin says.

“What the hell, what did I do to you?”

“Yeah, I see it,” Eddie agrees, the traitor. “The douchey, popular jock always gets killed off first.”

Steve frowns up at the ceiling. This is what he gets for opening up his home to these people. “Glad to know what you all think of me.”

“I just mean in this hypothetical horror movie,” Eddie adds, apologetic. “Those characters are all archetypes, right? Popular asshole,” he says, pointing at Steve, then at Robin, “nerd,” he points at himself, “the creepy stoner who you think might be the killer before he’s brutally murdered,” he points at Nancy, “uptight virgin who turns out to be a complete badass and is the only one who survives.”

There’s a long silence following Eddie’s analysis.

“Good thing we don’t live in a horror movie,” Steve finally says. 

“Yeah, can you imagine?” Robin says sarcastically. “Monsters, creepy government agencies, serial killers who target troubled teenagers...”

“Buckley, for the love of God, shut the hell up.”

[hemaris]

Hello I love your penumbra art and I showed some to my friend who finally started listening to Juno Steel and she said that she's been enjoying penumbra fanart but keeps on seeing fantastic Peter designs and then having to ask where his pockets are. This is not at all a criticism I just needed to share the thought because now I'm wondering too

OKAY THAT IS A GREAT QUESTION so here’s a trio of highly unlikely options for your consideration (put into fic format by someone who has little to no experience writing fic and is, to be completely honest, miles outside of their comfort zone):

nureyev’s pockets contain a - for the lack of a better word - pocket dimension

“You’re full of shit, Steel,” Vespa says. “If you wanna brag about sticking your hands down the thief’s pants, go find someone else to do it to.”

And really, Juno has been at the business end of Vespa’s blade before, but twice in one morning is probably a new record. He bristles. “Okay, first of all, would it really kill you to not wave your knife at me every single time we’re in a room together? Can’t we have one conversation where this doesn’t happen?”

“You started it! You got your finger all up in my face!”

“Yeah, well, my finger doesn’t have a long and celebrated history of gutting people when-”

“Keep it civil, sweethearts,” Buddy says from the other side from their makeshift recreation room, where she and Jet are playing a game Juno has never heard of involving a set of oddly shaped dice, some old Uno cards, and, inexplicably, a pineapple. Vespa moves to sheathe the knife, but makes a whole show out of doing it without averting her icy stare for even a split second. Juno has to suppress the fleeting urge to do something petty and potentially life-threatening, like sticking out his tongue at her.

“Second of all,” he continues, his voice only slightly lowered, “you asked! You asked me about Ransom’s - about his pocket situation, I’m just telling you what I know. And for the record, I never said anything about anyone’s pants. Or where I’m sticking my hands. Or, you know, whatever. Shut up.”

Vespa still hasn’t broken eye contact. “No, Steel,” she says, “I asked you how the thief managed to get an entire cupboard worth of Ming dynasty porcelain off of Titan and onto our ship. What you’re telling me is that he has magical mega pockets that are bigger on the inside, which isn’t a thing.”

“That’s what I used to think about teleportation, and mind reading, but here we are.” The truth is that the porcelain thing is a mystery to Juno as well. He has asked Nureyev, of course, but all he got in response was a that’s for me to know and for you to figure out, isn’t it, detective, which is more than a little annoying. “All I’m saying is that it could be an option. Don’t rule it out just yet.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Vespa says. “Ask him to pull, I don’t know, a live rabbit out of his breast pocket, and maybe I’ll buy into it.”

Juno has to roll his eye at that, and immediatey realizes he’s lost their little staring match. Not that it matters - the odds were stacked against him from the get-go anyway, with Vespa having a whole extra eye to look pissed off with. “Fine, whatever. But just for the record - have you seen a rabbit lately? Because I can guarantee you those things won’t go down or come out of anyone’s pocket willingly, regardless of pocket size.”

It might be a trick of the light, but for a brief moment, he thinks he sees the corner of Vespa’s mouth quirk up just a little.

a strategy once used by juno himself: Just Put It In Your Mouth! it’s mother nature’s built-in pocket!

“Uh oh,” Nureyev says once Rita has successfully hacked the giant metal door to slam shut behind them and they’ve skidded to a halt. He tentatively presses a hand to his throat.

“What- are you-“ Juno wheezes from where he’s doubled over, "Are you okay? They didn’t hit you, right?”

Nureyev makes a dismissive fluttery motion with his free hand. “Nothing of the sort.”

Juno squints at him, giving him a once-over, and seems to sag with relief once he sees Nureyev is not actively bleeding. It’s a little bit endearing, Nureyev thinks. “Okay, whew, good,” he says. “So then - what’s the ‘uh oh’ for? We got the blueprints, we-”

“Let’s say,” Nureyev interrupts him, “hypothetically speaking, that there was some ancient and priceless treasure in the vault we took the blueprints from.”

“That’s not really a hypothetical,” Juno says. “There was enough old Earth monarchy junk in there to bedazzle the entire Carte Blanche with.”

"Right. And now let’s say, once again purely hypothetically,” Nureyev continues, “that someone with only the noblest of intentions noticed the Koh-I-Noor diamond among that treasure, and that that someone decided to free it from the monstrously tacky diadem contraption it was stuck onto, because it’s a waste for something like that to be gathering dust in a vault.”

“You know,” Juno says warily, “I’m not sure I like where this is going.”

“The problem is that this outfit, while very stealthy, does not provide a great amount of secure pocket space, so i had to improvise.”

“Oh no,” Juno says.

“So I put it in my mouth, but then the guards arrived and while we were running I-”

“Oh no,” Juno repeats, a little louder this time. “Ransom, you - did you eat the Koh-I-Noor?”

“I accidentally swallowed the Koh-I-Noor, there’s a difference-”

“You ate it. You- Ransom, who would even-”

“Who would even what, Juno” Nureyev interrupts him, “There’s this old saying, something about a pot and a kettle, I believe.”

Juno’s comms crackle to life. “RIGHT,” Rita chirps loudly, “I know the both of you are very busy talkin’ about who ate a conifer and why - and i’m not judgin’, mista Ransom, you eat your greens however you wanna! That’s what my mom told me that time I dipped my green beans in marshmallow fluff - which I wouldn’t recommend, by the way, at least not with the beans, it was a WHOLE mess. Maybe with some broccoli, though, or baby carrots, or - anyway, what I was gonna say is they’re about to crack this door open, so I’m just thinkin’, maybe now isn’t the best time for this conversation?”

“He didn’t eat a conifer, Rita, it’s - actually, don’t worry about it,” Juno says. “Let’s get moving. I’m sure Vespa can figure something out to make you hurl the thing up again. But for the record, Ransom, don’t expect me to ever let you hear the end of this.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Nureyev replies. Juno grins a little, crooked and pretty, and Nureyev’s stomach almost somersaults enough to throw the stupid diamond out.

and lastly - why use your own pockets when you can use someone else’s?

“Nureyev,” Juno says against his neck, “can I ask you something?”

They’ve folded themselves onto Nureyev’s cot, neither of them up for more than just lazing around. Nureyev has been trying to study some floor plans for the last twenty minutes, but if he’s being honest with himself, he has no idea what building, owned by what person, built on which planet in whatever system he’s been looking at. He’s mostly been lost in thought, only grounded by the weight and warmth of Juno pressed against his side. He had thought the lady asleep until now.

It’s a little ridiculous, the effect his own name being spoken by Juno Steel has on him. He’s fairly sure that with Juno this close, he should be able to feel the shiver it sends down his spine, pick up on the stutter in his pulse. It’s okay if he does, he tries to tell himself, it’s okay, it’s only Juno - but at the same time Juno is infinitely, immeasurably more than 'only Juno’ to him.

“Of course,” he replies. “Anything, anytime.”

Juno hums. “Earlier, when we got back from the media bigwig backstabbing competition-”

“It was an award show, dear Juno.”

“I said what I said. Anyway, when we got back, there was something in my pocket that I definitely didn’t put there myself.”

Oh.

“A flash drive,” Juno continues, “that had the name ’M. Valderrama’ engraved into it. And a crazy amount of plastic rhinestones glued to it, but that’s not the point. I didn’t wanna risk it containing a virus and blowing up the ship, so I didn’t plug it into anything. But I did do my research, so I know Mignon Valderrama was at the backstabbing- I mean, the award show, and is the acclaimed director of titles such as ’The Notebook Part 44: This Time They’re All Ancient Mercurians’, the entire ’Ultra Magma Tsunami’ franchise, and the upcoming-”

“The upcoming blockbuster ’Cerebral Cephalopods: Rise of the Mathematician Octopi’,” Nureyev finishes.

Juno shifts against him. "Yeah, that’s the one. Didn’t know you were a fan.”

“Oh, I’m not,” Nureyev replies airily.

“Still,” Juno says, propping himself up on an elbow. “I have to wonder. How and why did mx. Valderrama’s flash drive, rhinestones and all, end up in my pocket?”

“Hmm. Would you believe me if I told you mx. Valderrama tripped, and the drive flew out of their pocket and into yours?”

Juno shakes his head. “C'mon, Nureyev.”

And for a moment, he hesitates. It’s not the best of stories. There’s no real noble, for-the-greater-good, Robin Hood-esque reason for him stealing the drive. He didn’t do it for the challenge, either - Valderrama might as well have presented it to him on a silver platter. Sure, he could make something up, spin a tale, make it sound big and impressive and sensible. But despite the alarm bells going off in his mind, he also thinks it might not be so bad to tell the truth, to bare his throat to Juno just a little. Of course, his own voice echoes, anything, anytime.

He sighs. “I might not be a fan, but I believe your secretary is. She’s been talking about those Magma Tsunami movies for days. They are horrible, by the way - she made me sit through two of them and I can’t believe I’m never getting those four hours of my life back. Valderrama should be liable for damages to my psyche. The drive, as you probably guessed, contains what I’m pretty sure is the final cut for whatever that octopus movie is supposed to be, so I snatched it up for her. My dress didn’t have any pockets, so I slipped it into one of yours. I must have forgotten to slip it out again.”

Juno frowns. “Wait - Rita? Did she ask you to? Because at this point i’m pretty sure she could hack into the studio’s servers in a heartbeat, and rip the whole thing-”

“She didn’t ask,” Nureyev says. “It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing. But she wouldn’t have been able to get her hands on this by hacking. Valderrama is famously paranoid about leaks. All of their works-in-progress are stored on only a handful of physical drives until the day of release. One of the drives goes into a vault with a nightmarishly difficult analogue lock, one goes to the executive producer, and Valderrama keeps one of them on their person at all times. I saw my chance, so I took it.”

“Huh,” Juno says, “that's… that’s kind of sweet of you, actually.” He prods Nureyev in the chest with a finger. “And very illegal, and you shouldn’t do it again. But still. That's… yeah. That’s sweet. She’s gonna be over the moon.”

That’s what he’d been hoping for. He smiles, shrugging a little. “We’re space pirates, Juno. Most of what we do is illegal. We got into the award party illegally, and for illegal reasons. Valderramma will make their billions with or without that drive. It’s just-” he sighs again, raking a hand through his hair. “Rita is very important to you, which - which makes her very important to me. She’s been there for you all these years, and she’s never been anything but kind to me either. I’m not trying to buy her friendship or her appreciation, I suppose I just… think she deserves something nice, especially if that something is within arm’s reach anyway. Even if that something is a movie about hyperintelligent squids taking over Mars’ moons.” He lets his head fall back into the pillows. “I know that might sound a little foolish.”

Juno leans into him a little more, cupping Nureyev’s jaw in his warm hand, looking a little bit puzzled and a lot fond. “I’m pretty sure you already know that I love your particular brand of foolish,” he says after a second.

And before Nureyev has the chance to think about what that means for too long, Juno is kissing him, wiping any semblance of thought from his mind.