#it wouldn’t change the fact that rather than trying to make amends with bruce and talia he would look to a child to give him solace

[roobylavender]

i don’t really agree with the idea that ra’s can be swapped out for talia in terms of damian’s upbringing and nothing would change about the story bc he’d be near exactly as abusive as morrison wrote talia to be like.. no.. that’s just misunderstanding ra’s as a character which frankly a lot of people do. ra’s is emotionally abusive but there are still specific patterns to that behavior. he wants the people at his side to genuinely believe in his vision and abide by it and act upon it, it’s far more complex than him being a physically abusive person who would brutally train a child with no remorse or regard for that child’s well being. current canon esp in the last year has led to this belief that talia grew up cold and pressured to take upon the role and be the perfect weapon but she didn’t. she and ra’s were implied to have a relatively fine relationship as she grew up and things only began to shift once bruce entered the picture and became an influence on talia and her loyalties

when the idea of losing talia to bruce began to veer into reality, ra’s became more possessive and insistent in what he wanted talia to do to ensure she would remain on his side. but even then when she ultimately left him for good to move to metropolis the retaliation that ra’s took out wasn’t on her, it was on bruce. he respected her attempts to break out and do something on her own terms, and that’s not to absolve him, i’m simply pointing out how he’s capable of respecting the people he cares about so long as they don’t go directly against him. so when you toy with the idea of ra’s killing damian’s adoptive parents (which is something i believe he would do. they’re an obstacle to his family after all) and thereby choosing to raise him on his own you have to remember that damian is ultimately a child who will possess little to no tangible worldview with respect to what ra’s is preaching (unless his parents are conveniently environmentalists and he’s a genius child which personally is a boring cop out)

so damian is this relatively unexposed kid whose parents suddenly die only for a man to present himself as his grandfather. ra’s pulls the strings to let it all show in the paperwork and damian goes home to one of his bases. and i think the first thing ra’s would do is teach damian about the world. about the way he views it but in the simplest terms understandable to a child. and he would pull damian into this world of scholarship and travel and athleticism not out of cruelty but out of love. bc there is genuine love that ra’s has for bruce and talia even if he eventually abused it. he was overjoyed when they were going to have damian. and he can still be overjoyed and engrossed in the idea of having a grandson to call his own and to teach his philosophy to even if ultimately what he would be doing is projecting his own desires onto damian. he can hope for damian to be the one person in his family who stands by him and understands him and follows him and it can be tragic bc we know his worldview is ultimately wrong and what he’s done isn’t right and damian needs to be rescued asap. but it would all be punctuated by love that would frankly be so much more interesting to explore bc the real crux of ra’s as a character is that he is incredibly proud and lonely and loving in all of the most heartbreaking and potentially unforgivable ways possible. he holds onto people too tightly without understanding why they might want to let go. and there’s no better person to explore the breaking point of that behavior through than a completely unaware damian who ends up on his doorstep and genuinely believes he’s going to live with a grandfather who loves him in all of the right ways. and love him ra’s does. just without telling damian all of the ugly truths it took to get him there

[fanficshiddles]

Triple Threat, Chapter 1 (Sequel to Trust)

Summary: Darcy and Loki were enjoying their life, still annoying the Avengers. But one day, Loki from another timeline appears. After causing some mischief, he tells them that Jane is compromised with the aether. And he needs their help.

Now Darcy not only has TWO Loki’s to deal with, but also a deranged and tortured Jane who’s much more powerful than she should be.

But they have to find her first.

Darcy was late. Ohhh so late.

She ran as fast as she could out of the compound with her bag over her shoulder, Thor, Tony, Natasha, Bruce and Loki were waiting at the Bifrost site.

‘Sorry! I’m sorry! I couldn’t find my contacts and got up late.’ She said out of breath as she slammed into Loki’s side, he slipped his arm around her waist to steady her.

It had been almost six months since Loki and Darcy realised they couldn’t love anyone else. Although, whilst they tried going on proper dates together, they found it wasn’t really them. The whole romance thing.

The Avengers didn’t really know what to make of them both. Loki and Darcy didn’t like it when they were called boyfriend and girlfriend, and to the team they were just like they were before. Mischievous and a bit annoying. But the team knew that no one else would get a look in at either of them now, that was for sure.

Did Darcy love Loki? Yes, she did. She wouldn’t ever hesitate to say she did. And Loki felt the same. They already had a strong foundation built together. Had they added very regular sex to the mix? Hell yes! Did Loki want to kill every man that even just looked at Darcy in a flirtatious way? Of course!

But they were comfortable and happy with what they were. Whatever it was.

‘You’re late.’ Loki drawled.

‘Well, someone failed to wake me up!’ She looked up at him, narrowing her eyes.

‘I’m not your alarm clock, it’s not my duty to wake you.’

‘It is when you’re the reason I was up most of the night. I was walking like John Wayne when I got up. It would’ve been polite to at least wake me.’ She huffed.

‘Eww. Too much information!’ Tony said as he pulled a face.

Loki just looked very smug.

‘Exciting night, huh?’ Natasha smirked at Darcy.

‘Hell yeah!’ Darcy grinned.

Loki chuckled and squeezed Darcy’s side, just as Thor called for Heimdall to open the Bifrost. Whisking them all up to Asgard.

Asgard and Midgard were working together, sharing science and technology. Tony and Bruce were able to take their inventions to completely new levels, while Asgard learned a thing or two from the scientist mortals.

So trips to the golden city were quite regular. Darcy went along whenever Loki went. Frigga was always so happy to see her, even Odin was starting to warm up to her, too. He was also trying with Loki, attempting to make amends for not being a great father. Loki didn’t make it easy, but Darcy kept telling him off and told him to try and at least be civil.

When they arrived, horses were waiting for them on the Bifrost. Tony and Bruce couldn’t get used to riding the horses, they were worse than Darcy had been her first time. They stuck to a very slow walk and took forever. Natasha was a natural rider, which didn’t surprise Darcy or Loki.

Darcy ended up having a favourite horse, a lovely grey mare, she was a gentle giant. Loki always helped her up, often flinging her too far so she would fall off the other side. That would usually end up with Darcy withholding sex for a day or two.

Luckily, he didn’t do that this time. He winked at her as he got onto his horse and the two went galloping ahead as normal. Thor and Natasha raced up after them with Tony and Bruce slowly lagging behind.

‘Hey, Birger! How’s it going?’ Darcy asked when they reached the stables and Birger was on duty just outside.

‘Good morning, Darcy.’ He took hold of the reins for her while she dismounted. ‘You’re getting better at riding, I see.’ He grinned.

‘Yeah it’s getting easier. Soon I’ll be bale to beat this one’s ass.’ She smirked and motioned to Loki who came up beside her.

Loki poked her side playfully. ‘Unlikely.’

‘You never know, My Prince. This mare is one of the fastest in the stables.’ Birger laughed.

Loki narrowed his eyes at Birger and then Darcy. ‘You’re turning Birger to the dark side. Stop!’ Loki put his hand over Darcy’s face with a chuckle.

Birger took Darcy and Loki’s horses from them, just as Thor and Natasha caught up with them. They knew the other two would take forever, so the four of them went inside and headed straight for the banquet hall.

Sif and the warriors three were there. They were pleased to see everyone, more so Thor. But Sif had a soft spot for Darcy, they got along well after they first met when Darcy and Loki visited for a week. Sif was secretly giving Darcy some fighting lessons, she wanted to surprise Loki.

Darcy had remembered when Jane told her about Sif, how she seemed stuck up and rather snippy with her. But Darcy had a feeling it was because Sif had a crush on Thor. So of course she would have been jealous of Jane.

‘Where’s the science dudes?’ Sif asked as everyone sat down to eat.

‘Probably still halfway across the Bifrost.’ Loki smirked.

‘Perhaps we should get them a carriage next time. Or take one of the ships.’ Thor suggested with a mouthful.

‘What are they hoping to achieve this trip anyway?’ Darcy asked as she filled her plate up with various meat and vegetables. She LOVED the food on Asgard.

‘Weren’t you listening in class?’ Loki rumbled, raising his eyebrow at her with a playful smile.

‘I was probably too busy staring at your ass.’ She shrugged.

Loki laughed while the others rolled their eyes.

‘I believe they’re hoping to finally get some of the magic from the healers into some kind of containment, so they can take it back home and study it properly. Change into something we can use. It would help speed up healing so much.’ Natasha said.

‘At least she listens in class.’ Loki teased Darcy, who then proceeded to stick her tongue out at him.

‘So childish.’ Loki tutted at her.

By the time Bruce and Tony joined them, the rest of them had stuffed themselves full and went to their chambers to get unpacked.

‘I’m gonna hang out with Sif while you are doing science with the others.’ Darcy said to Loki once they were sorted in his chambers. She was tying her hair up in a bun at the mirror.

Loki walked over to her and slipped his arms around her, resting his chin on top of her head as he looked at her in the mirror.

‘What do you two get up to together? Hmm?’ He asked.

‘Girl stuff.’ Darcy shrugged.

Loki raised an eyebrow, not entirely convinced. But he took her to meet Sif before heading off to the healer’s room himself to meet Natasha, Tony and Bruce.

As soon as Loki was out of sight, Sif took Darcy outside to the training area. She kitted her out with some basic armour, a shield and a sword.

‘Have you been practising the steps?’ Sif asked as she took out her own sword.

‘Yep. Well, whenever Loki is out of the way.’

‘Have you heard from Jane lately?’ Sif asked when they started doing some simple blocking moves, Darcy was able to step away and use the sword or shield to block any attacks from Sif.

‘Nope, nothing. It’s like she’s just vanished off the face of the earth.’ Darcy sighed.

‘Weird. I thought she was in love with Thor, she always seemed head over heels for him when they visited. Have you asked Heimdall to check in on her?’

‘Nah. She was such a bitch towards me and Loki ever since I was kidnapped by him in the first place. It’s up to her to come to me, if she wants to make amends.’ Darcy then took a jab towards Sif, surprising the female warrior and hitting her chest armour. But she was impressed.

‘Ohh, sneaky. You’ve been practising more than just your steps.’ She grinned.

‘Sure have!’ Darcy said triumphantly.

‘When are you going to show Loki your new skills?’

‘Tomorrow. I want to surprise him by asking him to teach me some moves. Speaking of which, can we work on tackling? I want to try taking him down.’ Darcy said as she stopped to catch her breath for a moment.

Sif laughed and put her arm around Darcy’s shoulders. ‘You really think you’ll be able to knock Loki down?’

Darcy shrugged. ‘I’m hoping the element of surprise will help me.’

‘Good luck with that. Loki is the champ of deception and he is NOT easy to take down, even though he doesn’t look very strong.’ Sif said.

‘Tell me about it. He can lift me with ease with one arm, uses me for weightlifting practice.’ Darcy huffed.

‘Sounds just like the old Loki really is back.’ Sif laughed.

‘Did he hang out with you guys when you were little?’ Darcy asked, they took a seat on a bench for a while to chat.

‘Not often. He was more into books and his magic. A bit of a loner. But I guess we didn’t help the fact by teasing and making fun of him, he was Thor’s little brother, that’s how we saw him. I feel bad now, knowing about his true heritage and everything he’s been through. But there were times his mischievousness shone through and he would join in sometimes.’

Darcy nodded. ‘He did tell me that he struggled because you would all fight with brute strength more than anything. While he prefers more skilled combat, using his magic and tricks.’

‘He is a highly skilled sorcerer, always has been after Frigga’s teachings. I think in a way, we were probably more intimidated by his skills than anything, which likely made things worse. There aren’t many people like him out there.’

‘There certainly isn’t. Which is probably a good thing, one Loki is enough to deal with.’ Darcy laughed and hopped back up to her feet. ‘Come on, let’s fight!’

-

That night, Darcy was getting ready for bed.

‘Hey, Loks. Can you poof me up my toothbrush? I forgot to pack it.’ She said as she rummaged through her bag.

‘Already in the bathroom.’ Loki said, he was in bed already, reading a book.

When Darcy headed into the bathroom, she smiled as she saw it was indeed there. Next to Loki’s in a little cup by the sink.

‘I used it to clean the toilet when we arrived.’ He called through to her when she started brushing her teeth.

Darcy popped her head round the door to look at him, brush sticking out of her mouth. ‘Yeah? Well I used yours to clean my ass. So guess that makes us even!’ She grinned and disappeared to the sink again.

Loki rolled his eyes and chuckled. ‘You can be so disgusting sometimes.’ He said loud enough for her to hear.

‘Right back at you!’ She shouted through.

He had just put his book down when Darcy came through to join him in bed. She jumped on top of him, he chuckled and let out a fake oomph.

‘Have you put on a little weight?’ He asked as he poked her sides.

‘Hey! That’s not a very nice way of flirting.’ Darcy scowled at him.

Loki smirked and ran his hands up and down her upper arms, squeezing her biceps. ‘You’ve got more muscles…’ He hummed. ‘Why have I not noticed this?’

Darcy rolled off him to the side. ‘Maybe because you’re too focused on other aspects of my body.’ She grinned and started un-buttoning her pyjama top, hoping to quickly get his mind off her new muscles.

‘Mmm… indeed.’ Loki purred and rolled on top of her.

[catxsnow]

REPLACED

Summary: Bruce might have adopted a bunch of children, but that didn’t mean all of them were ready to take on the mantle of Robin.

Batfam x reader 

Warning: angst, self-depreciation, Damian being a demon-spawn  

A/n: I’ve learned when I’m feeling depressed I write depressing so here we are. 

GIF not mine

Word count: 2.4k

You struggled a lot in your life.

Bruce Wayne found you after the death of your mother. Your father had never been apart of your life and without your mom, you had no one. Just like he had done with the Dick, Jason, Tim, Steph, he had taken you into his home with open arms. It was a big adjustment, one that took you years to get used to.

He trained you to be the next Robin, but fighting was something that you could never grasp. No matter how much he pushed you, had patience with you, and spent hours upon hours training, you felt as if you were never going to be enough to get on the streets. You felt weak, pathetic that you couldn't be as good as the rest before you.

And then Damian came into the picture. He was trained from such a young age that he was far better than you and he was years younger than you were. It made you feel even worse about your skills. Before you could even get your chance as Robin, Damian had taken the title from right under your feet.

That was your breaking point. For years you forced yourself to not give up. You thought that maybe if you pushed yourself to your limits that you would reach the point that you could go out there. You were wrong. The moment Damian showed up at the Wayne Manor, you had finally given up.

Maybe it was for the best. If you had to train for that long, just to be able to go on patrol a few nights a week then maybe it was best that you never got your chance.

It broke Bruce's heart to see you give up.

He always wanted what was best for you. No matter how much he yelled at you and pushed you down, he did it because he wanted you to stay safe. Not once did he ever give up on you because you had never lost faith in him. Damian showing up ruined that.

It wasn't just his abilities that towered over yours, it was his teasing. He knew he was better than you and it made sure that you knew it. Damian put you down, mocked your skills, and pushed your to your mental breaking point. You didn't think he realized the damage he was doing until you broke down in the cave.

“What benefit does she even bring to the team, father? You’ve been trying her for years and she hasn’t even come close to making it the being Robin,” Damian harshly spoke. He said many more things about you, things that no one should ever hear about themselves. 

Damian was talking to Bruce about you, wondering why you were there if you never even made it out on the streets. His words tore through your chest - useless, weak, pathetic - all the things you already felt. You were sparring with Tim at the time, Damian must have thought that you couldn't hear.

Tim heard too.

He saw you pause in the middle of your training. Standing there with your shoulders slumped and tears in your eyes. He stopped, hearing what you were hearing and understanding why you were like this. The only reason that you were even down there, was because even after you told Bruce you wanted to give up, he asked you to at least keep yourself enough on your toes that if something were to happen to you, you could protect yourself against a common thug.

Tim tried to stop you from running off, he wanted to tell you not to listen to what he was saying but it was too late. You were already storming off, tears streaming down your cheeks. Thankfully, neither Bruce nor Damian noticed your exit - as far as they knew, you hadn't heard a thing.

Bruce was yelling at Damian when you left, angered that he would say these things about you. You might not have been the best fighter on the team but you were still part of it. Even if that meant that you were the one stay back and stay on comms or stitch them up when they got back. You were a part of the team just as much as the rest of them.

Damian wasn't able to see that. He was just a kid, as much as he didn't want to be seen as one. He didn't understand the human emotion at that age, especially being the way that he was raised. You knew that you should have taken that into account but it didn't make his words hurt even left.

You left to your room. The tears wouldn't stop, everything that he was saying was your worst insecurities spoken in truth. Everyone knew that you were self conscious about your skills, but they also knew that you were trying your best and that was what mattered the most. Damian didn't know that.

For years, you felt older than you actually were, it was a quality that was picked up by every child in that house hold. However, laying there on your bed crying your eyes out? You felt like the teen that you were. Filled with sadness, loss of hope, you didn't think you would ever find your place.  

You cried and cried until no more tears would come out. Knees tucked to your chest and staring at the wall with lifeless eyes, you felt like the disappointment that you always thought you were.

"(Y/N)," there was a knock at your door. It sounded like Tim, but you couldn't be sure over the sound of your sniffles.

Weakly, you replied back, "go away."

"(Y/N), I'm not leaving until you let me in," You knew for sure that it was Tim. He was the only one to see you run off so upset. Tim was always a good older brother to you. He understood the struggle of not being able to be as strong as Dick or Bruce, but where he lacked strength, he made up with in skill. You had neither, at least not enough of either.

Reluctantly, you allowed him to come in. Tim saw you curled up on your bed, eyes red and puffy. He joined you on your bed, wrapping his arms around you. You thought that you had no more tears to shed but the second you crashed into his arms, they spilled again.

"Don't listen to him," Tim rubbed your back. Age wise, you were the closet to him which made it easier to get along. Tim always seemed to take your side no matter the circumstance. "Damian has been training since he was a child, you've only been here a few years. That doesn't make you less worthy than him.

"In fact, just by showing that you've never given up proves that your better than he'll ever be. You're willing to learn, to improve, Damian has reached an arrogance that makes him thinks he has no more to learn," Tim tried to comfort you. "You can't give up now, I know you already talked to Bruce but -"

"But nothing, Tim," you shook your head, pulling away from him. "Damian's right, I'm not cut out for this, I never have been. We both know if I ever go out there, the whole time everyone is going to be worrying about me and the job isn't going to get done. Bruce might have made me family but I'm not meant to be under the wing of Batman."

"That's not true," Tim argued. He wished that you could see how much you had improved. He wished that you could see that you were just as valid of a member of this family. You were important to everyone there - even to Jason who rarely liked to admit that he tolerated anyone in that family.

"But it is, we both know it, we've always known it."

><

You wished that you were strong enough to not sulk around the manor for the next week but that wasn't the case. Damian's words were really tying you down and nothing was able to get out of your rut.

Tim tried to help in every way he knew how. He would bring you your favourite drink when the two of you got back from class, he even tried to bake you cookies. You appreciated his efforts, you really did, but this wasn't something that could be fixed with material items.

By the end of the week, Bruce finally picked up on how you were feeling. You had done your best to avoid him but when he cornered you in the library, you knew that there was no escaping him.

"(Y/N)," Bruce called out to you. World's best detective was going to see through you facade in a matter of seconds. It was time to face him, you knew you had to. Maybe this was what you needed: tell him how you felt about Damian's arrival. "You've been MIA for a week, what's going on?"

He didn’t even know that you heard what Damian said about you. What a joke. 

"Damian is what's going on," you suddenly felt this sudden rage fill your body. This wasn't like you, you were never an angry person. "Damian shows up in the middle of fucking nowhere and you treat him like he's some kind of-of god! I've been here for years, he hasn't even been here for two months and you replaced me with him. For godsake Bruce you let him take my place as Robin before I even got the chance!"

Your voice continued to raise as you spoke. Bruce had never seen you like this - the anger that rose a fire in your eyes and fists tight at your sides. He knew that Damian's arrival wasn't necessarily ideal in their plan for the future but he couldn't change what it was now.

“We’ve talked about this. I’d rather you be stuck training for years then dead on the streets because you weren’t ready,” Bruce tried to argue. The situation was less than ideal but he didn’t even put in the extra effort to try and change it. 

“That isn’t the point!” You yelled. “I don’t give two shits that I’m not ready. I don’t care that I’m not as naturally equipped as the others. You gave up on me along time before I gave up on myself. You replaced me because that was easier than facing me!” 

"(Y/N), calm down, you're starting to sound like Jason," Bruce tried to get you to lower your voice. He had known the pain that Jason felt when Tim took his place after his death and you were starting to say the exact same things that he was saying when he was in that same place.

"Is that such a bad thing?" Your voice still echoed through the large library. "Maybe Jason was right. Maybe this family is too fucked up to ever amend. Maybe he was right to leave and never look back! You let Damian say those things about me and you never did jackshit about it! What kind of father does that prove you to be?"

Bruce looked taken aback by your words. You always appreciated him taking you in, but there were some lines that he had crossed that you couldn't forgive him for. This was one of them - the betrayal that you felt when he took sides over his son he didn't even know existed against you.

Bruce’s silence said more than any string of words could.

With a huff of air, you pushed past Bruce and out of the library. Maybe Bruce was the reason that you were never able to reach your potential as Robin. Maybe he never took you to the same level that he took with the boys and with Steph. Maybe it was Bruce Wayne that never wanted you to make it to being a vigilante.

The idea had never crossed your mind before, but the more you thought about it, the more you thought it to be true. You felt as if you were always missing pieces of training - moves that Tim was able to do and you couldn't, tactics that Dick would come up with, even using weapons like Jason when he was Robin. There were so many things that you could never do.

The thought of him sabotaging your success just made you even more angry than you were before. In that moment, you wanted nothing more than to be Robin, you wanted to be a better hero than Bruce, Dick, and everyone that came before you. You wanted to prove everyone wrong.

You hadn't realized that you walk of anger had led you to the gardens. The sun was just setting and through your red vision, you had to stop and admire the beautiful orange and purple skies that shone through the trees. The sight had calmed you instantly, and you stood there to watch the sun finish setting.

Dick was the one to show you how pretty they were in the gardens. It was when you first arrived at the manor, upset about your mother's death. he tried to make you feel better with the view and it had worked. You always thought of your mother when the sun set after that, it was a reminder she was still there with you.

"(L/N)," you hadn't realized how long you had been watching it. The smallest glimpse of light was left and darkness began to cover the yard. You were surprised to see that it was Damian standing next to you. Since his arrival, you avoided having a full conversation with him. "Father told me to come apologize to-"

"I don't want your apology, Damian," you looked down at him. He seemed relieved that he didn't have to do it, but even more so confused. Just as the last bit of light left the sky you fully faced him. Damian watched as your face grew with determination.

"I want you to make me a lethal weapon."

[imagine-loki]

Triple Threat, Chapter 1 (Sequel to Trust)

TITLE: Triple Threat CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 1 AUTHOR: fanficshiddles ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Loki kidnaps Darcy Lewis, in hopes of getting the tesseract in return for her. Imagine his surprise when he grows rather fond of the mortal, finding that she understands him better than anyone else ever has.  RATING: M

SUMMARY: Darcy and Loki were enjoying their life, still annoying the Avengers. But one day, Loki from another timeline appears. After causing some mischief, he tells them that Jane is compromised with the aether and under Thanos’ control. And he needs their help.

Now Darcy not only has TWO Loki’s to deal with, but also a deranged and tortured Jane who’s much more powerful than she should be.

But they have to find her first.

Darcy was late. Ohhh so late.

She ran as fast as she could out of the compound with her bag over her shoulder, Thor, Tony, Natasha, Bruce and Loki were waiting at the Bifrost site.

‘Sorry! I’m sorry! I couldn’t find my contacts and got up late.’ She said out of breath as she slammed into Loki’s side, he slipped his arm around her waist to steady her.

It had been almost six months since Loki and Darcy realised they couldn’t love anyone else. Although, whilst they tried going on proper dates together, they found it wasn’t really them. The whole romance thing.

The Avengers didn’t really know what to make of them both. Loki and Darcy didn’t like it when they were called boyfriend and girlfriend, and to the team they were just like they were before. Mischievous and a bit annoying. But the team knew that no one else would get a look in at either of them now, that was for sure.

Did Darcy love Loki? Yes, she did. She wouldn’t ever hesitate to say she did. And Loki felt the same. They already had a strong foundation built together. Had they added very regular sex to the mix? Hell yes! Did Loki want to kill every man that even just looked at Darcy in a flirtatious way? Of course!

But they were comfortable and happy with what they were. Whatever it was.

‘You’re late.’ Loki drawled.

‘Well, someone failed to wake me up!’ She looked up at him, narrowing her eyes.

‘I’m not your alarm clock, it’s not my duty to wake you.’

‘It is when you’re the reason I was up most of the night. I was walking like John Wayne when I got up. It would’ve been polite to at least wake me.’ She huffed.

‘Eww. Too much information!’ Tony said as he pulled a face.

Loki just looked very smug.

‘Exciting night, huh?’ Natasha smirked at Darcy.

‘Hell yeah!’ Darcy grinned.

Loki chuckled and squeezed Darcy’s side, just as Thor called for Heimdall to open the Bifrost. Whisking them all up to Asgard.

Asgard and Midgard were working together, sharing science and technology. Tony and Bruce were able to take their inventions to completely new levels, while Asgard learned a thing or two from the scientist mortals.

So trips to the golden city were quite regular. Darcy went along whenever Loki went. Frigga was always so happy to see her, even Odin was starting to warm up to her, too. He was also trying with Loki, attempting to make amends for not being a great father. Loki didn’t make it easy, but Darcy kept telling him off and told him to try and at least be civil.

When they arrived, horses were waiting for them on the Bifrost. Tony and Bruce couldn’t get used to riding the horses, they were worse than Darcy had been her first time. They stuck to a very slow walk and took forever. Natasha was a natural rider, which didn’t surprise Darcy or Loki.

Darcy ended up having a favourite horse, a lovely grey mare, she was a gentle giant. Loki always helped her up, often flinging her too far so she would fall off the other side. That would usually end up with Darcy withholding sex for a day or two.

Luckily, he didn’t do that this time. He winked at her as he got onto his horse and the two went galloping ahead as normal. Thor and Natasha raced up after them with Tony and Bruce slowly lagging behind.

‘Hey, Birger! How’s it going?’ Darcy asked when they reached the stables and Birger was on duty just outside.

‘Good morning, Darcy.’ He took hold of the reins for her while she dismounted. ‘You’re getting better at riding, I see.’ He grinned.

‘Yeah it’s getting easier. Soon I’ll be bale to beat this one’s ass.’ She smirked and motioned to Loki who came up beside her.

Loki poked her side playfully. ‘Unlikely.’

‘You never know, My Prince. This mare is one of the fastest in the stables.’ Birger laughed.

Loki narrowed his eyes at Birger and then Darcy. ‘You’re turning Birger to the dark side. Stop!’ Loki put his hand over Darcy’s face with a chuckle.

Birger took Darcy and Loki’s horses from them, just as Thor and Natasha caught up with them. They knew the other two would take forever, so the four of them went inside and headed straight for the banquet hall.

Sif and the warriors three were there. They were pleased to see everyone, more so Thor. But Sif had a soft spot for Darcy, they got along well after they first met when Darcy and Loki visited for a week. Sif was secretly giving Darcy some fighting lessons, she wanted to surprise Loki.

Darcy had remembered when Jane told her about Sif, how she seemed stuck up and rather snippy with her. But Darcy had a feeling it was because Sif had a crush on Thor. So of course she would have been jealous of Jane.

‘Where’s the science dudes?’ Sif asked as everyone sat down to eat.

‘Probably still halfway across the Bifrost.’ Loki smirked.

‘Perhaps we should get them a carriage next time. Or take one of the ships.’ Thor suggested with a mouthful.

‘What are they hoping to achieve this trip anyway?’ Darcy asked as she filled her plate up with various meat and vegetables. She LOVED the food on Asgard.

‘Weren’t you listening in class?’ Loki rumbled, raising his eyebrow at her with a playful smile.

‘I was probably too busy staring at your ass.’ She shrugged.

Loki laughed while the others rolled their eyes.

‘I believe they’re hoping to finally get some of the magic from the healers into some kind of containment, so they can take it back home and study it properly. Change into something we can use. It would help speed up healing so much.’ Natasha said.

‘At least she listens in class.’ Loki teased Darcy, who then proceeded to stick her tongue out at him.

‘So childish.’ Loki tutted at her.

By the time Bruce and Tony joined them, the rest of them had stuffed themselves full and went to their chambers to get unpacked.

‘I’m gonna hang out with Sif while you are doing science with the others.’ Darcy said to Loki once they were sorted in his chambers. She was tying her hair up in a bun at the mirror.

Loki walked over to her and slipped his arms around her, resting his chin on top of her head as he looked at her in the mirror.

‘What do you two get up to together? Hmm?’ He asked.

‘Girl stuff.’ Darcy shrugged.

Loki raised an eyebrow, not entirely convinced. But he took her to meet Sif before heading off to the healer’s room himself to meet Natasha, Tony and Bruce.

As soon as Loki was out of sight, Sif took Darcy outside to the training area. She kitted her out with some basic armour, a shield and a sword.

‘Have you been practising the steps?’ Sif asked as she took out her own sword.

‘Yep. Well, whenever Loki is out of the way.’

‘Have you heard from Jane lately?’ Sif asked when they started doing some simple blocking moves, Darcy was able to step away and use the sword or shield to block any attacks from Sif.

‘Nope, nothing. It’s like she’s just vanished off the face of the earth.’ Darcy sighed.

‘Weird. I thought she was in love with Thor, she always seemed head over heels for him when they visited. Have you asked Heimdall to check in on her?’

‘Nah. She was such a bitch towards me and Loki ever since I was kidnapped by him in the first place. It’s up to her to come to me, if she wants to make amends.’ Darcy then took a jab towards Sif, surprising the female warrior and hitting her chest armour. But she was impressed.

‘Ohh, sneaky. You’ve been practising more than just your steps.’ She grinned.

‘Sure have!’ Darcy said triumphantly.

‘When are you going to show Loki your new skills?’

‘Tomorrow. I want to surprise him by asking him to teach me some moves. Speaking of which, can we work on tackling? I want to try taking him down.’ Darcy said as she stopped to catch her breath for a moment.

Sif laughed and put her arm around Darcy’s shoulders. ‘You really think you’ll be able to knock Loki down?’

Darcy shrugged. ‘I’m hoping the element of surprise will help me.’

‘Good luck with that. Loki is the champ of deception and he is NOT easy to take down, even though he doesn’t look very strong.’ Sif said.

‘Tell me about it. He can lift me with ease with one arm, uses me for weightlifting practice.’ Darcy huffed.

‘Sounds just like the old Loki really is back.’ Sif laughed.

‘Did he hang out with you guys when you were little?’ Darcy asked, they took a seat on a bench for a while to chat.

‘Not often. He was more into books and his magic. A bit of a loner. But I guess we didn’t help the fact by teasing and making fun of him, he was Thor’s little brother, that’s how we saw him. I feel bad now, knowing about his true heritage and everything he’s been through. But there were times his mischievousness shone through and he would join in sometimes.’

Darcy nodded. ‘He did tell me that he struggled because you would all fight with brute strength more than anything. While he prefers more skilled combat, using his magic and tricks.’

‘He is a highly skilled sorcerer, always has been after Frigga’s teachings. I think in a way, we were probably more intimidated by his skills than anything, which likely made things worse. There aren’t many people like him out there.’

‘There certainly isn’t. Which is probably a good thing, one Loki is enough to deal with.’ Darcy laughed and hopped back up to her feet. ‘Come on, let’s fight!’

-

That night, Darcy was getting ready for bed.

‘Hey, Loks. Can you poof me up my toothbrush? I forgot to pack it.’ She said as she rummaged through her bag.

‘Already in the bathroom.’ Loki said, he was in bed already, reading a book.

When Darcy headed into the bathroom, she smiled as she saw it was indeed there. Next to Loki’s in a little cup by the sink.

‘I used it to clean the toilet when we arrived.’ He called through to her when she started brushing her teeth.

Darcy popped her head round the door to look at him, brush sticking out of her mouth. ‘Yeah? Well I used yours to clean my ass. So guess that makes us even!’ She grinned and disappeared to the sink again.

Loki rolled his eyes and chuckled. ‘You can be so disgusting sometimes.’ He said loud enough for her to hear.

‘Right back at you!’ She shouted through.

He had just put his book down when Darcy came through to join him in bed. She jumped on top of him, he chuckled and let out a fake oomph.

‘Have you put on a little weight?’ He asked as he poked her sides.

‘Hey! That’s not a very nice way of flirting.’ Darcy scowled at him.

Loki smirked and ran his hands up and down her upper arms, squeezing her biceps. ‘You’ve got more muscles…’ He hummed. ‘Why have I not noticed this?’

Darcy rolled off him to the side. ‘Maybe because you’re too focused on other aspects of my body.’ She grinned and started un-buttoning her pyjama top, hoping to quickly get his mind off her new muscles.

‘Mmm… indeed.’ Loki purred and rolled on top of her.

[sixtyeightdays]

Timinette social media or timinette with being underappreciated?

i am so sorry this took so long but i hope you like this! :)

i kind of strayed off topic a little and its a little mess so im sorry for that but i hope this is okay

this will have some bruce bashing so uh yeah 

theres also tim and jason brotherly bonding because i am a sucker for brotherly bonding fics.

also, tim, mari, chloe (basically the parisian folks) are 16. jason is 19, dick is 23, and damian 13.

-

Timothy Drake Wayne had had his issues with his own self worth before.

Unlike everyone else in the family, he hadn’t been born into the family, or even been chosen to be part of it. This did sometimes result in a severe drop in Tim’s confidence levels, but he always managed to bring it back up.

Eventually, Tim found that the best way to deal with it was just to accept it. Not act out on it or anything. No, it was best to just accept it and be on his way.

At first, he had fought the unwanted thoughts invading his head, but appointing him as CEO of Wayne Enterprises had been the final straw that broke the camel’s back.

If they didn’t want me in the family, why would they make me CEO of Wayne Enterprises? Tim thought.

But then it pushed itself into Tim’s mind.

Because they don’t want you at the manor.

Tim shoved the thought away and shook his head, looking out the plane window.

Just.. accept it. There’s nothing he could to but accept it. He had no one to talk to either.

Damian would probably jeer at him and call him a weakling. Tim didn’t really need that. Bratty little 13 year old, that one. Besides, Damian wouldn’t care about it anyway, probably just tattle on him in hopes of getting Red Robin benched permanently.

He had contemplated talking to Dick about it for a while. After all, Dick was the ever so helpful Golden Boy. But then he decided against it. Of everyone in the family, Tim would never expect Dick of all people to understand issues with self worth. Dick was told very often that he was loved, wanted. Dick would probably tell Bruce anyway, and that was the last thing Tim wanted.

Jason.. well he was busy. He was always busy. Regardless of how his and Jason’s relationship had drastically improved, he wasn’t ready to open up about this. Don’t get him wrong, Tim was glad that he and his old hero had started to make amends, and now Jason had barely any qualms in calling Tim his brother, and that he could call him whenever he wanted. It made a rush of warmth erupt in his chest whenever he heard it.

But, he just didn’t feel ready to talk to him about it. To anyone about it.

Now, it was Monday morning and he was on his way to Paris in the Wayne company jet, because some rich designer named Gabriel Agreste requested some sort of business partnership.

There was also a designer called MDC that Tim was very interested in meeting. He was a huge fan of her work. He had checked out her website and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of her work, especially since she had no employees and made everything herself.

The fact that she was Jagged Stone’s honorary niece had also contributed to Tim wanting to commission a MDC original.

He had contacted her a before the plane left, and lucky for him, she had decided to meet him at his hotel on Thursday after lunch to discuss and take measurements

It was partially why when Bruce asked him to go to Paris, he didn’t fuss. He didn’t even protest about how being in Paris would affect Red Robin’s patrol. He had just nodded and left.

It had been a very last minute decision, and he hadn’t even had time to tell Jason about it. He had left a few hours after Bruce told him about it.

Tim sighed, leaning his head against the cool window of the plane, taking a sip from the coffee mug he held in his hands.

He admittedly zoned out for the rest of the journey, but in his defense, there was only an hour left on that flight anyway.

Stepping off the plane with his baggage, he made his way to the exits and after checking out of the airport, hailed a cab to bring him to his hotel, Le Grande Paris.

He may or may not have also zoned out on his 15 minute long ride to the hotel. Tim felt bad for the very nice taxi driver whom he had ignored, and gave him a very generous tip. After all, it wasn’t like he needed the money.

Judging from the wide eyed and awed glance the driver shot him as he left, the driver appreciated it very much.

Walking into the hotel lobby, checking in and waiting for the room key to be given to him, Tim already knew he was going to turn down Gabriel’s offer.

His research had shown that Gabriel was a recluse and hadn’t left his house in years. His assistant, one Nathalie Sancouer went on appointments with him on a call. He was also seemingly cold to his only son, which didn’t fly well with Tim, especially since the son was the same age as him.

He was expected to finish more work in Paris, especially since there was no rogues to disrupt anything.  

He was not expecting a petite bluenette to crash into him and change his outlook on life.

The girl who bumped into him blushed profusely and apologised while two blondes, a girl and a boy laughed behind her.

She shot the two a playfully stern look, narrowing her eyes. Her eyes had the same glint Selina had when she saw Bruce. Playful, yet deadly. It was amazing how fast the blondes shut up.

“I’m Tim.” He shook Marinette’s hand, slightly charmed by the blushing girl.

“I’m Marinette. Are you checking in? I can escort you to your room. I know this place like the back of my hand.”

Tim was startled. Marinette did not seem to have any idea that she was talking to CEO of WE. She was talking to him like he was Tim. Just Tim. He was intrigued by the girl. The way she said her sentence, she wasn’t boasting or showing off, she was stating a mere fact out of politeness and the kindness of her heart.

You don’t see that around much anymore, Tim mused. It was like a breath of fresh air.

He nodded in acceptance and showed her the room number on the key that he was given before she had bumped into him. Her eyes widened.

“Well, looks like you’re on the floor I was already going to. Chloe lives here. Her father runs the hotel, and all the penthouses are on the same floor.” Marinette waved her hand at the blonde girl who was laughing earlier.

The girl stuck out a hand. “My name’s Chloe, the pleasure’s all yours.”

Tim’s lips curved into a smile as he shook her hand. “I’m Tim.”

Chloe pointed to the boy next to her. “That’s Adrien.”

Tim recognised him. He was that Agreste boy. The son of Gabriel Agreste, who he was supposed to meet on Thursday. Tim vaguely wondered if Adrien was going to be there for the meeting.

Tim didn’t like it when people announced out loud that he was a Wayne. So he didn’t do that to Adrien. Tim just shook his hand with a smile. Adrien smiled back, and Tim could see that gratitude in his eyes.

Tim nodded and his mind drifted to Marinette. She seemed rather nice, and she didn’t seem like the type of person to take advantage of rich kids. He decided to ive her the benefit of the doubt. Obviously, Chloe and Adrien trusted her, so he was willing to be open minded about this.

Besides, on the unlikely chance that she was trying to suck up to rich kids, Tim could very easily sue her, or at the very least, scare her off.

Marinette, Chloe and Adrien took the lift up with him, the four falling into an easy banter. Tim was very glad he had become fluent in French a few months prior to going on this trip.

Once they reached the outside of Tim’s suite, however, Marinette turned to Tim.

“Do you, maybe wanna join us after you put your things down?”

Tim grinned. “Why, I’d love to.”

-

It was the right thing to do. The four of them had a blast, and Tim knew now more than ever that Marinette genuinely liked the company of the two blondes and that she wasn’t just using them. He didn’t think she was, but it didn’t hurt to check.

They had hung out together, from that afternoon to late in the night, to around 9 maybe? Tim wasn’t sure. Tim felt a warm rush of joy flow throughout his body. He couldn’t remember the last time he had hung out with anyone that weren’t using him for his money or weren’t his family.

The four had become really close and the three Parisians probably knew more about Tim that his whole family did put together at this point.

Tim couldn’t remember the last time he had let loose so freely.

It was funny how it worked. Tim didn’t know why, but he had the comforting feeling that they could be trusted. Sure, they hadn’t known him for long, but he felt a sense of comfort with them, more comfortable than he’d ever felt with Bruce, hell, more than even Alfred.

Tim didn’t tell them all of his secrets, obviously, Red Robin being one of them. But it was okay. Unlike Bruce, who would research and pry into his business, Chloe, Marinette and Adrien shrugged it off.

“We’re all entitled to our own secrets.” Marinette had told him.

It made Tim wonder what kind of secrets the three were keeping, but he brushed it off. If he didn’t have to spill his secrets, the three didn’t either.

Eventually, night fell, but only Adrien left. Tim had looked to Marinette questioningly, and she just shrugged.

“His dad needs him back. I told Maman I was staying over with Chlo tonight. It’s not a school night after all.” She shrugged.

It was funny how much Tim trusted the three. He trusted them more than he trusted Bruce, at this point. Even if the trust he had in Bruce wasn't much to go on, it was surprising how easily the ex-Robin trusted the Parisians. But then again, life worked in strange ways, and this may have one of its strangest yet.

But Tim didn't protest. He rather liked the Parisians and like he's said, he trusted them. And from the looks they all gave him throughout the day, fulling of laughter and openness, he knew without a doubt that they trusted him too.

Among all three Parisians, Tim had bonded with Marinette the most.

Firstly, while the three were a formidable trio, Chloe and Adrien, it seemed, were childhood friends. They were extremely comfortable around each other, and it wasn’t like they were trying to leave Marinette out. They included her in everything they could, but the noirette occasionally bowed out and let the two friends do their thing.

Secondly, Tim was pretty sure that the two didn’t normally have so much childhood games. He was pretty sure they were making some of them up on the spot.

If Tim didn’t know better, he’d say Adrien and Chloe were trying to set him and Marinette up.

Marinette. The amazing little bluenette that crashed into him and changed his outlook on life.

Yes, he had only known her for less than a day, but they just clicked.

Marinette had tried not to, but it was obvious that her self esteem was at an all-time low, much like his. When Tim had asked Chloe and Adrien why when Marinette was in the bathroom, they had filled him in on how a girl named Lila at their school was bullying her and spouting lies about her.

“How bad are her lies?” Tim questioned.

“She saved Jagged Stone’s kitten from a airplane runway.” Chloe said.

Tim spit out his coffee.

“She misses months of school to be in Achu to work with Prince Ali for Go Green campaigns.” Adrien continued.

Tim didn’t know Achu or Prince Ali very well, but he was pretty sure the prince only did Helping Children Campaigns. He took a sip of his coffee.

“Her latest one? I was dating Damian Wayne, but he and his brother fought over me and now I’m dating Timothy Drake, CEO of Wayne Enterprises!” Chloe said the last part in a nasally, simpering tone that was obviously meant to be Lila’s voice.

Tim choked. Lila was 16! Damian was 13! Tim mentally filed a reminder to sue this Lila girl. Also, his love life was rather pathetic. He hadn’t dated since Stephanie. Lila’d would probably do a better job going after Jason if he weren’t with Roy. Wait, no. Jason didn’t like psychopaths. Or maybe he did, Tim wasn’t too sure.

“That was pretty accurate.” Adrien looked slightly impressed.

Tim shuddered. What kind of sicko had a voice like that?

Marinette had come out of the bathroom at that point, and all three of them effectively shut up. She looked concerned and asked Tim if he was okay and why he was so pale.

He shook his head. “I’m cool, cool, cool.” He ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to be suave and Marinette laughed.

Tim’s expression softened at the melodic sound. Chloe and Adrien exchanged a look before smirking at Tim.

Marinette had subtly complimented him a lot over the span of a few hours, and Tim had felt his confidence level slowly rising. It made Marinette smile.

Tim had returned the favor, and by the end of the next day, he and Marinette had almost as many inside jokes as Adrien and Chloe did.

(Chloe had walked Adrien to the door, and Tim and Marinette had hid from Chloe in Tim’s suite, giggling at Chloe’s playful irateness.

Tim had a great time.

He had also managed to finish most of his work beforehand.

He, along with Chloe and Adrien, had gone to Marinette’s house on Wednesday, and the four of them had spent the whole day in a peaceful silence doing their work.

Chloe and Adrien had finished their school work early and had copied their work into Marinette’s workbook. Tim had smiled at the sight because he was rather happy that Marinette had friends who were willing to do this sort of thing for her.

Marinette had spent the whole day working on several commissions, sketching the designs and sewing them out. Tim had been shocked by how many different types of fabric the bluenette had in her closet. Chloe and Adrien had shot him a look that said “get used to it”.

Tim was pleasantly that no one had disturbed him while he was doing his work. they had all done their own work respectively, and even when they were done, like Chloe and Adrien, they had kept quiet and didn’t make any noise to disrupt Tim and Marinette, apart form their whispered chatter.

In Gotham, Tim would almost always be interrupted by rogue attacks or his brothers and father. It made it almost impossible to finish his work on time, and resulted in many overtimes and no sleep.

Marinette’s parents, a happy baker couple who’d persuaded Tim to call him Tom and Sabine instead of Mr and Mrs Dupain Cheng, had stocked them up with a steady supply of pastries and amazing coffee. It was probably expected, they did own a bakery after all.

Tim swore that the Dupain Chengs’ pastries could rival Alfred’s.

While Tim was looking at Marinette work, he was taken aback by her efficiency and quality of her sewing. Normally, one jacket would take a day to make, including handmade embroidery. Marinette had done it within two hours from scratch.

Tim was tempted to commission her, but it seemed that her plate was already full, so he didn’t. Either way, he had come to meet with Gabriel Agreste and possibly MDC.

When they were all done with their work, after spending practically the whole day in Marinette’s room from 9 in the morning to 6 in the evening, they decided to go get dinner.

Tom and Sabine bid them goodbye heartily before turning to their customers and pulling a tray out of the oven.

Tim had met Chloe and Adrien’s significant others. A rather cold girl named Kagami, and chill looking boy named Luka. (Tim thought that Kagami and Chloe, and Luka and Adrien suited each other and balanced out perfectly.)

Originally, Tim had thought that Luka was dating Marinette. After Luka had hugged Adrien, he had turned to Marinette and called her ‘his Melody’. It didn’t help that she called him ‘her Harmony’.

Tim totally did not feel jealous.

But then Marinette groaned and nudged Tim in the ribs. “I guess we’re fifth wheeling.”

“Aren’t you dating Luka?” He pointed to the green haired boy.

Chloe and Adrien clutched their stomachs, laughing, while Kagami and Luka smiled. “Nope. Mari-hime is single.’’ Tim swore the fencer stared into his soul.

Tim was not afraid to admit that Kagami scared him more than the Joker did. Okay, maybe the Joker was a far stretch. Killer Croc or Two-Face maybe.

Luka leaned down and gave Adrien a peck on the lips. The model blushed and Luka grinned, exposing two slightly sharp canines, much like a snake’s.

It was currently mid November, so it was pretty cold. But Tim didn’t see why Mari was wearing a layer of heattech, a long-sleeved sweatshirt, a hoodie, and her winter coat, plus her hat, earmuffs and gloves.

She looked like a puffy marshmallow. A very pink, cute marshmallow.

Luka had shot him a ‘it’s better not to ask’ look and Tim wisely kept quiet.

They had a great time at dinner. Tim and Mari had an amazing time. Tim wasn’t entirely sure about the others, he was too busy paying attention to Mari.

The crinkle of her eyes when she smiled, the red flush from the cold dusting over her freckles lightly, the bluebell colour of her eyes.

He didn’t notice the ‘he’s so whipped’ looks from everyone else. Luka shrugged.

“Well who doesn’t like Melody once they meet her?”

Everyone else shrugged. “Fair point.” Chloe muttered, burying her head in the crook of Kagami’s neck.

Suddenly, screams broke out from nearby. Marinette immediately ceased talking and whipped around to face her friends. Tim looked very confused at her actions but looked worriedly to where the screams were coming from.

Suddenly, the floor rumbled and they all looked up to see baby August, who had been akumatised into Gigantitan again.

Marinette, Chloe, Adrien, Luka and Kagami immediately herded Tim back to Mari’s house, where they hastily climbed up the stairs to the loft.

“Tim, stay here.” Kagami ordered.

“What is this?” Tim couldn’t help but ask.

“It’s an akuma attack.” Chloe shrugged, looking not at all fazed.

Actually, Tim noticed, none of them looked fazed in the slightest.

“This is maybe August’s 7th time getting akumatised?” Luka said. “He’s relatively harmless though. It happens a lot.”

“Wait, where’s Marinette and Adrien?” Tim questioned, suddenly noticing that they were missing.

Kagami, Luka and Adrien exchanged a glance. “They’ll be fine.” Chloe waved offhandedly, logging into Marinette’s computer to turn on the live news from Nadja Chamack.

“Don’t be bemused, it’s just the news!” A pink haired lady was standing abnormally close to where Gigantitan was. Tim felt slightly worried for her.

“I’m Nadja Chamack, and we’re here at another akuma attack. It seems to be just baby August, however, so don’t worry. Ladybug and Chat will be here soon enough!”

Tim was appalled at the lengths this woman was seemingly willing to go to to get the scoop.

Noticing his expression, Luka smiled. “Don’t worry, Tim. She’ll be fine.”

“How do you know that?” If Tim let this happen, he was very sure that Bruce would murder him for a) getting that lady killed b) not helping. “I have to help!”

Chloe pushed him back into the chair where he was attempting to rise. “Sit down.” She ordered.

Tim didn’t want to, but he was interrupted by Nadja speaking again.

“Ladybug and Chat Noir are on the scene!” The camera view zoomed into a pigtailed girl in red and black spandex with a blonde boy in a leather catsuit. Tim vaguely wondered if he was Selina’s kid.

Tim’s eyes almost fell out of his head when he saw the two of them run up the side of the Eiffel Tower, with no grappling hook, no vault, nothing, before flipping off of it like a well oiled machine.

It was obvious that the two trusted each other to a deadly extent. They worked like two parts of a whole piece. 

August swatted Ladybug away with a wave of his hand, flinging her into the Eiffel Tower so hard it dented.

Panic seized Tim’s stomach when Nadja Chamack was trampled on by August, effectively crushing her. When August lifted his foot, Tim looked away.

Chloe, Kagami and Luka did not look fazed, and Tim wondered why, before standing up again. Chloe pushed him back down.

“She’ll be fine, relax. All of Paris have probably died at least, what, 9 times?” Kagami stated, crossing her arms. She levelled Tim with a steely glare and Tim cowered in his seat.

How did the League not know about this?

Suddenly, the person holding the camera cheered, as swarms of Ladybugs flew everywhere, fixing damages. Tim noted with relief that Nadja had reappeared in front of the camera, looking slightly confused but otherwise fine.

“I think I’m gonna throw up.” Tim staggered to the bathroom, and right when he was about to puke, two thuds landed behind him. Tim could see a green and pink light flash and he turned around to see what it was.

He was just in time to see Ladybug and Chat Noir detransform, leaving Adrien and Marinette, looking stunned.

That was it for Tim, he hurled.

And Marinette was there, brushing his hair out of his face and holding the back of his shirt so it wouldn’t get in the way. Adrien had edged out of the room, while an unfamiliar voice was chortling.

When Tim was done, he washed his mouth with shaky hands, and Marinette looked at him sympathetically and with a slight trace of fear. It was almost undetectable, but Tim had spent enough time with Cass to know when someone was scared, no matter how she tried to hide it.

Tim didn’t want Marinette to feel scared of him. He wanted her to feel safe around him. He shakily spun and engulfed her in his arms. Her body relaxed tremendously as she hugged him back.

He was taller than her by a only few inches, so Marinette’s head was comfortably buried in Tim’s chest. Tim was thankful that none of his vomit had gotten on his shirt.

“I like you, Mari. So, so much.” Tim confessed.

The bluenette he was holding wiggled in his arms, looking up at him with those beautiful eyes.

“I like you too, Tim.” Her quiet voice broke into Tim’s train of thoughts as he panicked.

“I know, you probably don’t like me back but-- wait, what? You like me too?” Tim knew his voice had cracked but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

“I do.” Marinette confirmed, stepping on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

Tim’s face flushed and Mari giggled.

“Does that mean you wanna--?” Tim blushed even more.

“Yes.” Marinette was obviously enjoying the way Tim was suffering right now.

“So.. it’s official?” Tim asked hopefully, looping his hand with Marinette’s.

“It’s official.” She grinned.

Adrien had interrupted them at that point, and after Tim changed into one of Marinette’s designs, a black, long sleeved shirt with ladybugs at the side, she and Adrien had explained about the miraculouses.

Chloe, Kagami and Luka revealed that they were also miraculous holders, but they were temporary heroes, even if they got to keep the miraculous on hand.

Marinette and Adrien were joint Guardians of the Miraculous, and they were something called true holders. The Ladybug and Chat miraculous were two halves of a whole, Adrien had explained. He and Mari were also the only permanent miraculous users chosen by the previous guardian, while Chloe, Kagami and Luka were chosen by Marinette.

Tim was then introduced to the some of the kwamis (Pollen, Tikki, Plagg, Sass and Longg), who referred to Marinette and Adrien as Guardians.

Tikki referred to Marinette as Mari, Plagg referred to her as Pigtails. Tikki referred to Adrien as Adrien, and Plagg referred to him as ‘kid’. It didn’t take a genius to know who wore the pants in their relationship.

Then, Marinette and Tim’s newborn relationship was brought to light, and Tim was sufficiently scared from the shovel talks given by the Parisians, as well as the kwamis. Marinette had laughed at him, and he had pouted for the rest of the night.

“I wield the power of Destruction in my hands so if you hurt Pigtails, I’ll cataclysm you. I sank Atlantis, so don’t try me.” Plagg’d scornfully stated.

Marinette had berated him and told him that Plagg really needed to stop sounding so proud that he sunk Atlantis, while Tim went pale and was reminded of his secret.

“Uh. Guys? I have to tell you something.” Tim wrung his hands together nervously. “You know how in Gotham, there are vigilantes?”

They nodded.

“I’m.. one of them? I’m Red Robin.” Tim squeaked.

There was silence, but then everyone, bar Marinette and Kagami burst into laughter.

“Only you, Melody, could create a love square with only two people and still somehow fall in love with a superhero.”

Mari flushed and Tim looked confused. “Who..?”

Everyone pointed to Adrien. He shrugged.

“M’Lady and I are soulmates.” He winked, intertwining his and Marinette’s hands.

“But we’re platonic soulmates.” Adrien dramatically let go of Marinettte’s hand. “Adrien had a crush on Ladybug. Marinette had a crush on Adrien.” He explained further.

Realisation dawned on Tim and he fell back into Marinette’s lap as she groaned at the way Adrien worded it.

“You suck.” She deadpanned.

Adrien had the gall to grin at her. “I’m also the one you share a soul with.”

She rolled her eyes.

Everyone had a nice laugh, but they all fell asleep rather quickly. It had been an emotionally and physically exhausting day for all of them.

The next day was Tim’d meeting with Gabriel Agreste. Tim wasn’t sure if the others knew he was Bruce Wayne’s son, but he figured if they didn’t he may as well surprise them.

So Tim left a note for them, and left 15 minutes prior to the meeting at 9, leaving the his friends in Marinette’s room.

hey guys, i have a business meeting at 9. i’ll come back as soon as i’m done, which will be 10? latest. i’ll probably be back before you guys wake up. i hope i will. bye for now. see u mari <3 love, tim.

His friends. Tim’s heart warmed. This was the first time he had made friends that weren’t his family, or superhero buddies.

Tim arrived at Agreste Manor at 9 on the dot, ringing the doorbell.  An electronic camera shot out from the wall and Tim jumped.

The person behind the camera opened the gate, and a buff man escorted him into the Manor, where Gabriel was waiting.

He was standing at the top of the steps, looking down at Tim. He inclined his head, and Tim followed the elder Agreste into his office.

The meeting went faster than expected. Tim had been expecting Gabriel to persuade him, but he had let Tim go. Instead of the half an hour meeting Tim was expecting,it was only twenty minutes.

Gabriel had offered a partnership with the Waynes in which he’d design for them, and they’d sponsor him. Tim had politely declined, and Gabriel looked slightly put out, waving to the buff man to escort him out.

Adrien had walked into the manor as soon as Tim reached the center of the room. Adrien stopped short.

“Tim? What are you doing here?”

Tim pointed to behind him, where Gabriel’s office was. “Business meeting.” He repeated, and waited for Adrien to connect the dots.

His eyes widened. “You’re Timothy Drake? CEO of Wayne Enterprises?”

Tim nodded. Adrien’s eyes widened before he smirked. “Have you told Mari?”

“I was gonna tell her today.”

“Nah, she has a meeting at like 2, with a client.”  

Tim frowned, but then shrugged. “I’ll tell her before.” He decided. “I have a meeting at 2 too.”

Adrien nodded and smiled. “Treat her right.” He said, before entering his room.

Tim smiled, even after Adrien was out of sight. “I will.”

-

Tim had a few hours before his meeting with MDC. He made his way back to the bakery, where he was greeted with a peck on the cheek by Marinette.

“Chloe went back to the hotel, Harmony and Gami have school, and Adrien had to go home.” She beamed. So cute.

Marinette and Tim spent the few hours eating lunch in Mari’s room and watching Netflix, judging the shipping potential between the Brooklyn Nine Nine characters.

They had agreed that Teddy was boring and annoying, Jake and Amy were a power couple, and Rosa was a badass .

Marinette really liked Gina, Tim preferred Holt.

Soon, it was time for the meeting. Tim and Mari both had to go back to Le Grande Paris, so they opted to walk there together.

“Who are you meeting?” Tim asked curiously.

“Some CEO named Timothy Drake.” She replied.

Tim stopped. He turned to Marinette.

“Timothy Drake.” He repeated. Marinette gave him an odd look. “Do you know him?” She asked.

“You’re MDC?” Tim’s voice came out strangled and Marinette looked taken aback.

Understanding dawned on her and she stared at Tim. “You’re Timothy Drake?”

He only nodded.

They stared at each other for a minute but then burst out into laughter, causing a nearby mother on the phone to shoot them a nasty look.

After the initial shock wore off, the two had continued to the hotel. They were on the way, anyway, and they could always either visit Chloe or stay in Tim’s suite.

Marinette giggled as she worked, deftly taking Tim’s measurements.

“Normally this takes forever,” Tim remarked, peering over Marinette’s shoulder and watching in awe as she drew out the design for his suit.

Within minutes, it was done. Tim was amazed by it. It was a simple suit, but the colours she encorporated into it as well as the designs made Tim extremely happy. It managed to capture his essence, and look stylish at the same time.

She’d even drawn a design for the tie! (instead of blue, it’s red)

After about three hours of Marinette working in Tim’s suite (she had gone home and gotten the fabrics and used the sewing machine she always leaves in Chloe’s room), as well as Tim finishing his remaining paperwork for WE, the suit was done. Tim was awed by it.

The suit jacket was a nice, velvety maroon colour that was reminiscent of Tim’s Red Robin suit and Marinette’s Ladybug suit. The inside was a black colour, as another tribute to the colour schemes of Tim and Mari’s secret life.

The tie was the same deep red colour of the suit. What Tim loved the most about it, however, were the tiny coffee cups sewn on it. “A personal touch.” Marinette had said.

There was also the letter T embroidered on the back of the tie and the lapel of the suit right next to the MDC emblems.

“What do you think?” Marinette asked nervously.

“I love it!” Tim lifted Marinette up by the waist, spinning her in the air. She laughed with joy and he put her down but still in his arms.

He cupped his cheek and Marinette’s hand wrapped around his neck. Simultaneously, they leaned in and their lips met in a chaste kiss.

Marinette ran her free hand through Tim’s hair as Tim’s free hand pulled her closer to him by the waist.

Suddenly, the door burst open and they jumped apart. 

It was Chloe, smirking wildly, her phone camera raised.

It didn’t take a genius to know what happened next.

Mari and Tim chased Chloe around the hotel to get her to delete the photo. Chloe crowed loudly that she was going to send the photo to Adrien, Luka and Kagami.

(Mari and Tim did catch her but Chloe had already sent the text.)

The six friends had a buttload of fun the next few days. Occasionally incorporating their work into the mix, Tim had never been so on time to hand in his paperwork.

On Saturday, a few hours before Tim was supposed to go to the airport to get on the Wayne private jet, the six were in Chloe’s room. 

The only sound that could be heard was the faint chatter between Chloe and Kagami who were talking together, the soft strums of Luka on his guitar and Adrien next to him constantly dying while playing Subway Surfers and him raging not-so-quietly. Tim’s head was leaning on two pillows in Marinette’s lap, typing on his laptop which was propped up on his lap while Mari’s pencils scratched against the paper in her sketchbook.

It wasn’t exactly silence, but it was peaceful. An almost silence, if you would.

Until a phone blared to life. 

Everyone jumped as the shrill sound of Tim’s ringtone pierced through the peaceful almost silence.

Tim cringed. “Sorry!” He called. 

He swiped the accept button without looking to see who it was, mildly pissed off.

“What?” He snapped into the phone.

“TIMMY!” A familiar voice burst out. Marinette jumped and dropped her sketchbook on Tim’s face, glaring at the phone. Tim pulled the phone away from his ear, and put a finger to his mouth before pushing the speaker button.

“Tim? You okay?”

“Apart from you bursting my eardrums, I’m fine. What do you want, Jason?” Tim answered dryly. He wasn’t sure if his irritation could be heard through the phone but Jason picked it up.

“Not very nice to your favorite brother, now is it Timmy.” Tim could imagine Jason wagging a finger sarcastically in his face.

“Learned it from you, Jay. But seriously what do you want? I’m kinda busy.”

“You may wanna put your coffee cup down for this.” 

Tim sighed and placed it on the floor.

“Now what?”

A bang was heard from outside and all of them, bar Tim and Mari (Tim was way too lazy to get out of Marinette’s comfortable lap, and she couldn’t get up with him in her lap) rushed to the door to see what was happening. 

Some people had burst into Tim’s room across the hall.

Three guesses who.

“What are you doing, dumbasses?” Chloe’s exasperated voice rung out.

A man with a white tuft in hair was standing in the doorway turned around, phone in hand. He hung up on the call promptly.

“We were looking for our brother, Tim. The receptionist said he was in this room. Have you seen him?” An older man walked out of Tim’s room, with several others hot on his heels. 

The shortest one was dark-haired and had green eyes, the other was a girl with chopped dark hair, an arm wrapped around a taller blonde girl’s waist. There was also a redhead in a wheelchair. The other two there were males, one was an near bald elderly, the other had blue eyes and dark hair and was rather tall.

That was six of them, Chloe noted. She and the others exchanged a look, debating whether or not to let them see Tim. After all, they could be lying and were kidnappers or something.

They obviously noticed the look. The tall one with blue eyes spoke. “You know him! Where is he? Did you kidnap him?”

Adrien choked trying to hold in his laughter. Luka patted him on the back calmly.

A tsk came from the inside of the room. Chloe looked back. Tim shrugged. It was her room, after all.

Chloe bit her lip, looking torn between letting them in or kicking them out. She looked to Kagami for help, and she nodded, but then inclined her head toward Chloe. Basically, ‘I think you should, Tim seems to know them. But he may not want to see them. Your call. Your room.’

The guy with the white tuft looked ready to barge in the room.

Chloe huffed and opened the door wider. She and the other stalked back to their seats with the echoing sound of ‘ridiculous, utterly ridiculous’. Everyone outside exchanged looks, and entered.

They were not expecting to see Tim in a girl’s lap, that was for sure.

Instead of the greeting they were expecting, Tim merely turned his head to look at them before huffing and returning his gaze to his laptop screen.

Marinette laid a hand protectively on Tim’s head and started running her fingers through his hair. 

If they weren’t shocked before, they definitely were now. Their eyes practically bugged out of their head at the sight.

“Replacement?” Jason cautiously asked. 

Tim huffed, much like Chloe, and Marinette ceased her ministrations. Tim whined, but Marinette levelled a glare at him and he sat up.

Marinette muttered softly, “I can see why your self confidence is so low.”

“Nah, Jason’s one of the nicer ones. It’s teasing.” Tim assured her. The girl only pouted and fell back into her seat, picking up Tim’s laptop to read what he was working on before Tim’s family rudely barged in.

Jason looked slightly touched.

Tim sighed and crossed his arms. “What are you guys doing here?” Chloe, Adrien, Kagami and Luka slowly inched around Mari and Tim. This did not go unnoticed by the Waynes.

“We came to visit you, Timbo!” The tall one said.

Tim pinched his nose. “That’s Dick. Barbara. Cassandra. Stephanie. Alfred. Bruce. Damian. Jason.” Tim pointed to each of them in turn. 

Luka spoke up. “I’m Luka. That’s Adrien, Chloe, Kagami and Marinette.” Marinette shifted when her name was called, exposing the laptop screen to the Waynes. Their eyes widened when they saw the bold letters ‘Murders and Muggings: Patrol Recap’. 

Dick coughed into his hand, jerking his head towards the computer. Tim rolled his eyes at Dick’s attempt at being subtle.

Jason and Stephanie snickered. Dick looked offended. 

Dropping all pretence out the window, Tim deadpanned. “They know my secret. Didn’t tell them about yours, though they’ve probably figured it out already.”

“You should’ve told us beforehand, Timothy!” Bruce looked like he was a second away from yelling. A steely glare from Kagami stopped him from doing just that. Cass looked at her in approval.

Marinette bristled at Bruce’s tone, but did not move from her seat. This wasn’t her battle to fight-- it was Tim’s.

Bruce pinched the end of his nose. “I’m disappointed in you, Timothy.” 

Despite knowing Bruce was going to say that, Tim winced. Jason looked pissed and opened his mouth to say something, but someone else beat him to it.

“How dare you.” Marinette’s quiet voice shook with fury as she stood up. Tim squeezed her hand and let go. Adrien, Luka, Kagami and Tim instantly surrounded Tim, forming a protective circle around him.

“How dare you. Tim is the most wonderful person I know. Other from the idiot I share a soul with, my Harmony, my Dragon and Queenie, he is the only person who is genuinely kind and caring. He is the sweetest person I know and if you think you can step into our turf and belittle my boyfriend, you have another thing coming.” Marinette snarled.

Adrien stood up, stepping forward to stand next to Marinette. “I’ve only known Tim for a few days, but he means a lot to all of us. Like Marinette said, you will not step into our turf and be rude to our friend.”

“You underestimate how much power we have here.” Kagami moved over to the other side of Marinette, eyes flashing. 

Chloe stood next to her. “I can very easily kick you out of this hotel, out of Paris, even. Tim is my friend, and we will not stand here and let you talk shit about how he disappointed you.”

Luka stood up, moving next to Adrien. “Like we said, Tim means a lot to us. You have no idea how much he does for all of you. He deals with your stupid company paperwork, even though he’s only 16 and it should be your job. He spends more time helping you on patrol and fighting rogues than paperwork but you scold him because he can’t finish as much as you’d like?”

Marinette’s normally warm blue eyes that were so full of love were now completely devoid of emotion. “That isn’t parenting, Bruce. That’s toxic.” She spat out Bruce’s name with so much loathing and hate, that he unconsciously took a step back.

Tim was very touched. No one had ever done that for him before. No one had the guts to stand up to Bruce Wayne or Batman. His eyes watered and he hastily wiped them away.

Bruce’s eyes flashed, and he strode forward. “I think you underestimate my power.” He spread his arms. “I’m Bruce Wayne. I can kill your career in a heartbeat. I can make sure you are never hired by anyone, nor will you ever be able to make a name for yourself. I’ve almost died before. Damian and Jason have. We deal with things you guys can only dream of. Sure, your father may be the mayor of Paris, Chloe, but I can easily kick him off his position of power. Don’t fuck with us.” 

Marinette’s eyes flashed with surprise at Bruce’s declaration that Jason and Damian have died. Ignoring Bruce, she turned to Adrien, who was squinting at Damian. 

“Do you want to heal them of the Lazarus pits? We can, after all. We’re Creation and Destruction.” Marinette spoke in the Guardian language.

Adrien side eyed the Waynes and nodded. “Even if Bruce is a bitch, Jason and Damian don’t deserve to live like that.” 

Marinette and Adrien looked behind them, past Tim, to where the Kwamis were hiding. Plagg and Tikki nodded. After all, they could always wipe the Waynes’ memories if they weren’t willing to keep it a secret. The Waynes didn’t know what they were saying. Jason stifled a laugh when Adrien caled Bruce a bitch, but the Waynes instantly went on guard at the sound of Jason and Damian’s names (since their names can’t be translated).

Marinette and Adrien turned back to Tim and the others folded, closing the gap that they had left, so no one could lip read or learn from their body language what they were about to do.

Marinette and Adrien walked a few steps back, a few steps in front of Tim but a few steps behind the others. They smiled reassuringly at Tim. They weren’t going to hurt Jason or Damian. Tim nodded. He trusted them.

Tikki and Plagg zipped over to them and phased into their joined hands. Adrien and Marinette smiled to each other closing their eyes. They channelled the Guardian energy, Creation energy and Destruction energy. 

They lifted their raised hands, and as if on command, Chloe and Kagami stepped aside, allowing the green and pink swirling energy in their conjoined hands to shoot towards Jason and Damian. The beam split halfway, hitting both Jason and Damian.

They braced themselves for pain, but they didn’t feel anything. They looked around, and saw the energy. The green colour of it was one everyone instantly recognised as the Lazarus Pit madness.

They could do nothing but watch as more and more green colours was sucked out of Jason and Damian before swirling upwards and over their heads into a ball of green energy.

After what seemed like a lifetime, the green stopped escaping them, and Jason and Damian could feel an immediate relaxation of their feelings. It was like there was anger and negative emotions buried into a pit of their minds, but they didn’t notice that it was there until it was gone.

The green energy ball was now as as big as a bowling ball. It churned once, and started shrinking. Something was compressing it and forcing it into a smaller ball. With a sizzle, it split into two. A pink ball and a green ball, the sizes of an apple.

However, the green ball wasn’t the Lazarus color green. It was a warm green, the colour of emeralds. Despite that, within both the pink and green shell had a green ball, the toxic colour of the Lazarus pit inside. It swirled around in their respective prisons, but couldn’t break free.

The balls of energy slowly drifted towards where Marinette and Adrien were standing with serene looks on their faces.

The pink shell hovered in front of Marinette, while the green one hovered in front of Adrien. The pink and green encasing the Lazarus green broke apart, and the pink and green energy shells flew into their conjoined hands.

Marinette and Adrien opened their eyes. They weren’t eyes anymore, just glowing eye sockets. Marinette’s were pink, and Adrien’s were green. The same colour of the shells, the others realised.

Now what was left were the fizzling balls of the Lazarus pits, its toxic green giving off an eerie glow.

Marinette and Adrien held up their free palms, and the balls rested on their waiting hands.

They looked to each other and seemed to be communicating before the plunged the balls into their chests.

Their whole body glowed for a second before lifting the two up in the air. The Waynes, Luka, Kagami and Chloe jumped when they started talking.

“This hurts.” Marinette admitted. Her face did not show any kind of discomfort. Adrien grinned. “Yeah, it does.” His didn’t either.

They shared a laugh before the green and pink faded, and the two plummeted onto the carpeted floor. Just before they hit it, the green and pink glowed softly again, allowing the two to land gently on the floor, feet first.

The light faded completely and Marinette and Adrien collasped in the chaise behind them, unclasping their hands and panting slightly. Plagg and Tikki zoomed out of their hands as soon as they separated and didn’t even bother hiding.

They plopped themselves on their chosens’ heads and all four of them began to nap.

“Did they..?” Dick uttered in disbelief.

Jason and Damian could only nod.

“Lazarus. Gone?” Cass pressed.

They nodded again.

“Forever?” Bruce croaked.

“Yep.” Marinette’s exhausted voice came from the chaise. Everyone spun to look at her. Chloe ran to her room’s kitchen, bringing out some honey, cookies, camembert, chocolate and eggs.

The active kwamis zoomed out form their hiding spot and got to work on their food. Marinette tiredly pushed herself to her feet, stumbling. Tim caught her. Marinette smiled gratefully at him, and gently scooped Tikki off her head. She reached over and got Plagg too. 

She nudged Tikki with her finger and placed her next to the cookies. She didn’t bother to wake Plagg up; he’d wake up as soon as he smelt camembert. She placed him down, next to Tikki and they woke up, lazily nibbling on their foods.

Mari let out a breathy sigh and swayed on her feet. She curled up next to Adrien and started to snore.

Dick frowned. If she was dating Tim, why was she so cozy with Adrien?

He moved to wake them up.

Suddenly, he stiffened and fell to the floor.

Pollen stood behind them, antennae still poised after stinging Dick. “No one wake the Guardians up.”

Muffled protests from Dick on the ground.

“They share a soul, Dick, being next to each other recharged them faster.” Tim explained.

“They what now?”

-

well yes thats it. 

i kinda got sloppy at the end because i spent almost 8 hours on this, and its only 8k words. im kinda proud of it though lol

no there will probably not be a part two, although i may upload this on ao3

anyway i hope you liked this !! <3

[365days365movies]

February 23, 2021: His Girl Friday (Part 2)

Gotta say, I’m loving this movie...but FUCK Walter, holy...

I, uh...I was going to look up a GIF of Walter from Sleepless in Seattle to bring up a point...but then I found this GIF of a gerenuk eating popcorn, and I HAD to use it Because, I mean...look at that shit. That shit’s gold. Also helps that I love gerenuks.

And yet these are the only two GIFs of gerenuks on here? C’mon guys, get on this. They have the longest neck of any antelope species, they’re like stretchy impala, man! AM I ALONE ON THIS? HAVE YOU SEEN THEM EATING???

...Wait...OH RIGHT MOVIE. Sorry...I like gerenuks. ON WITH THE RECAP (Part 1 right here)!

Recap (2/2)

After escorting Mollie out of the room and scolding the men for their conduct, Hildy gets a call notifying her that Bruce was arrested for stealing a watch. Uh oh; looks like we know what Walter told the short guy to do. GODDAMN, WALTER IS A DICK. I get why Hildy divorced him.

Hildy goes down to the jail and convinces the jailer to release Bruce. As they head home in a car, Bruce realizes that his wallet has been stolen, as well as other things from his pockets. Yeah, wow, so Walter’s an absolute asshole...and I’m starting to wonder whether or not Hildy and him are getting back together after all. GODDAMN, I hope not. Because he literally had a dude steal all of Bruce’s shit, JUST to keep Hildy there. Absolute asshole.

Meanwhile, the journalists read Hildy’s article, noting how good it is. And it is good, but it also obviously feels pretty goddamn manipulative, which is accurate. Again, I get why Hildy wants to leave the profession. Hildy returns as the put odds on how long her marriage will last, and calls Walter on the phone.

She says the following to him:

Now, get this, you double-crossing chimpanzee: There ain't going to be any interview and there ain't going to be any story. And that certified check of yours is leaving with me in twenty minutes. I wouldn't cover the burning of Rome for you if they were just lighting it up. If I ever lay my two eyes on you again, I'm gonna walk right up to you and hammer on that monkeyed skull of yours 'til it rings like a Chinese gong!

...HOLY SHIT. That was fucking GLORIOUS. She hangs up and storms out, understandably enraged, and bids her farewell to the newspaper business. Meanwhile, Earl’s being interviewed by a psychiatrist in a prison across the street. He’s tired, but they still have more questions for him, despite the fact that he’s being executed the following morning. He once again states that he’s innocent.

Hildy says a finally poetic farewell to her fellow journalists, and then BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG!!! From across the streets, gunshots ring out and an alarm bell goes off! It’s a jailbreak, and Earl Williams has escaped! With some quick edits, the boys make their calls, and Hildy calls Walter, letting him know that she’s on the job! JUST WHEN YOU THINK YOU’RE OUT

As the journalists (and Hildy) are in pursuit, we quickly learn what’s going on through the reporters on the phone, as well as through a call from Hildy to Walter. She demands more money from him, as she had to spend Walter’s money to bribe the info out of a cop. In exchange, she gives him the scoop.

The doctor was getting Earl to re-enact the incident, but to do that, they needed a gun. So Sherriff Peter B. Hartwell (Gene Lockhart), a bumbling idiot of a sheriff who’s been appearing sparsely throughout the film, gave him the gun. Earl took the gun, and Earl SHOT the gun at the doctor, who will survive.

With that, Hildy’s about to get off the phone and leave in a cab with Bruce. In response to that, Walter sends a woman, Evangeline (Marion Martin) to “handle” Bruce, and I assume he’s getting her to seduce him. HE. IS. A. DICK. He also sends the short guy with the hat, Diamond Louie Paluso (Abner Biberman) over to give Hildy the money in counterfeit bills. GOD I FUCKIN’ HATE WALTER

Bruce calls Hildy once again as she’s about to leave. He’s been arrested. AGAIN. Evangeline’s in the background, and he explains that he’s been arrested for “mashing”. What’s mashing? Well, according to the post-gazette, it’s public sexual harassment. Apparently, in Omaha, you could be charged $5 for calling a woman a “chicken”, $10 for “honey-bunch”, $15 for “turtle-dove”, and $20 for “baby doll”. I mean...bring that back? I genuinely want somebody to go on Judge Judy to contest a $50 fine for catcalling someone on the street, BRING THIS SHIT BACK

Unfortunately, Hildy doesn’t have money to bail Bruce out this time, and needs to get it from Louie first. She leaves, and the Mayor (Clarence Kolb) arrives with the sheriff to talk with the journalists. The journalists basically tell each of them that they’re idiots, and leaves them behind. And as the two talk to each other, another man, Joe Pettibone (Billy Gilbert) comes in with a reprieve for Earl from the governor.

However, nobody else knows about this, and the sheriff’s men find Earl at that moment. They decide to go through with it, and tell Pettibone to claim that he got last as they tell the Sheriff’s men to shoot to kill.

Diamond Joe shows up with the counterfeit money, and Hildy tries to get him to confess his crimes to the cops. He leaves in a rush, leaving Hildy alone...until Earl shows up with a gun. And he’s NOT happy. He holds her at gunpoint, telling her not to try anything. All he wants is to be left alone.

Hildy manages to get ahold of the gun, and Earl gives up without any struggle. Hildy calls both Bruce and Walter to tell them the news, and that’s when Mollie shows up unexpectedly. She genuinely does seem to care for him, and Hildy ends up letting her in. And JUST THEN, some of the other journalists come in Hildy hides Earl in a desk, and Mollie fakes a fainting fit.

And THEN, just as Hildy’s trying to hide Earl from the curious journalists, Bruce’s mother Mrs. Baldwin (Alma Kruger) shows up, angry at Hildy for giving Bruce the run-around, and more than happy to have their engagement called off. However, she also reveals that Hildy told Bruce at Earl was there, riling up the reporters, and ollie distracts them by telling them she knows his whereabouts, then JUMPS OUT OF THE FUCKING WINDOW, but she LIVES, and then WALTER shows up, and

...Ow. OW. OK, where was I?

Right, Walter uses Louie to get Mrs. Baldwin out of there, while Earl is still in the desk. Hildy tries to go save both Mrs. Baldwain and Bruce, only for Walter, ASSHOLE that he is, schmoozes Hildy into going along with him, rather than taking care of Bruce. Goddamn it, Hildy.

Walter calls the paper to tell them to scrap the front page for the story that the newspaper has caught Earl Williams, which is technically true. Bruce shows up, having been bailed out, and is understandably frustrated. Fact of the matter is, Hildy’s kind of all but abandoned him for the story, and he wants to know if she ever ACTUALLY loved him. And honestly...this is NOT how I saw this going down.

He leaves, telling Hildy that he’s going off on the 9:00 train. However, Hildy, now completely lost in the story, doesn’t really hear anything Bruce is saying, and it’s weirdly tragic to me. And when Hildy asks where Bruce went, Walter says that he’ll be back. I...FUCKINHATEWALTER.

Hildy realizes this too late, of course, and that’s when Louie arrives, fresh out of a car accident, in which he and Mrs. Baldwin was involved. There’s a possibility that she’s died, putting YET ANOTHER thing on Walter’s shoulders. He’s genuinely a piece of shit, by God.

And as Hildy’s going to try and find Mrs. Baldwin, THAT is when the sheriff and the other journalists show up, all suspecting that Hildy knows where Earl is. Ever the disgusting shyster, he tries to con the men to carry the desk with Earl in it out f the building, which is something he’d been trying to do to keep the scoop in his grimy hands.

AND THEN, MRS. BALDWIN SHOWS UP. She accuses Walter, rightfully, as having her kidnapped, and he tries to con his way out of the situation once more, while Hildy’s trying to make amends all the while. Cornered and accused, he bangs on Earl’s desk three times to emphasize his point. And, uh...then Earl bangs back.

Jig’s up.

The capture leads to all of the journalists calling the main office, making stories about the capture all the way. They leave, and the mayor and sheriff remain with Hildy and Walter, and the two look finished.

AND THEN THE MESSENGER FROM BEFORE SHOWS UP WITH THE REPRIEVE. See, they told him to “come back later”. Well, it’s later, and he delivers the reprieve RIGHT in front of Hildy and Walter. Learning that Williams was reprieved, and that the Mayor and sheriff knew this and are STILL hanging him (with the Sheriff even about to kill him earlier in front of everyone)...well, it seems we have a predicament, is what I’m saying.

And after that, the two basically mutually blackmail each other, and the Mayor and sheriff leave. And with that, Hildy notes that they were lucky to get out of that scrape. And after all of this, AFTER FUCKING EVERYTHING...she’s still in love with Walter, isn’t she? Which is funny, because Walter reminds her of Bruce, and tells her that he’s the one who wired the bail money to him.

He says that he’s trying to do something noble for once (bullSHIT), and tries to get her out of there before he changes his mind. But Hildy calls him out on his manipulative bullshit, which he denies (BULLLLLLLSHIT). He tries again to push her away, and she resists it, saying the story needs to be finished. But still, he pushes her away, and bids her goodbye with a kiss.

AND THEN HILDY GETS A CALL FROM BRUCE

Jesus. He’s been arrested again, this time for passing the counterfeit money that he got from Hildy got from Joe got from Walter in the GODDAMN FIRST PLACE. And it’s at this point, after promising to take care of it, that Hildy breaks down. Because, GODDAMN APPARENTLY, she NEVER wants Walter to let her go without a fight, and is ACTUALLY REVEALED TO LEARN HOW MUCH OF A DICK HE’S BEEN.

And they decide to remarry. And he tells Hildy to carry her own suitcase. And this is NOT A HAPPY GODDAMN ENDING. JESUS CHRIST.

And yet, AND YET...this movie is fucking fantastic. I mean, FUCK WALTER, and Hildy’s gonna have a TERRIBLE time with him, but GODDAMN do I like this movie! More in the Review! See you there!

[radioactivedelorean]

‘Til the End of the Line

birthday present for @transformersg1fan271, can’t believe it’s been almost three years since we met :0

I know you’re still super pissed about how Endgame ended, so here, I fixed it.

this is 3.4k words of “fuck Endgame I do what I want.”

Enjoy!

________________ “Don’t do anything stupid until I get back.” “How can I? You’re taking all the stupid with you.” The time machine’s whir became louder as it fired up, the panels spinning faster around Steve. With Mjolnir in one hand and the case containing the Stones in the other, he steeled himself to return everything to its rightful place. Bruce, Sam and Bucky watched on as, with a flash, Steve disappeared. 

Bucky let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, but it wasn’t in relief. It was in resignation. He and Steve had had a good, long discussion yesterday, and Steve’s mind was made up. He wouldn’t be coming back, opting to spend the rest of his natural life with Peggy. Bucky had known just how much Steve had loved her, even after they were torn apart by Steve spending seventy years in the ice. Bucky had been jealous before, and he was jealous now. 

Peggy was an incredible woman, that much was clear. She was strong, smart, maybe a little bullheaded. She was everything Steve deserved. She had helped make Steve what he was today, and not just in the physical sense. She’d toughened him up, both mentally and physically, and Bucky could see why Steve might want to live with her. He’d seen the way Steve would look at his pocket compass, with the tiny photo of Peggy glued to the inside of the cover. He knew Steve would be happy with her. 

So why couldn’t he stop himself from just wanting Steve all to himself?

Bucky had been told - hell, he’d seen for himself - just how committed Steve had been to saving him, both from Hydra and from himself. Steve had joined the War, broken into Azzano alone after jumping out of a plane, become a wanted man with a sizeable bounty on his head, run from the law, gone into hiding and chased Bucky halfway across the world. He’d been there when Bucky was put into cryo in Wakanda, or when Zemo had been using him to find the Hydra base in Siberia. Hell, Steve had almost killed Tony defending Bucky. Tony, one of his close friends and fellow Avengers. Steve had risked his life over and over again for Bucky, and now he was throwing all of that away to be with a woman who had died years ago. 

He took a quick glance at the control console for the time machine, where Sam and Bruce were preparing for Steve’s reentry, before turning on his heel and just walking away. He knew what would happen. Steve would miss his reentry point and wouldn’t come back until he was far older, way past retirement age and looking like he was in his last few months of life. Steve had already decided on passing his shield on to Sam, along with the mantle of Captain America. Steve had asked if Bucky wanted it, but he had declined. He knew his mind still wasn’t all back together after being repeatedly torn apart by Hydra, and he wasn’t prepared to take on something as important as that while still having recurring relapses into his old Winter Soldier mindset. So Steve had settled on giving Sam the title after Bucky had convinced him that Wilson was more suited to the role. 

Finding a large tree overhanging the river, out of earshot of the others, Bucky sat down with his back to the trunk. It was only just now that he became aware of the rapid click-click-click as the plates in his metal arm trembled against each other. The arm was far more comfortable than his old one, but far more sensitive. He realised belatedly that he was trembling. He wasn’t sure whether it was in anger, fear or despair until he felt tears drip down his cheeks. Steve had only been gone sixty seconds but he already missed him. He missed him more than anything and knowing that Steve had picked some chick from the past over his best friend, his right-hand man, the man he’d promised to be with until the end of the line, hurt more than anything Hydra had ever done to him. 

A muffled sob bubbled from Bucky’s lips before he could stop it. Fuck you, Steve. Fuck you and your fucking stupid brain. Steve had just left him, barely a week after getting him back. What the hell was Bucky supposed to do now?! How was he supposed to learn to live in this post-Hydra, post-blip world without the one guy who had the same time-fucked life as his?! Steve had learned to cope with waking up seventy years after falling asleep, and Bucky had hoped he’d be there to guide him through it. And now Steve had just abandoned all that to live with Peggy. 

The first sob was joined by a second, then a third and before Bucky knew it, before he could control it, he was crying into his knees, shoulders trembling. Maybe he was the selfish one, for thinking he could have Steve all to himself. For thinking Steve even felt the same way about Bucky that Bucky did about Steve. Maybe Bucky should have been more obvious about it. Maybe he should have turned around and said: “hey Steve I fucking love you, please don’t leave me”?. He’d been leaving hints for years before they were separated, back when people like him could be arrested or even killed for who they were. Maybe he should have given up long ago, knowing Steve would never love him back. 

Another sob left Bucky’s lips and he swiped at his tears with his sleeve. He was so stupid. Falling for Steve in the first place. Hopelessly flirting with him during the War. Trying to make himself believe that Steve even loved him. Wanting Steve all to himself when clearly Steve had other plans. He didn’t care if Steve quit being an Avenger. He didn’t care about being the new Captain America. He just wanted Steve to be with him so they could be happy together, to have what they could never have had in the forties. He’d heard that two men could be legally, officially married, and knowing Steve would never want that just destroyed him. 

What the hell was he going to do now? Sam would take over as Captain America, Steve would grow old, shrivel up and die, and Bucky would be left alone. He had no hope of joining what was left of the Avengers if they were even a thing anymore. What with Tony in a coma, Natasha laying dead on some distant alien planet, Hawkeye retiring to be with his family, Thor off-planet and Bruce being, well, whatever that weird green giant thing was, Bucky was totally alone. Even if the Avengers were still a fully formed team, he didn’t belong there. He never had. He wasn/t good like Steve. He’d committed numerous assassinations, robberies, assaults and countless other atrocities. The only time he’d ever saved people was during the War, and that was about eighty years ago. He’d been straight up dead for five years and a ghost for seventy. He wasn’t anywhere near stable enough to be a pizza delivery guy, let alone an Avenger. The general public likely still despised him and he wouldn’t be surprised if there was a warrant out for his arrest. He couldn’t join the Avengers, not after the fiasco in Siberia, or in Germany. Bucky took a shaky breath, trying to work out a plan for what to do next. He had to stick around long enough to apologise to Tony, and properly apologise, even grovel if he had to, for killing his parents. He then had to change his appearance enough to be unrecognizable, starting with getting this stupid long hair cut short again. Then he’d have to just pick a direction and walk, distancing himself from it all as much as possible. And then…

What?

What came after that? After attempting to make amends and then leaving it all behind? Fake identity? Move country? An overwhelming sense of dread and despair washed over him, leaving Bucky feeling utterly helpless. Maybe it was easier to just give up altogether? To apologise for everything, take himself off into the woods and put a bullet in his own head? It would be cleaner at least, less painful on his part. He would be lying if he hadn’t thought about that before. With everything he’d been through, with everything wrong with him, it would be so much more simple to just stop. He wouldn’t have to worry about finding a job, or a new place to live, or disguising his identity to stop himself being thrown behind bars. He would just disappear off the face of the planet. Become a ghost story. He’d done that before, anyway. 

This time, Hydra wouldn’t be around to torture him. 

Bucky hugged his knees close to his chest, putting his head down. His long hair fell around his shoulders. His shoulders continued to shake as he allowed himself to cry. He was a safe distance away from the others, so it didn’t matter how loud he was. He was so loud in fact that he missed the crunch of leaves underfoot as someone approached him. 

“Well, there you are Buck.”

Bucky’s sobs hitched in his chest and he froze for a moment. Surely not…? He lifted his head and just like that, it was confirmed. 

Steve Rogers stood in front of him, still dressed in that ridiculous time travel suit. He gave a small smile, kneeling down in front of Bucky. “I was wondering where you got to.”

Bucky rubbed his eye, confusion painted across his face. “Why are you here? Why aren’t you…?” “Off in the past somewhere, living with a woman who was perfectly happily married to someone else already?”

“What…?” “So I get to Peggy’s house, right, and she’s standing arm in arm with someone on the front porch. Looks like they’d just got back from shopping or something.” Steve shrugged slightly, moving to sit beside Bucky. “She’s already married, and from the looks of things, she’s pregnant too. So I figured it was best to leave her be. Besides, I realised on the way back that there was someone I’d much rather spend the rest of my life with.” Bucky felt stupid for asking, but he had to know. “Who?” “Oh, just some guy from Brooklyn who I loved so much I followed him into war.” Every neuron in Bucky’s brain seemed to fire simultaneously, as he just sat there in complete silence for a moment. He had only ever dreamt that Steve would say those words, but now that he was here and actually hearing them, he didn’t know what to do. He’d dreamt of that moment countless times back when he and Steve had shared a tiny little apartment in Brooklyn, he’d dreamt about it during the war and he’d been dreaming of it ever since he managed to come back to himself after his Hydra conditioning was broken. Regardless of all that dreaming, Bucky had never actually thought about what he would do if that dream ever came true. 

Steve seemed to be talking to him again, and it took a few clicks of his fingers to bring Bucky out of his trance. “Buck? You okay there?”

“I - uh - yeah, I’m - I’m okay,” he mumbled dumbly, nodding. “I - is this real? Are you really sitting there telling me you love me?” “Well duh.” A playful smile ghosted Steve’s lips. “Isn’t that what you’ve been waiting for me to say for damn near eighty years?”

“How…?” “Geeze, Bucky, wasn’t it obvious?” Steve chuckled softly, still giving him that playful smile. “The way you were staring at me all the time? The jealousy when Peggy asked me to dance back during the War? The way you had absolutely no problem sharing a bed with me during the winter, both in our apartment in Brooklyn and in our barracks?” Bucky blushed at some of those memories, of his face buried in Steve’s shoulder, their bodies curled together, of a warmth pooling in his stomach that he tried furiously to ignore and hoped that Steve wouldn’t notice. Of hugging this tiny, sickly, frail young man to his chest in the hopes it would stave off any more illnesses. Of the pair sitting together on the balcony, legs dangled over the edge as they watched the city go by. Of so many glances at the blond, hoping to catch his eye so then maybe Steve would notice and he wouldn’t have to hide anymore. 

“I - I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Bucky said eventually, head cast down. This was embarrassing. He’d been waiting near enough his whole life to hear Steve say the words I love you and now he was just sitting there stammering like an idiot!

“Yes you do, Buck.” Steve slipped an arm around Bucky’s waist and Bucky gave an involuntary shiver, immediately moving to lean in closer. “And I know you know. This ain’t the forties anymore; we don’t have to hide. Buck, people like us can get married now.”

The thought of Steve and marriage together made Bucky’s already pink cheeks turn a deeper shade of red. He’d heard that this century was more accepting than the twentieth, but knowing that two guys could get married?! He was still struggling to believe it. He kept forgetting all about it. “Really?”

“Really,” Steve hummed, leaning over and pressing a light kiss to the top of Bucky’s head and chuckling at the soft squeak it earned him. “So, whaddya say? You with me till the end of the line?” Bucky looked up, slowly starting to grin. “Well duh, you’re stuck with me now, punk.” “Jerk,” Steve chuckled, leaning in again. This time, Bucky met him head-on, his metal hand coming up to cup Steve’s cheek. He pressed his lips to Steve’s eagerly, and he felt his whole body just melt. He had been waiting far too long for this. Fireworks went off in his mind. He pressed in further, just wanting more and more. He could feel the low rumble of a chuckle in Steve’s chest, the curve of a smile on Steve’s lips against his own. Tears pricked his eyes as he forced himself to pull back, panting softly.

Steve grinned, his own breath slightly quickened. “Wow.” “Wow…” Bucky repeated. He was smiling, his first proper smile since Steve had met him in Wakanda not long after he’d woken up. He felt so young again, like the last eighty years had just fallen away to leave the pair of them sitting on their ratty old couch in Brooklyn. He let out a breathy laugh. “Wow.” Steve grinned, before leaning in for another kiss. Bucky didn’t hesitate to return it, throwing his arms around Steve’s neck and dragging him in closer. He felt Steve’s arms come up around his back to return the embrace as eighty years of romantic interest was finally expressed. 

“So that’s where you went, Rogers.”

Bucky and Steve parted with a slight splutter, both of them blushing a little bit. Steve turned, and over his shoulder, Bucky could see Sam standing there. Bruce was beside him and - hang on, that redhead looked familiar. Wasn’t that…? “Sorry, Sam. I went to find Bucky.” “Looks like you sure found him alright,” Sam chuckled with a slight wiggle of his eyebrows. Steve huffed as he got to his feet. “Hey, it’s taken us eighty years to get to this point alright?” Sam whistled. “Damn, and I thought you two were already going at it when you wouldn’t stop giving Barnes the goo-goo eyes back in 2016.” “Shut up Wilson,” Bucky huffed, standing up beside Steve. “So that’s why you kept turning down the idea of dating!” Nat grinned. 

“How are you alive?” Bucky blurted out, still rather stunned to see her just standing there, her trademark playful smirk on her mouth. 

“Well that’s rude,” she tutted, but the smirk remained, easily diffusing any venom her words might have held. “So after I’d put back the other Stones,” Steve began, turning to Bucky, “I went to put the Soul Stone back and you’d never guess who I met!” “Who?” “Red Skull!” Bucky choked. “What?! But didn’t he, like, disintegrate or something? I swear you told me he just evaporated.” “I thought so too! But anyway, I tell him I’m done with the Soul Stone and that it’s best if he has it back since it kinda needs to be with him to protect the timeline and all - yeah, I know, don’t ask me - and he just says something about ‘a soul for a soul’, and that since I brought the Stone back, I could have Nat back. There was some weird swirling mist or something and bam, Natasha was just standing there!” “Guess it was within the thirty days return policy,” Natasha chuckled. “Though I gotta say, being brought back from the dead is just another thing I can cross off my bucket list.”

Bucky just looked utterly confused for a few moments. “You’re gonna have to go through all that with me again later, okay?” “Sure,” Steve smiled, leaving a kiss on his cheek. “Now c’mon, if we’re all done here, should we head back up to the cabin? It’s starting to get dark.” The others collectively nodded, beginning to make their way back up the hill towards the house. Upon cresting the hill, they could see Clint and Wanda sitting on the leather seats on the rear porch, chatting quietly to themselves. When he heard the rustle of footsteps, Clint turned his head. His eyes nearly fell out of his sockets. “Nat…?” “Hey birdbrain, miss me?” “Oh my god Natasha!” Clint was out of his seat and running towards Natasha in an instant, leaving Wanda merely sitting there looking startled. Natasha was almost bowled over by the force of the hug, having to take a step back to adjust her footing. 

“Christ, Barton,” she muttered, but she wouldn’t deny the tears beginning to leak down her face as she wrapped her arms around her long-time best friend. 

Clint was already openly crying into her shoulder, clinging onto her as if letting go meant losing her all over again. He couldn’t even talk for the first few minutes. Neither of them could. Once he had eventually calmed down, he asked, “how are you alive?” “Giving back the Soul Stone apparently meant that that red dude would give me back,” Nat murmured from Clint’s shoulder. She lifted her head, giving him a slightly watery smile. “No catches this time, I’m here to stay.” “Thank fuck,” Clint laughed, before hugging her close again. “How the hell would I tell my kids that Auntie Nat wasn’t gonna come back?”

“No idea,” she winced a little at the thought, laying her head back down against his shoulder. 

Bucky and Steve backed off to give them a few moments, taking a seat on the steps near the back door. “So… now what?” Bucky asked after a moment, elbows resting on his knees. “Well, I guess now we try and just… pff,” Steve let out a breath. “Live? Get jobs? Find an apartment? I dunno.” “We’re doing that together though, right?” Bucky glanced over at him. “Well duh, I’m not going anywhere.” He grinned, slipping an arm around his shoulders. 

Bucky gave a soft hum, leaning into the touch. After a moment, he looked up again. “Hey, Steve? Are you still giving up the whole Captain America schtick?” “Probably,” the blond nodded. “Honestly, it gets pretty wearing after a while. I mean, the whole thing started as a circus act in order to sell war bonds, remember?” Bucky snorted, “Yeah, I remember.” Something came back to him, and he grinned. “‘Who’s strong and brave and here to save the American waaaayyyy?’” Steve let out a loud groan. “Oh fuck, I’d forgotten about that.” “Makes a change from me forgetting everything,” Bucky grinned. 

“I take it your memory has improved?” “Oh yeah, by loads. That time I spent in Wakanda definitely helped.” “Good, I’m glad,” Steve smiled, kissing Bucky’s temple. “So, you ready to spend the rest of your life with me?” “Duh,” Bucky grinned. “‘Till the end of the line, right?” Steve smiled, leaning in for another kiss. “That’s right.” Till the end of the line. 

fin.

_____ I wanted some post-Endgame Stucky fluff and I know a lot of folks are still salty about Steve’s ending. This is now canon, sue me Disney.

[buckitybarnes]

Sticks, Stones, and Broken Bones [3] Bucky x Reader

Summary: When the Avengers catch wind of a HYDRA swarm at a local middle school, they’re there to see what’s up. What they find is beyond them. She’s mature for her age, she’s spunky and ready to bring the bad guys down to their knees, and most of all…she’s looking for her mom. They only want to help, but there are too many sides to this war, and very few you can trust. Bucky makes it a little more complicated when he experiences sympathy and becomes attached.

Warnings/Themes: violence/gore, Mentions of death, angst, fluff, Dad!Bucky, Reader is not the real mom, Nice uncle stevie and gang, Soft boi, humor, profanity, Mentions of a terrorist attack/school attack.

Author’s Note: -

Last Chapter

Buy me a Ko-fi?

Chapter 3: Firecracker

-

A feisty little fireball…

That’s exactly what Bucky thinks of you. Even with you yelling at him and threatening everyone else in this room, he regards you with a smirk.

Bruce was nervously grounding himself in the corner, unable to think clearly with your loud talking. For once, Tony remains silent. He stares with a disapproving scowl before moving to the computers and typing away in a search engine. Mable, who wandered back in after a few minutes, innocently finishes her snack, unfazed by your rambling.

And Bucky….well, Bucky thought it was rather adorable to a certain point. He made it verbally clear too. The incredulous look on your face only gave him deeper satisfaction.

“And at what point would that be?” you challenge, ready to set this big oaf aflame.

“Keep pushing me and we might reach it, Doll.”

The pet name and the amusement behind his eyes make your blood boil.

Before you can knock him out, the door hisses open and in steps Captain America.

“That’s enough,” he demands, throwing Bucky a pointed glare.

Clearly catching his disappointment, Bucky’s eyebrows furrow. “She started it,” he accuses.

“And you’re both ending it,” Steve deflects, shaking his head. There was no room for argument.

You huff in annoyance. Something about Steve’s authoritative manner made you back down instantly. Clearly, he was called the Captain for a reason.

He gestures for Mable to get up out of her chair and she doesn’t hesitate, sauntering over to her new friend. While you had been gone, she was quick to find her allies here in the tower.

“Bucky, why don’t you make Mae some lunch while Miss [Y/L/N] and I talk?”

Bucky opens his mouth to argue but shuts it quickly after the look Steve gives him. He gives you one last glare before holding his hand out to Mable. She wraps her small hand around his and follows, throwing you an apologetic smile.

As soon as the two leave the room, you turn to the Captain and huff. “I’m gonna flip my shit.”

“Looks like you’re past that stage,” Steve teases, a glint of playfulness in his eyes. He sighs tiredly and gestures for you to sit. “Let’s talk.”

“About what, exactly?”

Tony butts in this time, relieved that Steve has calmed you down somewhat. “About you and your little girl. About who you are and what you should be doing to make sure your ass isn’t caught by Hydra again.” He holds a finger up when you begin to speak. “I let you barge in here, Cupcake, but I can certainly throw you back out.”

The spinning stool screeches slightly when you sit. Your cold glare does not waver underneath his own.

“You’re clearly not safe at home.”

You shake your head. “It’s called a ‘Safe House’ for a reason. Besides, we weren’t attacked at home.”

Tony nods once to Bruce, who picks up a tablet from his desk and places it in your hands. In front of you sits live footage of the outside of your house.

It’s on fire.

Poetic irony is what you would call it if you weren’t so angry. That house was your pride and joy. You helped build it from the ground up and ever since you and Mable moved in, it had become a safe-haven.

Or so you thought.

You can see Hydra agents scurrying out, holding close possessions and photos. You can see one shake their head, probably confirming that you indeed were not home. When you see red and blue lights approaching from a distance, you observe them as they sneakily make their way out from the crime scene.

“How the fuck do you have cameras on it….”

“Your kid’s backpack has your address and I did a little Googling. Was able to send out a droid. Times are changing. Technology is advancing,” he says dryly.

“How did they find it?”

Tony shakes his head. “Beats me.” He taps the table, calling for your attention, and when you look up, he smiles sadly. “Listen, I’m sorry that this is happening, but you have to change your strategy.”

Seeing the ruins of your house, your shoulders slump in defeat. You weren’t cut out for this. You needed professional help. “What are you suggesting, Stark?”

“Until we can get Hydra off of your backs or at least figure out why they’re after you, you’re gonna have to find another place to be safe.”

“I don’t do crowds. I couldn’t live in the complex.”

“Wasn’t suggesting the complex. It’s an obvious space. It’s way too risky.” He pulls out a key from the keyring in his pocket and hands it to you. “I’ve got a beach house in Nags Head. Used to go there all the time as a getaway. It’s yours for now.”

You slowly pluck the key from his hand and frown. “Anyone know where this place is?”

He hums lowly. “Me, Pepper, Rogers, and now you and little Mable.” He eyes you with a sharp gaze. “Of course, you’re no Avenger....”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t protect myself out there.”

His smile turns into a crooked smirk. “Sure, but I also gotta make sure you don’t wreck my vacation home and you never know when you’ll need the extra hand.”

For once, you back down. He had a point, again, If you almost lost Mable in a school shooting, who knows what could happen if you weren’t prepared for the next attack? “Alright….who’s it gonna be?”

Mable comes rushing back in, and you turn away too quickly to see the wicked smirk on Tony’s face.

She grins from ear-to-ear as if none of the earlier events happened. “Hey! Did you know we’re having the Winter Soldier as our bodyguard?!”

Your stomach drops in pure dread.

“Absolutely not --”

You’re cut off when an empty backpack comes flying out from behind Mable and hits you square in the face. As it falls to the ground, you see Bucky poke his head inside, smiling in faux innocence.

“Can we go grocery shopping first? Need food. So much food.”

You deadpan at him before looking at Tony. “Why?” He has his back turned to you, trying to rub off some of the soot you left on the ground with a paper towel under his shoes. “Well, to be honest, he’s the trash of this group. We dispose of him before anyone else.”

Surprisingly, Bucky sniggers. It’s been a while since he’s made amends with the billionaire. The jabs exchanged between the two now are a part of their new awkward friendship.

You roll your eyes and stand from your seat, stomping over to Mable and the walking tin can.

Oh, how you hoped for a quick solution to this situation.

“There’s one more thing,” Tony calls out, stopping you in your tracks.

Never in any press conference or footage have you seen Tony Stark so cold.

It feels like you’re talking to a different man entirely.

“While you were busy cursing up a storm, I ran some scans. A girl got her father’s powers of combustion and at a young age became a delinquent because she couldn’t handle being different. When he passed away she started committing arson. Jumped from city to city and she’s only been caught once burning down a big politician’s house, but then she escaped and they couldn’t catch her. Ring any bells?”

You’re not only taken aback by his sudden outburst, but you were livid. He was overwhelming you, throwing everything that you’ve ever tried to hide back in your face, and out of absolutely nowhere.

“Where the hell are you going with this?” In actuality, you knew exactly where he was going with this. You knew this man liked to have the upper hand. He enjoyed being in control, it made him feel safe.

It also meant that he saw you as a detriment, and if your suspicions were correct, you had nothing to bite back with. “You don’t know everything, I started doing that shit because --”

“Because what? Because you wanted to watch the world burn when it turned against you?”

“Tony,” Steve interjects, shaking his head tersely. He reminded you that you and Tony weren’t the only ones in the room. Everyone was just silent as they absorbed the shocking information “That’s not necessary.”

Tony clears his throat, clearly caught up in the heat of the moment. He didn’t know you, but from what he did gather, he didn’t like what you were doing. Something just snapped within him after holding back from you this entire encounter.

The idea of lashing out just because you had a bad childhood was insanely infuriating. If he can help it, he wouldn’t let Mable end up like you. He could shape her into a hero.

He eyes you and you eye him. A silent agreement is made to put this distaste for each other on hold.

“Let’s cut to the chase,” he starts. With a small gesture to Mable, who is currently hiding behind Bucky, he sighs deeply. “We’ve got Wanda here that can help Mable control her powers. I’m not asking you to do any dirty work, but I am asking you to lay low for a while. No job. No school. Homeschooling is always an option.”

“You want us to give it all up?” you ask. “As if our whole world hasn’t already been flipped upside down?”

“If I’m being completely honest, I only want to keep her from becoming something we don’t want: another problem.”

That main problem was you.

But that wasn’t fair. Not at all.

You stopped committing crimes, learned to harness your powers. You started living a completely normal life before all of this, and now, he was projecting his hate of your previous wrongdoings onto a different situation.

You know for a fact that Mable didn’t have to use her abilities. She could lock them up and have a better childhood than yours.

But was it fair to make the decision for her?

You give Tony and Steve one last glance before turning back around.

“Give me some time to think about it,” you demand.

“The sooner she starts training, the better she becomes at controlling it,” Tony answers.

You storm past Bucky, making your way towards the car.

Hesitantly, Mable follows, busy with her own thoughts on the issue at hand.

--

The ride to North Carolina was anything but exciting.

Tony suggested you took a car instead of a jet to remain more incognito. So, here you are in the passenger’s seat of a black Land Rover. Mable’s in the back with her seatbelt on, but you’re still worried due to Bucky’s inconsistent driving.

Sometimes he drags, allowing cars to pass by (some drivers angrier than others). Sometimes, he floors it out of nowhere, and you’re not sure if it’s on purpose. Either way, you wanted to confront Steve about his best friend’s horrible driving skills.

“Hey,” Mable calls out, cutting through the sounds of the radio.

“Yeah?” Bucky asks first, earning a confused glare from you.

Mable throws Bucky a dashing smile before turning completely towards you. “I was thinking….Mr.Stark said that Wanda could help me with my powers…”

“We’ll talk about it later, Mable,” you mutter tiredly, leaning your head against the window. You don’t see Bucky raising an eyebrow at you.

He had his own opinions about the situation, but he knew he was out of place to say anything. Still, he thought that training Mable was for the best. She didn’t even have to use her powers, and if worse comes to worst, she had something to protect herself with.

He feels for the kid. God knows it took him years after Hydra to fully accept his super-serum capabilities and the damn hunk of metal replacing his arm. It had to be a huge stress on a child to have dangerous powers at this age.

“But it’s important! She knows how to --”

“Mable,” You cut in sternly. “I said we’ll talk about this later.”

She makes a noise of frustration before going silent. You don’t have to peer over to know she’s swallowing a lump in her throat and trying her best not to cry.

It pains you to see her so crushed about the situation, but the pressure was dragging you down with it.

The sudden move, Tony digging up your dirty secrets, and the thought that you’d have someone to babysit you just gave you the biggest headache. You needed to collect yourself, and right now, the only place to do it was in your new house in your new room.

“Fuck,” you growl under your breath.

You had opened your bag to look for one of the magazines you were reading earlier.

You left it back at home.

And now it was gone, burned away with every other belonging.

You don’t know why, but you start tearing up, your throat burning and your vision blurring.

It was a magazine. A stupid, ‘Here’s your latest Celebrity Gossip’  magazine, but the thought of losing something to a housefire reminded you that you lost everything to that damn housefire.

You didn’t even have much of your clothes.

The only things in your bag were your wallet, some miscellaneous snacks, a t-shirt and sweats for after work, and a set of keys to that very house.

“You alright?” Bucky asks. He bites his bottom lip. For once, concern fills his features. He’s used to being in the middle of a cross-fire, but it makes him nervous no less.

“It’s fine,” you answer, trying to assure him as much as you try to assure yourself. “It’s just a stupid magazine I left at home.”

The dismissive tone in your voice stops his words from leaving his own mouth. He hums in understanding, turning up the radio to fill the heavy quiet with some music.

Bucky Barnes listened to classical music. He says it calms him down and chases away the bad thoughts.

And he’s right.

The soft piano notes fill your head as you watch the scenery fly by from outside the window.

At least you get a new start, even if it is not the first.

[lusilly]

what laughter is to childhood

i’ve been meaning to finish a very very short piece about damian being 16 years old and thinking he’s Super Smart for some time now. will post to ao3 tomorrow. dami/irey cuteness. enjoy!

---

           In the early morning, an alarm went off on the phone on Damian’s bedside table. Behind the blackout curtains of his room, dawn was only just beginning to break outside. In an instant Irey was up, swiping the phone off the table and silencing the alarm.

           Groggily, Damian turned over to wrap his arms around his girlfriend’s waist. She giggled and returned the embrace, holding him about his shoulders. His face buried in her neck, he murmured, “It’s too early.”

           She kissed the top of his head. “I know,” she replied, sympathetically. “This is a lot easier at the Tower, huh?”

           Still pressed against her shoulder he let out a small sigh, and a moment later she vanished, leaving his arms empty and his bed cold. Damian rolled over once more, drawing the covers up around his bare chest, and went back to sleep.

           An hour or so later – Damian always slept fitfully in the mornings after Irey left – he got out of bed, heading first to the bathroom. After his shower, he wrapped a towel around his waist and then carefully inspected the very obvious marks along his neck and collarbone. He took a few selfies on Snapchat and sent them to Irey, captioned, Today’s damage.

           Her reply consisted mainly of a number of emojis and lots of exclamation points. A little later she sent a selfie of herself in the bathroom mirror, her own towel wrapped around her waist. One arm draped across her chest to preserve her modesty (not that it was difficult; Iris had very little to show in that department), the photo was captioned, Im clean…try harder next time.

           Iris’s superspeed meant that any marks he left on her skin were gone before they even formed, but Damian liked the challenge. As they texted, Damian carefully dabbed concealer over the marks along his neck, though he didn’t bother with the one lower down his chest. Nobody would see it, anyway.

           This game he and Irey played would only continue to be fun if they could manage to keep it a secret, so Damian meticulously covered up any visible evidence of lovebites, careful to make it look as natural as possible. Not that it was likely his father would be suspicious – the Batman didn’t think any speedster could get past the sensors set up around Wayne Manor. He had no clue how fast Iris was. Apart from Damian nobody in the world knew how fast she was, and even Damian, constrained to the normal laws of physics, stranger to the Speed Force, could never fully comprehend her true power. Keeping a secret of this magnitude together was thrilling. The fact that it helped her sneak into the house so they could spend time together after hours was just a plus.

           Downstairs, Alfred was already preparing breakfast. Like he did on many mornings, Damian went about critiquing his choices. “I don’t like smoked salmon,” Damian insisted, standing in the refrigerator door, inspecting a package of the stuff. “I don’t know why you still insist on buying it.”

           “If I recall,” Alfred replied patiently, “last week you positively devoured it.”

           “That was lox,” Damian retorted. “Lox and smoked salmon are two completely different things.”

           “Are they really?” asked Alfred mildly, fully aware of the slight culinary differences between the two products, and also aware that Damian never seemed to notice unless he inspected the packaging before being served. “Why, I had no idea.”

           “Lox isn’t smoked at all,” continued Damian, digging his hand into the produce drawer to withdraw a handful of loose grapes. Popping one after the other into his mouth, he took a seat at the counter. “It’s cured, but not smoked. It’s saltier, and I don’t like that smoked taste, it makes it taste off.”

           Damian didn’t like a great many things, but it helped immensely when he could sit here, in the kitchen, and watch Alfred prepare his food. He even schmeared his own bagel, like a big boy. “Pineapple or kiwi?” asked Alfred, of Damian’s daily protein-boosted fruit smoothie.

           “Pineapple,” answered Damian, through a mouthful of bagel. His favorite lately. He swallowed the bagel, then added, “I don’t like kiwi, I’ve told you that.”

           He’d decided he hadn’t liked kiwi a few months ago, when Dick had visited for a few days and pushed Damian into near hysterics by taking a bite out of a kiwi whole, as if it were an apple. Dick insisted the fiber was good for you. Damian had countered that the fiber intake derived from kiwi skins was negligible at best, unless you ate about thirty kiwis at a time. Dick had taken that as a personal challenge.

           “I shall have to replace kiwi in our rotation, then,” agreed Alfred smoothly, as the blender whirred. “Perhaps something more exciting than oranges. Grapefruit?”

           “I can’t have grapefruit,” said Damian, scrolling through something on his phone.

           This wasn’t true, as Alfred was acutely aware of all the medications Damian was currently on, and all their various interactions. But he wouldn’t argue. “Papaya, perhaps?”

           “I like mango,” offered Damian, as Alfred placed his smoothie in front of him. “Iris’s mother makes incredible mango juice.” Iris’s mother bought mango juice in cartons from Whole Foods for $7.99, but Damian didn’t know that.

           As Alfred busied himself with making breakfast for himself – Bruce would not be up for another hour yet, at which time he could forage for his own meal – he asked, “And how is young Miss West, I might ask?”

           “She’s well,” answered Damian, taking an exploratory sip of the smoothie, then setting it down once more, apparently pleased. “Well,” he amended, “technically speaking, she’s grounded, so not as well as usual.”

           “Did something happened?”

           “She and her brother had an argument. I can sympathize, having argued with a fair number of brothers in my lifetime.” All sixteen years and three quarters of it.

           “Which resulted in her becoming grounded?” Alfred made a face, impressed. “Perhaps we should have tried that method with you, when you were younger.”

           “I believe you did,” Damian pointed out. “And as far as I recall, it didn’t work.”

           Alfred asked, “Does it work for her?”

           Damian didn’t answer. When Alfred turned around to breakfast with Damian, neither of them said anything. “Why wouldn’t it?” asked Damian, as Alfred took a sip of his own smoothie.

           “Merely a question,” Alfred murmured, turning to his bagel with a sigh.

           Later that day, Damian worked on an assignment from a teacher Bruce had commissioned with whom he communicated remotely – that is, he holed up in his room, door closed, music turned up just loud enough to drown out the noise from beyond his own space. Though by the nature of the computer networks in the house Bruce could at any moment peek at whatever internet activity his son was taking, he generally refrained from doing so. They had promised some years ago that they would try to set normal boundaries, even in such abnormal circumstances. So when an alert lit up that informed Bruce that Damian had enabled a rudimentary network masking program – a sort of glorified ‘Private Browser’ – Bruce just quietly silenced the notification, well aware that his son was, in fact, a normal teenager.

           Before patrol, Damian joined his father in the Batcave for some light training. In a specialized suit which recorded his every movement and vital signs, he executed maneuvers in the simulation room exquisitely, more perfect than any of the boys had ever been. More perfect than Bruce had ever been. Damian rivaled Cassandra in all ways except for his reliance on brute force, whereas Cass would always default towards the simplest option, the way to beat her opponent as easily and effortlessly as possible.

           The effort was part of the thrill, for Damian. When the sim dropped, Damian breathed ragged breaths, grinning up at the camera through which he knew his father was watching. “Is that all you’ve got?” he called, taunting.

           Bruce mic’d in. “Enough for tonight,” he said shortly. “You’re on patrol in an hour. Get some rest.”

           With a sigh, Damian exited the sim room. Before he went to shower or change his clothes, he picked up his phone, which had buzzed with several notifications whilst he was training. Bruce went back to work on the Batcomputer.

           After a few minutes, an alert popped up on the screen: Damian’s suit was registering a spike in heartrate.

           Bruce frowned, then clicked to open a camera feed to the place Damian had left his phone. And sure enough, Damian still stood there, his eyes glued to his phone, which he was very obviously trying to hide, to shield from whatever prying camera eyes may be found over the Cave.

           He lifted the phone in front of him, catching his face, tapping the screen. He opened his mouth. Bruce frowned again, then zoomed in with the security camera. On his son’s phone, two years and a doggy mouth were superimposed over his face, the tongue wagging when Damian opened his mouth.

           Damian then made a very crass gesture with two of his fingers, and Bruce turned the feed off very quickly. Raising a teenager was exhausting.

           Rather than the showers in the Cave, Damian generally prepared to venture back up into the house in his gear and use the shower in his own room. Bruce didn’t mind this; none of the boys had ever been as fastidious as Damian was about maintaining their identity and separating home life and Batcave life, and none had ever been as finicky about the hygiene of shared bathing spaces as Damian had, so no harm, no foul. In a very good mood, Damian came bounding downstairs with his hair still damp, ready for patrol.

           As the three of them gathered for the only shared meal of the day, something light but nutritious before patrol, Damian chatted excitably about his ongoing missions, the assignments he was working on, the Titans, the new designs he was work on. “Lian showed me how to cross stitch and now we’re all at it, all hours of the day,” he babbled, running his hand through his damp hair. “I can’t explain it, perhaps if it were knitting and we were – you know – creating something, it would make more sense for all of us to be so set upon it, but really we’re just making moons and flowers and things. I should speak to her about finding new designs,” he continued absently, rubbing at a sore spot on his neck. “Did you know, she says you can stitch them onto pillows, or something?” Distantly, he wondered, “Maybe Dick would like a pillow for his birthday.”

           “I’m sure he would,” agreed Alfred. Bruce grunted, scanning through the Gazette. “Damian,” added Alfred.

           Without looking up from his food, Damian answered, “Hn?”

           There was a pause. Alfred let out a gentle cough. Damian looked up.

           Alfred met his gaze. Then, pointedly, he glanced towards Damian’s neck, at the spot he’d just been rubbing. For a second Damian was confused, then he froze stock still. Slowly, he looked down at his hand – and saw a patch of concealer rubbed off on his fingers, which had not yet fully dried.

           Wide-eyed, Damian looked back up at Alfred, then, without turning his head, glanced sidelong at his father. Alfred offered him a little smile, then he held up his mug. “Would you mind terribly fetching me a spot of tea, Damian?”

           “Yes,” said Damian instantly, seizing the mug and the opportunity. “Of course. One moment.” Then, calmly, measuredly, he walked out of the dining room.

           Once past the threshold, he dashed up the stairs three at a time, sprinting to his bedroom to safely reapply concealer onto his neck.

           Bruce sipped his coffee, eyes still focused on the newspaper.

           “Bruise or a hickey?” he asked.

           Waiting for Damian to return with his tea, Alfred replied, “The latter, I’m afraid.”

           “I’ll need to speak to Wally about this, of course,” muttered Bruce, inspecting a particular article that caught his eye. “Can’t have her roughing him up too badly every night.”

           “Puppy love, sir. Happened to them all.”

           “Cassandra never gave me this trouble.”

           “Or, as we well know, she’s simply more competent than her brothers.”

           Finally Bruce looked up, frowning at Alfred as he sipped from his coffee mug.

           Then he sighed, returning to the newspaper. “Just as long as he’s using protection.”

           It was then that Damian returned, barreling into the room breathing far too evenly, his eyes too round and paranoid. “Here,” he said, setting the cup of tea down before Alfred. “With lemon, as you like it.”

           “Thank you,” said Alfred graciously.

           “You’ll be on your usual route tonight,” Bruce told Damian, setting the newspaper down. “I might have Spoiler join you.”

           “Isn’t Stephanie too busy for nightly patrol?”

           “Yes,” agreed Bruce. “But I’m sure she’ll make an exception.” He got to his feet, dishes in hand. “Understood?”

           “Yes,” said Damian immediately, with a nod. “Understood.”

           As Alfred watched his boys drive off into the night, he let out a quiet sigh.

           They grow up so fast.

[itispossibleihaveissues]

And Who By Fire - chapter 17

Pairing: Jason Todd/Dick Grayson

Rating: NC-17

Warnings: Permanent injury, amputation, behavioural changes due to brain injury, dysfunctional relationships [big shock, I know] I will put any extras at the beginning of each chapter.

Summery:  Both Dick and Jason are caught in an explosion that changes everything. Burdened with a shared sense of guilt and isolation, they are forced to rely on each other. Together they might heal. Or possibly just kill each other.

Previous Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 15 16

Thanks to burkesl17 for the beta!

Notes: This is for Iamjasonssmirkingrevenge and is also all her fault.

Jason spent a few long moments standing stock still in the ruins of his living-room. He was completely emotionally unprepared for this confrontation; he had no idea what he wanted to say – what he could say . He was exhausted in every possible way, the small boost he had felt from uninterrupted sleep had evaporated, to be replaced with a sickening bubble of adrenalin sitting in his gut. And to top it off, he was poorly balanced on a pair of crappy-ass crutches. On the upside, at least the house was already mostly destroyed, so no need to worry on that account.

Of course Bruce would turn up as Batman, and in typical Batman fashion, he just seemed to materialise from thin air. Stepping out of the shadows of Jason's own bedroom while Jason still stood in the living room clutching his phone and leaning heavily on his crutches.  The fact it was his bedroom just added insult to injury. If he came out of this confrontation in one piece he was going to have to look into better security.

“Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” Bruce said, by way of greeting. His gravely voice all Bat and all business. Just the tone was enough to straighten Jason's spine. He hated it, the quiet rage.

When he had been Robin, he had seen Bruce mad, seen him scornful and harsh – but Batman never struck him in anger. They spared, and he didn’t always hold back, and  Jason felt those punches like he was meant to. Because the bad guys wouldn’t be pulling their punches just because he was a kid. He had never feared Bruce's anger in a physical sense, but he had feared his disappointment, his disapproval and his disinterest. It galled him to know that even after everything, the same was still true.

“I was going to tell you,” Jason said at last, opting for a vague sense of honesty. He was already stripped bare. And there was likely nothing he could say that would stop this from reaching its inevitable conclusion.

“Really.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes, really! I just didn’t know how. How do you say something like that?”

“That’s never been an issue for you in the past.”

Batman flowed towards him, cape moving sinuously behind him. His jaw was clenched with rage. Jason suspected it would only take a nudge or two to push him over into violence. Like father like son. Tim was the only one of them he had never seen lose his shit and start swinging his fists when pushed. The girls at least seemed to have more control over their uglier emotions – well, Babs had bashed him on the head a time or two, but that was fairly controlled bursts of irritation rather than the irrational fury Dick, Bruce and Jason himself seemed to fall into. Not to mention Damian, who was shaping up to be a real chip off the old block too.

There was a time, when pushing Bruce to that limit was the highlight of Jason’s week. When he had first come back, having Bruce’s attention and causing him to lose control was the only thing that made the chaos in his mind ease. It had been easy to do – he just had to go after the family. Tim had been easy, Dick more challenging in a fight, Jason could admit that he rarely won when going toe to toe with him – but it had riled Bruce to unreasonable levels.

He had wanted the violence, the quiet fury, because even back then, the truth was, words hurt more than fists. And when it came verbal warfare, Bruce was an expert at landing precise and debilitating blows. Jason suspected he was going to get a taste of that tonight.

“You surprise me, Jason. You never seemed like a person to enjoy charity, you certainly didn’t as a child. But here you are, living off my dime, enjoying the best rehabilitative care money can buy, when you are the one who caused your disability in the first place.”

Now that hurt. Because he was right and yet so wrong at the same time, and Jason couldn't find the words to explain how he ended up here, living off Bruce. It wasn’t because he needed charity, it wasn’t even that he needed help, if he had to go it alone, he would.

He was here because of Dick, and guilt and despair.

And love, somewhere under the mess, that was at the heart of what kept him here.

Jason was aware that he had a tendency to lash out when he felt cornered, when he felt attacked. And he could pretty much give as good as he got. But he barely had it in him today. “You’re a piece of work, Bruce,” he managed at last. “You act all holier than thou with me, but there's such spite in you. You know how to make your words really sting.” He laughed, and it sounded on the edge of madness. “Must be where Dickiebird gets it from, two peas in a fucked up hateful pod.”

“Don’t you dare talk about him,” Bruce growled, advancing. His boots crunched in the broken glass like t he precursor to a death knell. “You destroyed his life!”

“It was an accident!” Jason yelled back, he could feel his control slipping. He’d lost it in everything else in his life, why not himself, too? He teetered on the edge.

“It should never have happened!” Bruce said.

Jason let go another bitter, warbly laugh. “Yeah? Well there’s plenty that should never have happened. I’m a walking talking example of that!”

“Yes, you are.”

God he just wanted Bruce to hit him and stop with the words, it was stunning how alike they were sometimes. He might mock the similarity between Dick and Bruce, but damn if he wasn’t the worst offender himself.

And with that thought, came the rush of anger, soothing in its familiar intensity. This wasn’t even about Bruce, it was about Dick. “And where have you been, huh?” Jason said, his voice just a little too loud and wild. Despite everything he had done and despite everything Bruce had done for them – Jason realised he was mad at him. He didn’t deserve Bruce's respect after what he had done, sure. But Dick did, and Tim did. And Bruce had failed them. Again. “You talk about charity, but other than throwing money at us you haven’t done squat for Dick since he got hurt. He’s no use to you now he’s too broken to help in your crusade? What about Tim? Do you know how traumatised he was after the blast? He put you and your mission before Dick and himself, that’s fucked up!”

“You know nothing about Tim,” Bruce growled.

“I know nothing about Red Robin, I know plenty about Tim. You ever considered the impact of what happened on him? On Damian?”

“If you hadn’t blown Dick up, it wouldn’t be an issue at all.”

“Yeah, but I did , Bruce! That’s the thing. Do I regret it with every fibre of my being? Yeah. Would I do anything to fix it?” Jason's arm made an aborted gesture, almost letting go of the crutches and sending him flying. “I would give up my life in heartbeat if I could restore Dick to the way he was before. But I can’t, and done is done.”

He closed his eyes, breathing heavily.  He wasn’t ready for this, for the fucking pain of it. But that was nothing but the truth. And surprisingly, saying it steadied him, finally gave him a bit of control back. He had done a dumb, stupid and terrible thing. He couldn’t undo it. He had to accept that and do what he could from here.

He took a deep breath and opened his eyes. Bruce, no, Batman was still there, still radiating icy fury. “There is nothing I can do to change what happened,” Jason said again. “All I can do is try to do what I can to make amends.”

“You can go to jail, Jason. For murdering that dealer. And for blowing up my son.”

Jason clenched his teeth, this was typical Bruce, he didn’t seem able to grasp it wasn’t about making amends to him . “If that’s what Dick wants. Then I’ll go, but I won’t on your say so.”

“You will ,” Bruce said. He was using his Bat voice, and that hurt, deep down. Jason didn’t want to have this discussion with an impersonal vigilante.

“It’s not up to you, it’s about Dick and what he wants from me,” Jason said again , because Bruce didn’t seem to be able to grasp the concept.  

“And the dealer who died in the explosion? They found his teeth embedded in the wall, Jason.”

“The building was fucking empty when I rigged it. He wasn’t supposed to be there any more than Dick was,” Jason shrugged. Honesty probably wasn’t the best policy in this case, but Jason had literally run out of fucks to give. “To be perfectly honest, Bruce I really couldn’t give a crap about him. He was a forgettable waste of oxygen.”

“You sound like a sociopath, with such a flagrant disregard for life,” Bruce shot back.

“Well it takes one to know one, B. If we’re laying on the blame, how about you, huh? Would I be like this if you hadn’t trained me to fight on the streets as a kid? Put me into the path of real sickos like the Joker? Would Dick be in the other room with his brain scrambled all to hell if you hadn’t stuck him in the short pants before he even hit double digits? Who's really the fucked up psycho out of the two of us?”Jason all but shouted. He took a step forward, so caught up in his rage he could barely even see straight.

Bruce shoved him back, a blow that in other circumstances wouldn’t have even rocked him on his heels, but unbalanced and precarious on his crutches, the force of it sent Jason toppling backwards onto his ass. He broke his fall slightly with an elbow and a flailing hand, cutting both in the shattered glass littering the floor.

Jason could feel humiliation burning his cheeks as he attempted to shove himself into a better position, cutting his palm further. Bruce was looking down at him, his face inscrutable behind the cowl. They both seemed too shocked by Jason's fall to know what to say or do.

Before either had a chance to rally and start throwing out further venom or punches, Dick dashed into the room and barrelled bodily into Bruce; the uncoordinated impact pushing him back a few steps making his boots grind against the glass on the floor alarmingly.

Taken by surprise, Bruce just seemed to stop himself before lashing out, a good thing in Jason's opinion or he would have to drag himself over there and punch his knees. Or shoot him, with the pistol that was strapped to the underside of the sofa.

“Leave him alone!” Dick yelled at Bruce. His face was a little puffy and his eyes were red. Jason couldn’t help but wonder how long he had been listening.

“Dick,” Bruce said, somewhat at a loss. “Do you know what he did?”

Dick nodded, sniffing wetly. “Yeah, he told me. He’s an asshole.” He stepped forward and shoved at Bruce again, although it lacked any force. “But that doesn’t mean you get to come in here and hit him. I already did, which I shouldn’t have done.” He clutched his hair, one of his very obvious signs of distress.

Jason could see the tension in Bruce's jaw, the sadness in the set of his mouth – he wanted to comfort Dick, that much was obvious, but he didn’t know how. Jason suddenly felt exhausted, tired and sad. He gave up trying to get his crutches and resigned himself to bleeding on the floor.

During the lull in the shouting, PB took the opportunity to emerge from Dick's room and scuttled across the floor into Jason's arms. He held it carefully, trying to avoid getting blood on its plumage.

“ Clunk fizz, ” PB said.

“Yeah,” Jason agreed absently while he pet it with his undamaged hand.

Dick stepped forward again. “Take off the cowl,” he demanded, drawing in a deep breath. “If you want to talk to him, or me about this stuff you doing as Bruce, not Batman.”

Bruce hesitated, but finally did as Dick asked, and pulled off the mask. His bare face looked more vulnerable, the lines of tension clear to see along with the maelstrom of emotion held in check behind his gaze.

Dick let out a soft, pained noise and threw himself into Bruce's arms, the impact staggered him again slightly, but he folded Dick into a hug that looked almost painful in its intensity.

“Dick,” Bruce said, his voice was full of emotion and confusion.

“Don’t put Jason in jail,” Dick said, proving that he had been listening for some time before exploding out of his room. His voice was muffled against Bruce's broad chest. Surrounded by Bruce’s impressive bulk he looked deceptively small in his superman sleep pants and one of Jason's old t-shirts.

“He deserves it,” Bruce rumbled, but the venom had gone out of his tone. He sounded exhausted too.

“Yeah he does,” Dick said, “and so do you. Me too. We all break the law. I know what he did was wrong, and a man died, but people have died because of our actions too – even if we didn’t mean it to happen.”

“It’s not quite the same, Dick. And what he did to you...” he trailed off.

“I know, I know what he did. And am fucking furious about it. But he told me, and that means a lot.”

“But-”

“ I deserve to go to jail, Bruce!” Dick burst out, flailing his arms. “I punched him because he ate my yogurt, I smashed a glass over his head because he changed over the channel and I beat him up with his own leg and threw it out the window.”

“You, what?” Bruce sounded honestly baffled.

“I beat him up with his own leg and threw it out he window. That’s why his face is all messed up and he’s on crutches.”

Bruce was looking at Dick in bewilderment, but there seemed to have been a shift in the atmosphere, it was still highly charged but it had lost the edge of insane fury of before, so Jason risked entering the conversation. “I deserved it, Dick,” he said.

“No!” Dick said forcefully, and then shrugged. “I mean, yes, you did, but deserving it and getting it are different. It’s domestic violence and I should be in jail. If I was anyone else, I would be, you would have seen to it.” That was directed at Bruce.

Bruce looked a little stumped; because Dick was clearly right, but also the circumstances were so complicated, it was hard to lay blame, or decide what the right course of action was.

But hey, at least Jason wasn’t going to jail, and Bruce didn’t seem like he was going to pummel him into the floor any more, Jason was getting a little tired of getting beat up.

Bruce seemed to be pondering, maybe reassessing now his fury had cooled. Jason and PB remained quietly on the floor, waiting to see how the dice landed.

“What do you want to do, Dick?” Bruce asked finally. “Things can’t stay like this, do you want me to move you somewhere else?” Back home to the manor was left unsaid.

“No, I want to stay here with Jason. But I need more help, to control my anger.”

“Why, Dick? After what he did? I know you’ve grown close, but surely the truth of what happened changes things?” To give Bruce credit, at least he was trying to understand Dick’s reasoning and not just vetoing on principal.

“No, I can forgive him, I think. Because it was an accident, and because I love him,” Dick said, after a moment's thought.

Jason was momentarily overwhelmed by the double whammy of the possibility that Dick might forgive him, and that he would just casually confess to being in love with him. Jason was under no illusions that wasn’t what he meant. It was slightly mind boggling.

But along with the rush of relief, affection and euphoria that was still tinged with guilt, came a sudden feeling of intense trepidation.

“I know you do,” Bruce said awkwardly.

And for one blissful moment, Jason allowed himself to believe that he knew the truth and he actually meant that. But reality was never that kind.  And nor was Bruce.

“He will still be your brother even with some distance, it might be good for you both.” Bruce said, he was right of course, it would be good for Dick to have some space, to work on controlling his emotions and to figure out if his affection could actually survive the truth of what Jason had done.

“No, I don’t want distance, I love him. I want to be with him romantically,” Dick said as he looked up at Bruce, who in turn looked flummoxed.  “I want to have sex with him,” Dick clarified, just in case he hadn’t fully got his message across.

There was a moment of silence, as Bruce digested that. And Jason took the opportunity to lay down fully, his head resting on a partially shredded copy of Guns and Ammo. PB climbed onto his face and peered at him with concern. But Jason just shut his eyes and waited for death.

“What, are you talking about?” Bruce said, and if his voice had been cold fury before, now it was practically glacial.

“We’re in a relationship,” Dick pressed on, oblivious or uncaring of the imminent explosion.

“You are in a relationship. A sexual relationship?” From the sound of his voice, Jason suspected Bruce was a hair’s breadth away from apoplexy.

“Sort of. Well, it would be, but Jason's impotent.”

“Oh my fucking God ,” Jason said, now praying for death rather than just waiting for it. “Is there anyone you haven’t mentioned that too? The mailman? Ms Singh from number 29? Mr. Harris form the neighbourhood association, maybe?”

“I haven’t been to the NA since they bared PB for calling Mr Wells a fuckbiscket.” Dick shot back, hotly. “But Ms Singh suggested Saw Palmetto and cumin as possible natural remedies.”

“ Why , Dick?” Jason said, everything about today was too fucking much.

“Because you love curry, and I’m terrible at cooking it, and Ms Singh is lonely and is giving me lessons in exchange for hanging out with PB and me when you’re at physio,” Dick said, defensively.

Despite the situation, Jason was kind of touched by that.

There was a crunching noise and Bruce moved stiffly towards a chair and sat. “This is completely unacceptable,” he said, no longer with the same cold fury, but with a certain about of bewilderment.

“Well, tough,” Dick said. “I wasn’t asking your permission. And we can’t break up, what would happen to PB? We would have to share custody of him, and I don’t think it would be good for him.”

Bruce sat and stared at Dick, who had his arms crossed and a stubborn cast to his face.

It was just too damn much and Jason started to laugh. He laughed so long and hard, when the tears started flowing he could hardly tell the difference.

[flauntpage]

50 Hot Takes for the Philadelphia Sports Fan

It’s come to my attention that I’ve been incredibly neutral lately, just trying to do quality analysis and post-game breakdowns without the knee-jerk overreaction or outrageous hot takes.

In other words, I’m trying to be fair.

But fair doesn’t necessarily move the needle in 2018, when the most well-known media personalities are people who just say ridiculous and off-base shit, contradict themselves, and continue to make things up until someone finally pulls the plug or they retire.

I can hold my own alongside Jason Whitlock and Colin Cowherd, and to prove that I’m not Mr. Milquetoast, I pulled 50 hot takes out of my rear end, which you can dive into after the jump:

Philadelphia sports writers are some of the worst-dressed people on the planet.

Both radio stations should cut down on listener phone calls by 50-60% and book more guests.

I love hockey, but it will soon be the 5th major sport in the U.S. I’m not just saying this because I’m a soccer guy, but just take a drive around the city and see for yourself the changing demographics in this country.

Baseball didn’t necessarily slow down [editor’s note: it did, as game have risen to an average of over three hours] society just sped up. We have smartphones and Grubhub and instant access to everything, which killed attention spans and our general ability to sit still and relax. The game isn’t broken, but MLB is doing a poor job of adapting to this societal change.

Television personalities who only show up to 8-10 games per year generally ask the most useless questions in press conferences. We use the derogatory term “playoff people” to describe them.

When people tell you to “stick to sports,” they aren’t trying to silence you or suppress your First Amendment rights. They’re simply saying that they would prefer to get their politics from political experts and their sports from sports experts.

Rocky is played out and cliche.

Gritty is becoming dangerously close to played out, like Philadelphia’s love for Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam.

More young and able-bodied writers should be actively participating in the sports they cover because it adds credibility to their stories and opinions.

We don’t care who wins the game. It’s a job. We’re going to write about it whether they win or lose. When sports becomes business, the emotion and fandom is fully drained from you (which is kind of a shame, but necessary).

Very few Philadelphia media bosses have any clue what they’re doing.

Talen Energy Stadium features the best atmosphere of any regional sporting venue.

Building Talen in Chester was a huge mistake.

The Sixers should build their own arena.

College football is better than the NFL.

I hate the fact that Philadelphia does not care about college football.

Penn State and Pitt and West Virginia and Syracuse and Rutgers should be playing each other every year. I know PSU fans don’t want this, but I’m a believer in eastern football and conference realignment really killed a lot of great rivalries and traditions.

Lincoln Financial Field is the third-best football atmosphere in Pennsylvania.

The vibe and excitement at any SEC or Big 10 football stadium is better than anything at the Wells Fargo Center, Linc, or Citizens Bank Park.

Philadelphia DOES have a large section of sports fans who are total assholes. However, bad fan behavior takes place all around the world, which is why we share those stories whenever they happen.

The best local beat writer is Sheil Kapadia. He asks smart questions, doesn’t do hot takes, puts together detailed video breakdowns, and consistently produces interesting content.

A lot of people got totally screwed during the Josh Innes RADIO WARS shuffle. Rob Ellis and Jon Marks are two of them. Jon got shoved on the morning show where he was barely allowed to talk and Rob was pulled off nights, moved to PM drive, then again moved off that shift to accommodate Josh.

I appreciated the fact that Josh challenged the typical corny radio routine that we’ve been subjected to for years. He was an outsider, which was a breath of fresh air. However, he really rubbed A LOT of people the wrong way behind the scenes and wore out his welcome rather quickly.

Butt-hurt Flyers fans need to relax. We don’t hate your sport, it’s just down in the pecking order right now because the Eagles and Sixers are good. I covered soccer for eight years, so I understand the struggle for media coverage and respect in a football town.

I hate music in the middle of a sporting event, especially during Sixers games. It feels corny and inauthentic. The fan atmosphere was great at The Wells Fargo Center last season and you don’t need shitty mumble rap to be played in the middle of a possession to generate an interesting ambience.

The best sports video game was Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.

Robert Covington is overrated by Process supporters and underrated by Process opponents.

Saying that John DeFilippo and Frank Reich were a “big loss” is a bad take because no fan or media member can realistically quantify or qualify their behind-the-scenes contributions to the 2017 Eagles’ offense.

I’m intrigued by the Philadelphia Fusion, but the fact of the matter is that the squad features zero Americans and they do not live in Philadelphia.

The Fusion choked in the Overwatch League final.

Fortnite sucks.

The mental health of athletes is important and I appreciate the NBA’s forward-thinking here. We also have to draw lines between those who have legitimate and diagnosed issues and those who do not. It’s unfair for an athlete who is taking medication for a diagnosed bi-polar disorder to be lumped in with someone who got booed after a bad shooting night. One is a true mental health problem and the other is not.

Dreams and Nightmares is overrated, as is Meek Mill’s music.

Joe Buck and Troy Aikman do not hate the Eagles.

Say what you will about Angelo Cataldi, but the guy is a master of his craft, expertly plays to his listener base, and knows exactly what he’s doing from a business standpoint. Wing Bowl is a cash cow for WIP and the morning show has enjoyed more stability and continuity than any other program in Philly sports radio.

Villanova is a Philadelphia school. I mean, for fuck’s sake, we worship at the altar of Mike Trout, who grew up 46 miles away in Millville. Nova’s campus is 17 miles from Center City.

Every Eagles fan should be pulling for Andy Reid to do well in Kansas City.

There’s too much media availability in the NBA. There’s no reason a coach should have to speak before or during a game. Ben Simmons does not need to speak five times a week.

I don’t like being in the locker room and I don’t think reporters should be allowed in the locker room. I’ve always felt like it’s a “sacred” kind of place reserved for players and their game preparation.

I also HATE advertisements on the Sixers and Union jerseys. Jerseys should have a name, number, logo, and nothing else [editor’s note: rich take coming from a soccer Emirates fan]. I wouldn’t want to be a walking advertisement, no matter how much Bimbo or Stubhub is willing to pay.

Not every show on sports radio needs to feature a former football player.

If you’re a reporter on the team payroll (like Dave Spadaro), please let independent media ask their questions first before tossing up a couple of softballs. This goes for TV and radio broadcasters as well, or anyone affiliated with the team (they generally do a good job of this).

There are too many credentialed reporters at various sporting events who are not working or doing much of anything at all.

When a coach or athlete goes out of their way to tell you that they don’t read your stories or pay attention to Twitter, it means that they definitely read your stories and pay attention to Twitter.

All Philadelphia teams should be owned by Philadelphia-based groups. No more New York City carpetbaggers down here, please.

Big 5 basketball features a lot of interesting matchups and storylines that unfortunately become buried in a pro sports town.

The Flyers’ black uniforms are the best uniforms in town.

I wish people would appreciate mixed martial arts for the interesting clash of styles and incredible physical gifts each fighter possesses. Combat sports are much more than Conor McGregor shit-talking and a violent punch-fest.

“No one likes us, we don’t care,” is a very entry-level way of motivating yourself, though it is effective to a certain point. The best athletes in the world don’t play the rudimentary disrespect card, but have essentially risen above that to a sort of self-motivating nirvana where they know they’re the best and don’t give a shit what anyone has to say (Tom Brady, prime Tiger Woods, Serena Williams).

If you’re young or have the ability to move, go live somewhere else before resettling in Philadelphia. You’ll have a better of understanding of sport and how people around the country (and around the world) support their teams and consume content.

That’s 50. I’m not sure all of them were hot takes. Maybe a couple of aphorisms made it in there, like a Friedrich Nietzsche publication. Twilight of the Idols was my favorite.

Anyway, hope that was hot enough for you. I’ll be back tomorrow with fair and balanced lukewarm takes.

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