#just know he hated when Tim came out cause he was like dammit now I respect smth about Drake

[slightly-depressed-sloth]

Whenever ppl imply Damian would be homophobic I just kinda assume they're either new to comics or have some internal biases to work out cause I don't know who they're talking about but it isn't my boy Damian ultimate-over-invested-ally Wayne

[arty-shadow-morningstar]

Graveyard Siblings (3)

Some for revenge and some sibling bonding.

[Masterlist]

(Part 1)(Part 2)

-------

Adrien was next to be visited. Plagg woke him up from his sleep.

-------

“Kit, wake up. I want camembert.”

“Plagg, silence. You are not getting any cheese if you do that.”

“Sorry, Adrien but you are not my ‘master’ anymore.”

“Plagg? Why are you here? Where’s the ring?”

“The ring is as far away as possible and kept safely away. I am here because someone wants to talk to you.”

“Who?”

A cloaked, hooded figure stepped out of the shadows to his room.

“Kitty. My Chaton. Did you miss me?” A sweet, familiar but yet so terrifying voice came from the figure.

She pulled down the hood to reveal Ladybug with a wicked-looking black mask with white lenses.

“What am I talking about? You do miss me. Your Bugaboo. Too bad I don’t feel the same, Adrien.”

Lightning flashed and it started to rain. The mask was gone, revealing his dead classmate, Marinette with chilling red eyes. The pigtails grew longer and curved upwards, giving the illusion of her having horns. Twin blades flashed and she leaped towards him. (Damian gave them to her with some lessons in exchange for spending time with, babysitting, the kwamis.)

Adrien scrambled away from the bed in the nick of time. A sword impaling the spot where he just was.

“Plagg, help. Where is the ring? I need to transform.”

“Sorry, kitten. I am not telling you. Even if you did have the ring, it’s not going to be much help.”

“Kitty, stay still. Then, we can be together. Just like you wanted.”

Adrien continued to dodge.

“What do you mean?” He all but screamed at Plagg.

“Pigtails, here, is a vengeful spirit. She’s not going to stop until she is satisfied. How about asking her what she wants?”

“Ladybug, what do you want?”

“What I wanted was a partner I could rely on, someone I can trust with my life, someone who wouldn’t stab me in the back for his own selfish gain. I wanted a friend who would have my back and not tell me to keep quiet at the price of my mental health and my relationships with people I care about. WAS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?!”

She managed to get a cut on his left cheek.

Soon, he was on the ground, bleeding out on the round.

“Tell Hawkmoth that he better watch out. Because-” lightning struck and Plagg and Ladybug had disappeared, “his downfall is coming.” Her voice echoed through his room.

Adrien laid bleeding until Natalie opened the door after hearing a crash from the room and came to check on him. As she called an ambulance for Adrien, she wondered if it wasn’t too late to ask for redemption and be spared from Ladybug’s wrath for her part in her murder.

Adrien had the word ‘TRAITOR’ carved into his back. Forever reminding him of his crimes.

--------

He wasn’t in school for a week after the incident. They all were told that Adrien had an accident while fencing.

Gabriel was a little panicking now.

He hired an exorcist, (John Constantine got a hefty amount and did a few flashy magic tricks to appease Gabriel but he didn’t lift the curse Maria put on the place. She is not someone to be on the bad side of and he thinks that he can’t lift it even if he wanted to.)

Emilie gets a little sus at Gabriel when he brought this strange man with a British accent into their home after their son got attacked in his own room with security tighter than Fort Knox.

She doesn’t buy that ‘accident’ bullshit that her husband, son and even Natalie tries to sell her. She thinks it is connected to what happened while she was in a coma.

-----

Adrien has a curse too.

(Credit to @raeuberprinzessin for giving me an idea)

He couldn’t act like the ‘Perfect Adrien’ in public anymore. Acting more like Chat Noir at first then, later a spoiled brat. His friends thought that he was finally rebelling against his father and encouraged it a lot.

Adrien started criticizing other people, strangers at first then to the people working on the photoshoots to his fans to his other school mates, people in his class and his friends. (The curse planted ideas into his head about what he should say and he said them all without thinking about the effect it has on other people)

People started avoiding him not liking his attitude and his comments about how they should behave and change something about them because he doesn’t like it that way and guilt-tripping them when he doesn’t get his way. Even Nino started to distance himself after he saw how Adrien talked to a fan.

The public thought it was a phase but as he got progressively worse, people started despising him. Adrien doesn’t realize this of course so far, happy that his father let him get away with ‘ruining the Agreste image.’ (Gabriel was worried about a potential vengeful ghost and making sure his wife didn't know about his stint as a supervillain. There was also the fact that the Afterlife made more sales than him again and managed to get on the cover of Vogue when he should have, dammit.) He was finally able to say what he wanted to without repercussions. Until he realized when Nino and everyone else cancelled for a hangout for the third time that week that he was slowly losing his friends.

He panics and tries to fix the situation. He didn’t want to be alone again.

He talks to Nino about it and to his horror, he couldn’t stop himself from saying many things that were a little hurtful. (Second part. The moment he realizes he is going to be alone. He is going to find out that yes, lies can hurt people. He is going to see it happen firsthand.)

Nino moved seats and told Adrien that their friendship was on hold until he apologized.

Soon, nearly every time his mouth opened, lies and insults about his friends or their embarrassing secrets came spilling out. Everyone hated him now and Mme. Bustier tried to give him a reprimand about his behaviour, which when he tried to defend himself, he found himself unable to speak.

He managed to explain to his father what caused his unpopularity by writing what happened to him. Unfortunately due to his poor behaviour before the second part of the curse was activated, his fan base was dwindling and people didn’t like him anymore so there was a hit on the Gabriel brand.

He no longer has to do modeling, clearing his schedule. But no one would spend time with him.

The best solution he could do with his predicament was to keep quiet and endure the loneliness and the glares of his classmates at school. Adrien was relegated to the back and nearly everyone avoided him. He was now a social pariah.

Even Lila avoided him because of her own curse which made Adrien turn into one of her previous victims. (She also didn’t ponder why Marinette rarely appears compared to the others.)

If Adrien felt a tiny bit remorseful or guilty for making Marinette keep quiet or betraying Ladybug, he can gain a little control over what he says.

The curse can be broken if he apologizes to Maria herself or to her grave.

------

The first few months, while Marinette adapted to living with the Waynes, Jason stayed over at Wayne Manor because having Maria living with him at his apartment wasn’t a good idea and he had no clue how to take care of a teenage girl.

On paper she is adopted by Bruce because Jason can’t. (Some CPS reasons.)

Making Jason a little more salty towards Bruce. “I found her first. I called dibs.”

Brought Maria to meet the other Outlaws and they adopted her too. “Hey, guys. She’s my sister first.”

Jason was the one to teach her how to shoot a gun because he was ‘the most capable’ of teaching her.

The first few months were a little tense with Marinette not fully trusting them and the same with the rest of the Batfam.

Jason warmed her up a bit to him by telling a little of why he took her here.

He was also the one to book them flight to Paris with Bruce’s credit card so she can tell her friends that she wasn’t dead in person.

They bonded more after stopping some nefarious plot in Paris while they were there. Let’s say Gentleman Ghost and something involving the catacombs in Paris. (I watched some Batman: Brave and the Bold for childhood nostalgia.)

Kwamis were animal-shaped and they were interesting creatures to be around. And very very curious.

There was a stressful day for Maria when all the Kwamis decided to play hide and seek. Damian somehow got roped into helping her as the only available person in the Manor and he will deny that he enjoyed it.

Damian is the little brother she always wanted and she is more tolerable compared to his brothers. There is also the fact that she trusts him with the kwamis and deep down, he feels super-honoured. (I just love older sister!Mari)

Tim and her being insomniac/coffee buddies. There has been many many interventions to stop this.

I get that Marinette is this selfless person and loves making people happy but she has siblings now and them eating the stuff she made for herself to enjoy, should get on her nerves after a while.

She makes a box with booby-traps in which she puts in her cookies and food.

There are many different layers of traps because this is the Batfam and each of them is non-lethal and more ridiculous.

Okay, I once read a fic about Marinette making a bear-trap style box to hide the Miracle Box so this box is also like that but kept for food. (Traps and Sneaks by quicksilversquared)

Someone (I vote a hungry Dick or Jason, maybe a suspicious Bruce) made a mistake of putting their hand into the box and the first trap activated.

Screams filled the house.

Everyone came down including Marinette.

Bruce asked, “Who did this?”

“It was me.”

“Why?”

“They kept eating the cookies.”

“There are other ways to stop them from doing that you know like a ‘Do Not Touch’ sign not a death trap box.”

“They are non-lethal.”

Bruce locked it away but Tim later stole it to tweak it and store his coffee. ------ (Part 4)

[a-la-la-llama]

Officially a twenty-one-year-old today, Damian was being dragged out to a run-down bar by the many annoyances that he was forced to call brothers. “Baby bird’s finally able to have a drink legally! It feels like yesterday when you threatened to stab me.”, he clapped his hand on Damian’s shoulder who immediately shrugged it off, with a far off look Dick sighed. “He did threaten to stab you yesterday.”, Tim corrected. “Tt, not my fault he decided a happy birthday was needed at midnight.” Damian crossed his arms as the group walked in. Jason had frequented the place enough to know the bartenders, who were now giving him crap because of the last time he came and started a bar fight. “Come on Larry, it’s Demon Spawn’s birthday! You can’t kick me out yet?”, trying to persuade the bartender into serving him, Jason threw an arm over Damian’s shoulder. “The infamous Demon Spawn is old enough to join the big boys, eh?”, the bartender asked, cleaning a mug before filling it up with a yellow substance. “Would you believe me if I said I was brought here against my will?”, staring at Larry with a deadpan expression he was handed a cup of beer. “First one’s on the house. It’s gonna taste bad but you’ll get used to it after a couple of rounds.” As if Damian hadn’t tasted alcohol before, it wasn’t hard to go to the middle of Jason’s stashes and fill them with water. After the second bottle of vodka, he was usually too drunk to even notice the difference. Taking a gulp, Damian could hear the cheers from Dick as Tim poured a suspicious amount of whiskey into his coffee mug.

Damian couldn’t be more content that he could now drink, or he would have already been annoyed at how loud and noisy the place was. Or the fact that a group of men were desperately trying to convince a group of girls to join them on the dance floor that was severely crowded and failing pitifully by not taking the hints. Don’t even get him started on those who were on the edge of blacking out and were making a fool of themselves on the dance floor. Tim and Dick had been the first to catch a buzz, one being a light-weight and the other having terrible health choices. Jason had grabbed the two on a mission to see what crazy plans he could pull while they were under the influence. This had not been Damian’s plan, he was spending his birthday sitting alone on a barstool when he would much rather be at home with his beloved fur family members than the human ones. But, he soon found himself on his own personal mission.

She had caught his eye first. He was scanning the crowd trying to locate his brothers in an attempt to convince them it was time to head home. Damian had to do a double-take when he saw her midnight sky hair in the faint yellow glow of the bar. She sat directly across the room from him on a tall table with her head down in what seemed to be a book. He didn’t register how long he had been staring but was pulled back to reality when a drink was placed on the counter. “She’s your age. Real sweet and has been coming here alone for the past two months.” It was none other than Larry the bartender that gave him an all-knowing smile that eerily reminded him of Alfred’s. “Tt. This is going to Drake’s tab, correct?”, jeering his head to the drink. Larry shook his head at the topic change, “I’m just saying you should go talk to her, that’s all.” Damian grumbled, he was an Al Ghul and Wayne, he would never succumb to the embarrassment of pinning after a girl in a bar like some others did around him. Then again, she didn’t have to know that, did she? He doubted he would ever see her again, what harm could come out of it? Damian, no last name, mused about the next following steps he would take.

She felt the presence of a pair of eyes on her. Keeping her head low she hoped the lack of interest in the setting was enough to throw them off. It was a common occurrence actually, what did she expect to happen coming into a place like this by herself. But this felt different somehow, the aura coming with the gaze made her distracted. She fiddled with Plagg’s ring, located on her right hand’s pointing finger, spinning it around. She adorned the leather as it was much more suited for the dark city of Gotham than her spots. The night vision was an added bonus that came in handy when traveling around at night and the sassy talks she had with Plagg. She had felt the eyes travel off her for a moment before they were right back on her. Now she couldn’t even focus enough to remember what she was just about to write. Frustrated, she tapped her foot impatiently on the chairs stepping stool. That she hated to admit she used to get up and her foot barely reached it. To her wit's end, she snapped her head up only to meet the most beautiful emerald green eyes she had ever seen. With newfound inspiration, she drowned herself back into her book.

Damian hadn’t expected her to snap her head up so quickly as she did, nor did he expect her to stare right at him when she did. Though, he couldn’t have been happier that she did, especially taking into account the lovely pair of doe eyes he was able to stare into at the moment. Her eyes were similar to a clear sky’s baby blue color but not as dull. It was almost like they had a certain electrifying touch to them because they seemed to glow in the dimly lit area. As if on the verge of catching fire at any given moment, holding a world of secrets and passions that he desperately wanted to uncover. Her eyes left him as quickly as they came leaving a void in his vision. The strange girl that captivated all of his attention in a blink of an eye without even knowing it, dove her head back down. He gave himself a sly grin.

Step One: Catch her Eye. Check

“I’d like-“, before he can even turn and ask Larry he already pulled two drinks out of nowhere and they were resting on the counter. “Good luck! Don’t make me regret this.”, lectured Larry. Mustering up his courage, Damian took a drink in each hand before making his way across the bar. Thankfully, his brothers were nowhere in sight and couldn’t possibly ruin this for him, yet that is. He set the drinks down with two little clinks, drawing her attention from her book to him. “Mind if I sit here with you?”, implored Damian gesturing to the open stool next to her. “I assume you brought me offerings to bargain with?” Damian almost short-circuited with how cute her voice sounded. “O-of course!” He mentally cursed himself at the small stutter but covered it up by handing her a drink. Damian noticed how one cup held a pink bendy straw and gave that one to her. She didn’t take a drink until she got a nod from Larry behind the bar. It wasn’t the first and certainly wouldn’t be the last time someone offered a drugged drink, but Larry always kept an eye out for her and said it was safe. “I’m Damian.” She nodded, “Marinette.” He felt a smile creep onto his face,” Nice to meet you, Marinette.” The name gracefully rolled off his tongue.

Step Two: Catch her name. Check.

Once out of his stupor he realized she had once again returned into the book. Peering over her shoulder (out of curiosity not to get closer to her, never!) , he noticed it was filled with intricate drawings with French notes written in the margins. “Isn’t that French?”, he questioned, “Are you not from Gotham.” She scribbled something down before looking up and answering. “It is and nope! I lived in Paris all my life until four years ago.” He pondered for a moment, “Any reason why?” The girl squirmed in her seat, ‘Dammit Damian! Now you made her uncomfortable, she hates you!’ She twirled her ring a couple of times, “I needed a change of pace and couldn't take living there anymore. So I packed up and left.” Damian could tell it wasn’t something she shared with most people and wondered what made him different. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, he relished in the fact he was able to catch some of her secrets though it wasn’t what he was after at the moment. Taking another glance at what she was doing he realized that she was drawing in a sketchbook that seemed to be filled with countless articles of clothing. “Is this a hobby of yours?”, he asked pointing at a model sketch. She looked up at him and seemed to beam, “I’m an up and coming fashion designer! I come here every day to find inspiration! You won’t believe how many different styles you can see here!” Damian had found what caused the spark in her eyes and listened to her ramble about it happily.

Step Three: Start a Flame. Check!

She excitedly explained all the little details in her most recent designs and provided reasons and meanings behind each one. He hadn’t meant to read the margin notes of the dark green peacoat that was drawn with intricate gold embroidery. “Is this one from me?”, he questioned with a sly grin and side glance. Damian noticed how the color of her cheeks and the tips of her ears, that were now exposed as she tucked her hair behind them, turned a dark pink compared to her pale skin. The contrast helped him realize how her face was dotted with freckles that resembled constellations in his mind. A smile crept upon his face again, “I had already drawn the jacket but couldn’t decide on a color scheme. When I looked at you earlier, I concluded that you had really pretty eyes.”, she admitted mumbling the last sentence. Marinette was tense now and caused Damian to be determined to lighten the mood. “You know what they call a jacket on fire, right?” The random question threw her off as she furrowed her eyebrows together before raising one. “A blazer.” Nonchalantly as possible, he grabbed his drink and took a swig as the joke settled in. He admitted it wasn’t the best but was still rewarded greatly. A smile graced her lips before she burst into a fit of giggles, hiding her blush behind her hand. He was left catching his breath at the sweet sound of her laughs tinkled like bells in his ears. Completing his final step.

Step Four: Catch a Smile. Check!

Damian had not expected to get this far based on his track record. No matter how much the press gossiped about his looks and mysterious charm, he was never good at the social and relationship points in life. Damian would admit that the main problem was his inability to adjust to the variety of people’s personalities. Yet, this small slip of a girl who was an incarnation of pure sunshine made it feel so easy. His usually cold, harsh, and stoic demeanor vanished once in her presence. Damian felt like an entirely different person but found himself liking the new one better. His mind raced a million miles a minute on what else he could possibly do as they continued to talk. ‘Would it be weird if he tried to hold her hand? Maybe he could get a dance with her? What was a good way to catch her number? It’s dark he should definitely offer to walk her home. Getting a date didn’t sound bad either.’

Oh.

Oh.

Oh no.

Damian realized the girl sitting next to him was already five steps ahead of him on her own mission. She had already caught all of his feelings and his heart in the hour they spent together. He knew she knew it too as she gave him a pleased smirk. Damian Al Ghul Wayne had his heart stolen from him right under his nose.

And he had no intention of taking it back.      Next!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Aged up Daminette that I wrote about at 12 am....Enjoy?

[much-obliged-timothy]

Dad Tim & Uncle Rhys Part 6

I have been incredibly stressed out lately and writing soft things helps, so expect more of these. Also, my inbox is always open for requests! You can find part one of this here. I might do a master post for these shorts soon just to keep them organized and easy to find in order! 

The door to Rhys’ office opened. He looked up, having expected Tim for a morning meeting to go over some reports. What he didn’t expect was for Tim to come in basically dragging Phoenix with him.

Rhys had never seen the two have a serious argument before. Phoenix tended to worship his father, clinging to him affectionately most of the time. Plus, he seemed to be a pretty quiet kid for the most part, not argumentative or aggressive.

But today, he glared at Tim with a fierce expression, mouth twisted in a snarl. Tim looked just as mad, though he didn’t look down at Phoenix as he gripped his hand and pulled him along.

“Lemme go!” Phoenix said, trying to yank his hand away.

Tim didn’t obey. Instead, he pulled Phoenix to a stop and crouched in front of him, pointing a stern finger in his face.

“Not another word out of you until this meeting is over,” he said, voice low and angry. “Not one damn word, Phoenix. You’re going to sit where you usually do and- I don’t know, play or read or something.”

“I dunno how to read!” He was trying to yank his hand free again.

“Then look at the pictures or draw or something! Just sit down and be quiet!” Tim said. “I worked for Handsome Jack so I’d like to think I’m a patient man, but you are on my last freakin’ nerve and it’s only the morning, kid. Go sit.”

Phoenix finally had his hand free. He balled up his little fists, glaring hard at Tim.

“Hit me and I’m making you stay home tomorrow while I go to work,” Tim warned.

Phoenix’s face paled a little. He slowly unclenched his fists and instead stomped his way over to the corner he usually played in, dropping down with his tattered Hyperion bear and glaring at the wall.

“Uh- rough morning?” Rhys said.

“From the damn minute I woke up he was in a bad mood and fighting with me,” Tim said, sitting down and rubbing his temples. “Kinda made me see why Jack locked his kid up far away from himself.”

“Tim!” Rhys said. “That’s horrible!”

“Yea, I know.” Tim sighed. “Sorry, sorry. He doesn’t usually get like this so I’m, uh, not great at the whole discipline thing. Took everything in me not to call his mother and beg her to come, I dunno, put him in time out or something. It doesn’t help that every time I get mad, I sound exactly like Jack did when he’d threaten me and I freaking scare myself.” 

Rhys couldn’t argue with that. Tim scared the hell out of him when he got angry during meetings, the Jack tone slipping out. 

“Can we just- work?” Tim said. “I’m going to die of a stress induced stroke at this rate. I need to focus on something other than my moody kid.”

“Right, work. I can do work,” Rhys said, hastily pulling out the reports.

They began to sort through them, trying to organize them by urgency. Rhys frowned as he shifted through them.

“Dammit, that financial report on the parts we ordered is gone,” he said.

“I’ll grab it,” Tim said, getting up. “They probably forgot to drop it off again. They always do.”

Phoenix’s head snapped up as Tim headed for the door. He started to rise, but Tim shot him a look.

“Oh, no. You don’t get to be a little asshole to me all day and then act like you want to be around me. You stay right there and don’t cause any trouble,” Tim said, yanking the door open and leaving the office.

Phoenix sat down, tears pooling in his eyes. Rhys felt alarmed at the sight.

“Is he gonna come back?” Phoenix asked, his voice cracking.

“Of course he is!” Rhys assured hurriedly. “He just went to grab something.”

“He’s not gonna leave me?” Phoenix said, hugging his bear tightly. 

“No. He better not,” Rhys said. A tear leaked down Phoenix’s cheek. “That was a joke! No, no, he’s not leaving you. He’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“I yelled at him,” Phoenix said, holding the bear up so he could bury his face against it. “What if he doesn’t come back? What if he doesn’t like me no more?”

“A-Anymore,” Rhys said awkwardly. “Not, um, not ‘no more’. Right, bad time for this. Oh, boy, I wish I offered to go grab that report instead.” He cleared his throat. “Tim is coming back, Phoenix.”

Phoenix lifted his head, but only to watch the door. He got up, pacing more anxiously than usual.

When Tim finally did return, Phoenix stiffened, getting defensive instead of looking relieved. Tim only glanced at him before dropping the report on the desk and sitting back down.

“You didn’t say how long you were gonna go for,” Phoenix accused. 

“Didn’t think you’d care,” Tim said. “You’ve hated me all morning. Figured you’d be glad for the break.”

Phoenix snatched a book off the shelf he was by, throwing it at Tim’s head as hard as he could. “Stupid asshole!” 

The book struck Tim and he let out a hiss, though Rhys couldn’t tell if the noise was in surprise or pain. He stood up, whipping around.

“You little-” he snarled.

Phoenix scrambled back into the corner, trembling. Tim turned away from him, raking his hands through his hair and grinding his teeth together.

“I am not going to hurt you,” he said, his voice tense. “I will never hurt you. But I’m going to leave this room before I say something I regret, I am going to get the strongest coffee I can fucking find, and I am going to take my time coming back while I think of some way to punish you for doing that.”

He moved for the door. Phoenix, still trembling, pushed himself away from the corner, eyes wide as he reached out a hand.

“Dad!” he said.

Tim shut the door. 

Phoenix sat down, hugging his knees to his chest and pressing his face against them as he began to cry. He always cried silently, never the loud sobs of other kids Rhys had been around.

“He’s not comin’ back!” Phoenix managed around his silent sobs. “He’s gonna leave me here!”

Rhys wondered when his office had become the home of Lawrence family drama. He bit his lip, but he felt bad seeing the kid cry so hard. 

“He’s coming back. You did throw a book at his head. He’s just mad,” Rhys said.

“He was gone!” Phoenix said, picking his head up and wiping at his eyes. Rhys struggled to understand him, his voice choked with tears. “I woke up and he was gone and- and- I thought he wasn’t comin’ back and-”

“Alright, slow down,” Rhys said, turning his chair to face Phoenix and leaning forward. “What do you mean he was gone?”

“Last night!” Phoenix said. “I woke up and he was gone. I had a bad dream and he wasn’t there!” 

Rhys knew Phoenix slept in Tim’s bed, his separation anxiety too severe to spend a night away from Tim. As far as Rhys knew, Phoenix tended to follow Tim wherever he went, even at home. 

“Did he...come back?” Rhys said.

Phoenix nodded, wiping at his eyes. “But not for a long time.”

“Well, he’ll come back now, too. And if he doesn’t come back in twenty minutes, we’ll go look for him,” Rhys said, more because he didn’t know what to do with a distraught child. 

Phoenix was crying again, putting his face back against his knees. Oh, jeez, the kid really thought his dad had just abandoned him for good.

“Phoenix,” Rhys said, getting up and crouching next to him. “Tim’s coming back.”

Phoenix slowly lifted his head. His eyes were big and scared, that sliver of blue standing out more than usual. 

Rhys sighed heavily and opened his arms. “Alright, alright. But just this once.”

Phoenix sniffled and reached a hand out to Rhys, giving him a one-armed hug. He pressed his face into Rhys’ shoulder as Rhys hugged him back.

Rhys sat next to him for a while until Tim finally came back. Phoenix shrank back as Tim entered the room, coffee in hand.

“I decided that- Well, no, I didn’t decide, I actually called your mom, but- Whatever, you have to weed the garden when we get home. She thinks it’ll help you let out your anger and punish you at the same time. And if you throw another damn book at my head, I’m taking away all your books at home,” Tim said, setting his coffee on the desk.

“You have a garden?” Rhys said, then shook his head. Not the point here. “Tim, he said he woke up and you were gone.”

“Huh?” Tim said. “When? You were up before me this morning.”

Phoenix averted his eyes. “Last night. I woke up and you were gone for a really long time.”

Tim furrowed his brow before understanding lit his face. “I didn’t leave you, Phoenix. I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I went downstairs to get some work done until I was tired. I was just trying not to wake you up.”

“I had a bad dream,” Phoenix whispered, eyes watering. “Pretty Boy killed you. And I woke up and you weren’t there!”

“Pretty Boy?” Rhys said in confusion.

Tim scrubbed a hand down his face. “The fucker who cost me my hand. He spent a long time hunting me down, and he finally caught me.” 

Tim came over to them. Phoenix shrank back as Tim crouched in front of him.

“So you dreamed I was killed, and then you woke up and you couldn’t find me,” he said slowly. He closed his eyes, muttered “Shit”, and opened them. “And when I left and didn’t tell you when I’d come back, it scared you, didn’t it? That's why you got mad at me.”

“It- There was too much and I-” Phoenix began to cry again, closing his eyes as tears rolled down his cheeks.

“Yea, I know, I know,” Tim said, reaching out and putting a hand on Phoenix’s shoulder. When Phoenix didn’t flinch away, he pulled the boy into his lap and rocked with him. “I know. It’s okay. It’s called being overwhelmed. I feel it too sometimes.”

“Please don’t hate me, daddy,” Phoenix whimpered.

Tim looked torn. Rhys had never heard Phoenix call his parents mommy or daddy before, and apparently Tim wasn’t used to it either. It made Phoenix seem that much younger, clutching his father and crying into his chest.

“I could never hate you. I hate that you threw a book at my head, and if you ever do that again you’ll spend the rest of your life pulling weeds from the garden. But I could never hate you,” Tim said, hugging him tightly and kissing his head. “You got overwhelmed. It happens. You need to tell me when you’re...when it’s too much. Okay? You need to tell me. Then we can avoid all this.”

“Um…” Rhys knew he shouldn’t, but he felt it needed to be pointed out. “You weren’t exactly being mature, either.”

“Hey! I-” Tim groaned. “Yea, no, I wasn’t. That’s on me. Still getting used to being a parent with responsibilities. I’m sorry I was an asshole, Phoenix.”

Phoenix gripped Tim’s shoulder and pulled himself up to kiss the side of Tim’s head, where the book had hit. “Sorry I threw a book at your head. Do you hate me?”

“I just said I didn’t, and I never will,” Tim said, pulling him back down. “Hey, it’s really just karma. I used to drive my mom crazy when I was your age. I’d do some stupid kid thing, she’d yell at me, I’d cry, and she’d apologize later and say she was trying her best. I get it now.”

Phoenix wiped at his eyes and rested his head on Tim’s chest, gripping his shirt again. “You can’t die, dad. Ever.”

“I don’t know about ‘ever’, but I’m doing my best, pal,” Tim said, running a hand through Phoenix’s messy hair. “Pretty Boy’s dead, and good riddance to the bastard. You don’t have to be afraid of him hurting me anymore.”

Phoenix reached out, taking Tim’s cybernetic hand. His eyes watered again, even as Tim curled his fake fingers over Phoenix’s hand.

“He, ah, he saw me while they were treating me after I lost my hand,” Tim explained to Rhys. “I had to cut it off to save the casino and everyone on it from an emergency protocol. When the adrenaline wore off I didn’t...really handle it as well as I probably could’ve. In my defense, it hurt like a bitch, and I was at imminent risk of infection.”

Rhys waved his own cybernetic arm. “Not quite the same circumstances, but I get it.”

“Rhys? Thank you,” Tim said quietly, hugging Phoenix tighter to himself. “I’m not exactly great at this. If you hadn’t talked to him, I probably would’ve kept being an asshole and making it worse. I should’ve thought to talk to him, but he was so combative this morning that I just gave up on that and went right to being a dick to my own kid.”

“O-Oh, it was nothing,” Rhys said. “You know, I’m just, um, I’m just used to mediating during meetings and stuff.”

Tim smiled at him, small and genuine. “Sure, Rhys. Thanks for caring about him.”

He stood up with Phoenix in his arms, kissing him again. Rhys got up and awkwardly pat Phoenix on the back.

“You look tired. Want to take a nap on the chair there while we do our work?” Tim said.

“Can I…” Phoenix trailed off and clung tighter to Tim.

“Sure,” Tim said, smiling at him. “I do love to have my boy with me.”

Phoenix’s expression brightened, and he threw his arms around Tim’s neck. “I love you, dad. I won’t throw books at you no more. Anymore.” He peeked at Rhys.

Rhys laughed. “Yea. No throwing books anymore.” 

“I’m glad to hear it, and so is my headache,” Tim said, sitting down and rubbing Phoenix’s back with one hand, lifting a report with his free one.

Phoenix fell asleep, nestled against Tim’s chest. Rhys couldn’t help but smile a little at the two of them, proud he could help reconcile them, and a little panicked at how close to them he’d grown.

But as Tim laughed quietly at poor wording in a report, trying not to jostle Phoenix too much, Rhys shook that panic from himself. Maybe getting dragged into the Lawrence family wasn’t so bad, especially when he could help these two traumatized people be a little happier in the world and with each other.

[staranon95]

bait and switch

a red hood au drabble

Jeremy doesn’t often do stealth jobs. He likes to be loud and brash in his presence. That’s usually part of his job when their running a heist. Be loud. Be shiny. Be noticeable so the others who work stealth, who can sneak by and go unnoticed can be exactly that.

Jeremy is used to keeping the attention on him, but tonight things are working out a bit differently.

The muscle has been activated. Jeremy and Michael have been scouting out Red for a few weeks now. Trevor wants him brought in so they can question him. Figure out who he is, what he knows about the city, and why he’s so obsessed with the Fakes. The tip Red gave Fiona a few weeks ago turned out to be true, and they had time to leave the penthouse behind before it was raided by the LSPD. They’re working out of one of the safehouses while Lindsay removes their presence from the penthouse.

Jeremy feels a bit weird about that fact. The penthouse has been a staple for years and now they have to give it all up. Become something new again if they intend on staying relevant.

They’ve been keeping a low profile for a while now, picking up on every potential sighting of Red and piecing together to pinpoint a location where he might be staying. Matt has set up a security system to track people based on their gait, so they’ve been pouring over thousands of hours of security footage across the city to locate the spots Red likes to frequent. They find a few, which is better than nothing.

Jeremy and Michael have done runs like this before. They have a pretty good system. Jeremy is the one that heads in first, flashy colours, meaning to take on the attention while Michael gets in behind them and clocks them on the head a solid one. It’s a tried and true method, but Trevor has warned them that Red knows things about the Fakes. If he knows how to get in, if he knows their code names, then he might know how they operate.

So it’s bait-n-switch.

“When we get in,” Michael says, “you step out first, then he’ll look for me. That’s when—”

“Yeah, yeah, I tase him. We’ve run this one before.”

“We can’t let him get away.”

“We won’t. We got this. Not like we’ve dealt with worse.”

Which is true. Jeremy was just being hopeful that they could get away with living a relatively normal life for criminals.

They come to the building they know Red is living out of. A month by month lease situation. It’d be easy for him to get in and out if he needed to.

They stake the place out a bit, wait until they find a familiar figure that matches their target. Jeremy is getting his gloves on just as he sees Red duck into the building, hood pulled up over his head.

“Cock it and pull it,” Jeremy says.

“Dude, you need to stop it with the Fall Out Boy references.” Michael gets out of the car first as Jeremy laughs. He’ll get himself into position on Red’s floor before Red comes home. Once he’s here, Jeremy will follow him in and they’ll spring their trap.

He waits a solid ten seconds before following Red inside the building. He keeps his feet light as he treads up the stairs. He’s betting on the fact that Red knows he’s following him.

They get to the third floor. Red is pulling his keys out as Jeremy positions himself in the middle of the hallway, hopefully cutting off his retreat.

“You’re not an easy man to find,” Jeremy says, hopefully catching Red’s attention away from where Michael is skulking around at the opposite end so he can make his approach.

Red stops, keys hanging in the lock of his door. He’s even still wearing the mask Fiona had said he was wearing that day they met. This guy really doesn’t want to be known. “Seems like you had no issue with that. Oh! And would you look at that.” Red turns to face Jeremy directly, arms crossed, resting his weight on one leg like he has nothing to worry about. “Rimmy Tim as a I live and breathe. Same old colour scheme, huh? But if you’re here, I’m going to assume that—” He whirls around just before Michael can hit him. He catches him by the wrist, and that’s when Jeremy rushes forward with his taser in hand shoves it against Red’s back. He makes a wounded sound and goes stiff. Once they know he’s incapacitated, they move for the elevator.

They lie Red out in the back seat with his wrists tightly ziptied behind his back. Michael gets into the driver’s seat and Jeremy buckles up as he pulls out his phone to confirm they’re bringing in Red.

“Tempting, isn’t it?” Michael says, looking at Red through the rear-view mirror. “To take the mask off?”

Jeremy looks over his shoulder. “Yeah. But I doubt it’ll be all that exciting. I doubt we know the guy.”

“Still, it’s like whenever Batman has his mask taken off. You spend all that time wondering who it is, and it’s some jumped-up billionaire with a guilt complex as wide as the Grand Canyon.”

“I doubt this guy is a jumped-up billionaire. Did you see the building he lived in? I counted three rats on our way out.”

Red groans behind them. He mutters something that neither of them can decipher.

“Take it easy, pal,” Jeremy says. “Those tasers pack a punch.”

“Don’t be trying anything stupid either,” Michael says.

“Well, this fucks up my night,” Red says. He repositions himself, gets himself to sit up right. “Fucking hate tasers. Leave me feeling sore in all the wrong places.”

“If you’re feeling lucky, there’s a lot more where that came from,” Jeremy warns.

“Nah, I’ll take my chances.”

And then he’s moving. Quicker than either can anticipate. He’s gotten out of his zipties, reaching for the nearest door lock and then tumbling out of the moving car as they drive down the highway.

Michael slams on the breaks, causing the car to swerve a bit before it comes to a stop. Jeremy is out and running as quick as he can. It’s dark, at that inky blackness just after the sun has fully set. All he has on him is the shitty flashlight on his phone. But Red is gone. Off into the weeds.

“God dammit.”

Michael comes to a stop beside him. “I don’t know a lot of people who would jump out of a moving car on a highway. That shit hurts and there’s no telling if someone might run you over first.”

“Dude, we are so in over our heads.”

[theawkwardvirgin]

So Close to Drowning

Prompt: College

Summary: Stephanie's been acting strangely. Bruce is determined to get to the bottom of it.

Rated T for Trashmouth

Read on AO3

No matter what his kids liked to say, Bruce did notice when something was wrong with them; when they were upset or agitated or running on fumes. That didn’t mean he knew what to do about it.

“Stephanie,” he said, trying to soften his voice from the growl of Batman. He had waited a few minutes after removing the cowl to make this easier. Sometimes he worried that the path he so often tread as Batman was becoming more of a rut, making it harder and harder to step out of it.

Stephanie jumped, whirling around and dropping the batarang she had been turning over and over for fifteen minutes. “What?” Her eyes were wider than usual, her voice just slightly higher-pitched than it was supposed to be.

Bruce cocked his head to the side and met her eyes. He knew how much they hated it when he ‘went detective-mode on them’, as Tim put it. “What’s wrong?”

“What makes you think something is wrong?”

The hysteric note to her voice, but that would only make her angry. Bruce weighed his words for a moment. “I have noticed...you have been behaving erratically.” He suppressed a flinch.

Stephanie’s face darkened, as he expected. “Oh, really? Well maybe that’s just ‘cause I’m stuck around a brooding asshole! Maybe I’m on my period, did you think of that? Just normal woman crazy, unable to handle the pressure!!”

Bruce watched her calmly. Her voice was shrilling at the end of her sentences. It wasn’t her cycle, he knew how she acted during those times and this wasn’t it. Plus if he had the timeline right since the last time she had barged in and stolen all their heating pads, she wasn’t due for another two weeks. They hadn’t fought Scarecrow or Ivy lately, or anyone else using toxins, but maybe he should do some bloodwork, just in case….

“Stop looking at me like that!”

“I’m not looking at you like anything.”

“Yes you are! You’re detective-ing me!” Dammit, he thought he had disguised it well enough. “Knock it off, I’m fine!”

“I am simply...concerned. For your well-being.”

Stephanie stared at him. Her chest was moving too quickly; she was about to hyperventilate and Bruce still didn’t know why. “I’m fine,” she repeated, but her voice was smaller. “I can handle it.”

“Handle what?” Bruce asked. He tried to soften his habitually-demanding tone.

“Everything! I can handle it and you don’t have to worry about- about your precious soldiers getting hurt in the field. So you can just fuck right off!”

Her voice had broken halfway through the statement, and her hands were shaking. Bruce was glad she had dropped the batarang. If she had been still holding it, she probably would have cut herself by now. “Stephanie,” he said, trying to sound absolutely certain without losing the hard-won gentleness. “I care about you outside the field as well.” It had taken a long time for him to admit that to himself, and he would admit that he had let fear control him for far too long when it came to her.

Stephanie laughed, and it was just a hair too close to Joker’s deranged cackle. Bruce flinched for real this time. “Stephanie,” he said again, hand twitching towards his utility belt and the hypodermic needles in the fourth pouch.

“I’m not gassed,” she said, jerking away from him.

Bruce raised both hands in the air. “Alright.” He didn’t move to follow her, but he didn’t relax either, ready to tackle her if she started cackling.

“I’m just- I’m handling shit. Adulting, okay? I’m fine. I can do it. I can handle it.”

“You don’t have to handle everything by yourself, Stephanie.” He was getting better at saying that out loud, though it had the unfortunate side effect of his kids saying it right back to him. It wasn’t hypocritical, he was the parent. Or mentor, perhaps, in Stephanie’s case.

She laughed again, but it was sarcastic this time, instead of manic, and he let his shoulders ease a little. “Oh really?” He opened his mouth to answer but she cut him off, pacing back and forth, her cape flaring behind her as she turned sharply on her heel. “You say that as if you wouldn’t judge me for it, as if you didn’t judge all of us every time we fail to live up to your insane standards. I know what you think of me, what Dick and Tim and even Cass thought about me for ages. I’m just some stupid girl trying to play with the big kids, huh? Not good enough to handle this life? Well guess what, I’m handling it! I’m handling it all just fine so fuck you and your impossible standards.”

Bruce blinked. “Stephanie, I-” He faltered, rolling his words over in his mouth before letting them out. “I am sorry for making you feel this way.”

Stephanie froze mid-step. She stared at him, mouth open, and Bruce shifted slightly. “Did you- did you just apologize?!” She sounded like she was about to start laughing again or suddenly burst into tears and Bruce didn’t know how to handle either of those situations.

“Yes,” he said awkwardly. “I did not- I fail to make my...feelings...clear, most of the time. And that is not your fault. I-” Admitting things to himself was very different and vastly easier than admitting them out loud, to the person they involved, but Bruce had a strange feeling that if he didn’t do something to fix this now, it might never be fixed. And he wouldn’t accept that. “I was...afraid…for much of your time with me. Especially as Robin.” She was still staring at him in shock and Bruce did not allow himself to break eye contact. “I...push you…all of you but...you especially. Because I am...afraid. Of what would happen. If I was not there and you were in over your head. And were hurt. You are the furthest from me in many ways and. I was afraid.” He took a moment to breathe. “This is not an excuse. You are...very talented. And a valuable asset in the field.” Her jaw tightened and he hastened to add, “And- I enjoy your company. Off the field. As well.” It was true, he realized. As much as she drove him crazy, and egged all of his other children on in insane stunts...he enjoyed hearing her laugh, seeing her smile, her bouncy and vivacious presence. “You are good enough. For this life. And anything else you put your mind to.”

They stared at each other in silence for a long few moments. The bats rustled in the darkness above them. Bruce resisted the urge to shift, to look away.

Stephanie laughed once, brokenly, and wiped at her eyes. “Wow, you really are the most awkward person on the planet.”

Bruce tried not to feel upset, that this was her reaction to his honesty. “So I have been told,” he said.

She wiped at her eyes again, sniffling. “Shit.” She looked at him, and Bruce felt suddenly like he understood why his children hated him ‘detective-ing them’. “You really mean it, don’t you?” she said, sounding awed.

“Yes.”

Stephanie sighed deep from within her chest, seeming to deflate. “Okay. Okay.” She marched up to him and Bruce tensed. She flung her arms around him and for one, shocked moment he didn’t move. Then he slowly raised a hand to cup the back of her head, the other arm wrapping securely around her back. “You’re still an asshole,” she mumbled into his chest.

“I will take that into consideration,” he said.

Her shoulders shook as she laughed, then kept shaking after she stopped.

After one minute and twelve seconds, she pulled back, eyes red but smiling. Bruce smiled tentatively back. He could feel how fragile this was, how easy it would be to slip back into the point where they were little more than tolerating each other. He took a quiet breath and said slowly, “Now that we...understand each other better...are you okay? I have been...growing concerned for you. Over the past week.”

Stephanie eyed him, and Bruce did his best to show the sincerity of the question in his face. Finally, she seemed to decide to trust the question and shrugged, diving into this strange new...trust...with an ease he had always admired and feared in his children. “I haven’t slept more than an hour at a time in five days,” she said.

Bruce’s eyebrows flew to his hairline and he barely managed to bite back an instinctive demand of You’re patrolling like this?! What are you thinking?! Instead, he nodded slowly and breathed. Said, “I see.” He could, it was obvious in the dark circles, the way her attention tried to skitter away, her eyes glazing over. “Let’s continue this somewhere more comfortable.”

Stephanie looked mildly suspicious but conceded towards his nudging towards the showers. Ten minutes later they were seated at the kitchen table, sipping on instant hot chocolate that Bruce had scrounged up from a dark corner of the pantry. They were both in pajamas -- “You can wear Cass’.” “Why would I do that?” “You are in no condition to return to Gotham tonight. You should stay here.” “...fine.” -- and Bruce was trying not to give into feeling exposed. He took another sip of his hot chocolate and met Stephanie’s eyes. She looked like she might collapse, and was only keeping herself up through force of will. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why haven’t you slept in so long?”

Stephanie shrugged, but her shoulders were tight. “Midterms,” she muttered. “And work. And patrol. And just-” she gestured vaguely, “life.”

Bruce was beginning to feel like a bobblehead with all the nodding he was doing. “You know,” he said, picking his way carefully. This was a statement that could easily be taken the wrong way. It had happened before, many times. He would have to rephrase. “There is nothing wrong with taking a break.”

She raised an eyebrow right back at him. “Really.”

“Yes. This was never meant to...to consume you.” He would have preferred if none of his kids be on the streets at all, but bitter experience had taught him that they would go, with or without him.

Stephanie sighed. “It’s not really patrol that’s the problem. It’s my stress-relief almost.” She huffed a short laugh. “As unhealthy as that is.”

Bruce understood that quandary completely. “Then what is? The problem.”

“Gen eds. They don’t interest me but they’re required and I have to do them to qualify for the classes I’m actually interested in and it sucks and I can’t focus because there are so many more important and interesting things that need my attention.” She planted her cheek on the table. Bruce watched the light shine off her blonde waves.

“What is...the worst?”

“Chemistry. I need a science core and I figured we use it in the field sometimes for like forensics and so I’d already know a bunch, but it’s not like that at all. I can use the stuff and I’m okay in the lab but the tests? I’m terrible. Like, really, really terrible. And I don’t have enough time to study enough with all my other subjects that I’m also not doing great in.” She sat up again, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes. “And I just feel so pathetic because you guys handle so much without breaking a sweat and here I am not even able to manage college and my boss said if I’m late again they’re going to fire me and I can’t lose this job and I don’t want to let any of you guys down and this is the only time I get to see my friends and it’s all too much.”

Bruce sat with that for a moment, trying to decide what to address first. “You know,” he began, “Tim dropped out of high school. Cass has never gone to a traditional school. Jason never got the chance. Dick never finished college.” He paused for a moment and smiled softly at her. “Neither did I.”

She blinked. “You didn’t?” Her voice was hushed, as if they were sharing a secret.

Bruce shook his head. “I went for two semesters, barely finished out the second one too.”

“Wow. I- just wow. I never thought Bruce Wayne would be a college drop-out.”

“Now you know.” He took another sip from his mug, which prompted Stephanie to do the same. “I did end up getting a business degree through a program that allowed me to speed through the requirements because I couldn’t have a hand in WE until I had one, but I don’t really count that. It was more along the lines of a GED than actual college experience. The point,” he said, taking a chance and reaching across the table to cover her hand with his own, “is that I think you’re doing amazing. You’re doing something none of us have tried before, and you’re managing beautifully. I’m proud of you, Stephanie.”

Tears filled her eyes and Bruce tactfully took the mugs to rinse them out in the sink to give her a few minutes to collect herself.

“Thanks,” she breathed when he had sat down again.

“Of course.” He patted her hand and said, more matter-of-factly, “And if you need help studying for chemistry, I’m pretty good at it myself. I could help you.”

Stephanie looked up, meeting his eyes, and Bruce felt his heart swell almost painfully, in the way it always did around his children. They were all so brave, facing the darkness with a laugh and a quip, diving in headfirst to pull others out and into the light. He had been one of those rescued ones, and even now he could feel them pulling him back when the shadows loomed too close, wrapping around him like a shroud.

“Really?” she asked.

Bruce smiled. “Really.”

[batfamily-trash]

Control

can I do a request with Jason able to control people by them looking into his eyes, with their own turning green because the pit gave him powers n’ such. It’s kept secret until the other robins find him using it to gain info on Riddlers plan? (Which is to kidnap the reader or bruce. Or both.) It’s a lot to ask but please?

Jason was a very important person in your life. So when Bruce told you he died you were devastated. When you found out he was alive you were ecstatic. But ever since he came back he seemed to be keeping secrets from you. You asked the boys and Bruce but they all told you that he seemed fine, Alfred was with you on this though. He knows the boys better than anything in the world.

Every time you confronted him about it he would just ignore it or reassure you it was nothing. After a while, you decided to drop it. He would tell you when he was ready.

This month was a fairly quiet month, which meant trouble. The Riddler escaped from Arkham and was now planning something, but no one knew what. So to drag him out of his hiding spot Bruce planned a gala. That meant dealing with rich snobs while on the lookout for a madman.

Jason, Cass, and Steph were outside keeping watch while you, Tim, Damian, Duke, and Dick were inside. Jason didn’t like the idea of you being by yourself so you stayed away from the crowd. Not like you had any friends available to join you.

An hour had passed and nothing happened. Everyone was getting on edge.

“Shouldn’t he be here by now?” Tim asked through the earpiece.

“Maybe he didn’t get the memo?” Duke answered. You chuckled as you took a sip of your drink.

“The gala was announced to happen at least three weeks ago. He got the memo,” Bruce said.

“Then where is he?” Stephanie asked.

“Waiting for an opportunity maybe,” you said. “It’s not like he can just waltz in here.”

Not even a minute later the sound of people screaming in fear filled the building. Everyone jumped into action. You, Damian, and Duke helped civilians get out while everyone else went to deal with the main problem.

After getting everyone out and giving your declarations to the cops you all went to the Batcave to investigate the evidence Bruce and the rest collected. Which was only a note, a green note to be more specific.

“So all he was going to do was cause panic?” Jason asked, walking behind you to hug you.

“To cause panic and leave a message,” Tim answered. “Look he left an address.”

“Dillion Avenue? That’s specific.”

Bruce took the note from Tim and put it in one of his pockets. “It’s by Upper East Side. Damian, Dick, Tim suit up.”

“What about the rest of us?” You asked annoyed. There was no way you were going to miss out on punching Riddler.

“You, Duke, and Cass go home and rest, the city will probably need you during the day. Spoiler and Red Hood will serve as backup if we need it.”

“Of course I’m backup,” Jason mumbled as Bruce walked towards the batmobile. You sighed and turned to give him a hug, which he gladly accepted.

“Don’t worry backup buddy we’ll just follow them,” Steph said.

“Why?”

“Do you want to be backup Jason? Knowing them they’ll probably get themselves killed and Tim hasn’t slept in a week.”

Jason looked down at you and gave you a kiss, “Is that okay babe?”

“Yeah, just be safe you idiots,” you said returning the kiss.

Jason and Stephanie left the cave as you, Duke and Cass went upstairs for some of Alfred’s famous cookies.

“Was that a smart idea. y/n?” Duke asked.

“Nope, but it’s better than having them destroying the cave with glitter and paint,” you replied.

“True, besides, what trouble can they get into?” Cass said.

If there was one thing the batboys could easily find it would be trouble. Apparently, the Riddler set up an ambush knowing that Batman would show up. Good thing that Spoiler and Red Hood showed up when they did though. After kicking ass, handcuffing Nygma and letting the cops take him away Batman and the batboys made their way over the Police Department, even though Jason isn’t liked by the cops.

“Nygma why did you attack Bruce Wayne’s charity gala?” Commissioner Gordon asked.

“How about instead you answer a riddle! Riddle me this….”

“Can we go one day without riddles?” Jason interrupted while glaring at him from under the helmet.

“Yes but I need to keep all of you occupied!”

“Why?” Bruce demanded.

“Cobblepot.”

“What about him?”

“He’s paying me to keep you distracted.”

“From what?” Jason asked him walking closer towards him.

“He wants to kidnap a certain birdie’s heroic significant other and Wayne’s beloved family friend of course!”

Jason stopped glaring at Nygma and sprinted out of the interrogation room with Damian right behind him.

“Red Hood! Robi… Dammit. Commissioner, Nightwing go check if what Riddler said is true,” Bruce said running after his children. Dick, Tim and commissioner Gordon stood in the room in confusion until Riddler spoke up acting all confused as to what happened.

“I didn’t tell you crap!” He insisted. Red Robin pulled up the camera feed and showed it to him. And of course, there he was confessing.

“…………….My eyes are not that green.”

Red Robin looked at the feed and saw that the Riddlers eye color changed when Jason started talking to him, but when he left they went back to their original eye color.

“Nightwing lets go,” He said walking out of the room.

“Go where?” Gordon asked.

“save s/h/n and talk to Penguin.”

“Wait, s/h/n… is s/h/n y/n?”

“Perhaps, I don’t know, s/h/n is mean, y/n is nice. So no,” Nightwing answered. Nightwing, Red Robin, and the Commissioner all went to Penguins nightclub and things got interesting.

Jason paced the Batcave as Bruce typed away looking for Cobblepots location. “Please tell me you found something?”

“Calm down Jason. We’ll find her. Nightwing and Red Robin are on their way to the Iceberg Lounge.”

“How do you want me to calm down when the love of my life is in the hands of that bastard?!?!”

“Tt. Pacing around the cave isn’t going to help to find them, Todd,” Damian stated. Jason stopped pacing and groaned. If only he’d stay instead with you.

“I managed to save parts of the security feed,” Bruce said pulling the feed up on the computer. Damian and Jason ran next to Bruce and looked at the screen.

You were helping Alfred take care of Ace, Alfred the Cat, and Titus after Duke and Cass went home. A couple minutes later the main door was blown off its hinges by bullets. Multiple of Cobblepots henchmen ran in and began to fight with you and Alfred. Little did they know that Damian had trained all his beloved pets to attack idiotic intruders like them. You put up a good fight before one of them got the jump on you and knocked you out cold. They managed to get away with you before the dogs mauled them to death.

Bruce switched feed to the cameras outside where they basically threw you in a van and drove away.

“Is that all?” Jason asked.

“Everything else was deleted. I’m sorry.”

Jason walked towards his motorcycle and got on. “Where are you going?” Bruce asked him.

“I’m going to catch up with Dick and Tim,” Jason said pulling out of the cave. Damian was gonna go after him but Bruce held him back.

“Don’t.”

“But father…”

“He has it handled.”

You mentally cursed at every person in the room with you. If your mom were a psychic she would be disappointed. Very disappointed. You pulled at the ropes that held you onto the chair and yelled in frustration.

“When I get out of here I’m going to make you pay!”

“You’re all bark no bite Miss/Mr. Todd. You’re boyfriend on the other hand… Oh, that boy has caused me some major problems,” Cobblepot said walking around you like a wolf stalking a doe. But you were no defenseless doe, you were a badass vigilante with a badass boyfriend who hated Cobblepots ass. So who was in trouble now?

“Your problems with him don’t involve me at all. I don’t interfere with your work. Why kidnap me. Better yet, how did you figure out I was s/h/n?”

“HA! There are people out there who know Jason. A couple thousand dollars was enough to buy the information I needed to figure out his weakness,” he said pointing his umbrella at you, “and you sweetie, are it.”

You glared at the short, fat, sad man in front of you then laughed. “Me? His weakness? Honey, you must’ve eaten some bad fish because I. Am. Not. His. Weakness.”

“That’s not what my sources tell me.”

Whoever his sources were, they were a bunch of snitches.

You rolled your eyes and looked away from him. The fact that the entire batfam fell into his trap surprised you. What surprised you more was that when you looked back at Cobblepot his eyes were a nice emerald color instead of black.

“Uhh, Penguin? You okay?” you asked.

“Why yes, you know what free them,” he replied. His henchmen looked at you then at their boss before untying you. You stood up and rubbed your wrists in an attempt to make the pain go away. A tall broody guy grabbed your shoulder and walked you to one of the backdoors. You walked out of the building a bit scared and confused. But that all went away when Nightwing approached.

“Hey, are you okay?!”

“I guess?”

“What do you mean ‘I guess’? Did he do anything to you?”

“Besides letting me go no.”

Nightwing stood there shocked until Red Hood appeared behind you. You turned around and hugged your boyfriend.

“Hey are you okay?” he asked you.

“Yeah, just tired.”

“Okay lovebirds lets go! Bab’s dad is waiting for us so he can go arrest Penguin but that won’t happen if we stay here all night!”

After the Commissioner arrested Penguin and got your testimony Jason took you home to rest, but not before Tim pulled you to the side and showed you the same video he showed Riddler.

When you got home you decided to ask Jason about it so Tim wouldn’t just bluntly tell everyone that “Jason is a meta!” That would end badly.

“Jay can I ask you something?” you said.

“Is it about what happened with Riddler and Penguin?”

“Yes.”

“Jay can I ask you something?” you said.

“Is it about what happened with Riddler and Penguin?”

“Yes.”

Jason sighed and took off his helmet. “I… ever since I was revived by the pit I got powers. I can control people. Manipulate them to tell me something or do something.”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?!?!”

“I was afraid you would leave me,” he whispered.

You took the helmet from his hands and tossed it onto the living room couch. You gently cupped his face and kissed him. “I could care less if you have powers or not. I love you and nothing is going to be able to change that.”

[vertigoambrosia]

i thought this shotgun wasn’t dropping until next week so i am pleased!

um they gotta updaate the opening credits with white version jayfk

oh and NOT CHAMPION ANDY

hi can we not keep talking about the LAST SHOTGUN EVER you’re making me sad

espe XXL shotgun cause it’s basically shotgun with less plot

at least we’ll still have plot segments on road to shows

ivan! wrestling!

we better fucking get a rise plot segment

it’s silly when dudes wear their merch as aprons

WELL HELLO PETE BOUNCER IN JEANS

ivan is so lucky

“ivan kiev, representing rise, versus julian pace, representing cars’ omg alan

tfw when someone accidentally zooms imn the hard cam

julian not happy that ivan basically sat on his face for that pin

ohhhh vollgas like ‘full gas’

listen german is hard

does ivan seem a little off in the ring to you guys? or maybe something about the pace is off?

nooo my boy :(

ngl i kinda worry about ivan because lbr pete is pretty enough to stay over even if creative has nothing for him

i wonder if this is before or after walter’s jealousy

‘veit i like u but ringkampf isn’t for babies’

i only just realized that tim has half of his head shaved and i hate it

why does this boy hate having hair

wowwww marius you really saying veit doesn’t hit the gym?

“looking at my awesome belt because i am an awesome guy” wowwww he’s just andy jr now

oh dammit i was hoping to see that match at broken rules so marius could lose, but it’s been a long tim since the shotgun title has changed hands on shotgun

precious moments :)

so andy’s shoulder will be ok by next week?

oh no ivan’s hair is long and i don’t like it

like, it’s actually awful

bobby hanging out with rise is kinda weird but i can dig it

i actually really like bobby and lucky, whether they’re allies or foes

so is fred yehi going to get to win a match

we had him and lucky being bros and that was special, but of course the tarkan storyline took over

lol apparently this is the last match we’ll see of him on the tour, so i’d be honestly be shocked if he wins this

it’s odd too because commentary always really talks him up, so it seems like the office likes him

oberhausen y u boo

well no i know why bobby is beloved

awww monster consulting :( they were so sad

avalanche looked like he wanted to cry i wanted to hug him

aww but they’re still happy for their friend!

ok i love

ilja admitting things have been mentally tough

everyone excited about ilja vs pco

ilja being like :DDDD and then ‘ok wait let me calm down a lil it’s not here yet

avalanche: awkward exposition

oh i actually don’t know anything about these coast 2 coast guys

i only pretended to be interested in roh when new japan  guys came around

ali has a ghostbusters tattoo

god please let us get a pretty bastards segment

the one they had forever ago was hilarious

lol tommy just called lsg ‘lsd’

no ali not in the face! ahura’s too pretty

i do really appreciate how commentary always introduces and really talks up new people

they put a lot of effort into telling you why you might want to care

that was a fun match!

but i still want more of our pretty narcicissts

oh man i forgot if lufisto is sticking around or not

i still maintain that was not a good distraction spot

YES LUFISTO IS STILL AROOUND

aww mella’s singing isn’t that bad

also her dress is really cute

hahahahaha that was fucking great

tfw people are getting in line to come after your baby

*toni voice* i woke up and immediatly had to tell you i hate you

HERE’S THE CHEATING ANGLE

i mean what more can i say

*gasp* andy and marius on the same side of the ring again???

ringkampf need some couples counseling...perhaps monster consulting could help????

omg veit has his shirt tucked into his trunks

bb no

i mean i get he’s trying to avoid the ‘just took off my pants’ look but honey you look like a nerd

oh this is a bald boi fight

wow i really like this match

i think veit needs a little more to his character but he’s really starting to gel with me

and not just because i have a newfound appreciation for meaty men

LMAO THAT MELANIE PORTRAIT

woman laughing with championship

also pco vs ilja is gonna own so hard

i wonder if destro (and his car battery) is coming with him

did u know destro can levitate?

omg jay fk are such fuckboys

andy is liek when a fuckboy hits middle age

lmao jay’s face

THE ENVELOPE

lmaooooo meaningless!

this gonna be fun

[writingwithadinosaur]

“Better Hands” - Part 4 (Finale)

“Better Hands” - Part 4

( Part 1 / Part 2  / Part 3)

My Masterlist - Here

Leonard “Bones” McCoy x Reader

Word Count: 1,972

Key: Y/N = Your Name, L/N = Your Last Name, H/C = Your Hair Color, E/C = Your Eye Color

Warnings: Cursing, nothing else really. Please let me know if I missed anything

Summary: After being in an abusive relationship, you have been able to turn your life around thanks to the help of the team. But when you have to go back to your ex for some of your things, some shit goes down.

Author’s Note: So this is my first Star Trek piece and I’m super fuckin nervous about it. I’m not a huge Trekkie, but I am a fan of the newer films. Those are what I base my fics off of unless stated otherwise. But yeah, I hope you enjoy!

If you would like to be tagged in any of my future pieces (All Works, Specific Fandoms, or Specific Multi-Parts), please let me know! And as always, feedback is greatly appreciated!

<3

- DreaSaurusREX

Tags: @goodnightwife @feelmyroarrrr @the-witching-hours12-3 @pokeharvest @iwillstaywiththemforever @fandomismymiddlename

You reported to Scotty a little later than you thought, but you went to work nonetheless. Scotty was surprised to see you back so soon, but he didn’t see too much harm in it. The only injury he knew about what the one of your hand from yesterday’s accident with the knife. Even though he let you work, he wasn’t okay with giving you too much to do. He didn’t want to run the risk of you injuring yourself again while your hand was still wrapped up.

It was about halfway through the workday for you. You were in a Jefferies Tube working on a sensor. Scotty was going to help you out when he realized that he had forgotten one of his welding tools back in the workshop. You decided to just go ahead and work on it until he came back.

You were about to finish undoing the last bolt when your comm went off. You didn’t even look at who was calling, you just figured it was Scotty letting you know he was on his way back. Placing the comm in between your good shoulder and your ear, you answered while still focusing on the sensor.

“(Y/L/N) here.”

“Where the hell are you?!” Leonard wasn’t yelling, but his voice had an intensity that you hadn’t heard before. You knew he was upset. Very upset.

“I uh… I--” Before you could come up with anything good to say, Leonard cut you off.

“I just called Scotty to let him know that you aren’t going to be reporting to him for at least a week because of injuries, and he tells me that you are there with him!”

“Scotty has been making sure I don’t do too much! And technically, he isn’t here right now. He went to--” You should have known better than to be a smartass. Leonard was even more annoyed.

“Grab a tool. I know. What the hell are you thinking, going back to work? You could get worse!” You knew his heart was in the right place, but when he was angry, it was hurtful.

“I know. Look, I just… I couldn’t just sit around your room and do nothing! You know me! I need to be doing things and being productive!”

“Then we find something for you to do while you rest! Just...” He paused and you could hear him try to take a deep breath or two to try to calm down even a smidge. “Where are you right now?”

“Right now I’m in tube F-24. I’m trying to replace a fried sensor. I am fine--”

“That’s it. You are done for today.” You tried to interrupt and fight back a little, but then he pulled the doctor card out. “No, (Y/N). Doing what you do at work could cause you to accidentally stretch too much and mess something up. You could pop a stitch or slice your hand open again or--”

“Fine! I’ll clock out after I finish this sensor malfunction. Unless there is another hypothetically life threatening about doing this simple task that you need to point out.” You honestly couldn’t hide your frustration any longer.  

His end of the line went silent for a moment before clicking off. You knew he was upset, but this was new. You could only imagine the hell you’d be getting when you clocked out. As for now, there seemed to be no use in dwelling on it. You were going to fix this sensor, go shower and change back in your quarters, and then deal with Hurricane Leonard.

It had only been about 5 or so minutes and you were already almost done with this assignment. You were tightening a corner of the sensor when you felt a tapping on your shoulder. Scotty must have finally come back from getting his welding tool. How he forgot that tool out of all the possible tools he could forget was a mystery to you.

“It’s about time you came back, Scotty. I’m almost done with this corner. Then it should be only a few more minutes.” There were another couple of taps on your shoulder. “Jeez Scotty! I’m going as quick as I can! Calm the fuck down!”

“You snuck out to go work even though you are on medical leave, your shoulder is bleeding, and you want me to calm down?”

That was not Scotty’s voice.

You turn around to see the very intense face of Leonard. You then looked at your shoulder and see a bit of blood seeping through your shirt. It wasn’t a lot of blood, but enough to make an already worried boyfriend even more worried. You apparently moved it wrong and popped a few stitches, but were too engrossed in your work to notice.

Scotty then rushed in. He stood next to Leonard and looked at you with a mixture of confusion and fear in his eyes.

“What the hell happened to ya, lassie? I thought it was just your hand!” You didn’t know how to respond. It’s like everything inside of you froze. Leonard sighs and then speaks up for you.

“In short, she tried to get her stuff back from Tim and he didn’t like it.” Scotty just looks at you questioningly, as if you ask if it was true. You nod your head and then turn around and lift your shirt to show him the stitches, cuts, and bruises. When you turn back around to face him, he looked heartbroken. You were like his little sister. To see you hurt this badly crushed him a little inside.

“If I would have known about this shite, I would have sent your ass back home.”

Bones shoots you a look that showed how scared he was but also said ‘I told you so.’ You now start to feel your shoulder hurting. Scotty takes your tools in one hand and grabs your hand with his other.

“(Y/N). I can’t have my best engineer working in an unstable state. You need to go. You can come back as soon as Leonard gives an okay.” He saw some tears starting to form in your eyes. You really loved your work and you hated being in this situation. “Hey, come on now. This won’t be forever. I’m only doing this because I don’t want you to get hurt again. You’re a tough girl, but you’re not invincible. I can’t have you poppin’ stitches everyday.” You just give him a small smile as he kisses your forehead in a familial way.  

You try to stand up but feel a bit lightheaded, causing you to wobble and fall against the wall. And of course, you ended up hitting a bruise again. Yelping, you start to get tunnel vision. Before you could fall any further, Leonard’s hands were supporting you.

“Dammit, (Y/N/N)!” Leonard pulls his comm out of his pocket and calls for a wheelchair to be rushed to your location. It would have been easier to just pick you up, but it would also be very painful for you and could possibly put too much stress on your stitches.

The wheelchair doesn’t take long to get there. Leonard helps you in the chair and wheels you back to his quarters. Its eerily quiet. Leonard seems to be breathing deeply and trying his best to calm down so he doesn’t explode at you.

He helps you sit on the bed before he turns to his supply closet. He comes back with an assortment of bandages and disinfectants. But there was something else that caught your eye, something that made your heart race and your breathing struggled: the dermal regenerator.

You had a very bad experience with one of these a few years back. You had gotten hit in the leg during an away mission. You didn’t know the science behind what happened, but something in the machine reacted badly to whatever hit your leg and made everything malfunction. You still had a nasty scar on your leg because of it and avoided using the machine at all costs. And because of that experience, Leonard resorted to the old fashioned form of stitches for your latest injuries.

He helps you out of your work shirt and sees your eyes stuck on the small machine to his right. Leonard sighs before taking your hand and looking into your eyes.

“Sweetheart, I know you had a bad time with this before, but all of the kinks have been worked out. Nothing will happen like last time. I promise.” You couldn’t help but panic.

“But what if it’s not? What if it’s something wrong with me and not the machine? What if this specific machine messes up? What if--” Leonard put a hand on your cheek and made you really look at him now.

“If I’m wrong and something bad happens, I will let you punch me.” You look at him for a few seconds, processing what he said, and then spoke.

“I don’t punch hard though. It wouldn’t be rewarding.” He contemplated some other options. He thought of one and chuckled a bit. He knew you would go for this.

“What if Jim is the one who punches me? One time, I don’t fight back, and you can record it.” You laughed at the thought of it. You couldn’t help but agree to those terms. “Alright, now that that is settled, I need you to turn around and let me get to work.”

He helped you turn around and get as comfortable as you could. He was going to let go of you, but you grabbed one of his hands. He sort of smiles and holds your hand. The dermal regenerator was small enough that he could hold it in one hand.

It took about 15 minutes of a monotonous whirring noise and a sort of warm feeling along the gashes until Leonard felt okay with the healing. He gave your hand a squeeze before he got up and got one of his sleep shirts for you.

As he did that, you went to the mirror and try to look at the skin on your back and shoulder to see if anything went wrong. You could barely tell anything had happened. There were no stitches or blood or marks. It was faintly red, but that would fade quickly. It was still very sore, but now it could heal even quicker. You stood and breathed a sigh of relief. Leonard came into the bathroom and puts his hands on your waist as he stands behind you, looking in the mirror.

“I told you it would be fine.” He had a smartass grin on his face.

You turn around to face him, your hands on his chest. He just leaned down and kissed your forehead before helping you into the shirt he picked out. Once you are comfortable, you walk forward and wrap your arms around his midsection, he gladly embraces you.

“Even though you are better than before thanks to the regenerator, your aren’t allowed back to work for a few days. Your muscles still need time to fully heal. I also want you to come by the Medbay. We never scanned to see if there was wrong internally. I don’t want to take any chances.”

You sigh a bit and look up at him. You are met with his gorgeous eyes that had the capability of melting your insides to mush.

“Can we do that tomorrow? I’m really hungry and tired.” Leonard laughed a bit at how innocent you sounded. Nodding, he agreed.

“Alright, sweetpea. We’ll go first thing in the morning. Right now, let’s get you some food.” You both smile at each other. Leonard then gently pulls you closer to him and presses a kiss against your lips, which you happily kiss back.

[masteroftherebels]

It’s an Economic Downturn, Timmy

Happy Birthday @generatorcat! Yay for 23!!! You are one of my favorite authors in this fandom and I wanted to show some appreciation!!  I hope you have a fabulous day and that this little piece can possibly get you off to a great start! <33

(S/O to @drabblemeister for being my cheerleader when my self-esteem is feeling especially delicate haha ilu)

AO3 Link

Pairing: JayTim (mentioned CassieKon)

Rating: T, for discussion of mature themes

Word Count: 3.7k

~~~

As far as first impressions went, Tim’s was sudden, unwarranted, and above all, intensely embarrassing. In fact, he might even go so far as to say that never in his life had his mind been so utterly at odds with his body. If he could have redone a single moment in his life over again, he never would have woken up today. Instead, he would have slept in, skipped class, and been blissfully ignorant of the way the life of his unlucky doppelganger from an alternate universe changed so dramatically in the space of ten seconds.

Because let’s be real for a moment here; getting a hard on out of nowhere because the new TA did nothing more than walk into Econ 405 and run his fingers through his hair while he introduced himself , literally nothing else, was possibly, probably, most definitely the epitome of humiliation.

“I’m so screwed.”

Drips of deeply mocking laughter fell on his unprotected ears as Tim ground his forehead into the cafeteria lunch table in an effort to scrub the memories from his skull. Beside him, Cassie nearly choked on a forkful of mac-n-cheese as she took pure enjoyment in what was sure to be just the beginning of the inevitable demise of his final undergraduate year.

“More like you wish you were!” Cassie managed to get out in a normal tone before her attempt at calm fully dissolved right back into hysterical guffaws, and Tim had to cling to the tabletop to keep from falling to the linoleum when her mirth came out as a rough punch to his arm.

Across the table, Steph did her absolute worst impression of supportive friend, face going red as she struggled to slow her breathing, lest she join Cassie in her amusement.  Tim snarled at her, just daring her to let even a giggle out, but the threat was empty and the effort as effective as a kitten spitting at a rottweiler; Steph lost it.  “T-Tim, your f-face!” Her cheeks went even more red as she laughed so hard, all sound and air escaped her.

Much to his personal dismay, he’d run into Steph only a few minutes after he’d left The ClassTM and was still recovering, dammit, which is how he’d found himself in his current predicament to begin with.  She’d insisted he join her for lunch – let’s just talk, Tim, you seem stressed – but it was a trap.  A Cassie-shaped trap.

The second moment in his life that he would much prefer a do-over for was ever thinking it would be a good idea to hand feed Cassie the single, most galling thing that had ever happened to him and expect her to be a sympathetic friend about it.  He knew he should have held out until he had Steph alone.  At least then there might have been ice cream and terrible Whodunnit? episodes to soften the blow of being laughed at.

“This isn’t funny!” He hissed at the girls, shoving back at Cassie, the girl barely budging an inch. She smirked at his wasted effort to move her, and Tim’s glare morphed into an incensed scowl.”Freaking bodybuilder,” Tim muttered irritably, only causing Cassie’s smile to grow.

“Tim.”

He cast a wary glance at Cassie and tried to lean back when she dropped a hand on his shoulder.

“You popped a woody because some dude flipped hair out of his face.” A snort of laughter ripped out of Steph for a moment before she could fully contain it, and Tim slapped Cassie’s hand away.

“I know that !  Stop reminding me!” Tim groaned, smacking his hands over his face and dragging them down until the skin pulled below his eyes.  “This year was supposed to be easy—”

“Just like you, apparently,” Steph supplied helpfully.

“Shut up!” Tim whipped his head towards her, only to recoil when he found her right in his face, sprawled halfway across the table with a wicked grin splitting her lips.

“How did you even get out of class without anyone seeing?  Did you have to take a detour to the little boy’s room?” Tim’s face flushed scarlet at the mere memory of the way he’d performed a speedy shuffle of shame out the door and straight to the nearest bathroom, his bookbag clutched fiercely in front of his traitorous crotch.  He hadn't even bothered to collect the syllabus for the semester, afraid that closer proximity to the new TA might induce a bout of spontaneous combustion.

“Relax, Tim, we’re just messing with you.” Cassie waved away his stammering.  “She’s totally kidding.”

“Of course I am,” Steph settled back into her chair.  “It’s not like you actually had to ‘take care of things’.  Though that would be hilarious.”

“I—” Tim didn’t know where to start preserving his dignity, not entirely sure he even could, particularly when his brief hesitation to defend against the accusation had both girls’ eyes widening in shock as they read it for exactly what it was.

Affirmation.

“You actually—!” Tim blanched, beyond gratified when Steph clapped a hand over her mouth to stop herself from completing the sentence.

Cassie hissed at him demandingly, “Oh my god, Mr. Bang-Me-Bangs was that hot?”

“Mr. Bang-Me-Bangs?” Tim laughed in spite of himself.  “How does Kon even put up with you?” Tim deflected desperately, and Cassie dropped back into her seat with a grin so cocky it could put her aforementioned linebacker boyfriend to shame.

“Kon thinks I'm an absolute delight, thank you very much, and if he doesn’t, he knows better than to say so.” Cassie brandished the cheesy tines of her fork close to his nose, making him go momentarily cross-eyed, before she dug the utensil back into her food.  Stephanie rolled her eyes at Cassie’s special brand of humbleness.

Silence crept in for a few seconds before Steph suggested plainly, “You should ask him out.”

“ What!? ” Tim balked, staring at her incredulously as she leaned over with her own fork to steal a few elbows of mac from Cassie.

“What, what ? It’s a good idea.”

“It’s a terrible idea!” Tim fish-mouthed at her, then looked over to Cassie for support, only to receive an indifferent shrug.  How to begin explaining why the mere suggestion sounded less exciting than chipping paint off a wall with his bare, stubby fingernails?  He couldn’t quite find the words to express the absolute disaster such a thing would likely incur.

“Please,” Cassie dismissed his horror, taking a few gulps of Steph’s soda and flicking the condensation that came off on her fingers at him.  “He’s hot, you obviously like him,” her eyes dropped demonstratively to his lap, and Tim abruptly felt scandalized.  “What’s bad about it?”

“Oh, I don’t know, how about the fact that he’s got a super hot girlfriend?” Tim hated himself immediately just for saying it.  An adult crush.  On a straight guy.  How unbelievably appropriate that it happened now, right when Tim was just shy of having his entire life worked out.  He’d taken the quiz.  He had his shit 91% together.

“How do you even know that?” Cassie frowned at him.

“I,” Tim cut himself off, tried again, “I don’t know.  But—”

“Never know ‘til you try!” Steph interrupted cheerily.

“I say this completely unironically,” Tim muttered, “but I’m honestly feeling so attacked right now.” He nearly caved in on himself at the girls’ twin smiles of evil.

“You’re only feeling that way because you know we’re right,” Cassie nodded with an affected air of wisdom.

Steph rolled her eyes excessively and stated, “Tim, you have such a bad habit of assuming every guy you like is straight.”

“Yeah, well, look what happened last time I decided to just go for it.” Tim raised his brows at Cassie significantly, and only ended up earning a burst of laughter from both blondes.

“Oh, come on! Of course Kon turned you down! He was dating me. He knows how blessed he is,” Cassie proclaimed without a shred of modesty. That unsettling predatory gleam came back into her eyes then and Tim stiffened, holding his ground through sheer willpower when she reached out and twisted a lock of his hair around her fingers with a murderously loving intent.

“Besides, Kon told me he thinks you’re hot.  He likes your hair.” Before Tim could even begin touching that bold statement, Cassie’s fingers twined more tightly into the strands and gave them a short tug, tacking on, “Said it looks grippable .”

The complete unlikelihood of that had Tim releasing an unexpected bark of disbelief, and for the first time since this morning, he felt his mood lift a bit. He shook his head free of her grasp, Cassie’s smile softening along with his.  “Either that’s a total lie, or you got him incredibly drunk and asked him leading questions to get to that point.”

“Hey,” Steph chuckled, dragging Cassie’s abandoned lunch toward her side of the table. “They say you reveal your deepest desires when you’re three sheets to the wind.”

Cassie matched her grin and tapped her chin thoughtfully.  “You two would have been hot though, if I hadn’t gotten there first.” She threw her hands up in an ‘oh well’ gesture.  “Too bad I did. I’ll bet you and Professor McFuck-Me-Fringe will look hotter together anyway.”

“Stop with the stupid nicknames. You haven’t even seen him! How do you know he's actually hot and I'm not just insane?” Tim denied it with such a lack of conviction that Cassie’s gaze turned disdainful, and this time, Steph’s eyes couldn’t have rolled harder if they’d fallen out of her head.

“Hun, you got a chub just watching him push hair out of his face. The only logical conclusion is that the guy has the most insanely perfect genes to ever grace humanity if he got you to react that hard...pun absolutely intended.” Both girls dissolved back into laughter at his expense.

“You two are enjoying this way too much right now.” Tim gave the giggling girls a nasty side-eye. “Whatever, it’s still a bad idea.  Even if he is into guys, it’s against the rules for students and teachers to—”

“He’s a TA!  He’s not an actual teacher!” Stephanie argued.

“What difference does that make!” Tim snapped back.

“Now you’re just trying to make up excuses to—”

“Hey, you’re—sorry to interrupt.  You’re Tim Drake, right?”

Cassie’s head flew around so fast over her shoulder at the deep voice, Tim got whiplash just watching, while Steph lost control of her silverware entirely and had to slam her hand down dramatically to prevent it from falling to the ground.  Tim knew exactly how they felt though when both their jaws dropped at the sight of the man standing beside them.

Jason Todd, Tim’s new TA, was no less devastating to Tim’s currently fragile psyche than he’d been in the wee hours of early morning classes. In fact, the effect of what had to be at least two day’s worth of stubble spread across a strong jawline and bold features may have been even more destructive in the natural daylight shining through the cafeteria window, when compared to the harsh fluorescent lighting of the lecture hall.

The deep gray t-shirt with an abstract red slash across the chest was possibly even more form-fitting and tight wrapped around that trim torso than Tim recalled. His eyes zeroed in on sleeve hems hugging unfairly defined biceps and swore he could practically hear the seam stitches moaning with pleasure from the stretch.  An abrupt moment of body envy hit him, entirely separate from his attraction, that dissipated a few moments later.   God, how many hours does a person have to log in a gym to get a body like that?  Not my ideal way to spend time. Tim’s eyes scanned unconsciously along broad shoulders and a strong neck and had to admit, I’d watch, though. I’d definitely watch.

The crooked grin on the man’s face faltered slightly when all of them simply continued to gape in silence at him. “Uh, did I...make a mistake?”

The question snapped Tim out of his momentary stupor, although the rough quality of the man’s voice wasn’t helping the situation. “Yes, sorry, yes. Tim, that’s me. Drake. I’m Tim Drake,” he finished, biting his tongue before he could repeat his own name one more time and solidify his obvious insanity; he could feel the judging look Steph turned on him burn into the side of his head.

The grin came back, a little more smug this time, and Tim could swear – or maybe it was just high, heavenly, thirsty hopes – that the tone of voice was flirty when Jason replied, “You sure about that?”

Unable to suppress his own embarrassment, Tim barely managed to look his new TA in the eye when he nodded and replied, “Yes, I’m sure. You just caught me off guard.”

The smarmy grin turned into a pearly-white smirk, and Tim was positive this time that he wasn’t imagining it when he heard the flirtatious inflection in the return of, “Yeah, I seem to be getting that a lot today.”

The pair stared at each other, Tim incapable of grasping enough words to string together because Jason, once again , chose that moment to drag long, strong-looking fingers through his hair in a graceful swoop. Really? For god’s sake, since when was this a thing for him? Tim barely registered the cough, or the nails digging into his thigh. At some point, Steph had worked her way around the table.

“Umm, Tim?”

When it was clear that Tim had no intention of introducing either of the girls anytime soon, too transfixed by the way the small swath of white bangs curved just so at his TA’s hairline, Steph turned back to the man, who extended his hand out in greeting.

“I’m Stephanie. I’m a friend of Mr. Speechless here.”

“Hey, I’m Jason.” The TA grinned at her introduction, and despite wanting to throttle her with his bare hands, Tim still couldn’t bring words to the surface, entranced by the way the muscles in Jason’s forearm flexed when he gripped Steph’s hand. “I’m the teacher’s assistant for Warwick’s Econ classes this semester.” Jason turned to Cassie, who, like Tim, had yet to appropriately react.  “You must be another friend of Tim’s?”

“Cassie.” Her name came out in a breathy, almost surreal whisper as Cassie slipped her hand into Jason’s larger one, and it garnered a humorous smile from the man.

“Pleasure to meet you, Cassie.” Glancing at Tim, he lowered his voice and asked with that same smirk, “He always this talkative?”

Cassie erupted into the highest-pitched giggles Tim had ever heard come out of her, and it blessedly gave him the ability to look somewhere other than Jason’s face, if only to stare at her like she’d gone completely batshit. Even Jason looked a little stunned. She clapped a hand over her mouth, shooting a mortified look at Tim, who finally managed to find some spine in the wake of Cassie’s utter embarrassment, and he turned to fully face Jason.

“What brings you over to our table, Mr. Todd?”

“Ugh, please, I can’t be more than a few years older than you,” Jason’s lips curled back in a disgusted grimace.  “Let’s just stick with Jason.” He paused, watching Tim assessingly for a second before some sort of decision must have been made and he offered, “Or you could call me Jay.”

Was it just Tim or had there been a strong emphasis on “you” in that offer?

“Jason, then.” He’d work himself up to Jay.  He could barely handle his reactions to the man finger-combing his own hair; Tim would probably implode trying to use an intimate nickname at this point. And it was definitely intimate. Tim could practically taste it on his tongue, the same way he'd say it in the bathroom when— “Did I forget something in class?” He questioned a little harshly, just to choke off his own train of thought.

“Yes, actually.” Jason turned to rummage in his bag, and Tim’s eyes instantly dropped down to the strip of skin showing as the t-shirt shifted and rose with each motion of his digging arm.

Skin...no skin...smooth, tanned skin...no skin...gorgeous, begging to be licked skin…

A sound of success was followed almost immediately by a piece of paper blocking Tim’s fantastic view, and he inadvertently glowered at the sheet without actually processing what it was.

“Whoa, didn’t realize you’d hate office hours that much.”

“Huh?” Tim answered intelligently, transferring his gaze up to find Jason grinning at him with a single raised eyebrow.

“My office hours.” Jason waved the paper, recapturing Tim’s attention so he could see the location and hours each week that Jason had set up for students to come see him for help. “You just tried to eviscerate my selfless offering with your eyes.”

“What! I did not—” Tim snapped his attention back up, ready to defend his insanity, but found himself enthralled by deep teal eyes that sparkled--whose eyes actually sparkle in real life?-- when Jason opened his mouth and laughed at Tim's earnest protest.

“You are too easy,” Jason commented, no doubt in reference to Tim's apparent gullibility. Tim could only agree wholeheartedly that, for Jason, yes. Yes, he would be so easy. In fact, the man would probably never have an easier time even if he walked into a hands-on strip club.

Tim took the paper from Jason's hand, careful not to touch him, as he was fairly certain his entire body would go numb from the contact. His efforts were futile though because the moment Jason let go, he reached up and ruffled a hand through Tim's hair in a friendly gesture.

Time slowed. Tim’s vision blurred as all his senses honed in on the feeling of that large, warm hand roughly carding through his locks. Tim’s entire being turned to jelly from the sensation and the paper floated softly to the floor at his feet. The hand paused. No, keep petting me , Tim’s pathetic brain pleaded.

But then.

Then .

Fingers pulled at his hair a bit, got a grip on the strands, and tipped Tim’s head back a few inches so he was trapped in a stare-off with his unnaturally striking TA, and Jason was just looking. At. Him.

He can’t, Tim’s brain spasmed, unable to quite comprehend that a virtual stranger could so blatantly ignore the concept of a personal bubble, or that Tim would have absolutely zero words of complaint.  And of course, Jason’s head leaned down so he was even closer, so Tim’s brain completely short-circuited.

“Are you feeling okay?” Jason’s brow furrowed with concern as he looked Tim over, who for his part, felt he must be hallucinating the entire situation, it was so surreal.  “You seem a little out of it.” Jason stepped back, releasing his hold, and Tim couldn’t have controlled his lean to follow that hand if his life depended on it.  Jason paused, lips twitching a little at Tim’s obvious motion, but he graciously let it slide.

Tim was certain it would come back to bite him in the ass eventually, so he was only slightly less horrified with himself.

“I’m good. Just, tired.” The excuse felt lame just leaving his mouth, but Tim had nothing. He’d been rendered incapable of his usually quippy mind, and could only do what was necessary to keep his nose above the water.

“I can imagine,” Jason eyed him, obviously not believing it for a second, but Tim was once again forced to be grateful that the man was letting it go. “Well, I’ve delivered what I came for. I’ll let you guys get back to lunch.” With a little wave, Jason turned to leave. “See you Thursday, Tim.”

“What? Oh, yeah, class. Bye.” Tim could only wave absently back because Jason’s smile was devastating when he shot it over his shoulder and walked away.

The moment the TA was out of earshot, all three friends collectively drew a stabilizing breath.

“ Shit , he’s hot.  I completely lost it for a minute there.” Cassie fanned herself dramatically.

“For a minute ?” Steph scoffed, moving back around the table to take her seat.  “I’m telling Kon you nearly dropped your panties in the cafeteria.”

“Don't you dare tell Kon. I will break you.” Cassie growled, fingers curling into harpy claws, though Steph seemed unfazed.

“I’m so telling Kon, you are going to be playing good girlfriend for weeks to make up for this,” Steph cackled.

“I’m so glad it wasn’t just me,” Tim commiserated, pulling a murmur of assent from both girls as they simultaneously craned their necks to watch the last flash of Mr. Jason Todd, Teacher’s Assistant Extraordinaire, exit the cafeteria doors.  The moment his back was no longer visible, Steph shook her head in wonderment and stabbed absently at Cassie’s cooling macaroni, missing it by a mile but obviously not caring in the least.

“That man’s picture is right beside the word ‘rugged’ in the dictionary.” Steph’s eyes flared with heat, and she practically waxed poetic. “He looks like he just got back from logging in the woods, and is casually prepared to fight off a bear and then later take you by the light of the cabin fireplace. The only thing missing is plaid and an axe.”

Tim laughed hoarsely at her over-the-top, but somewhat scarily accurate description.

“That, or he’s straight out of a Chippendale’s show,” Cassie surmised, and all three of them shared a moment of breathless imagination at the very prospect.  Cassie turned wide eyes filled with endless pity on Tim, one hand held lightly to her chest. “Sweetie, you really weren’t kidding. You are so screwed.”

Tim’s head fell to the table once again with a thump, Jason’s office hours scrunching in his hands.  “Oh god. I’m gonna fail Econ.”

~~~

A/N:  Chippendale’s is a male exotic dance club in Las Vegas, for anyone who doesn’t know.

[redrobin-detective]

Tim supporting Kon !! can be about something either legitimately angsty (like Luthor being half his DNA) or kinda silly (he was canonly worried about his hair thinning?) or something in-between!!

I got just the thing for you babe, I hit you with fluffy Timkon so let’s bring on some pain.

Kon was angry. It seems like such a simple statement but it doesn’t even come close to describing how he feels right now. He’s felt angry before but not like this. This is a bubbling hatred, boiling under his skin ready to explode. It makes him want to scream and cry and throw up all at once but mostly it makes him want to hit someone. And he knows exactly who he wants to hit.

He’s flying as fast as he can for Lex Corp with nothing but pure, unfiltered rage fueling his flight. Because if he stopped to look beyond the anger for one moment, he thinks he just might drown in his guilt and grief. Conner had been… meeting with Luthor. Lex had been going on for years about how he’d wanted to be available for Kon as a father. Conner had ignored it for so long but since Jon came around, Clark was even less willing to be there for his clone and Conner had well… caved. He’d wanted someone, anyone to give him a little attention, even his most hated enemy.  

It wasn’t anything big, they awkwardly talked about normal things and Kon gave extremely edited rants about his problems which Lex would patiently listen to before giving some advice. Conner even took some of that advice. They'd only met up three times but every time they did, Conner felt both relieved and also like he needed a shower. He didn’t even tell Tim cause well, he knows Tim and he knows that Tim would have talked him out of it. Dammit, he should have known this would happen, he should have-

“Luthor!” He shouted throwing open the window he normally uses to sneak in for their meetings, the fragile glass shatters in his hands. Lex is sitting at his desk. He sighs and sets down his cup of tea and raises a mildly disappointed eyebrow at Conner like a chastising parent.

“Why must you heroes always break my windows?” But while the parental tone might have calmed Kon down before, nothing short of a hurricane could stop his vengeance now. He speeds forward and grabs Lex by the front of his thousand dollar shirt and drags him over the desk so the man can understand how upset he is. “Something on your mind son?” He asks in a silky sweet voice.

“You used me,” Conner grounds out because he’s so angry he can’t even get beyond that glaringly obvious fact. “You tried to implant my DNA into pregnant women and babies, just so you could see what would happen. 13 people have already died you freaking lunatic.” He shouts because he can’t believe he had allowed himself to think that Luthor of all people might have actually cared for him as a parent. He’d wanted fresh samples for his sick experiments, DNA Conner has unintentionally given him during his visits, left on the chairs, on the windows, on the coffee cup. He was so goddamn needy that he let himself walk into such an obvious trap. No wonder Clark preferred Jon over him.

“Oh my dear Superboy,” Lex croons, “I was just trying to ensure that your, our, legacy lives on. You were the only stable clone I could create, I haven’t been able to replicate the process since despite my efforts. Your DNA is magnificent, I thought maybe implanting it in pliable, growing cells would create a whole new kind of lifeform." Kon growled viciously and spun Lex around to slam his roughly into the wall of his office. The human winced but continued. "Don’t you see what I'm trying to do for you? I’m trying to give you the family you need my boy, the family Superman and his little club can’t provide for you. I’m the only one who truly cares for your interests Kon-El, even if you can’t see it." Conner is just drowning in his anger and rage he doesn’t even realize he’s pulled back one fist to punch when he feels small, steady hands grab onto him.

"Superboy, stop,” Red Robin says sternly. Kon takes the time to register Tim’s racing heart and shortness of breath. He must have raced over here, and for what? To stop him from doing what they should have done years ago? “Kon, this isn’t right, this isn’t what you want.”

“Don’t you dare tell me this murderer doesn’t deserve to have his bones crushed, his brain bashed in a few times. Do you even know what he’s done to those people? What he did to-” and he bites his tongue because, of all people, he doesn’t want Tim to know his shame. That he’d been so pathetic and so desperate, he’d turned to the devil himself for scraps of love. As if saying that Tim’s love hadn’t been enough for him. Tim’s hand moves down from Kon’s clenched fist along his bicep, resting there with care and assurance. Despite his angry, the gesture is comforting and some of the tension leaves his body.

“I know Superboy,” Tim whispers, “I know about your meetings.” Kon’s heart jumps into his throat. “You made a choice not to tell me, so I respected your decision and didn’t interfere but I did keep an eye on Luthor. As far as I could tell, he wasn’t doing anything unreasonable so this is both of our faults, more so me for letting you feel bad enough to seek him out.” Kon feels himself start to shake with the force of his emotion. “Put him down, Batman and I have the evidence to prove that he’s responsible, he’s going to pay for his crimes but you don’t have to lose yourself over him. He’s not worth it, I promise.”

“He, he used me,” Conner chokes out feeling horrifically vulnerable in front of his enemy and his boyfriend. Because he hates the situation and he hates himself for getting into a position where he opened up his weaknesses and feelings only for them to be used against him. “He used me.” He says again more strongly, once again pushing Lex against the wall.

“He did, and he’s using you again because he knows if you hurt him then he can make all sorts of claims and avoid punishment altogether and I know you don’t want that.” No, goddammit. “So put him down and let him walk out the door. The MPD is outside his office, ready to take him in. It’s over Kon.” Still shaking, he releases Luthor and lets him fall gently to his feet. The man has the gall to smirk as he fixes up his suit.

“Thank you Red Robin, I always said you were the sensible one of Batman’s little brood.” But Tim merely turns to Lex with the full force of bat intimidation weighing down on him. Lex has at least 6 inches on him but Tim seems to loom over him anyway.

“Oh I wouldn’t thank me yet. If you aren’t out of this office and in police custody within one minute, I will destroy you and everything you’ve done, everything you’ve built will be gone. I’m sure you’ve talked to your pal Ra’s, you know my threats aren’t empty. If you post bail or try to skip out of your sentence, you will come back to find your empire in ruins.” Despite the rather ominous, and serious knowing Tim, threat, Lex merely snorts.

“You’ve got good taste in men my boy. I look forward to seeing you both soon, please come pay me a visit in prison.” With that, Lex strolls out of the room like a celebrity but Conner can hear him being forcibly apprehended on the other side of the door.

“Conner,” Tim whispers delicately and puts his hands on his wrists, his long fingers lying delicately on top of Kon’s pulse points. “Talk to me.” Kon turns away from Tim, in shame of what he’s done and of all the emotions bubbling within him. It’s stupid, Tim’s right, it’s over so why does he still feel like crying?

“I know you’re upset Kon and it’s okay, you made a mistake and there were consequences but, to be honest, Luthor would have gotten your DNA either way so this couldn’t have been avoided.” One hand come up to gently turn Kon’s head back towards Tim, “and what also can’t be avoided is your feelings.” Conner can’t help but let out a strangled laugh at that.

“You’re one to talk babe,” a small smile appears on Tim’s face.

“I know, but I am trying to be more available and you help me get through all of my fears, let me feel brave enough to open up and tell you about the things bothering me.” Tim brings his other hand up and pulls Conner down until their faces are right next to each other. “The bravest thing you can do right now is to cry, to let all those feelings out because hiding them all and pretending they aren’t there is what cowards like Luthor do. So talk to me, let me help you.”

And Tim’s soft, soothing voice just does him in. Kon wraps his arms around the most important person in his life and drags him closer. He leans his head down onto Tim’s shoulder and let’s himself feel all the ugly emotions inside of him, lets all that guilt and anger and loneliness manifest in the tears that had been building since this fiasco began. Tim hands are stroking his back and whispering comforting little things into his ear. And it’s not the words Tim says that ease Conner’s soul, it’s the way he says them. So loving, warm and inviting, accepting of him despite how badly he messed up this time. So Conner does the brave thing and hugs his best friend closer, letting his grief out and letting himself believe that maybe someday, he could be worthy of a man as good and loving as Timothy Drake.

[thelittleredheadedmusician]

So before I started taking prompts (which can still totally be sent in) I asked @silv3rclouds-with-graylining to give me one. He asked for some more college freshman!Damian that I did whilst admining for @whore4batfam and wanted it with a freaky friday twist. It got a lot longer than I planned but here it is.

“So how’s school going?” Damian rolled his eyes behind his mask, not that Todd could see since he was across the room and Damian was, well, wearing his mask.

“It’s fine. Going well,” he responded to his brother through the comms as he crouched behind a museum display. The thief, some D-lister Damian couldn’t even remember the name of, was carefully removing the ancient necklace from its case. “On my count. 3… 2… Now.”

Suddenly the Red Hood leapt from his own hiding spot and yelled, “Hey jerkface! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Damian went barreling into the thief and knocked him down onto the smooth tile floor, the necklace dropping from his grasp and skittering across the floor. Damian easily pulled the zip-ties from his belt and secured the man’s wrists and ankles for the police. “Nice going Demon Bat,” Jason chuckled as he sauntered over.

“-tt- Aren’t you missing a letter? Thought I was the Demon Brat.”

“Nah. Considering you’re nearly my height you don’t really qualify as a brat anymore.”

Damian rolled his eyes again but didn’t bother hiding the small quirk of his lips. His relationships with his brothers and most of the other members of their community had improved over the years. Which is why he was surprised but agreed when Jason asked for his help for the night.

Getting up he walked towards where the necklace had fallen. Jason had as well and both brothers bent to pick it up simultaneously. “No!” the crook shouted at them but it was too late, both boys had already grabbed the necklace.

“What’s your problem?” Jason asked and Damian knew that under the helmet he had a single eyebrow raised.

“I- what- dammit!” The man yelled.

Damian looked back to his brother who just shrugged, put the necklace in an evidence bag he pulled from somewhere before dropping it back into the case. “C’mon, cops will be here soon.” Together they grappled back out through the museum’s skylight to head home early. They had to get Damian back to school tomorrow after all.

Jason stretched, still laid out flat on his back in bed. The night before had been nice, stopping that robbery with the kid then special tea and cookies for the returning vigilantes from Alfred. Damian was being driven back to school today so patrols last night had been cut short in order to enjoy aforementioned tea and cookies before bed. He finally, blearily, opened his eyes and spent another minute or so staring at the ceiling before swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and standing. That was when he noticed something was wrong. This wasn’t his bedroom, not the one he used as a kid or the one he used when staying at the manor now. He realized with a start this was Damian’s room and what was worse, he was Damian.

Flinging the door open he sprinted down the hall to his own room and began pounding his fists on the door. “I’m coming!” and some mumbled curses came from inside. Said by his own voice. The door swung open and he saw himself standing there in shock. “Todd?” Damian asked. All Jason could do was nod before Damian began cursing some more.

The noise had drawn the attention of the manor’s other occupants and Dick had opened his door across the hall from them. “What the hell are you two arguing about at… 6:30 in the morning?”

“I’m him!” Jason yelled at the same time Damian said “Todd is me!”

Dick blinked at them slowly, shook his head and turned back around to flop down on his bed. “It is too early for this. Go make to bed until you two start making sense.”

Jason exchanged a wild look with his brother before the two rushed into Dick’s room. “Dickhead! Get up! We have a serious problem here!”

“Grayson I demand you assist us at once!” Damian had managed to roll Dick onto his back and the eldest now stared up at them in confusion. “The necklace! Todd! The necklace from last night must have had some sort of mystical properties.”

Jason nodded, “That must be why he freaked when we both touched it.” Jason glanced back down at Dick who was slowly managing to process this information.

“What… Jay?” Dick addressed what appeared to be Damian before turning his attention on the other boy, “Dami?” They nodded. “Well crap. The one time Zatanna actually goes off world.”

“Are you saying we’re stuck like this?!” Jason cried as Dick pushed himself upright again.

“I don’t know. We’ll have to talk to Bruce but if it was really magic that caused this then there’s not much to be done until we can get ahold of someone who knows what they’re doing. Damian began a long string of curses in a plethora of languages. “Damian. Language.” Dick scolded and led the way from his room.

Damian scoffed, “But you never tell Todd to watch his language.”

“Yeah well, Jason’s older than you.”

“Not if I’m him,” Damian responded smugly.

Dick blinked and seemed to flounder at this. Jason could not stop laughing. “Ok. New rule, nobody curses. In any language.”

Bruce chose that moment to exit his bedroom, as they passed no less. “What’s this now?”

Dick gave a mischievous smirk before pointing at Jason, “Looks like Dami? Actually Jay.” He then pointed to the other boy, “Looks like Jay? Actually Dami.”

Bruce’s brow furrowed but he only gave his usual “hmmph” in reply. The trio made it to the kitchen where they found Alfred and Cass making breakfast and Tim nursing a coffee. Jason got a wicked idea, running up behind Tim he grabbed him in a headlock and gave him a noogie with a loud “Timbo!” in his ear.

Tim wildly flailed his arms, “What the hell, Damian?! Get off!”

Jason laughed and flopped into the seat next to him, receiving a look that meant Tim was obviously doubting his sanity. “Do not blame me for Todd’s ridiculous actions,” the real Damian drawled from where he leaned against the fridge.

“What? No. Please no. Not again,” Tim groaned into his mug. “I need more coffee if I’m dealing with this crap.”

Cass just grinned, “Knew it was you. Whole time.”

“Well thanks for not being a spoilsport!”

Cass gave him a salute before turning back to the stove. Bruce sighed as he dropped into his seat at the head of the table. “I just checked, Zatanna and Constantine are both in some pocket dimension and with each other so who knows when they’ll be back.”

“What about the necklace?” Damian asked as he took up his own position at the table. Dick, Cass, and Alfred following right behind with the food.

“Police custody by now. And I don’t want to tamper with something we know nothing about.”

“So where does that leave us?” Jason asked as he snagged some bacon.

Bruce sighed, “I hate to say it but, stuck. You’ll have to go about acting like each other.”

Damian’s eyes widened and his whole face went pale. “No. That cannot be. Father, I have classes! Midterms are coming up! Todd cannot just take my place.”

“Normally I’d be offended that the Demon Bat would think I’m not smart enough but I am not going to college as him. No way. I got my degree a year ago now. Online. This is not going to work.” Jason informed the table.

“C’mon Jay. You can handle it,” Dick said with an encouraging smile.

“Nope. This is serious. I do not want to be responsible to turning Damian’s GPA to crap.”

“Thank you,” Damian said, dead serious.

“I realize this is not ideal but it will only be for a few days.” Bruce rubbed the bridge of his nose, a surefire sign that he was done with hearing any arguments. Jason sighed and stabbed his eggs a bit too aggressively.

A few hours later Jason found himself sitting on the bed in Damian’s dorm room, a detailed list of instructions in his hand. He was trying to remember the tour that Damian had given them during family weekend when the kid’s roommate walked in. “Hey Damian. How was your break?”

“Uh. Ok. Yours?”

Jack blinked at him, “Good. You feeling ok?”

“Yes. Why?” Jason consciously tried to mimic Damian’s speech patterns.

“Because normally you say something like ‘it was adequate’ or ‘sufficient’ or something like that,” Jack said with a grin.

Jason just shrugged, “I find my family exhausting and am rather tired.”

“Ok, whatever man. Guess that means we’re not playing Mario Kart tonight.”

“What?”

“Seriously Dam? It’s Mario Kart Monday! Your head must be messed up from all that Gotham smog. You get whacked over the head and kidnapped again?”

“Apologies. I must be more out of it than I realized.”

Jack just chuckled as he continued to put his shirts away. “Don’t worry. Get some sleep. I can make fun of you for it in the morning.”

Jason went to roll out of bed the next morning and just about died when he realized that he was roughly six feet in the air, Damian had lofted his bed and Jason had forgotten about having to be the kid for the next couple days. He made it to the ground without incident and grabbed Damian’s shower caddy before heading to where he remembered the bathroom was. He reviewed the list of instructions after the shower and went to where he had a fuzzy recollection of the dining hall. The food was good but nothing like Alfred’s and he was glad for Damian’s anti-social tendencies as he was able to eat his omelet in peace.

He checked the campus map that he had pulled up on his phone and went to find his first class, Environmental Science 101. He only took two wrong turns and still ended up being the first one into the lecture hall where Damian had told him he was expected to sit in the second row, fifth from the left. Jason found his seat pulled out Damian’s notes and books and fished through his bag for a pencil. He then put headphones in and flipped his hood up like he’d seen his younger brother do a thousand times but didn’t turn on any music. The room filled up around him and soon enough the professor walks in and starts class. Jason dutifully took notes and was pleasantly surprised to find he was enjoying himself. After an hour and a half the class left out and Jason went to find the next building.

After a week Jason found himself enjoying his time at college. Damian’s classes were interesting, his friends were nice and didn’t seem to mind Jason’s reluctance to join conversations, and the time off from patrolling was just fantastic. He was almost sad when he got the text Friday afternoon saying that Zatanna had been contacted and the necklace attained and someone would be picking him up in a little over an hour to pick him up. He packed up some clothes and the belongings he knew Damian would want back and went to wait outside. He bumped into Jack on the way, “You going home for the weekend?”

“Yes. Father has a charity event and I agreed to go.”

Jack nodded, “Ok. Have fun.”

Dick was the one who came to pick him up, a goofy grin on his face. “What is it?” Jason growled as he climbed into the car.

Dick shrugged but the smile never moved, “Oh nothing. Just imagining how much fun you must have had being Damian all week. Oh, and that Damian somehow worked out the logic that whenever he swore it was technically you so he racked up roughly $700 worth of swear jar charges for you to pay upon your return to the manor.”

Jason glared and muttered, “I’m so going to kill him.” The drive to Gotham was filled with Dick’s mindless chatter and constant changing of the radio station. Finally, they pulled up to the manor and Jason practically flung himself from the car. “DAMIAN!” He bellowed as he plowed through the front doors, “I AM NOT PAYING FOR YOUR SWEARING!”

“Oh my. I am never anything less than amused when you lot call me,” Zatanna smirked, standing in the middle of the living room holding the necklace in a white gloved hand.

“Can we just get this over with?” Damian grumbled from where he sprawled himself out in the recliner.

“What do we have to do?” Jason asked the magician as the rest of the family loitered around the edges of the room.

“Just grab the necklace at the same time,” the magician informed the two brothers.

“That’s it?” Jason asked incredulously.

“It seems too simple,” Damian agreed.

Zatanna just shrugged, “That’s it.”

They shared a glance and each held out a hand which Zatanna dropped the necklace into. Simultaneously they caught it and…

“I don’t feel any difference.” Jason said, still as Damian.

“It takes some time. Get some food, go to bed, you’ll wake up as yourselves. Now if you don’t mind letting it drop to the floor.” From there she picked it up, placed it in an evidence baggie that she passed to Bruce before waving and disappearing.

“Well then,” Jason said to the empty air. “I’m getting food.”

They did as Zatanna suggested and woke up the next morning, in his own bed. He smiled, rolled over, and went back to sleep.

Damian stretched and peered around his own room for the first time in a week. He got out of bed and went about his normal routine. The rest of the weekend passed without incident, unless you counted the various normal squabbles that broke out between the manor’s inhabitants. Sunday night saw Bruce finally driving Damian back to school. He let himself into his room and collapsed onto his desk chair. “Hey Dames. How was break?”

“Don’t you mean how was my weekend?”

Jack shook his head, “I’m not an idiot. I know that was your brother. Now tell me how your break was and we’ll go back to pretending like we both know you’re normal.”

Damian blinked at his roommate but shrugged and told Jack how his break was.

[megairishrose]

Flaws Stitched Together With Good Intentions chapter 1: Of course there’s reason to worry

Amelia Hunter kept playing the same scene over and over in her head for the next three weeks. All the darkness that was going to consume Gold and kill him went through a portal opened by Blinky. Now another realm had that power and it would find someone to inhabit.

No reason to worry, that's what she had said. But in reality, there was every reason in the world to worry. She had lied to her friends about the danger. Maybe that part hurt the most. Amelia hated to lie.

"Bernadette?" A gentle voice brought her back to the present. She blinked a few times and met the concerned eyes of the apprentice. "You never said when."

"What?" Said when for what? Then she looked down at her tea cup which was overfilled with sugar. The enchanted sugar pot had just kept scooping spoonful of sugar into her cup. "Oh. Sorry." Amelia closed her hand over the top and magically returned most of the sugar back to the pot. "I wasn't paying attention."

This was her new normal, having tea with Tim. Yes, the sorcerer's apprentice's name was simply Tim. They sat around, not really talking. Their focus was on the dagger that sat in the middle of the table. The Dark One's dagger that still didn't have a name on it. One would have thought that the power would have found a host in three weeks.

"It's looking for the person with the most potential for darkness…" Tim began to say.

"I know. And in that realm, he's the only choice. Trust me; he does not need the extra power. He's him and he has the sword already…"

"The sword that you gave him…"

Amelia slammed down her cup. "Can we bring up my past actions? The terms were good; besides I didn't care about other people back then."

Tim was smarter than to respond to her. She was powerful, ancient magic had an attitude all its own. Also, Amelia's past was touchy subject for her. And to top it off, her magic was unstable. Tim wanted to get an idea for her feelings for the current situation. "How do you feel right now?"

"Honestly, the only comfort I have is the Dark One can't travel realms." Amelia said, finally drinking her tea. She wrinkled her nose; her usual latte was more of the drink she wanted. Either that or something stronger.

"When it finds him…" Time began to say, but amended his words when Amelia gave him a dirty look, "If it finds him, do you have backup? Do you have friends in another realm that would help you?"

Amelia thought for a moment then remembered she did have friends. Not really the best role models, but they had her back no matter what. She tapped the sleeping ball of light on her shoulder. "Hey, wake up. I need you to do me a favor." Blinky slowly woke up and began to gently rock itself. "If bad something happens; you'll know right?" Blinky hummed. "Aright, I need you to gather that branch of the family. Do whatever you need to do to get them there. Can I count on you?"

Blinky hummed more, it was more reassuring this time. Amelia smiled and both she and Tim watched Blinky open a portal and disappear.

"Alright, Neal is probably wondering where I am, I should get going. I hate this waiting game." She stood up and went to pull on her coat.

"Bernadette…" Tim used her real name, while it was normal, the tone he used scared her.

Amelia turned around and saw Tim staring down at the table, at the dagger in particular.

Finally, after three weeks, there was a name on the dagger.

"Dammit." Amelia muttered under her breath. Now it was time to panic and maybe come clean with her family.

Amelia stood in the middle of her living room; she had called a family meeting. Things were now changed and for the first time, she was at the center of it all. So the people most important to her, her family, should know the truth. They should be prepared. Around her were Michael, Helen, Jordan, Aiden, Nathan, Robin, Marian, Neal and Henry. This was the immediate family, who would have thought it was this big? Now would Amelia answer all of their questions? "So you all know why I called you here…" Amelia started to say.

"Don't make it sound so business like." Robin still sounded hurt. Marian gave his shoulder a light smack. At least she was understanding in the current situation.

"So there has been a new development in the town, I have magic." She bit the bullet and just said it.

Helen stared at her confused. "Did you always have it?"

"It's kind of complicated. I wasn't born in the Enchanted Forest, my family moved when I was four years old. In the other realm, I had magic, it was a family trait. But every realm has different laws about magic. I lost my skill when I came to the Enchanted Forest. So I survived without it and never really missed it. Then I didn't get it back when we came to Storybrooke, even when magic came…"

"And now?" Michael wanted to know.

Amelia swallowed hard, she knew that question would come up. "Someone is playing around. Magic is out of balance at home." Home, that sounded so odd associated with that realm. Storybrooke was home now, her family was here.

"So, if your powers go away, things are the way they are supposed to be?" Nathan was trying to understand it all.

"Yes." That was the hope.

"And if they don't?" He kept asking.

How was she supposed to answer that? She had to be honest, but the truth was terrifying. "We panic." Amelia responded.

There was an uncomfortable silence; Jordan broke it with the burning question of the night. "Can we see your magic?"

Amelia finally smiled. She made some water appear in her hand and had it swirl around. It got bigger and small, longer and shorter. Then it turned colors and became sparking electricity.

"You like spirals, don't you?" Aiden asked, watching fascinated.

"They remind me of home." Amelia told him, her eyes had turned yellow and shockingly no one freaked out.

"Where's home?" Marian was curious. At that, Amelia basically shut down. She did not like talking about her first home. She didn't have the best memories of it. "Okay, let's word it like this, have you been back there since leaving?"

"Once." Amelia answered. What a nightmare that had been.

"Was it business or pleasure?" Marian asked.

"Strictly business. I didn't exactly go site seeing and visit the family." Then Amelia heard the words that came out of her mouth. 'Oh, wait I did.'

"Just use your powers for good." Robin seemed to be warming up finally.

"I never use my skills for evil, it's just for protection." She reassured everyone in the room. It was for their sanity, not hers. She knew what she could do and how much she could handle.

She did a few more tricks, though she never considered them tricks. Then everyone went home with a better understanding of a person they cared very much about.

"That went well." Neal came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her. "You want to go cause some trouble?" His voice was heavy against her neck.

A coy smile grew on her smile and she began to leave light sparks on his arms.