#like after the Bruce thing I’ve been pretty down

[look-at-the-stars-tonight]

Me: I’m so sad no one loves me

My friends: shut the FUCK up we’re right here

[clockwayswrites]

Wibirbs Wobble Part 15

masterpost

Bruce stood, along with most of the theater as Cass and her dance partner came onto the stage to join the rest of the Cass. Bruce was so proud of her. Despite everything Cass had been through, she had grown to be such a kind, confident young lady. For her not only get up on a stage and dance but to also be the one of the leads was truly a testament to how hard she had worked to find a life she wanted.

Next to him, Danny stood, wavered, and ended up right back in his seat.

“Danny?”

“I’m fine, watch your daughter,” Danny said. He waved one hand dismissively at Bruce while he rested his forehead in the other.

He’d gone alarming pale.

Reluctantly, Bruce turned back to applaud one last time. As soon as the curtains closed, Bruce took a knee in front of Danny’s chair.

“I’m fine,” Danny tried again.

“You look like a ghost,” Bruce argued and took Danny’s wrist.

Danny covered a snort of laughter with his other hand.

Danny’s pulse fluttered weakly under Bruce’s fingers. “We should get you to an urgent care—”

“It’s fine,” Danny said. Even his smile looked a little weak. “I just need a moment.”

Bruce doubted that a moment would help much. “I’m worried about your pulse.”

“You caught that?” Danny asked, question curious and not at all concerned.

“I was studying to be a doctor at once point,” Bruce pointed out dryly.

“You were? Hum, maybe I’ve heard that before? I don’t really know,” Danny said before he shook his head a little. (The movement did Danny’s coloring no favors.) “But okay look, I know about my pulse issues. I’m having a bit of a bad… few weeks right now, but I’ll be fine. I’ve already seen my doctor about it. I get how it seems concerning, and yeah I need to keep taking it easy a bit, but this is pretty normal for me. I have some complications from an accident when I was a kid.”

Bruce frowned, searching the words for a lie.

There wasn’t one, even if there also wasn’t much information.

“At least let us offer you a ride home then,” Bruce insisted. He continued quickly when it seemed Danny would protest. “It really won’t be an issue and it would make me feel better to know you got home safe.”

Danny’s lips pressed together thinly.

Bruce pulled out the big guns. “And Cass would hate it if you were hurt from coming to see her perform.”

“Does she have everyone wrapped around her finger?” Danny asked, lips quirking into a little smile.

“Basically since she arrived,” Bruce said wryly. He stood and offered Danny both his arms, palms up. “Please stand carefully. If you go over the edge of the box I’ll have to drive to save you or something equally dramatic.”

“We would make the papers for sure,” Danny said. His grip was concernedly shaky as he wrapped his hands around Bruce’s forearms, but he stood in a smooth motion, even if he ended up basically leaning against Bruce’s chest. Danny stepped back after a second, cheeks dusted with red. “Okay, should I just… wait for you out front?”

“It’s adorable how you think I’m letting you out of my sight,” Bruce said. He rested his hand lightly on the small of Danny’s back and started to guide the other out of the box. “Again, you falling over the edge of the box, down the stairs, dramatically onto some absurdly pointy bit of Gotham architecture— these are all things I am not going to take a risk of happening to you.”

“You are such a father.”

“I don’t know if that’s a compliment or an insult,” Bruce said honestly as they took the back stairs down to avoid the crowd.

“Oh, well, more of just a statement? But definitely not an insult,” Danny insisted.

They were tucked slightly close together until the stairs opened up into a sitting room that was kept aside traditionally for those in the boxes. Tonight the Wayne name had kept it aside for for Bruce, his family, and their close friends. Well, and Danny, Bruce mused as he made the other sit down on the sofa that purely for looks and not comfort.

Bruce poured a glass of the recently refreshed water and brought it over to Danny.

“I really will be alright,” Danny said, but took the glass and a long sip. His color was a little better after some water. “I’ve been dealing with some level of this for… huh, almost twenty five years now. I sorta hadn’t realized that it had been so long… but anyways, that means I’m used to it.”

Bruce rested on the arm of the sofa. “Just because you’re used to it, that doesn’t mean that you have to bear it alone.”

Danny gave a little shrug. “But I do, Bruce, or a lot of it at least. I live alone after all.”

The door burst open as the room was swarmed with a multitude of Waynes and might-as-well-be-Waynes. It left Bruce without any time to respond to that and grateful, as he watched his family pile into the room, that he had been lucky enough despite everything to not end up alone.

Tim was the one who paused, as if just noticing Danny, before shaking his head. “Right, the engineer Cass invited! Hi, I’m Tim. I intern at WE so you might see me around there too. Well, not that you won’t see the others, but I mean that you might see me more often.”

“Nice to meet you Tim, though I don’t know how often you’ll be down by engineering,” Danny said.

Danny had a bit of a tight grip on the glass in his hands, but Bruce supposed it was a great deal of people very suddenly. There was something though…

“Oh, Tim is also a huge nerd,” Steph said as she threw her arm over Tim’s shoulder. “He likes to tinker so you might be surprised. Trust me, I’m his ex.”

“We only dated for months,” Tim said with a roll of his eyes.

“That’s Stephanie, a family friend,” Bruce cut in before things got far too out of hand. “You know Dick and this is Barbara, who he mentioned. Jason, my second oldest, is in the back with his boyfriend Roy, Duke is next to them, and this is Damian, my youngest.”

“Greetings,” Damian said. His tone was sever, but far more curious than cutting. Bruce was proud of the growth even if there was still more work to be done.

“Hello everyone. Like Tim said, I’m Danny,” Danny said with a little smile that was mostly real with just a bit of polite company strain. “Cass spent an afternoon in my office chatting with me. I suppose since we talked so much about the show, she invited me to see it. Sorry to invade your family time though, I didn’t know I would be doing that.”

“That’s just how this family goes,” Barbara said with a soft chuckle. “Trust me, I’ve been around them long enough to know how they absorb people.”

“Way to make us sound nefarious, Barbie,” Jason grumbled.

“No, no, you guys are,” Roy said casually. “It’s in a good way, sure, but you’re still sorta nefarious and you definitely absorb people. This isn’t even everyone.”

“Have I apologized for them already?” Bruce asked, though he supposed the fond warmth in his words ruined the intent.

Luckily Danny just gave a soft laugh. “Don’t. The best sort of family and friendships all have a good helping of chaos and malarkey.”

“Malarkey?” Steph repeated.

“It’s a good word, illiterate ingrate,” Jason defended.

The room dissolve into chaos and Bruce turned to apologize again only to find Danny watching the group with a small but fond smile.

[notsopersonalcharlie]

Don't Care, Belle

Biker!Bucky Barnes x Fem!Reader fluff

Summary: Bucky is capital J-Jealous

Warnings: A guy being overly nice at a bar, drinking at 1pm, nothing else I can think of

Notes: Short little thing I thought of when i was visiting home and witnessing my sister's boyfriend be jealous lol. I just love jealous Bucky sorry not sorry. More Biker!Bucky here

“Oh hey sweetheart, you look lonely over here.” You looked up from where you were engrossed in the book you’d left behind the bar for days just like this, the crew was too busy to talk and the regulars weren’t your favorite. The man wasn’t a regular, not horrible looking and was dressed alright. You were confident he had stopped by because his car was in the shop. The demographic that frequented the bar that was not the vibe that this man was giving off.

“Oh you know, just waiting for my order,” you supplied with a polite smile. He had plopped himself onto the bar stool beside you and raised a two finger salute to Bruce, who was the daytime bartender.

“Waiting for your car?” he asked, “Nice girls like you don’t usually come around here.” Your eyes narrowed, an eyebrow going up.

“I’m a regular. And you? Waiting for your car? Since I haven’t seen you around.” Bruce came over, giving you a look that said ‘if this guy is bothering you I’ll toss him out’ and you knew he would. Bruce “The Hulk” Banner was not exactly known for his polite way of answering rude customers. You shook your head. No need to alienate a customer just because he got a little friendly at a bar.

“What can I get you, man?”

“Whatever IPA you have and whatever the lady is having I’ll put on my tab.” Bruce grinned at that and you were near protesting. You never paid for a thing at the Howling Commando, but you knew Bruce and you knew he was putting your lunch right on this guy’s tab.

“Sure thing.” Bruce turned away.

“Must just have not been around on the same days as you.” You glanced around the bar. It was pretty empty today, but it was still early. Your bosses had required you to use some of your PTO before they had to pay you out for it, and you were truly more than happy to oblige a staycation. After another glance around, Bruce still keeping an eye on you out of the corner of your eye, you decided it would be entirely harmless to engage in conversation.

“Not sure. I’m here every day. Basically. You here getting your car fixed?” You asked again. He gave you another sleazy smile, this one reminiscent of your male coworkers who thought they could get any more than a polite smile or handshake at a work happy hour.

“Waiting for my car yeah. Only place this convenient to get a decent bite and drink while waiting for them to get done.” As if on queue, Bruce slid over your usual burger and sweet tea, and then an IPA for the guy.

“Closed tab?” Bruce asked, putting his hand out for the card. The guy did a suggestive look over at you.

“You know? Keep it open.” You rolled your eyes at your sandwich, slightly regretting that you had begun a conversation with this man, and took a bite. Some of the tomato juice dripped down your chin and you snapped at Bruce to get his attention.

“You’re going to learn one of these days,” he sighed, tossing you a stack of napkins. You chewed and swallowed and then gave him a grin as he walked back over.

“You keep saying that, but I never do.”

“Good luck…” he looked at the tab as he slid it under a cup in front of the man, “Colin… you’re going to need it.” You took a sip of your sweet tea, you knew he didn’t mean good luck with you, or at least not the primary part.

“So you’re really a regular regular huh?” Colin was eyeing you with near a frown as he took the first sip of his beer. The clock behind the bar read a quarter past one.

“Yeah, lots of friends who work here. Just not usually in during the day. Sounds like you’ve been here before?” You took another bite before he could pivot the questioning back to you.

“Yeah, I’ve been before. They did a shit job though…” He started to ramble but you were quickly uninterested when the side door opened and a sweaty, grease stained Bucky Barnes walked in, squinting at a ticket.

“Paulson? Fucking Yelena and her handwriting. This is fuc-oh!” It was almost comedic to see Bucky go from a serious, frowning massive man to the grinning, golden retriever man he became when he looked at you. Bucky attention had turned squarely on you as he walked over, the ticket partially crumpling in his hand as he tried to wipe them off before he got over to you. The grease stains on some of your clothes were impossible to get out just from his grabby hands.

“Paulson, that’s me.” Both you and Bucky turned to Colin, as if he had just returned to existence. Bucky’s eyes narrowed, and you could see them flicker across the length of the empty bar then back to where Colin had seated himself beside you. He knew it had to be him that sat beside you because not two hours gone, Bucky had come in for some water and to smack a kiss to your lips right where you sat now.

All concern for grease stains went right out the window.

Bucky came up behind you, reaching over your shoulder to take a few fries off your plate, the hand with the crumpled ticket going around the other side to hand it to Colin, effectively entrapping you between his arms and away from the guy.

“Your car’s done. You can settle it up in the office.” Colin stared at Bucky, who after handing him the paper, wrapped his arm around you and pressed your back to his chest, chomping on fries and reaching for your sweet tea.

“Did they make your burger good?” Bucky asked, “The new cook got specific instructions.” You elbowed him lightly.

“I don’t need everyone thinking I’m a control freak.” Bucky laughed, pressing a kiss to your temple.

“They know I’m the control freak.”

“I guess… I guess I’ll go get my car then. Nice to meet you.” Colin left his mostly full IPA on the table and forgot to pay his tab, near running out the front door.

“What was that guys problem?” Bucky asked jokingly, spinning your stool so you were facing him. You wrinkled your nose.

“You’re stinky.”

“I don’t think you care,” Bucky rumbled, leaning down to press a long warm kiss to your lips.

“His problem was I was getting ready to deck him,” Bruce said, setting down a pint of Bucky’s favorite on a coaster beside your food. He whisked away Colin’s drink and wiped down the watermark.

“What did he do?”

“Nothing,” Bruce responded before disappearing back towards the kitchen. Bucky plopped onto the stool beside you and waited for you to respond.

“He was just trying to chat me up. That’s all.” Bucky sipped his drink before taking a massive bite out of your burger.

“Hey! That’s mine! Smaller bite!”

“I’m just taste testing the new cook.” You bickered over your lunch as the rest of the garage crew began to filter in, a few of the regulars making their way through the front as well.

“Heyo! I heard someone was trying to flirt with-“ Bucky hit Steve in the arm, but Sam had already heard it from where he was clocking in behind the bar.

“Is he dead?” he yelled. The group devolved into ways that Bucky could have murdered this man. All of you failed to notice Colin walking in the front door, where he paused and stared at the group of massive, tattooed bikers calling out forms of torture that could have been inflicted on him. Sam saw him first.

“Oh hey man, what can I get you?” Everyone turned toward him and Bucky got to his feet immediately, having been the only one who could have identified him.

“Just-“ the man’s voice came out high and you suppressed a grin, already feeling a little bad for him. He cleared his throat, face red.

“Just the tab I left.” There was a quiet murmur of “ooooos” as the group dispersed, keeping an eye on you and Bucky.

"Sorry," you started, but Bucky shifted around the side of the bar, picking up Colin's card where it was sitting by the register. Policy was 20% on any leftover cards and Bruce had already closed it out with your meal on there.

"Here. Get lost." Bucky's expression had gone dark.

"Buck, he didn't know."

"Don't care." Colin took a few steps back.

"Man, I wasn't looking for trouble. I didn't know she was your girl, she was talking to me too."

"Do. Not. Care." Colin fled under the close watch of the bikers.

"You didn't have to do that," you sighed, rolling your eyes at the men around you, "You're going to lose a customer."

"Don't care," Bucky muttered, back by your side, "You're mine, honey. Don't care what anyone else says."

"I am yours. He was just being nice." Sam had started the music for the night, and it whafted through the speakers.

"Dance with me, belle?" You laughed.

"When have I ever said no to that? In fact, kill me if I ever do because its an evil clone trying to take over my life." He laughed, the sound more than enough music to your ears for dancing. Bucky wrapped an arm around you and smacked a kiss to your lips, taking your hand and whisking you off to the dance floor.

[redflagshipwriter]

Check Yes Chapter 6

masterpost

“Have you experienced events that could be described as fatal?” Danny read from his notebook. Before Jason could answer he continued, “Do you know the name and species of all your progenitors? Have you ever wondered if you are-” 

Jason held a hand up to ask for silence. He was in the zone on a training module that Barbie had sent to the whole team. He was not going to get any more shit from fucking Tim and Stephanie about being an out of touch old man like Bruce who ran code directly from the 90s.

Danny cut himself off to wait. Without looking up, Jason could see some kind of bouncing movement that had to be Danny fidgeting. “You’re early,” Jason eventually said. He shut the program that he’d been running and then blinked his full attention over to his date. “It’s not- is it 5 already?” He blinked away the gumminess in his eyes and checked the time. 

Danny flushed a little green. His freckles glowed a little whiter in contrast. “No, it’s 4:30,” he admitted sheepishly. “I, uh, left work a little early.” He floated up and then abruptly over into a flip. Like an antsy mermaid. Jason leaned back and watched, fascinated by how easy movement looked on Danny. It was the way he’d used to see Dick, but now he knew how hard Dick’s easy mobility was earned.

“You don’t feel gravity at all, do you?” He confirmed, envious and charmed. 

“Uhh.. Can’t say that I do,” Danny admitted. He shrugged. “Not like this, anyway. I do in my human body, obviously.”

“Is that literally-” Jason cut himself off with a mortified flush. Holy shit. You can’t just ask someone if they have a magical transformation into their own corpse. Insensitive much?

Danny gave him a knowing look but gracefully ignored the question. “Anyway. Do you remember what I asked earlier?” He cocked his head to the side and full body wiggled. “I had Frostbite help me write them out. Undead health isn’t really my area, but he knows everything that’s ever been known, which is pretty cool.”

“Uh…” Jason thought back. “I told you when we were eating that I died once,” he reminded Danny with a raised eyebrow. “So that’s an easy yes.”

Danny shrugged helplessly. “I didn’t know how serious you were or if you were describing something extremely short term like needing afib or something longer term-”

“Dead, buried, in the ground for months,” Jason admitted. “Presumably rotted, but I came back to myself with living human physiology, if extremely damaged from what killed me.” It was really gross to think about. It was also impossible to totally avoid. There should have been no coming back from all the blood drying up and shit.

Danny stared at him with an open mouth for a few seconds. Long enough that Jason fidgeted, uncomfortable.

“That’s the most metal shit I’ve ever heard in my life,” Danny said reverentially. “That’s so nasty, man. You rotted? Does this make me more of a necrophiliac than you?”

Jason choked on his own spit.

Danny did another flip.

“My parents were definitely human,” Jason managed, voice strangled. Best to get this back on topic. “I know for sure. I’ve met them both.”

Danny blew a raspberry. “It’s not always obvious,” he pointed out 

“Anything that would show up on Batman’s DNA analysis can be ruled out,” Jason corrected himself. “And neither of them had any non-human capabilities. Died from things that a Tamaraean or Kryptonian would be able to get out of.” 

“...Oddly specific species mentions,” Danny said. A line formed between his brows. His toes touched down to earth and he crossed his arms. “You… I wasn’t thinking of that type of non-human.” He cleared his throat. “It’s just that, you touched Wolf.”

“And a Kryptonisn wouldn’t be able to?” Jason asked a bit dryly. He didn’t understand the logic.

“Not unless they were really juicy with death,” Danny said in a weirdly mellow tone for such a disgusting sentence.

Jason gagged a little. He couldn’t help it. Oh, christ. Yeah, bodies got wet and shit after a while, but characterizing that as juicy? That was out of line.

“Not like- not like that!” Danny fluttered his hands at Jason, torn between horror and cackling. “I don’t mean like, dead and rotting. I mean dead and reanimated with ectoplasm. Souped with the sweet nectar of the afterlife. Wolf is a ghost, man.” He snickered.

“Wolf is a ghost,” Jason repeated.

Danny frowned. “Wolf,” he said. “Not Wolf.”

“What?” They sounded the same.

“You’re saying it wrong,” Danny said, saying the name the exact same way that Jason had been. “It’s Wolf, not Wolf.”

Jason stared at him warily. “...Spell it for me.”

“W-U-L-F,”  Danny rattled.

Ah. Ok. Jason took that onboard. “Wulf is a ghost,” he said again. “And therefore I ought not be able to touch him. I can touch you.”

“Like this? For sure.” Danny went through his flashbang light-show and shook out his newly black hair. “I’m a physical being. In my ghost form, I can consciously let you touch me. But Wulf was actively in the Ghost Zone when you hit him. You put your hand into the Ghost Zone and smacked him. The living have ghostly properties in the Ghost Zone. He’s tangible there but you should have been intangible.”

“...Maybe I’m a ghost?” Jason posited, cocking his head slightly as he said it. Danny was the expert. “I never found any answer for why I just woke up in my grave one day.”

“You just woke up?” Danny repeated, delighted. He put his hands on his face, breathed into them heavily, and then ran both hands through his hair. “That’s sick. That’s fucking sick, man. Did you have to dig yourself out like a zombie?”

…Did Danny think this was like, hot, and not disturbing? “Tore off my fingernails on the coffin splinters,” Jason confirmed, fascinated with what a little freak this guy was. Danny’s pupil dilated at the words. Jason could almost have been offended because that shit was traumatic, but hey. 

If he really thought about it. It was sick as fuck.

“I think yes, by the way,” Jason decided. He waited for Danny to give him a questioning look  before he elaborated. “You’re a monsterfucker, my guy. I’m attracted to you, but not because you’re dead. Whereas you’re clearly into the fact that I’m a dead guy.” 

Danny opened his mouth. He shut it. He put a hand over his mouth. “Huh,” he said. “Huh.” His brow furrowed. “If I said it was scientific curiosity and that passion for death runs in my family- no, I hear it.” He flapped a hand at Jason to cut off the laugh he couldn’t stop. “Hush. Okay. Fine.” He stood up a little straighter. “I’m a necrophiliac and I’m proud.”

A window banged shut in the kitchen and there was a clatter as someone’s shitty little brother fell into the sink.

“...Hi, Duke!” Danny called.

Jason put his hand over his face.

“Hi, Danny!” Duke called back, voice choked. “Good to hear from you, man.”

“You can’t fucking be here!” Jason said between his fingers. “I have plans, you shitty Zebra mussel.”

Danny looked at him.

“...What?” Duke asked. He came into the room to frown at Jason.

Jason rolled his eyes. “New Zealand mud snail.” They still didn’t get it. “Spotted lantern fly.” 

Blank stares.

“Fucksake,” said Jason. “I’m calling you an invasive species.”

Danny laughed. Duke made a loud pffft sound and unlocked his phone. He held it up and showed them the screen. “Would the New Zealand zebra lantern fly have this?” He triumphantly brandished his phone screen, which was a screenshot of his chat with Jason where he’d confirmed that he had permission to come over.

“New Zealand zebra lantern fly,” Jason repeated, vexed as fuck. “You know damn well-”

“It checks out, boss,” Danny reported, leaning back from Duke’s phone. “Looks like he’s allowed in. Let ‘im use your TV while we go out.”

“Yeah, let me use your TV while you go on a date,” Duke echoed, clearly enjoying this a lot.

“...I’ll get my coat,” Jason said sullenly. “Don’t get too comfortable.”

“We’ll bring you back dinner,” Danny told Duke.

Jason stalked away into his bedroom, wondering when he’d lost the plot to his own life.

[hana-no-seiiki]

STILL INTO YOU

yandere batfam x cat villain! reader (+extra!!)

synopsis: moments wherein the batfam n co. realize that after all this time they’re still into you

status: unedited.

[AUTHOR’S NOTE:] Super sorry for the lack of fics everyone!! Lately I found out that my DID symptoms have gotten worse and that I’ve experienced a full blackout (and possibly more, I just have no memory of it). So I’ve just been trying to recuperate my mental health for a while with art related stuff. Which, on the positive side of things, means that I’ll be releasing a Webtoon (pilot) around this July!! Hope to see you guys there during the release!!

Can’t count the years on one hand

That we’ve been together

I need the other one to hold you.

Make you feel, make you feel better.

You never realized how much Bruce knew you until you two sat down and had a meal together. Why? You might ask. Well, you were supposed to have a dinner date with Tim today at the manor, but he was unfortunately caught up on a case. You were about to cancel it, maybe cause some chaos in town and then chill with Jason as revenge for your bestie bailing — but Tim insisted you hung out with his father instead.

The pair knew it was the only way for you to (A) Behave and (B) not sleep with Jason for the nth time that week.

Gazing at all your favorite foods displayed upon the excessively extravagant and expensive table you realized that aside from the second youngest, Bruce knew you the most out of everyone in the Batfamily by virtue of his contingencies and overall time as the Batman while you were training to be Catwoman’s successor.

It was so odd, seeing him so calm and not so hostile when you were around. Eerie.

“I’m sorry.”

“Hm?”

“I always saw you as a threat. Treated you like one. But you were just a kid stuck in a situation you didn’t have a hand on. I’m truly sorry. For treating you that way.”

“. . . Isn’t it your job? No hard feelings really. I’d be creeped out if you treated me so nicely — not the food though this is very much welcomed.” You ranted as you stuck a fork into your steak, pointing it at Bruce’s face. Yet, as much as how you were failing to achieve proper etiquette he didn’t seem annoyed more so . . . surprised?

“I hope to see you have dinner here again next week.” His hands stretched to awkwardly pat your head.

“Depends, will I have more of Alfred’s steak again?”

It's not a walk in the park

To love each other.

But when our fingers interlock,

Can't deny, can't deny you're worth it.

Koriand’r wasn’t an idiot. She knew about Dick’s lingering feelings for you.

Perhaps she may be. Considering the fact that she still tried to be in a relationship with him even then.

“Shit. Kitty? Kitty! Wake up you hear me?!”

“. . . I’m. . .” You coughed, groaning at the pain it triggered all throughout your body “ . . . here . .”

You raised your hand, too weak to reach his face you settled with holding his own. Dick squeezed your intertwined hands with a pained expression , and an intimacy unfamiliar to the alien.

But that wasn’t what made Koriand’r finally understand how hopeless their relationship was.

It was the fear in his face. His pretty features morphed into one of horror.

Ah, even after all this time. Dick couldn’t live without you.

Cause after all this time I’m still into you.

I should be over all the butterflies

But i'm into you (I'm in to you)

And baby even on our worst nights

I'm into you (I'm into you)

Let em wonder how we got this far

Cause I don't really need to wonder at all

Yeah after all this time

I'm still into you

Jason spent many, many grueling years under the influence of the LoA. And not once did his body forget the feeling of you.

The butterflies, the heart wrenching pain of being apart from you, and the fleeting, venomous hatred you two shared.

After all, it was your name that escaped his lips the moment he awoke from the dead. Your face the first on his mind. Your voice that he longed to hear again.

He had plenty of time to prepare for this moment. Months? Maybe even years.

“Hey, cool helmet. You a Deadpool fan or . . ?”

But even then, your appearance still made him more nervous than confronting his family once more. More nervous than fighting the villain that ended his life.

“Yikes, awful cut you got there. Need me to patch you up buddy?”

You had grown. He had too, even if it was through some magic, deus ex machina water. Seeing the change in your features, how you shed your youthful look of naïvete and grew into a beautiful/handsome/pretty specimen almost made him break all his plans just to be with you again.

“I know that you’re shy and all but I need words.”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be here til the vigilantes show up.”

For his revenge’s sake he hopes that you’ll stay for longer.

Recount the night that I first

Met your mother

And on the drive back to my house

I told you that, I told you that I loved ya.

You felt the weight of the world

Fall off your shoulder

And to your favorite song

We sang along to the start of forever

It was one of those nights when you intruded on the Batfam’s nightly patrols. This time your victim was Damian. And strangely, no one else. He explained that the rest were taking a break.

Leaving out the fact that he poisoned them with some self engineered laxatives.

It was relatively calm until a heist suddenly started in one of the banks you wanted to pick off. Damn.

“Hey, I didn’t know you listened to [Favorite Artist(s)]” You eyes widened at the sound of the music playing the background as Joker’s men began to surround you and Robin.

“Just a casual listener. How did you meet my mother anyhow?” Damian sheathed his katana. Opting to take down his foes by hand to hand combat as he peeled his eyes and ears to listen to you.

Besides he could see that your eyes weren’t on him anyways, so there was no point in showing off.

. . . Not that he was doing that.

“Huh? Well, I know everyone really.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“What if I don’t want to?”

He sighed, bashing a poor guy’s face with his knees, his hands adding force with a pull — yikes. “I don’t know why I bother with you.”

“She hated me at first. Courtesy of Cat Woman and the Bat being together.” You turned to him, and he ducks.

“Then I lost someone really, really important to me. More than anything in this world. More than this world itself.” Your whip meets a goon behind him. Both of you hear a splat sound as the man falls to the floor. “And while everyone was calling me insane, when everything was breaking down around me. She was the only one who didn’t judge me for . . . the things that I did.”

“She supported me and was there for me no matter what.” You gaze at the blood on your weapon and cringe. “And then I realized your dad was an absolute bastard for leaving her behind. So I took up the mask again and made it my mission to make his life miserable."

"Even after the dinner?"

"Especially. Wanna bet on how long til he snaps?"

"Deal."

And after all this time I’m still into you.

I should be over all the butterflies

But i'm into you (I'm in to you)

And baby even on our worst nights

I'm into you (I'm into you)

Let em wonder how we got this far

Cause I don't really need to wonder at all

Yeah after all this time

I'm still into you

Some things just,

Some things just make sense

And one of those is you and I

Some things just,

Some things just make sense

And even after all this time

Tim honestly didn’t think he had it as bad as his brothers. Sure, he watched your every move and had extensive digital libraries on everything about you, but he did that for everyone. He was more rational; a man that clung unto his senses.

No it wasn’t his actions that made him realize how dangerously important you were to him, it was the way he felt doing so.

After an excessively arduous mission, the first thing he does as he gets back home is to open up his devices and get back to work. Surprise surprise, the stress wouldn’t go away. Not even when he stopped to play some games or catch up on Dungeon Meshi’s last episodes. And that always, always made him relax.

Anxious, his hands subconsciously guide him to that one folder.

Click Click

Dozens if not hundreds of holographic photos, videos and even fan art of you surrounded him.

Tim stares at a video he took when he first found out your identity.

Curling up into a ball with a blanket surrounding him, he slowly drifts off to sleep. Your voice lulling him into his overdue journey to dreamland.

Yeah, he was more rational than the rest. Yet, some things just made sense. Like you being the only thing in this world that manages to make his heart race and anxieties run away.

I'm into You

Baby not a day goes by that

I'm not into you

Jon was a bit dense. But even then he could see the signs of his best friend slowly losing himself to love and infatuation.

He would have been happy,

if it weren’t for the fact that he had a crush on you first.

Being the sweetheart he is, he backed off, respectful of Damian’s feelings (even if the latter wasn’t of his).

I should be over all the butterflies

But i'm into you (I'm in to you)

“Woah, you guys are done already?” Jon landed. As soon as he heard that he’d be able to fight alongside you after what felt like years (it was a couple of weeks), he flew all the way from Metropolis in record time.

If he knew what awaited him he probably wouldn’t have left at all.

“Yeah.” You gave him a thumbs up. Your head laid atop Damian’s lap as the domino masked vigilante ran his hands through your hair. His gloves off to his side.

“C-Cool.”

Jon cried himself to sleep that night.

Even after knowing of Damian’s feelings all this time, he could never stop his own.

And baby even on our worst nights

I'm into you (I'm into you)

Let em wonder how we got this far

Cause I don't really need to wonder at all

Yeah after all this time

I'm still into you

I'm still into you

I'm still into you

[ NEXT PART : NOBODY GETS ME ]

[jinjeriffic]

DCxDP Prophecy Universe Part 3

Part 2

Tim reached up to rub at his temples and groaned. This was getting him nowhere. Normally he enjoyed going down the research rabbit-hole but this was ridiculous! Paranormal sciences were a bad joke. Most of it was conjecture, hearsay and unprovable theories with just enough scientific sounding jargon peppered in to confuse a layperson. Peer-review was practically non-existent, not to mention a proper scientific method. Francis Bacon would be rolling in his grave!

The slight hiss of the elevator doors opening interrupted his thoughts.

“Hey Replacement, you missed dinner!” Jason called, sauntering over with a loaded plate in hand. He set down a sandwich next to Tim’s elbow. “Alfie says he’s cutting off your coffee supply until you get some damn sleep. I’m pretty sure he’s gonna start prepping the knock-out gas soon!” he quipped, leaning his hip against the Batcomputer’s console. “Research on the League giving you trouble?”

“I wish.” Tim sighed, reaching for the sandwich, “The Assassins have actually been pretty quiet recently. I found some leads on suspicious political donations in Italy, but nothing I can tie to them directly. Talia’s in Paris as far as I can tell, working at an investment firm for God knows what reason. Probably money laundering related. And the ones holed up in Nanda Parbat have been quiet as murderous little church mice.”

“Ra’s isn’t up to anything? Colour me shocked.” Jason drawled sardonically, “You sure he’s not cooking up a new batch of demon spawn in that mountain of his?”

Tim shook his head. “You know Bruce destroyed his cloning labs after the last… incident. And I’ve found no records of the League procuring the necessary materials or equipment to restart production.” he wrinkled his nose, “Of course it’s possible that they used a shell company we haven’t come across yet, but I believe the odds are pretty low.”

“So what’s got your panties in a bunch then?”

Tim’s mouth twisted in a frown. “Ghosts.”

“Ah.”

Jason stared off into space and Tim took a bite of his sandwich. Egg-salad, score! The Cave was silent for a while, only disturbed by the noise of the actual bats heading out for their nightly hunt.

“I can’t tell you for sure if ghosts are real or not. I don’t remember anything from when I was… dead.” Jason said haltingly, and Tim stilled. “But we’ve seen people come back under pretty weird circumstances. So why not ghosts?” Jason shrugged.

Tim chewed and swallowed before replying. “Because it’s one thing for the physical body to be restored, but some kind of nebulous ‘spirit’ lingering? Why don’t we see ghosts all the time then? Why don’t people come back? Why not…” Tim broke off.

“Your Dad?”

Tim nodded and dropped the remains of the sandwich back on the plate. It suddenly looked as appetising as cardboard.

“I don’t know, birdie. We still don’t know why I came back.” Jason snorted “Maybe the universe just has a sick sense of humour.”

Tim’s lips curled up in a mirthless smile. “Maybe the universe missed your terrible puns. Some of those still haunt me.”

Jason barked out a surprised laugh. “That was terrible!”

“The universe clearly made a grave mistake.”

“Stop it, I can feel my brain cells dying!” Jason groaned and gave Tim a light punch to the shoulder.

“Well we can’t have that, you have so few already!” Tim snarked, then quickly leaned to the side to evade Jason’s attempted noogie. Jason huffed and stepped back, crossing his arms.

“All right mister teenage genius. What have you dug up about ghosts then?”

Tim rolled his eyes. “There’s obviously tons of folklore from all over the world. Pretty much every mythology has stories about the spirits or souls of the dead returning to haunt the living. But if there’s a scientific basis to all this then it’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Even the supposed leaders in the field are hopelessly biased.” He pulled up some documents on the screen. “Take these for example. The Doctors Fenton are supposed experts in the field of ‘Ecto-Biology’ as they call it, but their research papers would never fly with a proper scientific journal. A lot of it comes across as blatantly xenophobic towards the entities they are supposedly studying and their research methods seem geared towards confirming what they view as foregone conclusions. And most of their peers operate on the same track.”

Jason hummed thoughtfully as he skimmed one of the articles in question. “Do you think there’s anything to this, or is it all just a hoax?”

Tim snorted. “If there is, they haven’t offered any conclusive proof. Though they certainly seem to have made it work for them. The Fentons have a series of patents for weapons and defenses against these supposed ‘ecto-entities’ and it looks like there’s plenty of people gullible enough to buy them. I haven’t taken a closer look at their products yet, but a lot of it looks like something out of a pulp sci-fi movie.” He pulled up the image of what looked like a bazooka with green glowing parts. Jason whistled.

“So, con artists or mad scientists?”

“Could be both. Their financial records are all over the place and they’ve had some large transactions with what I’m pretty sure are shell companies in recent years. They live and operate out of a small city in Illinois.” Tim said, pulling up the relevant documents on screen.

“Amity Park?” Jason read aloud.

“Supposedly it’s ‘The Most Haunted City in America’. Seems on brand, doesn’t it?”

“It probably helps them stay in business. It looks like they have kids?” Jason pointed at the tax returns. Tim typed some search queries into the system.

“Two. One in high school, one just started her first semester at Metropolis University. With a full scholarship to boot.” He spent a few more minutes hacking into the university’s systems. “Here we go, Jasmine Fenton. Looks like she’s going for a psychology degree. And… hm…” Tim trailed off. Jason quickly realised what had caught his attention.

“‘The Damaging Effects of Envy Towards Metahumans? That’s a hell of a topic for a freshman-year essay.” Jason remarked.

“Yes. I wonder…” Tim drummed his fingers on the keyboard. “She might have some insight into her parents’ research.”

“And at a cursory glance, she didn’t drink whatever Kool-Aid her parents were serving.” Jason finished for him. “You wanna go pump her for information?”

“I might as well. If nothing else, maybe we can shut down a couple of mad scientists before they become a problem.” Tim stood up and stretched. “Time for a field trip!”

Part 4

[issdisgrace]

I'd love to request, jason x male reader, who has a prosthetic arm and leg, you can decide. And the reader meeting the Wayne family for the first time, and Bruce being a bit judgy. Maybe Bruce even asking Jason in Private if he's sure the reader is the right person

I hope you're comfortable writing this :)

YOU SURE ABOUT THIS

WARNINGS: None unless you count swearing.

A/N: Y/n just has a prosthetic arm. Also when i was writing i wrote this with Bucky Barnes in my mind.

I look over at Y/n as I park in front of the manor.

“Are you sure about this? We can go home and order takeout.”

“I can do this, Jason. I need to, they are your family.”

“You don’t need to do anything that you don’t feel comfortable with.”

“If I didn’t step out of my comfort zone, then I wouldn’t be here with you right now. So let’s get this show on the road.”

“Ok and remember we can leave at anytime.”

“I’ll be fine Jason and stop worrying so much, it will give you wrinkles.” Y/n days before giving me a quick kiss on the lips before getting out of the car. I sigh to myself before getting out as well. He’s right. He’s always right. Can’t he ever be wrong? I reach out for his hand and gently lead him up the steps of the manor. As I got to knock on the door, it opens and revealing Alfred.

“Master Jason and you must be Master Y/n pleasure to meet you. I’m Alfred Pennyworth, the butler. Please do come in.” Alfred says, stepping to the side to let us in. Walking in the warmth of the manor is comforting, like always, especially on cooler evenings like this.

“Pleasure to meet you to Alfred. I’ve heard a lot about you from Jason.” 

“All good, I hope,” Alfred says as he closes the door.

“Very much. I heard that you are an excellent cook.”

“And baker. He makes a mean snickerdoodle.” I add.

“You always know how to falter me, Master Jason. Anyway, your father and brothers are in the living room. I must get back to the kitchen to make sure nothing burned.”

“Alright, thanks Alfred.” I watch as Alfred walks down the hall and when he’s out of earshot, I ask.

“You good.” Y/n grabs my face with his hands.

“I’m good Jason.” He says before giving me a kiss.

“Ok.” I say as I pull away.

“Now, how about you introduce me to your family?”

“Alright, it’s just this way.” I say as I start to lead him towards the livingroom. I notice the way he looks around. It’s in admiration.

“This place is very beautiful.”

“I guess.” I say, leading them into the livingroom.

“Jason, my son. It’s good to see you,” Bruce says, getting up from his armchair.

“Good to see you too, old man. This is Y/n, Y/n this is Bruce.”

“Nice to meet you, Bruce.” Y/n says, reaching out to shake his hand. Bruce shakes his hand and I can see the way his eyes flicker to Y/n’s prosthetic arm. We take a seat on the empty couch and I silently pray to the gods he doesn’t say anything as my brothers introduce themselves. Of course, the last one is Tim.

“Tim and that a nice piece of metal you got there.” I try to contain myself, feeling the urge to strangle him.

“Yeah, a friend of mine made it for me shortly after I lost my arm. And I’ve been rocking with it sense then.”

“Cool, does it function?”

“It does see,” Y/n says, showing how the arm and hand can move around.

“Thats neat. How do that?”

“I have a plate built into my shoulder that my arm attaches too and that is hooked up to my brain and that’s how I control it.”

“Damn that pretty high tech.” Tim says.

“It is, Drake. May I ask how you lost your arm?” Damian asks surprisingly kindly. Hmm, that is weird. I look over at Y/n and take his hand, giving him a gently squeeze. 

“I lost it during my time as a P.O.W..”

“Thank you for your service.” Dick is quick to say with a smile. I sigh to myself, finally relaxing, Its was nice to see Dick

being Dick. I just hope short stack and Bruce don’t say anything insensitive. 

“It was my honor to serve.” Y/n days.

This whole thing definitely went better than I suspected. I smile to myself as watch as Dick practically pulls Y/n out of the dining room behind him, wanting to show him around the manor. Tim and Damian following behind them. As I go to join them, I feel a hand on my shoulder. I brush the hand off and turn around to look at Bruce. 

“I know this isn’t my place, but are you sure about them? Are you sure they’re the one?” He asks. When he asks that I see fucking red.

“Why? You think they're damaged goods because they lost one of their arms. Well listen here, old man, I love them and I will marry them one day. So keep your shit opinion to yourself and go fuck yourself.” I say making sure my anger was on full display. I then turn around and leave the dining room to go find where my brothers dragged my boyfriend off to.

EXTRA:

“Master Bruce, that was very out of line of you.”

“I just want to make sure he’s making the right decision.”

“He is an adult. He can make his own decisions and, remember don’t judge a book by its cover, Master Bruce. I raised you better.”

[just-dreaming-marvel]

Arc Reactor

MAIN MASTERLIST / MARVEL MASTERLIST

Tony Stark x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 7,680ish

Summary: You love Tony's arc reactor. But what if it's the thing that can cause you the greatest pain?

Warnings: torture, unwanted touching, transplants, ptsd

Notes: Wow. I have not be able to write this much in a short amount of time in such a long time. It feels good. I hope people enjoy this one. It's a long one. Sorry if there's any errors, I really wanted to just get it out.

Tony and you were laying in bed. It was one of the few occasions that you could convince Tony to come to bed and he could actually sleep. This time, you were the one not sleeping much, content to run your fingers around the edges of his arc reactor. The glow allowed you to see the outlines of his face in the darkness. The softness of his features when they were fully relaxed reminded you about how much you love his wrinkles when he smiles. 

“You’re staring,” Tony grumbled after a while.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered. “I’ll stop.” But you made no move to look away or to stop running your finger over the rim of his reactor.

Tony opened one eye to look at you. “You’re wide awake.” He moved slightly and opened both eyes to get a better look at you.

“Yes, we’ve seemed to switch positions tonight.”

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing. Just couldn’t stop staring at you… you’re very pretty.”

Tony chuckled. “Pretty?”

“You heard what I said.”

“Well, my dear, you’re prettier.” Tony scooted closer to give a peck to the tip of your nose. He pulled away and studied your eyes. “Are you sure the only reason you’re awake is because I’m pretty?”

You shrugged. “Sometimes I like watching you sleep.”

“Hmm.” He glanced down at your fingers that were running over his arc reactor. “Is it the light? I can put a shirt on.”

“Don’t you dare.”

Tony chuckled a little before the two of you sat in silence for a moment. “I’ve been thinking about seeing if I can get rid of this thing.”

“What?” Your hand stopped its movements as his statement shocked you. “Is that even an option? The reactor is keeping you alive.”

“I’ve looked into some doctor’s that I believe could help me take the shrapnel out of me.”

“That’s… that’s…” 

Your eyes fell to the glowing reactor. This object was inside of your boyfriend’s chest, keeping him alive. It was an object that brought an odd sense of peace to you, especially when missions were hard and you didn’t think you or Tony were going to make it out. It was your personal night-light, connected to the most important person in your life. What would life be without Tony having a reactor in his chest? Would the suit’s work the same? Would Tony’s heart be okay? What if he didn’t survive the surgery? What if Tony—

“Honey,” Tony pulled you from your thoughts through his words and gently taking your face in his hands. He could tell that you were spiraling. You met his gaze. “I promise that I would do anything unless I’m a 100% sure it will work. I will consult every doctor, including Bruce, and I’ll have JARVIS run every possible scenario. Okay?”

“Okay,” you gave a slight nod.

Tony could tell that you still weren’t all in. “And I promise that, after collecting all the research, I won’t do anything that you don’t want me to.”

You sighed. “If it’s really what you want, I will support you.”

Tony gave you a tight-lipped smile before leaning in to give you a light kiss. “We can talk more about this in the morning.” He wrapped his arms around you and pulled you into his chest. “We should sleep.”

You giggled. “Said Tony Stark. The Sleepless Wonder.”

“Well that’s a new one.” 

Sighing, you snuggled into Tony. “Goodnight, Tones.”

“Goodnight, my dear,” he pressed a kiss to the top of your head. “Love you.”

~~~

The talk of removing Tony’s arc reactor failed to me talked about more in the morning. Instead, the two of you continued your lives like the talk hadn’t happened. Well, except for the fact that Tony had started pulling together research on doctor’s and procedures. 

Weeks went by and you barely remembered the conversation anymore. Tony and you were just living your lives: trainings, meetings, lab time, date nights. Life was good.

“How big do you think this mission is?” You asked Natasha as the two of you walked to the conference room.

“Well, since everyone’s being called in for this, I’d say pretty big,” she responded.

“Great… Just what I want to deal with.”

Natasha laughed. “It’s been a while since we’ve all be called out together, it might be nice.”

“It’s only nice for you because your boyfriend isn’t as overprotective as mine.”

“I don’t know, the Hulk can be very protective.”

“Yes, but Bruce isn’t. Tony is overprotective all the time.”

Natasha opened the door to the conference room. “I guess you’re right, since your boyfriend saved you a seat and mine’s standing in the corner.”

You let out a laugh as the two of you entered and found your seats. Tony shot you a smile as you sat down behind him. “Thanks for saving me a seat,” you whispered.

Tony turned in his chair and reached over to take your hand, bringing your hand up to press a kiss to the back of it. “Anytime.”

Steve quickly got started with the briefing and Tony didn’t let go of your hand through it all. It was a big mission, everyone was needed. The plan was to take down a major HYDRA facility located near the North Pole. You and Tony were tasked with entering the facility, wiping the drives and placing the needed explosives. The rest of the Team would be outside as the distraction since it was clear that the facility was not empty.

“Is everyone clear about their assignments?” Steve asked. He looked around the room to see the multitude of nods and ‘yes’s heard. “Alright. Pack up and rest up, we leave late tonight.”

Everyone stood up but Tony and yourself. Tony’s thumb was rubbing the back of your hand. You could tell that he was nervous, he always was when it came to you going on missions. Once everyone left, you rolled your chair closer to his.

“Are you alright?” You asked softly, trying to pull him from his anxious thoughts.

“Just… something doesn’t feel right about this mission,” Tony admitted. He wasn’t usually one to feel this way, it was usually you. 

“I’m sure that it’s just my normal nervousness getting to you.”

“No,” Tony shook his head. “That’s not it.” He turned his chair and looked you in the eyes. “This mission isn’t going to end well.”

“When does any mission?”

“I’m not joking, Y/N. I… I think we need to stay back.”

“We can’t, Tony. The whole Team is needed. I’m sure that we’re just switching roles again. You haven’t been this nervous about a mission in a while. It was about time.”

“I guess you could be right…” He sighed. “We should get ready.”

“Yeah.” You leaned in and gave him a kiss. You could tell that his anxiousness about the mission wasn’t going to go away until you were all back in the safety of the compound. “I love you.”

Tony pressed out a smile for you before kissing you. “I love you more.”

~~~

Tony was an anxious mess the whole flight. He choose to fly the quinjet to help ease his nerves but that caused the flight to not be as smooth as it should have been. Everyone kept eyeing you, trying to get you to do something but you knew that taking him away from the controls would be worse. 

“Is Stark okay enough to do this?” Steve whispered to you as you finished getting ready in the back of the quinjet. “I haven’t seen him this bad in… well, in ever.”

You sighed. “He has a bad feeling about this mission. I’m starting to as well.”

“It’s too late to back out now.”

“I know. I’ll keep a close eye out on him and let you know if we need back up in there.”

“Please. We don’t want to lose either of you just because Tony’s not fully focused.”

“I can handle him, Steve. Trust me.”

~~~

“Y/N! I need you to hurry, we have more company coming!”

“Well if you hadn’t lost the damn drive, I wouldn’t have to erase everything manually!”

You were frantically typing on the facility’s main frame, trying to erasing everything as fast as you could. Tony was just outside the room, shooting down any HYDRA agents that came your way.

“I told you this mission wasn’t going to end well!” Tony shouted.

“It’s not over yet, Stark! Focus!”

Suddenly, you heard a loud explosion come from the hall. It shook the place, causing you to fall to the ground.

“Tony!” You shouted, pushing yourself up to rush into the smoke filled hallway. “Tony!” You coughed as you tried to search for him through the thick, gray smoke. “Tony!” You pressed a finger to the comm in your ear. “Captain, can you hear me?” No response. “Anyone? I need backup. Now!” Again, nothing.

Hearing footsteps, you grabbed the guns from your thighs and held them up. You took a few careful steps, still unable to see much, before you tripped. You rolled over whatever you tripped over as gracefully as you could then turned to see if you could tell what you tripped over. You gasped as you saw the familiar gold and red appear through the smoke. You crawled closer to see that it was Tony. He was completely passed out with an EMP attached to the chest of his suit.

“Tony!” You exclaimed as your hands took hold of his face. “Tony! Wake— Up!” You began to cough more and your eyes grew tired. It was clear to you now that the smoke wasn’t just smoke. “JARVIS?” You called, trying to see if the AI would respond. You needed to get Tony out of here, even if his suit did all the work. “JAR—VIS… Any… one…”

Feet stopped right in front of you and Tony before you passed out on top of him.

~~~

“Has anyone heard from Stark or L/N?” Steve shouted as he threw his shield at a group of HYDRA agents.

“Not at all!” Natasha responded as she fought.

“They’re taking too long,” Clint noted from where he was shooting arrows from a tree.

“JARVIS,” Steve called, “I need information on Stark and L/N and I need it—“

Steve was cut off by the facility exploding. The Team members on the ground were thrown by the blast as were many of the HYDRA agents left.

“Tony! Y/N!” Clint yelled as he tried to get them to respond on the comms. “Damn it!”

“Captain,” JARVIS came through Steve’s earpiece, “I am unable to locate or connect to Mr. Stark or Miss L/N.”

“What?” Steve responded. “Since when?”

“Since about eight minutes ago.”

“Call Fury, tell him to send in SHIELD agents. All of them. Coulson, Hill, everyone needs to be on this. We need to find them.”

~~~

You didn’t immediately open your eyes when you finally came to. You wanted to get any information you could on what was going on before HYDRA knew that you were awake. You were strapped to a leather chair. Metal cuffs were keeping your ankles, wrists, and neck in place while large bands ran across your stomach and thighs. You had been stripped of your suit, leaving you in biker shorts and a sports bra. 

The room around you was a cooler temperature. You couldn’t tell yet if it was whatever the room was made out of or if they were purposefully keeping the temperature lower. The only other thing you could sense was that there was someone else in the room.

Finally, you opened your eyes. The room walls were cement and you were sure that whoever was keeping you here was keeping the room at a cooler temperature. As best you could with a metal cuff around your neck, you looked over to the side of you. You gasped when you saw Tony and the state he was in.

Tony had been stripped of his suit and clothes, leaving him in his boxers. He was strapped onto a matching chair in the same way you were. The thing that concerned you the most was the wires that started at his partially destroyed arc reactor and went down on either side of him, along the floor, and disappeared into the wall. You also noticed that Tony had medical equipment attached to him and a nearby monitor, allowing you to see that his heart was still beating.

“Tony,” you rasped, your voice not really there from lack of use. You cleared your throat the best you could before trying again. “Tony.” He groaned in response, slightly moving. “Tony, wake up.”

“Mhm?” He hummed. “Y/N?”

“It’s me, it’s me.”

His eyes blinked open, slowing taking in his surrounding. He glanced over to you before looking down at his chest. “I told you the mission was a bad idea.”

You couldn’t help but laugh a little. “I’m sorry for not believing you. Are you alright?”

“For now. Are you?”

“I’m in better shape than you. Your arc reactor is damaged. You have wires running out of it to who knows where and you—“

“Woah, woah, woah, honey, breathe. I need you to breathe for me.”

“Tony, what if—“

“We are going to be okay, alright Y/N? We are going to get out of here.”

“Tony, I—“

You were cut off by the door opening. A smug, middle-aged man in a suit waltzed in with two armed guards behind him.

“Nice to see you both wake,” the man said. “And it’s nice to finally meet you both. Especially you, Tony Stark.”

“Am I supposed to know you?” Tony responded with his usual sarcasm. “College? A frat party? You know I was constantly drunk until recent years so—“

“You wouldn’t know me, Mr. Stark. But you sure knew my father, Obadiah Stane.” You noticed Tony’s jaw clench. “My name is Phillip Stane. My father had me in secret and didn’t want much to do with me until he realized that I was almost as smart was you. I went to MIT a few years after you, did everything my father wanted to make me like you. Then you killed him. HYDRA found me not too long later and offered me a deal. I’ve been working with them in secret.”

“What do you want with us?” You broke your silence.

Phillip chuckled as he walked between the two chairs. “You haven’t figured it out yet? My father raised me to be Tony. The only things that I’ve been missing is his suits and reactors… well, and his girl.” Phillip ran a finger along the side of your stomach.

“Don’t touch her!” Tony shouted.

“What are you going to do about it?” Phillip smirked. “You’re all tied up and so is she. Not to mention that the only thing keeping you alive is damaged.” He leaned over and looked at Tony’s reactor. “It is a beautiful piece of equipment. Too bad that it won’t keep you alive for much longer. Our facility here needs to run off the grid and your reactor is the perfect thing to do it. Before we make our own, we thought we’d test out the real thing. Just to see if it works.”

“That will kill him,” you sounded more scared than you would like.

“Oh? Will it? I guess that just a part of it. Call it revenge. Well,” he laughed to himself, “part of the revenge. Wire her up.”

The two armed guards moved around you. They grabbed wires that had clamps on the ends and placed them on your open skin and the cuffs and bands keeping you in place.

“I told you not to touch her!” Tony shouted again, trying to get free.

“You can’t stop me,” Phillip taunted. “And, if it makes you feel any better, I won’t be the one hurting her. You will.”

Tony’s blood ran cold. His eyes followed the wires that were attached to you and found that they lead to a small box of buttons near the wall. There were wires running out of the other side of the box and into his arc reactor.

“No. No. No!” Tony tried fighting harder, to at least get some of the cords loose.

Phillip cackled. “Your reactor will power this facility and torture your girlfriend.” He leaned down to Tony’s ear. “I can’t wait to see who gives up the ghost first.” He cackled some more as he leaned back and headed for the door.

“When I get out of here, I will kill you!”

“You won’t get out of here alive.” Phillip pressed one of the buttons on the box on the wall before leaving the room with the two guards.

Tony groaned as the power in his arc reactor began traveling through the wires. The power split up, some going to power the facility and some going to the wires connected you. You shouted out in pain as the electricity hit you. Quickly, you fisted your hands together and ground your teeth, trying to not worry Tony too much.

“Honey, honey,” Tony called, trying to remain as calm as he could. “You’re okay. We’re going to get out of here.” You groaned, clamping your eyes shut to focus more. Tony began growing emotional. He realized that this form of torture was meant to hurt, but not to last long for either of you. “Y/N… I love you and I’m so sorry… I’m going to get us out of here. I promise. You will not die in here. I will not let that happen…” 

You groaned again, this time louder as the pain was getting worse. Practically mirroring each other, tears ran down yours and Tony’s cheeks. 

“Ahh!” You couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Tony!” You cried out. “Ahh!”

“I’m right here, honey. I’m not going anywhere. I promise.” Tony could feel himself growing weaker and could see the light of his reactor dimming. “I love you. I love you. I love you.” Tony repeated through your screams and cries as the minutes went by agonizingly slow. “I’m with you. I’m here. I love you.” You suddenly grew silent, terrifying Tony. “Y/N? Sweetheart?” He glanced over to see that you were still breathing, but it was not well. You had clearly passed out due to everything. “I’m going to be right behind you, sweetheart… I can feel it.” The light in Tony’s reactor was dimming with each passing second. “I love you more than anything… I am so sorry about everything…” Tony was fighting to keep his eyes open as he began to felt pain in his heart. “Who knew? Tony Stark dies of a broken heart… Too bad it… won’t be a… headline… Y/N… sweetheart… I… love… you…”

Tony couldn’t fight it anymore. His eyes closed and the medical machine next to him let out a long and loud beep.

~~~

“Found them!” Natasha shouted as she burst into the room you and Tony were being kept in. She gasped when her eyes saw the damaged arc reactor. Her hands quickly went to his neck and wrist to check for a pulse. “Tony’s down! We need medical!” She rushed over to your side. She was revealed to find even the slightest of pulses with you. “We need medical for Y/N too! She’s hanging on by a thread.” Natasha quickly straddled Tony and began pumping his chest. “You are dying on me! Not today Stark!”

Steve and Clint rushed into the room with two SHIELD medical teams.

“Let me switch you,” Clint urged, as Steve pulled Natasha off of Tony. 

The medical team got machines hooked to you as they moved Tony onto a stretcher. Suddenly, the machines connected to you went haywire.

“She’s coding!” One of the SHIELD agents shouted. 

Steve was quick to come over and began compressions on you. “We can’t lose them! We need to get out of here, now! Coulson, how’s the situation out there?”

“We’ve caught the man who did this,” Coulson responded through the comms. “We’re on our way to the compound for interrogation.”

“I’ve got the quinjet ready for when you get here, Rogers,” Maria came over the comms.

“We’re on our way!”

~~~

The electricity had done some serious internal damage to you, while the shrapnel had entered Tony’s heart. That caused you both to be immediately taken to surgery when the Team landed at the nearest hospital. Everyone was terrified that neither of you were going to make it. But, deep down, they were even more terrified that one of you would and the other one wouldn’t. How would the one left react?

“Rhodey, Happy, and Pepper are on their way,” Bruce said as he reentered the private family waiting room the group was put in.

“Good,” Steve answered with a nod. “How long has it been since we’ve had an update?”

“Three hours,” Clint said. “It’s been seven since we’ve got here.”

“The will survive,” Thor stated. “They are both strong.”

Steve sighed as he ran a hand down his face. “Seven hours and they are both still back in surgery? Bruce, do you know any reason why it would be this long?”

Bruce shook his head. He had found a seat over in the corner, with Natasha resting her head on his lap, asleep. “It’s not good for either of them.”

A gentle knock sounded at the door before it opened, revealing a nurse and a doctor. The Team stood up, nervous to hear the update.

“Both Miss L/N and Mr. Stark are out of surgery,” the doctor stated. “But, they are both still in dangerous waters. We are looking into organ donors for both of them?”

“What for?” Clint questioned.

“Y/N needs a liver. Fortunately, we can take that from a live donor as we only need to take a partial lobe.”

“I’ll do it,” Steve stepped up. “I have the best recovery chance.”

“Thank you for your willingness, Captain, but we need to test you to see if you’re a match first.”

“Whatever, I’ll do it.”

“If any of you are willing to get tested, we can do that.”

“What about Tony?” Natasha asked.

The doctor sighed. “Mr. Stark’s story is different. Since the arc reactor was damaged, the shrapnel was able to enter his heart and tear it up so much that we aren’t able to fix it. He will need a heart transplant. We are recommending that he be taken back to the compound or a nearby hospital to it for a better chance of getting a heart.”

The Team was in shock. Both of their teammates needed a transplant, but two very different types.

“We are also recommending that we wait for Miss L/N’s transplant until she’s back at the compound as well. It will be easier for her to heal somewhere familiar.”

“I’m going to call Rhodey,” Bruce said, heading out of the room. He needed to leave the room because he could feel the Other Guy trying to push to the surface. 

“We won’t move them until they’re more stable, but are willing to work quickly to get them moved. Nurse Beck can take anyone who wants to to get tested for the liver transplant.”

“Thank you, doc,” Steve said. “We’ll start putting things together.”

~~~

Just as Steve had hoped, he was a match and fought Natasha on giving the liver needed for the transplant. Steve won as his super soldier serum had him at an advantage for healing. Clint and Thor worked with the doctor to get the quinjet prepped for transport. You were stabilized first and placed in the quinjet. Natasha held your hand tightly as she studied you, unable to take her eyes off of you. 

Tony was brought up next, about an hour later, in much worse condition than you. That got Natasha to burst into tears. Bruce came over and held her close as she cried while Clint got the quinjet into the air. Steve sat between the two beds, constantly checking on either of you. It was his duty as Captain to protect his Team and he was feeling like a failure.

“Y/N told me that Tony had a bad feeling about the mission,” Steve whispered. “I should have talked to him and canceled it.”

“It’s not your fault, Rogers,” Thor told him.

“I’m the Captain of the Team. Fury has entrusted me with it.”

“That doesn’t mean their lives are in your hands. Stark and Y/N knew what they were getting themselves into. It’s part of their jobs.” 

“What if Tony doesn’t survive this? A heart transplant is much more critical than a liver transplant. If Y/N survives and Tony doesn’t…”

“We can’t afford to think like that. They will both survive.”

“Are you trying to convince me or you?”

“Both.”

~~~

The compound was ready to receive you and Tony as soon as you landed. Due to not having a heart yet, Tony was taken straight to a room where Happy, Rhodey and Pepper went to watch him. Steve and yourself were taken straight to the operating rooms. The surgery took six hours. You and Steve were taken to the same room, simple curtains splitting up each of the beds. 

Steve had been awake for a few hours by the time the doctor’s decided to try and wake you. The curtain between you and Steve’s bed was pulled back so that he could watch as the Team gathered around. They kept the curtain closed between Tony and your’s beds so that you wouldn’t immediately freak out. The Team waited with bated breath to see you breathe on your own. Slowly, your eyes began to blink open. 

The light bothered your eyes as they tried to focus on anything. You began to panic slightly when you couldn’t recognize where you were. Natasha’s red hair came into few and focus first, when her face slowly following.

“It’s okay,” she cooed, standing above you to try to calm you. “You’re safe now. You’re okay.”

“T—T—Ton—Tony…” you stuttered. “T—Tony…”

You noticed Natasha glance at someone across from her. You looked over to see Clint standing there. The look they were sharing did not bring you any comfort. You tried to swallow the roughness in your throat.

“W—Wh—Where’s… Tony?” You tried.

“Here,” Bruce handed Natasha a cup of water with a straw.

Natasha took it and held the straw to your lips. “Drink,” she told you.

You didn’t argue, knowing that you needed fluid. You took a few sips before clumsily waving the cup away.

“Where’s Tony?” You repeated.

“We’re so glad that you’re okay,” Clint said, clearly trying to change the subject.

“You’ve been through a lot,” Natasha said. “You had a liver transplant. Steve gave you part of his.” She motioned with her head over to Steve, who was laying in the bed beside yours. 

“What?” You questioned. “Steve… you didn’t have to.”

“Yes, I did,” he responded.

“Thanks… for saving my life… all of you… But… No one has answered my original question… where is Tony?” The Team shared another bunch of unsettling looks. “What are you not telling me? What happened?”

“Y/N,” Natasha began gently, “what do you remember?”

“I remember being in the HYRDA facility and some explosion going off. I went out into the hallway and found Tony passed out on the floor due to an EMP. I was out not long later. When I came to… Tony and I were cuffed to chairs, stripped of most of our clothes. They had damaged his arc reactor and hooked up wires from it to the building and to the wires they added onto me. They used the power of his arc reactor to torture me and to run some power to the building… the pain… it was too much.”

“Do you remember who did this to you?”

“Yes,” you swallowed. “Phillip Stane.” You looked over at Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy. “Obadiah Stane’s secret son.”

“That matches with the information Coulson is sending in from interrogation,” Thor confirmed. 

You realized that Happy, Pepper, and Rhodey were awkwardly standing near the curtain divider. Listening carefully, you could hear more medical machines on the other side. Your heart rate began to pick up.

“Where’s Tony?” You repeated.

“Y/N, we need you to—“

“WHERE’S TONY?!” You screamed, not caring that you interrupted Bruce.

“Pull the curtain,” Steve ordered.

Rhodey nodded, taking the divider and pulled it across the room. You gasped as Tony came into view, looking worse than the last time you had seen him. Tears began cascading down your cheeks.

“Oh gosh!” You exclaimed. “Tony!”

“The damage to his arc reactor caused the shrapnel to tear up his heart,” Bruce carefully stated. “Due to that, Tony is in need of a heart transplant. We don’t know when—or if—he’ll get a donor.”

“What happens if he doesn’t get one?” Everyone remained silent. It was an obvious question but you couldn’t help but ask it. “He—I—He can’t—“ The machines you were connected to began freaking out. “I—“

Natasha quickly grabbed the oxygen masked and held it to your face. “You need to breathe, Y/N,” she coaxed. “In and out. Slow and deep.”

“I’ve been on the phone with all the local hospitals,” Pepper said. “Due to the state he is in, Tony is at the top of the list. The next available match will be his.”

“The doctor’s are prepared to do anything they can to help him stay alive long enough to get a heart,” Bruce added. 

“I—I can’t lose him,” you cried through the oxygen mask. “I… I can’t do it…” Your stats began to skyrocket.

“I’m going to give you something to calm you and help you sleep.” Bruce went to the cart by your bed.

“No,” you shook your head. “No. Please, I can’t—“

Bruce was quick to inject a liquid into your IV. You feel asleep almost immediately. “We have to keep her calm, especially as she heals.”

“She’s not going to remain calm while Tony’s in this state,” Natasha said.

“Then we may have to keep her sedated.”

“We must hope and pray that Tony gets a heart,” Steve said.

“Tony wouldn’t want someone else to die for him,” Rhodey said.

“He doesn’t have an option,” said Clint.

~~~

You were in and out of sedation for a few days due to the fact that you couldn’t remain calm. Every time you saw Tony and thought about the state he was in and that he may not survive, you panicked. You simply couldn’t handle the possibility of life without him. The Team was always coming and going from your room, someone always in there with you and Tony. Especially after Steve had been released just a day after your surgery.

Phillip Stane was still in lock up in the compound, but Coulson and Fury had made plans to move him to a high security unit. You had only learned that because you had pretended to still be asleep while Fury and Clint were watching over you and Tony. 

So far, there hadn’t been any matching hearts in the area for Tony. You could tell that the Team and staff were trying to remain positive, but every day you could see them lose that positivity more and more. You even knew that they were being more positive around you than they actually felt due to your continued reactions.

After about a week of you being in and out, you had finally calmed yourself to be released from the doctor’s care. That didn’t mean you were leaving the room any time soon though. You found yourself in a chair next to Tony, holding his hand. You barely spoke, even in the brief moments that you were alone with him. You didn’t have anything to say. All you wanted was your Tony back. You wanted his sarcasm and his wit. You wanted his romantic side and his soft, nervous side. You especially missed his arc reactor that you knew was no longer there under the bandages that were wrapped around his chest. His arc reactor meant that he was alive.

“Y/N! Y/N! Y/N!” Steve shouted as he bounded down the med-bay halls, toward the room you were in. You turned to see him as he slid into the room. “They have one! There’s a heart on the way!”

“What?” You breathed out. “Are you serious?”

“Serious! The nurses are on their ways now to take him back to surgery.”

“He’s getting a heart?”

“He’s getting a heart.”

You turned to Tony, tears slipping from your eyes. “You’re getting a heart.” You stood up and kissed his forehead before resting yours on top of his. “You’re going to make it through… you have to… I love you… I love you… I love you…” You repeated it, like a prayer, remembering how he kept doing the same when the two of you had been captured. “I love you…”

“We’re here to take Mr. Stark,” a nurse said as they entered with three others.

“I’ll see you on the other side.” You kissed his forehead again as the tears came harder. Steve walked over and pulled you away, turning you so that he could hold you against him. You watched as they pushed Tony away until you couldn’t see him anymore. “He has to make it, Steve… I don’t think I could live if he doesn’t.”

~~~

Twelve hours. You paced the waiting room for twelve hours. No one was able to convince you to sit and rest. Thankfully, you did take food and drink. No one came out for updates, making you even more on edge. By the time the doctor’s did come out, you were shaking but wouldn’t let anyone help you.

“The surgery was successful,” the doctor said. You felt like you could breathe some. “We will have to see if the transplant takes, but we are hopeful.”

“He’ll make it?” You questioned.

“We’re hopeful.”

“Thank you, doc,” Steve said.

“We’ll let you know when Mr. Stark is available for visitors.”

As soon as the doctor left, your body gave out. Luckily, Steve was there to catch you. He hoisted you up and took you up to your room. He tucked you in and left, leaving JARVIS to watch you while you slept.

~~~

You groaned as you slowly began to wake. It took you a minute to realize where you were and where you believed you should be. You jumped out of bed and rushed down to the med-bay. Thankfully, no one questioned where you were going and that they had placed Tony in the same room as before. You were grateful to see that Tony wasn’t alone and that Natasha and Clint were with him.

“Hey there sleepy head,” Clint commented.

“How is he?” You asked as you went to sit beside him.

“So far there’s been no scares,” Natasha said. “The doctor’s are hopeful that they may be able to wake him later today.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

~~~

It was about eight pm when the doctor’s decided to try and wake Tony. You sat back, holding your breath as they pulled tubes and cleaned him up a little more. The moment Tony’s hand twitched and a groaned escaped his mouth, your heart leaped for joy.

“Y/N…” He groaned again. “Y/N…”

“I’m right here, Tones,” you said, standing up to be beside him. You took his hand and made sure that you could be seen by him when he finally opened his eyes.

“Y/N…” His eyes slowly opened, immediately locking onto you.

“You’re alive,” you cried. 

“You’re… alive,” he repeated.

You pressed a kiss to his forehead, allowing your tears to fall onto his skin. “I was so worried.”

“Same.”

You let out a watery laugh before starting to ramble. “I’m sorry for not supporting you immediately when you said you didn’t want your arc reactor. It’s my fault. It shouldn’t have been—“

“Hey, hey, hey.” Tony shakily reached up and cupped your face. “It’s alright… I’m right here… None of it was your fault.”

“I was so scared.”

“I was too.” He groaned as he tried to move slightly. “Let me guess… new heart?”

“Yes.”

“Where’s Pepper? I need her to send a note and check to the person’s family.”

“I’m sure she’s already on it.”

Tony nodded. His eyes scanned what he could see of you. “Are you alright?”

“I’m okay…” You nodded. “Steve had to give me a part of his liver, but other than that, I’m okay.”

“Are you sure?” He didn’t believe you one bit. 

“I am. Especially now that you’re awake… I missed you… I love you so much Tony.”

“I love you more.” 

Tony pulled you down to kiss you. He savored the flavor of your tears that flowed down your cheeks and mixed into the kiss. He understood that this all was hard for you and would only continue to be. Tony didn’t even know how he was going to sit mentally since he had been awake for mere minutes. What he did know, is that he’d do anything to make sure that you’re going to get out of this alright.

~~~

It took two weeks for Tony to be released from the med-bay. He could have been released after one week, but everyone had agreed that Tony wouldn’t rest if he wasn’t under the careful watch of the medical personal. You rarely left Tony’s side. This allowed you both to see how the other was truly doing. 

Tony could tell that you were going back there every time you closed your eyes. Almost every night, you would end up curled in a ball at the end of his bed whimpering and crying out for Tony. Pulling you out of the nightmares wasn’t the easiest thing to do. When he finally was able to, you would close yourself off and say that you need a drink, leaving the room. Unfortunately, Tony couldn’t follow you but he had JARVIS track you. You often didn’t make it too far and would end up in a ball on the floor crying.

You, on the other hand, could tell that Tony wasn’t sleeping at all. Thankfully, you persuaded his doctor to help with that problem but he could only do it for a few days. Besides the lack of sleep, Tony was also barely touching you. It was like he was scared to. You didn’t blame him for anything but you knew that he blamed himself for everything. It’s what he did. Tony’s guilt always ran deep, especially if he dealt with someone he cared about.

Everyone on the Team could see that both of you were struggling. None of them wanted to impose until Tony was released, wanting to see if some would fix itself.

Waking hand-in-hand, Tony and you made your way to the common room where the Team had thrown together a small party for the two of you. It was a nice and easy party, letting you truly relax more than you had in a long time. You were sitting off to the side with Natasha. She was talking but you weren’t listening, just watching Tony across the room with the guys.

“Okay,” Natasha pulled you from your thoughts by tugging your arm lightly. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” you shook your head. “Just tired.”

“Mhm… then why don’t you get Tony and head to your room?”

“Because, we’ll get there and neither of us will sleep and I will try to jump his bones because it’s been so long and I’m so glad he’s alive.”

“I don’t see the problem with that. The doctor cleared both of you.”

“He won’t touch me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hand-holding is really all we’ve done since he woke up. And I’ve initiated all those times.”

“But you’ve kissed, right?”

“The day he woke up… I know what’s going on, he’s blaming himself for what happened. Especially since it was the energy from his arc reactor that caused my injuries.” A few tears escaped your eyes and you quickly wiped them. “I’m just going to go to bed.” You stood up.

“Y/N…”

“Tell Tony that I went to bed, please.” You walked off.

Natasha sighed. She got up and moved toward where the men were gathered. “Stark,” she called.

“Sounds like someone’s in trouble,” Clint mumbled.

“What’s up, Red?” Tony responded. He glanced around. “Where’s Y/N? I thought that she was with you.”

“She went up to bed.”

Tony knew that you heading out without telling him wasn’t good. “Do you know why?”

“I think that you two need to talk, sooner than later.”

Tony nodded. “Thanks for the party. I’ve got to go.”

Tony rushed out of there, not caring what anyone was going to say. He needed to talk to you, especially if you left without telling him. When he reached your shared room, he carefully walked in and looked around. You weren’t in the main bedroom, so Tony looked to see light peaking out from under the bathroom doors. He walked over and leaned his ear near one of the doors. His heart broke as he heard your sobs.

“Honey?” He called. “Can I come in?”

Hearing Tony’s voice caused you to stand up straight and quickly wipe your face off. “In a second!” Your voice cracked as you responded.

“I know that you’re crying in there.”

You sighed as you went to the door and unlocked it. You twisted the door knob and pulled it slightly open, leaving Tony to do the rest. Tony pushed the door open and you suddenly launched yourself at him. You tightly gripped at his jacket as you bury your head in his neck and let the sobs loose.

“Sweetheart,” Tony whispered as his arms came around to hold you close to him. “I’m right here… I’m right here…”

Tony held you as you sobbed. His hands ran up and down your back as he tried his best to comfort you. After a few minutes, your sobs began to die down to painful hiccups. Without a word or letting go of you, Tony moved the two of you over to the bed, guiding you to sit down next to him.

“Talk to me, honey,” Tony urged.

“I can’t close my eyes… every time I do, we’re back in that room. And I—I can’t breathe and I watch you die and I… I…”

“I’m feeling a similar way. Every time I close my eyes or look at you… it’s all my fault. All the pain you went through… I caused that.”

“No,” you shook your head as you pulled away from his neck to look at him. “You did not cause me pain.”

Tony pressed his lips into a line. “But I did. It was my arc reactor that gave them the power to torture you.”

“But you didn’t hook me up to the wires. You didn’t do that. You tried to fight for me. You kept me going with your words as they tortured me… You didn’t hurt me, you kept me alive, Tony.”

A tear slipped out of one of Tony’s eyes. He looked up to try and control his emotions. “I was so helpless… They were hurting you and I couldn’t do anything to stop them… I never want to feel that way again.” He looked at you. “You are my everything… I promise that I will never let anyone hurt you like that again… I will never hurt you like that again…”

“Oh, Tony,” one of your hands went up to his cheek to wipe some of the trailing tears. “I promise that I will never let anyone hurt you like that again… I hated seeing you like that.”

He leaned in and kissed you. “I love you so much.”

“I love you more.”

~~~

Slowly, the two of you began to work on putting yourselves (and each other) back together. Tony found you both a therapist, deciding it’s what you both needed. The two of you talked more openly with each other and worked on sleeping in your bed instead of staying up in Tony’s lab working (which had become a big problem for both of you). Tony had began to keep a hand on you anytime he was near you, which you didn’t mind. You knew that it was how he was coping with everything now. 

Two months since Tony woke, you and him were laying in your bed, trying to fall asleep. Your fingers were lightly trailing Tony’s scars on his chest. You sighed as your fingers found his arc reactor scar and began trailing it.

“What is it?” Tony quietly asked upon hearing your sigh.

“I miss it,” you admitted.

“Miss what?”

“Your reactor. Especially on nights like this. Its faint glow would help me sleep.”

Tony stated quiet, clearly thinking about something. After a moment, he kissed your head and pulled himself away, getting out of bed.

“Where are you going?” You sat up.

“Just stay right there. I’ll be back.”

Then Tony disappeared out of the room. You sighed as you threw yourself back on the bed. What could he possibly be getting? It wasn’t long before Tony returned with a familiar glass box.

“What are you doing with your original arc reactor?” You asked as he came over to your side of the bed.

“It still glows,” he answered. He sat on the edge of the bed and placed the box down on your bedside table. “I’ve added a switch.” He reached around to the back and flipped the switch. You smiled as the old reactor glowed. “What do you think?”

“It’s perfect.” You pulled Tony in for a kiss. “Thank you.”

“Anything for you, my dear.” He kissed you again. “Think you can sleep now?”

“Maybe,” you smirked, “after I thank you properly.”

A cheeky grin grew on his face. “I think I can get behind that.”

[aceissomunster]

Clearing up misconceptions and such about Tim Drake for all you non-comic reading fic-writers and people that just don’t know. Mostly chronologically

Under the cut, cause this is gonna get long ,,

While Tim isn’t my favorite batfamily member, or even robin in particular, he is the one whose comics i’ve read the most of and know the most about.

If i’m wrong about any of this, please let me know!

- Tim’s parents weren’t especially abusive. they were neglectful, as in leaving him with the nannies and sending him off to boarding schools when they were out of the country, which was frequently. also, they did love him. i don’t even know where people got the idea that they didn’t.

- Tim did not stalk the bats, until he noticed Batman’s grief-driven violence and decided to follow, photograph, and gather evidence

- he also didn’t just go up to Bruce and ask to be Robin, he actually tracked down Dick Grayson to the circus and tried to convince him to come back to being Robin. Dick drove him to the manor, and then found out Tim’s whole story.

then Alfred let him down into the cave, Batman and Nightwing got captured by Two-Face, and Alfred practically threw the Robin costume at him and they went to save Batman and Nightwing. THEN Tim told Bruce that he was Robin. (— A Lonely Place of Dying, Tim’s 13)

- Before even becoming Robin fully, Tim’s parents were kidnapped and held for ransom in Haiti by a man called the “Obeah Man” (“Obeah” translates roughly to black magic, I’m pretty sure). Batman finds them by following the people that were going to pay the ransom, and they were being kept in some underground place? I’m not sure, but it was really really hot. There’s a pitcher of water, and Janet drinks it, and Jack starts drinking it, and Janet dies near-instantly, and Batman smacks the water out of Jack’s hands but Jack still ends up completely paralyzed and put into a coma. (— Rite of Passage)

- Fun fact: Janet’s funeral was Christmas eve

- it’s only after his mother’s death and father’s hospitalization that he goes to Paris (keep in mind, Batman did not force him to go, Tim wanted to!) to train under Rahul Lama, and then with Lady Shiva. (Robin mini 1)

- he doesn’t actually get trained by Shiva in the run, but it’s vaguely implied

- Fun fact: Tim actually kills Lady Shiva once (i forget what the storyline’s called, but it’s somewhere in Robin 52-55 ish)

- OH YEAH, Jason Todd was NOT Tim’s Robin. Tim Drake has been Dick Grayson’s #1 fanboy since the circus. He could not care less about Jason

- Fun fact: early in his Robin career, he hallucinated Dick and Jason as Robin (even though Dick was very alive) giving him advice

- He had friends outside of YJ. Like his best friend Sebastian Ives, his friend Callie, his (ex) girlfriend Ariana Dzerchenko, and a good bit more.

- he started dating Steph as Robin while dating Ariana as Tim, but Ari and Tim broke up like the day after Steph and Tim got together (not because of Steph, Ari didn’t know Tim was Robin, but because of other stuff that happened. go read Robin.)

- fun fact: Tim actually didn’t have contingency plans for Young Justice/the Titans, because he actually trusts them, unlike his mentor. (this is mentioned sometime in Young Justice 1998, but I don’t remember the issue)

- Tim’s 16 (not 14 or whatever THOSE tim stans try to say) and on the Teen Titans, when the fabled and constantly over-exaggerated “Titan’s Tower incident” occurs. Tim is fully suited up in the Robin suit, he puts up a good fight with Jason (who is in an adult-sized Robin costume, by the way) until he gets knocked out. This fight leaves no lasting injuries on Tim. (Teen Titans (2003) #29)

- the whole Jason slitting his throat thing happens in a different comic. (Batman: Hush, i’m pretty sure, correct me if i’m wrong)

- Tim also kicks Jason in the nuts the next time he sees him, so there’s not really any hard feelings there.

- Tim’s dad finds out he’s Robin and makes him quit, and Steph becomes Robin. Then Steph dies and Tim’s school gets shot up and he becomes Robin again.

- Tim leaves Jack alone at their home to go find the man sent to kill him. While he’s gone, the man (Captain Boomerang) kills Jack. (— Identity Crisis #5)

- after Jack dies, Bruce offers to adopt Tim and Tim turns him down and creates a fake uncle. Batman finds out the uncle is fake, commends him on his good job of making a fake uncle, and helps him make it better. Bruce later offers again to adopt Tim and he accepts. Damian literally shows up like the very issue after this in Batman

- Kon dies, then Bart dies a bit after. And, not to hate on yall TimKon shippers out there, but he also planned to clone Bart, and also in TT03 like 50-53ish, when him and the other Titans run into their future evil selves again, their Superman (Kon) and Flash (Bart) are clones.

- All those deaths happen relatively close together and in that order, I think, when Tim’s 16-17. But comic timelines are weird, like how Tim was 15 when the Quake hit and for the year-long duration of No Man’s Land (from New Year’s to New Year’s), he stays 15.

- When Bruce “dies” and Dick (Batman) makes Damian Robin. Damian needs guidance, and Dick wants him and Tim to be equals. Dick had good intentions and did the right thing! He just didn’t have the best execution.

- When Tim finds the painting and tells Dick about it, Dick DOES NOT THREATEN TO SEND HIM TO ARKHAM. He, reasonably (considering all the losses Tim has just faced) assumes Tim needs mental help and grief counseling, and recommends him a therapist in Metropolis.

- Tim decides to just go find evidence that Bruce isn’t dead by himself, and steals the Red Robin suit and runs off without even telling Alfred (Red Robin)

- Ra’s al Ghul sends people to kill Tim at first, but Tim obviously doesn’t die and breaks Pru’s nose twice. Eventually and reluctantly, Tim accepts the League’s help and resources.

- Tim finds his best piece of evidence in a cave in the desert with Pru, Z, and Owens. right after leaving the cave, an assassin attacks them, killing Z and Owens, slitting Pru’s throat, and stabbing Tim. Tim, ACTIVELY BLEEDING OUT, brings himself and Pru to the car they used to get there, drives to a hotel, CLIMBS UP THE BUILDING TO ONE OF THE TOP FLOORS WITH PRU WHILE THEY ARE BOTH BLEEDING OUT, and passes out on the bed, where Tam Fox (sent by Lucius to go find Tim) finds them. and so do a bunch of ninjas.

- Tim had to have his spleen removed because it was kebabed with a sword and was going to rupture. Ra’s also does NOT keep it in a jar.

- during the whole LOA part of RR, Ra’s is NOT preying on Tim. there is NO ROMANCE THERE. (no offense if you see it or think it’s implied, but to me it’s just really not?) its just RESPECT.

- with the whole bases exploding thing, its because the Council of Spiders was there and also he just doesn’t like the LOA. he gave them like 15 seconds to get out, obviously all the assassins managed to get out of the massive, complex bases in 15 seconds. (comic logic: if it’s not specified that it did kill them, then it didn’t.)

- the whole “Damian cutting Tim’s line” is also very exaggerated. Damian did it because of Tim’s “Hit List” and because Damian was on it. and Tim fell a few feet, caught himself, then fought Damian (neither won because Dick broke it up because they were literally right in front of THE alley.)

- not really a timeline thing, but in general, tim is VERY against murder. Part of the reason for this is Batman’s morals, which he built his own around, sure. But I think an even BIGGER part of his moral code is just to not become evil future gun Batman. And evil future gun Batman has no qualms against murder, he even killed Damian.

that’s pretty much the main stuff i wanted to touch on. LMK if i should add anything else or if i got anything wrong, thanks!!

No hate if u use the fanon stuff btw, i just know that a lot of people don’t read the comics and don’t know the actual information.

If you want pictures of some of these events from the comics, just lmk and I’ll provide

[supermanshield]

@t-oriand said:

i’ve been thinking a lot abt bruce helping clark do some research on his kryptonian features. like does clark need food? or just sun? how long can he go without the sun? thinking a lot of tender moments in the bat cave, and bruce realizing how much clark trusts him,,, that sort of thing. also could be some fun gadgety stuff bruce makes to measure clark’s various skills and fun training montage type stuff with superman running comically fast on a treadmill

I'm really sorry this prompt fill is - checks calendar - 4 months late, but here it finally is. I hope you still enjoy it! I'm trying to get back into things and writing a bit more again.

I love this prompt! I changed it a little bit (hope it's okay) and now we're not in the bat cave anymore, we're only testing one thing, not many gadgets involved, and I went with a pretty smug Clark and Bruce with the biggest crush on him. I hope you like it!

---

The icy blue clouds of Neptune drain the red from Clark's costume, leaving him clad in monotones of navy and black. He reaches up again, extending his arms and straining the fabric of his suit, distracting Bruce once more, and they haven't even started yet. He's only setting up all the equipment they've brought over.

"I want to test my strength again and I need someone on the controls. Do you want to help?" Clark had asked the day before, a welcome break in Bruce's more-boring-than-boring monitor duty.

"Yes," he'd replied too fast and too eager.

A hesitant smile danced around Clark's lips. "Okay... Now you'll have to tell me whether you got so excited because you actually want to see me exert myself or because you want to record the data for the sake of the League."

"Who says it can't be both?" Bruce had dared to say.

And so, now they're setting up equipment from the fortress and the watchtower on Neptune, because Clark didn't want to mess with Earth's gravity. He had said it so casually, but it reminded Bruce how nothing was normal for a man who could push planets. Something as simple as maxing out on squats or shoulder press had to be done at the edge of the solar system.

Even from behind the thick glass shielding and inside the body of inch-thick metal of their ship, Bruce can sense the weight of the equipment Clark is putting in its place, as he goes over his controls and monitors inside the rig one more time.

"Ready?" Clark's voice finally crackles through the comms. Outside he's already holding up one thumb and grinning at Bruce, the question echoed in his eyes. It should not send butterflies to Bruce's belly but it does.

"All set," he replies.

Clark gets into place, and he looks comically small underneath the structure he's about to test the limits of. It should not be possible. It isn't physically possible, and yet there Clark is. It still breaks Bruce's brain a little after all this time. Clark still breaks Bruce's brain a little.

"Batman? Don't tell me you're bored," Clark teases through the comms.

"Right." Quite the opposite, he thinks. He's supposed to initiate the countdown. He scrambles for the controls, pressing the logging button and locking in Neptune's position to be able to monitor that Clark doesn't accidentally move it. Gravity is about 14% higher here, which they've accounted for in their calculations, and should help mitigate the risk of breaking laws of physics.

They start. As Clark is pushing up against the thing, and Bruce incrementally increases the force pushing down on him past what he's ever seen him lift, he's reminded once again that Clark is always holding back, and hopes he never has to see him use all his strength. It seems impossible, but he's afraid he might get scared. Scared of what it all means, scared of what it would do to his perception of the world and to science. Scared of Clark. Scared of what it would do to Clark.

"Superman," Bruce has to break their steady back and forth after a while. "The weight is approaching critical mass. That of the planet you're standing on."

"Hrm." At least Clark sounds like he's actually reaching his limit. His biceps are bulging, his suit pulled taut across his abs and thighs, and still Clark is smiling right at him. Bruce bites his lip to refrain from sighing at the sight.

"No conclusive answer today, I'm sorry." Bruce slowly turns down the dial again. The scientist in him is disappointed, but maybe it's just as well, he thinks on a different level. Because now hope remains that there's always a way

At least now I know what I can lift," Clark says, predictably, too stubborn to admit the test was not satisfactory. Too stubborn to acknowledge that there might be a limit to who he can help, because there's always a way. 

Clark waves at him after he sets down the structure again. “Your heart rate is elevated. Everything okay?”

“Uhh, yes, all good,” Bruce scrambles to say. “So is yours.”

Clark laughs. It's a warm thing, as if Bruce made a joke that only he understands. “I just lifted a planet, Batman.” 

“Which you now still have to bench press, Superman.” Bruce doesn't mean to, but he's smiling. Clark just draws it out of him. 

“Alright, alright.” Outside, Clarks small figure moves around and starts disassembling and reassembling his setup. Bruce wonders how often he uses it in the fortress. As Clark casually displaces a ton of weight over his head, his voice crackles through the comms again. “It's always good watching you lift your weights in the cave. Thought I'd return the favor for once.”

Bruce almost chokes. If he didn't know any better he'd swear Clark was flirting with him. “Ugh, you don't know half the things you do to me,” he mutters under his breath. 

“What was that? The atmosphere is thinner up here. You have to use the communicator, B.” Of course Clark could still hear him. 

“I said I'd spot you but I can't exactly return that favor,” he manages somehow.

“And yet, you're doing literally just that right now.” Clark turns to watch him.

All Bruce is doing is pressing buttons and reading dials, and yet Clark finds a way to bring him to his level. Maybe that's his only power that matters. He smiles, and lets his feelings for Clark wash over him. It's warm. It's good to be in love. Suddenly, Bruce doesn't mind. But Clark doesn't need to know that, yet.

“Hrm. Focus, Superman. There's still a lot to be done.” 

Clark shakes his head. “You're insufferable,” he says, and gets into position again. Out there, in the icy blue clouds of Neptune lifting the weight of the earth for warm up sits the man Bruce is madly in love with. He'll tell him, some day. After all, there's always a way. Bruce just has to find the right time. 

[alienguts]

Picking Up the Pieces (Bruce Wayne x f!Reader)

Summary: Bruce and Selina have broken up again, leaving Y/N to comfort him.

Warnings: angst, breakups, unrequited feelings

Request?: No

A/N: technically, this is a comics!Bruce fic, but I used a Batfleck gif simply because he's pretty.

1 - Picking Up the Pieces | 2 - Kintsugi | 3 - Stay with Me

Are you home? I could use someone to talk to.

As soon as Y/N read the text from Bruce, her heart sank. She’d already received messages from Alfred and the boys about what had happened, but once the message from Bruce came through, her gut feeling was confirmed.

Bruce and Selina had broken up. Again.

Every break up was exactly the same. Y/N would sit and watch Bruce be happy with Selina and then their dual lives would ruin everything and he would end up moping on Y/N’s couch for two hours until he got over her for a year and then they would be together again like clockwork.

Y/N sighed deeply and tapped out her response.

Yeah I’m home, come over when you’re ready.

“I just don’t know what happened this time, Y/N,” Bruce sighed as he ran his hands over his head, his gelled hair sticking up from being ruffled so much.

“I don’t think I’ve got an answer for you this time,” Y/N said. She sat next to him on her tiny sofa, their knees almost touching. “That Selina’s a tough one to figure out sometimes.”

“Everything was going so well; she said she would marry me, moved in, the wedding was planned and people were invited and then…” He trailed off before taking a sip of the water Y/N had given him.

“Listen, none of this is your fault, Bruce,” Y/N said and rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder. She wanted him to know that she cared, but didn’t want to give him the wrong message. The guy had just gotten left at the altar, he didn’t need another woman feeling him up so soon.

“I know, but I can’t help but feel like it is,” he said.

Y/N’s heart twisted in her chest. She could hear how watery his voice was, just how emotionally run down he was, as if he was just seconds away from breaking into tears. And the worst part was that no matter how many times they landed in this exact same situation, it never got any easier.

She wanted Bruce to know that she had feelings for him, but it always seemed like someone else was getting his heart instead of her. She’d been there for all of them: Julie, Silver, Talia, Vicki, and of course, Selina. So many girlfriends, so many broken hearts. So many times she’d comforted Bruce on her couch. So many times he’d called her a ‘good friend’.

But she didn’t want to be a ‘good friend’, she wanted there to be more between them. She knew he could feel that spark between them, even if it was just a tiny jolt of static. They’d shared so many lingering glances, let their fingers touch for just a beat too long, had almost kissed at one point, but there was always someone else on Bruce’s mind.

Just once, she thought. Just once I wish it was my turn.

If thoughts of being held by Bruce didn’t keep her up at night, they would be the only thing she would dream about. His arms around her, his mouth on hers, telling her such nice things, but they were just dreams. Every time she would wake up and swear that she could still feel him, only to find that she was still alone.

“I should go,” Bruce said after a while, snapping Y/N out of her thoughts. “I’ve bothered you enough with this.”

“You haven’t bothered me, Bruce,” Y/N said, flustered. “I’m here for you to vent about your problems.”

Vent about your problems? Bad choice of words, Y/N she told herself.

“No, wait, I mean-” she stuttered, trying to force better words out of her mouth.

“It’s okay,” Bruce said and shot her a warm smile. Her stomach flipped when he looked at her, her heart fluttering as she lost her train of thought. “I know what you mean.”

“Oh, right.” She shuffled awkwardly in her seat as Bruce stood up to grab his jacket from the back of the sofa. “Could I give you a hug before you go?”

Bruce stopped, as if he was surprised by her question.

Why would his best friend ask for permission to hug him?

He turned to face her and smiled again before holding his arms out to her. 

“Of course, you don’t need to ask.”

Y/N gingerly hopped off the couch and made her way to Bruce, circling his waist with her arms and hovering her face just over his heart. She hoped he didn’t notice how her breath hitched when he pulled her closer into his chest and held her tightly, his cheek resting on the top of her head. She let her head fall onto him and listened to his steady heartbeat as her senses were completely taken over by him. 

Y/N had known Bruce to always be clean and well kept, but in that moment it was as if he’d arrived sparkling new. She breathed the scent of his cologne in deeply and savoured it, her eyes fluttering closed as she lost herself in him. It was just a hug between friends but to her, it was something she’d been waiting for for a long time.

When he pulled away, it felt like it was over too soon. She felt cold without him, even though his hands were still on her shoulders. Y/N watched his face as his eyes turned hazy and drifted down to her lips and his tongue briefly darted out to wet his own. Her heart jumped into her throat as they both looked at each other, daring themselves to look away.

“I’ve got to go,” Bruce said finally as his hands slowly dropped from Y/N’s shoulders. “Thanks for this.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Y/N said and led him to the front door of her apartment. “You know I’m here for you any time.”

“Yeah, you’re a good friend, Y/N,” he said and pulled his jacket on as he lingered in the doorway. “I’ll see you soon.”

“See you soon,” Y/N echoed as she watched him go down the hall and out of sight.

When she reentered the apartment, she closed and locked the door before resting her back against it and letting out a deep watery sigh. A single tear finally rolled down her face as his words echoed in her mind.

You’re a good friend.

She kept telling herself that it was the wrong time to be crying over being called that, but it was all she could do. All she wanted was to tell him that she loved him and to hear him say he loved her too. But he was grieving a relationship that was doomed from the beginning.

What would make her any different?

She wasn’t Selina, or Talia, or Vicki, or Silver, or Julie. She was just Y/N, his childhood friend who was always going to be there for him whenever he either broke off another relationship or got dumped. And it never got easier. Trying to tell him how she felt never stopped feeling like an impossible mountain to climb.

Once she had run out of tears, Y/N picked herself up from the doorway and was about to go into the bedroom when she heard her phone chime. She’d considered ignoring it when she heard it again. Assuming it was important, she picked it up from the coffee table in the living room and was surprised to find two messages from Bruce.

Want to go for coffee tomorrow?

To make up for me moping around tonight

[ditzyredrobin]

Tim Drake (The Spleen-Less Wonder)

My second Bad Things Happen square in as many days because I can’t control myself. 😅

Prompt: Bundled Up in Blankets

-

“Jason, put me down, now!” Tim snaps, trying to wrestle his way out of the blanket burrito he is currently rolled into. He’s currently slung over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry and pissed.

Well, beyond pissed.

Pissed doesn’t even begin to encapsulate the raging fury he’s currently feeling, being carried around like an oversized toddler. He kicks hard at Jason’s chest with his slippered feet, trying to gain some leverage to escape.

Jason isn’t even phased at his wriggling and kicking, he just keeps walking up the driveway. “What did I tell you, kid? Fuck around and find out.”

“It’s not that big a deal, seriously. It’s just a cold.”

It was. He hadn’t even broken 101 degrees yet which was barely even a fever and a total win in his book. If he was careful and took his antibiotics (which he had been, there was a timer set in his phone and everything) it would go away in no time.

“Like I said, you fucked around and now you’re going to find out. You could have stayed home but nooo. Tim Drake, the spleen-less fucking wonder, decided tonight was as good a night as any to hit the streets, never mind the sleet and windchill.” Jason mocks deadpan, renewing his grip. “Suck it up, buttercup. You did this to yourself. Deal with it.”

Tim rolls his eyes, “It’s Wayne.”

Jason pushes right through the front door to the manor without knocking. “What is?”

“My name. It’s not Drake, it’s Wayne.”

When he had been adopted, he’d officially become a Wayne. When he had taken over as CEO of Wayne enterprises after Batman had been lost in time, it only renewed that belief. He was a Wayne through and through and if the tabloids caught wind of his being carted around by strange men, he was going to have to send his publicist an apology bouquet again. And maybe a bottle of wine.

As much as Damian may have been opposed to it, he was a Wayne.

“Always a dramatic little shit,” Jason muttered under his breath. “Look, I don’t give a fuck if you’re a Drake or a Wayne or something else entirely. What I do give a fuck about is someone ruining the lead I’ve been working for over a month because he decided not to stay in bed like he was supposed to.”

“And I’m the one being dramatic?”

“Yeah, you are. You know, I’m really glad you’re finally taking the time to self reflect. You should try journaling or some shit when you’re feeling big feelings instead of passing out and nearly braining yourself.”

Really, it hadn’t been that bad. He just needed a minute to sit and then he would have been fine. If Jason hadn’t overreacted, he would not have almost lost his lead.

“I did not. I’m fine. Now can you put me down?”

“You passed right the fuck out, Replacement. That sounds pretty bad to me.” Jason says but doesn’t budge.

“Did not.”

“Did to.”

Tim groans, giving one last weak kick. This was getting him nowhere fast other than wanting his bed. The DayQuil and Red Bull were starting to wear off and the drowsiness was setting in again to bone deep exhaustion. The kind that makes him want to curl up for the next 24 hours and just sleep.

Not an option, unfortunately. He had a board meeting in just over six hours. If he manages to go to bed right now, he should still have time to get in a couple of hours of sleep before he needs to get ready.

“Bruce! Get out here and take care of your belongings.” Jason calls into the otherwise silent manor. It was just after six am meaning Bruce wouldn’t have been in bed for very long.

Tim grimaced at the way Jason’s voice echoed through the halls. If Jason’s complete disregard for the alarm didn’t wake him up, his shouting definitely did. “You really don’t have to do this.” He beds quietly, like that would help matters at all.

One could hope.

“Like hell I don’t.” Jason’s snaps back and opens his mouth like he’s going to yell again when Bruce comes running around the corner.

His eyes are panicked and he’s dressed in a robe, the tie is caddywhampus, and honest to god fuzzy bunny slippers. “Jay, what's wrong?” It takes him a long moment to process what he’s holding. “Is that-?”

“Yours.” Jason finishes, meeting Bruce half way. Without warning, he dumps Tim unceremoniously off his shoulders, earning him an indignant squawk.

If it had been anyone other than Bruce, Tim would have worried, bundled up so tight, he couldn’t stop himself before he hit the ground. But this was Bruce after all.

He caught Tim swiftly before he hit the ground, cradling to his chest. “Tim? What’s going on?”

Jason rolls his eyes, crossing his arms. “Next time, take care of your little birds, or I’m not giving them back. We don’t have any more mishaps do we?”

Bruce grimaces, tightening his grip on Tim, pulling him in just a little closer. “What happened? I thought he was supposed to be in bed last night.”

“He’s here too, you know.” Tim uttered but neither Bruce or Jason didn’t acknowledge him.

“Apparently someone failed to tell him that because one minute he was being an annoying little shit and the next he tried to pass the fuck out in the middle of an op. One I’ve been working for months, mind you.” Jason says. “All I know is if he fucks up like that again, it’ll be on your head. Capeesh?”

Bruce nods solemnly, looking pained. “Thank you for bringing him home.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, don’t mention it.” Jason says, trying to sound annoyed but there was a fondness in his voice. “Seriously, don’t mention it. Just do better. The kid is an idiot with the self preservation skills of a wet paper bag.”

Bruce sighs, “I’ll make sure he’s taken care of.” And in a small voice adds, “You know you can stay too. You’re welcome home anytime, Jaylad. Alfred misses you, I miss you.”

“You know this isn’t my home, Bruce. I only came back for the kid.” Jason turns back to the door.

“Maybe so but Alfred is making pot roast on Sunday.”

Jason freezes for a moment. “I’ll…think about it.”

Bruce smiles softly, “I look forward to it. Goodnight, son.”

Jason waves him off and leaves, closing the front door behind him, muttering under his breath. Something about Tim and Bruce not being his dad and roast beef sandwiches.

With Jason gone, the entirety of Bruce’s attention is turned to Tim, examining him with big, blue eyes and a kicked-puppy look. “Did you really almost faint? Be honest with me.”

Tim looks away, feeling his cheeks flush. “Maybe? It really wasn’t that bad. I’m just tired.”

Bruce sighs again (because his sons will be the death of him) and starts towards the cave. “You could have gotten seriously injured if Jason wasn’t there.”

“I know.”

He did. There was just so much to do, he didn’t have time to sit down and rest like a civilian. Crime was an ever present entity—if he didn’t help, people were injured and bodies of the innocent filled the morgues. The bodies of good people with lives and hopes and families and dreams.

What use was he if he couldn’t help?

“Do you, Tim? What would’ve happened if you were by yourself? What if your cold gets worse or turns into pneumonia again?”

“I know,” he says again in a small voice.

He really, truly did, but crime stopped for no one.

Bruce’s sighs exasperated, “You’re benched and staying here until you’re better where Alfred and I can monitor you.”

No, no, no, no, no! He can’t—he won’t.

“You can’t, please, I can’t.” Tim begs.

“You can and you will. I will also be handling the board meeting that mysteriously disappeared from my calendar.” Bruce says, giving him a knowing look.

Tim grimaces, “You noticed?”

“I noticed.” Bruce confirms.

He’s Batman. Of course he noticed.

“And there’s no way I can convince you to change your mind?”

Bruce shakes his head, carrying him not back up the stairs to his room, but the clock and the cave. “Not a chance, bud.”

There was no escaping now, not when Bruce’s mind was made up. If they were heading to the cave, where Alfred must have already been waiting, no doubt with an endless supply of warm blankets and IV fluids. He was sure there would be chicken soup later when it was closer to any normal person's time of day.

Tim leans his head back against Bruce—his father’s—shoulder, letting his eyes shut. “I’m sorry.” It’s a small thing but Bruce hears him and hugs him a little closer.

“I know you are. Let’s get you to bed and later we’ll have a long conversation about self care and boundaries, okay?”

“Okay,” he agrees, already half asleep. He didn’t want to but it was unavoidable. Now he would focus on the gentle sway as he walked, the thrum of his heart in his chest. “Hey dad?”

“Hm? What's up, champ?”

“I love you.”

Bruce chuckles and presses a kiss to the top of his hair. “I love you, too.”

[clockwayswrites]

Like Betta Fish Do- Final Part

WC: 3359, Masterpost

“The response to the article has been great— better even than we had predicted,” Tim informed the various family members as he joined them at the breakfast table, tablet in hand.

Jason glanced up from his porridge to look his little brother over. The eye bags were a little dark, but not to the point of concerning yet, at least not on Tim. Still… “You weren’t up all night running numbers, were you?”

“I slept, I just woke up early.” Tim said defensively. “Besides, it’s best to get data like this when it’s new. It allows me to compare the first reaction to the long term response and see if there are any shifts.”

“Good data gathering is important,” Jazz agreed, “but so is taking care of yourself.”

She set the bowl of porridge that she had just finished adding toppings to in front of Tim and blatantly stuck a spoon in his hand. Tim blinked down at the food for a moment before shrugging and taking a bite. Cass, smiling in amusement, handed Jazz a fresh bowl.

“Best news is,” Tim continued after he had swallowed, “that everyone thinks Danny is, and I quote, a ‘Beautiful Cinnamon Roll Too Good For This World, Too Pure’. I mean, that’s not really a new opinion, but the new article really cemented it.”

“I don’t know how to take that,” Danny said after a pause.

“I mean, I’d just be glad to not be a poor little meow meow,” Duke said as he leaned over to look at Tim’s screen.

“The big change,” Tim continued and tilted his screen for Duke to see better, “is that public opinion of Jason has recovered. It was always solid in Gotham, we get it here, but outside of Gotham people were really having some issues with how quickly Jason pressed the button. Danny going on record to say that he asked Jason to press it— that he knew that’s what he was saying— has made a real difference.”

That was good news, but something about the way that Tim was presenting it made Jason tense and he had to purposefully relax his grip around his spoon. “What’s the bad news?”

Tim glanced over at Jason for a moment before looking back down at his tablet. The way he chewed on his lip pretty much assured there was bad news.

“Tim,” Jason pleaded. He got they were all trying to protect them while Danny was still recovering, but he needed to know, “just tell me. I’d rather hear it here from you than out there on the street.”

“There’s a small, and I mean really small, group that claims we made Danny say those things,” Tim explained with a grimace. “It got dug up that Danny’s on a Wayne Inventors’ Scholarship. They’re saying that we threatened to pull the scholarship if he didn’t clear Jason.”

Maybe it was best just to set the spoon down before he bent it in half.

“We don’t publish those names,” Bruce commented, a heavy frown in place as he joined the breakfast table, own tablet in hand.

Tim nodded. “I know.”

“I’ll look into who at the school may have leaked that information.”

“I mean, it could have just been a classmate?” Danny pointed out. “It’s not like I’ve gone around shouting it to the heavens or anything, but, like, I haven’t kept it a secret how I ended up suddenly mid degree in the program.”

“It could have been,” Bruce acquiesced, “but it still bears looking into. Even if nothing comes of it, reminding the school of how they’re bound by FERPA hardly hurts, not with you returning to classes in a week.”

“Yeah that’s going to be… yeah,” Danny said with a sigh.

Jason leaned over to wrap his arm around Danny’s shoulder and brush a kiss against his temple.

“I’ve got to leave in a few days too,” Jazz said apologetically.

Danny nodded and leaned further into Jason. “You’ll be careful?”

“I will.”

“She will also have assistance in that matter,” Alfred said. The clink of the fresh plate of hot cross buns was a firm period on his declaration.

“That’s a sweet thought,” Jazz managed after a moment, “but I do live in a different state.”

“That is hardly an issue, Miss Jasmine. Master Richard will accompany you for the first week to simply make sure that everything is both secure and calm. When he is certain you will be well, he can make his way back easily enough,” Alfred explained. When Jazz opened her mouth to protest, Alfred held up a staying hand. “Miss Jasmine, I assure you it is not a hardship. You are family now and we very much look after our family. It would do all of us well to know that you are safe and sound.”

“Yes, family now,” Cass agreed as she made a grabbing motion at the plate until Tim passed her one of the buns.

“I, well…” A faint blush spread across Jazz’s cheeks. “I guess if it wouldn’t be a problem? And if you’re okay sleeping on the couch, Dick? We’ve only got one actual bedroom in the place, we use the other as an office for us both.”

“Hey, a couch isn’t the worst place I’ve slept by a long run,” Dick chirped. “But if you’re feeling guilty, I’ll taking getting to pick the tunes on the drive.”

“Don’t do it,” Jason said, an attempt to save Jazz that hell. “Seriously, not worth giving him that power. His music tastes are atrocious.”

Dick pouted. “They’re fabulous.”

“No, Jason’s right on this one,” Tim said.

“If Drake is agreeing with Todd, I am afraid that one has to accept there is some truth in the statement,” Damian interjected.

“Baby bat, no,” Dick whined.

From the look he aimed Dick, Damian was unmoved by the plea. “While you have a great many skills, Grayson—”

“Thank you.”

“—your taste in music, fashion, and other matters of culture is not one of those skills.”

“I’m wounded. You wounded me Damian, my baby bat, so cruel… so callous,” Dick said as he basically melted down into his chair.

“Keep up such antics and you will have a true wound to worry about, Grayson,” Damian said with a sniff.

Jason chuckled. “Ah, it’s not breakfast at the Manor without a threat of violence.”

Duke leaned around Tim to look at Jazz. “You still have time to run, Jazz, you don’t have to be part of this family. You can still get out.”

“Hum, I don’t know. Give me a Creep Stick—”

Multiple people looked at Danny and mouthed ‘creep stick?’.

“—and I think I can manage. Besides, none of the food has come back to life yet so it’s a better breakfast than I had most of my childhood.”

In the following silence, Bruce very carefully set his tablet down and folded his hands on top of it. “Food that came back to life?”

“Lab safety was just sort of an ignored suggestion in our childhood home,” Danny said.

“They kept samples in the fridge,” Jazz continued. “It sometimes had… unexpected results.”

“I don’t know, I think after the tenth time the hotdogs come ‘alive’ it’s an expected result,” Danny argued dryly.

“Good heavens,” Alfred declared softly. “And… the Dr. Fentons did nothing?”

Danny just shrugged. “I ate at school or out with my friends a lot.”

“No wonder you’re so pint sized,” Dick cooed.

“Hey!”

“You are, fish. Just a little guppy,” Jason teased. When Danny grumbled, Jason only pulled him closer.

“It really was just the way things were,” Jazz said, apparently still trying to soothe the table. “We know it’s not normal now, but that was just life at the time. It almost made more sense when there were actual ghosts around haunting Amity Park— and I don’t just mean Danny.”

“Boo.”

“Oh, yeah! You still haven’t shown us your ghost form,” Steph pointed out.

“But only if you’re up for it, dude, like… physically and emotionally,” Duke cut in quickly. “You don’t have to show us if you don’t want to.”

“Oh, I don’t mind. I mean, it was strange showing Jason the first time— showing someone who knew me as Danny first,” Danny said, “but, like, there are times when I want to be in that form. I even get restless if I go too long without changing over.”

“Or sometimes he just needs something off the top shel-oof,” Jason winced as Danny elbowed him hard. “Hey, I’m just speaking the truth here.”

“You’re the one who used me instead of a step stool to hang cameras,” Danny said with a perfectly sweet smile. “But anyways, yeah, it’s no issue to show you all! You might want to cover your eyes though, it’s a bit bright.”

“Bright?” Dick asked, right as Danny transformed.

It served him right if he was left blinking away spots.

“Oh wow, your lights are totally different like this,” Duke said, leaning forward to peer at Danny.

Danny peered back. “Lights?”

“Oh, sorry, I’m a meta, I see… like, after images of stuff, kinda You’re all sorts of wild like this,” Duke said, waving a hand at Danny.

“And inverted,” Tim pointed out.

“Oh, yeah, it seems to be a thing with halfas? Like, I was wearing a white with black hazmat suit when I died and the inverted version was what my ghost form was in for ages. I’ve learned to make changes to it since, but it’s easier to stay close to that original form.”

“Easier, how?” Bruce asked. He was clearly brimming with questions now that Danny was talking about ghostly matters, but he was obviously trying not to ask everything at once.

Tim didn’t seem much better in his eagerness.

“Oh, hum, there’s this resistance? Think of it like trying to pull apart two things that have been glued together. If you have the right solvent or heat or tools you can do it, but you have to have that and you still risk damage if you don’t go carefully. So small changes are easier. Also what um, role I’m in changes things.”

“Fascinating,” Bruce murmured.

“Wait, hold up,” Dick interrupted before Bruce could ask a follow up. “If you’re a halfa and Jason is a halfa, does this mean that Jason has a ghost form too?”

Jason had to resist pushing his chair back as all eyes spun to him. Sure this was his family, but that single minded Bat focus was still intimidating.

Cass tilted her head. “Like Duke said, only if up for it.”

“It’s just, I haven’t… transformed yet,” Jason said. He tried for a casual shrug and felt like he had missed by a mile. “We had to wait for my core and everything to form first.”

“But you could transform now?” Tim asked curiously.

Jason glanced at Danny.

“I think you could,” Danny said. He was floating a little above his chair now. Casually, as if it was odd, he crossed his legs and leaned forward onto them. “Your core is strong. You aren’t having the power issues I did, but you aren’t trying to go through this when a teen either. Question mostly is if you’re ready to try.”

Did he want to try?

Jason didn’t know. Part of him wanted to. Part of him wanted to be able to experience this aspect of being that Danny experienced— to experience it with Danny. Another part of Jason was still afraid. It still felt like the final period on everything that had happened with the Joker all of those years ago.

But maybe it was time to put that period on it.

Maybe it was time to let go.

Maybe it was time to live.

“I’d… I’d like to try.” At least if the worst happened he’d have his family here with him. One of them would be able to talk him down from a panic if he came back as Robin.

“After breakfast, Master Jason,” Alfred said firmly.

“Yes Alfie.”

-

“So… how does this work?” Dick asked.

They were gathered in the gym— originally a room converted for Dick’s gymnastics and since expanded to have various workout gear— on the bright blue mats. Danny was still in his ghost form and drifted in a lazy circle around the group. Jason and Jazz paid him no mind, but Duke and Steph kept glancing at the ghost.

“Well, I mean, when I was a teen I had to say a catchphrase and everything, but I was a lot more in flux at that age so it was all harder. Now it’s much more like just… taking a breath and jumping.”

“Yeah, fish, I’m going to need you to be a little more specific than that,” Jason drawled, his attitude a thin veil over his nerves.

Danny stopped, hovered in front of Jason, and gave him a chaste kiss. “You’ll be okay,” he whispered.

Jason gave a terse little nod.

“Really,” Danny continued, “you’ll be okay. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths.”

Breathing slowly through his nose, Jason focused on the feeling of Danny’s cold fingers against his cheeks.

“Now feel for your core. Think of what we saw with Frostbite— the fire, the ash, the movement of it. The light of it. Think about how warm it is there under your sternum. Even in this form, it’s part of you.”

Jason let out a breath slowly, feeling his chest fall with it. He focused on that warmth that nestled itself just under skin and bone. He thought about how it had looked in his hands, destructive but full of the promise of life.

“Keep a focus on your core, but think about how it feels to fly through the air as Red Hood. Think about that moment when you’re at the height of a swing and gravity doesn’t seem to matter. Now let go of all of that and fall. Your core will catch you. I’ll catch you.”

Jason gasped. His knees went out under him. He couldn’t breathe.

No…

He didn’t need to breathe. There simply wasn’t that demand on his body. Everything was just… calm. Static. Still. And he felt so warm. He hadn’t been this warm since before he had died only to wake up cold and alone in his own grave.

Jason looked down at his own hands. They were a dark ashen grey and when he flexed them, soot flaked off and scattered. The bat symbol— his bat symbol— glowed molten orange on his chest. He wasn’t in his Robin costume.

His knees felt weak for a second time, but he still didn’t fall. He looked up into Danny’s fanged grin. The other was holding him up by the elbows. Danny had caught him, just like he promised.

Danny's slow grin only uncurled further. “Hey there, hot stuff.”

Jason let his head fall back as he groaned at the joke.

“Nope, you’ve gotta deal with my puns because wow you really took the whole lava core thing to heart, didn’t you?” Danny said, looking Jason over. “Not that you aren’t totally rocking the look.”

“Really?” Jason asked. It was odd to hear his own voice come out modified from the black mask, deep but without the mechanical edge his Red Hood mask did. Steam escaped from the mask at the filters, swirling up into the still air.

“Payback for months of fish jokes,” Danny said and met the glowing red eyes without an ounce of shame. He drew his hands back along Jason’s arms from where he was holding onto his elbows. Jason could feel cold run along his arms and he held back a shiver. “You good to stand?”

Jason nodded. He felt fine now, weird, but fine. “Yeah, I am. Just… this is a lot different.”

“I know,” Danny said easily and a little sadly. He squeezed Jason’s wrists before letting go and drifting back. Without warning, he plunged his hand into his chest to find his Tucker™ phone.

“What the fuck,” Steph whispered from the sidelines.

“Hey, it’s an easy way not to lose things,” Danny said, “and you need a special phone to be able to handle stuff in the ghost zone so I just keep it on me.”

“In you.”

“Same diff,” Danny said with a shrug. He floated back enough to get all of Jason in the frame and snap a photo.

Jason took the phone carefully as it was passed over to him. That was him. He didn’t know what to think of it all yet, but that was him— as much him as Jason or Red Hood were him. This form certainly drew from his current Red Hood uniform, there was no question of that, not with the face mask and hood, but the coat was longer. The end of the coat ended mid thigh in drips and drops of bright red lava that turned to rick black ash and drifted away. The drips gave a clue to the make up of the rest of the coat, an oddly, roughly iridescent black that glowed bright on edges and seems. Inside the hood was almost blindingly bright.

“It’s definitely a look,” Tim said.

“I like it,” Steph interrupted. “You’re going to make the bad guys shit themselves.”

“Miss Stephenie,” Alfred sighed.

“I didn’t say I didn’t like it!” Tim grumbled. “I guess I just didn’t expect it to be so… otherworldly after Danny’s form.”

Danny shrugged and tucked himself into Jason’s side. The coat sizzled where Danny touched it. “I’m really the odd ghost out. Most of them are much more dramatic and themed to their obsession or core.”

“I think it is impractical. There will be no ambushing anyone when you glow in such a manner,” Damian sniffed.

“Jason’s ghost form isn’t for taking on criminals, Damian,” Bruce said. Jason knew B was thinking it through though from the slightly constipated look on his face.

“I guess with that coat you could totally say that look is dripping,” Duke said and then reached over to high five Dick as Cass signed ‘fire’ dramatically.

“This is your fault,” Jason let Danny know, “the puns.”

“They were like this when I got here,” Danny said, repentantly. “Come on though, open up.”

“Open up?”

“Your mask,” Danny said, tapping on the hard black surface. “I bet you can retract it. Just think about it pulling back and tucking away.”

Jason frowned under the mask but Danny was right before, so he took a breath and tried to picture the mask collapsing on itself and pulling back behind his neck.

The air of the room felt cold on his face.

“Oh, wow, your hair’s inverted,” Dick said, “just like Danny thought it would be. That’s almost more wild than the outfit.”

Jason reached up self consciously to tug at what must now be a black lock only for Danny to catch his hand and kiss it lightly.

“There you are. It took me a long time, but I finally found you,” Danny said.

“Found me?”

Danny gave a little hum. “Yep. Found that ghost whose haunt I crashed into all that time ago. Who would have thought I’d go from being worried about how angry your haunt felt to actually getting to know you like this— getting to know all of you. Getting to see you.”

Danny drifted up just a little more, just enough to press their lips together into a kiss. Icy cold met magma hot and Jason closed his eyes to sounds of cat calls and ‘steamy’. His siblings might be damn annoying, but they weren’t wrong, the kiss was literally steaming.

“Careful or you’ll be smoked salmon before you know it, fish.”

“I don’t know, I think I’d put up with it for you. You know why? Because I lava you,” Danny said with a cackle of laughter.

Jason rolled his eyes, but pulled Danny into another kiss. He had better get used to the puns, he supposed, but somehow he thought he would manage. He thought he would manage because he was no longer just a dead boy, because he had his family around him supporting him, because he also loved Danny. They had not only their afterlives, but their whole lives ahead of them.

And Jason… Jason was determined to live.

---

AN: And here we are... done! I hope you all enjoyed every moment of this fish's adventure, the love he found, and the life he helped give back! It was a journey for sure, and it took me longer than I expected, but I am ever so grateful for you all being along for it! I'll update ao3 tomorrow!

Stay delightful, darlings!

[castrianamore]

Bitter, Had the Heart

DC X Danny Phantom Crossover

Chapter 1: to see or to mistake

TW: Graphic depictions of Corpses, Mutilation, vile smells

Tim Drake was a brilliant Detective. He was a shareholder of Wayne Enterprises. Middle child of the family really. He was working on his degree in business at Gotham U, as expected. He also excelled, as expected. Nothing could have prepared him for this, though. I’m all his years of detective work nothing was quite this gruesome, this brutal. This slow.

A horrified terror filled expression struck across two gang member’s faces. Their deceased bodies had entrails splayed over the alley and he held a rag over his nose and mouth at the smell. It wasn’t just the decay setting into the bones and souls. It smelled like rotten eggs, sulfur. Mixed with the metallic scent of iron and blood and disgust.

Nightwing landed next to him.

“Oo that’s not pretty,”the man whispered. “Damn that stinks.” Time handed over a rag to his elder brother who very gladly put it over his nose.

“You’re telling me. This is one of the more brutal and gruesome cases I’ve seen in a while…” Tim was trying to take in what he could from below. They had to have been tortured alive as they had their entrails removed, at least most of the other rogue’s in Gotham made their subject’s deaths quick, even if painful but these? This was a new breed of brutal and horrific.

Tim was frustrated. He was a fucking detective for gods sake.

“How many is this now?”Nightwing looked at his younger brother before back down at the bodies.

“8… I think we can classify this as a serial case right now,”he huffed. He pulled out a notepad writing things down.

Smell of sulfur.

Entrails spread out.

Claw marks on the walls.

Symbols written into the alleyway walls in the blood of the fallen.

Faces frozen in horror.

This was the 7th and 8th one and of course it was similar to the others. Smell of sulfur. Entrails spread out. Once they got the autopsy report back he high suspected the heart will have been removed and a bite being taken out of the kidney if there even was one.

“So Gotham has another mysterious serial killer whose signature is as gruesome and messy as the Joker’s entire existence.” Tim had been frustrated with this case since it started and he was beyond grateful for the help. A lot of the bats were in on the case at some point. Duke had been trying to do Daytime recon. Tim and Dick were keeping up with police investigation, namely Dick who claimed he was coming from Bludhaven to help with the case. Got them both the inside information.

Bruce and Damian were trying to track down anything and it had been all hands on deck to keep a watchful eye on the city. Cass and Steph were off-planet apparently dealing with something from the covert ops team of Young Justice. Barb was doing her best to play eyes as she kept an eye on the various cctv footage around the city, but Gotham was big and there was always crime to attend too.

Tim was stretched thin himself. He normally had shareholder meetings in the mornings at least once a week, sometimes twice, and after that it was to his college classes. Tim had college, patrols, the company. Fuck. Let alone the occasional charity galas and other events he had to go to not only as a wayne but as a head of the company as a whole.

Tim was running on fumes as this case was running him dry. That was another reason why Dick was in town to lessen the load on Tim. He liked college and he knew that he wan’t exactly the most social person let alone the most normal(look at his job?) but he did want to do things sometimes with his friends. Though, he was sure his ‘friends’ probably wouldn’t be around for super long. Having mundane friends outside of super hero life was hard, let alone a romantic relationship. He had tried with the other heroes. He had tried with civilians but the civilians just couldn’t understand the time necessary and the excuses he was going to have to make.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to pursue a romantic relationship but it just simply felt as if he had no choice but to not. Wow, he was tired if hid mind was going off on it’s own separate tangent in mind distracting him from the task at hand. Speaking of…

A small flash of one of the police’s camera’s caught him off guard. Unbeknownst to the group a man in black tech wear with white accents and a mask pulled over his nose was crouched by the body. Hands gloves and a hood up over barely visible black hair. He was taking a sample it seemed of, what was that? How did he not notice that?

There was a green viscous liquid and he just collected it, not just an incredibly small amount, but what was on the body at all. It reminded him far too much of Lazarus water for his liking, but if someone had poured gelatin in it.

“Wing,”Time stated wide-eyed at him.

“I see.”

“We have eyes on a potential suspect,”Tim called over coms.

“Do not engage, follow,”Batman’s words echoed back to him. Duh. They wanted information on the dude. The two backed into the darkness a little more as soon as the police-men turned around he was gone. Tim and Dick watched his foot catch on the ledging as he climbed onto the roof of the building pulling down his hood and looking around. Eyes covered by a pair of goggles that were a stunning and haunting green color. Then it seemed he spotted the bats even from their vantage point, and as soon as they noticed. The man took off running.

“Shit!” Tim exclaimed, moving to jump onto the roof to pursue .

“Red! No engaging!”

“I’ve been following this shit for months, I’ve never been then close to a lead Nighty!” He exclaimed moving to follow.

“Language! But, really?!?” Nightwing followed after time the two moving with ease.

“Stop!!!” He yelled at the black masked figure who merely cocked his head to the side running backwards for a moment before jumping across to the next roof doing a roll. Experienced in parkour at least as Tim and Dick followed suit. Fuck he was fast.

“We need to corner him,”Dick hissed.

“Don’t tell B…”

“Don’t tell B what?”Dick replied before Tim threw two batarangs at his target.

“Red!” Dick exclaimed as the man dropped sliding on his knees to avoid the first one but as he got up the second one hit his leg. Bullseye. The person tripped holding his leg for a moment. A small grunt of pain could be heard as he scooted away from the two of them. The way their face was covered left no idea what thoughts crossed their mind. Nightwing landed next to Red as they stared at the man backing up against the wall to the roof.

“Don’t make us hurt you anymore. Tell us what you were removing from that crime scene,”Red threatened, grabbing his bo staff off his belt and letting it unfurl. The person shook their head as they used the short wall to stand up limping heavily. They weren’t incredibly close to the ground at the moment. At minimum a solid 8 stories high.

Pretty far up Tim would say. Which made the next move shake him. The man looked at them and slowly shook his head and by the time they both realized what they were doing their hearts broke. They gave him a farewell salute with two fingers and fell backwards off the edge of the building and neither himself nor Hightwing could catch him in time. Both running desperately to the edge wide eyed with panic.

It wouldn’t have been the first time someone had committed suicide to escape them. Tim doubted it would be the last either. Fate had it out for them in that way. Fate had it out for them in a lot of ways as Tim would find out over the course of events.

Though they never heard a smack against concrete as they rushed to the side, nor a scream of terror. So when they looked into the alley way the man wasn’t there anymore. Dick and him quickly using grappling hooks to get down.

“What the…”

“Where did he—“

“Infrared?” Dick suggested they both moved to look around them. Just the coldness of the alleyways and setting mid January weather. It was freezing in this alleyway.

“Is that a bed?”Dick pointed out the small campaign at the very back of the alley. A few cardboard boxes set up as a table with a few remains set there. Messy soaked sheets sat on top a cardboard bed with a messy pillow half destroyed it seemed

“Of course it’s a bad.” voice drawing them both out from their mission. “I never thought this would be the way I finally run into Two bats. You’re in front of my sleeping spot.”

They looked up to see a young man(teenager?) he only stood about 5’3. He was bundled up with a hoodie and a black trench coat over it. A soft blue scarf wrapped around his neck, hands shoved into his pockets with piercing blue eyes and ruffled black hair being held down by the matching blue beanie. He looked cold and from the infrared sensors on him the man was abnormally cold compared to most normal humans. A metà Maybe?

He had deep tired circles under his eyes. Skin far too pale to be healthy and a guant looks to his cheeks. His clothing almost just draping off his thin frame. He looked like he was very very sick if Tim could guess.

“Sorry for intruding, then,”Dick spoke up walking in front of him. Giving him a nod that he saw it too. “Did you happen to see a man fall from what roof?”

The man shifted and looked concerned Tim’s eyes looking of his shoulders, eyes, lips. Trying to pick up any subtle mico expressions.

“I just got back from classes, man,”The man sighs rubbing his forehead. “I’m half asleep and running 3 red bulls and a pack of saltine crackers.”

“Can we ask where you’re coming from?”Dick gave a charming gentle smile.

“The library.”

“I see, well we’re looking for a man dressed in all black with goggles with bright green lenses and black hair. He was sporting tech wear. You can give the police a call if you see anything?” Tim pulled out one of Greyson’s cards after he spoke. “We’re working with Detective Greyson at the moment for any leads so you can call the precinct if you see anything.”

The man took the card tossing it over his shoulder.

“ACAB, so can I sleep now? Or are we going to be playing a fun little game of 20 questions with me being the epicenter of the bats hyperfixations.”

“Ah… no, not at all. Have good night,”Dick stated as Tim was trying not to laugh as the man grabbing him grappling them up onto the roof. It was silent as they got a few blocks away before Tim burst out laughing.

“He just…”another laugh,”YEET!” Mimicking the card being thrown over his shoulder.

“That kid is suspicious.” Dick huffed maybe a little salty his normal charms didn’t work on him.

“He’s sassy not suspicious.”

“But his body temperature was—“

“He’s probably a meta Nightwing. Don’t tell the bats that you’re a meta, remember? It’s kind of Batman’s whole reason for keeping the city the way that it is, to protect metas.”

“You’re right.”

“I know. The kid looked exhausted the only thing I picked up from him was that he was beyond annoyed that he had to wait a second longer to go to bed. It’s,”he paused to look at his wrist. “2am.” A pause. If we was a student the mostly likely place he would have been would be the library. Even if you were walking from Gotham U library or a cafe it wouldn’t have taken you two hours to get where they were.” The library and most cafes closed at 11 or midnight.

“What did you realize? You’re smile fell.”

“The university library closes at midnight.”

“Okay and?”

“And this part of town is only a 45 minute walk from the library.”

“Is he our culprit they both have black hair. Could be especially if he’s a Meta explain why he was able to get away from us so fast.”

“I doubt it, that kid looked… sickly to say the least, but he was definitively hiding something.”

“So what was he hiding that he didn’t want the bats to know?

By the time they made it back to the alleyway the mysterious kid was gone.

“Dammit!”Tim exclaimed. This case was frustrating. Everything was going wrong.

“Look we at least know one thing right?” Dick was trying to make light of the situation. “He goes to Gotham U.”

“Dick.. we’re going to find hundreds of people who fall under the broad category. Let’s search “Black hair blue eyes” into the student database and see how many we come up. Let alone the fact that black might not be his natural hair color.”

“Hood could find him…”

“No, Hood has enough on his plate with these murders finding a homeless kid is not part of the problem at hand. The dude didn’t hurt anyone.”

“But if we run into him again,”Dick stared at the quickly disassembled bed the few ratty sheets now gone. “Do you think we could get him to the hospital for some help? Meta or not his readings were… rough.”

“We can’t force people into getting help all the time. It’s one thing for rogue’s who are more than a little insane but a guy who’s sick in the alley way?” Tim shook his head with a sigh rubbing the back of his neck. “We’d be chasing after half of Gotham.”

Tim rubbed his forehead a little frustrated with the general turn of events going on right now. Why couldn’t he get a lead on this fucker. He doubted that googles person would be much help. They looked like an investigator themself but at this point it was a lead and Tim was desperate. Each murder was more gruesome than the last like they were pushing their victims and themselves every time they did it. It had to have been a beast right?

“We need to find the masked person…”

“Yeah no I agree. Whatever they pulled off the body they were looking for that. They knew it would be there.”

“Think he’s the murderer?”

“Probably not, but they seem to know more than us which is concerning in its own right.”

“Not wrong there little bird.” Dick sighed. “We should leave. Head back to the cave.”

“Best, I have too many classes in the morning.”

“You have coffee addiction, you’ll be fine.” Dick smirked as they started back towards the cave moving to write a report of what they encountered on their patrol.

“You trying to feed my coffee addiction?”

“Absolutely not, B might kill me with that one,”Dick snorted.

It wasn’t as if Tim could sleep even as they got back to the manor to crash for night after writing their reports. He remained long after Dick had gone to get some sleep. Eyes focused on the screen and then down at his drawing in front of him. A rough sketch of the new person of interest.

Those eerie glowing goggles were stained into his mind as he leaned back in his chair looking at the file they had created for him.

Name: Unknown

Age: Unknown

Height:5’3 ~

Weight: 115-130lbs~

Appearance: Black hair in black tech wear and a respirator over his mouth and glowing green lensed goggles. White motifs along the outfit with a white D symbol over the left side of the chest.

Status: Unknown

Alignment: Unknown

All these unknowns. How were they supposed to figure it out. He had to meet this person again. He had to find them. He didn’t have a choice. This person was a key in his case. He sent a text to Jason.

“Keep an eye out for a guy that roughly looks like this” He sent an attachment of the drawing he did of the rough outfit in greyscale and what he saw.

“Oh… I know that dude. The people called him Distortion.”

What?

Jason knew of him? How did?

“How?” Cue Tim’s annoyed thoughts at how Jason didn’t care to share this information with them. Any of them. “And you didn’t think a new body on the streets who has a name wasn’t something you wanted to share with the class?!?”

More little bubbles as he was typing.

“He belongs to me that’s all you need to know. He’s an associate. A valuable acquaintance.”

“Well your associate was found removing evidence from my crime scene and bolting.”

“Need to know basis, Tim.”

“Do you know his identity?”

“No.”

“Age?”

“Yes.”

“Can i have it?”

“Absolutely not. He doesn’t want to be involved with the Bats or on your radar. I’d advise deleting the file you’re creating on him. He doesn’t take well to being on record right now.”

“Why?”

“Don’t know Don’t care but he’s incredibly useful and I’d like to keep him on our side and he was very hesitant on even coming to me. He only came to me because he’s operating out of my territory.”

“At least the guy has some respect.”

“He has street smarts. Now back off Tim. You know I let you in on a lot and that’s why I’m telling you this, but him? Distortion? Let him do his thing. If he tells me anything I’ll let you know.”

“What do you get out of this?”

“An investigator.”

“You have us?”

“Not all crime is big enough to involve the bats. Not all crime I can do all the work for for myself. He helps me out locating information and in exchange I leave him the fuck alone.”

Tim stared at the texts.

More typing bubbles.

“You tell Dick, Damian, or especially Bruce about this and I will rat you out for the Yelen case.”

Tim would be silent after all…

He stared at his doodle, ripping it up. It looked like shit anyways. He rubbed his face frustrated really as he made no changes to the file. Dick didn’t have to know about what he knew. This felt wrong to him though. Not just the whole Jason apparently knowing of the guy. If Jason knew of the guy but he remained under the radar of the rest of the bats it was concerning, and even as close as he was to Jason he wouldn’t put it past that guy to keep his issues to himself.

He always thought of himself really. First and foremost. It had been that way since his return mostly. It wasn’t like he never tried. Birthdays and holidays he’d show up. Tim wasn’t going to like that he noticed the mans change in demeanor the past year had done for him. A decrease in murders Jason committed in Crime Alley.

It was subtle enough unless you were looking for it, it wouldn’t be noticed, but tim did. Tim did notice. It reminded him of that breakdown he had a while ago. The anger returning to his brother like it had been there all along slowly increasing. The pit madness returning with a full force nearly driving Jason away from everyone. Jason wouldn’t talk about why the pit madness hit him so hard again.

He wasn’t exactly a feelings guy. None of them were. Dick was the most open of the Bat siblings to openly talk about their emotions and hell Duke had the most normal of a life before it all. Even he was hesitant. They all saw the Black Canary at least once every 6 months and that was only after a begrudging agreement with Black Lightning and the rest of the justice league. Most of they, themselves, weren’t involved in the justice league.

It was also why Cass and Steph being asked to go seemed to set him off. It wasn’t his place.

“He belongs to me..” Tim whispered out the words with a slight possessive tome looking at their texts chewing on his lip a little. A small habit he picked up when he was lost in thought and alone. Usually only when he was relaxed and with family. He couldn’t let people read his microexpressions out in public.

“For a solitary man, that’s quite a possessive statement Jason,”he mumbled into the batcave before standing up and walking up the stairs to his room. Not that he got much sleep either.

[gatorbites-imagines]

also if you would wanna write more jason x older vigilante reader i would be very happy -LB

Jason Todd x older vigilante male reader

Headcanons

I’ve been studying almost nonstop since Monday and I’m so tired, but fuck it we ball, Jason deserves to be loved and cared for by a bigger older man 🗣️🗣️

This is pretty much a part two other Jason x older reader thing I wrote, that you can read here.

This takes place after you two have been dating for a while, meaning Jasons family and the outlaws know. You don’t have any family yourself, as your type of work doesn’t allow family, so there’s no one for you to introduce him too.

After a while you two wouldn’t hang on each other like newlyweds, in public at least. Jason always finds himself in your lap when you are home, especially when you cleaning your guns or polishing your knives. He will whine and pout for you, his daddy, to pay attention to him.

Most days its enough for you to just caress his hair and roll your eyes softly at him, maybe even leaning down and giving him a few kisses as he lays in your lap.

But other days he needs more, biting and bratting until you pull order him to get undressed so he can sit in your lap and warm you as you work. Its always more than enough to calm him down as he sits with his head against your shoulder, almost floating away somewhere else as you give him neck soft kisses and mutter soft praise as you work on your weapons.

You still pamper him, and you find yourself almost puffing out your chest like a proud bird when he so willingly accepts your gifts. In the beginning Jason would be very against being given things, but after a while he starts to enjoy it and always makes sure to show you how much he loves it.

You don’t cover him in useless junk though, all clothes you buy him is specially made for him and is made of bulletproof fabrics and materials, and any jewelry you give him can also be used as weapons or has vials of neurotoxin or other poisons in case he needs it.

You being so protective and always looking out for his safety allows Jason to feel less stressed about his everyday life, as he doesn’t just have to rely on himself anymore, but can also lean on you when he needs it.

Most of his family doesn’t really know how to deal with the fact that Jason is dating a guy the same age as Bruce, or close to the same age at least. Especially if you’ve had run ins with Bruce as Black Demise and put him in the ground.

But since you’ve settled down with Jason, you have focused more on staying in Gotham to be with your lover and assist him in running his empire as the red hood. You don’t even really need to do any mercenary work anymore, since you have more than enough money. You can allow yourself to be picky with contracts, so you only pick the ones targeting the scum of the earth.

When you have to leave on mercenary work, you and Jason always make sure to call when you are able, and you’ll bring him a gift when you get back home again. Most of the time its different weapons from the specific country you’ve gone too, but sometimes its something as normal as a t-shirt, or piece of lingerie you felt would fit him.

Jason doesn’t really act any different to the outside world than he did before. Hes only soft and whiney with you, to everyone else hes as cold and rough as usual. Bad dealers and goons will even claim the Red Hood as gotten even worse since Black Demise showed up.

That’s why everyone in the Gotham underground believes the red hood is the student of Black Demise, as no one assumes you two are dating. It causes the people who know who you are to stay away from crime alley, as they fear what kind of thing you must be teaching Red Hood, since you are known to be crueler than Deathstroke.

You guys keep killing to the minimum though, or at least keep it under wraps. Jason is so impressed when you can get away with murder right under Bruces nose, since you are so good at hiding bodies and evidence. You teach him everything you know.

One of the batfam members that enjoys your presence, is surprisingly Alfred. Hes known about you as Black Demise for years, ever since you started, and he knows you don’t do needless killings. Sure, he isn’t the biggest fan of your work, but he was a secret agent so who is he to judge. Plus, he hasn’t seen Jason this happy in years.

Your presence also makes Jason feel more sure to go to family get togethers at the manor, as long as you can come. He acts all tough, but you know part of Jason is scared of being alone with his family, and the insecurity it creates inside him.

That’s another reason Alfred is happy to have you, since you get Jason to actually attend family dinners and holidays. Since you don’t have any family, you are able to convince Jason to go “for your sake”, since you wanna experience holidays or family time.

The batfam are uncomfortable in the beginning, but Cass sees that you mean no harm and that you absolutely love Jason, so she warms up pretty fast. Dick already knows you from his time with Deathstroke. Tim would know about you from all his deep research he does, and would be cautious, but like the others he sees Jason is happy, so he won’t judge.

Damian would want to battle you, or would not trust you further than he could throw you for a while. Hes heard about how powerful and cruel you can be from the league of assassins, but at some point, you two end up bonding over shared interests, and he begrudgingly accepts you.

The rest of the batfam would grow warmer to you over time as they see how healthy Jason actually looks with you, and how you clearly love him back just as much. It doesn’t stop some of them from making sugar daddy jokes at Jason, or joking about the age gap, but you just let it roll of your back and find it cute when Jason gets annoyed.

At this point Bruce will have to begrudgingly accept your relationship, even though he’s not the biggest fan, mainly because of your insanely high kill count. But he gets reminded about his own exes and dating history by the rest of the fam, so there isn’t much he can say.

You two come to an understanding that you make Jason happy, so as long as you don’t start killing innocents for money, you two will have a truce. You two probably end up bonding over whatever men your age are into at some point, but you both will deny it.

Somehow dating you helped Jason become closer to his family, who’d have thought getting a sugar daddy boyfriend would bring that, but you did. Congrats.

[to-the-stars8]

Reviving Love

Jason Todd x Reader Chapters AO3

Chapter 10

Oh, my life is changing every day, in every possible way…

When Jason approached your door he heard that familiar song that brought back two vivid memories. 

The first memory was the day he was supposed to help the art club paint the background for the school play. When he had walked into the auditorium with a basket of supplies, Bruce had insisted he bring it, and the song had been blaring full blast with a chorus of out-tune voices singing long. Yours’ among them. As he approached the stage, he finally saw you. You were knelt next to a huge wood tree, paintbrush in hand, and singing along to the lyrics. 

And, oh, my dreams, it’s never quite as it seems—Never quite as it seems

He remembered suddenly feeling flush and stumbling to get all the words out of his mouth. All at once, he just found you so incredibly pretty. 

The second time he had heard that song was his first year of high school, the autumn right before he died. It was homecoming and, after some begging since he was technically grounded, Bruce had let him go. Jason made a point not to tell you so it could be a surprise when he showed up. He found you standing off to the side looking heartbroken. When your eyes met it felt like one of those stupid high school romance movies. Where the room stopped and was drowned in a pink light with roses. When you kissed him he remembered how your breath smelled like cinnamon and your eyes sparkling in the lights. 

Now, as he stood at your front door, he felt that same rush of feelings that made everything dizzy. Luckily, when you answered it brought back some of the senses he had lost while reminiscing. As you welcomed him in, the song still played. 

I know I’ve felt like this before, but now I’m feelin’ it even more—Because it came from you...

“I’m sorry,” You said, walking past him to turn off the speaker. “I was a little lost in my tunes.”

“No worries, I like that song,” Jason admitted. 

You turned to him, smiling. “You do?”

“Yup. I…danced with my prom date to that song.” It was a stretch of the truth, but the last thing he wanted was to connect the dots any further.

“Oh! I danced with my homecoming date to that song, too! I guess it’s pretty popular at school functions,” You laughed and motioned him to the kitchen.

That had been the first time you had referred to him, well the younger him anyway. When he entered the kitchen, you were leaning over a pot of some boiling pasta. Next to it was some sauce that he could only assume you had made from scratch with all the spices, herbs, and other things cluttering the counter. 

“Do you mind trying some of this?” You asked, turning to look at him with a spoon in your hand. 

Nodding, he stepped closer and put his lips to the spoon. It was awful, and he found it hard to tell you it sucked—Unfortunately, his face gave away his feelings. You laughed and it was beautiful. 

“I admit, I’m not the greatest of cooks,” You said, putting the spoon down. “Do you cook?”

“I do, so maybe I could give you some pointers?”

You grinned. “Please?”

Everything you did was so sweet, and he was sure you weren’t even doing it on purpose. With every mistake you made or everyone he made, you laughed it off. You made the whole situation of essentially being the worst cook ever into something fun. You were kind enough to open your home to him, the worst person alive.  

You were inching another forkfull of pasta towards his mouth, and, before he even entertained the idea of taking a bite, he said, “You know, if you keep feeding me, I’ll just keep coming back.”

The way you smiled gave away that he had said something good. Bashfully, you responded, “Well, what if I was trying to do that? Have you come back, I mean.”

Instead of saying anything, Jason took a bite of the pasta as he wiggled his eyebrows up and down at you. You took the hint and looked away so he wouldn’t see your blush. As you stirred the pasta a few more times, you wondered if he could hear how loud your heart was beating. You felt like an awkward teenager again. 

“Um, we should eat,” You said, not sure what else to do as you moved around Jason to get to the bowls in the cabinet. “Or else I’ll be spending all night forking food into your mouth.”

“I wouldn’t complain—Hold on, let me get those,” He said, reaching above you to grab the bowls on the top shelf. He put one hand on the counter next to you, encasing you in, and pressing right up against your back to reach for the plate. As you sucked in a breath, you could smell him. Jason smelled of cigarette smoke and mint, an odd but welcoming combination. 

As he put the bowls down, Jason stopped as you turned around. He hadn’t realized just how close you were, only mere inches from your lips, and he could have swooped down to seal in his feelings. Yet, he didn’t. You looked up through your lashes, eyes going to his lips, but made no move to kiss him. 

“I should…” You trailed off, hoping he would do something. 

A quick image flashed in Jason’s mind, one with you bent over the counter and him whispering just how pretty you were into your ear. As soon as the image came into his mind, he backed off. Smacking his face lightly when he turned away, he pulled his thoughts from his little head. He couldn’t get over how shallow it was to think of you in such a way, especially when couldn’t take that final step. It was too much, and he was terrified to be a disappointment to you since he had little to no experience.

You didn’t let him get away this time, though. You stepped around him, your fingers gingerly pushing his cheek to look at you, before stepping closer to him. He could feel your body press against his, and he had to think of every disgusting thing he had ever seen to not get hard. He tried focusing on the music he had insisted you turn on. This time, you looked down at his lips and then back up at his eyes, wanting him to know how you felt. 

“I know,” You began, and Jason could smell just how sweet you were. “You want to take things slow, and I respect it—but, please, don’t tease me like this.”

“I…” Jason tried to find some excuse, but he couldn’t. Quickly, he said, “I’m sorry.”

You grinned, leaning up to press a ghost of a kiss to his cheek. “I hope this is okay?”

“Yes,” He breathed. 

You smiled as you pulled away just enough to remember himself. You reached up, eyes not breaking away from his to make sure no lines were being crossed, to fix a bit of his shirt that had become wrinkled. “Do you think I’ll bite?”

“Maybe, can never be too sure in this city.”

You giggled. “I promise you I won’t. Unless you ask.”

Jason smiled and he saw you blush. He could do this, he thought, he could be with you. Maybe, he could figure out how to be good enough for you, too. In the background, he could hear Dreams playing again. 

Then I open up and see the person falling here is me—A different way to be.