#my two faves ever meeting... now that would be my roman empire

[chloebrennans]

SUMMER IS BACK!?!?!??!?@?!?!?!?@?!?!

[drivinmeinsane]

i know you just did this, but good god i need more of the driver!!! you just write him so incredibly well. the driver x ken fic is my roman empire <2

anyway i just love driver being dangerous and intense and obsessed with the reader, if that's something you'd wanna write :)

Thank you!!!! Driver is one of my absolute faves to write for, and I'm glad you enjoyed the content I wrote for the silly little ship. <3

I hope this is along the lines you were looking for!

{ masterlist }

※ Summary: Your not-quite-boyfriend, Driver, handles your after work harassment situation.

※ Rating: T for mention of implied murder and sexual harassment

※ Word count: 1130

You’re quiet when you get into the passenger seat of his car. The black leather seat is cold underneath you. You buckle yourself in, hoping that your body doesn’t betray you with shaky hands. The man behind the wheel doesn’t greet you. That’s normal. Perfect even, after the night you’ve had. 

“Thanks for picking me up,” you finally say, trying to aim for normalcy.

“Happy to do it.” He doesn’t spare any extra words.

It’s routine now, this nameless man picking you up from work. He's been doing it ever since he slid into your life at the laundromat of all places. He'd offered you a ride back to your apartment in his forty year old car after being involved in the struggle with your laundry basket. It had ripped itself out of your hands and emptied the contents over the pavement. He helped you put everything back in despite your furiously flushing face. He didn’t bat an eye over your ratty sweatpants or your underwear. Accepting his offer was easy. He seemed politely earnest, safe. Besides, you had reasoned, it was broad daylight. What harm could there possibly be? 

There hadn’t been any. The short ride had gone so easily that you had let it slip that you were without a vehicle. In response, he offered to help you with errands and to take you to and from work. You shot him down partially, insisted on walking or taking the bus during daylight hours to your job. He had begrudgingly relented on picking you up from your workplace. This agreement has ended in the two of you spending a lot of time together. More than you probably should be. It's not just errands and commutes. There have been shared meals, movies… he’s been everything but your boyfriend. That line still has not been crossed. Though… you have started to wonder what it would be like to take the ever-present toothpick out of his mouth and kiss him. Would he let you? Would he enjoy it?

You finally take a look at him while you sit in silence at the last stop light before the turn into your apartment’s parking lot. He is looking straight ahead, eyes focused on the street beyond the Chevy’s hood. His face is impassive, but right as the light turns green, his eyes flicker to meet yours. The possessive glint in them causes your breath to hitch. For a split second, he looks like he would eat you alive. You turn away, the moment passes.

He doesn’t speak until he pulls into a parking spot in front of your apartment building. He gets out and opens your door for you like always, ever the considerate friend. He watches you extract yourself and shuts the door after you. He leans against it, crosses his arms, looks like he doesn’t have a care in the world.

“What happened tonight?” Disinterested tone to go right along with his relaxed posture. His eyes say differently.

A long silence stretches out between the two of you. You’re reluctant to speak, embarrassed over the situation. You manage to look at him and he calmly raises his eyebrows. He’s not going to drop it. 

“You know… it was just those guys again. They got a little bolder tonight, I guess.”

“What did they do?”

“Ran their mouths,” you shrug. “One of them found some courage and slapped me on the ass…” You trail off, the look on Driver’s face enough to steal the words right out of your mouth. You’ve never seen him look angry, not like this. 

“I’ll kill ‘em.”

You laugh, thinking he’s joking. When his face doesn’t soften, you realize he’s serious and you sober up. “No. I’m okay. Really. Please don’t worry about it.”

“They upset you.” The mechanic says it matter of factly, like upsetting you is a death sentence. 

You wring your fingers together. Uncertain. Nervous. Concerned. You haven’t been sure of what your relationship with him is lately, and when he acts like this, you’re even less sure. He frightens a primal part of your brain with his intensity. He is like a different creature in the night, more animal than man.

“Driver…” you say softly. You’re not sure of what else to say.

He stays quiet. The look on his face as he leans against his car and rolls the toothpick in his mouth between his fingers is full of dark promise. You shiver and it has nothing to do with the cold. He notices it, of course he does. He’s the most observant person you have ever met. Nothing escapes his awareness. The man pushes himself out of his casual lean, uncrosses his arms, and comes to your side. He lightly brushes his fingers over the back of your arm. You can feel the warmth of his skin through the layers separating your bodies. 

The walk to your front door is uneventful. He remains at your side, close enough to where you brush against one another with every other step. You pause at the door, unlock it, and impulsively twist to look up at him. You catch a tender look on his face before he puts his guard up and he’s a blank slate again. Your mouth feels dry. You throw caution into the wind and fully face him. Before you can talk yourself out of it, you wrap your arms around him, firmly hugging the man. Driver is stiff, caught by surprise, but his arms come up around you. You stand like that for a long moment. He gradually relaxes and melts against you. 

“Don’t do anything ridiculous. I worry about you,” you mumble against the smooth fabric of his bomber jacket. You reluctantly release him and step back. 

He doesn’t respond with words, just opens your door for you and gently guides you through your own doorway with a firm hand spanning across your lower back. 

“Goodnight," he tells you.

───※ ·❆· ※───

It’s not until halfway through your shift that your coworkers start making a ruckus. One of them loudly calls your name from the other room until you respond. You push through the swinging door out into the dining area to see the other employees gathered around the television mounted on the wall. 

“-beaten almost to the point of no recognition-”, “police say the men were found in an alley by-”, “-no suspects at this time-” 

The news anchor’s voice fades in and out as your mind reels. He didn’t. He wouldn’t.

“Aren’t these the guys that were giving you trouble last night? Musta got on somebody’s bad side.” The dishboy jokes to you.

“Yeah,” you say, faking a laugh.

He would. You know in your gut that he would. For you, he would do anything.

[tjbellart]

In anticipation of the new Birds of Prey movie coming out tomorrow, and one of my absolute fave villain getting some live-action screen time for the first time ever, I thought it would be fun to post a quick backstory on said villain as he appears in my upcoming fan comic! So without further ado, here is a comprehensive rundown on my personal redesign of-

Black Mask!

Roman Sionis was born to born to wealthy parents Mahiro and Yone Shiono who changed their surname to “Sionis” after immigrating to the US. He is the eldest of two, with nearly fifteen years separating him from his sister Minerva. The Shiono’s are a Yakuza family, and their immigration was both an opportunity for international expansion, as well as a convincing way for Mahiro to dodge police questioning in Japan. The Sionis’ certainly did not leave their criminal past behind, however, and expanded their family’s control into Gotham city due to delicate alliances with Carmine Falcone.

From a young age, Roman was destined to take over for his father- both his criminal empire and Janus Cosmetics, the company that most of Gotham’s dirty money filtered through. He grew up forming close, familial relationships with the likes of Carmine Falcone, Fish Mooney and Oswald Cobblepot. In school he became fast friends with fellow child of the mob, Thomas Elliot; this lead him to make friends with Tommy’s friends, Harvey Dent and Bruce Wayne.

As Roman grew into a young man, he excelled at following in his father’s footsteps. He had a head for business, and a ruthless capability to be cold blooded. Seeing the potential in his son to be a great leader, Mahiro struck a deal with another Yakuza family to merge together - a deal that was sealed with the marriage of Roman to the Yamane families’ daughter, Circe. 

Roman and Circe, though fast friends, both abhorred the idea of marrying. Circe had a desire to take over for her family, not be married of as the wife of the man who would take her birthright. Roman, aside from his desires to step away from the criminal life, had been dating Tommy Elliot for a long while and the two planned to marry. Roman and Circe both chose to defy their parents wishes and refuse the marriage. Though angry with this decision, the families remained close in the hopes the children might be persuaded to change their minds. 

Tommy Elliot, however, was having issues of his own with his engagement. His mother vehemently disproved of the union, threatening to cut Tommy out of her will. Unwilling to give up the fortune owed to him and pushed on by the constant physical and emotional abuse he sustained from his mother, Tommy planned to kill her before she could write him out. Roman promised to keep the secret, but ended up more involved when they discovered the will had already been rewritten. As Tommy strangled his mother to death, Roman followed the family lawyer, killing him and burning the new copy of the will.

For a short time, Roman was in a good place. His father had died, leaving both sides of the family business to him along with the family heirloom: a black Oni mask the heads of the family used when conducting illicit business. Roman excelled as a cosmetic company CEO as well as a Gotham City Crime Lord. The only problem then became Tommy, who didn’t want them to follow in the footsteps of their fathers. Tommy feared Roman’s life was too dangerous and delivered an ultimatum: give up the criminal life, or break off their engagement. Roman promised to lead a life on the straight-and-narrow.

However, Roman still had work to be done. Janus Cosmetics was under fire for a product in their professional “stage and screen” line that had been distributed without proper testing. The Family worked hard to keep chemical burns and scarring under wraps, but a small time actor by the name of Basil Karlo became a particularly loud fly in Roman’s ear. He was vocal about the damage the makeup had done, and had vandalized company property in protest. When Karlo broke into a Janus Cosmetics warehouse to tamper with the recalled product before testing, Roman took advantage of the situation and ensured that Karlo “”tragically fell””, eliminating his problem. 

Karlo, however, was far from gone. His body fused with the tampered mixture and he emerged to perform the role of a lifetime - Gotham’s newest rouge, Clayface. Using his newfound powers of transformation, he posed as a client of Roman’s and baited him into a meeting. When Roman arrived, Clayface struck. He brought him to the warehouse where his own fate had been sealed, determined to kill Roman the way Roman had tried to kill him.

Roman awoke tied to a conveyor belt, staring into the nozzle a tank containing the heinous concoction that had turned Karlo into a monster. The Batman came to his rescue, but not before he got a face full of the tampered product and the mask he’d work to meet his client had already begun to fuse to his skin.

Roman was rushed to the hospital, but the surgeons could only do so much. When he woke up, Tommy had left behind his ring knowing Roman had already answered his ultimatum. 

Heartbroken and vengeful, Roman sought out the help of his old friend Oswald Cobblepot. The criminal was setting up to take over for Carmine Falcone, and needed a right hand to fill his position. With few other options, Roman accepted. He and Circe married, and he granted her his company in the near immediate divorce. Roman was now a free agent. 

He took over Oswald’s position running The Stacked Deck Casino - both a source of incredible revenue and a money laundering front for the mob, placing the newly dubbed “Black Mask” as one of the most powerful and feared men in all of Gotham City.