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sailtoafarawayland · 3 years

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The Daughter You Have (Not That Girl)

Summary: “Take me home,” she whispered against him, and when she pushed onto her toes and hungrily met his lips with her own, pressing every bit of the things she wasn't ready to say yet into him, he knew that she wasn't just talking about a place.

Rated: T

(This is an edit of my very first story published over on FF way back in 2015, but new to AO3. I've corrected some grammar and fixed a few errors, but have kept it true to what my intentions were at the time. It follows "There's No Place Like Home", but continues as if neither the urn nor Marian returned to Storybrooke)

- AO3 -

Chapter 1/1

It was a little thing, nothing more than a gentle touch on his wrist, that opened Emma's eyes fully to something she had a feeling her subconscious had been protecting her from up until that point. David and Mary Margaret were disappointed with her. The signs had been there from the beginning – they were so obvious now that she was looking back – but it had been the family dinner at Granny's that had made their feelings perfectly clear.

Things had changed for Emma after she and Hook traveled through Zelena's time portal – a lot had changed, and when they'd finally gotten back, she knew what it was to return home. This was the town where her family was, where her heart was. The entire adventure had also opened her to other possibilities, things she had been eager and uninhibited in exploring since their return.

So when her mother called to let her know they were all meeting at Granny's for dinner, it hadn't occurred to her to do anything other than show up with the person she'd been spending her evening with. After all, they'd intended to eat at some point, so even though the family dinner would shorten other activities they'd had planned, Emma knew they'd make up for the distraction later.

The scene when she and Hook entered the diner was something that tugged at her heart. Every year when she was a child, she'd wished for the same thing on her birthday – to not be alone, to have a family. To have one now and really know that they weren't going to give her up, it was something she'd never thought she could have. So it was understandable, as caught up in the emotion of it all as she was, that she didn't notice the slight fall to Mary Margaret's face when they stepped inside, or the almost imperceptible tightening of David's mouth.

Placing a light kiss on Henry's forehead as he smiled up at her, she took the empty chair alongside him, the familiar heat of Killian beside her as he pulled out the chair at her right side, the comforting weight of his hook resting easily on her leg beneath the table.

She'd smiled at him, his own bright grin contagious beneath his flushed cheeks.

The two tables pushed together were crowded, Regina, Robin, and Roland being a natural extension of the weird, extended family they'd all fallen into, but everything felt perfect to Emma in that moment.

She was happy.

That's why it was so jarring when it happened.

They'd gone through the tedious chore of ordering food, Roland unable to decide between chicken fingers and pizza, and the conversation was light and easy. Laughing at a quiet comment Henry had made, she'd turned to share it will Killian, knowing he would enjoy the quick-witted remark. Henry had been enjoying spending quite a bit of time with the both of them lately, and clearly the pirate's verbosity had worn off on him. She'd leaned into him, the action intimate and familiar, her arm crossing his body to gently squeeze his hand as she whispered in his ear.

It was a small gesture of affection, an easy expression of her happiness, and if she hadn't happened to look across the table at the exact moment she did, she wouldn't have seen it, but she had, and she did.

Mary Margaret's quickly stifled sigh, the slight flare of David's nostrils.

In that moment, Emma didn't need to ask them if they disapproved of her relationship with Killian, to test their words and weigh them as truth or lie – she read it on their faces as easily as if they had sent her a text.

“I don't feel great,” Emma cut in, interrupting the flow of conversation as she stood abruptly, the legs of her chair stuttering against the floor. “Sorry, kid, but I've got to go. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” Henry shrugged, already turning his attention to the dessert menu he'd been eyeing up. “Feel better, Mom.”

She squeezed his shoulder once, a tight smile on her face, and turned toward the door, needing to get out of the diner that was suddenly too small to hold the frustration and anger coursing beneath her skin.

Killian rose with a bit more grace than she'd been able to muster, his words charming and polite despite the concern she could read beneath them.

Emma didn't go far, simply taking the few steps she needed to get away from the glare of the diner's lights before waiting for Killian to join her, immediate relief folding over her as she was enveloped by the scent of leather and salt – the mark of the sea far too ingrained in everything he wore to ever fade. The heat from her breath clung to his jacket as she pressed herself into his embrace, needing the closeness.

“Talk to me, Swan. Are you unwell?”

She didn't want to talk.

She didn't want to do anything other than run away from the fact that her parents were far from happy about her happiness. She just wanted to wrap herself in his body, finding peace in the friction between them that always brought her to completion so perfectly. She wanted to feel the slide of his fingers, rough and calloused, over her skin, the hard chill of his hook at her back.

She was happy, and they didn't want that for her.

If she didn't soothe the wound that realization left on her heart, she wasn't sure what she would storm back in there and say in front of everyone.

“Take me home,” she whispered against him, and when she pushed onto her toes and hungrily met his lips with her own, pressing every bit of the things she wasn't ready to say yet into him, he knew that she wasn't just talking about a place.

* ~ * ~ *

As Emma lie in his arms that night, listening to the slow creaks and moaning pipes that ran behind the walls of Granny's, her thoughts traveled back through the days and weeks since their return from the Enchanted Forest. She tried to remember how her parent's had been from that first moment until now.

There had been relief etched on their faces as Emma recounted their adventure, and gratefulness when they thanked Killian for not letting her go alone and keeping her safe. They had been friendly even, for once acting as if he belonged in Storybrooke, as if he had a place there and was more than an unwanted outsider looking through the window – but apparently their good will had an expiration, and that was as soon as they realized that they weren't the only reason she'd stayed instead of running back to New York.

All that time as her relationship with Killian progressed, she hadn't noticed their disappointment in the fact that it was growing and deepening rather than fading, a one time thing – because that was what she had seen on their faces in the diner, and it had shattered her.

She burrowed closer to Killian as he held her, his face serene and relaxed in sleep. She was thankful for that, knowing that some nights his old demons haunted him more deeply than others. It warmed her heart to know that those nights were becoming farther and fewer between. She didn't want to leave him when the sun came up, would miss the strength of his arms around her, the confidence that came so easily when he was at her side, but she knew she had to talk to her parents.

She knew what she had seen, but she had to hear it from them.

* ~ * ~ *

David's face moved quickly between his easy, morning smile to surprise as the door opened, then more slowly to the grim look of resolve. For a second, Emma couldn't figure out why she'd surprised him, and then she realized it was because she'd knocked. The realization left a small ache in her chest, the significance not lost on either of them. Though she'd been spending most nights at Granny's, up until last night, this had still felt like home.

“Who is it, David?”

She heard Mary Margaret's voice chime from the other side of the loft, the soft tapping of her shoes drawing closer.

“It's Emma,” he muttered, opening the door fully and waving her inside, his movements stilted.

Mary Margaret was smiling when she finally popped into view, but Emma could see the anxiety flickering in her eyes as she stepped through the door and closed it behind her, facing the both of them with more than a hint of discomfort in her stance.

“Henry didn't stop in, did he?”

He'd been staying most nights with Regina and Robin, enjoying spending time with Roland, but sometimes he would still swing by the loft in the mornings to meet her before they went to Granny's together for hot cocoa.

“He did, but we mentioned you weren't here and he said he'd wait for you at Granny's,” her mother said. “Did you want to head over – ”

“No,” Emma rushed, cutting her off and interrupting the motion Mary Margaret was making toward the door, her hand falling back to her side. “I need to talk with the both of you, about last night.”

“Emma, if this is about Hook – ”

“It's not...well, not directly. It's about me.”

Emma watched them uncomfortably, suddenly unsure of how to begin now that she was actually standing in front of them, David with his questioning eyes, and Mary Margaret with her hands twisted together in front of her waist. She was supposed to be able to do this. She'd broken a curse, fought a dragon, stood up to Cora, and fought to bring down Zelena. She was the Savior, she was supposed to be able to do everything, including confront her parents.

A longing to have her pirate standing beside her hit, his hand resting gently on her shoulder for support, but even though she knew she needed to do this alone, the brief flash of him in her mind was enough to spur her on.

He was worth fighting for.

“I saw the way you looked at us last night,” she began, the hurt obvious in her voice, no matter how steady she tried to make it. “When I touched his hand, I looked across at you, and you guys couldn't stand to see it.”

“Emma, you have to understand, we appreciate everything Hook did to help you get back home to us. We see that he's changed, please don't think we're blind to that,” Mary Margaret sighed, her eyebrows knit with concern.

“But you still don't think he's worthy of your respect, your trust...that he's worthy of me?”

“We do respect him, Emma, we really do,” David interjected, scratching the top of his head as he met Mary Margaret's eye, “but you have to understand, we never wanted someone like him for you.”

“Someone like him?” Her voice crept up in volume, ringing with disbelief.

“You deserve better.”

“Better than someone who has come to my rescue time and time again? Better than someone who gave up his actual home for a chance – no, less than a chance even – that he might be able to save me, to save all of you? Someone better than that?”

“You're forgetting all of the other things he's done, Emma – his past. We wanted something different for you, someone like your father, Not a – ”

“Not a pirate,” David snapped, unable to keep the vitriol from his tone.

“How dare you!” There was a venomous edge to her voice now, low and quiet. “How dare you think you have any right to an opinion on this. Are you kidding me? You dropped into a magic tree – and I get it, I understand that you had to, and that it broke your hearts, but now you need to understand something...”

She paused, taking a breath as she tried to loosen the tight fists she'd balled her hands into “All of those hopes and dreams you guys had for me, the things you envisioned shaping me into the woman you wanted me to be, they didn't go through the wardrobe. It was just me, all by myself. Whatever plans you've made for my future, they're for a person who doesn't exist. They're for the daughter you wanted, not the one you've got.”

“But the daughter you've got,” she continued, “she's pretty damn happy as she is. I didn't grow up in some fairy tale. I grew up in the real world. I was abandoned, betrayed, disappointed and left behind my entire life. I've got more bruises, and scars, and flaws than most people, but because of Killian, I've learned to accept them and move on, because all of them together put me right where I am today. You might not like the rough, gritty parts of him, his past, the hook, but I do. I love every part of him, and I will not sit here and let you treat this like I'm settling, because he is everything I need, and everything I want.”

She found herself nearly breathless after her rant, fists shaking at her sides as she stared at her parents wide-eyed in front of her. She had hoped the weight on her chest would lighten once she put everything she felt out into the open, but instead she was faced with a lingering tightness that wouldn't budge, suddenly aware that they may have considered all of those things and still disapproved.

“Emma,” Mary Margaret sighed, locking eyes with David before reaching forward and taking her daughter's clenched fists in her hands. “You may have grown up here, but you were born in the Enchanted Forest, a princess and the product of true love. If you're destined to have a True Love of your own, then surely it's not someone – ”

Emma didn't give her a chance to finish her sentence, tearing her hands free and throwing the door open, the heavy wood bouncing off the wall as she stormed out without a backward glance. The resounding thump of the door falling back into place and closing behind her somehow trickled through the roar of anger thumping in her ears and she paused, pressing her forehead and hands against the cool wall down the hallway.

“You alright there, love?”

The rage she'd been feeling slipped away from her at the sound of his voice, her legs suddenly shaking and less steady than they should have been for someone who was stone cold sober. Thankfully, he was at her side the minute she turned from the wall that had been lending her a little support, his arms catching her as they sunk to the floor together, his leather jacket splayed across the rug as he knelt, arms circling around her as she tucked her head into his chest and closed her eyes.

Her heart ached in a way she hadn't expected to feel again, in the same way it had when the cop told her to turn around and she'd realized someone she'd counted on had let her down.

It ached until he whispered against her hair, soothing noises and assurances that everything would be well, the timbre of his voice bringing her peace.

“What are you doing here?” Emma whispered, wondering how he'd known to look for her at her parent's loft, and suddenly very glad they hadn't decided to follow her into the hallway. She had no idea how she'd react seeing them again so soon after what Mary Margaret had just been about to say. She needed time, and they probably did as well.

“I will admit I was adrift when I woke without you this morning, Swan,” he confided, placing another soft kiss to her hair, “but I thought perhaps you'd been craving some of that chocolate concoction you like, so I went to Granny's, wondering if that's where you'd run off to.”

“It's called hot chocolate. Did you see Henry there?”

“Aye, the lad was showing me something in a book about the stars that Belle had given him. He thought perhaps you'd gone to see if he was at the loft.”

Emma sat up quickly, leaning out of Killian's lap so she could search the stairwell below, her chest tightening painfully at the thought of Henry overhearing what had gone on with her parents.

“He's not here, Swan. I had a feeling there was something that needed addressing between you and your parents after last night.”

“How did you know?”

“I'm a pirate, love. We've a keen sense for danger – a word that would fairly describe your temperament a moment ago.”

“Where is he?”

“Ah, I sent him over to our room to retrieve the sextant I'd told him about the other day. I thought it would be useful for him to see how it works for the paper he's writing.”

“That's good,” she murmured, settling back into his lap. “I wouldn't him have wanted him to hear me that upset with his grandparents.”

“Aye, angry is what you were a moment ago, but how do you feel now, Swan?”

“Blood spectacular,” she laughed, snuffing her nose that she hadn't realized was now stuffy, her eyes burning slightly at the tears she wouldn't shed.

She felt the absence of Killian's arm around her as he reached up and scratched behind his ear, a nervous habit she thought was pretty cute.

“Well, in that case, what do you say to a change of scenery, a leisurely stroll, perhaps?”

“Your legs are numb, aren't they?”

“Aye.”

* ~ * ~ *

Days had passed since Emma confronted her parents, and still she hadn't asked him the question he'd been dreading. He had expected it right away, and she'd surprised him by not seeming the concerned in the least that may have overheard her conversation. His Swan, still managing to surprise him even after how much they'd learned of one another. Perhaps now that they'd grown closer than he had ever hoped was possible, she had no words left to hide from him.

They spent those days enjoying the company of one another and the continued absence of any threats to the town. Walks with Henry to the dock were frequent. The lad had developed a true curiosity about everything to do with the sea, and though he no longer had the Jolly with which to entertain the boy, he never regretted it – though Emma often gripped his hand more tightly whenever they passed by the spot where she had once anchored so long ago.

She'd asked him only once if he regretted it, and he'd been able to look her in the eye and speak honestly.

Never, not for a second, Emma.

Hours spent twisted among his sheets were also frequent, his fingers never tiring of their play across her body, but his Swan was quite perceptive, and he knew she felt the subtle change in his demeanor that had plagued him ever since that morning at her parent's loft.

When it had lingered for more than a week – his breath hitching in his throat as he watched her fall asleep, thinking she was too far gone to notice, she finally asked him.

“Killian, will you please tell me?”

A part of him wanted to sweep her into his arms, fingers threading through her hair as he grinned, disarming her with some witty banter about how the only thing bothering him was her state of dress, mainly that the shirt she'd donned was too much, but the smile wouldn't come to his lips, and he had no desire in his heart to lie to her.

“Your mother, Emma...what she said. Surely it's the truth.”

She stiffened against him and pulled away, the immediate distance she's placed between them striking his chest with both fear and pain, though it was the reflection of both in her eyes that injured him most. His words had hurt her, but neither could he lie. She would know, and it would pain her just the same.

“What do you mean?”

“She told you no untruths, love. You were born a princess in the Enchanted Forest, the daughter of heroes and a Savior in your own right – someone destined to have a true happy ending.”

“What I was supposed to be doesn't mean anything, you and I both know that, Killian.”

“But what if she's right?” he nearly whispered, dread thick on his tongue as his sea-blue eyes bored into her own. “What if it means everything? What if there is true love waiting for you, a man destined for you – a man who never killed because he could, nor lived solely for vengeance until it blackened his heart?”

“I believe that, Killian – ”

Her words were a frigid wave of his deepest fears washing over him, the doubts he was voicing suddenly far more substantial than when they'd haunted his dreams.

“ – a part of it, that is,” she continued, sliding closer in his bed and running her fingers through his inky, dark locks. “I believe I have a true love. The only difference, you idiot, is that I know I've already found him, so don't do this to me. Don't doubt me now when you never have before. After all the chasing, just because I finally stopped running doesn't mean it's your turn.”

The tips of her fingers stroked through his hair, returning softly along his jaw and cupping his face. He reached out for her then, twirling a strand of her golden hair around his finger, his heart leaping as he took in every curve and peak of her face as she smiled. He wanted to have her faith, to believe as she did that he could be her everything – because was certainly everything to him.

Slipping easily onto his lap, the sheets pooling around their waists, she rested her forehead against his, moving to wind her fingers in his own, her other hand firmly grasping his stump, loving every part of him. His heart ached with how much he loved her in return.

“What do you say, Killian. Can you take that leap of faith with me, that no matter what, from here on out it will always be us?”

And because she asked and he trusted her implicitly, believed her in the very core of his being, he could. His lips crashed against hers, rocking them both back onto the bed as they shared each breath, passion and love and a feeling of rightness brightening each move they made. Her hands tangled in his hair, pulling him closer, needing to vanish any breath of space between them. Possessiveness and need slowly rolled into the slow rise of tenderness and longing, their bodies moving and melding seamlessly as they poured their commitment into each shuddering breath. When they finally broke apart, their heated bodies resting atop the sheets, he knew in his heart how true her words had been, because he could never leave this miraculous woman who'd brightened his life, who'd chosen to be his. He loved her too greatly, too deeply, and every day till his very last he would choose her.

“It will always be you,” he whispered against her neck, clinging to her as if she was the only thing keeping him afloat in an endless sea, and perhaps she was. “Always, Emma.”

Tagging: @justanother-unluckysoul @kmom0f4 @the-darkdragonfly @teamhook @zaharadessert @xarandomdreamx @jrob64 @wefoundloveunderthelight @tiganasummertree @pirateprincessofpizza @lfh1226-linda @alexa-fangirl-forever @alifeofdreams @superchocovian @donteattheappleshook @hollyethecurious @caught-in-the-filter @snowbellewells

#Captain Swan #cs fanfic #CS fic #emma and hook #sailtoafarawayland #The Daughter You Have

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vikingpoteto · 4 years

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middle children must unionize

read on ao3 ______________________

my contributior for @batfam-big-bang

Summary: Jason realizes no one is taking care of Tim - not even Tim himself. He decides to do something about it.

Notes: I can't stress enough how grateful I am for joining this event. First of all, stan the mods. Stan my beta reader team, @timmydrakewings, @stormleviosa and @sun-lit-roses. Stan my artist team @houser-of-stories, @reese-haleth and @anicomicqueen To all of these amazing talented people that, for whatever reason chose to help me with this story, I can't stress enough how grateful I am. ________________________

Jason doesn’t keep in touch with the Bats after Bruce’s gone.

Batwoman only trusts him as far as she can throw him. Dick is not easy to avoid, but Jason keeps their contact to a minimum nonetheless. Ninja girl doesn’t speak with him. Replacement… Well. Jason does have a weird professional relationship with the kid. As professional as you can get with someone you tried to kill. Barbara will probably never forgive him for making Dick cry so many times. Brat girl will probably never forgive him for trying to kill Replacement. The other one, whatever his name is, is low-key/high-key terrified of Jason. As for the gremlin... Well, he’s like 10? 11? Jason doesn’t hang out with children, not even assassin ones.

So yeah. Not on friendly terms with anyone in the Wayne family.

However he is an instigator at heart and, while whatever they’re doing in the Batcave is none of his business, he’ll be damned if he doesn’t finish one of his rare visits by stirring things up a bit.

Dick usually makes sure he doesn’t do anything too outrageous, but a distraction comes in the form of Gremlin, who shows up demanding to know why Dick is late for their training session or whatever. The brat sends Jason a scathing look but otherwise doesn’t acknowledge him. Dick only smiles patiently and waves Jason goodbye, leaving Replacement unsupervised. Before heading out, Jason approaches Replacement, who’s sitting by the batcomputer.

“So,” he starts. Jason notices when the kid flinches a little. Your regular guy wouldn’t, but Jason was once a bat too. “How does it feel to be replaced, Replacement?”

Replacement’s shoulders go stiff for half a second.

When he turns to face Jason, however, his expression is empty.

“Predictable,” he says.

Jason quirks an eyebrow up. “Meaning?”

“I was only a Robin because I was, how can I put this, a coworker?” Replacement turns his eyes back to the computer and starts typing. “It was a no-strings-attached sort of deal. Bound to end at some point.”

That’s… new.

“You’re legally adopted into the Wayne family,” Jason hears himself reminding him.

“Yeah, ain’t that a pickle,” Replacement laughs. “Can you guess who forced Bruce to do that? My money was on Dick, but now I think it was probably Babs or Alfred.”

Jason stares, unsure what to make of that. Before he decides, the kid stands up.

"I have always been a patch job, so being dismissed is to be expected. I'm just overstaying my welcome at this point."

“You can get dismissed? I thought this was an until-your-untimely-death sort of gig.”

That was not how Jason expected this conversation to go, like, at all. He had never seen Replacement looking so… worn out? Lifeless?

“I don’t know, man,” Tim frowns as though he made himself confused. “God, I’m sleepy. See you around, I guess.”

And Jason watches him leave the cave with his shoulders hunched and an empty stare. Dick and Gremlin are so preoccupied with their sparring session that they don’t seem to notice. Jason sticks around for a few more seconds, stunned, before he realizes what he’s doing. He goes home.

Jason can’t stop thinking about what the kid said.

It’s not that he didn’t think something of the sorts, especially when he was angriest at Bruce. He had thought about how Batman trained his children to be soldiers and, like soldiers, they could be easily replaced. After all, what was one more problem child joining their broken family? What’s another deadly brat being thrown at some creeps wearing literal clown costumes?

He did think of them as Bruce’s kids though.

Not that Batman had any expertise in healthy parenting techniques, but Jason didn’t have any healthy son experiences to compare so it didn’t matter much. They were Batkids for the better and mostly for the worse, and if something happened to them, well, the crusade must go on.

He never thought of Robin as someone that could be sent home out of the blue, like your average GC Pig. A disgrace to the family? Sure. See, kids, we don’t talk about cousin Jason. He got himself killed and came back all crooked. That’s what happens if you kill murderers or forget to brush your teeth. Still, the idea of being dismissed for no reason never occurred to Jason. It was absurd, because, as far as Jason knew, his replacement was the perfect little soldier. Why would he walk away?

Dick fought with Bruce. Jason… well. You know. Brat girl had to move cities or whatever? Or she died, but got better? Jason doesn’t really know anything about the chick. Either way, he knows she became Batgirl soon after. Tim, however, had nothing stopping him from staying masked. Why would Replacement talk about being Robin as if it was a summer job?

Does that mean that the wimpy kid Jason has been bullying was really that cold and detached?

He thinks about it until his head hurts and he starts remembering times with Bruce and Dick and Alfred and suddenly he doesn’t want to think about it anymore.

It’s a good thing Jason is good at compartmentalizing, because that’s what he does. He pushes thoughts of Batman and Robin to the depths of his mind and forgets about it.

He doesn’t find out until weeks later.

He’s not visiting the manor because he wants to. It’s just that there is this stupid encrypted information he needs for a case and he isn’t exactly tech savvy. He doesn’t think Barbara would do him a solid - she’s still ignoring him for… whatever. He doesn’t even know. Probably something about hurting Dick’s pwecious feewings or eating the last cookie Alfred made. Either way, Jason first tries contacting Replacement directly. Only when the kid doesn’t pick up he forces himself to go to the cult headquarters.

He needs that data, dammit, and whoever called programming logic, was out of their damn mind. If true, execute commands 1, 2 and IV, it said. If what was true? Jason read and read and still didn’t get what it was referring to. And why would someone name the commands regular numbers then just… throw a fucking roman number? Just to spice things up? Whoever wrote that damn code should get a bullet in the foot.

“Jay!” Dick grins at him, although he looks unamused by the fact that Jason is coming in through a window on the second floor. “You do remember that we have a door, don’t you?”

“I like to keep ‘em guessing,” Jason says. “Which room is the kid’s? I have a job for him.”

Dick tilts his head to the side, confused. “Damian is at school?”

And then there’s that. A lot to unpack. First, Jason is deeply offended that Dick thinks he would ever go there after Gremlin, the child that likes to criticize Jason's skills despite the fact that a) Jason was trained by Damian's father and then b)Jason was trained by Damian's mother. Second, Damian Wayne. Going to Gotham Academy. Does he wear the uniform? Does he have homework or does he threaten the teachers with a sword until they quit? Did anyone explain to him the concept of playing tag before he murders a bunch of 9 year olds? Jason has so many questions. If only he had time.

“I said the kid . The human one, not the imp.”

“Oh.” Dick seems taken aback. “Oh, he... Jason, Tim isn’t in Gotham. You didn’t know?”

Jason groans. “Are you kidding me? You annoyed him into leaving the planet with his alien friends again, didn’t you?”

“No, he… I actually don’t know where he is now.”

Jason blinks in surprise. So Dick didn’t pick Bruce’s habit of microchipping his kids?

“What do you mean you don’t know? How do you lose a whole Robin? The uniform is basically a traffic cone.”

Dick sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. Jason had seen Bruce do just that so many times he forgets for a moment whatever stupid joke he was about to make. When did his older brother become the dad?

“He left a while ago. He barely spent any time here at the manor after I gave Robin to Damian, so…”

Jason freezes. After I gave Robin to Damian, he says. Being dismissed is to be expected, the kid said weeks ago.

“Dick. What the fuck did you do?”

Dick looks surprised at the raw anger in Jason’s voice, even though he shouldn’t fucking be. Jason remembers the distant voice on that day. He did think that was oddly cold for Replacement, even if he was a calculating nerd. Except that wasn’t him being cold. That was him lying to himself.

Jason would know. He spent most of his childhood telling himself he didn’t need a loving father. A good part of his teenage years telling everyone that would hear that he didn’t care at all that Bruce kept holding him to the standards of the perfect son that went away. It’s a lot easier to pretend you didn’t care because it makes it hurt less when things are taken away. Jason was a fucking pro at that technique, so much he wonders how the hell he didn’t notice earlier.

“I did what I had to do,” Dick says, defensively. The way he does when he’s second guessing himself, but still in denial about it. “Tim’s a hero of his own right and he’s capable enough that…”

“That you fucking fired him?” Jason barks.

“Damian needs Robin, Jason! He’s just so lost and being Robin gave him a sense of purpose, allowed him to actually be a child.”

“No shit Gremlin is a child! What about Replacement? He’s, what, 15?”

“He’s 17, how do you not know your own brother’s age?”

“Whatever! He’s just a teen and you basically just told him to fuck off.”

Dick sighs. “Look, I tried to help Tim. Tim’s friends tried to help Tim. But he’s a mature person and he wanted some time for himself.”

Ain’t that a familiar song. A good dose of leave me the fuck alone while still wearing a goddamn bat on his chest and making sure to make enough noise to draw attention. He doesn’t like how close it hits to home, how Dick, who’s supposed to be the best of them, ends up being just as shit as recognizing emotions as any other Bat. Jason laughs without any humor.

Incensed, Dick’s jaw sets in challenge as he adds: “I trust Tim and I respected his choice to leave on his own mission, because he knows what’s right for him.”

“Keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep at night,” Jason says. “You’re right. Give the demon what he needs. Replacement is a grown ass adult because you respect him so much .”

“Jason, I didn’t say that…”

“He was never a kid here, Dick, even I know that. You all keep throwing shit at him, messes for him to fix ‘cause it’s fine, it’s little Timmy, he’s so fucking capable, he can take it. Have you ever considered that he was always an adult because you all are the fucking children?”

I have always been a patch job sounds awfully similar to I’m here because he got lonely after you left.

But apparently Dick is done exercising his brotherly patience and Jason hit a nerve.

“What do you know about him? You never bothered to talk to him, to spend time with him. You don’t know shit about Tim.”

Jason scoffs. Dick’s face grows unevenly red.

“You don’t, Jason! You were busy trying to kill him. Remember that bonding experience? Must have been fun for him. Having the hero he grew up admiring trying to murder him?”

Jason throws the first punch. Dick easily dodges, the motherfucker, the damn superior Robin.

Screw it, Jason thinks as they start yet another classic Robin Brawl that would only end when Ninja Girl mysteriously dropped from the ceiling and kicked both of their asses.

Jason doesn’t hear from the cave for a while. His phone gets a weird virus, so he guesses Oracle heard he pushed Dick down the stairs. He just tosses the whole thing away and decides that screw his stupid case with the weird code, screw detective work. The biggest detectives aren’t around anymore. He'll just call Kory and convince her to help torch the place up and hopefully the new Batman and Robin will have to deal with the aftermath.

The next time Jason hears from his brothers, it’s a frantic call from Dick that makes Jason’s blood turn into ice: freaking Ra’s Al Ghul is in Gotham doing his whole Head of the Demon thing. He grabs his bike and he’s still on the comms with Dick as he heads to the manor because Alfred is in there.

“What did Gremlin do?” he asks.

“Nothing,” Dick answers and Jason can barely hear him over the wind. He’s probably swinging around Gotham as he speaks. “It was Tim. Tim’s back and Ra’s is after him and everyone he cares about.”

Fuck. This is the kid Dick trusted to go out alone on a self-discovery journey or whatever. Jason wonders what the hell he had been up to get that much unwanted attention.

In the end, everything works out, kind of. No one on their side dies, but Tim does get thrown out of a window. Of a very, very, veeery tall building. Jason still thinks he got off too easy. As smart as he is, Tim shouldn’t have survived a run in with Ra’s.

Jason is curious enough about it to stay in the cave after the fact. He and Dick sit near Tim’s bed while Leslie works her magic. Dick doesn’t take his eyes from his little brother’s pale face for even a second.

“We almost lost him,” he whispers at some point. “Again, we… I almost lost him.”

“But you didn’t,” Jason says, voice flat. “You saved him.”

Dick bites his lower lip hard enough to break the skin. Jason punches his shoulder to snap him out of it.

“Jay, about last time…”

“Ugh, don’t apologize, you freak. Why can’t you just bottle up your emotions and pretend nothing happened like the rest of this stupid family?”

That makes Dick give him a weak smile. If not for the bottling up part, for the part in which Jason admits they’re a family.

“You were… well, not right. I still think Tim shouldn’t be treated like a sidekick anymore,” Dick continues, despite Jason’s disgusted noises. “But he shouldn’t be left alone either. No one in this family should.”

Jason pretends to be gagging long enough that Dick gives up on trying to be a sensible adult and returns to silently watching over his brother.

After that, it’s a matter of stalling and by stalling he ends up watching the other Bats. He finds from Alfred that Ninja Girl isn’t looming over Tim’s bed because she’s in Hong Kong. Brat girl comes and goes the whole night and Jason doesn’t understand why she can’t simply sit down and wait as a pile of nerves like Dick is doing. At some point, she reads the morning newspaper and starts making so much fuss the one Jason doesn’t know the name - Dave? Dylan? - takes her upstairs to calm her down. Damian is nowhere to be found

In the end, Jason manages to be there when Replacement wakes up. Everyone is busy celebrating, too elated that Replacement is fine, so much they forget Jason is still lurking around. No one sees when his face goes pale and he feels like he’s going to puke.

“How did you know I was going to catch you?” Dick asks.

Tim gives him a tired smile. “You’re my brother, Dick. I knew you’d save me.”

Fuck.

Fuck. It’s like looking into a goddamn mirror, except Tim is so much better at this than Jason ever was. So much that he might even be fooling himself.

But he can’t fool Jason. Dick wants to believe in the best of them, he wants them all to be sane and safe and happy - as much as a Bat can be, at least - but Jason is more of a realist. He knows no one can plan that far ahead. He knows Tim went to a meeting with the Head of the Demon fully aware that he would most likely be carried out in a coffin. Considering Dick’s misstep from a couple months earlier and the fact that Tim had already assigned him and Damian a task, Batman was the last person Tim was expecting to show up.

Of course Dick would save him, any of them. Despite his issues with Bruce, Jason had his hero worship towards his brother restored pretty fast. Dick, the golden boy, the perfect son, loved him no matter what and Jason loved him back. Knew now that Dick had love enough to go around for all of them - all of them. But did Tim know that?

Tim finished his little mission, wrapped it all pretty with a bow, making sure no one kicked the bucket. Except for himself. Timothy Drake-Wayne was the contingency plan for Batman’s contingency plan, but he didn’t care enough to make a plan for himself.

Bruce is gone. Dick is painfully blind. The Drakes are dead. Alfred has his hands full. The Behemoths or the Little League, or whatever the hell the super kids call themselves now, were just that. Kids. Jason curses to himself, because, if no one else will watch out for Replacement, it’s none of his fucking business.

It’s not.

However…

Jason doesn’t know how to put his not-plan in action. He can’t exactly walk up to Tim and say hey, I think we’re not so different, you and I, so I’m worried for your safety. I know I tried to kill you, but that like... two years ago, get over it. Let’s be friends.

Before he figures it out, he hears that Bruce is back. The real Bruce.

He doesn’t know how to feel about it, so he decides to put some distance between him and the family one more time as he takes some weeks to process. He goes out of town to hang out with his friends. He is done with Gotham bullshit for a while.

Unfortunately, Jason finds himself facing his worst enemy: the damn encrypted data.

He hates that dealers now do their thing through the internet. Who the fuck buys marijuana online? Where is the poetry in that? The class of being friends with the sketchy guy that lives around the corner and hangs out with you while you smoke? If they’re gonna sell oregano online to rich white kids, fine, but they’re selling heavy stuff to people that live in his territory and there is a thing bigger than just drugs, if Jason’s hunch is right. He could confirm it by cracking the numbers he stole from their stupidly unguarded computers.

Except the encryption is too complicated for him to access the files.

Well, isn’t that the perfect excuse to take a visit to the kid’s apartment.

Because that is the situation right now. The kid is emancipated, controlling Wayne Enterprises and living by his damn self. There is so much to unpack that Jason wants to throw away the whole suitcase.

He should probably do just that, or at least that’s what he thinks when he climbs to Tim’s balcony (in his head, he hears Dick’s voice going what do you hate about front doors, man?) and he is immediately pushed to the ground.

He is wearing his helmet, sure, but it doesn’t make it less painful when someone fucking stomps on his head, forcing his face against the floor.

“Fuck,” is all Jason thinks of saying.

He then kicks his assailant in the shin and is satisfied when they tumble backwards. Unfortunately for him, they - she - doesn’t fall over the railing, she just stays away long enough to give him time to stand.

A bald girl wearing a distasteful crop top glares daggers at him. She is already back on her fighting stance - one that looks way too familiar for Jason’s taste - ready to strike. And strike she does.

Her movements are similar to Jason’s - fast, strong, unpredictable, unfair - but she has the advantage of being more slender and having more freedom of movement in the small space. All Jason can do is defend himself and not get tossed over the edge. Who the fuck is this girl? Why is she attacking him? Doesn’t she know he is the freaking Red Hood? He just wanted the damn-

“What on Earth are you guys doing on my balcony?”

The girl freezes. Jason does not. He lands a punch straight on her nose and she falls backwards, her mouth opening in pain even if no sound comes out.

“What the hell, Hood!”

Tim rushes to the girl’s side.

“What the hell Hood?” Jason parrots, indignant. “I just got here and she attacked me!”

Tim frowns and turns to the girl. “Is that true?”

Instead of answering, the girl holds her bloody nose and glares at him. She uses her free hand to show Tim four fingers. Tim sighs.

“I know it’s the fourth time you’ve had your nose broken,” Tim gives her a wry smile. “But the three other times you had it coming. And maybe even this time. Why did you attack Red Hood?”

She makes the gesture of someone walking with two fingers then points at Tim’s balcony door. Jason doesn’t know a lot of ASL, but those don’t seem to be the same signs Cassandra uses.

“She attacked me because she thought I was trying to break in?” He asks. “You have a bodyguard now?”

Tim stands and holds out his hand to the girl. She begrudgingly takes it and lets him pull her to her feet. “Why don’t we all go inside before someone notices the Red Hood on my balcony?”

Jason grumbles in annoyance but does make his way in. Tim is right behind him and Jason can’t help but think he’s acting as a shield in case the girl wants revenge for her nose.

“Come here, Pru, I’ll get something cold for your nose.”

Jason takes a look around. As they cross the living room, he notices it looks like a shiny rich person apartment you’d see in a magazine. Jason wasn’t sure what he expected of Tim’s new crib, and he knows the kid just moved in, but the fact that the place looks like a hospital’s reception makes him feel some sort of way.

Fortunately, the kitchen is a bit better. Not much, but it’s something. There are papers spread across the table, dirty glasses in the sink, a mug full of black steaming tea, Tim’s laptop open on top of a pile of books, and there are pictures on the fridge. Jason remembers vaguely Dick mentioning that one of the kids had a thing for photography and another liked drawing. He has to assume Tim is the photographer as he takes a good look at them: one of Brat girl’s grinning face with a big heart magnet, one of Tim and Cassandra sharing the same reading chair, one of Bruce in one of those fancy sweaters he used to wear at home, one of Dick and Cassandra doing handstands, one of a red head kid, behind him Tim, a muscular girl and an even more muscular guy. Jason doesn’t need to be a detective to figure those, even without the uniforms, are Impulse, Wonder Girl and Superboy.

“So,” Tim starts. He hands the girl a pack of frozen peas and shrugs at her dirty look. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Without ceremony, the girl takes a seat by the table and tries to steal a glance at Tim’s laptop. He casually closes it and smiles at her. She scoffs.

“First, you explain the bodyguard,” Jason says, gesturing to the girl.

“Right. Where are my manners? Pru, this is Red Hood. Hood, this is Prudence.”

He doesn’t turn to her so she can read his lips or use gestures to speak, so Jason figures she isn’t deaf, only mute. Maybe it’s something like Cassandra?

“Really? Prudence? That’s ironic. ”

She shows Jason her middle finger. Definitely not deaf then.

Unlike Prudence, Jason doesn’t make himself at home. When he crosses his arms and doesn’t say anything for a minute more, Tim reads his silence correctly and adds, “We’re working together for a while and there are a lot of people that want us dead, so you’ll have to forgive her. She saw a suspicious guy trying to get into my place and she assumed the worst.”

Jason quirks an eyebrow. Tim can’t see his expression behind the helmet, but he sighs nonetheless.

“Come on. She couldn’t know I sometimes work with the Red Hood too.”

I sometimes work with. Ouch. Jason supposes that’s fair, though. Tim hasn’t exactly been informed of Jason’s newfound empathy or his protective streak.

“How did you know where I live, by the way?” Tim asks.

“Alfred told me you moved,” Jason says. “I got your address from Cassandra.”

Tim’s brows disappear under his messy fringe. “Really?”

Jason nods. “Took a lot of convincing before she believed I didn’t want to kill you in your sleep.”

At that, Tim snorts. He’s still grinning when he asks, “What did you want it for then?”

“Tech support,” he says as he fishes a small flash drive from his pocket. “I was hoping you could crack some files for me.”

Tim takes it and nods. “I’ll check it out. I’ll send the results to you as soon as I have them. Anything else?”

Again… ouch. Apparently imprudent girl is welcome to kick back and hang out, but Jason is just a fellow associate that came to hand in an assignment and promptly piss off.

Then Jason realizes that that was exactly what their relationship was like before Tim went around the world to fight Ra’s al Ghul. Damn.

Well. It’s not like he can take off his helmet and stick around when there is a stranger in there, especially when Tim carefully introduced him as the Red Hood instead of good ol’ Jason Todd. He just wanted to check on the kid and he did. No need to get all clingy. That’s Dick’s thing, not his.

It isn’t until much later that Jason realizes how pointless the visit was. He wanted to see if the kid was okay. He suspected he wasn’t, but it wasn’t like he had any idea of what to do about it.

Lucky for him, Tim looked a lot better than last time. Less dead eyed, more like he has some sort of purpose. The fact that Dick is included in his little photo collection must mean they made amends. Whether it was because Jason’s whooping Dick’s ass or in spite of it he’ll never know. Based on what he knows about Tim, the kid might have just worked everything out by himself and forgiven Dick on his own terms.

Despite his decision to take care of Tim from then on, Jason is definitely not great at it. He doesn't think he lost the rights to admonish Dick for not talking to his brother. The fact is Jason isn't great with words. He wants to help Tim through actions.

Still the question remains: how?

(And Tim emails him the files he needed 8 hours later and Jason worries that the kid didn’t sleep, which… great. This is just great.)

Less than two nights later, someone gets into Jason's frequency. He's about to head out for patrol when a creaking sound inside his helmet precedes a familiar voice slightly twisted by static.

"Red Hood, this is Red Robin. Do you copy?"

Right. He goes by Red Robin now.

"What you want, rep… kid?" Jason inwardly winces at his misstep.

There is a moment of confused silence before Tim mercifully decides not to ask what that was. "I'm pursuing a lead in your territory."

Jason hums. "What's it? I'll handle it."

"No!" Tim says too fast. "I mean… it's my case. I just thought you could take the night off? Please?"

This is supposed to be the smart Robin, right? He does know that Jason isn’t a complete moron, right?

“What’s in it for me?” Jason asks.

If this was Damian, he’d get a colorful death threat. If this was Dick, a winded speech on how brothers are supposed to have each other’s backs and he's just asking for a tiny favor, Jason, don’t make me make my ex-girlfriend hack into your phone and block Netflix again. Tim, however, knows that everything has a price and has an answer ready.

“You owe me for those files I decoded for you.”

Straight to the point. No bullshit. Jason is starting to really like this kid.

“Fair enough. You go follow your lead and I won’t murder you for being in my territory.”

“Always a pleasure doing business with you, Hood.”

Jason didn’t say anything about taking the night off, though.

Jason knows that, if he was working alone, Tim wouldn’t ask for permission. He would let himself in and out of Jason's territory assuming Jason wouldn’t even notice - he’d done it before as Robin, and Jason did notice but pretended not to. He can’t track Red Robin as easily, but the fact that he doesn’t want Red Hood around means there is something or someone he can’t control tagging along… and who’s the one person even Tim Drake can never control?

“Brat girl,” Jason mutters to himself, a cocky grin spreading on his face. One of his informants just confirmed he saw Batgirl driving whatever the fuck that is that capsule vehicle into an empty building just south of Jason’s place.

Oracle is probably out of town again, otherwise she wouldn’t allow her precious not-daughter to be messing around with Tim in Jason’s territory. But then, if most of the rumors are correct, even Barbara can’t quite control the new Batgirl.

He wonders what the duo are up to as he lets himself into the abandoned place through a hole in the ceiling. Red Hood walks on the rafters in the dark until he can hear familiar voices. He stops on his tracks when he notices that Red Robin and Batgirl aren’t alone. Wonder Girl and Impulse stick out like bright red sore thumbs against Gotham’s darkness.

Red Hood hears enough to know they’re planning on saving someone - one of Impulse’s friends? - from a local group connected to Black Mask. Their plan is solid, but it’s hardly a task herculean enough to warrant the presence of a speedster and an amazon. Red Robin makes it sound like it’s absolutely necessary nonetheless, assigning each of them a role that fits their powers and going over every little detail. It’s the first time Hood sees the kid in a position of leadership and he thinks it suits him. He seems extremely at ease.

Actually… that’s not quite it. He’s not as wary of the world as he is when he’s with the Batfamily. Not Batman’s perfect mini-detective, not Nightwing’s model little brother, not WE CEO. He’s still very much a hero, a Robin, but it’s possible to see he’s seventeen under the cowl. Even his posture changes, his shoulders relax and he allows himself to be… God, himself. That must be the first time Jason sees Tim completely in his element, no tension, no (metaphorical) masks.

Real Red Robin stays close to his friends. Very close. Hell, Impulse is almost sitting on his lap, his arm firmly wrapped around Red Robin’s waist as he points at some sort of map his wrist pad is showing. Batgirl is clinging to his other side, her chin resting on his shoulder using the excuse to see better what he’s showing. Hadn’t those two broken up?

Then Red Robin says something so softly not even Hood picks up. The other three teens get tense. Impulse nods and disappears in a gust of wind as his friends wait in silence.

Half a second later, something hits Hood’s back at a very alarming speed because of course Red Robin noticed someone listening and sent his speedster friend to get him. He curses while he falls, barely managing to roll fast enough to avoid serious knee damage when he lands.

“Jason!” Red Robin whines not unlike an embarrassed child crying out mom, not in front of my friends!

“Maybe check who’s spying on you before sending a child bullet careening into their back, will ya?” Jason complains.

Wonder Girl frowns. “Is that…”

“The Red Hood,” Batgirl confirms in a flat voice. “Yup.”

“Isn’t he a criminal?” Impulse asks, genuine curiosity in his voice.

A facepalming Red Robin groans. “He doesn’t do crime anymore.” Under Batgirl’s skeptical glare, he corrects, “He doesn’t do bad crimes anymore. What are you doing here, Hood? You said you were taking the night off!”

“I said I wouldn’t shoot you for being in my territory,” Hood corrects. “But I didn’t say anything about your super friends, because I didn’t think you’d be breaking so many rules in so little time. Really? Bringing metas to Gotham?”

Red Robin simply shrugs. “What Batman can’t see doesn’t hurt him.”

Batgirl snickers and Hood grins a little under his helmet.

“Little Timmy,” he gasps, resting his hand on his chest in mock shock.

“Shut up, why are you here?”

“What, you can’t tell me there is a case and expect me not to follow up.”

The other three kids look from Red Hood to Red Robin. It’s obvious that whatever Tim’s verdict is, they’re going to accept it. Even Stephanie. And she knows Jason (sort of).

“Fine,” Red Robin groans. “But no shooting anyone.”

“No promises.”

Wonder Girl and Impulse are obviously wondering whether they’re joking or not. Knowing they’re completely serious, Batgirl makes a face and pokes Red Robin’s cheek. He frowns at her and the two of them seem to have a conversation consisting of weird mouths and head shakes for a moment. Jason would know. He and Dick used to do that all the time. Finally, whatever face Red Robin is making convinces her and she lets out a defeated sigh.

“Well then, ladies,” Batgirl deadpans, “let’s get this bread.”

Despite Dick’s best efforts, Jason never quite fit in with the Titans. With Tim and Stephanie, however, he can work.

Breaking into one of Black Mask’s hideouts is a piece of cake, if not outright fun. He has to hand it to Stephanie. She is not as cunning as Barbara or as deadly as Cassandra, but the girl can blow up a marijuana deposit like no one else.

Sure, the smoke makes them at least 30% high—all of them except Impulse, whose metabolism won’t let him get intoxicated, to which… Just R.I.P. you funky little man, Jason really feels for him.

Even with the little diversion, there were still plenty of crooks to fight. Wonder Girl takes care of most of them on her own— amazons, man —and soon enough Impulse comes running, carrying a dark-skinned boy wearing power-dampening cuffs who keeps yelling at them in Spanish. At that, Red Robin announces they’re retreating.

Tim looks a lot more comfortable with his peers than he is with the Bats. Part of Jason wonders if he could’ve been like that. If he would have ended up differently if he had actually stayed with the Titans and made friends like Tim had. He tells himself not to go down that path, because he is who he is, he certainly doesn’t make friends in that teen sitcom way and you can’t change the past.

He is genuinely glad that Tim has those friends, though. He’s glad that he can feel that way despite the hint of jealousy.

As they leave a ruined hideout behind, Wonder Girl and Impulse are drowning Red Robin in hugs and cheering so loud one would forget they’re still in Gotham. Their friend laughs with them even with the stress of being so rambunctiously rescued. Batgirl slaps her arm around Hood’s shoulder and admires the Titans being loud as if congratulating themselves on the job done.

If all of them— all of them—are still smiling themselves silly as they leave, it’s only 50% because of the marijuana.

Jason quickly learns that Tim doesn’t like owing people. When Jason asked Tim to crack some encrypted documents, he just needed the damn files. He didn’t expect the kid to show up to tear down the place when Jason decided he had enough reason to dismantle the operation.

“What, you can’t tell me there is a case and expect me not to follow up,” Red Robin quips as he nudges a goon with his foot. The man groans, but doesn’t get up. Seemingly satisfied, Red Robin crouches down and starts cuffing the man to another by his side.

“Remind me to never ask for your help again,” Red Hood says.

Red Robin glowers. “I saved your ass from getting stabbed about three times.”

“I shot the kneecaps of four guys trying to murder you, so don’t expect me to thank you.”

They hear sirens. Red Robin stands. “Well, guess our job here is done.”

Hood nods. It’s been a while since he fought side by side with a fellow Bat, just him and another Robin and... it was nice. Roy and Kori are great partners and all, but they don’t have the same training a Robin does. They don’t get the specific maneuvers and the subtle secret signs. The fact that it had been so fun fighting side by side with Red Robin makes Jason feel like his not-plan of taking care of the kid was finally going somewhere.

Then Red Robin stretches his arm to grapple his way out of there and gasps.

“Red?”

“Uh…” He is now pressing his hand to his side.

“Is… is that blood?”

“Uhhhh…”

“Did you get stabbed and didn’t notice, you freaking idiot?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he groans, pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes over the cowl. “Why me?”

Red Hood sighs. “Relax, kid, it doesn’t look that deep.”

“I’m gonna have to call Batman,” Red Robin whines. “A’s gonna kill me.”

“Over a tiny stab wound? Don’t be a pussy, I’m sure you can stitch that yourself.”

“The stitches aren’t the problem, it’s just the medicine…” Red Robin says, making vague hand gestures. “I have no spleen.”

And then there’s that.

“I’m sorry. You what?”

Red Robin pulls a guilty face visible even under the cowl. Jason wouldn’t blame Alfred for killing him. He has no spleen and he just… decided it was a good idea to bring a staff to a gunfight at one of the grimiest places of Gotham.

Tim Drake-Wayne, everyone, smartest Robin to date.

Jason, however, decides not to kill Tim for his stupidity. He recognizes that particular frown. It’s the I-messed-up-and-I-don’t-want-dad-to-find-out face.

The GCPD sirens are getting closer.

“I’ve got a big collection of antibiotics back at one of my safehouses,” he mentions casually. “I could patch you up so A doesn’t have to.”

Tim’s wide eyes are evident. Jason wonders if this is him being able to read the kid too well or if Tim straight up sucks at hiding his emotions. It’s probably a bit of both.

“You know. As thanks for helping me.”

“I thought you wouldn’t thank me.”

“Don’t push it, kid.”

By now, they can see the red and blue police lights.

“Lead the way.”

He rolls his eyes and drags the kid to his bike. He really hopes the pigs didn’t see them, because it’s bad enough that a hero showed up to Red Hood’s bust, he doesn’t need any cops thinking that he kidnapped Red Robin or any shit like that.

“Are we going to the one behind the new theater or the one around crime alley?” Tim casually asks.

Jason freezes halfway through mounting his bike. “How the fuck do you know about those?”

“I know the location of all of your safehouses,” Tim admits.

“Batman knows about my safehouses?”

Tim quirks an eyebrow. “Last time I checked, I’m not Batman.”

...oh.

That’s… nice. Kind of. A confirmation that he can trust the kid to have his back.

“Smug nerd,” Jason mumbles.

Tim only chuckles in response. They set off to Jason’s place.

The rest of the night is peaceful. At least for a Bat’s standards. Jason helps Tim disinfect his wound and stitch it closed while Tim raids Jason’s medicine stash until he finds the ones he needs. Jason promises to hook him up with his supplier so he doesn’t have to rely so much on the cave. By the time they’re done, Tim’s lips are permanently curled upwards.

When he starts shuffling awkwardly as if looking for a way to say goodbye, Jason nonchalantly announces where he can find clean towels and clothes, as if this is a thing they do everyday. Tim seems baffled, but thankfully he doesn’t call Jason’s bullshit and obediently heads to the bathroom. By the time he’s done, Jason is fixing a meal for the two of them and some stupid movie is on TV—never the news, god, Jason hates watching the news.

Like a skittish stray, Tim is unsure of what to do with himself at first, but he catches the cue fast enough. He sits on the couch all stiff and restless until something on the screen grabs his attention.

“You like Wendy the Werewolf Stalker?” Tim asks, eyes wide.

“Do I like fucking what?”

Jason just needed the background noise to avoid freaking out about how weird he’s being right now. Apparently, that was the wrong answer. Tim launches a rant on how amazing Wendy is and half of it goes over Jason’s head. He just gets that apparently Tim and Superboy both have a crush on this werewolf hunting chick and they used to spend hours watching her instead of doing actual work at Titans Tower.

He also manages to actually eat the food Jason made, which is a win in Jason’s book.

It’s a nice night, overall.

It becomes, not a habit, but a thing. Tim sometimes shows up to one of Jason’s safehouses needing a stitch job or medicine. Jason doesn’t know how he nails which one Jason is at currently or if he just goes to every single one still bleeding until he finds Jason. Or even if he just lets himself in and takes care of his wounds without any help. If so, Jason wouldn’t blame him. He’d choose his crappy hideouts over Tim’s soulless apartment any day.

On the third time it happens, Tim isn’t hurt at all. He just wants to bitch about Vicki Vale stalking him and his supposed ex-fiancée that he's actually trying to date. Jason feeds him real food, as usual, and listens to what he has to say, as unusual. They end up on the couch watching A Nightmare on Elm Street, which, oddly enough, has Tim getting overly enthusiastic about going to bed because he’s curious about the magic behind Freddy Krueger. Jason tells him to let him know if any dream demons show up when he leaves Tim dozing off on the couch.

Tim starts texting Jason. At first, it’s all very professional. Messages like 1 of the stupid crooks in your territory almost killed robin yesterday do smth abt it followed by I don’t care that he’s a demon in a kevlar vest Hood you didn’t have to deal with nightwing crying afterwards!!! Then they slowly shift into something more casual on the lines of is dis u? An d attached a picture of Elizabeth Bennet wearing the red Power Ranger helmet which… What sort of context led to that meme being created?

Jason pretends not to care, but he preens with pride when Tim laughs at his dark jokes. Stupid gallows humor that would have made Bruce call an expensive therapist and Dick squirm in discomfort have the kid snorting coffee out of his nose.

It’s like they’re friends.

Part of him sometimes toys with the idea of them being normal kids —or as normal as you can be in Gotham—and he realizes that he would’ve made friends with Tim so fucking fast. Dick is the golden child and all of them would end up worshiping him and respecting him as their older brother, of course. Tim would be added to their family and Jason, not-murdered, regular problem-child Jason, would resist him at first, but he would soon see that he wasn't just an annoying nerd. He was a fun, annoying nerd. They would gang up on Dick, as younger brothers ought to do, and Jason would protect Tim from bullies and Tim would use his good son credit to get Jason out of trouble with Bruce.

This, however, may be as good as it gets for people with their fucked up upbringing. Jason already knew Tim wasn’t your regular spoiled rich boy and they bond over having shit childhoods even if they don’t talk about it.

All in all it feels nice to be looked up to. To have the kid come to him when he’s in trouble. To have someone looking at him with a shine in his eyes like the one Jason has when he looks at Dick. It makes Jason feel like he’s worth something. He sees Tim get comfortable with him after weeks of acting like a stray cat and he knows the kid feels the same. It’s a new feeling for both of them.

It’s like they’re really brothers.

Being part of the Red Robin fan club, Jason finds out, gives him good credit with the Bats.

Bruce and Dick are always going to be concerned about Jason’s slightly loose moral compass. Gremlin is always going to hate him because he’s a Gremlin. Barbara tolerates him at best.

Stephanie, however, shows up unannounced to one of Red Hood’s busts and laughs it off when he complains about Batgirl ruining his rep. She then invites Jason to watch a movie with her since they finished early. He thinks that’d be very weird, so he refuses. Unbothered, she says an airy “Maybe next time” before leaving.

He thinks a shadow once told him to come by the manor more often, almost giving him a heart attack. He thought Cassandra was in Hong Kong, for fuck’s sake; when did she come back?

One time he texts Tim for tech support and no one but the Signal shows up at Jason’s doorstep with a codebreaker and a list of instructions from Red Robin. Duke doesn’t look as wary of Jason as he once was and the two quickly fall into friendly banter, complaining about Tim’s nerdiness.

Jason knows if he asked Steph about it, he would never hear the end of it. Cass isn’t the easiest person to hold a conversation with. He guesses Duke is decent enough not to dwell on it, so he asks,

“Why are y’all suddenly okay with me?”

Duke quirks an eyebrow at him. Fortunately, he’s smart enough that Jason doesn’t need to explain further. “Tim trusts you,” he says simply. “Tim is the holder of the one brain cell of this family, so long we follow his cues, we’re golden.”

Jason doesn’t know what to say to that.

“Why, you don’t want us around?”

He mumbles something about it not being a big deal. Duke shrugs it off and changes the subject. Jason knows he’s doing it for his sake, because Duke might be the kindest person in their whole messed up family. Jason feels bad for refusing to learn his name for so long.

So it seems like two-thirds of the Batgirls and Signal were always less worried about Jason’s past than they were about his rivalry with Robin III.

And, fine, Jason does get a little jealous of that but he’s mature-ish enough to take what he can get. Plus Stephanie is funny as shit and it’s always fun to annoy Barbara by getting Batgirl involved in his fights, especially when Red Robin is around to back him up.

Everything is sort of nice now.

Sometimes, however, Jason wakes up in a cold sweat with the taste of copper in his mouth and a nightmare gunshot still ringing in his ears. He tried to kill Tim. He could’ve killed his little brother. He’s thankful for the times the nightmares come when Tim is sleeping over, because he can walk to the living room and check on the kid. Remind himself that Tim is alive and breathing under the old blankets and that he’s forgiven Jason. When he isn’t around, Jason is absolutely not above calling him in the middle of the night, making up a stupid case he needs Tim’s help with. For all his smarts, Tim never seems to realize Jason’s true motives.

Now that he thinks about it, he notices that Tim is on good terms with a lot of people that tried to kill him. Jason. Damian. That Prudence girl. He doesn’t find out the details, but he does hear something about Stephanie fucking him up and she’s now his best friend. Jason is more than a little concerned about that forgiving side of his.

Red Hood hates a lot of things. If he were to make a list, it’d take days to write it all down. He knows for sure that on the top of that list would be clowns. There is nothing he hates more than clowns.

Scarecrows are a close second, though.

Definitely close to a tie as he watches Red Robin stumble. “I think…” he mutters. “I think my rebreather is broken.”

“ Shit.”

Red Hood has to think fast. Fear gas is every-fucking-where and he lost sight of Scarecrow three canon-fodder crooks ago. He doesn’t have an extra rebreather, because he’s wearing his helmet and that does the job. He’s used to fighting alone. Not that having another rebreather would do them any good now that Red Robin has already breathed the nasty toxins.

In the end, Hood decides to take the defeat for what it is: a defeat. He throws a smoke bomb on the ground and grabs Red Robin by the waist, ignoring the startled squeak the boy lets out. They need to get out before Scarecrow’s goons realize what they’re doing.

“Stay with me,” Red Hood hisses. “Whatever you’re hearing or seeing, it’s not real.”

They’re five minutes away from his nearest safehouse. It’d be faster to take one of their bikes, but he can’t risk it in case Tim starts hallucinating halfway there. They can make it there swinging, he can keep his brother out of danger.

“I’m fine,” Red Robin says. The way he’s limp in Hood’s hold, says otherwise. “We’re going home. We’re safe.”

“We’re going home. Close your eyes. Focus on my voice.”

He does it.

“It’s just us now,” Hood reassures him. “We’re on the way to a safehouse where no one can find us and you can rest until the toxin is out of your system. Safe, easy.”

“Steph is fine, Bart is fine, Cassie is fine,” he chants, “Cass is fine, Alfred is fine, Dick is fine, Tam is fine, Pru is fine.”

He keeps listing people that are fine, because of course his fears are all about his friends being hurt. Surprisingly, Hood recognizes all of them. He’s heard Tim talking about all of them repeatedly and he knows their names and personalities, even if he doesn’t have all the faces to match. He isn’t surprised that his friends come first then their family.

“That’s right, kiddo,” Jason encourages. “Who else?”

“Dad..” Tim’s eyes shoot open. “Dad’s gonna kill me. Dad, Dad will know I’m Robin, he’s- He’s gonna take Robin away from me, I can’t- This is the first time I’m being useful.”

Fuck.

“Your dad isn’t here. And you’re not Robin, kid, you’re Red Robin,” Jason reminds him.

“That’s… that’s right. I failed him. I failed Dick, so…”

Double fuck.

“That’s bullshit,” Jason says, but it’s hard to keep the conversation going while he’s carrying Tim’s weight.

They’re two minutes away from safety before Tim starts struggling to get away from Jason. He doesn’t say anything else, which may be more concerning, he just grunts with the effort and squirms. Jason really hopes no one was paying attention enough to notice what looks like Red Hood kidnapping a terrified Red Robin.

“Shit- Stay put, Red, we’re almost home,” Jason says.

Tim’s breath catches and returns, erratic, and Jason can’t bear to look at his horrified face, he hates to see the utter fear that has his brother’s already pale complexion turn ashen, his lips pressed into a line so tight it has got to hurt. Jason starts listing the names of the people that are supposedly fine and that catches Tim’s attention long enough that Jason can swing straight to the fire escape of the abandoned building where he set his hideout.

He sets Tim on the dusty mattress on the corner in a hurry and tosses his helmet aside. He starts undoing Tim’s safety measures so he can remove his cowl. Unlike Jason, he doesn’t wear a domino mask beneath it and Jason makes a mental note of talking to Tim about that later.

“Almost there, Timbers,” Jason says. He rips off his own domino without caring about the sting, hoping a familiar face will help. “I’m here. Now, where do you keep your fear gas antidote? I know you carry some around.”

Tim unconsciously reaches for a particular capsule on his bandolier. That’s enough of an answer for Jason, who pushes his hand away not as gently as he should and reaches for the small vial inside.

“Jay,” Tim whines. “Jay, you’re okay, right?”

Jason blinks, confused. “Of course I’m okay, Timbers. I’m right here.”

And as he rushes to grab the first aid kit under the sink, Jason starts to freak out. This gas isn’t causing hallucinations as much as it’s making Tim feel paranoid, it seems. What if it’s a new formula? What if the antidote doesn’t work? What if Tim keeps having anxious thought after anxious thought, until his heart gives in and-

“Jay!” Tim calls, desperate. “Jay, we have to get Kon! He’s- He’s in danger.” He starts getting up.

“Nope!” Jason pushes him right back into the mattress. “Kon is fine, he’s invulnerable, remember? He’s probably doing superdouche stuff in Metropolis.”

“He’s not, he’s- He’s gonna kill himself, Jay!” There are tears welling up in his eyes and Jason feels like someone just punched him in the gut. After all the shit they went through, he had never seen Tim cry. “He’s gonna sacrifice himself to save everyone, I can’t lose him, please, I’ll do it instead. He’s- No! Please, don’t do it!”

There we go. There are the hallucinations they all know and hate. Tim stretches out his hand as if he’s reaching for an invisible Superboy, so Jason takes the opportunity to start rolling up his sleeve and cleaning the inside of his elbow. Lucky for him, he always has a sanitized syringe. Now he just needs Tim to stay still.

What if it doesn’t work? What if I make it worse?

“Kon El, no,” Tim gasps. “KON EL! CONNER!”

Jason had never seen Impulse going full speed. But he did meet Barry Allen back when he was Robin and he never forgot the deafening noise of someone breaking the barrier of sound. More familiar is the noise of his freaking wall exploding. Before Jason realizes, he’s being ripped away from his screaming brother. He hacks and struggles, but there isn’t a lot he can do when a kryptonian steel arm presses against his throat, effectively pinning him to the wall.

“Give me one reason not to kill you,” Superboy growls, his eyes already glowing red.

Jason would be impressed with the boy’s ability to look murderous if he wasn’t about to have his head melted. He struggles a little more. Superboy doesn’t even seem to notice. Jason then pathetically raises the syringe in his hand and manages to choke out:

“A-antidote.”

Superboy blinks once. His eyes return to the regular shade of blue. He blinks twice. His expression shows only confusion when he releases Jason, that promptly falls on his knees. Jason coughs, touching his throat as if to make sure it’s still intact. Damn clone.

“What happened to him?” Superboy demands.

Tim isn’t trying to get up anymore, but rather convulsing on the same spot, screaming wordlessly in horror, tears streaming freely down his pale cheeks.

Jason coughs some more before he’s able to say something. “A-ask that first next time, will you? It’s… it’s fear gas.”

“And, what, am I supposed to believe you were helping him?” Superboy snarls.

Jason groans. He doesn’t have time for this. Tim has his eyes firmly shut and every scream, every time his voice breaks, it feels like someone is slashing at Jason’s chest, robbing him of air almost as effectively as Superboy did.

“I was about to do that before you interrupted,” Jason shows him the syringe again. “What do you think?”

Superboy squints at him, unhappy with his response.

“We don’t have time for that,” Jason snarls. “At this point, he’s gonna have a heart attack. I need you to hold him still.”

Superboy bites his lip in hesitation but Tim screams his name again and he winces as if the sound is kryptonite for his ears. Finally, he nods and crouches down by the mattress.

“It’s okay, Rob,” he says. “I’m here now. I’ve got you.”

At that, Tim miraculously relaxes for a second. Jason kneels by his side again and holds the outstretched arm Superboy is keeping still.

“Don’t hurt him,” Jason warns. Judging by the look Superboy gives him, the only reason he’s not getting the laser eye treatment is because he’s the only one around capable of helping Tim.

“No,” Tim whines. “Not Jason…”

Jason freezes. Superboy’s eyes start to glow again.

“Not Jason, not again,” Tim continues, delirious, his expression twisting in pain. “Please, please, don’t, help him, HELP HIM!”

Jason stabs the needle into his pale skin and it’s a miracle that he does it right, because he is shaking. Fuck this. Fuck Scarecrow. It’s wrong, it’s horrible to hear Red Robin begging like that. He hates the way the kid startles with the needle. He’s thankful that Superboy makes sure Tim stays put, because he doesn’t think his trembling hands could do that now.

“It’s okay, Timbers,” Jason hears himself saying, “it’s over now.”

“Please,” Tim sobs again, “I- I’m gonna solve this.”

God. Jason grabs his hand. “You did enough, baby bird. You solved enough already.”

Tim whimpers, but finally starts relaxing. It seems like the antidote is working its magic and the boy falls right asleep.

Superboy refuses to leave, much to Jason’s chagrin. It doesn’t surprise him, though. Conner is Tim’s favorite conversation subject when he’s in a good mood and apparently the clone is ready to just fly to Gotham if he hears Tim’s voice.

“You know, metas aren’t allowed here,” Jason reminds him.

Superboy has been stomping back and forth around Tim’s mattress. He's so angry that Jason is worried he’ll break the floor any minute now, but he stops to give Jason the biggest, meanest glower of the night. He doesn’t look anything like the mental picture Tim painted of him. Even with his ripped skinny jeans and 90’s leather jacket and dumb earrings, Superboy looks absolutely murderous.

“I’m not going anywhere until I see that Tim’s fine,” he says.

Jason sighs.

“Why are we here?” Superboy snaps. “Why didn’t you call Alfred or… or Batman or…”

“Because we don’t do that,” Jason cuts him. “Red Robin is not Batman's sidekick. If we can solve shit without involving Batman, we don’t involve Batman.”

It’s their unspoken rule, Jason knows that since the first time they fought side by side - the first time they had a sleepover - and he brought Tim home to patch him up. They don’t call dad or their older bro if they’re in trouble, because that’ll lead to them being in more trouble. They simply watch out for each other as much as they can.

Superboy isn’t happy with that explanation, but, before he can murder Jason for real, Tim stirs.

Jason and Superboy are kneeling by his side at the same time, which says something, since Jason doesn't have superspeed.

“Timbers?” Jason calls.

“Jay…?” Tim mumbles and his voice is still a little raw from all the screaming. He blinks and his eyes set on his best friend. “Conner? What are you doing here?”

“You called,” Superboy says simply. “I told you all you had to do was call my name.”

“How’s the head?” Jason asks. “You're still smart, right? You can’t afford to lose your brain cells, Timbers, with your ugly face they’re all you have.”

Tim snorts. Then groans. “Fuck off, Jason, don’t make me laugh.”

Jason smiles at him and he doesn’t notice the weird look Superboy is giving them.

“Rob? Do you remember what happened?”

Tim starts to sit up and Superboy is faster than Jason in wrapping an arm around his shoulders to steady him. He helps Tim rest his back against the wall and the grateful look Tim gives him makes Jason frown a bit because he feels there is something there he’s missing.

“Hmmm… We were fighting Scarecrow,” Tim says. “Fear gas, broken rebreather...” He looks at Jason as if seeking for confirmation. When Jason nods, he continues, “Jay got me out of there and the rest is… Wait. Where is Scarecrow? Did he escape?”

“That should be the last of your worries, Timothy, you almost died of fear,” Superboy scolds.

Tim sighs. “Oh, to be a young vigilante in the XXI century… passing away of fright.”

Superboy doesn’t get it, judging by his expression, but Jason does and he laughs out loud. He doesn’t miss the way Tim’s lip quirk up.

“See, baby bird, this is why I wear a helmet and so should you,” Jason says.

“Okay, but have you considered that we’d look stupid if we were all the man in the iron mask?”

Jason raises an eyebrow. “God forbid a whole family fighting criminals in leather fursuits look stupid. We wouldn’t fucking want that.”

Tim laughs, even if his voice is still a little hoarse, and Jason is relieved.

He is so relieved to see his brother fine that he doesn’t pay attention to the fact that Superboy still has his arm around Tim’s shoulders. That Superboy’s eyes get all soft when Tim laughs. That Superboy looks a little hurt when he offers to fly Tim home, but Tim refuses, saying that he’d rather spend the rest of the night here.

“I mean, if that’s fine…?” He glances at Jason, reminding him of those first sleepovers, when he was still unsure whether he’d be welcome or not.

Jason is so done feeling or letting his brother feel like an outsider. “The mattress is big enough for both of us, I don’t see why you’d go back to your own apartment when you can just sleep on a perfectly good mattress on the floor.”

“Hm. Cool then,” Superboy says, but instead of flying out through the giant hole he made on the wall, he shifts his weight from one foot to another awkwardly, clearly stalling.

Both brothers notice it. Neither has a problem interpreting Superboy’s fidgeting. Jason finds it annoying, but Tim gives him a pleading look. Jason sighs.

“You can stay too, big guy, but you gonna have to sleep on the floor.”

Superboy’s face lights up and he definitely doesn’t look like he wanted to melt Jason’s head just a couple of minutes ago. He rambles that it’s all good, he just needs to text Ma Kent to let her know where he is and he’s used to sleeping on the floor of the barn with Krypto and the cows (Jason would find that more upsetting if he didn’t know there is a cow somewhere in the Wayne manor too and Damian sleeps in the cave with it all the time).

In the end, Tim bullies Jason into giving Superboy the thickest blanket he has around. He tries suggesting he should sleep in the blanket and let Jason and Superboy share the mattress, but shuts up mid sentence under their glares.

It’s probably the most awkward sleepover so far, but Tim grins at Jason, grateful, and turns his back to him to be able to talk to Superboy in hushed whispers.

Jason tunes out their conversation and focuses on the fact that he did it. He saved Tim. It doesn’t make up for the times he fucked up in the past, but it sure makes him feel better about the present. He’s also thankful that Tim stayed instead of going to his own place. Hearing your little brother scream in fear for your life isn’t something enjoyable and Jason is sure he would have nightmares about if it wasn’t for the fact that Tim was laying right there in front of him. It’s the sound of his brother’s muffled laughter, mixed with Superboy’s, that lulls him to sleep.

Jason should have noticed then. But he didn’t.

For an intelligent guy, Jason can be really stupid sometimes.

The thing is… Jason is smart. He’s not Tim Drake smart, but he’s still a good detective. He’s also fairly sociable. Or at least he used to be, before he, you know, died and went through all the trauma, etc. He is no Dick Grayson, but he can hold a good conversation, pick up the right social cues, all that crap.

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t mess up sometimes.

You see, months go by. Red Hood and Red Robin don’t often go on the field together, after all it’d do a number to both of their reputations, but, when they do, one of them always ends up injured and the other carries him home. It’s like a curse, the universe telling them to stick to their off-patrol partnership. Then a couple of weeks go by and they miss the feeling of fighting side-by-side and there they go again.

Tim keeps showing up at Jason’s place whenever he feels like it and he even hangs around Jason’s visiting friends sometimes. Kori adores Tim from the first time she puts her eyes on him. Roy takes a little longer to warm up, but even he can’t resist the kid. Jason likes it. He likes having his brother around. He likes that they get on like a house on fire.

So much he forgets Tim is a master of hiding shit.

On the week nearing Tim’s 19th birthday, Jason goes to his apartment. He doesn’t realize until he’s halfway there that he hadn’t been to Tim’s place since the night he met Prudence, which is odd, because it’d been basically a year and a half. Still, Tim goes over to Jason’s place all the time. The fact that Jason doesn’t repay the favor has everything to do with the fact that Jason hates Tim’s magazine apartment and nothing else.

Right?

Instead of going for the door, Jason uses his signature move and just swings to the balcony. The door is unlocked - Jason really has to have a talk with Tim about security, they’re in Gotham, for fuck’s sake - and he lets himself in.

To Tim’s credit, the place looks more well lived in now. There are mismatched pillows on the couch, a forgotten mug and a couple of books on the coffee table. Jason recognizes his copy of The Count of Monte Cristo and makes an annoyed sound noticing Tim’s bookmarker is still somewhere in the middle of the book even if it’s been weeks since Jason let him borrow it.

“Tim?” Jason calls. It’s half past nine, a little early for vigilante standards, but…

He hears the sound of someone sputtering and coughing from the kitchen. There he is.

Jason heads there and finds Tim desperately grabbing paper towels to clean coffee he apparently just spilled on his bare chest.

“J-Jason!”

“Jumpy aren’t we?” Jason comments. “What’s up, baby bird?”

It’s clear that Tim had just woken up, judging by his messy hair and the fact that he’s wearing nothing but red sweatpants with Superman’s symbol all over. His mildly terrified expression is weird, though. Tim is usually slow in the morning, but not that easy to startle.

“What are you doing here?” Tim whispers, clearly panicking.

The fact that Jason never visits Tim’s place suddenly comes to his mind. The possibility of him not being welcome hits him and it’s surprisingly painful. He thought they were doing well, that the kid liked him. All this time, was he being arrogant?

As his brain scrambles for something to say, something to think, he notices a sound that he hadn’t registered before: the shower.

Suddenly Tim’s rapidly reddening cheeks and doe wide eyes gain a new meaning. Jason forgets the hurt and a sly smile stretches on his face.

“Oh my god. Oh god, this is priceless. Baby bird, do you have a lady guest from last night?”

Tim makes a weird choking sound and this is too good, Jason is too delighted, look at little Timmy go, already getting it. (Jason would’ve chosen different pants for the morning after, but alas.)

Then a voice calls out: “Sweetheart, are you okay?”

A male voice.

Tim’s face becomes three shades darker, now perfectly matching his pants. Jason’s grin is now frozen on his face, his eyes wide with the realization.

The shower stops.

“Tim?” The voice calls again.

“I’m fine, Kon!” Tim responds and his voice is surprisingly even, considering he looks like he’s having an aneurysm.

That’s a bat for you. Master of hiding their emotions.

Sort of.

Kon, Tim said. Jason realizes that Tim isn’t wearing Superman merch. The sweatpants are Superboy themed.

Jason still remembers Superboy’s protective streak all those months ago and the fact that he woke up to the two of them holding hands - at the time, he thought nothing of it, because it had been a stressful night and he didn’t blame either boy for wanting to make sure the other was okay - and he thinks of all the subsequent times Tim went on and on about Conner and how a couple of weeks ago Tim just stopped mentioning Conner altogether.

God, Jason is the worst detective ever.

Tim pushes Jason out of the kitchen and towards the living room, presumably farther from the bathroom where his boyfriend with super hearing was showering.

“Fuck,” Tim mutters, “ fuckfuckfuck… ”

And he looks and sounds so distraught that Jason loses all the eagerness to tease him, concern quickly replacing any initial surprise he might have been feeling.

“Look,” Tim murmurs, looking anywhere but at Jason’s eyes, “it’s not… we’re just…”

Tim scrambles for words and this is so unlike him - Tim always has a plan, always knows what to say - it takes a moment for Jason to catch up on why he’s a stuttering mess. Jason had been so excited to find out his little brother had a boyfriend he forgot he lived in a world where homophobia was a thing.

“Timbers, chill out.” Jason grabs Tim’s hands from where they’re still resting on his shoulders. “It’s just me.”

Tim dares raise his gaze to meet Jason’s and it hurts a bit to see still a little fear in his blue eyes. Jason gives him an encouraging grin.

“I can’t believe you officially bagged a kryptonian. Way to go, kid.”

His shoulders slouch in utter relief right before he starts blushing again. What a cute kid.

“You keep calling me kid. You’re not that older. And don’t say it like that,” Tim mumbles.

“Like what? Like you’re snogging Superboy?” Tim punches him on the shoulder and Jason laughs. “Now I know why you were in such a hurry to leave the manor, you wanted your own place to bring your boyfriend over…”

“That’s not why I left and who said anything about a boyfriend? Maybe this was just a one night stand.”

Jason gives him a condescending look. “Timbers, I might have not realized you’re gay, but I do know you. You’re a boyfriend kinda guy.”

Tim rolls his eyes and mumbles something about assuming shit. “I’m bi,” he says.

“Cool,” Jason says, a shit-eating grin never leaving his face.

“Fuck,” Tim groans and lets himself fall on the couch. “How do you de-escalate an emotional situation so fast?”

“It’s a Bat thing, and you know how to do it too. All of us are trained to avoid emotions like the plague.”

“I was not prepared to come out when I got up this morning,” Tim admits.

Humming, Jason finally realizes that Tim doesn’t want to skip the emotions for this one. He sighs. The things he does for his brothers.

“It’s not a big deal, though,” he says. “I mean, you’re happy right?”

“I’m never happy.”

“Don’t quote Zuko. You started the real talk. You don’t get to bat your way out of it now.”

A sigh. “I’m happy. Conner is… the best.”

Jason nods. “Then it’s all good. I’m sure all the others would say the same.”

“You can't tell them!” Tim snaps, his eyes suddenly wide with panic again. “Seriously, Jay, you can’t-”

“Calm down, kid,” Jason cuts him off. “When did I make a habit of spilling your secrets to the B-man? It's none of their business.” Tim visibly relaxes and Jason adds: “Actually… Want me to make your house Dick-proof?”

“...what?”

“I mean, not kryptonian dick, you’re clearly into that,” and he ignores it when Tim pops him on the back of the head. “I mean Dick Dick, our brother. I could set up a better security system so you don’t have to worry about one of your siblings walking into something scarring, especially the clingy one.”

“No security system can stop Dick’s clinginess.”

“How do you think I keep him off my place?”

That’s when their little pow wow gets interrupted by more kryptonian skin than Jason ever wanted to see as Conner walks in with nothing but the smallest of the towels wrapped around his waist.

“Babe, what is--” He notices Jason and slips on literally nothing, barely catching himself before falling on his ass. “ Shit- I mean, nothing, I mean, we were just binging Wendy!”

Jason doesn’t say anything, but he does give Tim a look that says it all. He wasn't judging earlier, but he is now. Tim gives him a look that definitely means shut up.

In the end, Jason stays for breakfast.

It’s only mildly awkward, because he and Tim fill the silence talking about the latest case Jason’s working on while Conner makes them pancakes. Judging by the fact that he’s getting the ingredients from a bunch of plastic bags, he must have brought all the food with him. If anything, Jason is grateful that he and Alfred are no longer the only people trying to get Tim to eat actual food.

When Tim turns to Conner for his opinion, leaving Jason to enjoy his coffee, Jason looks around and notices that there are new pictures on the fridge. There are some of those disgustingly cute pictures of Tim and Conner, their cheeks pressed together as they make weird faces for the camera. There is a picture of Conner by himself and, again disgustingly, he is smiling at the camera as though the most precious person in the world is behind it. Both pictures are held by a sun magnet. There is a new candid shot of Cassandra, one of Alfred-Alfred holding cat Alfred, a new one of Dick and even Damian is in there.

And, his heart stops for a second, because now there are pictures of Jason as well.

They’re carefully placed far from each other, but there are three different pictures. There is one of Jason wearing his Lord of the Rings shirt, eating cereal on the couch, a confused expression on his face. He remembers when Tim took that picture, because Tim waited until Jason had his mouth full before calling hey Jay? and snapping the picture right as Jason looked at him, his cheeks like a chipmunk's. The second picture is a candid of him smiling, leaning against the rail of some safehouse balcony. The shot was carefully framed to not show anything distinct of the surroundings, just Jason and Gotham’s sky.

The third one is a selfie. In it, Jason is asleep, his lips parted and face relaxed, his head resting on Tim’s shoulder. Tim has a shit eating grin on his lips as if there is nothing funnier to him than his giant older brother falling asleep on him in the middle of movie night. Tim had the decency of drawing a mustache on Jason’s face to decrease sappiness, but that effect is ruined by the fact that the picture is held by a magnet that was clearly Iron Man but Tim had painted it red to look like Jason’s hood.

Jason had sworn off killing, at least for a little while.

But he would gladly kill again for his little brother.

As he gets ready to leave, he turns to Conner and deadpans, “I don’t have to tell you that I can and I will make kryptonite bullets, do I?”

“Jason!” Tim scolds.

“What? I’m the first of the family to find out. Least I can do is taje care of the shovel talk.”

“Stop threatening my boyfriend.”

Conner blushes profusely and mouths the word boyfriend with marvel and ugh. Just… ugh . Jason is happy that Tim is happy, but he and Conner are apparently that kind of couple and Jason wants to have none of it.

“So, first we kill Damian,” Jason starts.

“No,” Tim says.

“Aw, come on, you didn’t even consider it!”

Cassandra waits until they decide their plan of action (it’s probably going to be Tim’s) and keeps her expression carefully neutral as not to show which one of them she agrees with (Tim).

The thing, Jason realized, is that all of them have favorites in their family and knowing that makes it easier to tear them down. Dick can fuck off with his I love you all equally bullshit, because he clearly always favors Damian. Damian swings between Batdad’s little boy and Nightwing’s murder baby. Tim will easily lose focus whenever Steph is involved. Steph is oddly protective of Duke, for some reason. Cassandra is mostly neutral. She’s everyone’s favorite, including Bruce’s, but she’s also the deadliest of them all so she is no one’s weakness. She does, however, have a soft spot for Tim over any of her brothers. Since Jason became close friends with Tim, he entered Cassandra’s selective protection bubble and he’s now, by all definitions, untouchable.

Or at least that’s how he felt when she chose him for her team right after Tim.

“We kill Dick first,” Tim knocks down the little Nightwing action figure on the carpet. “Cass, you’re the only one who can take him down. Jay and I distract the others while you do the job. Damian will get personally offended by that and will grow reckless.” He knocks down the little imp figurine. “I can take care of him then. Steph will be hiding somewhere ready to strike. She is best in close range combat. Jay, I need you to take her down before she gets too close.” He pushes down the Barbie doll someone dressed as Batgirl, because apparently they couldn’t find blonde Batgirl merch and they were very offended. “Then we win.”

He may sound impressive, but the whole time he’s speaking he has his head resting on Cass’ lap and she is carding her fingers through his hair as a villain would do to their evil pet cat.

“Can’t I murder the demon brat?” Jason complains.

Tim glares at him - again, not very intimidating while he’s basically lying on his sister’s lap.

“You know Steph would wipe the floor with me. You’re the only one I can trust to get her.”

“Unless…” Jason turns around. “Du-”

“No.”

“Come on, I’ll give you ten bucks.”

“Jason, we’re all rich, you can’t buy me.” Duke doesn’t even raise his eyes from his book. “Plus last time I let y’all drag me into this shit, Steph knocked off one of my teeth with Tim’s staff.”

“If you hadn’t killed me, then she wouldn’t have taken revenge,” Tim argues.

“And yet you’re planning to kill Dick counting on the fact that Damian will try to avenge him.”

“Wet blanket,” Cassandra says.

Tim and Jason go into a giggling fit as Duke sputters, too indignant to put his thoughts into words.

In the end, Duke still doesn’t join them.

As they expected, the enemy was listening to their plan - Jason is sure Dick was against it, but Stephanie and Damian are definitely not above spying - nonetheless they still played their parts as expected: Steph and Damian tried protecting Dick first and foremost, but not even the two of them combined could take Cassandra. Not with Jason and Tim backing her up.

Cassandra knocks Dick down and sits on his back. The large yellow paint splash on his chest proves that he’s dead. Rather than being upset, Dick starts doing push ups with his sister there as the rest of his siblings and Steph fight to death.

Unfortunately, Damian wasn’t as angered by Dick’s demise as they expected and is still a good match for Tim. Until Tim gasps and goes Titus, don’t eat that! It was an obvious ploy, but still got Damian to let down his guard and whip his head around looking for his precious dog. Tim shoots him without hesitation and Damian goes on a rage soliloquy.

Jason would appreciate it if he wasn’t having such a hard time with Stephanie. Apparently Barbara has been feeding her steroids, because the girl is now as quick as a ninja. She hits Jason in the kneecaps with Tim’s staff - they’re not even in the same team this time, how the fuck did she get Tim’s staff??? - and shoots him point blank in the chest. And damn, that shit hurts. He bets it’s purple under his shirt too.

Steph is mid celebration when her victory whoop turns into a pained groan. Twin splotches of red and yellow bloom on her back as Cassandra and Tim lower their guns.

“Fuck,” Jason complains. “Couldn’t’ve done that before she killed me?”

“We win,” Cassandra says.

“Shouldn’t you be fighting to the death now?” Dick asks. Now that Cass is off his back, he’s lying on the side like one of your French girls. Jason wishes Cass would shoot him again.

“I would never betray Cass,” Tim says.

“We rule together.” She walks to him and stands on her tiptoes to kiss his forehead.

Tim grins a wicked grin because he knows he is Cassandra’s favorite and everyone can die mad about it.

Steph and Damian start shouting their complaints at the same time while Dick laughs his ass off. From his lawn chair, Duke is glaring at them as if he can’t believe he’s legally related to any of these weirdos.

His gaze meets Dick’s and his older brother looks absolutely elated with pride even though all of their siblings are yelling about paintball.

Jason simply smiles back.

#jason todd #tim drake #red hood #red robin #batfam #batfam big bang 2020 #poteto writing #red bros #collab

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powerosewaterpuff · 4 years

Text

so i was having mary and john grayson feels bc i always do ofc, and i decided well if i can’t find any other fics and headcanonns? imma make them myself hehe soo enjoy ! (heads up tho, it’s a l o t hehe)

Mary Grayson

-cannot cook, she is absolutely a w f u l at it but oh my god she loves watching john cook. she even follows him around, writing in a little journal about all the different recipes and steps, bc she is d e t e r m i n d to be able to make something other then cereal

-she always lets dick attempt to braid her hair, and even though it might come out looking bumpy and uneven, she couldn’t care less bc the smile on her sons face is priceless

- loves the summer, basking in the sun on a wide beach is her ideal happy place, because the winter reminds her a little too much of memories she wishes she could suppress

-she always sticks her tongue out just a bit when she’s focused on something, john still blushes when he sees that

-isn’t an avid reader, but she could watch johns facial expressions as he rereads the same twist in his favourite novel for the rest of her life

-she has a small array of ear piercings, which include three piercings on each lobe and upper lobe (the first she had received when she was a baby, and it had been her grandmothers idea), then she has a helix hoop piercing on each ear with a little stud underneath the hoop of the right ear. (Dick loves them, and always had a habit of fiddling with them even as a baby.)

-her laugh could be described as, (as courtesy of john grayson), “the sound of wind chimes billowing against the breeze, and then she starts snortin—Hey! It’s the truth, what do you want me to lie, mary?”

-dick most definitely inherited her eyelashes, long, dark and curled. she also tends to argue that he got her humour too, but john adamantly defends his honour as, “the most hilarious human being to walk the earth, and dick most definitely got my sense of humour, e x c u s e you, mariam.”

-she is infinitely glad that her and john have a very equal parenting system, without one person needing to be the primary disciplinarian as they work as a united front. (except when john and dick come inside the trailer, dragging in mounds of dirt from a flimsy soccer game. then? shes usually the disciplinary one then, shooing them to go take a shower and telling them that they needed to make sure every i n c h of dirt is out of the trailer before she’s done her afternoon stretches.)

-she’s a very bold and opinionated person, but stubbornly independent with a strong moral system and a fierce temper. she isn’t accustomed to asking for help, and is always expecting to be disappointed or let down. she’s always waiting for the catch to come into play, with john though? it never did

-the second dick gives her his puppy dog eyes, it’s over. she’ll give up the cookies she’s hidden in the top shelf, she’ll give him the biggest hug, she’ll practically do anything, and mary thinks john is the exact same.

-her gut instincts are scarily right, to the point where her best friend, the magicians assistant, is convinced she’s a psychic of some sort.

- the day she met john, she had heard about a young circus boy about her age coming to live with his great aunt in her neighborhood, but hadn’t really paid it any mind.

-it wasn’t until one neighbourhood party, that she locked eyes with a pair of vibrant blue eyes with a deeply rooted fire within them. it gave her a shock of adrenaline, and excitement, the same thing she felt when she was about to go on stage as a ballerina or about to face the uneven bars as a gymnast. it wasn’t a nervous bout of a adrenaline, it was a calming rush, one that filled her bones with a thrill beyond all compare. (Little did she know, the second john had locked eyes with a pair of lively green eyes, he had found what he was looking for.)

- mary was a natural born contortionist, with a flexibility she acquired from years of ballet as well as gymnastics. learning how to work the trapeze was a whole other thing though, as it was a little odd to adjust at first. she loved johns freedom and wild nature while soaring through the air though, a lot more then she loved the rigidness of her own form. (john disagreed vehemently, the way mary moved was like she was one with the air and the air was one with her, and he admits that was she an incredibly quick learner.)

-will always watch cartoons with dick, whether it be The Simpsons one evening or Tom & Jeremy the next.

-johns singing is her favourite thing ever, she always begs him to sing her to sleep and some nights, when john feels a deep rooted knot tug at his chest, mary is sweetly singing, “here comes the sun,” by the beatles in his ear

-her and johns go to song to get dick to sleep is, “little bird, little bird,” by elizabeth mitchell. she always changes the last bird, a whip-poor-well, to a robin bird. it’s a little offbeat but she thinks dick likes it. (dick loves it.)

-has an unparalleled amount of energy, and is always bursting with exuberance, the only one who can really challenge her on that is dick. both of them are absolute adrenaline junkies.

-has an insatiable love for period dramas, it is her absolutely guilty pleasure and will be found watching tapes of her favourite show in the living room at like 3am

-she loves the smell of burning wood and loves sitting outside of summer nights, taking in the sounds of the cicadas and the cold breeze.

-she is absolutely exasperated with her sons ability to make friends with injured woodland animals, it was adorable and absolutely darling to an extent, but oh my god if she had to handle one more skunk with a broken leg or a fox with its leg stuck to a wooden post, she would consider barricading the circus.

-(she loves buying matching clothing for her family and her, but what she loves the most is dressing john and dick up to match, she has a whole box filled with those pictures, which would be perfect blackmail material once dick was in his teens.)

John Grayson

-is one of the most laid back human beings, he always has a lazy smile and gentle mischief twinkling in his eyes. (but fuck with his family and see what happens, he dares you.)

-his eyes are practically identical to dicks, in every shape, way and form. but dicks have an unstoppable light in them, that his just don’t have but he’s so happy they do.

-loves to overspray his cologne just to irritate mary, her scrunched up nose his absolutely adorable. (but he still couldn’t get why she didn’t like that cologne, it was fucking amazing)

-curses like an absolute sailor, and mary isn’t any better but she’s far better at censoring herself. john has had to slap a hand around his mouth a few times to avoid having to explain the word, “shit,” to dick.

-christmas is his favourite time of the year without a doubt, and loves to be curled up on his worn couch with a novel in hand in front for a fire.

-is an avid prankster, but if you confront him about it, he’ll give you a trademarked Grayson smile, and tilt his head to the side questioningly.

-his laugh is like (as courtesy of mary grayson), “a crash of waves, refreshing and loud with a distinct clarity, and then he starts to w h e e z—Hey! it’s the truth! I thought you were against lying, huh?”

-he’s ticklish, and his brother along with his wife and son take advantage of that way too much.

-dick is legit attached to this mans hip 24/7, like if you see john strolling around the circus there is a 94% chance that dick is either riding on his shoulders or settled comfortably on his hip.

-the day he met mary, he had felt a little out of place and stilted at this neighbourhood party. but he sucked it in bc anything was better then going back to his home, so he took a shaky breathe and tried to converse with his great aunts friends, until the music started and he locked eyes with a pair of lively green eyes, and he had found exactly what he was a looking for. a fleeting purpose that could so easily slip between his finger tips but the thrill to latch onto it was expanding in his chest. and he realized that if he didn’t march right on over there and talk to this girl, he would’ve lost something he didn’t even knew he could lose.

- playing guitar had always been a little bit of a therapeutic thing, because even though he tried to be practicing their act every single minute of his day, there were times where he needed to sit under a tree with his son curled in his lap, his leather jacket draped on him. the love of his life and the afterlife curled up next to him, with his blistered fingers from dealing with ropes all day strumming the guitar.

-the biggest elvis presley, beatles and rat pack fan in the world. he also loves louis armstrong as well as nat king cole. (he grew up with this music as his first big introduction to north american music as well as culture.)

-open communication and emotions are a big thing for him, he never wants anything to be misinterpreted and he tries his hardest to make sure neither him nor mary ever go to sleep angry with one another. they argue a decent amount, bc they both have wild tempers (johns is a flame that’s difficult to light but once it does he’ll have a vicious tongue of a temper, and mary’s is a quick lighter that can be easily put out but for the time that it burns holy shit she’s scary,) but they always work things out by talking to one another at the dinner table.

-this man lives and breathes sarcasm, to the point where people never really know if he’s being sarcastic or not (mary does, and it annoys him to no end.)

-always playing with his hair, or he’s playing with mary’s or dick’s. it’s become a little of a nervous habit for him, but also a way to relax.

-was always insecure about how short and scrawny he was as a kid, even now once he’s filled into pure muscle and but still a little short compared to others. however, he uses his body to his advtange though, he can easily be the strong man of the act, and can easily balance both dick and mary with one hand. he’s immensely proud of that, and shows it off as much as he can.

-just to annoy mary, he’ll slowly lift his son up and they’ll give the exact same puppy dog eyes and pout. mary will legit do anything they want (he wasn’t ready for mary to come in one day, blinking her beautiful green eyes and pouting, with dick settled on her hip doing the exact same thing as they ask for chocolate pancakes one morning. it’s fair to say he sprinted out of bed and straight to the kitchen.)

-despises hunting for sport and guns, his father owned an array of hunting guns that were always proudly polished and hung on the walls of their trailer. john fucking hated it, and was about to blow a fuse when one of the circus members decided to take dick on a hunting trip without asking. (he held dick close that night as he cried bc he didn’t understand why they had shot the deer when it looked so happy.)

-is the absolutle biggest crybaby when it comes to Heidi (the book) and has rewatched Kiki’s Delivery Service with dick like 30 times? he cries every time ( “mARY SHES SO SAD OH MY GOD AND SHE DOESNT UNDERSTAND J I J I ANYMOREEEE.”) (“sEE GRANDFATHER DOES CARE AND THE SYMBOLISM MARY THE SYMBOLISM.”)

-loves looking up at the stars, and liked to memorize their names as well as patterns as a kid. he was overjoyed to share this with dick, as they lay down on the roof of their circus caravan, point out constellations and tell their stories (dick would always perch himself on the tallest skyscraper in gotham, on a clear summer evening, just to get a one glance at the stars at again before the smog rolls in. he swears he saw cassiopeia once, but maybe he was just wishing he did. )

-is equally stressed by dick’s unprecedented love of making friends with the most random things, is also stressed because his son is this tiny kid who keeps getting himself stuck in bushes then runs home, covered in thorns but still has the biggest smile. john is usually on first aid duty, and he just knows that his kid would run into the sun exploding with a bright smile plastered on his face.

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dast218 · 5 years

Text

Days that turned into months and eventually years

The last few years for the Wayne family had been rough, to say the least. At one moment they were immersed in a terribly even match against the Rogues and in the next Marinette was missing from the face of the Earth.

“I have 50 seconds left. I need to go, cover for me” the heroine directed towards her husband. Wow, yep husband. She got married at nineteen, gave birth to her currently one year old son at twenty and was surrounded by a loving family. Sure they annoyed the shit out of her but the Waynes were always there when she needed them the most. Marinette still couldn’t believe how much her life has changed. For months she was being bullied by her classmates and was mentally exhausted from keeping a leveled head with all the accusations thrown towards her from her so-called friends. On top of that, her parents started believing Lila’s lies because of her constant absences while Hawkmoth was getting stronger with each akuma. To say the bare minimum if it wasn’t for Tikki’s and surprisingly Adrien’s support, she doesn't know if she would be standing here, alive right now.

Marinette needed a change of environment, so at fifteen she decided to take on Jagged’s offer to join him on tour, one of the best choices she ever made. She met Robin- actually Damian, totally by accident and might have or not mistaken him as a mugger, flipping him over with ease. Oops, well on the bright side her combat skills made the red traffic light vigilante fall even more deeply in love, with how he puts it “a blue eyed angel.” Unknown to her, the Bats had a night full of laughter afterwards, teasing their little grumpy brother.

The spotted, mostly black covered heroine was pulled away from her thoughts as she felt a gentle kiss on her forehead. Looking back up at the green eyed vigilante, she smiled.

“I got you. Stay safe”

“You know it”, kissing him gently on his lips before pulling away to find a place to recharge.

“Aww. Lil D, get a room already!”

Robin glared at his brother in return and simply stated with a smog smile, “We already have one.”

An explosion was heard in the distance and before the bat duo ran towards it Dick chuckled, “Some things never change.”

Damian vividly remembers their search for Marinette after the Rogues were defeated. The fight lasted for about 30 more minutes with his wife never returning back to the battlefield.

“Alfred, did Marinette return back home”

“No she didn’t. I can’t track her either, she isn’t transformed.”

A worried glance was shared between the Bats as Damien rushed to the roofs.

“Damian!” He turned around and his face said it all. Only once had Jason seen his brother this worried and it was during the birth of Thomas, when he went to check on him in the bathroom. Damian usually suppressed his emotions and before Marinette came along they never even saw him smile. Him openly showing distress just reinforced their already set plan.

“We are coming along.”

“Yea and don’t you think you are in this alone. Newsflash this is Pixie-pop we are talking about!”

“We are going to find her,” Nightwing said as he approached Robin placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Let's split up to cover more ground.”

They ended up searching throughout Gotham with no lead until Tikki came flying straight into Robin and Nightwing as they were rooftop jumping. She recalled what she witnessed and lead them back to where Marinette was chained against her will, but it was too late.

“Robin over here!”

“Tikki! Where is Marinette !?”

“She landed in an ally to de-transform and while I was eating we got ambushed from all sides.” Her breathing started becoming more forced and she was now rapidly spitting out random sentence fragments.

“Tikki look into my eyes and count to 10.” Damian knew they had no time to waste but after helping Marinette through many previous panic attacks, especially early on in their relationship he understood the importance of calming down the little goddess before moving on. Tikki followed the commands and slowly started evening her breathing.

“Marinette defended herself well but there were so many and you could just feel the tiredness radiating off of her. It was a matter of time when the masked man saw an opportunity, hit her on the back and pinned her down.” Fresh tears started to leak but the spotted goddess kept speaking, “I was hiding in her jacket and must have lost consciousness because the next thing I remember is waking up to see my holder chained and beaten up. Blood… she was covered with blood. With a shaky breath she told me that her capturers are after the miraculous, that they still hadn’t figured out that it's the earrings and said that she wasn’t about to let them have it. She forced me to take them somewhere safe. I … I didn’t want to leave her but I heard someone entering in and made the mistake of looking into Marinette’s eyes. I fled with the earrings just as Mari’s screams filled the building.”

The warehouse was abandoned. Broken glass was spread across the floor, chairs were flipped and strips of metal were everywhere. It was the aftermath of a fight. The vigilantes had arrived too late. All that was left behind was rope and fresh stains of blood.

“They couldn’t have gone far!”

After days which turned into weeks and eventually months of intense searching, Marinette was proclaimed dead. Damian accepted the reality last, refusing to stop looking and went several nights without sleep.

“Damian” Burce said as he entered into their library where his son was staring intensely at the map. The map of Gotham and neighboring cities was marketed up, all the possible locations of his daughter in law were triple checked and yet not even a single trace was found.

Without looking up Damian hummed waiting for Bruce to continue.

“I know it's difficult to acknowledge the … the events that occurred but Damian you can’t just keep isolating yourself from the world around you.”

“I … I can’t. You can’t just expect me to give up on her… I can’t just give up on her.”

“Damian look at me” He stubbornly didn’t move and continued staring at the map.

With a sigh the detective carried on, “Damian, son hear me out”

The addressed man slowly turned his head around, after all it wasn’t a daily occurrence that his birth father addressed him that way. Growing up Damian never really had a strong relationship with his father, sure they had they moments but it was usually just ‘listen, fight and defend.”

“Marinette was special to all of us [Damian didn’t miss the “was” but thought against interrupting him] heck if it wasn’t for her our family wouldn’t be standing the way we are now. She brought us together, showed us what it really means to be a family even though hers abandoned her. She made me realize that my fathering methods towards you weren’t the best.” He chuckled at the memory of a young Marinette storming into his office not giving an ounce of care that she was yelling at the one and only Bruce Wayne inside his own building. Placing a hand on Damian’s shoulder he went on, “I know you care deeply about Marinette and that you are afraid of losing her but what about your family? We all care about you but look at yourself Damian. You haven’t been eating, you’re running on zero sleep and didn’t come upstairs for the last few weeks. Heck, your brothers and Alfred have been taking care of a crying Thomas who keeps calling out for his parents. Your son misses you. I know this is a difficult time for you but you’re not the only one who is missing her. Let us be there for you and come out to support your son.”

For the first time in months, Damian cried. He cried about allowing Marinette to go recharge on her own, about not arriving at the warehouse fast enough, about never being able to hear her angelic laugh again and not being there for his son during his mother’s absence. He decided that from now on he is going to take care of his son just how Marinette would have wanted him to.

It's been exactly four years and here Damian stood staring at Marinette’s tombstone, hugging his five year old son tightly as tears formed around his eyes.

In memory of Marinette Cheng- Wayne

A loving wife, mom and in law

20XX

--------------------

I blame all the maribat writers for pulling me into this hole of maribat shippers that I can’t get out of. This is my contribution to the daminette fandom :)

For now this is a one-shot but I do have some ideas for a continuation.

** English isn’t by best subject so sorry for the grammatical incorrections- I tired

#daminette #marinette x damian #i tired #maribat #mlsalt #they all just need a hug

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yetanotherramblingfangirl · 4 years

Note

Hackle 25&67

[This has a little bit of a Robin Hood vibe.]

Everyone who travels through the Windstable Wood knows that it’s not the animals or thieves or any of the things you need worry about along any other path in the county. No, in the Windstable Wood it is the Women of the Wood that one needs to watch for. Anything untoward and the Women will be upon you. But what no one is certain of is how the Women came to be there.

How it all started: Hecate Hardbroom was the eldest daughter of a powerful local merchant. While her father is busy seeking investiture, Hecate is busy pursuing intellectual study. Eventually her father realizes that the best way to move his position forward is to make a good match for Hecate. The problem is that Hecate would rather crawl naked over broken glass than marry any of the suitors presented by her father. It’s lucky that the vast majority come to the same conclusion when forced to spend any time with her. It is usually a relief to everyone involved when everyone returns home.

Eventually things come to a head and a match persists. The wedding is planned, the dowry packed, and the travel begins. Things progress slowly thanks to the muddy roads. The quickest route to their destination takes the carriages through the Windstable Wood. The drivers try to make clear to Hecate’s father that starting into the wood now would force them to make camp inside the wood and that was decidedly unsafe. Darkness and too many places to hide meant there would be thieves. But Hecate’s father refused to listen and the worst happened. Forced to make camp in the center of the wood, the party was beset by thieves. There were only 2 survivors: Hecate and her friend Indigo.

The pair manage to survive, but in doing so they cannot deny that they do not wish to see anything like what they experienced happen again. And so they start to patrol the Wood for nefarious figures. Using the knowledge Hecate gleaned from her extensive study and Indigo’s natural ability to tinker, the two are able to create a Presence in the Wood. When they come upon a carriage beset by thieves, they’re able to use their newfound ‘power’ to fight off the thieves before anything untoward has actually happened. This is when news of their exploits starts to take on a life of its own.

“For any woman who wants to chart her own course, there is always a place here. No one should be forced to sign away their life according to the whims of a man.” Hecate said this to a young woman cowering in a cart. There are always young women cowering in carts and Hecate always offers two things: safe passage through the Wood or a place to stay. A surprising number of young women choose the latter. And so it goes for years. Before she knows it, her ranks have swollen enough to form a village in the deepest reaches of the woods. It’s only a matter of time before the rumors on the outside begin.

Ada Cackle lives in the village on the farside of the Windstable Wood. She is the owner and operator of the local tavern, a business she inherited from her mother. [There was a bit of a problem between her and her twin sister over who would be proprietor, but when Agatha went off to marry someone of ‘better position than you could ever aspire to’, Ada considered the matter closed.]

Because of her unique position within the community, Ada is often aware of plans before they’re carried out. Many a drunken plan has been foiled by a quick dispatch of one of the kitchen girls. When the first murmurs of the Women of the Wood started to be heard throughout the village, it was Ada who informed those who needed it most that there was an out. That there were ways to change your circumstance without being beholden to anyone. So when she begins to hear whispers about a plan to raize the Wood to flush out and destroy the band of women who’ve taken refuge there Ada knows there is only one solution. She must go to the Wood herself to warn them. So in the early hours just before sunrise Ada sets out into the Wood.

Hecate is surprised but not shocked by the news that Ada has brought into the community. Given the things that she has experienced and seen, she is not surprised that men feel threatened by the reality that women are capable of sending them running. She’s just surprised it’s taken them this long to come to that conclusion.

Ada and her friends in the village help Hecate to form a plan to defeat the largely disorganized and mostly angry men bent on destroying the only community over which they have no power. Small skirmishes are handily dealt with, but the men’s growing anger harkens to something bigger looming.

Hecate and Ada spend a lot of time working on the counterplan together. They meet along the edge of the wood, spending time strategizing but also just talking. Hecate has a few friends within the community she’s built because the mantle of leadership has fallen on her quite heavily. She has Indigo and she has Dimity and now she has Ada. But there is a difference in the way she looks at Ada. She tries not to think too deeply about it because she isn’t sure what to do about it and uncertainty, especially within herself, is not something she deals well with.

The men put their big plan into action sooner than anyone anticipated, but thanks to weeks of planning, the Women of the Wood are ready. Superior battle strategy and an intimate knowledge of the terrain lead to an easy victory after only a few hours of fighting. Angry half-drunk men with farm weapons are no match for women who’ve studied Roman battle strategy and forged their own weapons.

While the others are busy celebrating, Hecate finds herself unable to participate. This victory is the end of something. It’s the end of her time with Ada and that alone is enough to make this a pyrrhic victory for Hecate. Dimity and Indigo intervene and encourage her to continue to nurture this friendship.

“Don’t be daft. Just talk to her. You stopped planning after a week. It was all just an excuse to see her, and the fact that she was just as willing to meet with you might just mean something.”

Ada isn’t present in the Wood, instead waiting with bated breath for the men foolhardy enough to have gone into the Windstable Wood to return. As much as she’d like to close the tavern to their custom, she also knows that Hecate advised her not to do anything that would invite trouble for herself or the women in her employ.

“If the men return and want to drown in their cups so be it. They will either be returning as ambulatory losers or they’ll be returning in the deadtaker’s cart. There will be no victory celebrations for them.”

Ada is relieved when the first men begin to stumble out of the wood, carrying their injured mates among them. She does her best to be personable to those who come in, but her heart just isn’t in it. Her heart is in the Wood with Hecate and the others.

A week passes before Hecate makes her way to the village before sunrise. She comes in on the main road, carefully dressed and face concealed by a warm cloak. It wouldn’t do to run into anyone who might recognize her as the one shouting ‘FIRE’. Unsure of where Ada lives, she makes her way to the tavern. If she must wait in the doorway until the morning, she will gladly do it. All she wants is to see Ada.

Ada, unable to sleep, is at her window staring out toward the wood. It’s just before dawn when she notices a tall, thin figure in a heavy cloak exit the Wood along the main road. She blames the image on wishful thinking and sleep deprivation. But when she sees this person whose figure looks exceedingly like Hecate’s turn toward her tavern, she knows she will not be able to do anything unless she confirms it all to be a cruel trick of the mind. She honestly cannot believe it when she opens her door to find a very solid and very real Hecate standing before her.

“The worst part about winning was the idea that I wouldn’t see you again,” Hecate admitted when they’d settled in front of the fire.

“I felt the same way.” “You did?” “I did.”

A whole lot of firsts happen in rapid succession and a new plan is formed. Ada leaves her tavern and most of her belongings to her longest-serving employees: the Hubble family. With just those things she deems most precious, she leaves to join Hecate in the Wood. They live happily ever after, watching over the ever changing community of women who become the stuff of legend.

Send me a ship and at least 2 tropes and I’ll tell you how I would combine them into a story.

#ask meme answers #trope mashups #cassiopeiasara #hackle #so this is very clearly unedited #like you can tell by looking at it that things got a little out of hand #but i did write 1500+ words #which was a big deal given that i've been struggling hard the past few weeks to produce anything #but i honestly don't know

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littlej097 · 5 years

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For Those in My Heart - Chapter 13 “Gifts

Prompt: Regina realizes what gifts her children truly are

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12

Regina felt that she had been pretty blessed when it came to her children. She hadn’t given birth to any of them, but that didn’t make them any less hers. She had found a quote while scrolling through Facebook one day that always stuck with her. It read, “I didn’t give you the gift of life, but life gave me the gift of you.” Regina truly felt that in her heart. Each one of her children were gifts to her. Henry was the gift that she had wished and hoped for for years. Initially, she hadn’t known that a child was something that she desired, rather needed, in her life. However, as soon as the man at the adoption agency placed Henry in her arms, something changed inside of her. Following the enactment of her curse, Henry was the first and only person to love her for a long time. Everytime that Henry looked up at her with those big brown eyes of his, she simply melted. His toothy grin made her heart flutter and when he first uttered the word, “Mama,” Regina could barely breathe because the happiness that she felt was overwhelming. Henry was the one to make her believe in herself, to make her realize that she could have happiness. He had turned the Evil Queen back to who she really was… Regina. He was her ultimate gift, her little prince.

Roland was the gift that fell into her lap, a complete surprise that she never knew she wanted. After sending Henry to New York with Emma, Regina had felt lost. The only person that loved her was gone and Regina didn’t know what to do with herself. It had taken a little boy with brown curly hair, chocolate brown eyes and a heart of gold to help her realize that she still had a reason to live. He was sweet like Henry and so innocent, but Roland was also very different. When Henry was little, he had practically been afraid of his own shadow, but Roland wasn’t like that. Sure, the little boy had fears but he was also the bravest six year old that she had ever met. Roland came into her life when she was broken, when she felt as though at any moment she’d break into a million pieces and simply float away. Roland had kept her grounded during that time. He made her smile and laugh. Roland brought her so much joy during a time when she felt that joy was never a feeling she’d experience again. Above all, that little boy was never afraid to stand up for her. To Roland, she was never the Evil Queen. He didn’t care what she had done in the past. She was his ‘“Gina” and after a while she was his Mama, no matter what others said. He would always protect her. He would always be her little knight.

Addy was the gift that she hadn’t wanted. She hadn’t asked for her and for a while, she didn’t want the little girl in her life. At first, Regina wanted nothing more than to make the little girl disappear, to return her. When Regina looked at Addy, she was reminded of something that she would never be able to give Robin...a child of their own. Regina had never considered her infertility when she met Robin. She didn’t need too. They had their two perfect boys and that was what mattered. It had taken a little girl with Robin’s sandy blonde hair and her sister’s crystal blue eyes to make her realize how much she had given up all those years ago when she drank that potion. Pain was all that Regina saw when she looked at Addy for the longest time...that was until she let herself truly get to know the little stranger living in her house. From the first time Regina held the sweet girl in her arms, she had fallen in love with the baby girl and in that moment, she was just as much hers as Roland and Henry were. As Addy grew before her very eyes, Regina realized how different she was from either of the boys. Addy was independent. She didn’t want people to help her do things. She wanted to figure out how to do it on her. She conquered crawling and walking all on her own and on her own time. Addy also had quite the fiery temper. Regina believed it was in her genetics and that she had inherited it from Zelena. However, whenever, she said that all Robin could do was laugh and say, “Sure, honey, anything you say.” They both knew that Addy’s temper could be from Zelena but it could also be from Regina, a fact that the Queen herself would never admit to. Out of all her children, Addy reminded Regina the most of herself. Yes, she had her temper but she also had her heart. From the time she was a little girl, Regina had felt things with her whole heart and she felt them deeply. As she watched her daughter grow, Regina realized that her Addy was much like her. She had this perceptive ability to know when someone was hurting, especially when it was her mother. Holding Addy in her arms always seemed to be exactly what she needed to forget whatever was troubling her and make smile once more. She provided the same sense of comfort for the boys in her family whenever they needed it. When Addy was little, they had taken to calling her their little ladybug, mostly because of a toy that the little girl simply adored. However, after doing a little research, Regina had found that ladybugs symbolized good luck and fortune. That was what Addy had brought into their life. Regina had come to realize that she was the little blessing, the little bit of luck, that she had always desired in her life. No matter how big Addy grew, she would always be Regina’s little ladybug.

With each child that came into her life, Regina realized that she gained a little piece of herself back from the Evil Queen. Addy had given her back her heart. She had given her back the ability to open herself up to others, to love and be loved in return. Roland had given her back her courage. He had shown her that she didn’t need power to stand up for herself or others. He had shown her that true courage came from within. Henry had given her back her optimism, her belief in hope. In the darkest of times, Henry had been that light at the end of the tunnel for her. He had made her believe in herself and in the person that she could become. Together, they had created the mother that they knew. She was the mother who held them close when they were sad and dried their tears. She was the mother who cheered them on in all that they did. She was the mother who would love them, no matter what. They had been the ones to create her. They had chosen her to be there mother and Regina knew that she would never let her three little gifts down. She’d loved them until the end of time.

#once upon a time #outlawqueen #regina mills #robin hood #klainelover1997 #littlej097 #forthoseinmyheart

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dontshootmespence · 6 years

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Broken Homes Fix Broken Hearts

A/N: Let @veroinnumera and I in on your thoughts for our OTP! Fuel us!

Chapter 33

It was far too early in the morning, but Derek was already on edge. Tonight...he was doing this. He was going to ask the woman he loved to marry him. It was actually pretty nauseating. Pulling everyone else out of their morning fogs, Garcia walked into the room clapping excitedly. “Tonight’s the night!” She sing-songed. “Chocolate Thunder, do you have everything ready?”

“Yup. All good to go.”

Hotch’s rare smile emerged as she looked up. “How are you feeling?”

“I definitely want to hurl. I’m pretty positive she’s going to say yes though, so I don’t know why I’m freaking out.”

“Because you’re opening yourself up to rejection. That feeling of vulnerability really sucks,” Spencer said matter-of-factly, barely looking up from his still-steaming cup of coffee. Silence fell around him to the point where he looked up. “What? You weren’t looking for an answer, were you?”

“No, kid.”

Emily moved her hand back, tapping him on the shoulder. “You two are so disgustingly in love. The proposal you have planned is the most adorable thing you’ve ever done in your life. You’re going to be fine.”

-----

About halfway through the day, Derek gave up on even trying to pretend he was doing paperwork. His head was spinning and he needed to get it on straight before tonight. No way was he letting this be anything less than perfect. She deserved perfect.

There were only two people in the world he knew could help him. One was the woman he planned on proposing to that night, so he couldn’t call her. Instead he picked up the phone and dialed the other: his mama.

The phone rang a few times before her voice came through on the other end. “Hello?”

“Hey Mama, it’s Derek. I just...I needed you.” He smiled.

“Is everything alright? Are you hurt? Is Juliet hurt? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong, I promise. Well, there might be later if she doesn’t say yes. But that’s why I’m calling actually. I-uh-I’m going to propose tonight.”

A joyful peel of laughter cut off any further explanation. He could hear the tears in her voice. “Oh baby I’m so happy for you. She will. I know she will. She’s meant to be family and meant to be your wife.”

Wife. He liked that word. But he had to get to fiancee first. “I’m actually nervous, Mama. Why am I nervous?”

“Because you love her. It’s not so much believing that she’ll say no as putting pressure on yourself to make it the most amazing night of her life thus far,” Fran replied. “How are you doing it?”

For the next few minutes, he regaled her with the details of the proposal, confiding in her that while the basic idea had been his, it wouldn’t have happened without the help of Reid and Garcia. “Those are good ones, that team of yours.”

“Yea, they are,” he said, breathing deeply as he looked at his watch. He needed to get back to work. “I’m feeling better, Mama. Thank you.”

“Any time, my baby boy. As soon as she says yes, I need a phone call, okay?”

“Of course, wish me luck.”

“You won’t need it.”

-----

Her father’s ring was beginning to burn a hole in Juliet’s pocket. Not literally, that would be a fire hazard, especially in a library. But figuratively it was starting to make her anxious. What was the plan? Was there even a plan? Should there be a plan? Her brain was burning through thoughts left and right. She had no idea what she was doing or how any of this was supposed to work.

All those great romances in cinema always showed the proposals, but not how the fuck anyone ever figured out how to propose. Not helpful. She knew how that part worked, all loving words and happy crying. At least, that was if he said yes. He would say yes. Right?

Of course he would. Anxiety was not going to ruin this for her. She was in love and going to spend the rest of her life with the person that made her feel happier than Juliet had ever thought possible. Derek Morgan would say yes, because he loved her the same way she loved him: with everything they had.

Approaching the door to the home they shared, Juliet noticed something that wasn’t there before. It looked like...paper? She strode up and took it off the door, unfolding it and smiling to herself.

This box is mostly filled with things

That never bring you glee.

Like bills, and junk and other things,

You’d rather never see.

A scavenger hunt.

Today was their one-year anniversary and he’d planned a scavenger hunt. He was truly the most amazing man ever. “Okay, so this obviously means the mailbox,” she muttered to herself. An enormous smile spread across her face as she ran like a kid to a tree on Christmas morning toward the mailbox, opening it to see her favorite lavender candles inside - along with another piece of paper. She read the next clue out loud.

Romance, mystery, fantasy Dive deep inside to look Find the place where you and I lose all our time Getting lost inside our books

Juliet frowned to herself, rereading the paper a few times. There were bookshelves in the living room but they didn’t read there usually. Most of the time they read upstairs, in the bedroom. The bedroom? It was worth a shot.

She headed back to the front door and inside, going up the stairs rather than look around for Derek. He might not even be home yet, he hadn’t texted. Hopefully she wasn’t ruining a surprise. Oops?

Juliet pushed the bedroom door open, ready to start tearing the room apart, only to find a bouquet of gorgeous yellow tulips. She paused for a moment, smiling. If Derek was there she would’ve been hugging him so tight. They were her favorites, and he hadn’t even had to ask to check.

Picking them up, she noticed another little paper taped to the bouquet. She could do this all day. The smile on her face felt like it was plastered there.

Up and down, and up and down you climb these everyday. You've likely seen the clue on these, but passed it anyway.

“What?”

Turning around, she stared out of the room and down the hallway. “I climb the stairs. But I passed the stairs. There wasn’t anything-”

She stopped herself mid-sentence when she a box on the floor with a paper attached. Before she read the next clue, she glanced into the box, assuming she’d find a pair of heels, but of course, Derek knew her too well. High heels weren’t her thing - with a few minor exceptions. Instead, she found a pair of white strappy gladiator sandals. They didn’t go too high on the leg either which was something that always bugged her. Only Amazonian tall women could pull off big-ass gladiator shoes. And women with insanely long legs. She almost forgot about the paper until it crinkled in her hand. “What’s next?” She asked softly.

It seems our clothes just keep returning

to this same machine.

At least they're better than the things

the ancients used to clean.

Laundry room. Juliet grinned, it had to be. After strapping on the shoes, she went the rest of the way down the stairs and headed for the laundry room. She blushed looking over the machines and recalling a few adventures. Later. There would be time for fun later, right now she needed to find the next clue.

After rifling through the shelves, Juliet finally opened the dryer to find another box, larger this time. She peeled back white tissue paper to reveal a simple robin egg blue dress, pulling it out she found an intricately detailed open back. Subtle, but beautiful. She’d always called her style casual and comfy, which it was at times, but Derek knew better than that, which was becoming clear right this very moment.

Luckily, the dress wasn’t too fussy so she was able to get it on without help, though she had grown quite fond of Derek lending a hand and zipping her up. Sometimes though that meant they didn’t get out of the house on time because he’d decide it looked much better off than on.

A bittersweet “aww” reverberated through the room as she realized she was toward the end of her scavenger hunt.

For your final item to begin our anniversary date:

When you're feeling less than fresh there's just one place to go To wash and get all squeaky clean and scrub between each toe.

“Bathroom!” She squealed happily. When she ran in, she caught a glimpse of the dress. She looked radiant in it. Maybe it was the dress, maybe it was the fact that she was insanely happy right now. It didn’t matter. She wasn’t about to question this feeling. Quickly, she looked around and her eyes caught a basket of bath products - lavender again. There was a bath bomb, shampoo, conditioner, soap, lotion for when she got out, even a purple towel.

Taking out her phone, she texted Derek. “Are you home, you sneak? I’ve found all your clues.”

She didn’t get a reply, but less than a minute later, Derek peeked his head around the door frame, flashing her a cheesy smile. “You found everything?”

“Yes!” She cried out, jumping into his embrace. “That was so much fun.”

“I have so much more planned,” he winked.

Juliet did a little happy dance as he put her down. “Oh, do tell.”

“Well, I have dinner starting downstairs. It’s a surprise what we’re having. These bath things are for you. Take a bath while I finish cooking. I’m even going to put the towel in the dryer and heat it up for when you get out. Then put on the outfit and I’m going to take the flowers and some of the candles downstairs. I figured you could use one in here.” The unrestrained joy on his face told her he was proud of himself. He should be. This was perfect. She’d remember this forever.

She leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed him, lingering there to capture this perfect moment. “Mood lighting. I like it. Okay, my sexy Casanova. I’ll take a bath and I’ll be down in a bit.”

-----

Half an hour later Juliet was slipping back into the dress and shoes and heading downstairs. She was trying to be quiet, but the house was old and the stair creaked, betraying her. Derek played along though, ignoring her until her hands were over his eyes. “Guess who.” She murmured happily, pressing a kiss to his neck.

“Hmmm, I’m terrible at guessing. Give me another hint.” Derek insisted, grinning.

She rolled her eyes, removing her hands and kissing him lightly. “Oh, it’s the woman I’m hopelessly and irrevocably in love with.”

“Hi.” Juliet whispered, unable to help the smile that spread onto her lips. She felt giddy; he made her feel so excited and content.

When they’d visited his family, his mama had cooked some fettuccine alfredo that Juliet had fallen in love with, so after hanging up with her earlier, he texted in desperation for the recipe. Up until then, he honestly had no idea what he was going to cook, just that he was planning to cook. Juliet took a piece of pasta from the bowl, slurping it up and leaving a drop of alfredo sauce on her nose. “I kind of want to do the lady and the tramp thing with the pasta.”

For her, he’d do it. His heart started beating frantically. She looked so stunning. Her smile carefree, her eyes awash with candlelight. Dinner smelled amazing, and in the background of his sense, he could smell the tulips he’d picked up for her. “You look beautiful, Juliet,” he said seriously.

“Thank you, love.” She blushed, looking down at her plate. “You don’t look too bad yourself.”

It was now or never. He couldn’t wait until after dinner. He’d throw it up in the process and that was not how he wanted her to remember this proposal. “You know I love you more than anything else in the world, right?” He asked, his voice wavering slightly.

“Of course, I do.”

“When we met, I figured this was a favor I was doing for my cousin. I never expected to meet the love of my life. And I definitely didn’t expect for said woman to assume I was a stripper on first meeting,” he laughed.

Juliet covered her face with her hands, remembering the epitome of foot in mouth that had happened the year before. “To be fair. You would be an amazing stripper.”

Derek chuckled. Even in a moment like this she could make him laugh. This was definitely the woman he was meant to spend the rest of his life with, if she’d have him. “We’ll have to revisit that later. But for right now, I have something else I’d like to do, if that’s alright.”

“Derek?” She asked softly, breath catching in her throat. He was going to say another perfect thing if she let him keep talking. But she couldn’t. This was it, this was the right moment. Slowly Juliet started to reach into her pocket.

“Juliet. Could you look at me for a second?” He murmured. She froze, looking up. He was shaking. She gripped the ring tight. “Is everything okay?”

He nodded but didn’t speak, slowly getting up out of his chair and reaching into his back pocket.

No.

As if it was happening in slow motion, Derek knelt down on the floor, reaching into his pocket where he held a velvet pouch. He dropped it into his hand.

This wasn’t happening.

Yes, it was. “Oh my god,” she whispered, hands covering her mouth as the tears sprang to her eyes. “Derek?”

“Juliet Hunter-Lewis,” he started, grasping her hand, “No one on earth has ever made me feel like you do. I see everything when I look at you. The wedding, the marriage, the family, the growing old together. I’ve never been able to imagine that with anyone, but with you it’s just so natural. If you do me the honor of being my wife, I will spend every day of the rest of our lives making you feel about me the way I feel about you...Will you marry me?”

Tears starting to blur her vision, Juliet found her way out of her chair and knelt down on the floor in front of him, trembling as she pulled her father’s ring out of her pocket. “Only if you say yes too.” She laughed through the tears, smiling at the love of her life.

Derek found himself laughing too as he nodded. “Yes. Yes. A million times yes. Or whatever the biggest number Reid knows is. That’s how many yeses.”

“Then yes!” Juliet exclaimed, holding out her right hand and trying in vain to keep it from shaking. They both knelt there on the ground laughing and crying as Derek slid the ring onto her finger and then she did the same. “This is so beautiful.”

“It’s my mama’s. She gave it to me when we visited.”

That was months ago. “You didn’t ask her for it?”

“No,” he replied. “She just knew. Mother’s intuition, I guess.”

She was going to have to give Fran the longest hug in the entire world next time she saw her. “It’s amazing. She’s amazing. You’re amazing.” Leaning in, she grabbed his face in her hands and pressed a kiss to his lips. “I love you so much.”

Cradling the back of her head, he pulled her closer, their sweet and chaste kisses turning breathless in the blink of an eye.

“Dinner’s probably getting cold,” she laughed.

He didn’t care. “We do have a microwave.”

Something told her dinner was going to have to wait.

@virgoswlw @crimeshowtrash @literallyprentissstwin @jazz91121 @tommyhollandd @spencer-puppies-and-stuff @fl0werb0nes18 @stunudo @spencerthepipecleaner @theofficeofsupremegenius @ultrarebelheart @lookwhatyoumademequeue @lukeassmanalvez @mentallydatingspencerreid @nobravery @criminal-anatomy @matthew-gray-reidler @remember-me-forever-silent-angel @original-criminal-fanfics @lovelukealvez @stories-you-wont-hear @speedreiding @marvelfanlife @butsomeofusarelookingatthestars @wonderboygenius @naturallytom @imagines-for-criminal-minds @acespence @sweater-vest-reid @criminalmindskeepsmealive @spenncerreiid @sam-carter-in-training @parker-hopper @spencerwreid @ssahotchner @profiler-in-training @were-skye @trollitis @heyboywonder @ficrecswithcassie @janiedreams88@gingeraleandcontemplation @cynbx @fortheloveofspencerreid @tippy06 @cleocc @bestillmystuckyheart @ssaunitchief @xxm3xxj @xocriminal-minds-imaginesxo

#derek morgan #derek morgan x oc #derek morgan x juliet hunter lewis #derek morgan fanfiction #derek morgan fanfic #dontshootmespence #veroinnumera #broken homes fix broken hearts

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prissyhalliwell · 6 years

Note

WTTEF prompt - Could something with the set malfunction so Gold has to catch Belle a la Skin Deep?

Summary: Mr. Gold has been working for the dinner theatre company “The Enchanted Forest” for years, performing the same old shows to the same old crowds every weekend. Nothing has ever changed, until the day Belle French joins the cast to play its princess.

~ Winner of Best Mr. Gold in the 2016 TEA Awards ~

Chapter One I Chapter Two I Chapter Three I Chapter Four I Chapter Five I Chapter Six I Read on AO3

Author’s Note: This chapter is dedicated to @tinuviel-undomiel for unknowingly inspiring part of this chapter.

Chapter Seven

Gold gazed proudly up at the raised platform where Belle stood, performing her scene flawlessly. The past week of performances had passed by uneventfully, and she had finally had a chance to settle into her role, becoming more comfortable each night.

He didn’t have another scene until the second act, but he couldn’t resist taking the opportunity to watch from offstage. From where he stood just behind the curtain, he had a perfect view of Belle without being visible to the crowd.

The scene was one of the more exposition-heavy parts of the show. The princess and the king were discussing the information that Gold’s character had given them about the neighboring kingdoms. Unfortunately for them, the Chancellor had lied about pretty much everything. Later in the show, that would become obvious to everyone when he led a war party into the kingdom and was defeated by one of the king’s loyal knights, an honor which fell to a different knight each show.

Leopold cleared his throat, a habit August had been trying to rid him of for five years. The older man liked to make sure people knew when he was making a kingly statement.

“Do not fret, my child,” he said to Belle, as she stood at the edge of the platform, looking down on the make-believe kingdom. “Our troubles are long past us. Now is a time of peace.”

A murmured shout came from the audience, followed by a bunch of laughter and some more shouting. Gold watched in dismay as Belle’s head turned towards the commotion, momentarily distracted from her scene, and unconsciously took a step towards the edge.

His dismay turned to panic as Belle’s heel slipped and she wobbled precariously on the platform. She tried to regain her balance, reaching out a hand for the railing, but it was too late. With a scream, Belle fell from the platform.

The entire audience gasped as she landed directly in Gold’s waiting arms.

He grunted as he caught her full weight, staggering a bit from the impact but managing to keep them both upright. He stared down at her blankly, unclear when he had made the decision to rush out and catch her. He couldn’t even remember running onstage. Yet here she was, warm and uninjured in his arms.

Belle looked at him with wide, startled eyes. He shifted her in his arms, unsure of what to do next. He was hyper aware of two things. First, that he was holding Belle French in his arms and second, that he now had the undivided attention of the entire audience.

A loud whistle came from the stands followed by laughter. That was enough to push Gold into action.

“You really should be more careful, princess. Danger lurks everywhere.”

He set her down gently on her feet, making sure that she was indeed unhurt. She looked fine, but he had no qualms about stopping the show if that’s what she needed.

Belle still looked a bit shaken, and Gold wondered if perhaps they should stop, when she finally spoke.

“Thank goodness I can always count on your assistance, my friend.” Belle’s eyes began to sparkle again, and Gold sighed quietly with relief. “Our kingdom is blessed to have you.”

He smirked at her words. Not only was Belle improvising, but she was playing into the princess’s ignorance of the Chancellor’s true motives and character. Perhaps Tiana was right and they should work on some more improv.

But that was a thought for another time. He wasn’t actually in this scene and needed to get offstage as quickly as possible. As much as he liked the idea of whisking Belle offstage to make sure she hadn’t hurt herself, he had a feeling she wouldn’t allow that, even if she wasn’t completely fine.

“I live to serve, your majesty,” he said, his voice taking on a slightly mocking tone. He bowed deeply as he slowly backed offstage. The last thing he saw was Belle’s mouth twitch as she tried to keep a straight face.

It wasn’t until he was safely backstage and out of sight that he was able to relax, breathing in and out several times. He waved off everyone who approached him, needing a moment to himself to recover.

The second Belle walked backstage he pounced on her, his eyes frantically scanning her for anything amiss.

“Are you alright?” he asked. “Should we call a doctor? I have my cell phone right here.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and held it up.

Belle stared at the flip phone dumbly, as if she wasn’t sure what she was seeing. It made Gold nervous. Was it possible she had injured her head somehow?

She blinked as if coming out of a daze and shook her head. “No, I’m fine.”

His disbelief must have shown on his face, because she reached out and squeezed his arm reassuringly.

“Really, I’m fine! My guardian angel was clearly waiting in the wings to save me from breaking a leg. Literally.”

Belle chuckled at her own joke but it did nothing to reassure Gold. A bead of sweat began to trail down his face. He had no good excuse for why he had been nearby. If Belle asked him why he was there, what was he going to say? He suddenly had a mad impulse to run back onstage.

“I seem to be racking up quite a bit of debt with you recently.” She took a step forward, biting her lip. “I probably owe you a drink or two after this latest rescue.”

Alcohol was the last thing Gold needed right now. He cringed at how easy it would be to let something slip about his feelings for Belle over a drink or two. There was no way he was going anywhere near a beer if Belle was nearby.

“That’s not necessary,” he said cheerfully, despite the turning of his stomach. “I was just doing my job.”

His job hardly required him to catch beautiful young women before they plunged to their death, but that was beside the point. Besides, he was sure Belle had better things to do with her free evenings than drink with an old man like him.

“Oh.” Belle’s smile faltered a bit. “Alright then.”

Gold wondered if he had offended her, but before he could think on it for too long, Belle shrugged and pointed further backstage.

“I should probably go touch up my makeup,” she said with a self-conscious laugh. “I think most of it fell off my face when I fell off the platform.”

Gold nodded eagerly at her words and stepped out of her way. “Good idea. We wouldn’t want you to go out there without your face on.” He frowned as he realized how that might sound. “Not that you need makeup. You look…just fine…without it.”

“Thanks,” Belle said, her confusion clear on her face as she turned and walked past him towards the dressing rooms. Gold decided it was best to let her go. If he tried to explain further, he’d just dig himself into a deeper hole. It was better that Belle think him an inarticulate fool than an old pervert.

He sighed. He’d been doing so well recently that he’d thought he’d finally overcome his tendency to butcher the English language around Belle.

Perhaps Cruella was right about it being a disease. At least then there was hope for a cure.

Belle felt like a complete idiot as she stood in the lobby greeting fans. Despite the happy faces around her, she couldn’t stop thinking about her failed attempt to ask Gold out earlier that evening.

She’d completely misread the situation, mistaking his blushing and nervousness around her for romantic interest. She still couldn’t believe she’d been so stupid. Of course, the man was flushed and rattled; he’d just saved her from a broken neck or worse!

The moment when he had caught her and held her tight to his chest had seemed to last a lifetime instead of just a few seconds. Belle had been so sure that something had passed between them as they’d gazed at each other. But it appeared that once again, her hopes were blinding her to reality.

Unfortunately, it didn’t matter what her brain was telling her. Just the memory of being cradled in his arms was enough to make her heart race and her face flush. Once again she was finding it hard to focus on her current task as thoughts of Gold flooded her mind.

Thankfully there weren’t too many more fans in line to greet. Having done this several times now, Belle was able to smile and pose while her mind played through the events of the night on repeat.

As she looked up to greet the next person in line, Belle bit back a smile at the sight before her. A dark haired woman was towing her young son along determinedly by the hand, as the boy purposely studied the carpet beneath them.

“Hello, I’m Marian and this is my son, Roland.” The woman gave Belle an apologetic smile before looking pointedly at the boy. “He has something he wants to say to you.” When her son remained silent, she asked more firmly. “Isn’t that right, Roland?”

Roland shrugged, looking down at the carpet again. “I wanted to say sorry for causing a co-commo-commotion,” he stuttered, his expression growing slightly proud as he finished the word. “I just really like the bad guy.”

Belle looked to Marian for an explanation. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

Marian looked slightly embarrassed. “We’re usually seated in the Green Knight’s section when we visit so we can cheer on his father, Robin. But tonight, we were put in the Black Knight’s section. When Roland found out we’d be cheering for Gold, he got a bit excited.” Marian blushed slightly. “When Leopold said his line about it being a time of piece, Roland jumped up from his seat and shouted – ”

“I said, ‘No peace! War! War!’” Roland interrupted, grinning widely.

“It appears we have yet another thespian in the family,” Marian grumbled good naturedly. “Anyway, we just wanted to apologize for startling you on stage. We’re so glad you’re not hurt.”

“Yeah, I’m really sorry.” Roland said sheepishly. “I guess I got carried away.”

Belle crouched down until she was eye level with the boy. “It’s quite alright. But I appreciate you letting me know.”

Roland gave her a huge smile. “You’re an even nicer princess than Mama Regina!”

Out of the corner of her eye, Belle saw Marian cover a laugh by clearing her throat. She gave her son’s hand a squeeze. “Honey, why don’t you run back to Mama Guin and let her know I’ll be there in a minute? I want to talk to Belle.”

With a wave at Belle, Roland dashed off to the other side of the room where another woman was waiting for him. Belle watched him go fondly. She’d known Regina and Robin had split custody of his son, but she hadn’t known that he was so adorable.

“I don’t want to take up too much of your time,” Marian said, gesturing to the line behind her. “ I just wanted to say how happy I am about you and Gold.”

Belle’s full attention snapped back to Marian. “I’m sorry - what?”

“Regina mentioned something the other day, but I didn’t know whether to believe it or not until I saw the show. You know how Regina can be sometimes.” Marian continued, oblivious to Belle’s confusion. “But Guinevere and I both noticed it the moment you two were on stage together.” Her smile wavered as she saw the look on Belle’s face. “Oh, I’m sorry! Are you keeping it a secret for now?”

“Um, I don’t – “ Belle stumbled to find the right words. “There’s no secret – ”

Marian looked relieved. “Thank goodness! Guinevere is always saying I don’t pick up on subtleties very well. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you how happy I am for you both. Gold’s always been so supportive of our family, even during the divorce when he was having his own relationship troubles. I’m just so glad he finally found someone who looks at him the way you do.”

Belle opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. First the high school students and now Marian had been able to read her feelings from across the auditorium. If she was completely incapable of hiding her silly crush from the audience, maybe she wasn’t cut out to be an actress, after all.

Roland ran back up to them breathlessly. “Mama Guin told me to come get you before you talked Belle’s ear off.” He smiled cheekily, clearly aware he wasn’t supposed to repeat the second part of his stepmother’s statement.

His mother chuckled. “Duty calls. Have a good night, Belle.”

Belle nodded faintly as they walked away. “I’ll try.”

She stared at the remaining folks in line and inwardly sighed, hoping there wouldn’t be any more surprises that night. At this rate, she was going to need to buy herself a drink.

#rumbelle #rumbelle fic #Welcome to the Enchanted Forest #WTTEF

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kisathemistress · 7 years

Text

Some South Park Headcanons I have

(Because I’m falling for the series again!)

The four main characters:

Kyle Broflovski:

His personality makes it almost impossible for him to let things go, if it means making someone (other than Cartman) upset or sad. He just want as many people as possible to be happy around him, because if they aren’t he feels like he has failed them.

This comes from his strict upbringing his parents gave him and from studying/knowing everything (including religious various beliefs) thus he lives his life by the golden rule: “Do not do unto others, that you do not want done to you.”

He believes highly in karma as well, especially the Wiccan belief of karma. Where if you do something kind you will be rewarded with 3 times the kindness, but if you do something hurtful you will be punished with 3 times the misfortune.

Despite being Jewish and claiming his pride with the religion, Kyle doesn’t follow any of the practices most Jewish people do. He willingly eats pork and sometimes attends/helps the local Roman Catholic church (but this could be do to the town only having one church and most of his friends go there.)

Unlike Scott, Kyle’s diabetes isn’t as serious and he can get away with eating something with extra sugars in it without going into diabetic shock. Though he does carry emergency insulin just incase.

Kyle is aromantic and bisexual. He doesn’t know how to react to intimacy or pick up clues that someone likes him “in that way”, he just assumes all positive contact with him is platonic in nature. He has to be directly told that someone is in love with him for him to understand why they are being overly nice to him.

Since he is only an 9/10 year old, he isn’t aware full of his own sexuality, thus acts the way he thinks a “normal boy” should behave. Despite constantly giving away that he isn’t “normal” by his own definition.

Also he still has his pet Elephant, but it has been moved to a Zoo for a breeding program. He goes to visit it him occasionally and is a junior Zookeeper at the park. He’s going to be officially hired to work there part-time once he’s in high school.

Stan Marsh:

He still does drink, but not to the extent that his father does nor does he get blackout drunk anymore. He’s cut back a lot thanks to going to AA, but is struggling with the 12 step program do to his father leaving alcohol in his reach, and offering him alcohol. He’s also the kid that pulls drinks for his friends and for parties, as both his father and uncle Jimbo will buy it for him if he asks.

Stan tries his best to be vegetarian but has no problem with eating meat as long as he doesn’t witness the slaughter and preparation of the animal. (Including fish.) Blood makes him squeamish, and he becomes overly emotional when he sees an animal in distress.

Even though Stan is straight, when he’s drunk he’ll sleep with anybody. Drunk Stan also believes Kyle is his boyfriend and will run to him for comfort. This normally confuses Kyle, especially when Stan rejects everything when he is sober. It part of the reason Wendy decided that she is genderfluid and created Wendyl, thinking it will keep Stan from “wandering” away from her.

Stan is very proud of his gay dog Sparky. He willingly takes him to gay pride parades and events, and voices his support for his dog.

He still owns that poodle he bought, which he found out was a toy poodle.

If his parents didn’t limit Stan to only 2 dogs, he would have a pack of at least 6, that he’d have follow him everywhere. He instantly can become friends with any dog he meets and feels heartbroken when he can’t take them home.

Stan knows different wolf howls and behaviors, he can almost instantly tell you what a wolf or a dog is trying to tell you. If he ever gets lost in the forest around town. he knows how to find the local wolf/coyote pack to keep himself company.

Out of all the boys, Stan would be the first to go feral if they were abandoned by their parents/society.

Kenny McCormick:

Is literally an Elder God, but only is aware of his immortality. He can’t remember what other powers he has or how to activate them. His real father is Cthulhu, and he hates him.

Kenny cares very deeply for his little sister Karen and older brother Kevin. When he has extra money, he will always buy them something nice. Like a new doll for Karen or powdered doughnuts from the convenience store to share with Kevin, because it’s their favorite treat.

Even though he will do nearly anything for money, he draws the line at eating Hot Rods. (Unless of course eating them would bring his family out of poverty or something...)

Kenny is genderfluid and pansexual. Mostly because he doesn’t care who he sleeps with, especially if their is money involved. Also wearing girl clothing occasionally was at first so he could had it down to Karen, but now he’d proudly admits he does like the look and feel of women’s clothing on him.

He has had pet rats, a pet possum, and raccoon. Currently he’s raising a baby flying squirrel he found abandoned in his yard, and nursing a robin who has a broken wing.

He wants to be a veterinarian when he grows up.

Eric Cartman:

Never thinks things through, and always pays for his schemes one way or another.

Still has a horde of stuffies he keeps in his room and sleeps with. Even having tea parties with them, when his “friends” don’t want to play.

Is an asshole towards Kyle, because he has unrequited feelings for him, but doesn’t want Kyle to know. Most of his plans fall through, because he really doesn’t want to hurt or push Kyle away.

Knows that he should watch his weight and eat better, but subconsciously wants to get diabetes from his obesity so he can be just like Kyle and Scott. He hates that they get special attention to their medical problems at school and thus don’t have to participate in certain exercises in gym.

Cartman is sex repulsed, but is secretly gay. He can’t stand the thought of actually having sex with anyone and believes all intimate contact is rape.

He once broke up Craig and Tweek when he spotted them kissing at Stark’s Pond, then went on a rant of how Craig was taking advantage of his boyfriend, scaring Tweek into thinking he got all of the STDs.

Kyle has force Cartman to clean up “Zaron” all by himself before, after Cartman broke too many rules they came up with after the Stick of Truth was thrown in Stark’s Pond. Although, Cartman made Butters do it for him instead, when Kyle went home.

Four other boys:

Tweek Tweak:

Wasn’t aware his parent’s put meth and other drugs in his coffee to test the blends into being their customers addicted, until Craig discovered what Mr. Tweak was doing. Though Tweek is too scared to report his parents, Craig has used it as a threat to get Tweek expensive things, like videogames and new brand named clothes.

Tweek is a wonderful cook and baker. He wants to change the Tweak Bros. Coffee, into a restaurant kind of like Tim Hortons, where they serve both coffee and homemade food. Though he is too scared to ask his father to put in a proper kitchen in the back of the store, for him to use. Instead he has convinced his mother to sell his famous cupcakes, he bakes at home.

Even without the coffee and drugs, Tweek would still have his twitching tick. It only acts up when he is stressed out. When he is calm, it’s barely noticeable.

Before he bought Stripe #4 for Craig, he was terrified of rodents, after he fell in love with Guinea Pigs and occasionally will discuss proper rodent care with Kenny.

Though now he fears that Craig might eat Stripe one day, do to Guinea Pigs being a delicacy in Peru and not knowing what happened to the other three Guinea Pigs Craig has had before Stripe #4. That’s why Stripe is kept over at his house on weekends and not a Craig’s 24/7.

Tweek has a parrot named “Coffee Crisp”, because it’s his favorite snack and the first words the parrot learned. His parent’s bought Tweek Coffee Crisp, to help keep his paranoia in check.

Coffee Crisp will repeat goverment conspiracy theories do to that fact Tweek listens to them on the radio in his room at night. Coffee Crisp also knows the name of over 150 different types of coffee related products.

Craig gave Tweek a hand knitted Chullo and shall that matched his own, but in green, for his birthday. Tweek is afraid he will ruin them if he wears them, so he only wore the outfit for a day before permanently hanging it up in his closet.

Tweek was questioning his sexuality, but has always been gay. He was just too paranoid about other things to focus long enough to realize this.

Craig Tucker:

Although he behaves like he doesn’t give a shit about anyone or anything, he cares deeply on the inside for his friends. He believes showing emotion is weakness and prefers to internalize everything.

He has broken down in front of only two people ever in his life. The first being Clyde after Strip #2 had died, and the second being Tweek.

Craig is aware he is adopted and his native homeland is in Peru. He’s half white and half Peruvian native, and was sent to the US for adoption after people started trying to worship him as the Guinea God.

He’s also aware that he is a god and has god-like abilities. He just doesn’t like to use them and prefers to live a “normal” mortal life. He is aware of Kenny being an Elder God and his immortality. He’s willing to teach Kenny how to be responsible with his powers if he ever find out how to use them.

Craig has eaten Cavy and knows how to make traditional Peruvian dishes that use it, do to being a deity in his homeland. He likes it on occasion, but would never eat a Guinea Pig that he intends to keep as a pet and has buried his previous Guinea Pigs in the back garden of his home. He even had little funerals for them where his friends attended.

Craig likes to knit and will spend hours in his room listening to music and knitting. He hides this from his dad, because it’s not a “manly” hobby. Though every christmas he gives his family handmade sweaters, scarves, mittens, and socks, as gifts.

He doesn’t like coffee like Tweek, but his favorite drink is French Vanilla Cappuccinos. Which he has with whipped cream added, do to his sweet tooth.

Craig can’t dance, but tries to at parties and has fun regardless at his failed attempts. It makes Tweek laugh anyway.

Finally like Tweek’s twitching, flipping people off is a tick Craig had developed. Do to internalizing all of his thoughts and feelings, he automatically flips the bird when he feels upset or angry over someone or thing.

Clyde Donovan

Is just as pervy as Kenny, but is straight.

He has problems with over expressing his emotions and is always crying about something. He uses Craig as his emotional support constantly, and sometimes will sit eating ice cream and watching romance movies alone.

He is embarrassed by his colostomy bag and only his friends (and Mr. Macky) know about it. He has one do to surviving rectal cancer when he was five.

He wants to own his own mexican themed restaurant when he is older or a Taco Bell. He was very disappointed when the government canceled building a giant Taco Bell during the events of the Stick of Truth.

His favorite Raisins girl is Lexus and always request her to be his host when he eats there. He wants to ask her out, but is too scared she will reject him.

When the kids play “The Kingdom of Zaron” now, Clyde remains as a separate third faction and the main “antagonist” of the game, when the humans and elves aren’t fighting each other. He rules over all the kids that want to be “monsters” or non-human or non-elf. Humans and elves can join his side if they proved to be “evil” enough.

Clyde has worn women's clothing for fun before. He likes flowy skirts and dresses. He wants to go to prom one day in a dress and maybe convince his future wife to let him wear the bride’s gown to their wedding.

Whenever he hears that Tweek is having a “backing meltdown” he gets excited, since Tweek makes too much and usually shares by giving him three boxes of baking. He hides this from his dad who want him to be careful of his weight.

Token Black:

Likes to buy expensive things for Nicole and his friends. He has no idea the value of money and genuinely gets confused when his friend say they or their parents can’t afford something.

Kenny McCormick creeps him out, and he thinks his family just chooses to live in a garbage dump. Though he does get along with Karen McCormick and had bought her lunch a few times, since he thinks it’s cruel for her parents to not give her money or food for school.

He is the second person Clyde will run to when he is upset, though unlike Craig, he dosen’t really know how to react or comfort Clyde. He normally just stands there with Clyde crying in his shoulder, awkwardly patting his back saying “there, there...” until Clyde feels better.

Contrary to belief (and Cartman) Token doesn’t like listening to Beyonce or hip hop type music. He actually likes listening to old folk music and polkas.

Weird Al Yankovic is his favorite entertainer and “Just Eat it” is his favorite song by him.

Token sometimes says racist things against his white friends by accident. After which he profusely apologizes if he catches himself or someone calls him out on it.

He rather play chess than play football or basketball.

#south park #Headcanon #kyle broflovski #stan marsh #kenny mccormick #eric cartman #tweek tweak #craig tucker #clyde donovan #token black #kisa talks #I have more #this just too way to long to type out

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whimsicallyenchantedrose · 7 years

Text

Under the Apple Tree--Chapter 9

Ship: Outlaw Queen

Rating: T

Synopsis: After being hit by the Olympian Crystal, Robin was transported to Seattle, unable to return to Storybrooke or any magical. When it was clear he had no way to return to his family, Robin finally decided to bury his broken heart in work–founding a landscaping business, Sherwood Forestry. Fifteen years later, Robin receives an order from the last person he ever thought he’d see again, making him realize that hope never truly dies.

Previous: Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Chapter 7 Chapter 8

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Robin trudged dejectedly up the stairs and down the hall to his apartment. He unlocked his door, flipped on a light and then headed straight for his whiskey bottle.

He’d failed. He’d more than failed. He’d cocked the entire operation up royally.

Not only had Regina not remembered this evening, he’d scared her off and it was anyone’s guess if she’d ever so much as agree to speak to him again.

Robin took a quick swig from his glass, feeling the tears sting the back of his throat. He loved her so bloody much he could almost feel it as an ache in his chest. They’d been separated for so many years and he’d finally, finally found her again and within a matter of days he’d driven her away.

He could have sworn she was starting to believe, that her memories were starting to poke through. When she’d asked him about the book, he should have been noncommittal, made some vague reference to the universal truth found within stories or some such nonsense, but it was as though he couldn’t help himself. In that moment it had simply become too much. He could no longer play the role of the landscaper who was a virtual stranger. He had to let her see the truth, let her see his heart.

But he’d miscalculated, and now he’d harmed not only his own heart, but his chance to get back to Roland and the little daughter he’d not even had a chance to name. He’d destroyed Henry’s chance to find and save his true love. He’d destroyed the hopes of all those slumbering in Storybrooke.

It had all been riding on him and he’d failed.

Robin cursed, setting down his glass and putting his head in his hands. He could only hope Henry and Lucy had more success breaking through Killian’s curse.

The doorbell rang and Robin cursed again, knowing it couldn’t be anyone but Regina’s son and his daughter. Well there was nothing for it. The story must be told eventually. Now was as good a time as any.

“So, how was the big date?” Henry asked as soon as the two of them crossed the threshold. “Is romance in the air?”

Robin stalled, asking if they’d like something to drink, taking as long as he could get by with to fetch them bottles of water from his refrigerator.

When he finally joined Henry and Lucy in the living room, he sat heavily on his couch and sighed, fixing his eyes on the coffee table in front of him rather than on his guests.

“It didn’t go well, did it, Grandpa Robin?” Lucy asked softly.

Robin shook his head, took one more fortifying sip of his whiskey and then looked the little girl in the face. “I’m afraid not, young one. I rather spectacularly failed. Not only did I not share True Love’s Kiss with Regina…I fear I’ve driven her away from me altogether.”

Henry leaned forward, resting his forearms on his legs. “I’m sure it wasn’t as bad as all that. Tell us what happened.”

And so he had. In short, choppy sentences Robin recounted the events of the evening.

“I was so sure she’d begun to believe,” he said finally, “so convinced her questions meant something, that I threw caution to the wind, and she all but bodily threw me from her home.”

When Robin looked up once more at the end of his tragic tale, he caught Henry and Lucy sharing a look and then turning identical smiles in his direction.

“Are you quite certain you heard what I just said?” Robin asked. “Your reaction seems curious.”

“Don’t you see, grandpa?” Lucy said. “Grandma Regina is scared.”

“Yes, I dare say she is,” Robin said, his brow furrowed, “but why does that make you smile?”

“Because it’s proof that what you said struck a chord,” Henry answered. “She’s starting to remember, and it all seems so unbelievable that she thinks she’s going crazy. You telling her the truth…well it only made that worse. She’s starting to remember, so we’re in a far better position than you think.”

“But she turned me away, lad,” Robin said.

“And do you know how many times my mom Emma ran away?” Henry asked. “More than I can count. But with every moment that seemed too much for her, she came closer to believing, and eventually she accepted all of it—home, family, true love. Everything. Operation Cupid may have suffered a setback tonight, but it wasn’t destroyed. Not by a long shot.”

Robin felt his optimism returning in spite of himself. The truest believer and his equally believing daughter were a balm to his troubled spirit.

“You just need to give her time, grandpa,” Lucy said, coming to sit beside him and taking his hand. “She needs to get used to the idea and then she’ll come to you. True love never fades. Sooner or later she’ll realize that even if it sounds crazy, she wants to believe you and be with you.”

“Sooner or later,” Robin said with a grimace. “But there are so very many people in need of our help—your mother for one, Lucy, my son and daughter for another—that waiting, doing nothing is an agony.”

“We can only do what we can do,” Henry said, the worry covering his face for a moment at the mention of his wife. You’ve done the best you can, and now we have to wait.”

Robin nodded. “And how did the two of you fare this evening? Did you make any headway in bringing back Hook’s memories?”

Lucy shook her head with a slight frown. “None at all. Grandpa Killian didn’t want to listen. He didn’t want to talk about Grandma Emma.”

“Said it was still too painful to talk about,” Henry said, “and when we told him mom’s still alive, just in a sleeping curse, he got angry. Told us he didn’t know what cruel game we were playing but he wouldn’t be party to it. Whatever the darkness did to this curse…it buried everyone’s real memories down deep.”

“So hardly a red letter night for any of us,” Robin said taking the final sip of his drink.

“No, but tomorrow is a new day with all kinds of possibilities,” Lucy said. “And it doesn’t matter what the darkness does to us. We’re going to win. Love is stronger than any darkness.”

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Rayna spent a miserable week after her first (and only) date with Robin. It had been an unqualified disaster. Oh it had started out nice enough. She’d felt herself fall harder and harder for him as the evening progressed. He was…everything she’d ever wanted in a man.

But then he’d started spouting absolute nonsense—about fairy tales being real and the storybook being a history book and her real name being Regina and the two of them being soulmates because of a lion tattoo.

How was anyone supposed to believe something like that? Robin Locksley was certifiable.

And yet…no matter how much she tried to reason with herself, she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was truth in what he told her. She’d read Lucy’s storybook so many times in the past week that she nearly had it memorized, and with every new reading, more and more flashes of….something…came to her. Little things—feelings, emotions, moments in time. It was like there was an entirely different set of memories trying to break through her consciousness.

But that was entirely ridiculous.

For several days Rayna tried to go about her business, putting the whole unsettling incident out of her mind, but something always drew her back. It was more than just the memories. More than just the unsettling feelings.

Rayna couldn’t put the incident behind her because, quite simply, she couldn’t put Robin behind her. It made no sense, they’d only just met, had only one date, hadn’t even kissed, but still there was no denying it.

She was in love with him, deeply, passionately, irrevocably in love.

There was no denying it anymore, no changing it. Robin Locksley was an important, maybe even vital part of her heart and it didn’t matter how crazy he was. She needed to see him again, needed to explore the budding relationship that had ended so abruptly a week ago.

And so it was that one week to the day after their disastrous date, Rayna found herself standing in front of Robin’s apartment door, finger poised before his doorbell. She took a deep breath, smoothed her opposite hand down her soft, cotton dress, and then pushed the button.

It felt like a lifetime went by between the ringing of the doorbell and the moment the door finally opened, and Rayna feared her heart would beat entirely out of her chest with her nerves. But the moment the door opened, the moment she saw Robin’s face, it was as though everything suddenly fell into place. Whatever the difficulties, whatever the impossibilities, this was right. She was meant to be with him, and she could no more deny that than she could make her heart stop beating.

“Reg…Rayna,” He breathed, the moment he saw her. His eyes widened, his jaw dropped, and he took a small step toward her, his hand raised as though he meant to cup her cheek, before he dropped it with quick, jerky motions. “Forgive me; where are my manners? Would you care to come in?”

Rayna stepped inside and watched as Robin closed the door and the slowly turned toward her. “I…I was hoping maybe we could talk,” she said, hands clasped in front of her. “I couldn’t stop thinking about how we left things, and I just wanted to apologize for my reaction.”

Robin’s eyes softened, the lines around them deepening as he slowly smiled. He stepped forward, putting both hands on her upper arms. “You’ve no need to apologize,” he said softly. “I know how it all must have sounded. You must think me quite mad.”

“No,” she said quickly. “Or at least if you are, I must be too, because…even though it can’t be true, something about it…I just can’t shake.”

“Really?” he asked, his smile growing. “That’s what you came to tell me, that you’re starting to remember?”

She shook her head slowly, her curls bouncing around her face with the movement. “Actually, there’s more, and…well, this is the part that might make you think I’m crazy.”

“Never,” he said gently. “You can tell me anything, Rayna. Anything at all.”

Rayna took a quick breath and then slowly let it out. She deliberately looked into his eyes. She wanted to see his reaction to what she had to say.

“Robin,” she said, “we’ve only known each other for a matter of days, but…but it doesn’t matter. I couldn’t stay away. I couldn’t put you out of my mind. The thing is, I think…no I know…I’m in love with you.”

For long moments he merely looked down at her, his expression inscrutable. Rayna began to worry that she’d misread things, that she was coming on too strong, that she’d scared him away this time. “Robin,” she said finally, “please say something. I know it’s too early to say the l word and I know this probably sounds crazy but…”

Robin suddenly surged forward, his lips crashing into hers. Rayna was startled for a moment, but then the feel of his lips against hers, the feel of his arms holding her tight, overwhelmed her. Her heart feeling as though it might burst from her chest, tears filling her eyes, she wrapped her arms around his neck, tilted her head and kissed him back with all the love in her heart.

And that’s when it happened. Rayna felt a burst of something that felt like a force field issue from their joined lips and spread in all directions like a shock wave. Suddenly memory after memory crashed over her. The first curse, rescuing Henry in Neverland, meeting Robin, falling so desperately in love, Hades, losing Robin, somehow rebuilding her life despite the Robin-sized hole in her heart, Henry growing up, Lucy, the darkness, the new curse…

Regina broke the kiss, cupped Robin’s face in her hands and let the tears flow in rivers down her cheeks. “Robin?”

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Robin knew the moment she remembered him, the moment the memory curse was broken. The tears came to his eyes and he let a couple spill over as he reached up to cup her face as well, both of them smiling and laughing.

“Regina,” he said. “You remember?”

“Everything,” she said, raising on her toes to kiss him again, this time gently, slowly, tenderly. “Robin I remember it all.”

They kissed for long moments, both holding each other so tightly it was almost painful. It had been so long, so desperately long. Robin felt as though his heart was beating again after nearly fifteen years of lying dormant. Slowly Robin maneuvered them until they were seated on the couch, Regina lying on top of him, caressing every bit of skin she could reach.

He would gladly go on kissing this woman for years, decades, the rest of his life, but eventually the need to breathe forced him to gently pull away, his hands coming up to dry her tears.

“How?” she croaked finally, reaching up to run a hand through his hair. “Robin you were hit by the crystal. I saw you die. I held your body. I buried you! How are you here?”

Robin heard the agony in her voice, and leaned forward to wrap her once again in his arms, his face nestled in the crook of her neck. “Hades lied, my darling. He lied. The crystal didn’t kill me; it merely sent me here.”

“All this time?” she asked, pulling back and looking into his eyes. “All this time you’ve been here on the other side of the country. Why didn’t you ever come back?”

“I tried,” he assured. “I did everything in my power to get back to Storybrooke, to get back to you, but no matter what I tried, it was as though Storybrooke had disappeared.”

Regina began sobbing, aching, heartbroken sounds and Robin could do nothing but hold her, rocking her gently as she let the years of pain and grief bleed off.

“I missed you so much,” she said finally. “Sometimes I thought the grief would kill me. Sometimes I wished it would.”

“I’m so desperately sorry for the pain I caused,” he said, voice far from steady.

She shook her head. “No, don’t apologize. It’s not your fault. All you did was sacrifice your life for me.”

“And you’ve no idea how relieved I am to find it worked,” he said.

They kissed again, long, passionately, desperately.

“Roland and my little girl…?” Robin asked when they finally broke apart again.

“They’re fine,” Regina reassured. “Roland went back to the Enchanted Forest with the merry men and your daughter? We named her Robyn, and she’s perfect, beautiful, happy, healthy, as fiery as Zelena, but with your gentleness and honor to mellow her out. She just celebrated her fifteenth birthday, you know. When we get back to Storybrooke….”

Regina stopped abruptly, her eyes widening in panic. “Oh God, Robin, Storybrooke! There was another curse! They’ve been cursed again!”

“Calm yourself,” he said gently. “They’re fine. Under a town-wide sleeping curse, but fine.”

“You’re sure?”

“Absolutely,” he said, “and Regina, I know it now! We will win. Whoever this darkness is, whatever it wants, it’s as good as defeated already. With you as it’s enemy it doesn’t stand a chance.”

She leaned forward and kissed him softly once again. “So what do we do. How do we fight against the latest villain in our midst?”

“We talk to Henry and Lucy, develop the next phase of our operation,” Robin said getting to his feet and offering her a hand up, “but first, my love, we have fifteen lost years to make up.”

His heart full and brimming over, Robin slowly lead Regina back to his bedroom. There would no doubt be a hell of a fight waiting for them in the morning, but for now, for this night it was just him and his true love, his soulmate, and he was determined that he wouldn’t waste a single moment of the second chance they’d been given.

Notes:

--So there you have it, basically the end of this story. Regina and Robin end up together and true love conquers all—including curse-induced memory loss. The darkness isn’t going to know what hit it when Regina and Robin (and Henry and Lucy and Killian and Gold) come for it!

--This chapter ended up being more difficult to write than I anticipated. How do you give a reunion scene the emotional resonance it deserves when one of the people spent the last fifteen years believing the other was dead?

--Up next: A CS-themed epilogue where we follow Killian from the moment he “wakes” (as a result of OQ’s TLK) to the moment he goes back to Storybrooke desperate to save his Swan…and their two little cygnets.

#oq ff #oq fanfiction #my fanfiction #under the apple tree #season 7 spec fic

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