#steve trevor imagines | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

downthe-f4ndom-rabbith0le · 2 months

Text

Always Been You (Dick Grayson x Reader) - Chapter 3

Always Been You (Dick Grayson x Reader)Reader Insert: she/her pronouns Word Count: 2627 Warnings: death, violence, fighting, bloody wounds, angst, infuriatingly oblivious love interest, slowburn Spoilers: Young Justice Seasons 1-3 plot partially, but it ended in 2022 so catch up.

Y/N Prince - miracle daughter of Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor - and Dick Grayson - first adoptive son of the Batman himself - have been best friends since day one. They went to school together, trained together, kept each other's alter ego secret from everyone else, and they founded the Young Justice alongside their friends together.

But as time progressed, Y/N and Dick grew up and Y/N found herself wanting more than friendship with Dick. But he never seemed to indicate that he reciprocated her feelings. And when Wally died and Dick abandoned the team, Y/N realised he never would. So she heads to the one place she knows will help her become a stronger warrior so that one day she can take her mother's place: Themyscira.

Two years after his leave, Dick reaches out to his old friends to help him with a mission. But when he finds out Y/N left too, he chases after her in the hopes to bring her back.

However, when the two finally reunite, it isn't as warm as he hopes. Not to mention Themyscira becomes under siege as they go to war against Echidna, the Mother of Monsters in Greek Mythology, and her army of monstrous children.

Will Dick and Y/N be able to put their past behind them and save the Amazons' homeland? Or will they fall, unable to tell one another their true feelings?

~~~

'You are five miles from the estimated target, Master Dick,' Alfred said over the intercom of the Bat Wing.

Immediately upon entering Wayne Manor, Dick had rushed to his childhood room - the one he still used on the occasion he worked with Bruce as the Dynamic Duo, or he needed some space from his duties as Bludhaven's hero - and packed a small duffle of clothes and weapons and ran straight for the Bat Cave. As promised, Alfred had the Bat Wing waiting, ready for take off, and Dick barely greeted the old man before leaving Gotham far behind.

Dick had been flying for almost twelve hours and hadn't slept a wink. Sitting at the control panel with only a wide window of open sea to look at, Dick rubbed his tired eyes as the shadows of sleep flickered in the corners of his vision. He had to stay awake, just a little bit longer at least.

And then... Well, he'd cross that bridge when he got to it.

'Is there anything else you need from me, Master Dick?' Alfred asked.

Dick shook his head initially, then remembered Alfred couldn't see him. 'No, thank you, Alfred,' Dick replied, sitting up straighter in his seat. 'I should be fine from here on out.'

It was quiet for a moment, and Dick thought Alfred had signed off accidentally. But then he spoke. 'Are you sure there is something out here? I know you and your friends' findings seem well-supported, but there is only open ocean. There isn't even an under water volcano or ancient mountain range recorded there.'

'Which makes it an even more suspicious place,' Dick countered. 'Trust me Alfred, there is something out here.'

'Let's just hope Miss Y/N is too, or you'll have wasted Master Bruce's fuel. And I will tell you now, he will not be pleased about that.'

The mention of her name caused Dick's heart rate to increase with anxiety. But he quickly recovered as he scoffed. 'I don't know why he's complaining,' Dick said nonchalantly. 'He's the billionaire of the family, after all.'

'Have you seen the price of fuel these days?'

That caused Dick to chuckle slightly, just imagining the singular raised eyebrow Alfred used to ask the silent question of Are you serious? In that moment, he was once again grateful for Alfred. He barely asked any questions as to why Dick needed the Bat Wing, he just trusted Dick that it was for a good reason. Unlike Bruce, where trust needed to be hard earned, Alfred had always given his trust and love unconditionally.

The Bat Wing suddenly jerked as it seemed to hit something. Or, maybe, something hit it.

'Master Dick, what was that?" Alfred asked, worry lacing his words.

Suddenly alert, Dick brought up the different cameras hidden in the ship to try and find what had cause the sudden shift, but sound nothing.

'I'm not sure, Alfred,' Dick answered, running diagnostics over the ship in case of damage. 'There seems to be no damage to the Bat Wing, and there is nothing on the radar indicating another ship or flying creature of sorts.'

The ship rocked again, and Dick gripped tighter to the control handles as he took the ship off autopilot. 'What in the world!'

'Master Di-,' Alfred said, but his words were glitchy and some parts were coming through slowly. 'A-re yo- all rig-' Alfred was cut off before he could finish.

'Alfred? Alfred,' Dick called, but he got no reply. He slammed the control handles in frustration. 'Damnit.' He was on his own now.

However, his annoyance dissipated at the site he'd only ever seen in books he'd borrowed from Y/N when they were children.

To say Themyscira stood atop a mountain would be an inaccurate description. It was more like Themyscira was the mountain, with a long staircase weaving and winding up the entire mountain from the ivory beach and cerulean waters at the base of it. There were small stone huts with woven roofs closer to the beach, but quickly evolved into larger houses and buildings of impressive white columns and marble. As Dick flew closer to the island, he spotted a large coliseum used for sports and physical trials like the ruins in Greece, and a small amphitheatre next door that no doubt was used for the arts.

Atop Themyscira's mountain could only be the royal palace, held up by intricately carved statues of women and marble columns, decorated in plates of gold and held together by green grape vines that covered the palace walls, the statues, the columns.

The bed time stories he'd heard from Wonder Woman when he and Y/N would have sleepovers was more than his imagination could ever conceptualise, and the few descriptions and drawings of the island in the books he'd read were amateur attempts that held no candle to the real deal.

It was, in a word, paradise.

I must've hit the invisible barrier before, Dick deduced as he took in the sight of it all. That's why communications were knocked. That's why he'd felt so anxious and tired the closer he got. Now that he'd passed through, he felt ten times better.

A beeping pulled Dick out his trance, drawing his attention to the radar. Something was coming at him. Fast.

Dick looked up in time to see a large fire ball flying at him and barely dodged it. It was so hot Dick felt its heat through the window as it scraped by.

'Woah!' Dick cried, angling the Bat Wing so Dick could see where the fireball had come from. And, more importantly, who had thrown it. Down on the ivory beach was a line of catapults set up Dick hadn't spotted before, and he could just make out an army milling about around each catapult as they reloaded the catapults.

Before he knew it, he was swerving as another fireball flew at him, this time catching part of the left wing and melting it. Sirens blared, indicating the damage, but Dick didn't have time to worry about that. The Amazons thought he was a threat. He needed to change that, or he'd be a goner.

Crazy an idea as it was, Dick manoeuvred through the line of fireballs the Amazons catapulted at him towards the beach. Once he was close enough, he turned on the speaker so the outside world could hear him. 'Please, Amazons of Themyscira, I mean you no harm,' Dick announced to them, hoping he sounded genuine. 'I am going to land my aircraft on your shore. I just want to ta-'

He didn't have time as a small boulder connected with the left wing, sending the Bat Wing into a spin that Dick couldn't control. Sirens blared in the cockpit, reds light flashed and his front window lit up with the message SYSTEM FAILURE in bright red letters. The steering was shot, his vision was impaired, so Dick just closed his eyes and braced for impact.

The Bat Wing hit the beach hard, knocking the wind out of Dick for a moment. Once he'd regained his breath and the world had stopped spinning, Dick checked his immediate surroundings. He was in one piece still, and the Bat Wing hadn't exploded. Good start.

Before he could unplug himself, a spearhead stabbed through the glass of the front window, shattering it completely as the Amazon wielding it pulled it out. Dick was temporarily blinded by the sudden invasion of sunlight to his senses, but he still put his hands up in surrender in case they still thought him a threat.

'Please,' he begged through laboured breaths. 'Please, I don't mean you any harm. I just need to talk with someone you might know. Please.'

'Síko órthios, pareísaktes,' a strong voice hissed above him, her words whipping out like a delicate snake. She yanked him from his seat, breaking the seatbelt as she did, and threw him onto white, hot sand.

Vision coming back ever so slowly, Dick saw more figures approaching where he laid on the beach, spears and swords and shields in hand. All women, and all wearing brown leather skirts, sandals, and breast plates and bronze helmets of the ancient greeks. A small crowd formed around him, leaving no room for escape.

Realising this, Dick hauled himself to his feet and spun around to survey the group with his hands raised. The women ranged from youthful to mature, but all of them looked capable of killing him should he dare run. Capable, and willing.

'Poios eísai esý?' a woman with long brunette hair asked. She looked slightly older than him, perhaps mid to late 20s. But knowing how old Wonder Woman had lived for already, Dick was almost sure all of the women surrounding him were much older than they appeared.

I really regret not taking those Greek classes with Y/N now, he thought to himself, not having a clue what the woman had asked him. When he didn't reply though, she repeated her question but with more annoyance and aggression, pointing her spear towards his chest.

'I am Dick Grayson,' he said, not sure if they could understand him or not. 'I mean you no harm. Please, I must talk with someone you know... Do you understand me?'

The blank faces he received in return were answer enough. The brunette turned to two other women beside her, whispering to one another. It only lasted a moment, for then the brunette raised her spear higher towards Dick's throat. The rest of the women also raised their weapons, all pointed at him.

'Ánthropos apó to exoterikó,' she announced for all to hear, her delivery final and true, 'edó tha petháneis!'

Just as she raised her spear, Dick threw his hands up again and cried, 'Y/N!'

He waited for pain, for the sensation of falling and then nothing, but it never came. The brunette paused, spear still raised above her, and looked at him curiously.

'Pós gnorízeis tin prinkípissá mas?' she asked, and to Dick's surprise, he recognised one word. Prinkipissá. Princess.

'Yes,' he said, seizing potentially his only chance at surviving. 'She would be your princess. Sorry, your prinkipissá. Daughter of your champion, Diana.'

At the mention of the mighty Wonder Women, the brunette lowered her weapon entirely and turned to the other women as quiet murmurs broke out amongst the group. Dick wasn't sure what he'd started, but he knew they knew of who he spoke of, and what power her name held. Not just anybody could wield her name.

'I came here to speak with Prinkipissá Y/N,' Dick continued, and then he put his hands together as if he were about to pray. 'Please, can you lead me to her? Is she even here?'

The brunette and her two friends looked him up and down for a moment before consulting one another one last time. After what felt like an eternity, the brunette stepped forward and looked him dead in the eyes.

'Piáste ton!' she cried, and two women grabbed both his arms, ensuring he couldn't escape. 'Tha ton páme stin prinkípissá mas.'

She then turned away, and Dick was lead by the arms after her and the rest of the crowd. He managed look over his shoulder to see the wreckage of the Bat Wing. The left wing was one metal sheet away from tearing off completely, and the shattered glass and the many dents in the side of the ship just added to Dick's dismay. Oh yeah, Bruce is going to be pissed.

If the Amazons let him live and he ever got off the island, Bruce would definitely make sure Dick suffered long and hard.

Dick was lead up hundreds and hundreds of steps, walking through the bustling city of women and young girls all going about their daily lives. For some reason, it was off putting to Dick to see women and children doing the washing or playing games in the open street. He wasn't sure why, but he envisioned the whole island as warrior women who all fought and died for each other and their home.

They could probably still whoop my ass, he thought as he was marched by some children who were previously playing a game with some dice and a ceramic cup before he came along and stole their attention. It came to Dick's mind that these young girls probably had never seen a male before, and so he smiled at them as kindly as he could. Some of the children smiled back, others had their mothers nearby collect them and take them inside. Dick couldn't blame them for it. Wouldn't he do the same for his child if the roles were reversed.

Why the hell am I thinking about children right now? he asked himself, but he didn't have time to ponder the question as they quickly walked up a final set of stairs into an open field of green covered in warrior women training. When the whole group stopped, Dick was brought to such a startling halt that he thought his arms were going to pop out of their sockets. Thank God for that, he thought, feeling his legs ache with all the climbing. Or is it Zeus I should thank? Maybe Hera? Athena?

The brunette raised her spear, and those not holding Dick prisoner did the same. 'Prinkipissá,' she called out above the din of all the sparring and training. 'Échoume kápoion gia esás.'

Dick wasn't sure who the brunette was talking to at first, but then his gaze settled on a group of women just ahead of them. It seemed it was a six-versus-one situation, as six women surrounded one young woman with familiar H/C hair. The six women ran at the young woman in the middle, all taking swings with their fists and swords, aiming for her head and legs and mid section. While the young woman took a few punches, she didn't flinch with pain. She would just grab her attacker's wrist and flip her over and slam her into the ground.

The fight only lasted a minute, and ended with the H/C haired pointing a sword at her final opponent's throat as she pressed her to the ground with her foot.

When she flipped her hair as she turned to face their group, only then did Dick fully realise who it was.

'Y/N!' he cried out, the brightest smile spreading across his face. Two years since he'd last seen her, his best friend. After the not-so-very-warm welcome, he was beyond relieved to see a familiar face.

But instead of reciprocating his smile with the one he'd always admired since they were children, Y/N paled as if she had seen a ghost. Her whole body seemed to freeze up as her eyes connected with Dick's, and for a moment Dick feared he had mistaken some poor girl for his best friend.

But her shock melted away, and Dick was met with angry eyes and a stony face. Oh, yeah. That's Y/N. He couldn't recall the amount of times he'd seen that expression before, but there was no mistaking it.

His fear turned towards himself as she suddenly, with sword still in hand, stormed towards him, ignoring the other women around her still training.

'Y/N, it's me Dick,' he said, just in case she hadn't recognised him, but still she came at him, raising the sword to her side. 'Wait, what are you doing?

As she stood a step from him, she changed her grip on the sword's hilt and swung the butt of it at his head.

'Hey! Don't-'

The last thing he saw were Y/N's angry eyes of E/C before pain exploded from his right temple and darkness overcame him.

~~~

Síko órthios, pareísaktes = On your feet, outsider

Poios eísai esý? = Who are you?

Ánthropos apó to exoterikó, edó tha petháneis! = Man from the outside, you will die here!

Pós gnorízeis tin prinkípissá mas? = How do you know our princess?

Piáste ton! = Grab him!

Tha ton páme stin prinkípissá mas = We shall take him to our princess

Échoume kápoion gia esás = We have someone for you

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

Tag List:

256 notes · View notes

speedforce-zoomies · 5 months

Text

Y’all know what I think would make an interesting AU?

If everyone in the 90’s Young Justice was a clone or a “clone”

Canonically we’ve already got two out of the main ten

Conner Kent/Superboy being a “clone” of Superman & Lex Luthor

& Slobo being a clone of Lobo

Two things to note 1) I think it’s kinda boring if all of them have the same backstory so I’ll still try to give them all a reason that they’ve left Cadmus early in life

And 2) If we’re looking at all the various DC works 1 to 1 clones usually have some major issues

For example the other attempts at cloning Superman didn’t work, the DNA was too unstable

And in the DCAU, the Supergirl 1 on 1 clone had the side effect of being mentally connected to Supergirl which made her mentally unstable and Waller purposely avoided going the 1 to 1 route with Terry implying that it was still not a smart route to go down decades later

Therefore every “clone” will still have two “parents”

Let’s start with the other members of the core four

Tim - obviously a clone of Bruce, could add in Selena’s DNA if the scientists want some extra kick or he could still be the son of Janet so that he’s raised in a similar manner (rich kid upbringing) to Bruce

Janet and Jack could be having fertility issues and are given an opportunity to have a child through Cadmus and they just ignore all the weird stuff like rich people tend to do. Maybe they know Tim is Bruce’s clone, maybe they don’t. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Cassie - Diana Prince & Steve Trevor - not only would this give them access to the Amazons/Themyscira but also to a member of military personnel who knows a lot of stuff he probably shouldn’t

If this pairing Helena Sandsmark could be chosen to adopt her specifically so that she has a higher chance of interacting with the Greek gods which activates her powers (I mean Helena is already canonically interacting with them - might not be hard for Cadmus to realize that)

Could also do Diana & Helena Sandsmark, she could be in the same boat as Janet in the earlier scenario and just rolls with all the weird stuff.

Bart - Barry and Iris. Could still have the aging problem and still raised in Virtual Reality just some centuries behind the usual route. Imagine him thinking up the twins names himself - I mean Dawn and Don as twin names SOUND like they came from a kid raised in VR lol. When Barry and Iris later have the twins, they just roll with the names because Bart said them so matter of fact and Cadmus acts like they aren’t surprised that Bart got it right about Iris’s pregnancy.

Maybe they send him to go find Wally through suggestions from the VR so that he can better learn his powers/can become the next Flash and then Wally sends him to Max like in canon.

Now for the others…

Cissie - super easy Bonnie & Ollie. Bonnie as an Olympic-level archer wants her daughter to be the best archer and a hero and so she seeks out Cadmus and asks just straight up asks them for a clone.

Greta - I’m sorry to say is a mystery. She was a failed clone but no one seems to know who her original DNA came from.

Anita - could be a clone of her mother Oshi if Agua killed Oshi before she had Anita. Cadmus could reach out and be like hey Donald Fite it’s not the same as having your wife back but um, we could clone her? Give you a kid? Maybe Agua pushes for it idk

La'gaan - I couldn’t find much about his history prior to him becoming an Atlantis citizen so I imagine Cadmus might have captured his “parents” or maybe it’s someone who works with Orm and wants to send in a spy and though a child would be easier to get in than an adult. When Aquaman makes him a citizen he decides not to betray his confidence.

Ray - cloned from the original Ray and his wife or another golden age hero. Again pretty simple. Cadmus just thought he was neat. They are obsessed with Sun based superheroes after all. Ray is one I could see being locked up in Cadmus until the formation of the team since he was already locked away from the Sun in his origin story.

So at some point I imagine Tim would probably start to unravel things which would lead to similar events to canon (regarding the formation of the team I mean) but I just think it would be interesting since cloning is so prevalent in the DC universe to have an entire team of clones or “clones”

Maybe after distributing the other clones Luthor gets the idea to actually raise Conner himself which is always a fun AU

Plus with all this cloning going on they could potentially have the tools to prevent Slobo’s body from degrading which is a nice bonus

What do y’all think?

52 notes · View notes

stealingyourbones · 2 years

Note

DPxDC prompt: Danny sets the path for each member of Justice League during time shenanigans for CW.

I’m sorry but I’m fucking cackling imagining Danny Fridging Alex DeWitt for unnecessary plot progression. Just “why the fuck do I have to do this.” “You just have to Daniel.” “This is fucking stupid but ok.”

Danny making Joe Chill be in the right alley that very important night.

Danny fucking around with Steve Trevor’s plane to make him crash and cause Wonder Woman to leave Themyscira.

Danny causing the thunderstorm that one night Barry Allen is working late in his forensic lab.

Danny bumping Kal-El’s ship so it lands specifically in Smallville Kansas.

Danny implants the idea to Martian Manhunter to skedaddle to earth.

#danny phantom #dp x dc #dc comics #writing prompts #dp x dc prompt #bones replies #daemonlogical

391 notes · View notes

fabuloustrash05 · 2 months

Note

RaMona 18, 19 and 23

OTP + CHARACTER ASK

18. What are they like when they're drunk? How do they act together? & when 1 is drunk, while the other one's sober?

Do you know that scene in the animated Wonder Woman movie (2009) where Steve Trevor takes Diana to a bar and the two start drinking, and after taking so many shots Diana is still not effected by the alcohol, but Steve is gets completely drunk. Diana even tells him something along the lines of "You thought you can outdrink an amazon, you light-weight!"

Yeah, that's Raph and Mona.

19. What do they fight about most often? (Alternative: what was their biggest fight?)

I can imagine they'd sometimes fight about how a situation against a bad guy in a fight should've been handle, maybe they have different ideas and couldn't come to a compromise. They're both stubborn after all, but then after the situation is cooled down, one of them would realize the other was right after all and apologize, then they'd make up (by making out lol).

I'd say the betrayal on Lord Dregg's planet was their biggest fight overall, so after that the couple tries their best to be open and honest with one another more to avoid something like that to ever happen again. Maybe one time, during a very heated argument, Raph, completely blinded by his anger, brings up the Dregg incident as a shoot back at Mona after she insulted him. Mona freezes from his words as she goes quiet, beginning to tear up. Raph immediately realizes what he said and starts apologizing profusely. This is the first time Raph ever made her cry, which makes him start to cry, mad and ashamed of himself for bringing up such a painful subject and using it against her. This would bring the couple to finally talk about the betrayal, how it effected them both, how it hurt them, etc. and realizing how this memory is still haunting them both. After a long conversation, the couple realizes that though it was a hard moment in their lives, it made them stronger in the end. Raph would apologize to Mona for his harsh words and Mona would apologize for hurting him. They can finally move on and are ready face bigger challenges in the future, not separately, but together.

23. Who initiates cuddling more?

Raph, almost ALL the time. The boy is extremely touch starved cause he didn't get enough love and attention from rat dad. Mona never complains about it cause she loves to cuddle with her adorable boyfriend. There will just be days when Mona is doing something (sitting on the coach reading or talking to someone) and Raph just walks up to her, not saying a word and just starts embracing her. Mona doesn't react, continuing whatever she's doing as she hold him in her arms to comfort him.

#asks #answered #sky317 #fabtrash headcanons #tmnt headcanons #tmnt 2012 #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt raphael #tmnt mona lisa #tmnt ramona #raph x mona

16 notes · View notes

marybeatriceofmodena · 1 year

Note

What was that crazy music video type thing you included on that post about ALW being an ass to Patti Lupone? I have never seen that before and I am both intrigued and horrified. I only recently got into Phantom, and all this craziness is just delighting me. 😂

For context, this is the video referred to in this ask:

youtube

This was a promo video done in 1985 (I think), to promote Phantom. Those are the original lyrics by Richard Stilgoe, which he wrote before Charles Hart was involved. You'll recognize a few here and there, but a lot of them are... weird, to say the least (weird enough for Cameron "Satan" Mackintosh to tell ALW to either find someone to help out Stilgoe, either outright fire him, or else he wouldn't produce Phantom anymore. And given it was proving to be a VERY costly show to make, even ALW knew losing CamMack was a no-no).

The staging is also different, because Trevor Nunn was the director at this point. And that's another funny (HA) story: ALW and Cameron Mackintosh had initially got Hal Prince to direct. And for those of you who don't know, Hal Prince is basically to musicals what Steven Spielberg is to cinema. He directed some of the most successful musicals of the latter half of the 20th century: Evita, Sweeney Todd, Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story, Cabaret, Company... and that's the list of musicals I know even the uninitiated will recognize. So one day, on a whim, ALW decided to fire Hal Prince, which went about as well as you might expect: ALW chickened out of the dinner where he and CamMack were supposed to break the news to him, which led to CamMack having to sheepishly break the news to Hal Prince, who stormed out furious (AS HE SHOULD). Again, imagine yourself firing Steven Spielberg from making Saving Private Ryan and replacing him with, I dunno, the Russo brothers because The Avengers made a shit ton of money.

Why? My guess is that Hal Prince had the balls to tell ALW to stick it whenever he'd bring bad ideas on the table, so ALW basically decided to replace Hal Prince with the director for one of his previous musicals, Trevor Nunn (who is a decent director, mind you, making the comparison to the Russo brothers a little harsh).

Which musical was it, mind you? CATS.

IT ALWAYS COMES BACK TO CATS.

And Steve Harley? He was a rock singer who got picked up along the way because they urgently needed someone to play the Phantom in the music video, and full offense but he's a worse singer than Gerald Butler in my opinion, and at least the latter could actually act. ALW realized that they needed someone else, and he basically smuggled the score to a comedic actor called Michael Crawford, who had some prior experience singing in musicals (he's in the film adaptations of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Hello Dolly, if you're interested), but he wasn't exactly the guy you'd think of for the Phantom? Thankfully, he proved everyone who might have doubted him wrong, and amazingly at that, but he was a gamble at the time nonetheless.

And as you may guess, the music video was kind of poorly received, and Trevor Nunn worked on a little musical called Les Misérables, which got piss poor reviews and ALW was at the head of them (CLASS ACT, THAT FELLOW). But the uneducated, unwashed plebs loved it so I guess that's the reason why it's still playing today, and not because it's one of the most beautiful scores ever written for musical theatre, summing up a 1,000 book perfectly and conveying emotions that could make angels cry, nah. /s Anyway, that led to ALW firing Trevor Nunn, and begging Hal Prince to come back, and he agreed - which really goes to show how gracious he is because I would have laughed in ALW's face.

And what happened to Steve Harley, you may ask? He found out with a call from CamMack that he was fired, with no explanation whatsoever, and it was only later that he found out Michael Crawford had replaced him. I mean, was it for the best? Yeah. Do I still feel kind of bad for Steve Harley? Yeah.

So yeah, thank your lucky stars Hal Prince, Charles Hart and Michael Crawford agreed to be in this. I'd also add Maria Bjornson, but I really wonder now how she got involved in the first place because if that came from ALW, that might be the single best decision he ever made in his entire life. But I don't have any trust in him whatsoever to pull that off lmao

#lord-valery-mimes #phantom of the opera #Andrew Lloyd Webber #Hal Prince #Cameron Mackintosh #Charles Hart #Richard Stilgoe #Trevor Nunn #Michael Crawford #Steve Harley #and now you know

104 notes · View notes

milfmisspiggy · 4 months

Text

steve coming back to life as a gift to diana after she is without him for so long, both literally in real time decades going by without steve trevor the comic book character being in consistent ww issues but also in universe she has lived without him for a long time, but he cant return to his old life so dyes his hair black and goes by steve howard (which btw you two, you are not very good at disguises. it does make it funny to imagine everyone thinking wonder woman just really likes guys named steve) and now they live out a secret only the two of them share, because he cannot be steve trevor again (yet, anyway) and he is a ghost haunting his own life! but at least they love each other and can be around each other again. but just kidding because then he dies AGAIN and she has to grieve AGAIN and its so bad she returns to paradise island, never wanting to leave again, except then steve is BACK, crashing a plane onto themyscira AGAIN, literally breaking out of a parallel universe where diana doesn't even exist just to get to the diana who has lost her steve TWICE, in real life so they can reset the ww canon a little and place the two of them back in their original (circa 1941) steve doesn't know diana is wonder woman situation, but in comic book world,,, this woman and her heart have experienced pits and valleys yet unexplored by sentient life. ill be back to update if he dies/comes back to life anymore than he already has or if anything sufficiently ridiculous in this era of their mutual expertise occurs. in the meantime steve trevor wear a life jacket as you walk the streets i fear you may drown on air

#golden age ww adventures are almost to a Close for me. but i am so excited for like post crisis ww/wonderfam you have nooo idea #diana of themyscira #steve trevor #wondertrev #dc #cj.txt

8 notes · View notes

chloe12801 · 10 months

Text

I’m gonna plug this again. Pretty much consists of headcannons exclusively for gta character x reader.

The characters I wrote for include Trevor, Michael, Franklin, Lamar, Tracey, Jimmy, Amanda, Niko (gta iv), Devin, Steve, Dave, Wade, Ron, and Lester. So if you like a character that’s underrated/under written from gta v check my work out!

I haven’t updated in a minute bc everything took me so long due to perfectionism and not many people saw it for me to want to continue. If it gets traction I might do more with the book. If anyone likes my stuff and wants me to write more I can always do that on here as well. I wouldn’t mind putting it on AO3 but idk how to add pictures on there if you even can (kind of tech illiterate ngl lol)

Here’s the link <3

44 notes · View notes

radiofreederry · 1 year

Text

This whole era of Wonder Woman is pretty funny. Denny O'Neil, one of my favorite comic writers, took over the book in the late 1960s, and along with artist Mike Sekowsky hatched a plan to bring her up to date with the era of women's lib, having in mind such contemporary female heroes as Emma Peel of British import The Avengers. They accomplished this by having Diana give up her superpowers (!) in order to remain in "Man's World" (!!) and maintain the affections of her love interest Steve Trevor (!!!).

As you can imagine, feminists, most prominently among them Gloria Steinem, were pissed that the most prominent female superhero had been depowered in order to pursue a man's affections. O'Neil, who for his part was a left-winger who had genuinely good and ostensibly feminist, if misinformed, intentions for the character's new direction, considered the era a personal shame.

23 notes · View notes

lilmissnatcat24 · 5 months

Note

I would like to hear about your documentary WIP please!

oh goodness me!!! this one is one i sorta tinker with every time i have a little bit of a block because it's so easy for me to do one of those no-think-only-write sort of things. so basically it's a few years after the events of me3, and the gang gets reunited to film a documentary about shepard and her adventures. it's meant to just be a silly little crackfic. i also go ridiculously feral for documentaries.

here's a snippet!

[Emily Wong]: How would you describe Shepard’s early life?

[Admiral Hackett]: Commander Shepard was born on Mindoir, a small farming planet, just on the edge of the Traverse.

[Lonnie Bridges, post-Mars human historian]: Mindoir was, by all accounts, a small, quiet colony-- well, less of a colony, and more of a village. At its peak, just as Shepard was reaching adolescence, it boasted a population of nearly ten thousand people. While most Alliance colonies were used for the mining and extraction of precious resources, Mindoir specialized in the production of grain and wheat products, which were shipped to other Traverse colonies in the region.

[Liara T’Soni]: Shepard was born to parents Hannah and Trevor Shepard on April 11, 2154. She was only the second human to be born on Mindoir.

[Selene Ng, professor of Human Galactic Colonization at Scott State University, Terra Firma]: Hannah and Trevor Shepard were your average frontiersmen. Hannah worked in food production, and Trevor worked in intergalactic shipping. It made sense for them to settle down in Mindoir, it was a great experiment for the time. It was meant for sustainability, for longevity. It was humanity’s chance to prove that they could sustain a colony of their own without any intervention from the Council or galactic governments.

[Bridges]: It would have been a quiet childhood for Shepard. The schools of Mindoir only had a few children attending. She was an only child to parents that worked the 9-5 life. Mindoir boasted rolling fields of yellow grass, the three moons cast a warm, red light to the sky. I can imagine that she likely spent a lot of time outside, playing in the tall grass with the few other human children.

[Conrad Verner]: The Shepards had a dog named Eezo.

[Jeff ‘Joker’ Moreau]: (off-camera) Yeah… Is there a reason that Conrad Verner knows that?

[T’Soni]: Shepard wasn’t, by any means, a standout students. She achieved modest grades but showed very little interest in school. She was a rather… precocious child-- which, to be perfectly frank, she did not grow out of.

[Mateo Wellington, former Alliance biotic instructor]: Shepard was a biotic, and mind you, this was at a time where humanity was still very unsure about biotics. A heavy stigma followed them from birth, there was misinformation being peddled about how they were mentally addled or a threat to humanity.

[Bridges]: A young biotic like Shepard, without the resources to properly build and learn her skills, must have been a struggle. Biotics, in their youth, tend to be incredibly hyperactive. They require almost double the caloric intake. At a time where so little was known about biotic abilities, one would assume that Shepard faced her struggles as a young child.

[Verner]: Her favorite food as a child was chocolate chip pancakes.

[Joker]: (off camera) Seriously, how the fuck does he know that about her?

[Steve Cortez]: (off camera) It is… a tad concerning, isn’t it? [Joker]: (off camera) Right? Should we check his extranet history or something?

#mass effect fanfiction #mass effect #mass effect fanfic

6 notes · View notes

undomielregina · 1 year

Text

Lyta Hall

Lyta is one of the most changed characters between the comics and the Sandman adaptation, so much of this will have limited applicability to her show version, I imagine. One of the interesting things I discovered in reading all of her pre-Sandman appearances was that the show version is in personality more like the character as she had previously appeared in comics than the Sandman comics version is. The difference is profound enough that it makes me wonder if people who had liked Lyta at the time were kind of upset with what the Sandman comic did with her. I didn’t think I’d be saying this — I love the Sandman comic dearly and it’s very important to me — but Neil Gaiman did her dirty back then. She was a minor character from a canceled series who had been written off even before it was canceled. She had too much bad writing making her all about her boyfriend, she was creepily mindwiped of the memories of her real parents, her backstory is a mess. She was still done dirty. I’m glad the show seems to be giving her back some of the agency and self-confidence that she displayed in Infinity, Inc.

I should, at this point, warn that Lyta’s backstory is a mess deeply rooted in some of the weirder, more complicated parts of DC comics history. Her story starts out on Earth-Two. Earth-Two was a development based in a problem of DC history, a problem Marvel mostly never had, which was the difficulty of reconciling WWII canon for their flagship characters. This was all well and good through the 50s, by the 1960s this was starting to strain credibility even in an era where most comics were episodic. Many of these characters, including DC’s most popular, had been operating continuously for over 20 years and plenty of them were mortal. And DC was understandably proud of its Golden Age work and didn’t want to just cast it out of continuity. All kinds of comic book tricks came into play, slowed aging, magic, all sorts of stuff. But eventually, in the early 1960s, they tried something completely different. They lopped the Golden Age comics off, plopped them in their own universe, and declared that the main lines took place in a world where the age of heroes had begun after World War Two. The Golden Age Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman were separate characters (this also let them dump some of the sillier stuff, like the Amazons riding giant kangaroos). Also consigned to this alternate reality were the members of the Justice Society (not league) and the All-Star Squadron. Earth-Two had a lot of the Golden Age heroes who had slipped into obscurity as they were replaced by more familiar faces.

There will be spoilers for Sandman under the cut.

This is all important because Lyta was born on Earth-Two. She first appears as a teenager in a comic where Wonder Woman (Earth-One) accidentally travels to Earth-Two and meets her counterpart there. Who is married to Steve Trevor and the mother of a teen girl they are raising as an Amazon. Because of her Amazon heritage, she’s stronger, faster, and more durable than a normal human.

(Wonder Woman #300, Feb 1983)

As you can see, one of the cool things about Earth-Two was that the major heroes there, freed from having to carry titles that existed in an eternal status quo, had been allowed to age and change. (Batman had married Catwoman, raised a daughter, and they had both died, leaving Robin (Dick Grayson, there were no later Robins on Earth-Two and he never became Nightwing) to carry on their legacy with her. She’d become Huntress; the original version. Imagine, a long-running comics continuity where Batman could die and the death stuck!) In fact, the entire Justice Society was starting to get on in years, which is where Lyta comes in.

Lyta was, in comics terms, still a fairly new character when Gaiman picked her up for Sandman; she’d only been introduced about seven years ago (her first appearance is Feb 1983, and she shows up in Sandman in Dec 1989) and had only been a heroine in her own right since March 1984, with the first issue of Infinity, Inc. (She’d also been dormant as a character between mid-1988 and late 1989, so she actually only had about 4.5 years of publication history, compared to the Justice Society characters who at this point had 40-50 years of back issues.) Infinity, Inc was a book and superteam of legacy heroes, characters with a close connection to the Justice society, either as children or as protegees, and Lyta Trevor and Hector Hall were two of the founding members. (For those who have watched Black Adam, Atom Smasher was another, under the alias of Nuklon. Having just read all his Infinity, Inc appearances, it was nice to see Al, but I wish he’d gotten to keep his doofy mohawk.) Infinity, Inc was basically the Earth-Two Teen Titans, but consisted entirely of new characters instead of consisting almost entirely of teen sidekicks with multiple years of appearances.

That’s her first appearance in costume, on the right. At this point, she’s Fury because she’s pulling from the Greek pantheon that’s her Amazon birthright. She’s assumed her own identity, she’s not a junior version of her mother, she has a generally very strong relationship with her parents, and a happy relationship with her boyfriend. That’s Hector Hall there on the far left, by the way. They’re already dating at the beginning of the series. Hector’s backstory is much less messed up than Lyta’s, except insofar as DC’s Hawks have a notoriously tangled continuity. But suffice it to say that Hector’s parents are the reincarnations of an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh and his queen, who were murdered by an enemy, and they are also the superheroes Hawkman and Hawkgirl (not the alien ones, those are different), who fly with the help of wings made out of a substance called Nth Metal that they discovered in the tomb of their original pharaonic selves. Hector’s suit is made out of the same stuff, and he feels like his parents were so obsessed with superheroics and figuring out the secrets of their past lives through archaeological digs that they never gave him enough attention. I wouldn’t bother you with this but it becomes relevant later on.

The beginning of Lyta and Hector’s romance.

So they go off, form their own team, do a bunch of superheroics, some more successful than others, and generally act like perfectly ordinary superheroes. Most notable through here is that Hector and Lyta sometimes have values conflicts and she is completely comfortable holding her own. Being raised by Wonder Woman and spending her summers on Paradise Island means she’s grown up extremely confident in her abilities and beliefs. This is where I feel like Gaiman sold her short, although there are some mitigating factors to that decision.

That kind of reaction is very natural for an Amazon, but it would be very foreign to the Lyta Hall of Sandman. While I imagine that was part of the point, there’s also the question of how she and Hector got to a point where that would seem like a reasonable direction to take the character. The answer to which begins shortly after this issue, in the aftermath of the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Crisis collapsed the entire DC multiverse (most importantly Earths One, Two, and Four (the Earth where the Charleston Comics characters like Blue Beetle lived)) into a single reality called New Earth. Most unique characters just kept right on going, some of the ones with duplicates died or were erased from existence or chose to travel beyond the boundary of the multiverse because there was no longer a place for them. The Earth-Two characters mostly remembered having been from an alternate universe for a while, but the JSA and their now-messy backstory was conveniently shuffled off stage by trapping them eternally in fighting Ragnarok (they’re still there during Sandman, there’s a brief mention in Season of Mists.) This means that Hector Hall, whose parents did not have an Earth-One counterpart (the Earth-One Hawks were aliens), retains his backstory and history. Lyta, the daughter of a now-redundant Wonder Woman, was not so lucky.

The weird thing there, part of a series of what I found to be genrally odd, often upsetting choices, is that Lyta’s backstory wasn’t just rewritten with the formation of the New Earth. Her parents survived the transition and then were taken away to Olympus, never to return.

Why would anyone think this was a good way to handle this?

So anyway, Lyta is terribly upset about being in this world where she can never see her parents again and no one but her teammates even remembers they existed. Plus she’s having an identity crisis. Fury was basically a temporary identity until she someday took over from her mother, and now there’s that other Wonder Woman instead and who the heck is she? So she’s sad about that some of the time for the following issue and then in the one after that, we get this:

Guess what’s about to happen.

Most of the issue is Lyta dreaming/remembering a time when she met the other JSA kids as preteens (there’s eventually a second version of that seen after her backstory change, but it’s not really relevant to anything here), and then this happens. I cannot believe editorial thought this was a good way to handle their Lyta problem, I really cannot:

Yeah, that’s one of her teammates and ostensibly a hero. The mindwipe works so well that no one else remembers Lyta’s parents either! So after this you get this weird period where they’ve wiped Lyta’s backstory and failed to establish a new one for her and no one has any idea about her background or where the hell her pet kanga came from (Earth-Two was the one where the Amazons rode giant kangaroos, and Trouble there was a present from her mom, the child of Lyta’s favorite mount when she visited Paradise Island.) Some of Lyta’s weird fuzziness about her own motivations for being a superhero and everything in Sandman definitely come from what a complete clusterfuck her backstory had been in the last three and a half years.

At the same time Lyta and Hector start having relationship problems and he eventually breaks up with her and leaves the team. He’s a real dick in this period, but it’s pretty clear from the start that there’s comics bullshit happening and it’s not just him being a giant douchebag.

Still, before any of that gets resolved, and before Lyta’s backstory has stabilized in its new form, she finds out she’s pregnant. Yes, this is Daniel. This is also the November 1986 issue, meaning Lyta will be pregnant for more than three years of real time. No wonder she’s so vague about the length of her pregnancy in Sandman!

Lyta gets her new backstory in the next issue, when she starts referring to “Mom and Dad Trevor” without any explanation. There’s an editorial note to see the issue’s letter page, but I don’t have access to that. She now spent her summers on “Trevor Island,” which had giant riding kangaroos and suchlike, but was a desert island her father discovered when he crash-landed on it. Her new mom used to be Miss America during WWII, but had since lost her powers. Lyta’s also adopted and knows nothing about her birth parents, or why she has all the same superpowers that used to be explained by her Amazon heritage. Until, shortly afterward, she gets dragged to Greece for reasons and learns that her birth mother was a Greek teenager who her adoptive parents saved during WWII, and who made a bargain with the Furies that granted her superpowers. Her hero name was also Fury. (Yeah, this character was made up to cover the plot holes left by not having Wonder Woman in the WWII All-Star Squadron stories anymore.)

Turns out her mom made a bargain specifically with the Fury Tisiphone, who punishes crimes of kinship, and Lyta has inherited the powersf from her. Not that that’s particularly relevant to the climax of Sandman and Lyta’s role in it or anything.

Here’s her new bio mom on her first outing fighting some Nazis.

So Lyta gets involuntarily put on maternity leave from superheroing (she’s none too pleased about this) and decides to go visit Hector at his parents’ house in New York to find out what the fuck he was doing dumping her like that, and maybe tell him about the baby if he has a good answer, and finds out that the Hawk bullshit has caught up with him. There’s an entity calling itself the Silver Scarab that insists Hector is dead.

Lyta’s immediately fighting for her life, damsel-in-distress rescued by the rest of Infinity, Inc, and then fighting to save the world. They stop the Silver Scarab because Daniel’s existence means it failed to fully destroy Hector’s humanity (no, really), but Hector is dead for real and Lyta goes off to mourn with her parents. The reasoning underlying all this is pure Hawk bullshit I don’t even pretend to follow — their history is infamously convoluted so I’m not going to waste the effort untangling it when it’s really not important for Sandman.

So Lyta goes back to her parents’ home for a while and then Al flies out to ask Lyta to marry him so the baby won’t grow up without a father, which Lyta shoots down. But her dad is concerned because there’s been a prowler lurking around peeping in Lyta’s window. And that night Al hears a noise and..

The team identifies him as Garret Sanford, the Jack Kirby Sandman from the 1970s. That’s the series that introduced Jed Walker, Brute, Glob, and the Dream Dome. Also the red and yellow Sandman costume (the “other one” is Wesley Dodds, the original Sandman and a member of the Justice Society, who in Sandman is inspired by Dream’s imprisonment and, per Odin, carries a bit of Dream’s essence.)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch,

welcome back, Hector! Here’s Hector’s story in full, because it’s definitely relevant to what Gaiman later did with him in Sandman. Honestly, Gaiman’s pretty hard on Hector too, he’s a dumbass and ways too conservative for his own good, but prior to whatever creepy personality degradation happened over time to get him where he was in Sandman, he wasn’t a buffoon.

Hector and Al go off and help the rest of Infinity, Inc in a fight, but convince Lyta to stay for the sake of the baby. Then Hector heads back with about one minute of his hour a day in reality to spare and

So, the last we see of Hector and Lyta before Sandman is their wedding.

Lyta’s wedding dress is amazingly hideous.

As for why they’re so… different… in Sandman, Gaiman’s clearly playing with the mess of Lyta’s history and the way the changes removed any real reason for her to want to be a superhero, and was also commenting on the way Infinity, Inc wound up making every story about her about Hector and their relationship. At the same time, I wish he hadn’t made her such a brittle, shattered person through the rest of the series. However, just as Hector can’t leave the “Dream Stream” for very long, I know I encountered a warning in one of the comics I read (I cannot remember which one, but it was something published before Sandman) that ordinary humans also can’t remain inside for long. So I assume that some of what we see in Sandman is the inevitable effect on mortals of living so long in dreams. (It’s possible that Dream can shield people from the effect, but it’s also possible that he can’t or just doesn’t notice what it does to them because he’s so used to dreamers.)

#the sandman #sandman comic spoilers #lyta hall #hector hall #infinity inc

42 notes · View notes

downthe-f4ndom-rabbith0le · 2 months

Text

Always Been You (Dick Grayson x Reader) - Chapter 2

Always Been You (Dick Grayson x Reader) Reader Insert: she/her pronouns Word Count: 5030 Warnings: death, violence, fighting, bloody wounds, angst, infuriatingly oblivious love interest, slowburn Spoilers: Young Justice Seasons 1-3 plot partially, but it ended in 2022 so catch up.

Two years after his leave, Dick reaches out to his old friends to help him with a mission. But when he finds out Y/N left too, he chases after her in the hopes to bring her back.

Will Dick and Y/N be able to put their past behind them and save the Amazonians' homeland? Or will they fall, unable to tell one another their true feelings?

~~~

(6 Months Later)

Dick Grayson looked up at the Carr family home from his car, apprehensive to open the door just yet. It was a nice home, and from the research Dick did, a nice family lived there too.

His eyes trailed to the apartment situated above the garage, imagining the people who were inside. How were they going to react when he told them what he was there for? Scratch that, how were they going to react when they saw him?

'Should I go take a nap or are you going to man up and go inside at some point?' Oracle's sarcastic voice came through the car's bluetooth.

Dick clenched his hands around the steering wheel. Barbara - newly named Oracle - was right. It didn't matter what his friends were going to say. He needed their help, and he needed to man up.

Dick finally unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the door. 'I'll call you when I'm done,' he said, then ended the call before Barbara could sneak in another witty remark.

He made haste running up the Carr's driveway, then up the stairs to the apartment above the garage. As he raised his hand to knock on the door, he heard laughter and lively chatter that made him pause. An overwhelming sense of guilt and shame and longing surged through him. Was he really going to break up the joy beyond the door? Once upon a time he would've been glad for a party, for a break from work and his vigilante duties.

His mind flashed back to that first party him and his friends had in Mount Justice. It was Wally's birthday and he had been lapping up all the attention, especially from M'gann, who had made him a cake and had in fact organised the whole party. This was before Wally realised him and Artemis were meant to be, same with Connor and M'gann.

But Y/N had known, had even pointed it out to Dick as they sat in the corner just the two of them, watching everything play out.

'They're all so thick,' Y/N said, taking a sip of her lemonade, trying to hide her knowing smile.

'How so?' Dick asked.

Y/N rolled her eyes. 'Can you not see?' She grabbed Dick's chin and guided him to look at Connor and M'gann interacting awkwardly but in a cute way, then Wally and Artemis "fighting", matching wit for wit with every snarky comment they threw at each other. 'Connor and M'gann are so into each other, and you could cut the emotional tension between Wally and Artemis it's so thick. They are all crushing hard.'

Dick watched the two couples interact a little longer and realised Y/N was right. 'Well would you look at that,' he said, turning back to Y/N. 'You're quite the observer, aren't you?'

Y/N chuckled. 'Dick, we've been best friends for three years now. If you're just figuring that out now, then you're just as thick as the rest of our friends.'

'Hey! I am not!'

'Are to.'

'Am. Not!'

'Are. To!'

The two fell into hysterical laughter, gripping onto one another so they didn't fall to the ground.

Y/N's smile came to him then, and the longing in his chest ached even more. She was more than likely beyond the door too, laughing and smiling without a care in the world. He suddenly had the thought that he couldn't go through with it. He couldn't possibly ask them - couldn't ask her - to help him. Not after what he'd done...

Before he could chicken out completely, he forced himself to knock lightly on the door.

'I'll get it,' M'gann's sweet voice called out to whoever she was with, and Dick prepared himself as he heard her walk to the door.

M'gann opened the door, and she was smiling, the remnants of laughter twinkling in her eyes. She was in her human form, but it had changed since the last time Dick saw her. Her ginger hair was now cropped just under her ears, and her features were sharper, more refined than that of a young adolescent. She wore a flattering white blouse and casual jeans, not bothering for shoes in her own home.

She was grown up. In just two years?

Her brown eyes locked with Dick's blue ones, and immediately her smile dropped as shock froze her face.

Dick offered her a small smile 'Hi, M'gann,' he said softly.

'Dick...' was all she could manage as she continued to look at him, eyes raking over him as if she were imagining things. 'What are you doing here?'

'Honey, who is it?'

Dick's guilt deepened at the sound of Connor's voice. The Superboy himself came to the door when M'gann didn't answer, and stopped in his tracks as soon as he laid eyes on Dick. But he didn't stay shocked for long.

Connor furrowed his eyebrows and stepped up behind M'gann, placing a protective hand on her shoulder. 'What are you doing here?' he asked icily, eyes solely focussed on Dick.

It hurt to see such distrust in his old friend's eyes, but Dick somewhat expected that. 'Nice to see you too, Connor,' he said, slipping into his casual, carefree persona easily. If there was one thing Dick was really good at, it was putting on a mask. 'I was in the neighbourhood and thought I'd swing by. It's been a while.'

'Why don't you answer my question first before you start acting like nothing is wrong,' Connor suggested, his voice taking a deep threatening tone.

'Connor, please,' M'gann said, seemingly getting over her initial shock. She placed her left hand over Connor's on her shoulder, and that's when Dick saw the shiny diamond ring on her finger. 'He's our friend.'

Dick didn't think his guilt could worsen at those three words.

M'gann opened the door wider and offered him a small smile. 'Come in, Dick. We'd love for you to join us.'

Dick flashed her a grateful smile. 'Thanks,' he said as he ducked through the doorway. He then looked from M'gann to Connor and back again. 'Congratulations, by the way.'

M'gann looked confused for a moment, then a joyful twinkle flashed in her eyes as she looked to her ring, a soft smile gracing her features. 'Thank you, Dick,' she said. 'That's what we're actually celebrating. Come on, there is food and drinks this way.'

M'gann walked back towards the party, but Connor and Dick remained in the entrance, staring at one another.

Dick took Connor in. Because of his clone genetics, Connor never actually aged. Not physically anyways. He'd changed ever so slightly from when Dick first broke him out of Cadmus, only growing a centimetre or two every year or so. His muscles had toned more having entered his theoretical twenties, and but his face still held onto those baby features he'd had since being replicated as a teenaged Superman.

Dick sized himself up against Connor and shockingly found that, for the first time, they were looking at each other eye to eye.

Connor seemed to scan Dick, too, coming to the same conclusion that Dick had changed too since they last saw each other. Dick waited for Connor to say something, but when Connor was done he gave Dick a stone cold grimace then turned to follow M'gann.

'What a warm reunion,' Dick mumbled under breath as he followed Connor down the hallway.

The hallway opened into an open-floor plan that held the kitchen, the dinning room and the lounge. Dick expected a few more people to be waiting for them, but he only spotted Kaldur lounging on the couch, drink in hand. Being the vigilant person he was, Kaldur immediately recognised Dick and placed his drink on the coffee table as he stood up.

'Dick,' he said, teal eyes wide with surprise.

'Hey, Kaldur,' Dick greeted awkwardly, ready for the same cold treatment as Connor.

Instead, Kaldur's face broke into a warm smile as he manoeuvred around the furniture to make his way to Dick. 'Old friend,' he said as he embraced Dick. 'It has been too long.'

'It sure has, buddy,' Dick responded, returning his friend's embrace.

Kaldur released him, but kept his hand on Dick's shoulder as he scanned over him. 'Look at you! You seem to be healthy and strong.'

It was true. Dick had noticed he'd muscled up a little more since leaving the team, though still keeping towards the leaner side of muscular. He certainly wasn't has bulk as Connor, or Kaldur for that fact, who Dick noted also had more muscles and toned features. Kaldur certainly filled out the black button-up he wore. But, as it was with Connor, Dick was happy to see him looking directly in Kaldur's eyes as they spoke, not from slightly below as it had been since they were children.

'Thanks man,' Dick said. 'Been working out. I see you've been doing the same, Aquaman.'

'My King left some large shoes to fill,' Kladur admitted humbly. 'But thank you.'

'So you know of Kaldur's promotion, but couldn't contact him to say congrats when it happened?' Connor interjected from his place in the kitchen.

M'gann scolded him as she placed some plates on the dining table, but the mood had already changed to tense and quiet.

'Connor's right,' Dick admitted, addressing his three friends. 'I'm sorry. These past two years... I should've stayed in contact. I wanted to. But every time I went to, I convinced myself that you didn't want to hear from me. That it would be better to leave you all be while I try to figure out myself again.'

'Oh Dick,' M'gann started, walking around the table to pull him into a hug. 'Of course we wanted to hear from you. You're our friend and we missed you. But we understand that after Wally died, you had to take a break from everything.'

M'gann pulled away and then pointed an accusatory finger at him, looking extremely cross with him. 'But if you ever do anything like that again, I swear I will hunt you down and kick your sorry ass into another universe. Understood?'

Dick nodded vigorously. 'U-Understood.'

M'gann's sweet demeanour returned and she walked back to the table to continue setting it. The three men looked at her quietly as she went about her work, until Dick turned to Connor and said, 'Your fiancée is scary.'

Dick expected another glare from the Superboy, but he was gladly surprised when the dark-haired boy nodded in agreement, face slightly pale. 'You got that right.' He then shook himself out of his frozen state of fear to help his fiancée dish out their meal.

'Give him time,' Kaldur said quietly to Dick. 'You know how Connor can be with expressing his emotions.'

'Well, he's not as emotionally constipated as he once was, I'll give him that,' Dick said. 'Unfortunately, I don't think I have time.'

'What do you mean?' Kaldur asked.

Dick went to explain but quickly decided against it. Kaldur was in the Justice League now. Dick couldn't really explain what he was planning to do. Not yet, anyway.

'Forget I said anything,' Dick said instead, flashing his charming smile and wrapping an arm around his old friend's shoulders. 'For now, why don't you tell me everything I've missed. How is it being Atlantis' new champion, first starters...'

For the next hour, it was like old times. The four of them ate and laughed and swapped stories about what Dick had missed in the last two years. They recalled some of the good times they all shared when they were on the team, and Dick convinced himself for a brief moment that they could all stay like this. Happy, carefree, young.

But Dick had come to Connor and M'gann for a reason.

Once they'd had enough of dessert, Connor offered to wash up and Dick saw his chance.

'I'll help wipe up,' Dick offered, taking his and Kaldur's plates to the sink while Connor filled the sink with soap and water. Dick waited until M'gann and Kaldur were in deep conversation over on the couch that Dick decided to broach his intended subject. 'So, how is the team going?'

'The team is doing okay,' Connor answered flatly, never lifting his eyes from his work with the plates in the sink. 'I just try to help M'gann as best as I can. We're down a few numbers since your old man decided to take half of the Justice League and our team with him in his little stunt.'

Dick winced. He recalled getting the call from Tim about it about five months ago. It had been an orchestrated walk out from over half the Justice League and their protégés, all of them wanting to go back to their vigilante ways as the League and the team had become somewhat irrelevant. Those that remained never saw it coming.

'I'm sorry about that,' he apologised, though he wasn't entirely sure why. Just felt appropriate.

Connor looked at him briefly, hands pausing in the sink as he did, and then released a sigh of defeat. 'Don't be sorry, Dick. It's not like you had anything to do with it.'

'No,' Dick agreed, 'but I should've been there at least. I should've reached out to see if you were okay. We started this team together, I shouldn't have just left it all to you.'

'Well, I know the rest of the team would really appreciate it if you came back now,' Connor said, his tone hopeful. 'That is, if you're ready to come back.'

Dick's heart lurched at the thought of going back to the team, both with want and terror. He liked Barbara, he really did. But, if he were being honest, he'd missed being a part of something bigger than himself and his own agendas.

'Connor,' Dick started softly, looking to see M'gann and Kaldur still locked in deep conversation before continuing, 'I would love to come back. Please know that. But you should know I haven't just been idly moving about the place the last two years. I've been conducting undercover missions of my own with Barbara in relation to the meta-human trafficking crisis.'

Connor's eyes widened and Dick saw he was about to raise his voice so leaned in close and hurriedly whispered, 'Keep your voice down, please.'

Connor took a second to register what Dick had said before whispering harshly, 'What do you mean you've been working on your own? You should've come to us if you were getting involved.'

'First of all, I just said I had Barbara helping me, and secondly because the team and the Justice League are full of public figures now. The missions wouldn't work if they got involved. But I've actually come here to ask you for your help on a mission, Connor.'

'Me?! Why would I-'

'Let me explain. First of all, it'll be you, me, Artemis-'

'You've pulled Artemis into this too?! Where the hell has she been, anyway?'

'Would you stop interrupting me for one second?' Dick hissed, wiping up a plate or two before returning to the conversation. 'As I was saying, from our intel, Markovia's Princess Tara has been found dead. Killed by a meta human supposedly, and I have a sneaky suspicion someone has been testing on people with the meta gene, turning them into extreme versions of their meta abilities. I need your help to find out who. As I said before, I've convinced Artemis to help already, and I was looking to you, Jefferson, and Y/N to make up the rest of the team.'

Dick looked around the room, looking at how empty the couches were around M'gann and Kaldur and sudden thought struck him. 'Speaking of which, where is Y/N?' he asked. 'I would've thought she'd be here celebrating the good news.'

He'd forgotten to keep quiet that time, and so Kaldur and M'gann looked at him alongside Connor, all looking as if Dick had sprouted three heads.

'What?' Dick asked, patting around his face. 'Do I have sauce on my face?'

'You don't know?' M'gann asked, sounding almost on the brink of tears.

That's when Dick realised something was majorly wrong, and his gut twisted with fear. 'Know what? Where's Y/N?'

'Y/N, she...' Kaldur started, then took a deep breath before continuing, 'Y/N left the team, Dick.'

'What?' Dick said, almost dropping the plate he held. 'What do you mean she left?'

'She left about six months ago,' Connor answered, washing up the last plate and emptying the sink. 'Before everyone else left. She felt like she wasn't doing enough with us anymore, so she just... left.'

'I've sent her plenty of messages,' M'gann said, 'but she hasn't answered any of them. And I can't sense her at all in the country. Even the Watchtower couldn't find her.'

Dick couldn't believe this. Y/N was gone? 'So Wonder Woman doesn't even know where she is?'

'Wonder Woman has been busy running the Justice League since Batman resigned,' Kaldur answered. 'Even if she did know where her daughter was, I don't think she'd like us to know, and I would have to agree.'

'Why?' Dick asked, suddenly very angry at Kaldur for not being as concerned as he was about Y/N. 'Do you know where she is?'

Kaldur shook his head. 'Regrettably, no. But when we last spoke, she sounded like she didn't want to be found. That she would come back to us when she was ready. I think we should respect that.'

Dick shook his head in disbelief. 'No, that's not like Y/N. She wouldn't just leave anywhere without telling anyone.'

'What, you mean like you?' Connor asked, and that cold stare was back.

'I mean she is loyal and empathetic. Surely she would know how her absence would affect the team,' Dick continued, ignoring the personal dig.

'She was loyal, Dick,' Connor countered. 'She was loyal, and stuck around with M'gann, Kaldur and I until the team got back on its feet. She held the team together when we were on the brink of falling apart. But you wouldn't know that because you weren't here.'

Dick wanted to argue but found that he couldn't. What he had thought was the best for the team turned out to be the complete opposite. He could sense it now; his relationships with his oldest friends were no longer as they were.

'You were gone for two years,' Connor continued. 'You'd be surprised as to how much a person can change in that time.'

The day Dick left flashed in his mind, and he recalled the pain in Y/N's eyes when he left her behind. He remembered how she'd held it together, but he knew she would probably cry about it later because she'd done it some many times before, always going to him to cry on his shoulder.

But he wasn't there that time. He'd left her all alone to dry her tears.

You're my best friend. Always have been. Always will be...

Dick looked to his friends again, but they could barely meet his eyes. Kaldur was disappointed, Connor was angry, and M'gann was just sad. An apology bubbled up in Dick's throat, but he didn't think it was sufficient enough for what he had done to them.

'I have to find her, then,' Dick said into the quiet room, and finally they all looked to him.

'Did you not just hear Kaldur?' Connor asked. 'We should leave her alone like she wants.'

'We don't necessarily know that,' Dick countered. 'Besides, this isn't about bringing her back. This is about me making things right with her.'

'But what if Kaldur is right?' M'gann argued. 'What if she doesn't want to be found. Maybe the right thing to do is leave her alone?'

Dick shook his head. 'She's my best friend, M'gann. I can't accept that she wouldn't want to see us ever again.'

'Maybe she doesn't want to see you, have you considered that?' Kaldur asked, his voice taking on a protective demeanour. 'The bottom line is, Dick, that you left her behind without a second thought. And she respected that, even if it killed her inside knowing that you would rather abandon her - abandon us - than face the pain of losing Wally together. She missed you every single day, and yet she still fought and trained and guided the team without faltering. And now, when she finally finds the courage to do what's best for her for once, you want to shame her for it?'

Anger surged through Dick, fiery and hot. 'I am not shaming her for anything. Do you not think I didn't think of you all every single day?'

'If you did, you didn't do anything about it, did you?' Connor mumbled, but Dick heard him just fine.

'Look, if you guys don't want to help me find her, fine,' Dick said, looking at all three friends pointedly. 'But I will find her. Because she needs to know that she was right. That I was wrong to leave and I am a terrible best friend.'

His expression softened as he looked down at his hands, imagining how long ago him and Y/N would link their pinkies. How simple friendships were back then.

'If she never comes back,' he continued, quieter this time, 'then I won't blame her. But best friends don't give up on each other.'

It was quiet for what felt like an eternity. Until Kaldur walked up to Dick and grabbed his shoulder comfortingly.

'You may be a terrible best friend,' Kaldur said, a small smile warming his face. 'But that doesn't mean your heart isn't in the right place.'

'Thanks, Kaldur,' Dick said, patting Kaldur's hand upon his shoulder.

Kaldur dropped his hand and the four of them sat down on the couches. 'Y/N didn't tell me where she was going,' Kaldur started, 'just that she needed to find out who she was again.'

'I don't follow,' Dick said.

Kaldur chuckled. 'Don't worry, I said the same thing to her when she told me. But she also said something along the lines of, "I need to find out where I've come from to find out where I will go.".'

'What the hell does that mean?' Connor asked.

'Again, not sure. But when I asked her the same question, she said she had to go back to her roots,' Kaldur elaborated. 'Something to do with where it all started. And her mother...'

Dick contemplated all of Kaldur's recollections, juggling each statement over one another to try and make sense. It was so vague, but Dick could sense there was a blatant truth staring right at them if they just looked hard enough.

Where it all began... Where she's been... Her mother...

The answer hit Dick like a brick wall.

'Themyscira,' he said softly, then more confidently. 'She's gone to Themyscira.'

'The Island of the Amazons?' M'gann asked. 'Are you sure?'

Dick nodded. 'It has to be. That's where Wonder Woman is from, and Y/N mentioned all the time when we were kids how much she wanted to go visit it one day.'

'But isn't it hidden?' Connor interjected. 'I mean, that's why they haven't gone back right? Anyone who leaves the island can never find it again.'

'Wonder Woman must've had something to help her remember,' Kaldur offered. 'Or at least guide her back home. I would suggest we go ask her, but again, I doubt she would tell us anything.'

It was like nothing had changed. The four of them had slipped back into theorising and planning and bantering as if no time had passed, as if no one had left or been promoted. It warmed Dick's heart at the thought that they all wanted to help find Y/N, even bring her home.

But Dick shook his head in dismissal. 'You guys don't have to worry yourselves over this. It sounds like I'm part of the reason she left in the first place, so it's my responsibility to find her and make this right on my own.'

'While I agree that this is partially your fault,' Connor said, earning a slight slap from M'gann beside him that he barely flinched at, 'Y/N's our friend too. The least we can do is help you find her.'

Dick smiled gratefully at his friend, who gave him a nod in return which was a start. 'Okay then...' Dick brought his watch up in front of his chest, clicked a few buttons before bringing up a large holographic screen with Barbara on it. 'Can you see us, Babs?'

'In quality HD, as well,' Barbara replied with a witty smile. 'Now, what can Oracle do for you?'

'We're trying to find Themyscira,' Dick explained. 'But it's not on any maps that we know of. Anything in any history records? Sailor sightings while out at sea?'

'You're asking me to find a mythical island from greek mythology that is meant to be hidden from Man's World and is forgotten by any who leave it?' Barbara asked incredulously, but then began typing ferociously on her end. 'Yeah, sure. No problem.'

Dick and the others waited in silence as Barbara worked her magic, files and maps and illustrations of the island popping up all over the screen around her face. After a minute or two, she spoke again.

'Okay,' she began, 'according to maps, you're right, the place doesn't exist. Even old sailors from Ancient Greece don't have any records of the place. However, I did find some similar tales being published in short stories of greek mythology and sailing journals. And all of them mention a couple of times sailing near what has now become the mouth of the modern Terme River in what we now know as Turkey, and having a strange sensation wash over them about danger. Each and every one of them have been convinced there is danger ahead and have turned away.'

'But they're just stories,' Kaldur argued. 'How can you be sure that what they speak of is the Island of the Amazons?'

'Ease up, Aquaman. I'm getting there.' A few more clicks and taps and Barbara brought up a picture of a very odd looking fish. 'Do you recognise that at all?'

Kaldur stared at the fish for a moment, contemplating its odd structure. 'I don't recognise it as a species,' Kaldur said. 'But I do recognise parts of it. It is like... different fish species have been spliced up and put back together to form this.'

'Exactly,' Barbara said, tap and clicking fervently again. 'This is a fish that has been found not near Turkey but close enough, and on multiple occasions. Now, if we isolate all these fish types... and then map out where each species usually resides... then find the crossover point for all of them...'

Dick watched diligently as Barbara isolated the fishes, highlight on the world map which species resided where, then drew lines horizontally and vertically, then zoomed in on the section the two lines crossed over.

'And there you have it,' Barbara offered proudly. 'The mouth to the Terme River in Turkey. You're welcome.'

'That makes sense,' M'gann said, looking up at the map, intrigued. 'If Themyscira is supposedly this pocket of space no human can find, then it makes sense that sea creatures of different genetic combinations would be able to breed there in peace, more than likely living there except for the stray pod or two that wander off into the open ocean.'

'I would have to agree,' Kaldur said, fascinated by it all as well. 'Who knows how many sea creatures live in harmony there.'

'Well, I'll be sure to find out when I get there,' Dick said as he stood up. 'Thanks Babs.'

'Any time,' she said, then the call ended.

'Wait, you're leaving now?' M'gann asked as Dick made his way to the front door.

'This cannot wait, M'gann,' Dick insisted, opening the front door. 'I have to speak with her as soon as possible.'

'Hey.' Dick was forced to stop when Connor grabbed him by his bicep, bringing the two of them close enough Dick could feel Connor's breath on his cheek.

'Are you really doing this for Y/N's sake, or for yours?' Connor asked in a hushed voice. 'Because whatever mission you think you need her for, I can assure you it cannot be more important than your friendship. Do you understand?'

Dick didn't quite understood what he meant, but he nodded anyways, and Connor let him go.

M'gann and Kaldur stepped up beside Connor as Dick made his way down the apartment stairs and back to the car. M'gann wrapped her arms around Connor's waist as he embraced her with one arm over her shoulder.

'Good luck, old friend,' Kaldur called out. 'May your journey be safe and successful.'

Dick chuckled as he waved farewell. 'I know you've always been well-spoken, but is it now a job requirement as Aquaman to sound like Gandalf?'

Kaldur pulled a face that Dick and M'gann laughed at, and Connor cracked a smile at the slight burn. Before he could psyche himself out of it, Dick hopped in the car and took off towards Wayne Manor.

'Call Alfred Pennyworth,' Dick spoke loud and clear, and the car immediately began ringing.

After a few rings, Alfred promptly answered the phone. 'Master Dick, what a pleasant surprise.'

'Hey, Alfred. Is the Batwing free at the moment?'

'I've just given it a deep clean now. Why?'

'Excellent. Could you please prepare it for take off by the time I reach the Manor? I have a little excursion I have to go on.'

'Will that excursion bring the Batwing back in one piece, Master Dick?'

'...I'll be there in twenty.'

Dick promptly ended the call, not waiting to hear a scolding from Alfred. Those were never fun.

Truth be told, he wasn't sure what to expect when he went to Themyscira. But Steve Trevor did it once, surely it could be done again.

Either way, it was a risk Dick was willing to take to get his best friend back.

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

Tag list:

@valiantbouquetcloud | @epicy0n | @tyrannosaurexrex1300 | @lunaizhere

267 notes · View notes

frostyyyroyalmilktea · 1 year

Text

Morpheus x Reader High School AU

Summary:

A little High School AU where the reader gets stood at prom, but once her charmingly awkward classmate gets the wind of this, he decides that he just has to be the one to save her evening.

No warnings apply

author's notes: in this au Morpheus and his siblings moved to the US with their dad after their parents got a divorce. I headcanon them to be around 17-18 for Morpheus and Death, and around 15-16 for Desire. I had to adapt their names for the modern world so Death is Desna in this AU and Desire is Desirée.

For now, it's just a little oneshot, but if I have any good ideas for this AU I might write another part in the future.

When I was writing this I headcanoned that reader has pink hair, but you can imagine any other eye-catching haircolor you prefer ;)

Title inspired by Steve Lacy's Bad Habit but the song is not particularly relevant to the story, I just liked the vibes

Hope you enjoy!

***

“Morpheus!!” Desna—once again—barges into his room without knocking. She is the only one of his siblings to be granted such a privilege. Desirée on the other hand has learned the hard way to always knock and to never enter Morpheus’ quarters without an explicitly extended invitation.

“Sister dearest,” Morpheus acknowledges flatly, without looking up from his book.

“Do you have a suit?” Desna asks with a somewhat manic edge to her voice.

“Indeed I do,” Morpheus replies absentmindedly, engrossed in his reading. “For funerals and such.”

“Great!” Desna claps her hands. “You always look nice at funerals.”

Morpheus sighs, places a bookmark on the page he was reading, and carefully closes the book. Once he looks up, he can immediately tell from the look on her face that Desna has her mind set on some sort of questionable scheme and that Morpheus will be dragged into it regardless of his opinion on the matter.

“You’ll need to buy a corsage too, and fast,” Desna mumbles to herself, pacing the room back and forth.

“Not this again,” Morpheus rolls his eyes with a sigh. “Desna, I have repeatedly informed you that I am not going to prom. I have been asked out on multiple occasions and I refused as I do not wish to attend.”

“That’s because you were asked by the wrong people,” Desna scoffs dismissively.

“The only person I would like to take already has a date,” Morpheus grunts.

His sister clicks her tongue, exuding some type of emotion Morpheus struggles to interpret. “Not anymore,” she says.

“I beg your pardon?” Morpheus asks, raising his brow skeptically. “There is,” he checks his watch, “less than three hours left till the start of the main event, so unless Trevor Birghin’s lifeless body is lying somewhere in a ditch, I can’t imagine a good enough reason for him to not show up.”

“Well,” Desna starts hesitantly, as if she's approaching a wild animal. “It’s not that he won’t show up exactly…”

“Desna,” Morpheus presses with a chilling edge to his tone.

“It’s just that I overheard Trevor and Danny yesterday, and they were talking about who’s taking who to prom and all that…”

Desna takes a deep breath and proceeds to explain—in the most convoluted way imaginable no less—the trite and simple fact Morpheus was always all too well aware of: Trevor Birghin is a fucking asswipe.

“...and that’s when I remembered that at the start of the term,” Desna continues with her tortuous explanation, “Trevor said that he would love to take Christina to prom because, like, the whole quarterback/cheerleader thing, but she told him no because she wanted to ask someone else,” Desna gives Morpheus a pointed look, “but then she got rejected by that someone.”

“Are you implying any of this is my fault?” Morpheus asks, offended. “I have met oatmeal more capable of a riveting conversation than that girl. Can you blame me for not wanting to spend an entire evening in the company of her and her degenerate friends?”

“It’s not what I'm—” Desna starts. “I’m getting to the important bit, Morpheus, I promise. So Christina said no to Trevor, so he was forced—his words, not mine—to ask y/n because they kind of have a thing or whatever, I’m not entirely sure. But now that you rejected Christina, she decided to go with Trevor after all and so that leaves y/n dateless.”

Morpheus’ blood is boiling with righteous anger. He is not usually a violent person, but for someone like Birghin, he will be more than happy to make an exception.

“And I’m afraid that’s not the worst of it, love,” Desna adds quietly, almost apologetically.

“I’m struggling to come up with something that could possibly make this situation worse,” Morpheus grits.

“I’m like 99.9% confident that Trevor didn’t have the guts to actually tell y/n.”

Morpheus inhales sharply. “So, just to be clear, you’re saying that she is about to show up there without knowing that her date stood her up for another girl?”

“Mhm,” Desna hums, not meeting his eyes.

“Why the hell didn’t you tell her?!”

“And how exactly would that look, Morpheus?” Desna bites out. “I’m not even supposed to know about any of this. I don’t want to look like some nosy busybody.”

“While being one beyond any reasonable doubt,” Morpheus grumbles under his breath.

“Plus,” Desna adds, “I honestly think that y/n needs to clearly see the piece of trash that he is once and for all. She’s always trying to see the best in people, even when there isn’t anything decent there in the first place!”

Desna sounds genuinely distraught so just this once Morpheus decides against reminding her about maintaining personal boundaries of the people she barely knows. It’s not because he has a personal stake in all of this or anything like that, no.

“Why are you telling me this?” Morpheus asks, surrendering to the idea that there is no way he’s not going to involve himself now that he has all the facts.

Desna tsks, like she’s disappointed he even has to ask. “Morpheus, you know perfectly well why I'm telling you all this. You’ve been mooning over y/n since our first day at this school.”

“And she was evidently not interested,” Morpheus points out bitterly, “seeing how she went and got herself a thing, as you so eloquently put it.”

Desna flops down on the bed next to him, throwing her hand around his shoulders in a half-hug. “Morphey, darling,” she says softly, “that’s a load of absolute fucking bullshit. Anyone who had the misfortune to witness the two of you debate against each other in AP Lit felt like the biggest third wheel on this side of the Atlantic. This unresolved romantic tension makes people around you viscerally uncomfortable. Though I can’t exactly blame y/n for not asking you out. You did quite rudely reject—how many was it again, four or five—girls our first semester alone. I think you even made Mary Waylan cry.”

“Wonderful insight,” Morpheus deadpans. “Still doesn’t mean y/n likes me back.”

“Morpheus,” Desna sighs. “She always sits next to you in classes you share. Even the ones Trevor is in too.”

“Well, he’s an idiot and we get a lot of group projects as homework,” Morpheus argues weakly.

Desna rolls her eyes more dramatically than usual. “She remembered your birthday after I mentioned it once in passing, she got you an old-ass Lovecraft anthology for the said birthday, which made you possibly the happiest I have ever seen you in my entire life. She brings you coffee every Monday when you have calc together first thing in the morning because she knows you never go to bed before two am. She remembers all your odd opinions on Shakespeare and can refer to them months later, just to make a point to you about some poncy literary concept. She always says hi to you in the hallway even though you never reply and most people just think you’re just a pretentious brat, but I’m pretty sure she cracked you like a week after she met you and she’s in on the secret that you’re just painfully awkward when it comes to human interaction—”

“Okay, okay, I get it!” Morpheus stands up, throwing Desna’s hand off himself.

“I’ll need to borrow your garment steamer later,” he grumbles, grabbing his wallet and car keys.

“I’ll see you at the venue, sweetie!” Morpheus hears his sister yell after him as he leaves the house and heads for the flower shop.

***

You stand in front of the entrance to a fancy-ass hotel, staring at your phone with a mix of incredulity and rage. This piece of human garbage only deigned to inform you that he can’t be your prom date mere fucking minutes before you arrived at the venue.

from: Trev🏈

hey quick change of plans

decided to go with the boys as a group

hope there’s no hard feelings, see ya at school😜

What the fuck is that even supposed to mean? All his friends from the team had dates last time you checked.

You open Instagram and swipe through the stories of a few girls you know from his friend group. Just as you expected, they all are still very much going with Trevor’s teammates.

If you’re being completely honest with yourself, it’s not like you’re even all that heartbroken over Trevor’s general shittiness right now. He hurt your pride, obviously, but not really your feelings. Right from the start of your situationship with him, he was barely more than a poor substitute for the person you actually wanted. Going with Trevor felt like a safe bet at the time because the idea that the person you actually wanted to go with would say yes seemed like an absolute pipe dream.

But you didn’t even ask Morpheus, the treacherous voice inside your head reminds unhelpfully. You convinced yourself you were doing the smart thing here, avoiding guaranteed heartache and embarrassment of being one of the girls he rejected. Right now, though, it becomes harder and harder to ignore the fact that you might've just been a coward.

Morpheus is probably sitting in some high-end coffee shop right now, reading Kaffka, or something equally pretentious, being all dark and handsome and utterly unapproachable. Definitely not caring about your inner turmoil about a stupid high school prom.

Someone goes in at that moment and through the open door you hear a faint reverberation of the song playing in the main hall.

“Yeah, I am an idiot with a painted face indeed,” you say to no one in particular.

“Waiting for someone?” A calm deep voice behind you asks.

For a second you genuinely believe that thinking about Morpheus so much gave you some sort of hearing hallucination. You whip your head so fast, you hear a crack in your neck.

It’s not a hallucination.

“What are you…? How…? You… I…” You ask very eloquently.

The corners of his lips crawl upward as he rather unsuccessfully tries to hold back a smile.

“My sister has informed me of the unpleasant predicament you have found yourself in this evening and I simply couldn’t stand to see a lady wronged in a manner so galling and distasteful.”

“Really?” You ask skeptically, raising an eyebrow at him. “Since when do you care about chivalry of random people's prom dates?”

“I care only about one,” Morpheus says quietly, looking down at his beat-up doc martens. Under the harsh neon lights of the hotel’s facade, you notice the faintest trace of blush on his sharp cheekbones. “About a girl with a hair color so aggravating, my eyes can’t help but be drawn to it the second she enters the room, the girl who can’t help but argue with me over every single stupid little thing, like a font for our biology presentation—”

“Hey! Comic Sans is dyslexia friendly!”

“The girl who completely overestimates the influence of Tolkien on English classical literature.”

“It’s impossible to overestimate!!” You shriek, mentally returning to the argument from two weeks ago that landed the both of you in detention, when Mr. Stevens accused you of purposefully disrupting his class and told the two of you to “get out of his classroom and go flirt in the principal's office”.

Morpheus looks up, meeting your eyes. You can tell he’s thinking about the same thing.

God, why does he need to be so beautiful?

“What I’m getting at here,” he continues, unperturbed, “is that you're not some random person in my life, and I would like nothing more than to be your date tonight. Would you be agreeable to that?”

He holds out his hand and you look down to see a beautiful black rose corsage. Very on-brand for him, you can’t help but smile.

“You’re so stupid, Morpheus,” you sniff, willing your eyes to dry before the tears ruin your makeup. “Of course I fucking want you to be my date, I've never even wanted anyone else to be my date except you in the first place.”

He seems taken aback by that but recovers quickly and starts carefully fastening the corsage onto your outstretched hand.

While he’s busy with it, you try to take a closer look at him. To be fair, even if he showed up in a Hello Kitty onesie, you would still think he is the most gorgeous bastard you’ve ever laid your eyes on, but he’s wearing a tailored black suit with a black turtleneck underneath and—oh god, his little pocket square is baby pink to match your dress!! This is literally the first time you see him wear something not black and he wore it for you. You just might explode from feelings™ right now.

When he’s done with the corsage, he doesn’t let go of your hand, but intertwines his fingers with yours and pulls the door open for you with his other hand. “After you, m’lady.”

This doesn’t fucking feel real. Maybe, you think frantically, you just inhaled too much hairspray while you were getting ready and this is all a delirious dream. Except the warmth of his hand in yours is very real and so are the double takes from your classmates milling around in the hotel lobby.

“Do you want to take a photo before we go in?” Morpheus asks, nodding at the huge full-length mirrors along the wall.

You blink at him dazedly before the question registers. “Yeah! Sure, yeah, let me just—”

You start rummaging around your purse in search of a phone when you realize it’s literally in your hand.

Morpheus smiles, amused.

“You enjoying this then?” You want to sound irritated but it comes out more…petulant. “Me making an idiot out of myself entertains you?”

“I just like looking at you,” Morpheus says simply. “Is that such a crime? Your emotions are always so…scintillating. I find it impossible to look away.”

How can he just say shit like that and be 100% serious while doing it, you think, while desperately trying to will your face into not going red as a fucking firetruck.

What a beautiful, brilliant weirdo.

“Yeah, okay, Mr. Thesaurus, we get it, you like me,” you croak awkwardly, opening the camera app. “Let’s take some pictures, I’ll need them for the PowerPoint presentation my mom will expect on how I ended up going to prom with a completely different guy than I initially told her.”

“I hope there’s a word amelioration somewhere in the title of that presentation,” Morpheus teases as he stands behind, wrapping his arms around you to pose for the picture.

You snort at the implication, relaxing into his embrace.

***

The photos come out very nice. Though with a face like his, there’s hardly a chance Morpheus could look bad in them. You don’t always like taking photos of yourself, but surprisingly you like most of the ones you took together Morpheus. Some of them are silly, with the two of you making faces, some are very prom-ish looking, perfect for showing your parents, and then there’s…

“This one,” Morpheus catches your wrist before you can swipe to the next photo. “I like this one. Can you send it to me?”

In the photo, you’re looking past the camera, at Morpheus’ reflection as he holds you gently in his arms.

“I look silly in this one,” you pout.

Bessoted would be a better word to describe your expression in the photo, but you’d rather lick chalk than admit it to him.

He doesn’t need you to, though. Morpheus looks at you knowingly, “No you don’t.”

You look down at your phone, feeling your cheeks going hot again. “How would I even send it to you?” You grumble just to be contrary. “With pigeon post? Gosh, who even has a phone with buttons anymore, aside from, like, grandpas? No, you know, scratch that. My grandpa actually has an iPhone 7.”

Morpheus just smiles at you indulgently. “Send it to my sister, she’ll print it out for me.”

Ridiculous. He’s absolutely ridiculous, you think as you type out the message to Desna.

to: Desna 🌸🔪

Local elderly citizen requires your assistance in procuring a photograph

attached file: ridiculousman.png

from: Desna 🌸🔪

you guys are so cuuuuuteeee!!!!

٩(❀ •̀ᴗ•́ )۶~♡

Desna has a tendency to text as if it’s 2010 and her enthusiasm can be terrifying and a bit overwhelming sometimes but she’s one of the sweetest people you’ve ever met. You’re tempted to ask how the hell did she know Trevor was gonna bail on you tonight, but in the end, you decide that you don’t really give a shit. The only thing that matters is the outcome and looking at Morpheus fumbling with the tickets—he printed out the QR codes on an actual piece of paper because he’s a literal grandpa—you think that the outcome has literally exceeded all your expectations. Come to think of it, you should probably send Desna a fruit basket or something.

***

author's note: I'm still not over the fact that Tom Sturridge has a phone with buttons and without access to the internet😂 Good for him though, I hope he's thriving

#the sandman #dream of the endless #morpheus #morpheus x reader #morpheus imagine #morpheus x you #the sandman imagine

43 notes · View notes