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is it not common aoifa knowledge that markiplier is your jason faceclaim bc it really should be (smh @ everyone who didn't know. fake fans /j)
Obviously I'm not making it obvious enough that's on me from now on I'm not even gonna bother drawing Jason just gonna take screen shots of markiplier and add the white streak - actually will probably save me alot of time
#ask#agapimenos#Hey Per!!!!!!!#honestly it is funny tho#bc i picture people seeing my jason#and in the same tone as#“was that the bite of 87”#going#“is that markipler??”#also tho#im so glad i did decide to base jason on a real life person#it makes drawing him easier in a way#i dont have to think about how jason looks as much#unless its trying to get him to look more like markiplier#which ho boy im doing#just you wait guys#those notes from the past ask#those were me taking down what i needed to fix next time i draw jason
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Jason gets de-aged because I've seen fics of Tim or Dick being de-aged, and Bruce losing his memory, but no one has realized the potential for angst if you de-age Jason.
Also, and Author's note-- when I wrote this fic, I was using the Latino Jason Headcanon, I don't really believe in that anymore, but this chapter is heavy handed with that headcanon, but it's just filler, so you can probably skip it if you hate it.
Jason tried really hard to find Bruce after that, but he could not cross paths with him. It was like everyone was trying to stop him.
Damian stopped him first, “I’m going to take Titus and Ace to the park. You are coming with me.”
Before Jason could even tell him that he had to talk to Bruce (because Constantine had told Jason that the spell was going to wear off, but he didn’t tell Jason when) he was being dragged out the door.
The park in Bristol was a 20 minute walk from the manor, and somehow, they didn’t need any adult accompaniment. Sure, they were trained, and they were also going to the safest park in town, but still, whenever Jason wanted to go, he had to go with Alfred, Dick, or Bruce. Though, they were also Jason’s only options for company, so maybe that’s why.
Though Titus was up to Jason’s shoulder , and Ace wasn’t much shorter, so big dogs probably helped.
Damian dug through his backpack, threw a rope to Titus and Ace, then took a sketchbook out and sat under a tree. Jason sat down next to him and observed the park.
A lot has changed about it. A lot of the trees and benches were in different places. The walkways that had previously been a concrete sidewalk had been changed to a red rubber track, and the playground had been completely renovated.
A part of Jason wondered if the old playground in Park Row had been fixed up in the past couple years, but he knows even if it was, it probably was ruined again by a rogue attack. Bristol could afford a clean park. It was safe.
He watched as a kid, maybe 5, walked hand in hand, bubbled in between her parents, as they lifted her up in the air every couple of steps.
He doesn’t think he could remember Mami and Papi walking with him like that. Maybe they had moments like that when Jason was too young to remember, maybe they just never had them at all. Now, all he could remember when Mami and Papi were together was when he was under the table, hugging Sparky tight as trying to block out the sounds of glass shattering, or skin making contact with skin.
Jason’s eyes made their way back to the playground, where a kid, maybe 7, was on his dad’s shoulders gripping the monkey bars.
He knew that Papi had loved them both. He had to take those jobs to make money for them. To take care of them. He drank to forget the crimes he did to keep the heat on, or put food on the table. If he didn’t love them, he could’ve left. If he didn’t love them, he wouldn’t have gone to prison for them.
There was a mother laying on the grass with her daughter, maybe 11, tying flowers together in a crown.
And Mami, she had to have loved him too. Jason wasn’t even hers, yet she had loved him like his own. Even though in the end she needed the Heroin more.
Jason could feel Damian’s eyes on him. “What’s up hermanito? ”
Damian shook his head and closed his sketchbook. “Nothing.”
That was…very convincing. “Am I your muse?” Jason pointed at the sketchbook.
Damian shrugged and placed the book back in his bag, “I was drawing you before you…shrank. It was missing something, though now I have an idea.”
“You’ll show it to me when you’re done?”
Damian just shrugged and gave the command for Ace and Titus to come along.
By the time they got back to the manor it was close to 6:30, and Jason really wanted to talk to Bruce. Except he ended up helping Alfred with dinner. And then Bruce wasn’t even at dinner. And then before he could sneak down to the cave to talk to him, he’d already gone out for patrol. Jason wasn’t even allowed to snoop because Alfred wouldn’t let him.
He was standing across from Batman. In a beat up abandoned apartment.
He had the Joker in a headlock. He had a gun in his hands. And so did Batman.
Even with the cowl on Jason could see the look of distraught that drowned Bruce’s– Batman’s face.
“Stop this. Enough. You know I won’t–”
And that was the problem. Jason knew he wouldn’t. He knew Batman could never kill the Joker. But even after Jason revealed himself, he continued to fight him. In fact, the punches felt harder. He thought he had cared. He thought Bruce had cared about him, but he would always put the Joker first. He would always put Batman first. “All you’ve got is a headshot. I’m gonna blow his addled deranged brains out– and if you want to stop me..” He could feel the knot form around his throat, “You’re going to have to shoot me. Right in the face.” Just choose me, Bruce. Show me you still care. I’m scared, Dad. I don’t want him to hurt me anymore.“One…two… the–”
A batarang flew through the air, ricocheting off the wall and embedding itself into Jason’s neck.
He shot up clutching his neck…right where there was a scar.
No. It was just a dream. Just a dream. Batman could never. Bruce would never.
12:23 am. Bruce probably wasn’t back from patrol yet, but Jason needed him. He needed to hear his voice, deep and soothing. He needed to feel his embrace knowing that he would protect him no matter what. Jason went to the library and waited for him
He heard Damian’s door close first, around two, and then Cass’s door further down the hall.
Ok, so they were coming back. It shouldn’t take Bruce too long.
It was just a dream. Why would Jason be holding a gun up to the Joker’s head? Why would he be asking Bruce to kill him?
By the time Tim got back to his room it was close to four in the morning and Jason had gotten halfway through Hamlet. Then Dicks door closed.
Any minute now. Bruce should be coming up soon. Then thirty minutes passed, then an hour, then two, and when it turned seven, Jason was done waiting. He stormed down to the kitchen.
It was Saturday morning, in a house filled with vigilantes, and Duke knew no one would be up. Not even Alfred. He wouldn’t be up until 9:00. Except today was his hair care day. Which was why he was up at 7:00 in the morning, nursing a cup of coffee. So was he startled when Jason came down, cursing in Spanish, looking like he got zero sleep? Yes.
Though Jason stopped in his tracks when he realized he wasn’t alone.
Duke knew that no one would be up until at least 12, and maybe it would be a bad idea to leave Jason alone to brood. “I have some errands to run… wanna come?”
All Jason did was shrug.
Duke learned very early on while living at the manor that Alfred did not know how to cut black hair. And his old barber got caught in a rouge attack, so Duke just decided to grow his hair out. Then he figured out that cowls don’t fit the same when you’ve grown out your 4b hair. So he had gotten into the habit of twisting or braiding his hair on the last Saturday of every month.
Jason probably knew that too. His hair was a little looser than Duke’s, but he still had 3c hair. Duke kinda figured the reason why Jason switched from the helmet to the hood every couple of months is so his hair doesn’t take up space in the helmet.
They drove down to the Narrows, because that’s where the strip mall with the hair and beauty store and the convenience store is.
“Do you… wanna tell me what’s going on?” Jason had been quiet for most of the car ride, and yeah, maybe Jason was just… quiet as a kid, but currently it was a sad kind of quiet.
Jason shrugged, “I’m just being dumb. I feel like Bruce is ignoring me, but Bruce is probably just busy now. A lot busier.”
Duke had to suppress the urge to flinch, because Bruce was definitely avoiding Jason now. After getting the news from Constantine that they were playing russian roulette with magic and Jason’s life, Bruce had shut down, and then rebooted as Batman. “I mean, he is trying to find a witch with a stick. He’s in Batman mode.”
Jason nodded, “I know. But I don’t want Batman, I just want Bruce.”
Duke pulled into a parking space, and turned to face him. “Jason, I think you should tell him that. Or at least, physically drag him. Bruce probably needs that.”
He gave him a tiny smile, and then looked to the shop, “What’re we here to get?”
Duke tugged at one of his twists, “Gotta re-do my hair. The cowl of my suit doesn’t really fit with my fro, and I love Alfred, but the first time he cut my hair I had…”
“So many ingrown hairs.” Janson visibly cringed, “...My mami used to help me maintain my hair. She used to do little braids, but then she couldn’t. And I never learned, so it was usually really frizzy. So I started using pomade.”
Duke patted his shoulder, “Well, I’m not the best, but I can teach you.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, man. You taught me how to kick-ass. It’s only fair if I teach you how to do your hair.”
All Duke needed from the Hair and Beauty store was some mousse, but he let Jason pick out a couple of hair accessories.
“Oh my god, Duke. Duke, Duke, Duke.” Jason tapped his arm to get his attention, “They have little bats on them!” Jason held a package of hair rings that had different bat charms on them. And by bat charms, they weren’t like halloween bats, they were ‘Bats and Birds’ themed, with each of their bat-symbols.
He picked up another set and looked over all the charms again, “I think the Signal ones glow in the dark.”
Jason cupped his hand over the charm and peeked into the mini cave he made, “That’s so cool.” Then he looked up and frowned, and motioned for Duke to lean in, “Which charm belongs to who?”
Duke couldn’t help but laugh, because of course no one told Jason which identity belongs to who, “I’ll tell you when we get home. The ones that glow in the dark are mine, though.”
Jason grinned and they went to check out.
Then they went to the convenience store, got a bunch of different types of chips, and headed back to the manor.
“Ok, So, let me get this straight. Cass was Orphan, then Batgirl, and now she’s Black Bat. Stephanie was Spoiler, then Robin, then Spoiler, now Batgirl. Tim’s Red Robin? That’s lacking creativity.”
There was a scoff that came from the kitchen, “Hey! It was between that and Drake.”
“Why didn’t you go with Drake?” Jason paused, “Ok, I get that’s your old last name, but that’s perfect. No one would think it’s you because it would completely ruin the point of a secret identity. Also, whenever a villain’s on a monologue–” Jason snickered, “You could quack at people.”
“That’s just–”
“QUACKKK!”Maybe Jason getting no sleep was catching up to him. Oh well, at least he was being silly and not upset.
Duke set down a bag of plain potato chips for Tim, “I hate to break it to ya Tim, but you have to let go of Robin. Time to stop tweeting and start quacking.”
“I-” “Quack!” Did Duke actually think that Drake was better than Red Robin? No. They were both equally bad. He just found it really funny. “Come on Jason.”
Jason found that doing his hair did a really good job at distracting from the dream he had last night and fact that Bruce was ign- nope, busy. He’s just busy.
After Jason got the general motion down—twist left, cross left, on the left half of his head, and the opposite on the other half— he and Duke just started talking. Jason asked questions about his powers, and Duke didn’t seem upset by them, and then they started talking about different books, how much they did or didn’t like them, and before he knew it, Duke was finished with his whole head, and was munching on a bag of pretzels.
Jason was done with the front portion of his head, but his arms were getting sore and the mirror was making him mix up his left from his right.
He felt his eyes start to burn as the twist he was currently working on came unraveled. Why couldn’t he do this?
“Hey, it’s ok, man. The back is always the hardest part.” Duke threw out the bag and washed his hands, “Why don’t you take a little break. I can take over.”
Duke's fingers gently parted and twisted Jason’s hair, and if he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine mami, eyes bright, heart and spirit strong.
Jason locked eyes with Duke through the mirror, “This is the first time we’re doing this together, right?”
Duke gave him a small smile, “Yeah. It’s been nice too. Every time I do my hair, it reminds me of my mom. It's usually in a melancholy way, but with you here, it’s more…”
“Reassuring.” It was like Duke knew exactly what he was thinking. “Like, even though she’s not here, she’s still here.”
He nodded, and as Duke finished the last twist, Jason could see the grief flash across his face, until it was replaced with something more hopeful, and then determination, “We’re doing this again. Next month. We can do it at your place if you want to, but we’re doing this again .”
Jason turned around and smirked, “You really thought this would be a one time thing?”
“It better not be.”
Because everyone woke up at different times, there wasn’t really a set lunch time, but everyone was there for dinner. Everyone except for Bruce. Again.
Maybe Jason would’ve been fine with that, if it wasn’t for the fact that he hadn’t seen Bruce at all.
“Hey Alfred, is Bruce in the cave?”
Alfed set down a bowl of roasted vegetables on the table with a sigh, “Yes, Master Jason.”
“Great. I’ll go get him.” and he got up and headed towards the cave.
He heard the sound of chair legs scraping against the floor, “Jason, hold up,”
Nope. Dick wasn’t going to stop him.
He got to the bottom of the staircase and froze when he caught sight of Bruce. Of Batman . Even though it had been hours since he had woken up from the nightmare, the image of him throwing the batarang, the feeling of the blade digging into his skin felt almost like a memory.
Jason crossed his arms, “You’re breaking rules #1 and #2.”
Batman stared blankly at him, and Christ on a stick, he did not get any sleep did he? “How–”
“You left me with the batcomputer unsupervised.” Jason gave Bruce his best imitation of Alfred’s you’ve messed up ™ look.
Not that Bruce was even looking at him. It was like the first night all over again. Jason rubbed the scar on his neck before marching up to Batman, “Cowl off.”
Batman didn’t even dignify him with a response.
“I want Bruce, not Batman.”
They held each other's gaze, and for a second, Jason thought Bruce was just going to turn right back around, but he didn’t. He reached up and pulled down the cowl, revealing his eyebags to be darker than usual, and his eyes were slightly pink.
Probably from looking at the computer all day, because Batman doesn’t cry.
Though Bruce was currently looking at him with a look of concern. “Are you ok, Jason?”
“No. I’m upset with you.” Jason took a step forward, because Bruce was somehow less intimidating than Batman. Even though they were the same person. “You do realize your brooding has an effect on other people, right? Because you kinda just left in the middle of my mystical diagnosis, and you didn’t even bother telling me when the effects would wear off. And I was waiting for you, ya know? In the library, but you never came up because you were busy brooding, and I haven’t seen you the entire day, and I wasn’t sure if I did something wrong—“
“No! No. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Bruce cupped his face, “Jay, lad, did you wait the entire night for me?”
He looked away.
“I just got caught up in everything. I didn’t mean to make you feel like you didn’t matter to me. Because you do. I don’t think words could describe just how important you are to me.”
Jason wrapped his arms around Bruce’s torso, “I know. I know. I just… had a bad dream last night, and I really— I just wanted to see you.” He murmured into the armor.
He felt Bruce’s arms wrap around his shoulders, “I’m here now. What do you need from me?”
“I’m still upset with you, but if you come up for dinner and then watch a movie with us, maybe I could forgive you.”
Jason pulled away and Bruce took him in, “I like your hair by the way. Are those little bats?”
Jason grinned and nodded, “Duke and I are matching. The Signal ones glow in the dark.”
Dick was pretty sure everyone in the manor could tell that Bruce was starting to go on a downward spiral. So imagine their shock when Jason got him out from the batcave. Not only that, but Jason had also somehow managed to convince Bruce to join them for movie night. Bruce hasn’t joined them for a movie night, unless it was the end, in years, but hey, Dick wasn’t complaining. Just suddenly reminded of the fact that Jason was definitely the favorite at this age.
“What movie should we watch?” Dick jumped over the back of the couch and grabbed the remote.
Tim flopped onto the loveseat, but then sat up so Cass could sit behind him. “If you try to get us to watch another Disney movie, I’m leaving.”
Jason turned his head to Dick so fast, he was afraid he would get whiplash, “You never wanna watch musicals when I suggest them.”
…and yeah, Dick stopped watching musicals by the time he was 14 and thought he was too cool to watch them whenever Jason wanted to watch them. It’s just, after Jason had died, and Dick was missing him, he would go on a Disney movie marathon, or watch any of the musicals Jason had suggested, but Dick had just scoffed at at the time. Now they had become Dicks comfort movies “You’ve converted me”
“So you’re saying, if I asked you to put on Frozen—“
“I’d ask one or two.”
He saw the realization settle on Jason’s face, “it’s 2023. That means Frozen II has been out for four years.”
Damian groaned, “We are not watching Frozen II. If I have to listen to Richard shriek Into the Unknown I will peel my ears from my head.”
“What about The Lion King.” Jason suggested.
Duke shrugged, “As long as it’s not the live action.”
Jason looked bewildered “There’s a live action?”
“It’s not good. And we’re not watching the Lion King, Dick is going to sob at Mufasas death, and then we have to pause it.” Tim reached for the blanket that was draped over the arm of the sofa, “What about Jurassic Park?”
“Drake, we’ve seen that as many times as we’ve seen Tangled.”
“So? I don’t see you coming up with any suggestions.”
“All of my suggestion are always vetoed by Father or Richard.”
“Wait, can we watch Tangled?”
“No. Dick will sing every single song.” Duke hopped into the armchair.
“Hey! That entire soundtrack is elite.”
“ Mother knows best, At Last I see the Light, I Have a dream? Top tier.”
“See, Jason gets me.” Dick placed his legs on Jason’s lap, but he shoved them off.
“No. Dick, you don’t get to say that after saying that Beaty and the Beast was a little kids movie. Do you know how much that hurt my heart and soul?” Jason put a hand to his chest and leaned into Bruce, “Tell him, old man.”
Bruce almost had a fond look on his face, “That we should watch Beauty and the Beast?”
Tim shook his head, “Nope, Dick will pull one of us in to Waltz with him.”
Cass giggled, “I think it’s fun.”
“Yeah but then the rest of us can’t watch.”
Bruce reached over and snatched the remote out of Dicks hand, “I’ve got an idea.”
“If it’s James Bond, I’m doing whatever stunts are done in the movie next time I’m out on patrol.”
“Jason, you already make it a point to do one movie stunt per patrol. Where do you think most of B’s gray hairs come from?”
Jason shrugged, “Damian.”
“Todd!”
Duke smirked, “Nah, Damian’s the cause of Dicks gray hairs.”
“I do not have gray hair!”
“It’s ok, Dickiebird. It’s normal for 30 year olds to have gray hair.”
“Oh my god! Jason. I’m not 30! I’m 27.”
Bruce ended up putting on Mission Impossible. Mostly because he knew he could finish the mission before Tom Cruise did, but also because he could tell that Jason didn’t get any sleep, and he finds action movies boring. And sure enough, not even halfway through the movie, he felt Jason slump onto his shoulder.
Bruce knew that the rest of his kids were taking pictures, and he also knew that Jason probably would hate all of them by the time he was back to normal.
If he went back to normal. 25/25/50 chance . It wasn’t good odds. At all. What if Bruce didn’t have the chance to mend his relationship with him? What if 20 year old Jason died thinking that Bruce didn’t care about him? What if—
The Kremlin exploded on screen, and suddenly, Jason was feeling too limp on his shoulder.
No. No no no no no.
The air felt thick like smoke was filling the air. The only thing he could see was the rubble of a warehouse. The only thing he could see was his son, limp, beaten and bloody. The green of his suit soaked brown, the yellow cape splattered red.
No. Jason was alive.
Bruce placed his hand on Jason’s wrist, and felt for a pulse.
It was there. Beating strong.
Slowly the air became less thick, and he realized that Tom Cruise was sneaking out of a hospital building.
Magic really sucks.
#jason todd#batman#batfam#dc comics#red hood#dick grayson#tim drake#bruce wayne#damian wayne#duke thomas#cassandra cain
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Dragon Age development insights and highlights from Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development
Some really tasty factoids here.
Cut for length.
Dragon Age: Origins
The continent of Thedas was at one point going to be named Pelledia, a name initially floated by James Ohlen
“Qunari” was a temporary name that ended up unintentionally sticking, much like “Thedas”
Mary Kirby wrote the Landsmeet. To this day, nobody understands how it works, except possibly her. If she’s “really really drunk” she can explain how it works. There’s as many words in it as Sten’s entire conversations put together
Concept art for Thedosian art - as in in-world art - draws heavily on Renaissance-era portraiture, the Art Nouveau movement, religious styles and media like stained glass, and favorite pieces from the golden age of illustrations in the early 20th century
Andrastianism in-world (art-wise) is depicted in wildly different methods depending on who in-world made the art in question. “One religion, 3 different lenses”. There’s the Chantry take, the Orlesian take and the Fereldan take; each with its own different interpretations, different mediums and different stories
The stained glass images were drawn by Nick Thornborrow for DAI, to decorate religious spaces in that game “and beyond”
irl Viking art influenced Ferelden
Greek and Italian art influenced Orlais
The book also had other insights into and anecdotes from the development of DAO, but I’ve transcribed them recently as they’re essentially the stories DG has recently been relating on the awesome Summerfall Studios DAO playthrough Twitch streams. (On those streams he provides dev commentary while Liam Esler plays through DA. The ones with DG are currently once every two weeks. Check them out! Here’s a calendar where you can check when the next one is) Instead of repeating myself I’ll just provide the link to the first transcript. From there you can navigate to the subsequent parts. Note these streams are ongoing. At this point I will also point you to a related post which is cliff notes of the Dragon Age chapter in Jason Schreier’s book Blood Sweat and Pixels.
Dragon Age II
DAO had the longest development period in BioWare history. In contrast DA2 had the shortest
Initially DA2 was going to be an expansion to DAO. A few months in EA said “Yeah, expansions like these don’t sell very well, so let’s make it a sequel.” So it suddenly became DA2 and they had to make it even bigger, although they still only had 1.5 years of time in which to do this
Production of DA2 officially lasted only 9 months, and at the time the team was still supporting live content for DAO! They finished development that January after the design team crunched all the way through the holiday period that year. Then it went to cert 9 times
The limited time they had is why the story takes place mostly in and around 1 city, and over 7 years (so it was temporal, rather than over physical distance, because a more expansive world would have taken more irl time to make)
They had no time to review even the main plot. Mike Laidlaw pitched the idea of 3 stories taking place at different points in the PC’s life, tied together by Varric’s recollections of events. DG rolled with this and made 1 presentation on the idea. This presentation was then approved and off they went
As they were writing DG realized that there was going to be no oversight and that everything was going to be a ‘first draft’. “Because nobody had time.” He sat down with the writers and said “Look, here’s the conditions we’re working under. A lot of what we’re putting out is gonna be raw. We’re not going to get the editing we need. We’re not going to get the kind of iteration we need. So I’m going to trust you all to do your best work.”
Looking back, DG has mixed feelings on DA2. “A lot of corners were cut. The public perception was that it was smaller than DAO. That’s a sin on its own.”
Despite this he thinks DA2 has some of the best writing in the series, especially character-wise. The DA2 chars are his favorite
The pace with which production progressed may in some ways have helped. “When we do a lot of revision, we often file away [as in buff off] some of the good writing as well. Somehow DA2′s whirlwind process resulted in some really good writing”
The pace meant chars landed on the writers in various stages of completion. For example Isabela was fairly defined due to appearing in DAO. In contrast Varric at the start was just that single piece of widely-shown concept art
Varric was conceived as a storyteller not a fighter. His skills are talking and bullshitting. Hence the question became, so what does this guy do in combat? The direction was to make him as different as possible to Oghren, so not a warrior. He couldn’t be a dual-wielding rogue in order to differentiate him from Bela. But you can’t really picture this guy with a bow. “For a dwarf, it would probably be a crossbow. We didn’t have crossbows, or we only had crossbows for the darkspawn. And they were part of the models. We didn’t have a separate crossbow that was equip-able by the chars. They had to like, crop one off a darkspawn and remodel it. And that became Bianca” (quote: Mary Kirby)
“Dwarven mages are exceedingly rare.” [???]
If DAO was a classic fantasy painting, DA2 was a screenshot from a Kurosawa film or a northern Renaissance painting. (Here Matt Rhodes was commenting on art style)
John Epler: “In any one of our games, there’s a 95% chance that if you turn the camera away from what it’s looking at, you’ll see all kinds of janky stuff. The moment we know the camera is no longer facing someone, we no longer care what happens to them. We will teleport people around. We will jump people around. We will literally have someone walk off screen and then we will shift them 1000 meters down, because we’re fixing some bug.” John also talked about this camera stuff in a recent charity Twitch stream for Gamers For Groceries. There’s a writeup of that stream here
Designing Kirkwall pushed concept artists to the limits of visual storytelling, because it has a long history that they wanted to be present. It was once the hub of Tevinter’s slave empire, so it needed to look brutal and harsh, but it also then needed to feel reclaimed, evolved, and with elements of contemporary Free Marches culture
The initial plan was for DA titles to be distinguished by subtitles not numbers, so that each experience could stand on its own rather than feel like a sequel or continuation. (My note: New PCs in each entry make sense then when you consider this and other factoids we know like how DA is the story of the world not of any one PC). Later, DA2′s name was made DA2 in a bid to more clearly connect the game to its predecessor. For DAI they returned to the original naming convention. (My note: so I’d reckon they’d be continuing the subtitle naming convention for DA4)
DA2 was initially code-named “Nug Storm”, strictly internally
The Cancelled DA2 Expansion - Exalted March
This was a precursor to DAI
It was meant to bridge the gap between DA2 and DAI
It focused on the fallout from Kirkwall’s explosion, with Cory serving as the villain
Meredith’s red lyrium statue was basically going to infest Kirkwall and it would end up [with what would end up] the red templars taking over Kirkwall and essentially being Cory’s army
To stop him Hawke would have recruited various factions, including Bela’s Felicisima Armada and the Qunari at Estwatch, forcing Hawke to split loyalties and risk relationships in the process
It was meant to bring DA2′s story to an end and end in Varric’s death. DG was very happy with this because all of DA2 is Varric’s tale. The expansion was supposed to start at the moment Cassandra’s interrogation of him ended in the present. “And we finished off the story with Varric having this heroic death.” It tied things up and would have broken many fan hearts, something BioWare writers notoriously enjoy. But between a transition to the new Frostbite engine and the scope of DAI, the decision was made to cancel EM, work any hard-to-lose concepts into DAI, and in the process save Varric’s life. DG has talked about the Varric dying thing before
Concept art for EM explored new areas previously not depicted in the DA universe, with costumes that reflected next steps for familiar chars. Varric was going to war, what would he have worn? With Anders, if he survived DA2, the plan was to present a redeemed Warden
A char that vaguely resembled Sera in DAI was first concepted for EM. This fact was mentioned near this concept art (see the female elf) and this concept art of Bethany with the blond bob
The writers sketched out plans to end it with Hawke having the option to marry their LI. This included alternate ceremonies for party members like Bethany and Sebastian if the player opted not to wed. There was even a wedding dress made for Hawke. This asset made it into DAI (Sera and Cullen’s weddings in Trespasser). The dress can also be seen in DAI during an ambient NPC wedding after completing a chain of war table missions
The destruction of a Chantry was explored in concept art as it might have happened in EM. This idea ended up carrying over to the beginning of DAI. (My note: Lol, the idea that DA2 could have had 2 Chantries being destroyed in it 😆)
World of Thedas
Sheryl Chee and Mary Kirby started with “a disgusting little dish called fluffy mackerel pudding”. In the middle of DAO’s busy dev period one of them (they can’t remember who) found a recipe online for this, scanned in from a 70s cookbook. “I don’t understand why it was fluffy. Why would you want fluffy mackerel pudding?” MK says. “We loved it so much we included it in a DAO codex.”
This led them to create more food for Thedas, full recipes included, like a Fereldan turnip and barley stew from MK and SC’s Starkhaven fish and egg pie. The fish pie became Sebastian’s favorite. “To me it made sense for it to be fish pie because a lot of the Free Marches are on the coast”, SC says, “It was something that was popular in medieval times, so I thought, let’s make a fish pie! I looked at medieval recipes and I concocted a fish pie which I fed to my partner, and he was like ‘This is not terrible’”
For WoT the whole studio was asked to contribute family recipes which might have a place in Thedas. SC adapted these to fit in one Thedosian culture or another, including a beloved banana bread that localization producer Melanie Fleming would regularly bake to keep the DA team motivated. “Melanie’s banana bread got us through Inquisition”
DAI
It says part of DAI takes place in or near the border with Nevarra [???]
This game was aimed to be bigger than DA2 and even DAO in every conceivable way
The first hour had to do a lot of heavy lifting, tying together the events of DAO and DA2 while introducing a new PC, new followers etc in the aftermath of the big attack. DG rewrote it 7 times then Lukas Kristjanson did 2 more passes
DG: “Our problem is always that our endings are so important, but we leave them to last, when we have no time. I kept pushing on DAI: ‘Can we work on the ending now? Can we work on the ending now? Can we do it early on?’ Because I knew exactly what it was going to be. But despite the fact that it kept getting scheduled, whenever the schedule started falling behind, it kept getting pushed back... so, of course, it got left til last again.”
“The reveal of the story’s real antagonist, Solas, a follower until the end, when he betrayed the player”. “Solas’ story remains a main thread in Inquisition’s long-awaited follow-up” [these aren’t DG quotes, just bits of general text]
Over the course of development they had 8 full-time writers and 4 editors working on it. Other writers joined later to help wrangle what ended up being close to 1 million words of dialogue and unspoken text. While many teams moved to a more open concept style of work for DAI, the writers remained tucked away in their own room, a choice DG says was necessary, given how much they talked. All the talking had a purpose ofc as if someone hit a bump or wall in their writing they would open the problem up to the room
As writing on a project like DAI progresses, the writers grow punchier and weirder things make it into the game. This is especially the case towards the end of a project (they get tired, burned out)
Banter and codexes require less ‘buy-in’ (DG has talked about this concept a few times on the Twitch streams) from other designers. DG liked to leave banter for last as a reward because it was fun. Banter begins as lists of topics for 2 followers to discuss. These may progress over time or be one off exchanges. One banter script can balloon to well over 10k words. “The banter was always huge because we were always like, laughing, and really at that point, our fields of fucks were rather barren, so we would just do whatever”
The bog unicorn happened pretty much by accident. It was designed by Matt Rhodes and was one of his fav things to design. They needed horse variations and he had already designed an undead variant which was a bog mummy [bog body]. irl these are preserved in a much different way to traditional mummies. When someone dies in a bog their skin turns black and raisin-like. The examples we know of tend to have bright red hair for whatever reason. It’s a very striking look and MR wanted to do a horse version of this as he thought it’d be neat. 5 mins before the review meeting for it he had a big ‘Aha!’ moment, quickly looked up a rusty old Viking sword, and photoshopped it through its skull like that was how it died. “And I was like, ‘I just made a unicorn. Alright, in it goes!’” It got approved. “So we built the thing. It fit. It told a little story”
With the irl Inquisition longsword, one of the objects they tested its cleaving ability on was a plush version of Leliana’s nug Schmooples
The concept art team explored a wide variety of visuals for the Inquisitor’s signature mark. It needed to look powerful and raw but couldn’t look like a horrific wound. In some cases, as cool as the idea looked on paper, they just weren’t technically feasible, especially as they had to be able to fit on any number of different bodies
Bug report: “Endlessly spawning mounts! At one point during development, Inquisitors could summon a new horse every time they whistled, allowing them to amass a near infinite number of eager steeds that faithfully followed them across Thedas. “You could go charging across levels and they’d all gallop behind you,” Jen Cheverie says, “It was beautiful.” Trotting into town became an epic horse siege as a tidal wave of mounts enveloped the streets. Jen called it her Army of Ponies”
The giants came from DA Week, an internal period when devs can pursue different individual creative projects that in some way benefit DA. They also had a board game from one of these that they were going to put in but they didn’t have time. It’s referenced though. It was dwarven chess
Josie’s outfit is made of gold silk and patterned velvet, with leather at her waist. She carries “an ornate ledger” and she has “an ornamented collar sitting around her neck, finished by a brilliant red ruby, like a drop of Antivan wine in a sunbeam”
Iron Bull’s armor is leather. His loose pantaloons and leather boots give him agility to charge
On DAI in particular, concept artists took special care to make sure costumes would be realistic, at least in a practical ‘this obeys the laws of physics and textiles’ sense. “While on Inquisition, we thought about cosplay from a concept art perspective. Given how incredible a lot of [cosplays] are, I now am not worried about them. In fact in some cases in the future I want to throw them curveballs like, ‘All right, you clever bastards. Let’s see if you can do this!’”
2 geese that nested on the office building and had chicks were named Ganders and Arishonk (it wasn’t known who was the mom or the dad). Other possible names were Carver Honke, Bethany Honke, Urdnot Pecks, Quackwall, Cassandra Pentagoose, the Iron Bill, Shepbird, Garroose, Admiral Quackett, Scout Honking, HChick-47 and Darth Malgoose
Bug report: “The surprising adventures of Ser Noodles!” DAI was the first time the series had a mount feature, meaning this had a lot of bugs. A lot of the teams’ favorite bugs were to do with the mounts. There was a period of time where the Inquisitor’s horse seemed to lose all bone and muscle in its legs. They had a week or so where all quadruped legs were broken. It was a bit noticeable in things like nugs and other small beasties but the horse was insanely obvious. “The first time we summoned the horse [for this] and started running around, the entire QA exploration room just exploded with laughter.” Its legs flapped around like cooked fettucine, leading testers to lovingly nickname it Ser Noodles. At galloping speeds the legs almost looked like helicopter blades, especially when footage was set to classic pieces such as Wagner’s Flight of the Valkyries
For DAI the artists were asked questions like “What would Morrigan wear to a formal ball? Can Cassandra pull off a jaunty hat?”
On DAI storyboarding became the norm. John Epler: “Cinematic design for the longest time was the Wild West. It was ‘here’s a bunch of content, now do it however you want’, which resulted in some successes and some failures.” Storyboarding gave designers a consistent visual blueprint based on ideas from designers, writers and concept artists
Quote from a storyboard by Nick Thornborrow (the Inquisitor going into the party at the end of basegame sequence): “Until Corypheus revealed himself they could not see the single hand behind the chaos. A magister and a darkspawn combined. The ultimate evil. So evil. Eviler than puppy-killers and egg farts combined.”
A general note on concept art:
In the early stages of any project, before the concept artists are aware of any writing, they like to just draw what they think cool story moments could be. It’s not unusual for the team to then be inspired by these and fold them into the game as the project progresses
– From Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development
#dragon age 4#the dread wolf rises#dragon age#bioware#video games#the da4 tags are due to a few references to da4#cassandra pentaghast#my lady paladin#lul#feels#solas#mass effect#garrus vakarian#best boy#morrigan#queen of my heart#fenris#the Fenaissance#Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development spoilers#Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development spoiler#Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development#spoilers#spoiler#mj best of
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Roy's surprise party
Previous dad Roy
Masterlist
Marinette smiled at the clumsily written invitation. Lian had made it from a thank you card but had invited Marinette over for Roy’s birthday. She wasn’t sure what the protocol was for a surprise party thrown by a child. She didn’t really want to ask whether she should bring something so she made an easy dinner that could be heated or frozen so they could have a quiet night. Maybe they would even invite her again. She was at the market getting a birthday card and a little plush for Lian. She saw Aristocats and chose that. At the check out, she saw the tiny bag of chocolate kisses. She got one of those too. She arrived on time but when she knocked on the door it was Jason there with Lian, not Roy.
“Am I early?” Marinette asked.
“Depends on who you ask. For the party, yes. But for Lian, no. She has been asking when you will get here every 4 minutes for the last 2 hours.”
“Oh dear. That doesn’t sound like the most fun for you.”
“I did what I could and tried to get her to help. Did you agree to make the cake or is that something she decided on her own?”
“We can pretend I agreed, for her.”
“I see she already has you wrapped around her little finger.”
Marinette laughed and walked inside. Lian screeched and ran over to hug her. Marinette caught her before she could latch on to her legs and lifted her for a hug.
“I hear we need to make a cake. But does anyone know what flavor to make? It should be his favorite.”
Lian jumped up and down from where Marinette had set her back down.
“Oh oh. I know. Its strawberry.” Lian shouted. “Look. We even bought some real strawberries.”
“That is wonderful. But who will help me bake the cake, I can’t do it on my own.”
“Oh me! Pick me.”
Marinette appeared to consider carefully, looking back and forth between Lian and a smirking Jason.
“Lian. You will clearly be the most helpful.”
---
Roy was exhausted but he tried to school his features before he went in the door. He could already hear Lian’s excited chatter through the door. He wasn’t overly excited about his birthday but he knew that she was. There were probably drawings and glitter waiting for him. She would want to make sure he did something special so he thought he might take her to the burger place with the fancy shakes. They would look like just what she expected to see for his birthday, covered with whipped cream and sprinkles.
He took a breath and opened the door. He could smell the cake instantly and he could see it on the counter. Lian was sitting up there next to it carefully placing strawberries on top while Marinette guided her on how to do it. Jason slipped out behind him but he was watching Marinette. She looked up at him and her smile stopped him in his tracks. He was struck by how much he wished he could come home to her smile every day. She turned back to Lian quickly when the girl moved to jump down pushing her hand into the cake.
He rushed over to her. Her smile was gone instantly and she screamed when she realized she had smashed it. He pulled her close and she cried against him that she had ruined it. Roy looked down at it. He could still clearly see the shape of the arrow. Marinette must have let Lian choose. She would be in for a laugh when he told her where Lian got her love of arrows. He paused at that thought. It had been a long time since he had entertained the thought of telling someone about all parts of his life. He hadn’t even known Marinette long but he already wanted to let her in.
He watched her again. She had moved around his kitchen to get a towel to clean the icing off Lian. She talked calmly while Lian watched and showed her how to fix the cake. She showed her that she could get it to look almost like it did before and it would taste the same, maybe even better there because there would be more icing.
“Do you think it is time to sing to your Dad, Lian?”
She nodded her head and reached out for Marinette. Roy adjusted to hand the girl over. He held himself back from pulling her into his arms too. Marinette started singing happy birthday softly until Lian joined in. Roy was smiling, actually smiling while they sang, not just giving Lian the happy face she needed to see. He couldn’t help reaching his hand out to touch Marinette’s arm.
---
“What should we do about dinner, my little Squeaker?” he asked, looking at Lian. “I thought maybe we could go get burgers and invite Marinette with us.”
“No, look Marinette brought dinner.”
“I wasn’t sure what to get for your birthday. I thought maybe a night without cooking would be nice but it can be heated or frozen.”
“Wow. That looks really good. I would like that. If you will stay and eat with us. It’s the only way we get cake if we eat dinner first.”
Lian nodded seriously along with him. Marinette smiled along and then turned to put the food in the oven.
“Do I get to open my present while I wait? You already sang the song.”
“Mine first,” said Lian.
She ran off and came back and handed him a hand drawn card and something made from play dough. Marinette thought it might be an arrow. The girl definitely had a theme. Roy made a big show of excitement for the items and then turned to the bag Marinette had brought.
“Let’s see what is in here. Oh, it's a little kitty plush. I’m not sure if I will have the time to look after this little guy. Lian, would you be willing to help?”
“Oh yes. He can sleep in my bed.”
“That sounds like a good plan.”
“What is this? A movie called Aristocats. Do we think we should watch that tonight?”
“Yes! Please can we? Marinette can stay too. She will love it.”
Marinette smiled at their interactions. It was clear that they had a lot of fun with each other. She was so happy they were letting her in on their time. Roy pulled out the tiny bag of kisses. He looked up at her and made eye contact.
“I definitely hope we can share these later too.”
---
Roy lifted his sleeping daughter and carried her to bed. He could hear Marinette moving quietly behind him to pick up the remains of their movie snacks. She thought the movie was amazing. She decided they needed to get a cat. Roy wasn’t sure if he wanted on but he had a feeling they would end up compromising and getting one before too long. He laid her in her bed and pulled the covers up around her. He was quicker than he usually would, just hoping she would stay sleeping so he could get back to Marinette.
“You don’t have to do that,” he said.
It was clear he had startled her. She had wiped the counters and was now facing away, washing the dishes. She was shaking off her hands to turn back to him but he took a couple steps so he was right behind her. He slid his arms around her. She reached over for the towel but he turned her chin towards him.
“My hands are all wet. It will get all over you,” she said.
“Only if you put your hands all over me. In which case, I don’t care. Feel free.”
He leaned down and kissed her. Her hands seized his shirt and held him there. He moved one hand up to thread his fingers through her hair and deepened the kiss. It had been a much better birthday than he expected.
Taglist
@theymakeupfairies | @emjrabbitwolf | @vixen-uchiha | @trythisagainlove | @trippingovermyfeet | @tbehartoo
@adrestar | @zynna
@queenz-z | @ritacrow-blog | @toodaloo-kangaroo
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How would they escape ?
You were organizing some paperwork when you hear a loud crash and multiple screams. You run to the window to see..Arthur ?! He had just jumped out of the window and crashed on a car. You run outside to see Arthur surrounded by the hospital's guards.
" Hands up, Joker ! You're going back to your cell !"
You try to make your way through the heavily armed guards to check on Arthur, but a whistle makes you turn around to see Five with..
" Oh no.."
A remote. And not any remote, the one controlling the anti-powers system.
" Be careful, Five..You don't know what you would release.."
You warn him, but he only grins widely before playing with the remote in his hand.
" That little thing ? I'm sorry, Y/N. But, you see, I already activated it the moment Arthur jumped to make a distraction. It is too late. The monsters are out now."
You hear a low growl behind you and turn around to see Penny. You know what is to follow and the soldiers seem to understand as well as they immediately draw their weapons out to fire. However, Five gives the order with a sadistic smirk.
" Penny..Attack."
In a moment, Penny is on the soldiers, opening his mouth wide and ripping the them into shreds to your utter horror. Some run away, while some continue shooting as you get down on the ground. You see Five running away, but to your horror, one of the soldiers spot him and shoots him. You hesitate, should you go and help him ? You look at him and you know. You know that you can't leave him. You run towards him and take a piece of your uniform to apply on the wound.
" Why did you do that ?! Why now ?! I don't understand !"
You ask while wiping your tears, your hands drenched in blood as you trie to think of anything to stop the bleeding.
" I..I had to do something.."
He simply answers as you hold his head on your knees, trying to make him stay awake.
You hear the loud screech of a car and look up to see the rest of the slashers in a car. They stop just next to you and Jason gets out of the car to grab Five.
"Stop !"
You shout and, to your surprise, Jason obeys you. He stops and faces you. His face is unreadable, but you know that he is listening to you.
" Five won't survive if you take him now ! Please, come back in with me ! And we can help him !"
You can see that he is hesitating. You extend your hand towards him, hoping he would take it. He looks at your hand and is about to take it when his eyes darken and he shields Five. You don't understand until you see a new set of guards arrive that open fire at Jason.
" Stop ! What are you doing ?! Stop !"
You shout, but they don't listen to you and only push you out of the way before resuming shooting. You sob as Jason kneels on the ground. The shooting stops, the soldiers thinking that they had finally gotten Jason. But, to the astonishment of all, Jason stands up again and turns towards you, cribled with bullets but still alive.
" I'm sorry, Y/N..I really thought you would be the one to save us."
He finally says to you, his hands covered in blood before he jumps in the car that starts again. The soldiers start shooting again as the car tries to dodge the bullets. Penny is getting rid of most of the soldiers, biting their heads off and ripping their limbs. You know that if you stay here, the same fate awaits you. You want to escape as well, when one of the soldiers takes you by the arm and digs the end of his gun against your temple. Penny suddenly stops to look at the two of you with wide eyes, dropping whoever's body he had been feasting on.
" One more step, and the nurse gets it !"
Penny nods in understanding, his chin covered in blood and raises his hands in surrender.
" Let her go.."
The soldier is shaking, but doesn't seem to want to let you go any time soon.
" Not a chance ! She's my ticket out of here !"
You both step back as his eyes are fixed on Penny that stares at him with animosity and glances at you with a glimpse of worry. You smile through your tears and try to reassure him, even though you had seen what he could do.
" It's okay, Penny. Everything is going to be alright.."
However, before you could make one more step, the soldier is transpierced by something: very sharp blades. He lets you go and you see that it's Freddy that came to your rescue. He winks at you before tilting his head towards the car to Penny, signaling him to get in the car. Penny nods understandingly and jumps on the top of it. Freddy then looks at you and extends his hand towards you. You close your eyes tight, thinking that he would kill you as well, but you only feel his fingers softly wrapping themselves around your wrist. You open your eyes to see a certain tenderness in Freddy's eyes as he smiles at you.
" I'm not gonna hurt you, nurse. You're the only good thing that happened to us in that asylum. This is why I'll give you a choice. Do you want to come with us or not ?"
Your eyes widen in surprise at his proposition. You look at the car and him repeatedly, hesitating. Finally, you open your mouth to give him an answer when someone else does.
" You're both not going anywhere."
Suddenly, someone shoots at him, and this time ? It's with a grappling hook. Both you and Freddy are surprised as he coughs blood and falls to his knees. Suddenly, he is dragged forward, not able to grab anything as he is dragged harshly through the snow. You turn around to see new soldiers, different from the earlier ones as they are covered in black and their weapons seem more unusual. They get a hold of Freddy that tries to get away, but seems unable too. Freddy understands that he will not be able to get away, so he looks up at the other slashers in the car and yells through gritted teeths.
" What the f*ck are you waiting for ?! Get out of here ! Do it !"
Pennywise gets out of the car, his eyes glowing yellow in the dark. He is about to come try to free Freddy, but Freddy shakes his head negatively. They both stare at each other until Freddy forces himself to yell at him.
" What are you doing, you dumb f*ck ?! I said f*cking go !"
Freddy is harshly punched as a result and Pennywise stops dead in his tracks and looks at Freddy that spits blood. A harsh contrast in the white snow. Pennywise's hands clench into fists and he growls menacingly at the soldiers. But Freddy stands up bravely and Pennywise stares at him with pain in his eyes. Freddy's eyes are filled with tears as he yells again.
" Do it !"
As he doesn't move, you decide to act as well and shout.
" Run !"
At that, Pennywise seems to snap out of it and returns in the car. They drive away and you sigh in relief. Your relief is short-lived as one of the strange soldiers punch you hard in the stomach, cutting your breath out of your lungs.
" Let her go, you f*ckers ! You got me ! Let her go ! She is just a nurse !"
One of the soldiers who seem to be the leader nods at the soldiers holding you that throw you in the snow. You take a moment to get your breath back before standing up again. You see them entering in two black cars and Freddy smiles reassuringly one last time at you before being shoved into the car. You feel a lump in your throat and run towards the cars, but they drive away as well and you fall in the snow again. You feel angry and scream so loud that it becomes painful. You then stare at the hospital with tears in your eyes and curse the day you had first entered those walls. After a while, some of the nurses come out to get your shivering form back inside.
Inside the car, as Five is the only one besides Freddy that knows how to drive, he forces himself to stay awake and brings the slashers to the address he was given. He gets numerous shocked stares from other drivers and finally shouts at one of them.
" What are you looking at, donkey ?! Yes. I'm a kid driving a car. Get over it."
However, he knows he is losing blood and needs medical care, fast. He parks in front of the appointed building and the slashers get out of the car. The building is a very gloomy tall greyish hotel that seems to have been taken straight out of an old horror movie. They are then greeted by a man that Five knows all too well.
" Hello gentlemen. Welcome to the Redemption."
But before anyone could reply, Five collapses on the ground.
#fandoms#imagine#fanfic#pennywise 1990 x y/n x pennywise 2017#pennywise 1990#pennywise 2017#pennywise x reader#brahms heelsire x reader#jason voorhees x reader#michael myers x reader#freddy krueger x reader#number five x reader#the joker x reader#arthur fleck
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Shitty Birthdays and Little Stars | Jason Todd
✦ pairing — Jason Todd x gender neutral!Plus Size Reader
✦ word count — 1.9k
✦ summary — a stranger makes your shitty birthday better – maybe even more than just your birthday.
✦ request — Can I have a smutty prompt 11 with Jason Todd, please?
✶ S11 - “If you keep making those sounds I’m not going to be able to stop myself.”
✦ warnings — angst, mentions and usage of alcohol, language, reader has a vagina, mild smut, fluff.
════════════════════════
Sean, the bartender’s shadow loomed over you as he stood in front of you. Sniffing, you looked up at his still frame.
“It’s too early to close my tab,” you reminded him defensively, “I just got here.”
Chuckling, he shook his head and placed a glass identical to the half-empty one in your hands.
“What’s that?”
He lifted his eyebrows, deviating his gaze to your left. Your eyes fell on a dark-haired man, a little mysterious looking, clearly stupidly tall, deep pretty eyes and all...
Why did he have to appear today precisely?
“Shit, he’s hot.”
“Go,” Sean encouraged you.
“No!” you said between your teeth, eyes still on the handsome stranger. “I’ve been crying the entire day.”
“Oh, I know. Everybody can tell, even him, yet he sent that drink.”
Your head snapped to where the bartender was standing. You glared. “Sean, do you even know wh—“
A gruff voice next to you interrupted you. “Can I sit?”
The effect that voice had on you must’ve been clear on your face because Sean snorted and walked away.
You nodded your head. “Of course.”
“I’m Jason,” he introduced himself as he sat down next to you, twisting on the stool to face you.
You gave him your name and immediately felt the need to explain yourself under his gaze. “I’m flattered,” you assured him. “But I’m in a shitty mood and I wouldn’t want to ruin your evening.”
“What happened?”
“Let’s go with a ghost from the past.”
“Metaphorical, I hope.”
You tilted your head. “So you believe in ghosts? Like actual ghosts?”
Jason considered the question for a few seconds. “Can’t say I do, can’t say they absolutely don’t exist.”
You hummed. “It’s just been a shitty day.”
“We all have those. Some have shitty years even.”
“You know Sean, right?” You nodded your head upward in direction toward the other end of the bar. Jason nodded. “Well, today is my birthday and the only person who remembered was him.”
“Happy birthday.”
You could tell that he meant it which wasn’t making things better. Or easier. “Thanks.”
“So a shitty birthday brought you to a bar?”
“Yeah. Long story short.”
“I have time.”
“You really want me to ruin your evening, don’t you?”
He shrugged, almost sheepishly. “Got somebody else’s evening to ruin?”
Finishing the half-empty drink, you sighed. “My two best friends live in another state and they were supposed to be here yesterday but they’re too busy which I completely understand. And my dad is out of town visiting my half-sister whom I hate — that one I don’t understand so much, but I guess she’s his daughter too.” You grimaced as the words left your mouth. “You wanna hear the worst part?”
“I’m all ears.”
“I was in the parking lot of the supermarket, trying not to cry because apart from the shitty birthday thing, I fucking hate doing groceries on the weekend.” You moved your hands as you spoke. “Somebody taps on my window and it’s my asshole ex-boyfriend. I roll the window down, and what’s the first thing he does?”
Jason tapped on the bar as he guessed, “He wishes you a happy birthday.”
“Yes! It’s fucking infuriating! And now I’m here like a damn idiot telling you all about it when your intentions were clearly different.”
“It’s okay,” he tried to assure you, softly.
“No, it’s not! I should be getting laid right now, not telling you about this.”
He couldn’t help but smile, a little nervously. “I— I mean, that can still happen...”
“Yeah?” your voice dropped. You were nervous, too.
He leaned in, eyes on your mouth as he tilted his head. Jason licked his lips before answering. “Yeah.”
You let out a shaky breath and then wished you hadn’t opened your mouth as you sniffed again. “I should wash my face first...”
He bit down his bottom lip. “Take your time.”
You giddily walked into the bathroom, and as quickly as you had walked in you did out. For whatever reason, Jason waited for you.
He even smiled as you walked back toward him, finishing his tall glass just as you stood in front of him.
“I’m sure you were trying to be all smooth and I ruined it.”
“I was about to thank you. I’m a little sleep-deprived and thankfully you skipped the small talk.“
You giggled, resting your hands on his cheeks. “You’re a breath of fresh air.”
He placed his hand on the back of your head, softly smiling at you. “Likewise. Uh... may I kiss you now?”
You caressed his cheeks, tracing his facial structure. “Yeah, sorry.”
Instead of repeating that it was okay, Jason closed the gap between your mouths. You felt as though you were melting as his lips tentatively caressed yours.
His kiss tasted sweet with a lingering acidic tone. You weren’t sure as to what he had been drinking, but the taste only made you kiss him harder.
His free arm circled your middle as he opened his legs to bring you closer. Standing between his legs, you slid a hand to the back of his head and nipped on his bottom lip.
As your lips molded together and the two of you grew more comfortable, you let him pry your mouth open.
Soon, he was slamming you against his bedroom wall, devouring your lips as his hands wandered up and down your sides.
He made you whine as his grip on you tightened which only prompted him to kiss you harder and in response, you moaned.
On your lips, he panted, “If you keep making those sounds I’m not going to be able to stop myself.”
“Who said I wanted you to stop?”
You almost tripped with your own jacket as he walked you towards the bed. Jason picked the item and threw it to the other side of the room where his own had landed earlier.
Hovering over you, he went directly to kiss your neck. You didn’t know how he did it, but he found the perfect spot in seconds, making you whimper.
He hummed, pleased to know you were enjoying yourself. His fingers traced the space between your waist and hip, waiting for your permission to slide your t-shirt up.
You really wished you were wearing a matching pair of underwear and not a sports bra and a pair of white panties with colorful stars.
Knowing it was unavoidable, you placed your hands on his chest so he would kneel on the bed. He allowed you to sit up, watching you as you gripped the ends of your t-shirt and took it off.
He left a trail of kisses down your stomach, hands tracing your thighs. Tugging on a loop of your jeans, he asked for permission to take them off which you granted him.
As the button popped open and the zipper was lowered, you waited for a comment about your underwear that never came.
He made you lift your hips so he could discard the denim, eyes lingering on your crotch.
“Don’t laugh.”
Clearly amused, he said, “The little stars are cute.” Impatient, he pulled your panties down, dragging them down your legs and dropping them onto the floor.
You didn’t expect him to bury his face between your legs, hands drawing patterns over your hips and thighs as he feasted on you.
Panting as you recovered your breath, you followed his now naked form as he laid on the bed just next to you. After getting rid of your sports bra, you crawled towards him. His eyes mapped your every moment, and he licked his lips. With a ragged breath, he brought you over him.
Groping the back of your thighs, Jason searched for your mouth. His tongue shoved past your now bruised lips, pressing against yours.
Whimpering on his mouth as you felt his girth against your slit, you intentionally rolled your hips against his.
He stretched his arm and reached for a condom. You kneeled between his legs, watching his movements as he rolled the condom down his cock.
Gripping your waist, he pulled you onto his lap again. “Ride me,” he breathed out.
════════════════════════
The wail of your cellphone startled you awake. You were so comfortable that you let it ring, but whoever wanted to reach you insisted.
Grabbing for the phone, you sleepily hummed as you answered.
“Where are you?”
Your eyes widened as you heard your dad’s voice. Leaving the bed as silently as possible, you held the phone to your ear between your neck and your cheek while you slid your panties on.
“One second,” you whispered into the phone and placed it onto the bed in order to throw your t-shirt on.
Snatching the device, you slowly opened the door and walked toward Jason’s living room. “I’m not at my place right now,” you rasped.
“Oh, I know,” your dad mocked you. “I waited outside for half an hour.”
“I didn’t know you would be back so soon,” you defended yourself. Tilting your head, you made sure that Jason was still asleep. “Are you still there?”
Your dad snorted. “Of course not.” He then repeated his question, “Where are you?”
You saw Jason stir awake, rubbing an eye with his fist. As he turned to the side and observed the empty bed, you breathed in shakily. “With a friend.”
Your dad’s grunt was enough for you to understand that he didn’t believe you. He didn’t press on the subject anymore, though, he never did. “Let’s get dinner. It’s on me.”
“Yeah, yeah. That sounds good. Where?”
Jason approached you just as your dad gave you the specifics. He watched you with curiosity, both hands in his hair as he fixed his bed hair.
The line clicked on the other end and you immediately acknowledged Jason. “Sorry if I woke you up.”
“Are—“ He cleared his throat. “Are you leaving already?”
You fiddled with your phone as it laid between your hands. “Should I?”
Jason quickly answered, “No! I just thought...” He shook his head. “It’s stupid.”
“You can tell me.”
“I thought you had left without saying goodbye.”
You didn’t know what to say, you weren’t even sure if you would’ve said goodbye had he not waken up. There was something in his eyes that almost made you feel guilty, but you weren’t able to decipher what it was because he spoke again.
“Well, that and I, uh, last night I thought that this would be, uh, more than... you know, a one-time thing.” Seeing your surprised semblance, Jason cursed, “Fuck. I made it awkward, didn’t I?”
“No, no!” Putting your cellphone down onto the coffee table, you stepped closer to him. “Please, Jason, don’t worry. I just wasn’t expecting that.”
He gazed at you, waiting for a clear answer.
This was crazy, and it excited you after so many months in which you tried to find someone willing to at least try to stay.
“You made it better.” You slanted your head. “Easier.”
Hesitantly, he opened his arms. Surely, you snaked your arms around his waist. He wrapped his arms over your hips.
The two of you allowed silence to settle between you, to turn comfortable. And then made peace with it, you made peace with Jason’s breath and he made peace with your mindless swaying.
He traced the edge of your panties, huffing a laugh when you bashfully shook your head. “They’re still cute, I promise.”
“You sure are something.”
“A good something, I hope?”
Afraid of ruining the moment with your morning breath, you opted for kissing his cheek. His lips could wait. “An amazing something, I would say.”
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The Ice
Five things Bruce taught Jason and one thing Jason taught Bruce. (1/6)
Bruce isn’t sleeping when his bedroom door creaks open. He’s not even pretending, when the small, whimpering child climbs into the bed beside him. Small fingers clutching at his nightclothes, a tuft of curly hair tucked under his chin.
He wraps his arms around the small shaking figure, presses a soft kiss into the hair. “Deep breaths, Jason.” He says softly.
The boy in his arms takes a shuddering breath, clutches tighter to Bruce’s pyjamas. His tears are starting to soak through.
“Sorry.” Jason says. The words are barely a whisper, Bruce feels them in his chest, more than he hears them.
“Hey.” He says, in gentle admonishment. “What have I told you about apologising. There’s nothing to apologise for.”
Jason sniffles again, presses himself further into Bruce’s embrace.
“Try and get some sleep.” Bruce says, and with one arm he tucks the covers around them both.
It’s not the first time Jason’s had a nightmare. It’s not even the first time this week. It’s also not the first time Bruce’s own dreams have kept him from rest. If he’s honest, since the incident last week, he sleeps a lot better with Jason here too.
Jason’s been with him eight months, two weeks and five days. And it’s going well. Really well, in fact.
Jason is everything Bruce was not as a child. He’s loud and full of life, with a mischievous gleam in his eye and a heart of gold in his chest. He’s eager to learn, quick-witted and sharp, already catching up with the smartest in his class, despite the school he’s missed.
He’s funny. God is he funny. He makes Bruce laugh in a way he hasn’t done since Dick was small. With silly impressions, or out-of-the-blue jokes that are way beyond borderline for a twelve year old.
He shows affection with reckless abandon, throwing his arms around Bruce or Alfred’s necks or waists, whatever he can reach. Pressing kisses into cheeks, squeezing their hands in his, or dazzling them with a brilliant smile. Like he's been so full of love his whole life and just needed someone to give it to.
And he trusts them. Alfred and Bruce. Trusts that he is secure with them, loved by them, where he should be, with them. With each passing day, more of his personality shines through, as he starts to build his home, his life, there with them in the Manor. Warm, and full, and safe at last.
Bruce had hoped… when he took the kid in, he had hoped that he could give Jason what he needed. That he could make up, in some small way, for all the ways Jason had already been failed. By his parents, by the police, by social workers, by Gotham. Hoped he could give Jason something, that would make up for the years before. He just never counted on how much Jason would give him. Because Bruce adores him, and as the quiet tears turn to gentle snores in his arms, he already dreads letting go come morning.
It's late autumn, the leaves have already fallen from the trees. The first frost of the season had descended on the Manor and it had been a harsh one, killing the last of the late summer blooms that were still hanging on.It had only been a week ago, that first frost, but it's only with Jason's warm body held close that Bruce can shake the chill, even now.
It had been that next morning, the Manor grounds glittering silver, when Jason and Bruce had been working their vegetable patch. Now nearly empty, after they’d picked their carrots and pumpkins and squash. Bruce’s pumpkin had been biggest, but Jason’s carrots had tasted the best.
Ace was out too, running up and down the garden, chasing squirrels, barking good naturedly up trees. There was only so much interest an eleven year old could show in weeding an all but empty vegetable garden. Before long Bruce had shooed Jason off to play with the dog, whilst he knelt in the soil, picking out frozen slugs and other undesirables.
He could hear Jason laughing with the dog. Wrestling with the old Alsatian every time he refused to drop the manky, old tennis ball they were playing fetch with. Jason had a strong arm, but Ace, despite his age, had more energy than even an eleven year old, and before long Jason’s throws became more haphazard.Bruce hadn’t seen what had happened, had only heard it, half listening in the way all parents do. Jason had thrown, but Ace seemingly hadn’t got the ball. “C’mon Acey.” Jason had cooed, “Get the ball.” Before there was a good natured humph, the dog seemingly refuse to do as asked.
The next Bruce had known, Ace was baying manically and Bruce was sprinting from the vegetable patch, because those were warning barks. Ace was a little down the garden, over by the swimming pool, Jason nowhere to be seen.
No. The single word repeated itself in Bruce’s mind as he ran across the frozen grass. No, no, no, no, no.The world went silent as he reached the pool. Panic drowning out Ace’s barks. The thin layer of ice across the surface was cracked open, Jason below the water, still and unmoving.
Bruce yelled. He doesn’t know what. Jason’s name. Maybe Alfred’s. Maybe just an angry, desperate noise, wrenched out of his throat at the thought that someone else he loved was being taken from him.
He careened into the pool. Half wading, half swimming, arms desperately reaching for Jason. He didn’t feel the cold. Didn’t feel the wet. Could only feel the all consuming panic as his fingers finally, finally closed around Jason’s arm, dragged him to the surface.
“Hold on, Jay-lad. Hold on.” He said loudly, and kept saying as he pushed through the icy water to the pool edge, a thousand terrible scenarios running through his mind.
By some miracle, none of them came to pass. Jason had started coughing up water before Bruce was out of the pool, tears joining the water running down his face.
It had been later, sat by the fire in the drawing room, wrapped in blankets and Bruce’s arms, Jason had quietly wept. Whispering over and over “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” into Bruce’s chest.
“You never go out onto the ice, Jason.” Bruce had said. “Never. No matter what.”
But of course Jason wouldn’t know. What pools of water were there in Crime Alley, what frozen lakes or rich idiot swimming pools were there to learn from? Jason had never even left Gotham, had never crossed the river until he came to the Manor. Had never even been to the river, could never know the dangers beneath a frozen surface... Why hadn’t Bruce explained it to him the second they got outside? Why hadn't he had the damn pool cover fixed at least? Why hadn’t he been watching Jason more closely? He should have been playing with the kid, with his— with his son, not picking frozen slugs out of the ground whilst his darling boy drowned.
Except that was the other thing. Because it wasn’t just about not going out on to the ice, never, ever, no matter what. It was that Jason couldn’t swim either. He hadn’t said as much, always casually finding a reason to avoid the water over the summer months. But Bruce wasn’t called the world’s greatest detect for fun. He should be called the world’s biggest idiot. Having an open pool of water around an eleven year old who couldn’t swim. Having not even booked swimming lessons for the eleven year old who couldn’t swim.
Who did he even think he was? Thinking he could be a father to this child. Give him what he needed. He’d already failed fatherhood with Dick, ruined what had been the most important relationship in his life, with his own stupid pig-headedness. And here he was, arrogant enough to risk doing the same again. Stupid enough to—
“B?” Jason stirs in his arms, bringing Bruce back to the present. Interrupting the sixth consecutive night of him reliving the kid’s almost death. Putting an end to the self-loathing diatribe he now has down to a tee.
“Mm?” He can feel Jason’s eyelashes flutter against his neck.
“Thank you.” Jason says softly. “For saving me.”
Bruce has lost count of how many times Jason has broken his heart, but he adds another to the list. “You don’t have to thank me, Jason. I will always save you. Always.”
You can read the rest of this fic here https://archiveofourown.org/works/34213801/chapters/85127050
#spbfic#batfamily fanfic#bruce wayne#jason todd#red hood#batfam#batdad#batfamily#soft dad bruce wayne#batkids
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Bring Me To The Precipice of Victory
1| 2 | 3(you are here) | 4 | next
Summary: When Batman departs— just for a short time, just to patch things up in Gotham— things go horribly, horribly wrong in Paris.
He doesn’t know if he can come back from realizing that Marinette and Ladybug are one and the same (and that his daughter has died more times than he can count.) (all biodad bruce are posted in chronological order but can be read as stand alones)
______________________________________________
The moment of peace, of solidarity, that Batman shares with Ladybug up on that rooftop at night means the world.
After a minute or two, Ladybug pulls back, tear tracks down the sides of her face, eye and nose red. She takes another minute of silence,hugging herself in the muggy Parisian air. When she next opens her eyes, Batman can almost imagine that Ladybug never cried at all.
But he knows that's not true. Ladybug seemed so fragile in his arms. He can imagine— he can imagine Dick in her place, broken over Jason’s death. Tim losing his parents. All of his children facing insurmountable odds with no team by their side. Alone.
Ladybug is not alone, but functionally, she may as well be. He’s watched the fights. He’s analyzed them. Ladybug is always, always the leader. She strategizes with Ryuko and Viperion, but Ladybug is who everybody looks to for an answer when things don’t work out the way they want them to. She’s the one with the plan, the backup plan, the out. She’s the one who swoops in to save the day.
She’s also the one who has racked up the most hours on the battlefield. Even Chat Noir, her partner, only has three quarters of the hours that she’s put in. For most of the other members of her team, she puts in double, sometimes even triple of what they do. Over the course of six years, there have been a little under two thousand battles, lasting from under an hour to over five hours. Ladybug has shown up for every single one, without fail. That’s not even counting the patrols that they do; although Ladybug is given a lot of flack for not patrolling as often as Chat Noir, there’s a fundamental difference in how they patrol. Ladybug is methodical, Chat Noir is volatile.
He’s not a bad superhero when it comes down to battle, but the two of them are fundamentally different. Ladybug sees her time as a superhero as a duty. Chat Noir seems to view it as a time to unwind— and while that’s worrying, considering the information he’s gathered on the Miraculous Team so far points to the majority of them beings teens or young adults— it’s not what is needed to deal with the Paris situation.
Perhaps one of the easiest ways to see these differences is during patrol. Chat Noir uses patrol time almost seems to be an outlet for stress. He entices whoever he’s on patrol with to race to random places in Paris with no rhyme or reason. Whenever he comes across crime, he stops it, but Ladybug— Ladybug searches for crime.
Ladybug has a team and she trusts them with her life, but she cannot trust them to be responsible. That is perhaps the worst possible thing that can happen. And through the videos that he’s watched, it’s clear that the hours she puts in do affect her, and fairly heavily.
Whoever she is, she’s young. Too young to be in battle untrained, because they are untrained— despite being in the field for years, all of their basic form lacks and tells anybody with an experienced eye that they’ve never had formal training in martial arts.
When Batman and Ladybug leave the roof, they leave on a better note than where they started. Batman is still upset that Tom and Sabine are dead, but he cannot attribute it solely to Ladybug’s negligence. He admires the young heroine for rising to the occasion when there was nobody else to help. He has no doubt that with the resources and training that he can provide him and his operatives already on the case, Hawkmoth will be revealed in no time at all.
He’s right, but in the worst possible way.
It’s largely a mistake on hiss part-- he gets a notification that the Joker broke out of Arkham again, and Hawkmoth and Pavona are missing for the time being. Though Ladybug has made a mistake in not taking Pavona out immediately, she and her team have won every akuma and sentimonster battle. The logical course of action is to go where the most danger is.
Bruce does not have any predictive powers. There is no way for him to know what’s going to happen. But when he and his team finally catch the Joker and put him away again-- a feat that takes just a little under twenty four hours, extreme concentration, and a good number of injuries-- Batman finally gets a chance to breathe. The adrenaline from facing off against the Joker’s latest scheme fades. Batman reclines in a chair as Alfred binds his wounds and passes him pain relieving pills while he gets stitches in his abdomen.
He checks the news in Paris.
He almost drops the device that he’s using to view the news.
Marinette’s existence has been hidden from his family. With Dick, he was more concerned about his existence as Robin, rather than informing him that he had a sister. As soon as he started contemplating bringing up Marinette, Batman and Robin had a bad break. Then Jason came along, troubled and angry. Bruce didn’t want to introduce Marinette into the mix then because he was volatile.
Jason died due to Batman’s incompetence. Bruce grieved the loss of his ward; Batman was never allowed to mourn the loss of his second Robin.
Tim felt unworthy as the only child Bruce didn’t pick up off the streets, and Damian-- well, Damian was Damian. First he had a superiority complex the size of the Grand Canyon, and once he got accustomed to how they handled things in the Wayne Manor-- though Tim would argue that Damian is still not used to this kind of lifestyle-- he overcompensated every single mission and needed a remedial course on How to Interact With Other Humans 101. Add the overarching concern of Marinette being exposed to his vigilante life style and being unprepared for it, and he was never able to tell his children that he had another biological kid. A daughter.
When the news that Sabine and Tom died reached his ears, he told everybody he had business in Paris without elaborating what. With Wayne Enterprises opening a Paris branch of their R&D specialising in European artifacts, it was easy to draw connections that weren’t there.
“Bruce, you need to relax. Business in Paris can be dealt with later, you need to take the time to heal,” Tim says.
A clip in his shoulder from a bullet, knife wounds on his torso and legs, a sprained wrist. Whatever chemical experiment the Joker got his hands out still pumping through his veins. “I need to go-- it’s important--”
The pain relievers Alfred gave him earlier were also a sedative.
Tim catches him before he passes out.
#
He wakes up three hours late through sheer force of will.
“Paris!” Bruce jolts upright, still in costume, lying prone on a medical cot in the Batcave.
The first thing that catches his eyes is the red and black flying across the screens.
Ladybug.
His kids are all watching the screens with abject horror.
“Is this,” Tim wets his lips. “The business trip that you were on?”
Bruce drags himself out of bed, adrenaline washing out any residual pain. He doesn’t have the capacity to respond, he needs to get to the zeta tube, he needs to get to Paris, Ladybug is bleeding, the city is in shambles, and Marinette--
One of the news sites up on the screen declares the arrondissements that are obliterated. The one that houses Tom & Sabine’s Boulangerie is amongst their number. An approximate death toll fills the static.
-- Marinette is likely among those lost. He has lost another child due to his inaction. Due to his inability to push through, to look forwards and predict the future and the consequences of his actions. Marinette is another Jason, but if Ladybug doesn’t get it together, she’ll be gone permanently. And Ladybug is little more than a child. She can’t handle it, not by herself, not with her team. She needs an experienced hero, and Batman will be there for her, be the one leading the charge against Hawkmoth as the civilians hide in their homes and pray for her Miracle Cure to reverse the damage.
Dick places a hand on his shoulder. Bruce tries to shrug it off, but his fingers dig into the place where the bullet clipped his flesh. The pain is just a reminder that if he does not get to Paris now, there will be thousands-- no, millions-- more who feel this pain. How did Marinette die? Was it an akuma? Did the rubble of one of the destroyed buildings fall on her? Did Ladybug even try to protect her?
“I need to go,” Bruce growls.
“You can’t. While you were out, the majority of the Justice League prohibited all travel via zeta tubes. Nobody can get into Paris right now.”
Bruce knocks Dick’s hand off his shoulder and turns to his eldest. At the very least, Dick and the rest of his children look solemn. Damian’s gaze is fixed to one of the screens that shows Ladybug. “A city is in danger, millions of lives are at risk, Marinette--”
His daughter is dead. He can’t bring himself to say it out loud.
Standing by idly is the last thing he’ll let himself do.“Who put out the order? I’ll get them to reverse it.”
Dick moves so he’s between the zeta tube and Bruce. “B, you don’t understand. If you go to Paris right now, you’ll get akumatized.”
“I can handle my emotions.”
Jason points at the upper right section of screens that’s replaying past footage. “I wouldn’t bet Paris’ survival on it. Not when more level headed superheroes got on the scene first and failed. They really don’t need any heavy hitters getting akumatized. Not when Superman put three members of their team out of commission.”
Superman arrived on the scene first; it took a matter of seconds for him to get akumatized. He was responsible for razing down three arrondissements in no time flat. Ladybug had to call for a Lucky Charm in order to get her hands on some kryptonite, which forced her to recoup after her time ran out.
Black Canary arrived next. Then Red Tornado.
Both were akumatized in mere minutes.
“After Red Tornado got akumatized, Wonder Woman led the charge to put the rest of the zeta tubes on lockdown,” Duke says, grim. “All we can do now is hope that these Parisian superheroes can pull off a win.”
Bruce stumbles over to get a better view. He remembers Ladybug, small and slight in his arms. A child, crying over the loss of her pseudo parents.
A warrior, bloody and bruised and broken.
She is one of the last ones standing.
King Monkey and an ox themed hero both died at Superman’s hands. The former got in the way of his laser beams, the latter a victim of super strength and getting thrown through two buildings and having their necks snap at an unsightly angle. Chat Noir was also sent hurtling through the air, and the only reason he was still alive was because Ladybug alighted from the sky and grabbed him before he got sent through a building in his unconscious state. Black Canary came shortly after, apparently informed of the Superman situation and carrying kryptonite.
She didn’t last for long either. Almost immediately after helping Ladybug and Ryuko bind Superman in such a way that he couldn’t escape,
Pegasus got hit by Black Canary’s sound waves and Chat Noir’s residual injuries from his fight with Superman forced him into a state of unconsciousness. Queen Bee and Carapace were able to pull off a win against Black Canary, but not without serious injuries. Ryuko faced off against Red Tornado alone, which normally would have been a thing of awe, but in the grander scheme of things, was a huge issue, as without her, the Miraculous Team functionally lost all of their heavy hitters. Rena Rouge and several Miraculous users that clearly had never been in battle before were the ones left to hold their own against the scores of akumatized Parisians.
The only ones left to hunt down Hawkmoth and Pavona were Ladybug and Viperion, and the former was already on her third use of Lucky Charm.
Ladybug pulls out her communicator, dodging an attack.
“Can we get sound on this?” Jason grips the closest table.
Dick shakes his head. “Zatara says there’s already enough interference just trying to get these images. And for some reason, Dr. Fate refuses to get involved with any of this.”
Bruce’s phone rings. He doesn’t pick it up on the first ring, too focused on the ongoing battles. He does take his phone out of his pocket to silence it the next time, but when he presses the sound off, an image comes through.
“Bruce.” Ladybug’s image comes through crystal clear, and it doesn’t make him feel any better. Ladybug, blood dripping from her mouth, costume torn open, hair burnt, wild eyed.
He opens his mouth to speak, but the image goes blurry as she moves to avoid several attacks pointed towards her.
“Before I go, I--”
“Watch out, LB!” Bruce lifts his eyes to the screen that displays Ladybug and Viperion in battle. The spotted heroine gets pushed out of the way of a laser, but the snake themed hero takes the hit.
The ambient noise coming from his phone is strong; he can hear blades clashing in the background as Chat Noir, already on his last legs attempts to hold off Darkblade. Screaming from civilians, a strangled sob from Ladybug. “Viperion.”
Ladybug comes back into view. Blue eyes filled with rage.
“If this doesn’t end in our favor, you need to make sure that Hawkmoth and Pavona do not acquire both the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous. Do whatever it takes to prevent that from happening.” She blinks, retreats into herself, and Bruce wonders if he’s seeing the girl behind the mask.
“And If I don’t get to see you again--” If I’m dead, the words go unspoken, “I really did want the chance -- I-- you’re a good man. A good father. Your daughter-- she loves you. She really, really does. Stay safe.”
The transmission cuts off. On the screen in front of him, Ladybug closes her communicator, closes Viperion’s open eyes, and strides to the epicenter of the akumas. Blue fire flashes in her irises, and for a moment, she’s staring directly at the screen. And Bruce knows those eyes. He knows them.
The next second, all of the computers simultaneously die.
Bruce is numb. No-- no.
He is nothing.
#
All his children-- no, not all his children, Marinette is missing, Marinette is Ladybug, and she’s out on a field that he can’t see grappling with magic forces strong enough to incapacitate Justice League members like their powers and abilities are inconsequential-- stare at him.
“That was… Ladybug?” Tim’s brow furrows. It’s clear that he’s thinking up a hundred different reasons why Ladybug and Batman are connected, why he’s the last person she calls before going into a battle that could very well cost her her life.
“My daughter.” The words are ash on his lips. An existence he’s never acknowledged. Not out loud. Saying it brings a sense of finality to the room. An impending death. “My daughter.”
Nobody asks how long he’s known or when he met her or why he’s never brought it up before. Everything is fuzzy. Floating.
For a while, there’s silence.
“Zatara says there’s too much interference to get the picture back up,” Dick opens his messages, frowning.
Damian still stares at the screen Ladybug looked at directly, frozen.
Bruce picks himself up and moves. He may not be able to use the zeta tubes, but he has a private jet and a license, and he’ll be damned if he doesn’t do something.
#
It takes two hours too long to get to Paris. He shaved five hours off the flight length due to superior technology, and another hour and a half off due to sheer force of will.
The landing is not a pretty thing, but Paris is already in shambles, and there’s no way that the ATC will approve his landing, so Bruce picks out the flattest looking spot of rubble before his jet meets the ground.
According to Tim and Duke, who stayed behind in case this turned out to be an attack spanning multiple cities, the battle ended mere minutes before they landed. Dick manages to get Zatara to broadcast the image in the cockpit of the jet, and on the screen lay three prone bodies. Gabriel Agreste, whose body type fits that of Hawkmoth, Lila, and a third that Bruce does not recognize.
A bone sticks out of Marinette’s arm, the connected hand crushed and hanging limp. The opposing ankle is twisted almost fully backwards. She is covered in blood and ash and filth. There is no victory in her eyes. Only weariness.
In her good hand, she holds her yoyo.
She raises her eyes skywards-- the roof of the Agreste mansion is blown clean off-- blinks slowly, and throws the yoyo into the air.
“Miraculous Cure,” her lips read.
The corpses in Paris rise from the dead. Rubble reforms into buildings. The ashy haze that covered the city disappears.
Ladybug looks like she wants to disappear, too.
She collapses, instead.
Nobody is there to catch her when she drops to the floor.
@biodad-bruce-month
Maribat tag list(to be added onto this pls send me an ask/dm): @our-precipreciousss @my-dear-friend-anxiety
Who Are You (and what will you become) tag list (to be added here just comment): @anjuschiffer @theunquiet-dead @certainmuffinbagelcalzone @cresentmo0n @allulily @myazael @zalladane @rebecarojas07 @keepingupwiththemalfoys @frieddonutsweets @all-mights-asscheeks @thornalchemist23 @trippingovermyfeet @jiso-lee @redscarlet95 @ira-sairain @screechingflapbiscuitpeach @ramos123 @cutechip @theunquiet-dead @sleep-deprived-aroace @enternalempires @lilkymilky @woe-is-me0 @officiallydarkgeek @miyla-lokidottir @queencommonsense @demonicbusiness
mb for not doing tag list right away i forgot i had these cued up already
#bio!dad bruce wayne month 2020#maribat#what are dates#what's going in order#time? i don't know her#i'm always late#marinette dupain cheng#bruce wayne#bio!dad bruce#angst
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The Criminal Psychology Majors, Jason Todd x Fem!Reader Part 17/?
Word Count: 3.8k
Author’s Note: Y/N - Your name.
So, when I started this, I didn’t expect it to become what it is, or for it to really be taken seriously. I wrote it because I wanted to get better at storytelling, and now I’m averaging 20 notes a day. That’s insane to me.
Warnings: Eludes to sex, mentions of trauma, mentions of court system, victim blaming, mentions of injuries, swearing, No beta bitch we die like Jason Todd
(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7) (Part 8) (Part 9) (Part 10) (Part 11) (Part 12) (Part 13) (Part 14) (Part 15) (Part 16) (Part 17) (Part 18) (Part 19) (Part 20)
Waking up next to Jason was becoming something of a routine for Y/N. It had been 4 days in a row that she woke up next to him or with him in arm’s reach. She loved that about their relationship, how quickly they both could fall asleep with each other.
She rolled over in her bed and realized Jason was sweating and clutching the sheets. She leant over him slightly and turned on the fan, hoping he would sweat less so he could be in less pain.
She didn’t know what would actually stop the pain, she didn’t actually know if he was in pain. She reached out to stroke his back, just trying to comfort him, it seemed to work. He didn’t exactly reject her advances to rub his back. But he did jump a bit when she touched him.
She didn’t want him to be hurt by her touching him, so she did attempt to wake him up. He didn’t answer her though, so she got up from her bed and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked rough like she had been crying all night about the trial. Makeup running, eyes puffy, bloodshot. But what else did she expect after that trial? She didn’t remember anything.
She decided to shower, in her own shower. It had been 3 days since she last showered, which was okay but it wasn’t something she was used to.
She got into her shower and just thought. She was fucked up. She had been fucked up this entire time, she had hidden secrets from Jason, from everyone. She thought it was selfish, immature, and irresponsible that she did that. But she also didn't know how to talk to them all.
How do I even start that conversation? Hey, I’m fucked up, help me. I’m sorry, I messed up, she thought, I can’t do that, I can’t.
She got out of the shower and glanced at the clock like she would normally, it was 4:00am. That’s new, she thought, I didn’t know it was this early, maybe I should not have showered.
She smiled to herself a bit and took care of her face, doing a facial routine, just trying to calm herself and come off that high she was on for the majority of the day before. She knew she had to take care of herself to help her become stable again.
She knew what she did yesterday was linked to trauma, she just knew it. She didn’t know what it was, or how to combat it. But she knew she would probably not be mentally capable of watching the rest of the trial, and that was okay with her, she didn’t want to watch the rest of the trial. She would ignore her professor if he asked her to write anything about the trial. She knew he likely couldn’t because of her connections, but she wasn’t going to get mad at him.
She didn’t want to get mad at anyone for this. Opinions about the trial, asking her to talk about it, anything, she didn’t want to hate.
Jason was still asleep when she reentered her room. She smiled at him, wishing he was awake with her at that moment. She went to her notes at her desk and sighed, she guessed she would sit down and do some work. She pulled out her journal and wrote;
To each member of my family, somehow we reached here,
I’ve ended up with people wanting to hurt me,
Here we see the pain of there,
Maybe three.
I guess I can’t write poetry,
Maybe it’s all I see,
The pain, the torture, the people who hurt,
What am I doing?
She scribbled down a dying rose. She didn’t know why she did all of that. Normally she didn’t feel like that. Poetry was a good way to get all of the emotions out. Her journal had a lot, a lot, of insane writings and drawings of things she felt.
She guessed she was fucked up. But she thought the things wrong with her would make her art better. She needed therapy, probably. She was going to look into that, she decided in those moments. Therapy may help her cope with a lot of the stuff that she dealt with.
Or was she aware that she’d never be fixed?
----------------------------------------------------
She sat at her desk after making a quick coffee. It was still only 5:00am, and she was organizing her notes, just thinking. Maybe she’d paint something. Maybe she’d get a picture of the Wayne Manor Gardens and paint it. She just wanted something to fiddle with if she was going to be harassed if she left the house. She probably wasn't going to be able to leave the house for a while.
She was fine with that, she didn’t like it but she didn’t hate it either. She just wished for the trial to be over, even if the man was found not guilty of the charges.
And the longer the painting project, the longer she could spend locked away from the media. That was just all that she wanted, to walk away from the media while still keeping Jason.
He was still sleeping. She didn’t notice because she was so entranced in her own art, but he was struggling at that moment.
And then she noticed.
She got up and went to her bed and sat beside his head on the floor. She stroked his hair and tried to comfort him when he woke up.
“Hey,” she whispered.
He didn’t answer.
“You alright?” she asked.
He turned his back to her, so she stroked it.
“It’s okay if you’re not alright, baby,” she said, “Do you want to talk about it?”
“No.”
She crawled into bed with him and became the big spoon for a bit. She didn’t say anything to him, he didn’t say anything to her. He was sticky and sweaty, but she didn’t care.
Silence was killing for most people, but she sat through it and allowed him to be quiet.
She wished for the stories behind his scars, but she didn’t want to push for them. They hadn’t been together for long enough for her to ask about it. But she loved to trace his scars with her fingers, just letting him know she knew about them. She didn’t know how he felt about it. But she tried to be kind and loving towards his scars.
Some were small holes. Some were small lines. Some were long lines. One was Y-Shaped on his chest. One existed on his cheek and she couldn’t make out what it was.
She didn’t think that he was lesser because of his scars. He thought he was lesser for his scars.
“Hey, Jay. Do you want to eat breakfast? It’s 6:00am, we can dip to get food?” she asked, trying to make him feel better.
“If you don’t mention the nightmares, sure.”
“I won’t.”
He rolled over to her and smiled before kissing her.
------------------------------------------
They got up a couple hours later, clothes strewn across her room, boxers and pants torn. She laughed, hoping he would still have clothes to wear.
“Don’t laugh, I might have nothing to wear!”
“I hope you have something to wear, babe.”
“And what if I don’t? We were pretty messy.”
“We were, but still. If you have nothing we’re kind of fucked,” she said, glaring.
“Yeah, yeah. You’re cute. Just stop staring at me like that! It takes two to tango!”
“The forbidden horizontal tango,” she said between laughs.
“The forbidden horizontal tango is now the only way I am going to refer to sex.”
“I mean as you should.”
“My family is going to kill me for calling sex that.”
“I mean as they should,” she laughed, “Did you find clothes?” she asked, having already gotten dressed.
“Okay that’s unfair, you can’t wear new clothes when I’m stuck with ripped boxers.”
“Well, maybe you shouldn’t have worn them in the first place,” she said, laughing, “And to be fair, Jay, I’m the one with clothes and you didn’t follow your own suggestion for an overnight bag.”
“Okay, listen, first of all,” he grabbed her, “That’s obviously my fault but shush, secondly, you’re dressing very black today,” he observed.
“Felt I would look the part of dating a Wayne.”
“No one’s going to see you.”
“That’s the point. I’m an invisible partner of a Wayne.”
“Well, I think you look nice.”
“I’m glad,” she laughed, “How ripped are your clothes?”
“Decently. Not noticeably, but decently.”
“Fun! Shall we go?”
He laughed and grabbed her arm, pulling her lightly to the car and getting in to drive.
“You ever think the vigilantes around here have complex lives?” she thought aloud.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, do they have crazy, fulfilling lives like us, or are they just there to be heroes of the night? Are they sitting there wondering if they’re going to come home to their partners or if their parents are worried about them?” she questioned.
He sat there, looking forward. If only you knew. If only you knew what I go through, what everyone goes through. He managed to laugh and blow her off, “Maybe they’re just robots made to fight crooks in alleyways.”
“I’m serious. What if they’re all out there worried they’re going to die?”
“C’mon now.”
“Jay! They’re people!”
“They’re probably okay, baby. I doubt they’re out there almost dying.”
She wanted to say ‘You almost died’ but she bit her tongue, “That’s probably true. But it’s always something I thought, even when I lied in Metropolis with god damn Superman. I always wondered if he had a home to go to.”
“Who knows. Who knows.”
“They would. Maybe I should get a job as a reporter, interview some of them. Say ‘Fuck it’ and know if they have homes.”
“That’s dangerous.”
“How?”
“My Aunt, Iris, Barry’s wife? She’s a reporter. She’s on the frontlines for the supervillains and the small-time crooks of the world.”
“So anything and everything in between? Festive.”
“Well, that’s the life of a reporter. Journalists? Like my Uncle? He deals with a lot less bullshit unless they link him to Bruce. Iris is a reporter so she’s constantly there, Clark is usually never there.”
“Well, we at least know the elusive reporter and journalist have families,” she joked and he laughed.
“The elusive reporter and journalist in their natural habitats, my favourite National Geographic episode.”
She looked out her window at the streets and the people. She hadn’t been outside at night recently on the streets of Gotham, and she missed it. There was always something about it that made her keep coming back. Maybe it was the orphaned kids that she would go and make sure were okay. Maybe it was the fact that she watched one of the vigilantes swing to another roof.
She still remembered that moment well. She thought it was amazing, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her to have experienced. She wished she knew more, even if she just knew which one they were. So she could go on the forums and ask if people had spoken to them. Maybe it wasn’t a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, maybe others had witnessed what she did, but she wouldn’t know if she did not know which it was.
“Hey, random question, do you know the vigilantes' names in the city?” she asked Jason.
“Uh, yeah? Why?” he responded.
“Okay so, the first night I walked home from your house after my car got towed right? I saw one of them. I’m not familiar with the vigilantes of the city, so: Do you know which one is the one with the blue bird symbol on their chest?”
“Oh, that one’s Nightwing. He seems cool, I don’t know, never actually met the guy.”
“Don’t Wayne Galas get attacked by villains on the regular though?”
“That doesn’t mean we get to talk to them,” he laughed, “It would be cool if we did, though.”
“Yeah it would. Would be a killer story for your Uncle and Aunt.”
“They are the only tabloids I liked because they leave us alone.”
“No reports from the Daily Planet about the Waynes?” she joked.
“God, Dad would probably half-jokingly sue Clark over that. Like sue him for 3 dollars or somethin’ levels of jokingly suing him.”
“Now, that, that would be a story for the tabloids.”
“Remind me to tell Dad about that, maybe it’ll get the press off your back.”
“You say that like your extended family cares about my trials.”
“They do, they wonder how you found yourself wrapped up in 2 crimes in the span of 2 weeks.”
“I wish I knew how I did that.”
He laughed, “If only we knew.”
“I guess we go get breakfast now, fast food?” he asked.
“Obviously, I’m not eating in a restaurant with this high of a profile recently, my god,” she laughed.
“Alright, anything in particular? I can just order for you if you’re not up to talking to some people.”
“Go for it.”
“Alright.”
She didn’t pay attention while he ordered, instead she opened her lovely cellphone. And there they were, the tabloids click baiting the trials she was involved in. She rolled her eyes, knowing most of them were wrong, when she saw the article written by Clark Kent about it. She was tempted to read it, to know what Clark said. She figured he’d be an unbiased source fo information, but also likely more on her side than the defendant’s side. She didn’t even know the defendant's name.
She tapped on it and began reading.
The Case of The Court Versus David Brown.
Brown is a man known to the courts of Gotham, and the county jail of Gotham. When he was accused of assaulting a young woman, Ms. Y/N (Last name), not many members of the Gotham Police Force were shocked.
On the first day of the trial, Brown was asked to plead, to which he said, “Not guilty, your honor,” which is under a lot of scrutiny of those who have seen the video of Ms. (Last name) running from Brown in the alleyway where she head-butted him.
The prosecution opened their case,
“Ms. (Last name) was assaulted by the defendant, there is no question about it. The question here is if his motive was for the ransom Ms. (Last name) referenced in her interview with police after the event. The defendant very clearly went after Ms. (Last name) because of her ties to the billionaire Bruce Wayne, who would have easily paid the ransom for her if she hadn’t escaped.
The defense opened their case,
The question of whether or not my client assaulted Ms. (Last name) is not up for debate, he did assault her. However, it was in self-defense. She had assaulted him first, pulling him into the alleyway and attempting to make advances on him. She twisted the story in her on words to include the head-butting incident, in reality, my client punched her for her advances.
The people who watched the first event of the trial have noted being “Disgusted” and “Annoyed” at the practices that the defense brought to court, “Slandering the name of Ms. (Last name) when she is the victim.” many people are upset with the defense in this trial.
The next day of the trial should take place within a week. Until then, the questions are not going to be answered.
She looked at the defense's argument numerous times. She was in shock that they would accuse her of such bullshit. She was terrified that they would get away with this, when Jason pulled her out of her thoughts with a coffee.
“You shouldn’t get so involved in the tabloids right now, love.”
“Sorry, if it makes you feel better your Uncle wrote it. And thank you.”
“Anytime. I guess Clark wrote it well, but you watched the trial?”
“I don’t remember it.”
“You’re probably not going to watch more of it, are you?”
‘No way,” she said while drinking her coffee as they drove back to her house.
“That’s fair. No one expected you to be able to be able ot watch it.”
She nodded and kept drinking, “They made up so much bullshit.”
“They did, oh my god, I was pissed, baby. I was so god damn mad. Because what the fuck do you gain from lying?”
“Don’t even put that question in the universe, you know they’ll try to answer it the next time they’re in trial.”
“God you’re right,” he laughed, “Got you a breakfast sandwich. At least the dammed tabloids can’t take that away from us.”
“Thank god,” she laughed, “Thank you.”
“Seriously, anytime. It’s worth it.”
“You’ve spent so much money on me.”
“Pocket change.”
“Well, duh. Trust-fund baby.”
“Ouch.”
“I’ll take you somewhere when I’m less high-profile. Maybe we’ll fake a breakup to keep everyone off my ass so we can go somewhere.”
“Fake a breakup? Wouldn't that just make you hated?”
“I’m already hated. I’m a gold-digger, a whore, a cheater, a statistic, a suicidal maniac, a homicidal maniac, a psychopath, I can go on and on about the shit being said about me.”
“Man, people need to keep their mouths shut.”
“You could say that again- don’t actually. But like, what the fuck did I do to deserve this, honestly? All I did was go on a date with you to get bombarded, yes, I do treat the press unfairly, but I do my best to never say a bad word about them publically, just jokes,” she joked, “I hate this,” she laughed.
“I hate tihs too,” he laughed, “You’re worth it though.”
“Oh man, a week into dating, two weeks into knowing each other and we’re here.”
“We should be anywhere else but in the midst of these terrible circumstances.”
“It’s unfortunate.”
---------------------------
Drinking her coffee on her bed with Jason beside her was something else, it was probably the most they had branched out in 4 days. The silence was lovely now that neither of them were having issues. They ate and drank in silence. They didn’t need constant conversation to prove that the enjoyed the presence of each other.
She took a minute to take it all in, the messy shelves in her bedroom, the place on her desk where her laptop belonged, the broken handle to her bathroom door, the sheets on her bed which had been pulled and ruffled from Jason and her having fun.
She looked out her window and looked at the rain starting to pour and decided to cuddle closer to Jason. He was warm but had a presence of underwhelming coldness to him, like he gave off fake body heat. She didn’t know what it was, but the extremes of his body were something she enjoyed but hated.
The exposition between his black hair to his white tuff of hair, the rough eyebrows to the small and delicate freckles, the blue of his eyes which seemed to glow green. The way it was like she was driving down a road, full speed ahead, and crashed into a wall, that was how it felt to be with Jason.
But who doesn’t love to die in a fiery accident into a wall at 500mph?
She laughed internally at her own joke about him before grabbing his hand and yanking him into the living room and past her roommate, A/N. A/N did not question it, because there was a new life to her roommate recently.
She dragged him out into the rain, to which he protested.
“What the fuck, respectfully?”
She laughed, “Don’t be respectful, and trust me. I’m going to make a movie moment.”
“I’m getting wet.”
“That’s my job,” she joked as she turned on a slow song before going to Jason and dancing with him.
“Well, can’t say I’ve done this,” he said.
“I don’t think most couples do.”
“Then why are we?” he asked
“Uh, yolo? You only live once, might as well dance in the rain with one of your lovers?” she retorted.
“One of them? Am I not the only one?”
“Oh no, you are,” she laughed, “But who knows, maybe we’ll fuck monogamy up the ass,” she joked.
“Probably not.”
“Probably not.”
And they danced for a few hours. Twirling and dipping in the rain. Watching the clothes they were wearing get more and more wet until the the white parts of Y/N’s dress were see-through, which took a while considering how small they were.
Their hair was soaked and her makeup was running but they didn’t care. They were having fun, and no one was going to stop them, not a villain, not a vigilante, no one. He would wipe away her makeup since it was basically already off her face and laugh.
“Your makeup looked nice before we came out here.”
“I bet! The rain’s probably washing it all way, did I look like I was crying?”
“You looked like you were sobbing.”
She laughed, “You love to see it, you really do.”
The music was basically drowned out by the rain. It was on her phone, so it was probably water damaged from the rain, but no one cared. They just wanted to have fun.
But the dancing got tired because of the fact that Y/N was in heels, so she went and picked up her phone. It wasn’t damaged. She looked at her recent texts while Jason tugged her lightly to the bathroom, to see that Bruce Wayne, Jason’s dad, had paid off her car and it was being driven back to her house.
“Hey baby?”
“Y/N?”
“Did you tell your dad to pay off my car?”
“Oh, yeah. I figured it’d get impounded and my dad could just wait a while for you to pay back. It getting impounded was going to cost you more money.”
“God you're right and I hate that.”
He laughed and kissed her before turning on the shower.
--------------------------------------------
That was the second time that day that they had had sex. It was impressive that they had had sex that many times, and that many rounds. They thought it was fun as all hell to have sex whenever they had the chance.
Maybe they were saying “Suck it” to Bruce, or maybe they were just having fun. Maybe it was both.
“You look so cute with my hand around your neck,” he said behind her before lightly grabbing her neck and pulling her head back to his chest. He buried his face in her shoulder.
“He says while looking down,” she joked.
“I’ll squeeze.”
“Jay, we just showered. C’mon. Keep it in your pants.”
He groaned, “No fun,” he tilted his head into the crook of her neck and started leaving little kisses.
“Jay, C’mon.”
He sighed, “Fine. Fine, fine, fine. I guess we can stop,” he jokingly-whined at her, “At least we can kiss.”
“That’s true, but get dressed.”
“Get dressed!” he whined to her, “In this economy!”
“God dammnit,” she laughed, “Stay naked then and I’ll eat your food.”
“Don’t you dare.”
#dcu#dceu#dc#jason todd#jason todd x reader#jason todd x fem!reader#jason todd x y/n#jason todd x you#jason todd fluff#red hood#red hood x reader#red hood x fem!reader#red hood x y/n#red hood x you#red hood fluff#male oc#female oc
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Posted by popular demand: all my dad!Dick Grayson headcanons!
I’m doing the canonverse ones first. My au ones will be in a separate post so this one doesn’t get too long! Enjoy random stuff I’ve thought of!
Important note: when I say ‘canonverse’ I mean I could see it happening in the show’s universe more than an au, I don’t mean everything is going to fit perfectly with the canon storyline we got since there’s not much I can headcanon with the real storyline anyway. Nothing is going on but useless drama and shitty treatment of the main characters. So keep that in mind,,
Dick had a hard time admitting to himself that he cared for Gar and Rach as if they were his kids because of the whole ‘i don’t do family, i work alone’ thing. Tbh the thought of loving someone again, let alone two people, with his luck of family death and misfortune was scary to him and that’s why after Asylum, he left the two in Angela’s care. He knew he was getting too attached to them (that became clear to him when he went dad rage mode on the guards). Then the Trigon thing started and when he realized he led Rachel and Gar into a trap without knowing, he said ‘fuck it they are my kids and they’re in some serious trouble, I’m going to get them out of that trouble even if it kills me’ and that’s why he ran head on into that force field with his only thought being: ‘my kids are in trouble and I will protect them. Nothing can stop me, not even a demonic force field.’
He treats the kids as equally as he can in normal life situations. Like if Rach got to choose dinner the night before, now It’s Gar’s turn to choose. But when it comes to how to comfort them, that’s when he has to change it up because both kids feel comforted in different ways. Both get nightmares and he had to learn how to handle the situation differently for the two. If Rach has a nightmare, he’ll know cause she wakes him up and they’ll talk about it together until she’s calm enough to go back to bed. Now, if Gar has a nightmare, he’ll hear it cause Gar’s usually screaming, which turns into panicking after Dick wakes him up and then him holding onto Dick while crying. Not much talking on Gar’s end, it’s Dick who’ll say a few words. Rachel needs words to feel comforted because her mother hugged and kissed her growing up but they never really talked, so she felt like she never knew her mother while Gar needs physical affection because he grew up without it and got his thoughts and emotions manipulated by words. And throughout the next day, he’ll check on the Gar or Rachel to make sure they’re doing alright.
When Dick went to Doom Manor to get Rachel, that man did not think he’d be leaving Doom Manor with another kid but surprise! he does. Why though? the show never explains why Dick just decided to take a random kid with them. Well in my headcanon it’s because Rachel refused to leave Gar with the Doom Patrol and to help Dick realize that Gar was being treated horribly here, she used her abilities to show him what Gar’s been going through. Dick saw the things Rachel saw like Chief shooting him just because he stood up for himself and the things she didn’t see, like all the times Chief treated Gar like he was worthless trash and the Patrol’s neglect by keeping him down in a basement with nothing to keep him entertained or company. Dick wasn’t going to let a child be treated like that. Since Chief was knocked out, he just talked to the other three and by talk, I mean rip into like an angry momma bear and tell them he’s taking Gar with him. Cliff wasn’t a fan of how Dick came in and acted like he’s entitled to whatever he wants. That ended with Dick and Cliff screaming over each other until Rita allowed Dick to take Gar with them, though Dick wasn’t looking for permission from them, just an agreement from Gar himself. He got that rather quickly.
He’s never raised his voice at either of the kids in anger. Not even when Gar almost got himself killed by following Jason, he made sure Gar knew he was disappointed and upset with him by calmly explaining; not yelling. No shock to anyone there that Dick has some issues with his anger and he’s afraid one day he’ll take it out the wrong way on the kids and say something he doesn’t mean just because he’s angry/stressed, ultimately harming his relationship with them. I think the only time he’d actually yell at one of them is in serious situations, like if one of them froze up during a mission, making them an easier target, he’d yell their name or something to try to get their attention and snap out of it.
Kind of on the same note, how he manages worry is very different. He will be over the top about it. He’s very dramatic. Rachel got sick and better believe he learned how to make homemade chicken noodle soup because Alfred would do the same with him. Besides that, he’ll hover around her just in case she needs him, which Rach might take advantage of just a little because what kid doesn’t? She’ll have Dick carry her to bed and tuck her in. Gar slipped during a race with Jason up the net wall in the training room and broke his arm since ya know, he fell onto that hard ass mat and since him nor Rachel can go to the hospital because they’re metahumans, Dick had to fix Gar’s arm, which he wasn’t thrilled about since he was afraid he’d make it worse, but Alfred (over the phone) walked him through it and Gar turned out fine, no further injuries. The only thing Gar got was an overprotective bird dad constantly wanting to be around him and Gar was 100% cool with that. They got some well deserved father-son time. I’m also going with Dick feels awful about Gar’s injury because he wasn’t around when it happened so he couldn’t try to catch him and hearing ‘Gar fell from the net wall and he’s not moving’ coming from a panicking Rachel threw him into a completely frantic state of mind. It’s all worry for Dick but Gar helps him feel better with his cheesy jokes and puns.
I have a feeling after a few months around him, Gar and Rach start adopting Dick’s reactions to certain things and his mannerisms. Dick feels conflicted about the whole thing. There’s a lot about him he’d rather them not replicate. But Rachel doing his pondering face where he puts his hand over his mouth and Gar folding his arms and leaning against whatever he can when people talk to him, like Dick does quite often, is fine with him. If this teaches him anything, it’s to fix his own act and be a good example.
Dick doesn’t favor either kid, they’re both his favorite but there’s certain things they do that would be considered his favorite things about said kid. Like the way Rachel hums or softly sings her favorite songs while painting/drawing and Gar’s loud bursts of genuine laughter that turn into snorts the longer he laughs. The surprise and love he felt when Rachel gave him a sketch she did of him, he put it on the fridge and probably went to cry in his bedroom so no one saw him. Dick’s not known for his laughter, and most people haven’t even seen him smile, yet Gar seems to get him to do both more than he’s ever in years. The first time Dick has laughed so hard that he started crying was to some sarcastic joke Gar made about a commercial when the living room had been silent for awhile. The day Gar’s favorite show is new is also one of Dick’s favorite days because when the episode is over Gar rushes to him all happy and tells him about it like: “dude, dude you won’t believe it I was so shocked!”. Honestly seeing Gar and Rachel truly happy is his favorite thing in the whole universe.
I feel like there’s been a few times where Dick has been sad that Gar and Rach aren’t really his kids. He wishes he could have given them a happy childhood. Rachel shouldn’t have had to be terrified of her abilities and lied to cause of them and Gar shouldn’t have had to raise himself and be shut away like he was some kind of monster.
At some point before they all reached the tower or the day after, Dick had to take the kids shopping because where did their outfits come from (and room décor?). This is the first time they’ve all been in a normal situation together and Dick learned a few things. Rachel had no problem being around crowds of people due to her more normal upbringing while Gar stared wide eyed at everyone like he had no idea what to do. Dick assumed since Gar’s been isolated from the world around him for so long mixed with his enhanced senses, he got overwhelmed by all the noises and sights. So Dick told him to focus on him and his voice until his senses get used to the many things happening around him. And that Gar could hold Dick’s hand if he wanted, which he did. He also learned that every piece of clothing Rachel wanted was either black or dark blue, there is no in-between, making Dick jokingly wonder if Rachel is secretly related to Bruce. Then with Gar, all his clothing is bright and busy,, matching his personality. I’m also going with this conversation happened at some point: “Hey, Dick, why don’t you get yourself something while we’re here?” “I don’t have enough money for me, just you two.” “You don’t take whatever you want? I do.” “Umm.. no? That’d be steali-- YOU WHAT.”
On the note of clothes, both of the kids absolutely wear Dick’s clothes. If he can��t find one of his shirts or hoodies, he’s pretty sure one of the kids took it and it’ll be obvious it’s his even if it’s plain cause his clothes are huge on them. He never asked them why they steal his clothes but goes with it comforts them in some way.
One night when Rachel couldn’t sleep, she wandered out to the living room where Dick was still awake and watching tv. She tells him she couldn’t fall asleep so he gives her permission to stay up with him. Dick’s tv show quickly turned into a disney movie after that decision was made and Dick’s not the kind of person who has an easy time sitting through all the marshmallowy stories and singing of those movies but they make Rachel happy so he’ll sit through one for her. He’d rather Rachel watch a kid’s movie than his true crime shows anyway. Rach falls asleep cuddling Dick before the movie ends and instead of taking her back to her room, he lets her stay asleep there and goes to sleep himself because she’s comfy and he’s not going to disturb her.
Gar expends so much energy during the day that when he goes to his room to chill before bed, he usually falls asleep with everything on in his room and without being covered up because he just passes out. Knowing that fact, Dick finishes the rest for him. Go in Gar’s room, take the ps4 controller out of his hand (cause he normally streams his shows on his ps4), turn everything off besides the green night light, cover Gar up and just because, place one of Gar’s tiger plushies with him, which leads to Gar the next day being like: “really dude? The tiger again. You’re not funny.” and Dick answering: “I’ll stop when you fall asleep correctly.”
Dick now knows how to braid hair multiple ways thanks to Rachel. When the original Titans returned, Dawn said how beautiful Rachel’s hair was, asking if she did it herself and when Rachel said “No, I wish I could. Dick did it for me, he’s great!” Dawn just stood there, not knowing how to respond because the Dick Grayson she remembered would chuckle and act like she didn’t even speak when she’d ask him to do her hair in the past. Gar’s s2 hair was done by Dick as well. The kids said “our hair is boring, can you fix it” and Dick’s inner Wayne surfaced.
At some point the kids are going to call Dick their dad and he’ll cry, no doubt about that. By the nature of the show, I’d imagine it’d happen during or after some serious thing. For Rachel, it’d be during the s2 premiere. After Trigon is defeated and they’re all settling into Titans Tower, Dick goes to check on Rachel. The day was pretty rough for her. At first Rachel tries to act cool, like nothing is bothering her, but Dick can see through that and she knows. Eventually they get into a deep conversation about Rachel’s destiny, her father, and her feelings about it all. At some point Dick says something on the line of “I'm sorry you never had a real father” after Rachel compares her upbringing to Dick’s. Rachel smiles and tells him she has a real father, it’s him. Sure he’s a little late to the party, but he showed up when she needed him the most and stayed. This will be the first time Rachel will see Dick cry. For Gar, it’ll be after he gets over some sickness his powers gave him since they’re connected to his system and didn’t get finished by the Chief to be properly balanced, they can get out of line. He gets weak and loses his bright green hair/eyes, turning them a dull forest green. It’s not deadly, it’s just his version of the flu. When he’s finally over it and turns back to his normal self, Dick is all overly worried parent to him and Gar, being Gar, has to joke with him first: “jeez man, you are such a parent! All that worrying and pacing you were doing yikes! I think my legs would have fallen off haha!” before going into the soft stuff: “but, it shows that you’re a good one. better than my folks.. thanks, dad-- for, like, everything you did these few days.” then cue Dick pulling Gar into a hug and crying like ‘my purest angel son too precious for this world’.
Early on, Dick kind of sucked at being affectionate through words because Bruce was never with him, so he really didn’t know how to. Instead, he’d buy the kids things they’ve always wanted or things that reminded him of them, like a wooden pencil case carved in the shape of a raven’s feather for Rach and a tropical jurassic park themed backpack for Gar. The ‘hey I saw this and it reminded me of you so I bought it’ gifts are the kids’ favorites.
Ya know that cauliflower pizza Dick makes in s2? Yeah better believe I have a headcanon for why he makes that type of pizza specifically. Dick was having a hard time forgiving himself for killing Gar even if it was Trigon controlling him and this was when he didn’t know how to talk about his feelings, so instead of trying to have a conversation with Gar about it, he decided to do something else to say ‘I’m sorry’. He’s pretty good at cooking (thanks Alfred!) and knows Gar’s favorite food is pizza and that he’s vegan, there’s got to be something he can do with that and as we know, there is. A knock on his bedroom door made Gar remove himself from a video game and see what’s up. On the floor sat a pizza box with a note typed on that read: “I know this is stupid and I need to work on my communication skills, but I’m so sorry for what happened. I hope someday you can forgive me.” now my reasoning for why Gar jokes about said pizza with Rachel is because he and Dick don’t really have a lot that’s just theirs. Dick and Rachel have a lot they share together and Gar kind of wants something he can share with his new dad. So joking about it is his way of covering up his real feelings and no offence to his sister, but he knows how she gets when she feels left out of something so it’s best if he keeps this one thing between him and Dick.
On the weekends aka no training days, Dick normally takes Rach and Gar out so they can do normal kid things. He refuses to be like Bruce and keep the kids shut in the tower all day to ‘keep them safe’ like he did with Dick in the Manor. They need fresh air, sunshine, and fun. Plus he’s with them so if trouble shows up whether by one of their powers or something else, he’ll take care of it. Day activities will be: going to places like the park or the mall, get lunch somewhere, go to the store cause grocery shopping day is Saturday, make dinner at home, then finish the day with a movie. If the daytime is busy with over-do chores and a long time at the store, then night activities will be: going to dinner, either going on a relaxing drive while the kids play their favorite songs over the radio or going on a walk. Both include slushies and snacks for Gar and Rach and coffee for Dick. The last thing of the day is still a movie but more than likely the kids will be asleep before it’s even halfway done and Dick has to carry them to bed. But that’s okay with him, he wouldn’t change it for the world.
There used to be a lot more for the canonverse but I added them into my Rewrite au cause they were already leaning towards au territory,, you’ll see them in my next post
I’ll probably turn some of these into a short fic at some point, but if you see one you’d like to write about, go for it! I’d love to read it!
tagging @not-so-mundane-after-all-97 real quick cause I know she wants to see this post,,
#titans#dick grayson#rachel roth#gar logan#headcanons#long post#if i misspelled something#or messed some sentence up#sorry#i'm exhausted
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Mismatch- Part 13
Bio Dad Bruce Wayne Month 2020
The twins find out!
First< Previous > Next
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Ladybug lands on the building across from the city hall, where Marion had asked to meet up after patrol. She stretches out, enjoying the exercise after being cooped up in the hospital keeping Marion company. She looks over the city, with clear skies that Gotham simply didn't have. Then again she didn't mind so much Gotham has is own style that didn't want or need to change. Chat Noir lands in front of her a minute later, Dupain bakery box in hand.
“I don’t know how other people deal with homesickness,” Chat Noir drops down opening the box.
“Don’t let Kaalki know you're using her miraculous to eat cookies,” Ladybug sits next to him, legs dangling over the edge.
“Don’t be ridiculous, I also use them cause I look great in glasses,” Marion poses despite not wearing them as Chat Noir.
“Sure you do,” She turns back, looking over the city hall, “Thats why your most popular identity wears a mask,”
“Well all my identities- hey!” Ladybug snorts, not needing to look to know Chat Noir was pouting, “You’re just saying that cause your jealous how loveable and popular I am, especially Chat Noir,”
Yeah right. There was a little girl walking on the street below them right now wearing a Ladybug dress MDC had designed. She internally scolds herself for smiling.
“It’s not about popularity, we must take our jobs seriously to protect pari-”
“Do you dare me to steal the Mayor’s sash?” Chat Noir interrupts her speech, talking through a mouthful of cookies.
Ladybug releases a long suffered sigh.
“Yeah, I do,” She takes a cookie from the box.
“Good because I already did it,” She looks over, Chat Noir grinning ear to ear holding the Mayor’s sash, “Let's watch,”
He points towards a window where they have a clear view of the Mayor’s office. He was looking in the mirror and had only just realised it was missing. When Marion stole it she didn’t care to find out. He starts rooting around his office pulling out the contents of draws and cupboards haphazardly. Chat Noir laughs when he starts checking under furniture.
“So how are your ribs feeling,” She asks, noticing he wasn’t cringing at the movement.
“Purrfect,” He purrs, playing with the sash he was now wearing.
“I walked right into that one,” She doesn't tell him off, taking the last cookie instead,
“Yes you did,” Chat Nori reaches for another cookie.
Frowning at her Ladybug sticks out her tongue. Disgusting, covered with mushed up chocolate chips. Chat Noir blanches and turns away.
“Look he left to get help,” Chat Noir grins, both looking towards the window, “Just a sec,”
Chat Noir jumps over to the large window they've been watching through. Slipping inside he places it on top of the desk covered in wayward papers. Ladybug smiles, feeling her yo-yo buzz. They had synced their hero phones up to their normal ones long ago. She had just received a text from Aunt Selina that they were on their way with lawyers. Chat Noir jumps back to her side, grinning as the door opens. Officer Roger steps through instantly spotting the sash on the desk. Marinette can practically feel the officers disbelief as the Mayor tries to explain.
“Aunt Selina texted, we got to go,” Marinette tells him as Chat Noir starts cackling.
“Just a sec,” Chat Noir snaps a picture with his Baton, “Purrfect,”
“Two in a row? Really?” She raises her eyebrow, as he takes out the horse miraculous.
“If it ain’t broke,” Marion shrugs, slipping the glasses over his mask.
“It’s broke, it’s really, really broke,”
Marion only grins transforming and opening a portal back to Gotham.
“Why do I need to be here?” Jason asks, leaning against the wall next to Marion.
“Because the press have several pictures of you driving them away without helmets,” Bruce scowls, standing by the lawyer's seat next to Marion's bed.
“I haven't crashed my bike yet, so what's the issue?” Jason shrugs, grin on his face revealing he knew the exact issue. Marion couldn't help but mirror it.
“You’ve crashed it many times,” Bruce corrects, scowl deepening.
“What! Are you ok?!” Marion snaps towards Jason, scanning him for injury.
“Yeah I’m fine,” There's an amused curl to Jason's lips, “What about you?”
“Oh I’m fine, I heal pretty quickly,” Marion doesn't lean back on bed, forgetting he was meant to be injured.
“You realise your ribs are broken right?” Jason smirks down at him.
“I’ve had worse,” Marion smirks right back, meeting his challenge.
“What! When!” Oh right, their Aunt is here, sitting at the foot of the bed.
“Happens all the time in Paris,” Marion hopes he can pass it off, and avoid the wrath of his sister next to him, “The cure usually heals us pretty quick,”
“The cure?” Bruce prompts, frown lines deepening.
“Yeah Ladybugs cure, she beats the Akuma then releases a whole bunch of Ladybugs like whoosh, that come and fix everything,” From Marinette's face he can tell that he sounded crazy, and she knew what he was talking about.
“... where to start?” Jason looks confused down at him, Marion tries to avoid the same looks from everyone.
“Ladybug? Akuma?” Bruce apparently does know where to start.
“Auntie, don’t you remember last time you were in Paris?” Marinette steps in to save him, “We came home early because school was canceled because of an Akuma attack,”
“I thought you were just skipping!” She exclaims, both shocked and defensive.
“And you didn’t send us back?” Marion cracks a smile.
“Did you really think we’d skip?” Marinette frowns.
“Wouldn’t blame you for it,” Aunt Selina shrugs, Marinette looks like she's about to start a one sided argument. Marion was not about to back her up.
“Who’s Ladybug?” Bruce cuts in, whether he knew of the brewing argument or not is up for debate.
“Hero of Paris?” Marinette meets Marion's glance.
“Paris has no heroes,” Bruce says, with far too much confidence for someone completely wrong.
“Well you might want to let her and Chat Noir know that,” Marion smirks, he'd make sure to deliver the message.
“Not to mention the rest of the Guardians,” Marinette adds, perhaps a little more concerned they didn't know than he was.
“There's more than one?” Jason speaks up, Marion can’t help but feel he and Bruce are having their own secret conversation through glaring.
“Of course, Paris is attacked by super villains every other day,” Marion answers flippantly, doing nothing to dissolve the tension.
“Ok, no, I’ve been to Paris plenty and it’s never been attacked,” Their Aunt says, time for them to hold their own secret conversation.
“Um…” She was definitely privy to one attack, not that people in her position usually remember what happens, “Guess you must of just missed it,”
Smooth he can practically hear Marinette scoff. A silence traps them, likely shorter than it feels.
“Moving on,” The Lawyer, who had introduced herself as Emma, frees them,“I highly recommend there be a press statement released immediately,”
“That isn’t going to stop anyone,” Marion frowns, first hand experience teaching him well.
“No, but we can start pursuing legal action,” Emma agrees, bringing documents out of her briefcase.
“Several news sources can be sued for slander and endangerment,” She hands Marinette the documents, Marion resting his chin on her shoulder to see, “They also played a part in informing villains of your whereabouts, allowing the attack and making you vulnerable to another, I’m not saying this to scare you-”
“It’s fine, we know,” Marinette gives a friendly smile, “Please be honest, it’s more efficient to just be blunt,”
“Right... so several official news sources should be taken to court,” Emma takes on a more professional air, “There are many independent sources that can receive lawsuits, however the most prudent one would be those confirming your presence at the aquarium,”
“I don’t really think we need to go after regular people,” Marion looks over the file that includes pictures of the group he had scared off at the aquarium before the attack.
“It’s your choice, but I strongly encourage you to think over at least sending them charges,” Emma urges, Bruce nodding along, “If nothing else than to discourage others from doing the same,”
“Give us some time to think it over, please,” Marinette sifts through the documents, organising them, “We’re fine with any press release that we can look over first,”
“Very well,” Emma meets Marinette's smile, “Mr Wayne if I can discuss the press release with you?”
He nods, he and Jason leave the room with Emma. Leaving the twins with their Aunt.
“When did you become so cool?” She grins, moving up the bed.
“I’ve always been the coolest twin,” Marinette shrugs, Marion rolling his eyes.
“Nope I distinctly remember you running into the same pole three times in six minutes,” His smirk meets Marinette glare.
“How did you manage that?” Aunt Selina asks, amusement dancing in her eyes.
“Clumsiness has always been a special talent of mine,” Marinette puts the papers down, not quite pulling off the overconfident air he carries, being a little too close to honesty.
“Sure has,” Marion sits back, pulling up his legs for their Aunt to move closer.
“So what do you think we should do?” Marinette questions, when she's seated just across from them.
“...I think it’s complicated,” Aunt Selina hesitates, looking towards the door, “More complicated than they realise,”
“What's wrong?” Marion follows her gaze, another hesitation thats so unlike her, “... Aunt Selina?”
“I’m not your Aunt,” They both go stiff, waiting for more in the silence that follows her not meeting their eyes.
Right now Marinette’s head is probably buzzing with ideas and theories on what that means.
Marion’s mind remains blank, waiting for an answer that she seems to be battling with.
“............ I’m your Mother,”
“Excuse me, what?” Marion’s voice is just as blank, words refusing to process.
“And Bruce is your Father,” She adds, jumpstarting them out of their shell shocked state.
“What!” They both shout, turning towards each other.
“Look, I was young when I had you, I didn’t know what to do,” Selina runs a hand through her hair, still not meeting their gazes as they snaps back towards her, “I knew I wasn’t good enough to raise you, and Bruce wasn’t exactly in the best place back then, at least not enough to raise a child, so I didn’t tell him,”
That is… that is information.
“But, there was Tom and Sabine who wanted kids so bad, I knew they would be amazing parents,” Well yes, “So I gave you up,”
Now Marion's thoughts were a storm. Whipping around his head too fast to get a hold of and actually understand.
“I’m not saying this to pressure you into anything,” Selina follows after a long silence, “You don’t have to tell anyone, and if you like I can walk out of this room and we can never speak of this again, everything can go back to normal,”
“... do you think we can have a moment?” Marinette sounds just as blank as he had.
“Of course,” That slight fake smile clearly trying to hide the hurt allows Marion to grasp hold of one thought.
“Hey… no matter what we still love you,” The smile turns to a genuine one, Marinette agreeing.
She doesn't reply, leaving the room, door closing with a soft click.
“.... Oh my god,” Marion whispers, staring at the door.
“Oh my god,” Marinette says, Kwamis coming out of hiding, concerned looks going unnoticed.
“Oh my god!” Marion shouts, reality hitting all at once.
“OH MY GOD!” Marinette can surely be heard from outside.
“She’s our Mother!?” Marion turns to Marinette for confirmation.
“HOW is this possible!” So that's a yes.
“Why didn’t anyone tell us!” Marion feels himself getting hysterical.
“Hold on, let's think this through calmly and rationally,” Marinette takes a deep breath, hand on his shoulder.
“Screw that!” Marion pushes her hand off, standing “After something like this we’re allowed to freak out!”
“This is so weird!” Marinette groans, sliding back in bed.
“I know!” Marion starts to pace, latching onto random thoughts and memories, “And everything makes so much sense!”
“How did we not see this?!” Marinette asks the ceiling.
“It’s alright, it probably just never occurred to you to even think about it,” Tikki tries to placate.
“Did you know Tikki?!” Marinette asks, Kwami of creation.
“No I certainly didn’t,” She shakes her head, Marion turning to Plagg.
“I did think she’d make a good Black Cat,” Plagg shrugs, a little too casual compared to Marions current state, “Didn’t think it was because of this,”
“Not to worry, if you were to have any true lineage it is a privilege to be descended from a family such as the Waynes,” Kaalki declares, Marion taking a moment to dissect the sentence.
“Oh my- Bruce Wayne really is our Father!” Marion slams his hands down on the bed railing.
“Keep your voice down!” Marinette hisses, sitting up.
“That’s not important!” Marion throws his hand up, gesturing wildly to the general area, “We really are the Wayne twins!”
“The tabloids actually got it right,” Marinette muses softly, leaning back.
“That never happens!” Marion agrees, having spent plenty of time laughing at bad tabloids about themselves, “How could complete strangers be able to tell when we couldn’t!?”
“Now, now, it was a lucky guess, you had no reason to think it was true,” Tikki tries to bring order to the chaos.
“Other than the fact we’ve known her our whole lives and easily could have seen how similar she is to us,” Marinette mumbles out.
“And she’s really bad at pretending us calling her Aunt doesn't bother her,” It wasn’t until now he actually knew why.
“So I guess the first question is how do we feel about this?” Marinette tries to follow her Kwami’s lead.
“Too big a question,” Marion groans, flopping down onto the bed.
“What should we do?” Marinette asks, he turns his head to fix her with a glare.
“Way too big a question,” Marion feels Plagg curl up against his side, Kaalki also sitting near.
“What will this change?”
“Tikki! Take over!” Marion yells into the covers.
“I think you should start at the beginning,” Tikki says calmly, “How do you feel about being given up,”
“I don’t know,” Marion groans into the covers, another coming from Marinette.
“Angry, sad, betrayed?” Tikki prompts, making Marion frown.
“Not really, it’s kind of hard to,” He answers, turning away from the sheets, “It’s not like she just up and abandon us,”
“And we don’t know the full story,” Marinette adds, Kwami resting in her hands.
“Then maybe you can ask her,” Tikki suggests with a smile. “How do you feel about Bruce-”
“Nope, still processing, not touching that with a ten foot pole,” Marion refuses, causing the Kwami to giggle.
“Ok whatever you're comfortable with,” She smiles, giggles dying down.
“Tikki you have to realise I am so far outside of my comfort zone right now, that sitting in the middle of Hawk Moth's lair surrounded by every Akuma we’ve ever fought sounds more comfortable,” The sad thing is, he isn’t even exaggerating.
“Kid you do have an out,” Plagg flies into this field of vision, “You can ignore it and go back to normal, or confront it and see what happens, which do you want,”
Marion frowns, not at Plagg he’s right, for once. Neither of them speak. Every time Marion tries to think of the future, memories pull him back. Until one catches his attention. It was something he thought of often, usually when trying to avoid getting Akumatized, but sometimes just to smile. However, now it has a new meaning, he isn’t sure if it ruins the memory or improves it.
“... Hey, Nette, do you remember what happened when we found out we were adopted?” Marion breaks the silence, turning to the smartest person he knows, and that includes the person who created an AI at fourteen.
“We asked who our real Maman was?” Marinette watches as he sits up.
“Aun-she sat us down and told us off,” Marion scoots up the bed to sit next her, “Said that even if we didn’t have the same blood as Maman, no one in the world was closer to our Mother than her,”
“.... She always looks so in pain when we call her Aunt,” Marinette leans her head against his shoulder.
“.... I don’t want to ignore this,” Marion decides, enough time passing for them to relax against each other.
“... Neither,” Marinette eventually agrees.
“So what now?” Marion asks aloud, “We just change everything ?”
“I guess so,”
They share a soft smile, wouldn’t be the first time.
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Taglist:
@technicallyburninggarden @fusser90 @misslenamooney
#miraculous#miraculous ladybug#miraculous ladybug fic#bio dad bruce wayne#Bio Dad Bruce Wayne Month 2020#Mismatch#Marinette#marinette is mdc#twins au#vigilante au#pop star au#bio dad au#bio! dadbrucewaynemonth2020#b!dbwm2020#Maribat#mlb 2020#salt
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Bio!Dad Bruce Month Day 13- Gifts
a teen was standing in an airport, the hood of his hoodie pulled up to hide his dark hair. His hands were stuffed in the pocket of his sweatpants, and he kept his eyes (really blue eyes!) fixed on his phone. When the arrival of the last flight from Paris for the night was announced, he glanced up, scanning the area. Satisfied that whoever he was looking for wasn’t yet at the baggage claim, he returned to his phone.
20 minutes later, the device binged, and his head shot up, once again scanning the area. The athletic boy’s face split into a smile when he locked eyes with a girl who was waiting near a pile of bags, looking through the ones that were spitting out. The boy made his way over and pulled the girl into a hug. After they had snagged the last of her bags (how on earth did the kid have 6???) the two made their way to the parking garage. When they neared the doors separating the warm airport, the boy pulled the girl’s hood up and made sure his was up as well before pulling the bags he had taken behind him. the tow hurried through the cold air, heads down.
As they passed a line of cars in the drop off lane, the boy’s hood got knocked off by the wind. He ducked down further, but by then, it was too late. “Timothy! Timothy Drake!” his name flew through the reports and visitors in the crowd. The boy, Tim, scowled and cut those closest to him a glare. The girl behind him sniggered at his distress before pulling her hood farther forward. As she pushed past the teen, there was a flash of blue eyes, before she was pulling him after her. As they hurried off, there were multiple flashes of cameras and questions floated through the air.
---
“what that fuck did you do?” the question was punctuated by the slamming of Marinette’s door. Tim huffed as he slumped into the driver’s seat.
“I didn’t do anything though! Honestly, it’s not my fault B has been making me do the public appearances for WE!” at his sister’s suspicious look, the older teen made a face and checked to make sure she had buckled her seatbelt. S
oon, the two were speeding down the road that led to the manor, where the rest of the family was gathering.
---
When they walked in, they were greeted by Alfred, who gave Tim an unimpressed look before smiling at Marinette and insisting that the two go join the family in the big sitting room. When they entered, they found everyone staring at the television, where a news story was flashing on the screen. As the Anchor continued to talk, a picture of whatever had caught the family’s interest appeared on the screen and-
“well shit, Timmy, can’t you even pretend to be low key?” Jason’s question made the other boy groan and throw himself into a chair.
“I tried, Jason. I tried. It wasn’t until we were almost to the car that someone saw us.” He glanced at the image on the TV, “at least M can’t be seen clearly. That went correctly.” Jason snorted derisively and let himself fall back into his seat.
“how long do you think before the conspiracy theories start flying?” at his question, Marinette looked up from where she was scrolling through her phone.
“oh, those have already started. Half of Twitter thinks I’m Tim’s Girlfriend.” The room erupted in laughter and the siblings moved to accommodate the teens before turning back to the news.
Bruce smiled at his children as they started to stumble down the stairs. First, Marinette had come down from her room. The 14-year-old had taken the holiday to swap out her jeans and long-sleeved tees for a pair of leggings and a long green top that settled mid-thigh. Although her clothes weren’t festive, per say, you could tell she had thought her appearance through very carefully. At this point, Bruce mused, he wouldn’t expect anything less from the budding fashion designer.
Next had come Tim, somewhere around 5 am. The teen had also changed from his Pajamas into what Bruce realized was an outfit Marinette had planned. Black joggers, black tee peeking out from under a red hoodie, and a pair of slippers that Bruce suspected were actually his.
Once the two had curled up together gripping their coffee, Dick and Jason appeared. They too had forgone the customary pjs for joggers, in Dicks case, and sweats in Jason’s. Dick was wearing a deep blue hoodie that was almost back, with…OH that must have been Marinette’s doing who else was going to make a custom hoodie for Dick that displayed his Nightwing symbol so subtly. Jason on the other hand…Marinette clearly had put less into being subtle with him. instead of a deep garnet that could blend into the bat symbol on his chest, the hoodie was a bright glaring red. On the back, in cursive, the name “Red Hoodie” had been sewn. Bruce held back a laugh of disbelief at the ease the girl had used to sneak the hoodies into the boy’s wardrobe.
While Bruce was marveling at his daughter’s creativity and sneakiness, Cass slipped in and settled next to him. she too was wearing a hoodie that Bruce now recognized as one of Marinette’s. it was black on black with white outlining the bat symbol. At his look of amusement, Cass handed him the hoodie in her hands.
It was black like hers, except much bigger and completely devoid of color. As he inspected the hoodie, Bruce found a small selection of embroidery on the bottom hem. “dad, I didn’t want to do anything huge, but this is a thank you, and a small reminder that I love you. Stay safe, Marinette Cheng-Wayne” he smiled as he ran his fingers over the stitching.
When he glanced over at Cass again, he found her playing with the embroidery on her own hoodie where it met her leggings. Before he could turn and say anything to the designer, Damien made his presence known as he entered the room. The boy scowled at everyone before he plopped down on next to Marinette, on the side opposite of Tim. Bruce shook his head as he watched his two youngest interact, Damien in a green hoodie and sweats. The hoodie wasn’t anything special, except for the red lining and yellow accents that Marinette had obviously added as a nod to his hero persona.
Alfred came in shortly after and handed out coffee and Hot Cocoa. As the siblings woke up, they moved so that the family made a semi-circle around the tree. They pulled out their phones and started checked the time, texted their friends, and generally got accustomed to the early morning.
When Alfred came back to join them, toting two giant trash bags and a camera, Dick perked up, it was time to start handing out presents. As the young adult started moving through the room, the others sorted what he was handing them when they all were given boxes in an unfamiliar paper, many of the older ones traded confused glances with each other. When the last present had been distributed, everyone turned to Damien who glanced around in confusion. “what? Do I have something on my face?” the others laughed, and Marinette bumped him with her elbow.
“its not that, little brother, you are the youngest, so you go first. You open one and everyone else will take turns after until it comes back to you!” the boy rolled his eyes at her explanation, before reaching for the paper that the rest of the family knew signifies that the gift was from Alfred.
When the youngest had opened the parcel to reveal a selection of books on drawing and wildlife, Marinette smiled at him and nodded to Dick, who had ended up next to Damien. Dick flashed her a bright smile and opened his own present form Alfred. After Dick, Jason tugged off the paper on his box. Then, Cass who turned to Bruce with a prompting tilt of her head. After Bruce had opened his bag (really, Alfred! He didn’t need any more books on raising emotionally stable children. He had done well so far, right?) he nodded to Alfred who raised a pointed eyebrow at him (about what, Bruce wasn’t sure. He hadn’t done anything yet, had he? It was barely 6 in the morning!). Tim rolled his eyes at their interaction, before ripping open his own package and letting out a yelp of happiness at the stack of books that he found waiting for him.
After that, Marinette simply giggled at the family antics and opened her gift. When Damien reached for the next present, Alfred lifted his camera to capture the smiles that were flooding the room.
Somehow, Damien had left the unfamiliar papered gift for last. When he reached for it, he tried to do a mental tally to figure out who it could be from. First they had opened Alfred’s gifts, so it couldn’t be him. then they had moved onto Bruce’s then Jason’s. After that, they had gone through Cass’s (apparently, she was a notoriously bad gift giver) and his own. Then, Damien had reached for the ones he knew came from Marinette, before deigning to opened Tim’s. if they had opened all of the family presents, then…” Alfred, why are these under the family tree?” Dick’s question broke Damien from his thoughts. “shouldn’t we wait until the Kents get here to open these?” the old Butler shook his head and gestured for the vigilante to open the box.
When Dick did as instructed, he full on squealed. “How!” at the family’s confusion, the oldest of the siblings held up a card that had been nestled inside. The small crème square read ‘Complements of MCW’. As the family processed what they were seeing, all hell broke loose. The others tore into the boxes in front of them, and all found a personalized gift, and a matching Christmas sweater. No one noticed Marinette’s small smile at the chaos surrounding her, or that though she had the Christmas sweater, she didn’t have a personalized item to go with.
No one, that is, except Tim.
so, this is LATE, because the place im staying over the weekend has crazy spotty internet and i couldnt get Word to save anything. that said, i will also be uploading day 14, so keep an eye out for that today...
#b!dbwm2020#ml x dc#miraculous ladybug#maribat#bio!dad bruce wayne month 2020#b!dbwm#marinette dupen chang#my writing
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Impulsive Decision Pt.8
Female Path | Male Path
Chapter 8: My Ally
Warnings!: Kidnapping | Swearing | Tae Was A lil More Than Suggestive |
Genre: Poly!au, angst, fluff, eventual smut, yandere!au
Pairings: BTS x Reader / Kim Taehyung x Reader / Kim Seokjin x Reader / Jung Hoseok x Reader / OC x Reader / Park Jimin x Reader / Min Yoongi x Reader
Summary: Y/n is the owner of a very wealthy and successful company, Barnanby Inc. Y/n attends a BTS show, since they happen to be a fan. They make a very impulsive decision to show a loophole in BTS’s security and end up kidnapping BTS and 2 girls. In a fit of panic Y/n stashes BTS and the girls in a very luxurious bunker for the time being, but Y/n’s world slowly starts to crumble the longer the boys are out of the public’s eye,
Word Count: 10,042 (about 30mins of reading at an average pace)
A/N: I’m not even going to say sorry for taking so long because it’s a reoccurring offense so. My bad. HOWEVER, I do want it to be known that I’m starting a tag list for Impulsive Decision and Noxious! Also for any works I do. Like if you only want male reader stuff, or only the female path of impulsive or you want to be tagged for both paths. I’m not gonna say it’s because I'm so damn consistent that yall cant keep up. It’s because I ghost yall and post half a year later (ouch) like ‘waddup here bye’. I’m cool with you commenting or sending me an ask! SOJUSTLETMEKNOWLOVEYOUBYE.
I happily munched on my toast with jelly as Jin was at the stove cooking eggs and bacon. Jimin was next to me, focused on his drawing. Taehyung was across from me on his phone, his legs intertwined with mine under the table, Tae was still mad that Jimin was between us when we woke up. Hobi was with Suga and I was unsure where the others were.
“Don’t get too full off of toast, okay, Y/n?” Jimin told me softly.
I nodded, looking over at his work. He smiled and proudly moved the drawing closer. It was a Barnaby design, only the character was wearing a hoodie, ripped jeans and boots.
“That’s actually really adorable.” I smiled.
“Really?” I nodded.
“Maybe I’ll draw more for you.”
“Really? I’d like that!” Jimin’s smile got bigger as he turned back to his drawing.
I rested my head on his shoulder as I watched him work.
“What time do you need to pick up your nephew?” Jin asked.
“Not until later. 12pm. I should leave by 11 so I don’t get caught in traffic.” Jin put the fluffy eggs in a large bowl and walked over to the table.
“That would be best. Do you know what you two are doing today?” I frowned.
“Not really, I usually bring him here for most of the day then take him to the park and my sister meets us there. I’m a little afraid to bring him here. ” I admitted, setting down my toast.
“Don’t be, we won’t let anything happen,” Tae reassured me.
“I mean, no one is exactly happy to be here, I don’t want the anger to be directed towards him.”
“It won’t be. Take him to the park, maybe a small trip around the city, bring him here for dinner, we’ll watch a movie in the front room and then you can take him to get picked up.” Jin suggested, forgetting about breakfast as he sat in the empty seat beside me.
“I don’t know… It’s really risky. I’ll think about it.” I really wasn’t going to think about it.
I didn’t want my nephew there. Not with the hostility and anger Linza carried.
“There’s not much to think about. It’s not like we’ll let anyone say anything to him.” Jimin reasoned.
It was useless. I made up my mind and had no intentions to change it.
“We’ll see. I think I might need to stop at my apartment, if my sister sees me without makeup she’ll lecture me.” I dismissed, picking up my toast and ignoring the looks they gave me.
Jin only let out an exaggerated sigh as he stood up to tend to the food on the stove. Taehyung frowned, going to look at a game on his phone. I could hear adorable sound effects strung into a song coming from down the hall signaling that Hoseok was coming. I just knew Jimin or Taehyung were going to say something or bring Hobi into it so I stood up.
“I think I should head out to my apartment, put on makeup and talk to Jason before I pick up my nephew,” I started picking my jacket up from the back of the chair.
I leaned over giving Jimin a small and quick kiss on the cheek. I ran around the table to do the same to Tae.
“Jin have you seen my phone?” I asked, stopping to look around the table.
“You aren’t going to eat breakfast first?” Jin asked, his voice saddened.
“If I sit down I might be late, Jinnie. I have to put on makeup or my sister will freak.” I frowned.
“You should eat.” Hobi chimed in, entering the dining room with a broken gaming console.
Taehyung turned around to glance at Hoseok but saw the broken device.
“What happened!?” Tae demanded, his face contorting to give his signature fake cry.
“Jungkook happened.” Hoseok rolled his eyes and placed it on the table.
“No results of temper tantrums on the table!” Seokjin scolded while putting rice in bowls.
“Temper tantrum?” I asked, confused more than ever.
I felt bad for the console but it could easily be fixed if I brought it to work with me. I knew a few of my employees were real tech wizards and loved the challenge.
“He sees it as ‘It’s not mine so who cares’.” Jin informed bitterly.
“He’s still a little mad, but he’ll get over it in a few more days!” Jimin quickly defended.
“He’s not calming down. Not with Linza around him.” Taehyung commented, not taking his eyes off his phone screen.
“Linza. Why do I want to scream every time I hear that name.” I sighed.
“Because she triggers everyone’s killing instinct.” A voice came from the other hall.
The owner of the voice happily skipping into the dining room.
“Good morning, Seongmi.” I giggled.
“Morning! What’s for breakfast?” She asked happily, going to plop herself on one of the stools at the kitchen island.
“Eggs, sausage, tofu, rice, and red beans…” I trailed off looking at what Jin was cooking.
Hoseok took the time to sit at the table while Jin plugged in the electric griddle.
“If you’re not going to sit down and eat, at least let me make you a sandwich.” Jin pressed, turning to the fridge.
“You’re leaving?” Seongmi asked, her eyes widened in surprise.
“You’re not accepting ‘no’ for an answer, are you?” I smiled.
“No. You’re eating.” Jin asserted.
I groaned, walking over to the table to sit next to Jimin again. Seongmi quickly came over to sit next to me.
“Are you going to work today?” She questioned, resting her elbows on the table, her hands cutely cupping her face.
“Uhmm, I don’t think so.” I begin to think if I had anything to take care of to buy time.
“Jin Oppa! Do you need anything from the store?” I asked.
Jin looked up and at me then begin to scan the kitchen, “I was making a list… Jimin, can you come to finish it? I’m trying not to burn her bread.”
Jimin only nodded, getting up and jogging over to the kitchen to search for the misplaced note pad.
“Just so you know, there are no limits. If you want me to buy a whole cow I will.” I informed, picking up my half eaten toast.
“I prefer pig.” Seongmi teased.
I felt a hand grab mine. I looked across the table. Hoseok was leaning on the table, his fingers beginning to play with mine, “I haven’t seen you with makeup, I bet you look just as beautiful.” His voice was deeper and his eyes locked on my hand.
My breath caught in my throat. His hands were so warm and somehow soft. Warmth spread throughout my chest as my heart sped up.
I’ve never had someone look at my hand so fondly before. Just like that Jung Hoseok stole my attention. I turned to him more with a small smile, “Aren’t you the charmer today?” I teased.
A smile spread on his face, even though he had a smile on his face, his eyes lifted to meet mine, full of seriousness, “Just make sure to eat and don’t tire yourself out.”
“I will! I will try not to tire myself out!” I assured.
“…Your sandwich is ready.” Taehyung cut in, popping the bubble around Hoseok and I.
“Go get your sandwich and don’t be late for dinner.” Hoseok instructed before lifting my hand to kiss the back of it.
I only nodded, hoping he didn’t feel the heat from my face from across the table. I stood up to retrieve my sandwich. Seokjin was placing it in a paper bag with a satisfied smile while Jimin finished up the list and slipped it in the bag.
“Have a good day!” Jin grinned, handing me the sandwich and placing a kiss on my cheek.
Jimin quickly moved between us to put his hands on my sides and kiss the same place Jin did, “Be safe, Jagi!” He radiated, getting a glare from Jin.
I giggled at his action, “I will, Chim.”
I felt arms wrap around my middle and a chest press to my back.
“Have a safe drive, don’t stress on Jason.” Taehyung’s soothing voice guided.
I felt him place a kiss to the crown of my head.
I was pretty sure this was their plan to murder me.
“What do you mean all the computers went out!?” I demanded, my phone between my cheek and shoulder as I fixed the bottom of my dress, “Then get them up and running! I don’t care how much it costs or who you have to call, we have a deadline to show what we got and I’m not letting a convenient power outage on one floor alone make it crumble.” I threw more clothes, makeup, skin products, and hair products in a suitcase to take to the bunker.
“Make sure the designers, programmer, and artist are well rested and fed, I don’t want our team to be running on coffee and sugar as their main nutrients. Call in an order and get plenty of water, I’ll make a stop there after I pick up my nephew.” I zipped up my bag and ran my hands through my hair.
“No! My brother will not step in. This is my department and my call. I don’t care who he tells you who he is, you are to listen to me and me only! Fix those computers, feed and rest the staff, and investigate how the power was cut off, why and who. I’ll be there in an hour and things better be productive or I’m kicking you all into shape.” I hung up.
I let out a huff. Great. Now another problem to solve. I frowned at my outfit. It was simple enough. A black dress made of a material that clung to my body but was stretchy enough to be comfortable. It had lace sleeves and round lace neckline, thankfully the lace wasn’t itchy so I was happy. I walked to my bed to the dreaded Christian Louboutin box. My older sister got them for me and I haven’t opened them. I slowly opened the box as if I was diffusing a bomb.
I let out a big relieved breath. They weren't platformed heels. They were regular black heels made of suede with the signature glossy red bottoms. After I slipped those on I rummaged through my drawers to find a belt for my waist. I settled for a black Gucci belt with small gold bees and stars on it, wanting the design to be simple. I quickly put on pearl stud earrings and searched for the necklace my father gave me.
The longer it took me to find it the madder I got. It was a Japanese Akoya black pearl necklace. It was very simple, just the black pearl with a white gold chain through it. My father gave it to me when we went to the beach in Japan one summer. We met a pearl farmer there and my father, being the proud business owner he was, asked for a tour. My father was really happy with the eco-friendly and sustainable pearls and offered them a deal. Now they have their own departments to make jewelry and give us some for our gift shops. The owner of the place gave me a black pear he found that morning, about a year or two later my father sent it back to him, then the owner sent it back with the chain in it, my father then gave it back to me, reminding me to always remember that small businesses are sometimes more reliable, loyal, and considerate partners. So now I treasure it.
I could hear my phone ring as I got on my hands and knees to look for the necklace. I groaned at the disruption, I answered it and put it on speaker.
“Yes?” I called from the floor.
“F/n. I’m just calling to remind you! You’re picking up my son today.” My sister drew out the last part nervously.
“I’m aware! You called while I was getting ready.” I grumbled, still searching.
“Wait, where are you? It sounds like you’re talking from far away?”
“I’m on the floor. Have you seen my black pearl necklace!? I can’t fin-” I spotted a round ball beside my nightstands leg, “NEVERMIND I FOUND IT!” I beamed, quickly snatching the necklace and examining it for anything out of the ordinary.
I could hear my sister sigh. “ You need to take better care of your things… Especially if it’s from our father…” I frowned.
My brother thinks the same. I felt a tug at my heart as I looked down at the necklace in my hands.
“…I knew it was here. I just wasn’t sure where. Just because I lost it briefly doesn’t mean I care less about it.” I explained, my voice small.
My sister muttered something under her breath that was too low to hear.
“Anyway. I heard Daisuke was in town. Why?” Her voice was straightforward and sent a shiver down my spine.
“I-I’m not sure. I just found out as well. I don’t plan on meeting up with him. I haven’t spoken to him in years.”
“Let’s keep it that way. Make sure to leave your apartment in the next 3 minutes or you’ll be late. Goodbye.” The line went dead.
Since when has my sister been this irritated with me? I pulled myself up to my feet. I walked over to my window, looking out for a moment. There were large clouds that did a good job of blocking out the sun for a few minutes at a time. It had been raining on and off all morning.
I looked back down at my necklace, sadness filling my heart, “…She wasn’t just talking about my necklace, was she, Dad?”
I arrived at the school a few minutes early. I got out of the car and grumbled to myself on how I would have to wear the heels all day and it was going to sting. I felt a little subconscious as my heels clicked on the sidewalk and now in the entrance of the school.
The woman behind the desk smiled, “Ms. L/n! You look beautiful! I’ll let Gyeong know you’re here!” She said quickly, moving to get the phone to intercom the classroom.
I held my hands up, “Actually, I know I’m early so I’ll just let them finish up. I don’t want to interrupt my nephew’s studies and social life.”
The woman nodded, “Yes, I understand. Feel free to walk around, Ms.L/n!”
I gave her a small bow and began to wander a bit. I hated that. How people seemed way too formal and polite. Almost afraid.
I looked over the walls of the school hall. They were covered in artwork, letters, notes, photos and accomplishments from the children that made the whole place feel happy. I found myself smiling. This school always seemed so nice, comforting and patient. My nephew had nothing but good things to say about his teachers and the whole place in general. I found myself thinking about wanting my children to go to the same school in the future.
“How many kids do you want?”
I felt myself freeze again at the question Hoseok asked me this morning. I felt my lips stretch into a smile.
“Four kids sound nice, two boys, two girls...” I whispered to myself, reaching out to trace a picture of a tree a child drew.
I quickly withdrew my hand as if the picture had burned me. What was I even thinking!? Why was I thinking like that when I kidnapped Hoseok. When I forced them into a bunker against their will. They hadn’t seen the sunlight in days and here I was fantasizing and being an overall delusional woman.
Even if Hoseok did want children, that didn’t mean with me. I would probably be the last person who he’d want to have his children. I was also way too young right now. I had a company to look after. A prison to stay out of. Nine people in my bunker that I needed to hide!
It was also way too soon to think about kids even if Hoseok did want me in that way. A small amount of time shouldn’t give me baby fever.
In the bigger picture, I barely knew these men, yet here I was, willingly daydreaming about them.
I scoffed at my mistake and took out my phone, sending Jason a quick text about work and us talking, later on, to sort out somethings. Just as I sent the text I could hear loud footsteps coming down the hall. I looked up out of curiosity and saw my nephew’s teacher, Hui Gyeong. Once he reached me he doubled over, like he had just run a mile.
“Mr.Hui? Is something wrong?” I questioned, slightly concerned at the out of ordinary acts my nephew’s teacher.
“I was just on my way to call Jeonghun’s mother.” He stated breathlessly as he stood upright.
“Why? Has Jeonghun done something wrong?” I asked, feeling slightly worried as to where the conversation was going.
He waved his hands almost in a rush, “No! Nothing like that. I just couldn’t help but be a little worried about your lives, I know your sister likes to attend clubs and there have been a lot of recent criminal acts in them! I just wanted to tell you both to be safe.”
I felt my heart sink, “Ah, I was afraid my nephew did something…” I trailed off, trying to figure out how to change the subject that made my chest tighten up.
“No, no, aside from the usual talking he’s been well behaved,” Mr.Hui said, the air beginning to grow awkward.
“I will take your words into consideration. Thank you for caring enough to warn me.” I spoke up softly.
Mr.Hui smiled, “I’m glad. Your family does a lot for children and adults, it would be horrible if anything happened to any of you.”
You will be in for a ride when everything is said and done.
“The power is back on? Thank God.” I let out a breath of relief as I sank into the driver’s seat of my car.
“Yeah, we are still waiting on security to look over the footage to see if they catch anyone being suspicious but so far we are clear. That maintenance man said it might have been a bad wire or something but I don’t believe that.” Jason spoke into the phone through the sounds of our busy office.
“I don’t either. Only one floor in the entire building went out. And it so happened to be the department we are relying on to get us a new partnership. It’s too coincidental. ” I chewed on my bottom lip in thought.
“That’s what I was thinking. We’ll go over it more at lunch.”
“We will. I have to grab a few things from the store and I’ll head over to whatever place you want. I’m paying because you seriously helped.” I pipped up, sitting up as I waited for the traffic light.
“How about in a few minutes? We’ll meet at the restaurant we take our business partners to. ”
“…Why there? It’s so high-end and we aren’t talking business, just having lunch. It’s Wednesday so I have my nephew. Maybe a more family-owned place?” I reasoned.
“Okay, just pick somewhere quiet, I’m getting a headache from all the talking and yelling in this office.”
When I arrived to the restaurant I began to settle Jeonghun in. I served him water and began to read off the menu for him.
“How about japchae?” I asked him as he sipped on his water.
He only shook his head, looking out the window.
“Hmm. Jjajangmyeon?” I questioned.
He seemed to consider it for a moment before shaking his head.
“Fried chicken?”
He nodded his head frantically causing me to giggle.
“Same. We’ll just order a huge serving, okay?”
I handed the menu over to my nephew so he could look at the pictures and drinks, just in case he changed his mind. I looked around the place and it was warm and cozy. As I was looking over the wooden beams, I could hear a bell chime.
I looked over to the door to see Jason. I beamed and began to wave my arms like an idiot.
I came to an abrupt stop as I saw movement behind Jason. I strained my eyes to see who it was. As soon as I made out a familiar feature, my blood boiled.
I could see Jason’s eyes dart to the door for a split second, almost as if he was considering just leaving. Which would’ve been a good call, because I would give him hell on earth if he came to the damn table. However, he seemed to puff up his chest and march towards the table.
I let out a scoff, “So, you’ve chosen death.” I muttered under my breath.
I watched him and the man of my cause for irritation strut up to the table.
I had half the mind to yell ‘stalkers’ so everyone would throw them out.
“F/n…” Jason’s voice leaked false-confidence. I would’ve been fooled if his voice didn't crack at the end.
Once they sat down and Jason greeted my nephew, I began to speak.
I let out a sigh, “Did the security find out what caused the outage?” I questioned, pouring water into the extra glasses.
“No, bu-”
“What’s taking them so long? It’s security footage not the bible.” I took in a deep breath to calm the building anger.
It wasn’t security’s fault. They had to comb through hours of footage. Maybe even days to see who tampered with the electrical. It’s only been 30 minutes tops. I needed to calm down.
It’s just the presence of this man,
of Daisuke, who was weighing on the part of my brain that only showed anger and hostility.
“I’m sorry, I understand it could take hours to go through everything. It’s just,” I chewed on my bottom lip, “This meant to much to my father. He did everything for my mother, I want to do something for him.”
“Are we just going to keep ignoring me?” I heard the voice of and actual demon.
“Daisu-” I cut off Jason’s sigh.
“This isn’t about you and your pathetic motives.” I began to wave over a waitress.
“Daisuke, didn’t I say don’t speak until spoken to?” Jason shook his head as he grabbed his menu.
“She’s just ignoring me.” He seriously sounded like a child.
“Did you already figure out what you wanted, Jeonghun?” Jason asked as he looked over the menu.
“We’re getting chicken!” My nephew perked up, happy to be included.
“What will we be having?” A waitress pranced over with a warm grin.
“Four orders of chicken and beer please.” Jason smiled back at her.
“Hey! We have a child here.” I sang in a teasing voice.
“Chicken, beer and apple juice so it just LOOKS like beer!” I only shook my head.
Surprisingly lunch was mostly quiet. Jason’s attention was on my nephew and my attention was on the power outage culprit. I think Jason wasn’t bringing Daisuke into the conversation because of my nephew. But I knew as soon as tonight he would be texting me to ask when we could all meet up and talk. And I hated that I knew that.
I made sure to ask the butcher to give me top-quality beef steaks for Seokjin. All the beef I could get, I did. I wasn’t aware that meat would be a priority in the house but I should’ve known.
All the meats I got were FAR from on the list, but I got them anyway.
Seokjin and Jimin mostly wrote down everyday things and a few produce items. I saw all the berries and fruits looking big and ripe so I got a lot of those as well.
Surprisingly I was able to keep my nephew in line but getting him various things from around the store.
Unsurprisingly, Jeonghun ran out of the car as soon as I parked at the bunker before I could explain. I quickly got out the car and ran after him. He was about to open the first door as I grabbed him and yanked him away from it.
I set him down on the ground and held onto his shoulders as I began to explain, “Listen to me, Jeonghun. We have guests in the bunker. You are NOT going to tell anyone about them. Including your mother.” My voice was stern, hoping it would show him that I meant business.
“You want me to LIE to mom?”
“No. . . I just want you to bend the truth a little. It’s different.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“…What do you know, you’re, like, five.” He gave me the most offended look I’ve ever seen a child make.
“I’M FOUR!”
“One year off. When’s your birthday again?” I teased, watching him getting angrier.
He tried to wiggle out of my grasp while I get out an evil giggle, “I’m joking, I’m joking! I know your birthday! It’s on the 13th of March.”
He stopped struggling to pout, not at all liking my playful nature.
“I’m sorry but you’re not going to be a prude like my sister. Lighten up will ya? Now, no telling mom, your dad, your aunt or uncle, your friends, NOBODY, that you met these friends. Got it?”
He let out an annoyed ‘okay’.
“Good. Now lead the way, I bet some are excited to see you.” A giant grin formed on his face as he rushed the door.
He knew the codes just in case he was ever in trouble, so I had no worry about him getting stuck.
I watched him bounce down the stairs for a moment before turning back to the car. I gathered the several bags that I had and began to place them at the entrance so it would be easier to close the door behind me. As I was grabbing the last of the bags, my nephew's backpack, and closing the car doors, I looked over to see most of the bags were gone.
I froze into place. Trying to remember exactly how many bags I had. As I was lost in thought, staring at the bags, I saw Seokjin making his way up the stairs. My eyes widened.
No. No, no, No, NO!
I dropped the bags I was holding and ran towards the door. In a fit of panic, I just grabbed the outside door and tried to slam it close.
I heard a small thud and, “YAH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?”
“JIN! YOU CANT LEAVE YET! I HAVE SO MUCH MORE TO FIX BEFORE YOU CAN ALL GO!” I cried, pressing my shoulder against the door to hold it closed against Seokjin trying to force it open.
“I’M NOT LEAVING! I WAS HELPING! I WAS GETTING THE BAGS RELAX!”
He was what now?
I quickly moved out the way, causing him to fall forward onto the bags.
“Oh shit! Jinnie, I’m so sorry!” I quickly apologized, kneeling down to help him.
He looked up like he was going to start cussing me out, but stopped once he caught sight of what outside was.
His eyes widened as he looked around. Large trees covering the small clearing. The only reason anyone would be able to tell a bunker was here was because of the small block of walls with a door in front of it. Looking like a small room in the middle of nothing.
The pathway to get here was slim and the tire tracks sometimes got covered by plants that grew faster during the spring and summer months. And in the fall, fallen leaves did the job. The snow in winter. The path twisted and turned, so it wasn’t just a straight line to the bunker, it was obscured by trees and large bushes.
“WHERE ARE WE!?”He almost demanded, making me flinch.
They all had their eyes covered when they arrived. There were no windows in the bunker. I wonder where they thought they were.
“The forest. A few miles from Seoul.” ‘A few’ was generous.
“How did you even…? Does ANYONE know this exists!?” Oh no. He was panicking.
“Jinnie, calm down,” I began in a soft voice, “I told you I’m not going to hurt anyone, plus this is only temporary. Jason, my nephew, and a few others know this place exists. Relax.”
He shook his head, “I’m not afraid that you’ll hurt us, what if one of us gets hurt and the ambulance can’t get to us in time??”
Oh, that's what he was afraid of.
I couldn’t help the smile that began to form on my face.
He gave me a ‘really bitch’ look in return, “Why are you smiling? Do you know how dangerous it is to live so far away from civilization!? What if you run out of gas and you have to walk to town!? What if a serial killer comes in and you’re left for dead because no one knows this is here!?”
My smile suddenly disappears.
“Here I was, happy that you weren’t going to leave me, and you have to point out every single feAR I COULD EVER HAVE LIVING HERE! WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS!?”
“I’M JUST POINTING OUT THE OBVIOUS!” He defended.
“THAT I OBVIOUSLY DON’T WANT TO HEAR!”
“Can you both stop yelling at each other before the others come!” I heard someone hiss.
That, someone, was Hoseok, who began to quickly pick up as many bags as he could, ignoring Jin on the ground and running back down the stairs to drop off the bags before coming back.
I quickly stood up and ran back to where I dropped the bags and picked up the scattered contents. I could hear the shuffling of bags and Seokjin got up to help Hoseok. As soon as I had everything picked up I ran inside and down the stairs. Hoseok quickly shut the main and vault door. He ran past Jin just in time for Jin to shut it. We all listened for a moment before letting out a breath of relief.
No one else seemed to notice that we had all three doors open. Just waiting for someone to run out.
Let’s hope that doesn’t happen again…
All three of us slid open the door to load the bags into the kitchen.
Taehyung and my nephew were sitting on the floor as Jimin had half of his body behind the tv with cords. Seeming to be setting up a game system.
Suga was sitting in a recliner, only watching them.
As soon as Taehyung saw us he spoke, “Jin-Hyung! Can you come set this up? Jeonghun wants to play Mario Cart but Jimin and I were lost!”
“What’s the magic word?” Seokjin taunted as he began to put away groceries.
“Now?” Jimin challenged, causing Seokjin to stop and turn around.
Hoseok let out and adorable laugh with Taehyung while I pressed my lips together. I wasn’t about to face Jin’s wrath more than I already have today.
“Please!” My nephew gave a big smile, successfully breaking the tension.
Seokjin seemed to soften, “At least someone has manners here.” Seokjin huffed and went to set up the console.
Seokjin setting up the console turned into Seokjin doing a tournament with the boys to see who could defeat him. It was around 7pm and he hadn’t even started dinner.
“Aish, he isn’t going to start it.” Hoseok complained as he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and got up from his seat at the dining room table.
“I’ll help!” I pipped up, bouncing up from my chair in excitement.
We started just making meat and ramen. Hoseok found the grill pan and set it up and I set up the pot of water. We both agreed on kimchi ramen.
I had got the ramen packs out the cupboard and was turning to go to the stove. I slightly bumped into Hoseok.
“Sorry, Hobi.” I muttered, only to see him smirking when I looked up.
His hands moved to my hips to rest there lightly, “Do you think eight packs is enough?” His voice sent a shiver down my spine.
“I think so. I never made ramen in bulk before… Should we add veggies to it to fill everyone up?” I suggested, almost excited at the thought of adding stir-fried veggies.
Hoseok’s smirk only grew, “Would you like ‘veggies’ in your ramen, Sunshine?” I can tell he liked my choice of the word ‘veggie’ over vegetables, but I couldn’t bring myself to care as I began to get hungrier by the thought of more things in my ramen.
I nodded, “I think I got a good amount at the store!”
“We can add veggies. Anything else you want, Sunshine?” He asked, his voice lowering an active or so.
I couldn’t help but gulp.
Why was he so close?
His eyes were locked on mine, the smirk he had only made me look at his lips more. His skin was glowing, despite the lighting in the kitchen that didn’t do him justice. His lips were pink, they looked soft and tempting. His eyes twinkled in mischief that I couldn’t help but find adorable.
“Well…I…uh.” I had no idea what to say in a moment like this.
Did I tell him I wanted to kiss him?
My nephew was in the living room with the others not too far from us.
Speaking of the others, Hoseok was ‘playfully’ nudged to the side by Jimin, who came into the kitchen with Suga.
“I’ll help you with the meat Hoseokie,” Suga muttered as he turned on the stove.
“Maybe I can help with prepping the vegetables?” Jimin suggested, tilting his head slightly and batting his eyes.
Oh, he was good.
I only nodded at his suggestion, causing him to grab my hand and lead me to the fridge, away from Hoseok.
Hobi let out a sigh, “We were okay with making dinner.”
“You didn’t even preheat the skillet. You were going to make gray meat.” Suga nagged.
Jimin took out carrots, mushrooms, bell pepper, onions, garlic, and cabbage before closing the fridge, “Hyung, you didn’t even start the water for the ramen.” Jimin shook his head.
“I was in charge of the ramen.” I tried to defend him.
“Well, he stopped you from doing your job, Princess.” Jimin moved to cup my face.
“But I–” Suga interrupted with a simple, “Get the seasonings, Hope.”
Hobi let out an irritated sigh and moved to the cabinets. Jimin quickly picked out our knives and cutting boards so I wouldn’t go to Hoseok’s side of the kitchen.
I let out a sigh.
That was a little excessive.
There was silence besides Suga and Hoseok asking about the meat and Jimin asking a question or two about the veggies.
I couldn’t help my eyes from wandering to my nephew. He was obviously really into the game he was playing with Seokjin and Taehyung seemed invested in watching their match. The thing that really stuck out was one thing.
“Hey, Chim?”
“Yes?”
“…Where are the others?”
A big smile formed on his face.
“I told Jungkook that he was losing his touch in one of the games in the arcade, so that’s where he’s at. Seongmi and Linza are in their room. I was talking about how good a drawing of Seongmi’s was and Linza wanted to learn. Namjoon is in the library. ” He seemed proud of himself.
“So you basically manipulated everyone into staying away?” Jimin frowned.
He scooped up his cabbage to put into a bowl, “Well… It sounds wrong when you say it like that.”
It did sound a little wrong.
“Sorry! It did sound a little wrong now that I think about it. Thank you. I was worried that someone would try something while my nephew was here. You really helped.” I assured.
Jimin lit up once more, “We’re happy to help. Jin Hyung helped me talk to Jeongguk and Linza.”
We all fell into comfortable silence besides Seokjin battling it out in the living room with Taehyung and my nephew.
I couldn’t help but wonder how the next few weeks would progress. If I would be able to handle everything. All of my worries seemed to evaporate as soon as Taehyung scooped up my nephew to victory taunt Seokjin. Maybe I was reading too far into everything and these were small problems. Or perhaps I was starting to downplay them to feel better.
I needed to figure out how I was going to focus on work for the next upcoming days. The boys would, of course, be under Jason’s care. There was the situation of the power going out that I needed to follow up on with security in less than an hour.
I let out a sigh, they weren’t going to let me go peacefully until after dinner.
“Is something wrong, Princess?” Jimin asked softly, causing me to snap my head over to look at him.
Man, I was still not used to that.
Jimin’s concern caught the attention of Hobi, who stopped grilling to pay attention. Yoongi took the tongs from Hobi to continue the work. He seemed as disinterested as always.
“The, uh…” Should I explain or should I just tell them I couldn’t stay for dinner?
“If something is wrong maybe we can help.” Tae’s voice added, catching my attention.
He was leaning over the back of the couch, the concern and softness made me feel more inclined to tell the truth. Even Seokjin had paused the game, his body twisted around to look over towards me.
Now I had to.
“There was a problem at the company today.” I have in with a sigh.
“What kind of problem?” Jimin asked, putting down the knife.
“How serious is it??” Taehyung asked, his posture more alert to get up.
I quickly held my hands out, “The power went out in only the room with game developers. I’m having the right people look into it!”
“But?” Hoseok pressed.
“You’re worried?” Seokjin asked.
I nodded, “I am. It was ONLY the game department, ONLY the game developer room. I would’ve felt better if it were the whole floor or even the whole building. Someone targeted that department I just know it. I told them I would be there in an hour.”
Seokjin sighed and stood up, “I’m sure everyone will have it under control, your leader instinct is kicking in.” He smiled as he approached.
“But what if it’s some asshole trying to sabotage the game so we don’t have partners or investors and the whole game department is thrown out? People will lose their jobs! The company will take a financial hit!” I argued.
“Hyung, we should let her go, she does have a point.” Hoseok reasoned.
“We can pack her dinner to take with her. It’s her company, Hyung.” Taehyung jumped in.
Seokjin let out a groan and wrapped his arms around me, pressing the side of his face to my shoulder.
“Now you’re just being a big baby.” Jimin teased as he added the veggies into a wok.
“I’m older than you!”
“You don’t act like it.”
“Taehyung I’m your Hyung!”
“Not when we’re in the bunker.”
“How do honorifics not apply here?” I asked softly.
“Would you like for us to call you L/N-nim then?” Jimin smirked, continuing to cook like he wasn’t just calling me out.
I felt a small amount of heat go to my cheeks at the formality.
“Then no honorifics.”
“…To Seokjin at least.” Taehyung jumped in.
Seokjin stood up straight, I could feel the roast of the century radiating from inside of him.
“We’ll make sure to send her off with dinner. ” Hobi intervened.
“Send who off with dinner?” A melodic voice asked.
Seongmi had happily skipped into the room, upon entering she let out a small squeal. She put her hands over her mouth to try to muffle the sound. At first, I was confused but I followed her line of sight to see my nephew, slumped against pillows at Taehyung’s side. He seemed to be slowly slipping in and out of sleep.
Taehyung looked over to his side and a wide smile stretched on his face. Tae made a soft cooing noise before grabbing the throw blanket off the armrest and draping it over my nephew.
I tried to push away the thoughts of Taehyung being an amazing father and my growing heart to sigh.
“He didn’t even wait until dinner. He must've been so tired.” I frowned.
Seokjin let out his own sigh, “Okay, you can go after we pack you up dinner. I just don’t want you to overwork yourself.” His hand reached over to pet my head.
“Overwork? She’s barely been to work these past couple of days what do you mean?” Seongmi muttered.
“But she’s worked while she’s here,” Jimin stated, his voice having a small bit of irritation in it.
“Hardly. What do you think the owner of a company does? Just make decisions? She has papers to sign, branches to inspect. Meetings with not only staff but with partners, shareholders, even press meetings! She was far more involved before all of this!” Seongmi was clearly agitated.
“Seongmi? Is everything oka-” Jimin cut off my concerned question.
“Then she deserves a break don’t you think? She has other siblings who seem capable.”
“They have their own branches to manage! They have so much on their plate as it is, especially with their new push for games! She has to go. With or without your permission. She’s a grown woman, not a doll for you to play with.”
A heavy silence fell into the room. The weight was insane and it seemed like no one wanted to speak in fear of either Seongmi or Jimin popping off.
Okay, maybe I should deescalate this as much as possible right now.
As if reading my mind Suga let out a loud sigh, “You’re both burning dinner.” He grumbled as he went between Hobi and Jimin to push Jimin aside to lower the heat down on the wok and mix the veggies.
I made a mental note to thank Suga later before I spoke, “Seongmi, thank you for thinking about my feelings right now, but it’s okay. I’ll be sure to eat dinner and come back here before 3am. I hope to get as much work done as possible while I wait for the answer of the security cameras.” I could almost feel the air being thick with tension.
The way Seongmi deflated caused my heart to break. I bit my bottom lip to think of a compromise to make sure everyone was happy.
“Hey, Seongmi? Would you like any supplies? I feel like it’s unfair to bring you anything after all I’ve put you though. Maybe I could sneak into the animation room?” I suggested.
Seongmi’s eyes locked with mine in surprise. She quickly shook her head.
“I wouldn’t want you to get into trouble!” She stated quickly.
I unintentionally let out a giggle, “Get into trouble? With my own company? By the people I employ? I’ll get you a few thinks!” I smiled.
A light blush dusted Seongmi’s cheeks as she averted her eyes and nodded.
“While we’re all here and paying attention, I need someone to help me load the little gremlin on the couch into my car.”
“He’s not a gremlin!” Tae quickly defended.
“He’s not an angel.” Seokjin sighed.
I had ended up trusting Tae to help me load up Jeonghun. I pretty much held my breath as we walked up the stairs. Taehyung looked like he was in peak father mode. He held Jeonghun with one arm under him and one hand behind his head to keep him close as Jeonghun peacefully had his head on Taehyung’s shoulder. Taehyung’s face held the look of concentration as we tried to keep our pace swift, yet careful.
I quickly moved in front of them to open the door to the back seat. Once the door was open I opened up the passenger door to put the cooler bags of food on the seat and tried my best to close it softly.
Taehyung went the extra mile of getting to the car to position Jeonghun comfortably in the backseat. Once he climbed back out I closed the door as quietly as I could.
We both held our breath to see if he would spur. Once there was no movement we gave each other a quick high-five.
“I was afraid he’d wake up!” I let out the breath I was holding.
“Imagine how I felt! I was the one carrying him!” Tae chortled.
“Why do you think I didn’t WANT to carry him?” I giggled.
“Just use me and leave me, I see how it is.” He almost scolded.
“Aww, Tae! I love you though!” I teased and I leaned forward to hug him close.
“You love me, huh?” I could hear the smirk in his voice.
I jumped when his hands slid up my sides then to my back. He let out a sigh as he put pressure on my lower back to keep me flush against him.
The warmth that flooded my cheeks also flowed into my chest. I didn’t fight his touch and put my head on his shoulder.
As an unspoken language, Tae lightly nudged me and I automatically stepped back so my back was pressed to the cool car. He moved his hands to cup my face. Once I looked into his eyes it was game over. An endless pool of comfort welcomed me.
“Make sure to not overwork yourself, okay? Don’t let anyone rush you.” I only nodded.
“When you get home, I’ll be asleep in my room, don’t be afraid to come in, okay? I want to spend as much time with you as possible before Jimin tries to hog you.” I let out a small laugh.
“I doubt Jimin will steal me away.”
“Jimin would. He’s a little… Possessive when it comes to things he really likes.”
“Do you really like me too, Taehyung?” A small smile graced his lips.
“I told you. I like the crazy ones.” I get out an offended scoff and lightly pushed him away.
“I’m not crazy. I’m an intellectual.” I grumbled, turning to open the driver door.
Tae wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close so my back was flush against his chest.
“Seriously though, I want you to myself when you get home.”
“Okay, just don’t tell anyone else I promised you this or I’ll never hear the end of it.”
Taehyung placed a few small kisses on the back of my shoulder that left tingles blooming on my skin.
“We’ll even sleep in. Lunch is better than breakfast.”
“Are you kidding? Seokjin would have my head!”
“…I want your head.”
“…Are you trying to make a dirty joke right now?”
“Only if it’s working.”
“…It might be.”
Tae let out a hum and slightly began to rock us side to side, “How about this? When you get home…” He began as he placed another small kiss on my shoulder, “I’ll let you climb on top of me…” He continued as he placed a kiss on the side of my neck, “And I’ll let you do whatever you please. It can be to sleep,” He kissed my jaw, “Or, I’ll let you use me.”
I whipped around, my face radiating dangerous amounts of heat, “YOU WHAT?” I demanded.
Tae quickly rushed forward to cover my mouth, “You’ll wake up Jeonggie!”
I began to smack at his hand repeatedly, wanting nothing but answers. However, as soon as Taehyung moved his hand, his lips took its place. It was quick and not at all boring though. Like he didn’t just introduce a completely crazy idea into our already weird relationship.
“Calm down. I’m only letting you know it’s an option!” He hissed.
“How are you so casual about this!? You’re an idol!” I hissed back.
“Not a nun!”
“Even hoes have a more subtle way with vocabulary and flirting!”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t still new to this!”
“Even rookies know you don’t just lay the ‘you can use me’ card on the table right off the bat!”
“Well, I’m straightforward!” I let out a groan.
“Now my face is hot!” I whined.
“So that means you WANT to use me.”
“STOPSAYINGTHAT!”
Arriving to the company was just as chaotic as I thought it would be. People were scattered around and rushing in a quick pace. Before I knew it my sister’s personal assistant took my nephew out my arms and my assistant was pushing me to my office.
The power outage had put us a few hours behind schedule and instead of managers just letting employees go after regular hours, they requested everyone work overtime. Which caused more chaos that you would think.
I quickly put up my hair and started getting to work. I was chewed out once or twice by a few older directors for not being in my office 24/7 but all in all people were just relieved I was fixing as much as I could as fast as I could.
About several stacks of documents and a few dozen calls into the night, my sister decided to show up.
“I understand that we’re behind schedule, but I can’t have you overworking employees saying that they HAVE to stay.” I scolded a manager from one of the broadcasting branches.
I quickly mouthed a quick ‘I’m almost done’ to my sister out of respect. She only waved me off as she took a seat on the loveseat and began to pour herself a glass of water.
“The Video Game Department does NOT affect the Broadcasting Department. If I see this kind of slip up again I WILL give you leave without pay. Do you understand? Goodbye.” I hung up and let out a deep groan.
“What was that about?” Jiann asked.
I sighed as I plopped myself on the opposite loveseat. I threw my folder on the coffee table, very done with the list of people to call and meet with.
“I got word that one of the managers in the Broadcasting Department was trying to use the overtime excuse to get extra work out of the employees.” I grumbled crossing her name off the list.
“Hmmm, maybe I should speak with them as well?” Jiann suggested.
I shook my head, “I handled it. You’ll only make them fear you.”
Jiann let out only a scoff in response. I leaned back in the loveseat and tried to relax.
“How was my nephew? Your secretary just whisked him away.” I asked, my head lulled back so I was looking up at the ceiling.
“Still asleep. His dad will be here to pick him up in half an hour. There is something else I wanted to talk about though.”
“And that is?”
“I know.”
I let out another sigh with a roll of my eyes, “Know what?”
“About the bunker.”
“Cool. So does Jae. And mom. And your son. And Jason.” My indifference was clear.
She made it seem like it was such a dark secret that I paid to get a bunker in the middle of nowhere.
“I also know about the nine people in there. The one’s the whole world are looking for.” My head snapped up to look at her.
I could feel cold spike at the back of my neck that was quickly changed into a slow burning fire in my chest. Like I had something to be defensive about, and the superior look on her face made it valid.
“This is what I think,” She began as she placed her glass on the table and picked up and empty one to pour me water.
“I think you should give up your place. Mom threw everything on us as soon as dad passed. You didn’t have time to be young and free. You let everyone go and I’ll gave our best legal team handle everything. You get away with this, you are cut free of the burden of owning the company and everyone is happy. I’ll keep you in charge of games so you’ll still be doing what dad asked of you.” She seemed to have a sparkle in her eyes as she spoke.
It was almost like she was thinking and fantazing this for longer that necessary. It only made the fire in my chest burn hotter.
“Jae and I will handle everything! What do you say?” She finished, holding out the glass of water.
I looked at her like she just told me the worst idea I’ve ever heard. Because she just did.
“I think you giving birth obviously fucked with your brain somehow. What possibly made you come up with that?” I let out a bitter giggle.
I could see the sparkle in her eyes vanished as the coldness arrose.
“What is wrong with you? I just gave you a way out! You committed several crimes and you’re looking at me like I’M the one in the wrong.” She slammed the glass down like that was about to intimidate me.
“You didn’t give me a way out, you gave yourself a way in. I’m not fucking stupid, Jiann.”
“This isn’t about me being power hungry or trying to fight for the top!”
“No. It isn’t. But it IS about your control. Your fucking pride. Ever since I was little you cared about other's opinions and I NEVER thought you would stoop this low.”
“You’re one to talk! You just kidnapped IDOLS.”
“I didn’t do it out of pride or control. I did it out of fucking impulse and recklessness. Something all CEOs have. Something you and Jae will never have.”
“Think with your head for once! If you get caught our company will be canceled! Our entire family business with crumble because of your stupid actions!” She was now yelling.
I could tell by the roughness in her voice that she was close to exploding, but I still wasn’t going to back down from this. It was my mistake and it was my company. It was mine to control and fix.
“I think it would be best if you just listened to your older sister and just stepped down with the offer I gave you!”
“And I personally couldn’t give a single fuck about what you think I should do. This is MY company. This is MY mistake. If you want to turn me in, then fine. Do it. In the end everyone will look at the company with distaste because family just destroyed family. It doesn’t matter if I was the CEO or not when it happened, you just threw your little sister to the wolves and told her to deal with it all because I ruined your image. Dad left this to me and ONLY me! You should be happy that I even LET you control what you do here! I'm not as weak as you make me seem and I'm not letting you take it from me. You make comments about Jae, but you're doing exactly what he would. If you're going to help do it out of the kindness of your heart and not because you want my spot. I would appreciate you leaving my office. Call me when you stop being a fucking child and start being a sister." I snapped and stood up to go to my desk.
“Are you serious!?”
“Deathly. Get out of my office.” I picked up the phone to make another call, dismissing her with the flick of my wrist like an asshole.
“We aren’t done talking!” She argued, now standing.
“Mrs.Han, yes, this is L/n F/n. I was calling about your manager.” I began as I walked over to my computer to pull up her file.
I knew Jiann wasn’t going to let it go as easy as I hoped. Maybe I could’ve been nicer or compromised, but something in my gut told me that it wasn’t what my father wanted and that I was meant for this role. One way or another I was going to prove it.
By time I got through at least eighty percent of the reply list, it was close to four in the morning. It seemed far quieter than it did when I came for my sister’s throat. People had mostly left, lights in the building were either off or dimmed. My fingers ached from the constant typing of emails and documents. I even had to make an announcement to have sent out and displayed to employees. I had my assistant, Hajun, begin to work on getting more security and look into better security companies.
With the ache in my fingers, neck and back I decided to call it night. I turned off my computer and lamp as I began to gather my things. As soon as I bit those who I saw I went straight to my car to go home. Only then did I see the bag of dinner that had been forgotten in the car.
I let out a groan and let my head rest on the steering wheel.
I felt bad for forgetting it, but I was too tired and stressed to be hungry.
But they made it themselves.
I frowned.
Maybe I could eat it quickly. Or at least half. Or I can lie and say I got busy and left it in my office.
I reluctantly opened the bag to find chopsticks and open the container.
The pleasant smell wafted into the car as soon as the container was open, but the first mouthful of food was a unsatisfying one. The flavor was good, but it had gotten cold. The noodles had gotten far too soggy to even pick up with chopsticks.
I knew that was mostly my fault so I made myself eat a good amount of it before closing it up and shoving it back into the bag.
Once I started up the car and turned on the radio I couldn’t help my mind from wandering.
Would my sister sell me out? Would she let any of this go? Did she hate me now?
By time I had parked at the bunker entrance I had fully convinced myself that my sister was going to turn me in and disown me.
I lifelessly unlocked the doors and locked them behind me. I tried to think positively and like I was the baddest bitch to run the company but I was now lost and felt betrayed.
I had to prove myself, but did I already ruin my chance? Did I already fuck everything up sp badly that my father would be disappointed.
Maybe it wasn’t a gut feeling that made me pop off on my sister but fear. Or entitlement.
I snuck into the bunker and down the hall. As soon as I found the right door I crept in and lifted the blanket to Taehyung’s bed and immediately slipped in. I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face between his shoulderblades.
Maybe even this was completely wrong. I had just kidnapped him and his friends. I should be in jail. He should be disgusted. He should be angry.
“F/n? Did everything go okay?” Tae’s voice rough from sleep questioned quietly.
I only shook my head, holding him tighter like he would leave if I showed any weakness.
I felt his larger, warm hand place itself over mine as he let out a huff.
“Everything will be okay. Whatever happened, I’m sure you did the best you could. Just get some sleep, I promise to make it all better in the morning. ”
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TAGLIST: @butterfliespoison @armycandy10 @krystle1990 @min-mingii @toddsgirl27
#bts poly au#bts ot7 x reader#bts yandere au#bts fanfic#bts angst#kim taehyung x reader#kim seokjin x reader#jung hoseok x reader#park jimin x reader#min yoongi x reader
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First and foremost, we have some exciting new changes that everyone can get behind. Absolutely nobody has a problem with the new experience globe mechanics. New experience globes are only at full value for six seconds, and after that are worth 25% exp. And then they last for thirty-nine seconds. Nobody finds this objectionable in any way. This change was not on the PTR due to public outcry from Reddit when it was leaked early, but it’s here live with all of its zero problems fixed.
Another change about which we have received zero complaints is a new tag system behind the scenes. People looking for just the right hero for the situation can easily find it by searching for such keywords as “CC” “Silence” “Sustain” and “Double soak” and find extremely useful and not absolute garbage results. Don’t worry about checking it ahead of time, just get right into draft mode and use it to find the perfect pick!
In addition to those minor and unobjectionable changes, we have removed Volskaya Foundry from the ranked queue, and added everyone’s favorite quickmatch map, Warhead Junction. We have also done this simultaneously with an Overwatch-themed event.
Hero changes below the cut, because this patch is another doozy, with fiiiiiive herooooo rewoooooorks, Four buffed assassins, three nerfed offlaners, two nerfed tanks and we also nerfed the looost viiiikiiiings!
Anduin is the first of our reworks and with him taking a more prominent role in Shadowlands we want to be able to welcome WoW players with open arms. He, uh, doesn’t have a new skin or anything, we just want people to play this game. The central goal of the buff is to improve his healing output in line with other heroes without removing the largest strength in Leap of Faith. As such, we’re just touching literally every part of his kit and talent try and praying that it goes the way we want.
People keep mistaking Johanna for the best tank in the game. This is factually untrue, since Muradin exists. As such, we are just gutting the absolute pants off of Johanna’s talent tree and making it weird and clunky.
For too long has Raynor been the scourge of draft play. Too good to skip, but not scary enough to ban. Perfect macro contributions, with respectable hero damage. Enough self-sustain to take weight off your healer, and self-peel for when tanks are bad. The perfect killing machine. As such, we’ve nerfed his damage into the ground. Start playing Greymane, bitches.
Stitches has proven to be a mediocre bruiser in the eyes of the community. After all these years, I think I know why. We accidentally categorized him as a tank. As such, he needs some serious changes to make him fit that label. This whole time we’ve been balancing him as a bruiser and nobody said anything? This is as much your fault as it is mine.
The average damage output of a ranged assassin has been steadily climbing for a while now. As a result, for a hero to actually be a glass cannon, they need some serious firepower. Valla now has the gunpowder to match her glass. And she’s the glassiest cannon there is. Don’t get me wrong, she still evaporates like a drop of water in California when an enemy hero looks at her. But when she has a solid tank and three healers behind her, the world is your oyster.
Oh my god they didn’t break down the heroes by category. Jesus Christ what the fuck Blizzard? You just decided that this is the line? This is the day you stop caring? Well, congratulations, you’ve made reading your patch notes mildly more inconvenient. I’m still doing this. Ya bunch of jack-offs.
Mei has been grossly overperforming, and we have no idea how that happened. We certainly didn’t buff her over and over again for an entire year. Anyway, we’re just going to roll some stuff back. Definitely probably fine.
It turns out - and bear with me here because this might be hard to follow - Hogger, D.va, and Sonya were all overtuned? For six months? So we’re just gonna tippy tappy them down the smallest little bit. And then slap them around a little for good measure. D.va’s mech form is no longer indomitable, Hogger can no longer solo any merc camp in the game in 12 seconds, and Sonya is now... Basically fine still, honestly. We kinda gave her just a slap on the wrist in comparison. But honestly after gutting Hogger like that, I just didn’t have the heart. One of the benefits from being a little later, alphabetically.
After riding the TLV train up through the ranks, I think it’s about time to recognize that I’m not actually good at them. They’re just overtuned. So it’s time to come back to earth, Icarus. Don’t be fooled by the seemingly-small HP nerf, though. The real nerf is buffing Longboat Raid. People are going to have to pick it to test it and it’s gonna murder their winrate.
Someone told me that Lucio is a problem and needed to be addressed this patch, but my cat came into the home office being adorable so I didn’t hear exactly what they said. So we had to kinda wing it. Hopefully these minor adjustments to his talent tree will solve whatever they were talking about!
Even we know Uther is a problem. Being first pickable and filling three different unique roles was what we wanted to do with Varian not Uther. So we’re going to try and make him incrementally worse at tanking until he just goes away. First up: Shaving off some of that personal armor.
AFK splitpush trash Azmodan is dead. Long live teamfight artillery mage Azmodan. Really glad I made the last HotS Content post about Nova instead of Azmodan because boy howdy do these changes invalidate the entire playstyle that post would have discussed.
W build Falstad has obviously become a problem. Not only was he riddled with bugs after the rework - don’t worry, we learned from our mistakes and made sure there were no bugs with our new reworks - but also he had the ability to point and click on an enemy hero and force them to run all the way to the next lane over in order to stop taking buckets of free damage. It turns out that ability was more powerful than anticipated, and required adjustment.
Q build Falstad has obviously become a problem. Not only was it completely overshadowed by a build that did more damage in every situation with less skill requirement, but we overestimated the value of macro power on a build that demands PvP for stacking. As such, we’ve doubled the amount of power each stack gives him! That’ll do.
AA build Falstad... Stay the course, buddy. Doin’ fine.
Junkrat has been underperforming, which is surprising for a hero with his level of power. As such, we’re going to make a few small buffs to hopefully draw attention, and then we can roll things back once the pickrate reflects his actual power. Hopefully then WE CAN FINALLY MAKE THE MANDATORY CHANGE I PUT IN EVERY MEMO. TYRE. WITH A Y. THAT’S HOW THEY SPELL IT IN AUSTRALIA. KAEO I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU- wait, did Kaeo leave? Who the fuck is still here? Kinnabrew? Adam? Jason? JASON! JASON!?
Tassadar has also fallen off a lot without us having done anything at all whatsoever to nerf him. Entirely undeserved treatment. I’m disappointed in all of you. As such, we’re going to tweak his numbers up just a little tippy tap so that you all remember who killed the Overmind. It wasn’t James Raynor or Sarah Kerrigan. It was Tassadar... Tassadar Bassadar. That’s his last name. Don’t look it up, just trust me.
In the bug fix department, we’ve had a nice sit-down with the Mountain Giants on Alterac and told them that if they have time to lean, they have time to clean. Reaching the end of their lane and expecting the core to come to them is putting undue stress on an already overtaxed position. The core is a very stressful job, and if the mountain giants could just do their part to walk into the core pit when they arrive, that’s a huge load off their shoulders. Drek’thar and Vanndar really needed this expectation taken off them right now, and I’m hopeful it will lead to a better work environment.
#Heroes of the Storm#patch notes#Don't message me telling me Tassadar's real last name#I know it's De La Cruz
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But My Makeup’s Ruined
Anon asked: Do you think you could do an angst that’s dick grayson x fem reader where he cheats on the reader with kori? I love your sm au so much ❤️❤️❤️ I typically like longer stuff but write as much as you want if you even wanna write it. No pressure 🥰🥰
Rating: T (Mostly for Jason’s potty mouth)
Word Count: 2688
Warnings: Panic attack, partner caught cheating, Dick gets punched, references to a nondescript bad past (I’m just being careful, I’d really not like to trigger anyone)
Pairing: Dick x Fem!reader (though it’s mostly Jason in the story with her, but not in any way romantic)
Notes: This took on a life of its own and kind of went into a little bit of a personal experience for me. It was almost cathartic to write, so thanks for that anon. I didn’t go into graphic detail about the cheating or the panic attack itself, but they are mentioned. Hope you enjoy!
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How did you get here? How did you find yourself in this position? You were supposed to be stronger than this. You were supposed to have learned from past mistakes. Yet here you were, soaking from the evening rain with a hand pressed against the slick brick of a random shop in an alley just within the limits of the Diamond District, on the verge of a panic attack.
“Y/N?”
Shaking your head, you ignore the almost robotic voice you could hear just above you and keep your focus on not passing out instead.
“Shit, Y/N. What happened? Are you hurt?” Because of course there was no other logical reason you would be in the position you were currently in.
You felt his body heat before you even realized he had come down from whatever perch point he had found himself above you head. The familiar pair of black, steel toed boots came into your line of sight and you took a number of deep breaths before even considering looking up.
“Hey, you-“ His words cut off when he caught sight of your face. You knew your eyes would be bloodshot from the tears that blended perfectly with the rain falling from the sky. But there would definitely be no hiding the absolute misery in your eyes and even someone as emotionally stunted and repressed as Jason Todd, aka Red Hood, would be able to read it.
“Fuck.” You furrowed your brow at his reaction, his shoulders dropping and though you couldn’t see his face behind the hood, you knew he was probably frowning. “You know.” And your blood ran cold.
“You knew?!” You wanted to scream it, but your throat is tight from crying and hoarse from the cold night air.
“Come on, I’ve got a safehouse the next block over. We need to get you out of the rain.”
You want to fight him, but you just don’t have the energy in you after fighting off the earlier panic attack. So you let him pick you up bridal style and carry you through the shadows to his safehouse. The only thing you can do is wrap your arms around his neck when he lifts you up. And nothing could stop you from burrowing your face into his neck to hide from the constant downpour.
Your mind must shut down in the relative comfort you find because the next thing you know, Jason’s setting you down on the gray couch and draping a blanket around your shoulders before he removes the hood. You look up at him, blinking through the water droplets still falling from your hair, and take in the emotion on his face. Perhaps not as emotionally stunted as he led everyone to believe.
“I’ll make some tea and get you a towel for your hair. I have some clothes here that might not completely fall off your frame, if you want to change?” Not sure you’d be able to say anything without having another breakdown, you simply nod your head and watch him walk into the small kitchen to the left of you and fill a kettle to put on the stovetop.
You trace his movements to the bathroom and wait until he emerges with a couple of towels in hand before he moves onto the bedroom and slips in there for a few minutes. When he comes back out, he’s out of his Hood gear and in a pair of black sweats and a gray Henley. He’s got the towels and what looks to be a pair of sweats and a shirt for you.
“You think you can get changed on your own?” Nodding again, you eased the blanket off your shoulders and stood on shaky legs before reaching for the offered items. His hands linger on the back of yours while you hold the small pile in your palms. “Y/N…”
“I’ll be back in a sec,” you rasp out instead of letting him go wherever he had planned to go with that, slipping past him to the bathroom and shutting the door behind you. Leaning against the only thing separating you from facing what you had seen tonight, you take a few deep breaths and wait to hear the sounds of Jason in the kitchen taking care of the tea.
Once you can her the noise he makes, you get to work stripping out of your cold, wet clothes and drying your hair and body off as much as possible. Once you’re as good as you’re going to get, you tug on the sweats, which fit well enough, and the long sleeved shirt that is probably two sizes too big. Not sure what to do with your wet clothes, you fold them neatly and place them on one of the towels, leaving them on the counter. Taking the second towel out with you, you continue to try and pat the water out of your hair as you walk back into the room.
Even though you know he heard you come out, Jason keeps his focus on the phone in his hand as he types out something.
“How do you take your Earl Gray?” He asks suddenly, finally lifting his green eyes to look over at you as you approach him in the kitchen. You wait for him to set down his phone before you answer.
“Lemon,” you tell him and he nods, smiling as he fixes up your mug before handing it over to you and taking the towel in exchange. Without prompting, you move back over to the couch and wrap yourself back up in the blanket. Leaning back into the comfort of the surprisingly comfy couch, you pull your legs up under you and hold onto the mug with both hands but don’t bother drinking just yet.
Jason approaches silently, as everyone in his family always did, and sits on the coffee table in front of you with his own mug deposited onto the surface next to him. You can see the question before he even asks it and it hurts just as much as you knew it would.
“How did you find out?” You keep your eyes locked on his, trying to draw a little strength to replay the events of tonight in your mind.
“A failed attempt at a early homecoming.” Travel was something that happened a lot with your job as the personal assistant of the current Mayor. You had been at his side for the past three years and every time he set foot outside of Gotham, you were there. Recently there had been a lot of those trips.
This particular trip was supposed to be another two days but some hard work on your part had allowed everyone to return home early. So you had planned on surprising Dick by heading to his place the instant you had dropped your bags off at your Midtown flat. That had been a mistake.
“Does he know you know?”
“The black eye is telling enough.” You don’t react to the snort of laughter that Jason releases, nodding his head. There’s pride shinning in his eyes. He had been the one to teach you how to throw a right hook and was well aware of how good you had gotten at landing a punch. “She didn’t know about me?”
“Maybe not at first. I don’t think it started intentionally. But…I hate to say it, Y/N…”
“I’m going to need to talk to him.” He nodded sadly. “I don’t know if I’m strong enough for that.” You could feel the tears building back up, dropping your gaze from his with a shake of your head, staring at the mug in your hands.
“That’s bullshit and you know it. You’re the strongest of all of us,” he says honestly, so much faith. Reaching forward, he takes the mug out of your hands and sets it down next to his own before grabbing one of your hands and holding on tightly. “You’ve been through so much more than this. He’s just a man. He’s my brother and I love him, but he’s a fucking fool.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m going to call him, okay? The sooner you talk to him, the sooner you can start to move forward.”
“Not tonight, Jay. I…I just…” Raising your gaze back up to look at him, you let the tears spill over and let your eyes say what you can’t with your words. And you can read his own pain in his eyes as he accepts your truth. Without a word, he moves to sit next to you on the couch and gathers you up in his arms. And the battle with your heartbreak is lost, allowing yourself to give into the sobs that had consumed you back in that alley Jason had found you in.
You’re not sure how long he holds you as you cry. Time becomes something obsolete right then and you just give into the base need to unleash the pain. Eventually you find yourself drifting off, tucked into his side with his arms wrapped tightly around you while he murmurs nonsensical words to you. It’s all a haze by the time he lifts you up for the second time of the night and carries you into the bedroom.
You try to protest against him giving up his bed for you, but he shushes you and lays next to you until you’ve fallen asleep.
You wake with the sun the next morning, the space next to you on the bed empty like you knew it would be. Your head feels just as heavy as your heart and you spend a few minutes just blinking at the light coming through the window. The oranges and pinks that slowly take over the sky should fill you with a warmth, but you just feel empty.
It’s not until you hear the sound of voices beyond the closed door, too muted for you to know what is being said or by whom, that you sit up and scrub at your face with both hands. You know you probably look like a wreck, but you figure you’ve also earned the right. Smoothing out your hair as much as you can so you at least don’t look like an absolute disaster, you take a deep breath to steel yourself for going out and facing the world.
Slipping off the bed, you wrap your arms around your middle and head to the door, peeking your head out to see Jason in the kitchen and a very familiar back standing in front of him. It makes your heart hurt even more to know how easily you know him from just the lines of his shoulders. Casting your eyes back to Jason, you can see his eyes are pinched with anger and his under eyes dark with exhaustion. That twists your stomach further into knots, knowing you brought this on him.
Even if he was the one to find you last night.
“Fuck, Jay, I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
“But it did, Dick. You made a choice and now there’s a fucking broken hearted woman in my bed and I just want to punch you in the face to give you a matching black eye.” You know the instant he spots you standing in the doorway, his shoulders tensing even more and the worry filtering into those green orbs. You can tell Dick notices by the straightening of his back before he turns to look over his shoulder.
“Y/N…” He turns to fully face you and you can’t help but tighten your arms around your middle and clench your jaw. The image of him and Kory kissing in his kitchen burn through your mind as if they had just happened moments ago and the pain is just as intense. His hands on her hips, pulling her body flush against his own, and hers on his face, as if worried he’d pull away too soon.
When he takes a step toward you, you can’t stop yourself from taking one back and shaking your head. He doesn’t hide the pained look on his face, but he holds his hands up in understanding and doesn’t come any closer.
Looking away from Dick, you look over to Jason who hasn’t moved but is watching you closely. Without any prompting, he moves around his brother and comes to stand in front of you.
“He called last night asking if I had heard anything from you and I told him I found you. He just showed up a few minutes ago. I can tell him to fuck off.” Glancing back at Dick for a second before looking back to Jason again, you chew on your lower lip before answering.
“He’s already here. Just…can you stay nearby?”
“You got it.” He reached up and squeezed your shoulder before looking back at his brother with a look you couldn’t quite see, but it was enough to make Dick look ashamed, before he moved into the bedroom you had just abandoned.
Silently, you moved closer to Dick but stopped when there was still about five or so feet between you. Close enough to speak quietly, but far enough away that he couldn’t touch you unless he moved forward.
“How long?” It was a question you had wanted to ask Jason last night, but then you had broken down and hadn’t gotten the chance to ask anything.
“Two months.” You aren’t sure if you felt better knowing it was fairly recent in terms of your two and a half year relationship.
“Did she know?”
“Not in the beginning. The first time we kissed…I hadn’t seen her in years and she almost died and I just…” Clenching your jaw, you make a visible effort not the say something nasty. “It only happened two other times, besides last night. But just the one time was enough, and I’m so sorry Y/N. There’s no excuse for what I did, I know that.”
“Were you ever going to tell me? Or were you two just going to continue to keep fucking me over?” There was the anger. It was only a matter of time before the pain settled into it.
“I don’t know.” Letting out a humorless laugh, you tilted your head back and closed your eyes. “I wish it hadn’t happened and god, Y/N, I wish I had been loyal enough to stop myself. I don’t want to lose you in my life. I love you so much, you have to know that.”
“Obviously just not as much as you love Kori.” You looked back over at him and found him with his chin dropped to his chest and both his hands gripping his hair.
“She’s my drug. She always has been.”
Blue eyes crashed back into yours and you could see the guilt and sadness, but you could also see the truth.
“You were never mine.”
“I wanted to be. I wanted to be all yours.”
“But part of you will always be hers. And even if it had only been that one kiss, I could never be with someone who couldn’t be mine completely,” you whisper, feeling that all too familiar burn of tears.
“You deserve more than that. But I was selfish, and I wanted you. I wanted what you made me feel and I wanted to try and give you my whole heart.” You could see tears building in his eyes as a tear of your own slipped over.
“You should go.”
“Y/N…” Shaking your head, you took a step back and sucked in a deep breath.
“There’s nothing else to say, Dick. I just needed to hear you admit that you were never mine the way I was yours. I’ll come by your place tomorrow to get my stuff and leave my key, please don’t be there.” He could only nod before turning and walking to the front door. “I’ll always love you Dick, but please don’t contact me. And just please, don’t do this to anyone else.”
He doesn’t say anything in return before opening the door and heading out, closing it softly behind him. You don’t say anything as the door behind you opens back up and Jason comes up behind you, a warm line of body head at your back.
It’s not until he presses a hand to the back of your neck and pulls you into his chest that you finally let out the sob you hadn’t wanted Dick to see. He didn’t deserve to see you at you most broken. Not when he had caused it.
“You’ll be okay, Y/N,” were the only words Jason muttered that you could decipher. But they were enough. It fucking hurt right then, but you’d survived worse. You would survive this.
#batman#batman au#batfam#batfam au#filled request#dick grayson#dick grayson x reader#dick grayson x you#jason todd#jason todd x reader#jason todd x you#ani writes stuff#red hood#nightwing#koriand'r#dickory
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Tim’s Secret Weapon Pt. 4
I’ve been slightly obsessed with @ozmav ‘s Damian Wayne/Marinette Dupain-Cheng pairing as of late, and just saw a post that has inspired me more than anything else has in months, so I felt the need to write it
Summary- Tim has always seen the numbers floating above people’s heads, been able to perceive their threat levels with a single glance. After being a hero for so long he thought he was desensitized to seeing high numbers above people’s heads until Damian brings a new friend home.
Part 1
Part 3
Part 4 (HERE)
Part 5
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“Yup!” Jason popped the ‘p’ before holding up the book Tim had given him, “Who’s ready for storytime?”
“What do you mean Tim is afraid I would throw him out?” Bruce pushed even as Jason led them towards one of the desks, “I want to help him with-”
“Yeah I’m gonna stop you there,” Jason cut him off, eyes hard as he set the book down with an uncharacteristic amount of care,“Tim was very offended by what we thought was going on with him and it just made him more sure that all of us were going to leave him behind as his shitty parents did. So let’s just cut to the chase and cool off before he seriously decides to run off before we can go talk to him because I’m pretty sure even after talking to him for twenty minutes, he’s still around seventy-five percent sure that’s going to be a better option than waiting around.”
Jason had never seen the energy of a room shift so fast, the anger and bloodlust that had been suffocating since Dick uncovered the file on Marinette vanished into a deep rippling uncertainty. If there was one unspoken rule of the household, it was that no previous trauma will knowingly be replicated. It’s why Jason always makes a point of leaving his guns in the cave and never points them passed Bruce unless it’s life or death. Why no one touched the trapeze unless Dick was going up with them and they always used a net, no matter how good their aerial skills were. Why no one spoke to Jason in angry or stern Arabic. No one told Damian he was overreacting, especially when it was about illness or injuries.
No one was allowed to make Tim think they were abandoning him.
Dick looked stricken at the very idea, “Jay, why is Tim so scared?”
“Short answer? Tim’s Meta.”
The whole room froze, eyes flying wide, making Jason chuckle, “Yeah that was my response to.”
“How long?” Bruce asked, hand gripping the back of his chair so hard, Jason wondered if he was going to break it.
“From what he said, he was born with his power, it’s always on and pretty impossible for him to block out.”
Damian’s face scrunched, “And father always made it clear that he doesn’t like Metas in Gotham.”
“Fuck,” Dick swore, turning to punch the cave wall, “How the actual shit did we miss this? We’re fucking detectives goddamn it!”
Seeing Dick lose it like that made Jason pause. It was rare to see the carefree brother truly get mad about anything, let alone for him to cuss up a storm, he always did prefer those filler cusses that make the rest of them groan.
But then again Damian looked pained and Bruce was sinking into the Bat-computer chair looking lost as he ran a hand through his hair.
“I never meant it like this,” Bruce whispered, “I just didn’t want anyone else coming to Gotham expecting to be able to fix it overnight. Did I really come off anti-meta?”
“I…” Jason winced, stopping to think, “I never thought so, but I can see how Tim thought you might be. We all need to talk to him, but I promised I’d explain some of this shit like Tim did to me, and look through his book so that we don’t all bombard him with questions.”
The four shared a look before they all surrounded the table as Jason began. He told them of the numbers, the skill Tim had that he never shared. After they opened the book they found that it was more complex than just that.
The entries started off very rudimentary, clearly written by a small child, the dates claiming that Tim began this journal when he was merely six years old. They detailed the color, font, and number of the person he had met. A few of the higher ranks having little ideas next to them on the cause, but as the list grew and the handwriting even outed, there were itemized lists on the reason for each number above a 5.
By the time they reached Bruce’s they were pretty dumbfounded as they read through Tim’s confusion and fear at the number that broke the code he’d knew through his whole life, his reason section was filled with sentences of ideas, instead of the short bullet points, trying to ration it out.
The most confusing part of it was he ruled things out that he couldn’t have known, insider trading and corruption would have been a logical conclusion for him to draw of the Billionaire he knew nothing about but he ruled them out instantly, not even bothering to consider they might be part of the reason.
Not to mention when he actually put it together.
“His power works on broadcasts as well?” Bruce mused, “I know I never saw he was never on the streets when I was out during this time period,”
“Adding it to the list of questions,” Dick said as he typed it out into the sheet he had made when they started asking too many questions only Tim could answer.
“Never mind that,” Damian brushed off, “Look at the traits he listed, all listed at the same time from the looks of the ink but if the date is to be believed, this is from before Todd was debuted as Robin, how did he know you had a mastery in hacking, spoke multiple languages and stunt flight?”
All of them froze at those words, hunching over it to look at the words.
There was no logical way Tim could know any of those things. Most of Batman’s skill set could be guessed through out the rumors and gossip that flew since the caped crusader started his reign of the city, but those skill sets still weren’t widely known to the public.
“I…” Bruce shook his head, “Add it to the list, we have a lot more of the book to get through to worry about this now. We should try and finish the book.
But the issue popped up again and again as the pages went on, each hero he met he knew their skills down to the littlest detail, things he shouldn’t be able to know, especially before he became the third Robin.
He knew Clark was Superman when he met the reporter first.
He knew Diane was made of clay before the woman had ever given away that little tidbit.
He knew that Barry was a wiz when it came to criminology before the speedster had ever given up his identity.
He knew Arthur had low-level empathic abilities that went beyond sea life before Arthur was even considered a hero.
They were only two-third of the way through the book, arguing over how The Commissioner could possibly know their identities, let alone why it would make his number rise so quickly when not even Bruce’s number had done so when he learned the other League member’s identities, when a stern voice cut through their thought.
“Gentlemen, There’s a bit of a situation that Master Tim and I discovered that could use your attention.” Alfred cut in, making them turn, stopping when they saw Tim practically sprint to the Bat computer, pointily looking at the wall to avoid looking at them, his shoulders so tight they shock.
“Tim?” Dick asked, concern dripping from his words as he started towards the younger man only to freeze as Tim visually flinched away from the word, curling inward as he frantically typed away on the keyboard.
Before any of them tried to break the silence again the giant screen lit up to show a battle play out. A young girl dressed in a red and polka-dotted outfit flipping and twisting out of the way of the pages thrown like ninja stars at her, a yoyo used to propel her, eyes filled with laughter behind her mask. Her moves were agile and practiced, as another figure, a boy her same age dressed in skin-tight black leather entered the frame.
“I figured out why Marinette is a 15,” He finally managed out, making the bats’, minus Jason, heads snap to him.
A 15?
The brat couldn’t just have a normal girlfriend, could he?
No, he had to have someone that shattered Tim’s power completely.
And he had no idea why, until now.
They really couldn’t blame him for being obsessive.
“I couldn’t find out why Mari was so powerful,” Tim rambled on, “But Alfred helped me realize that she’s a hero too. A hero with the power of the god of creation on her side, which makes sense for why she completely broke my, uh, my power. She’s been-”
“Tim,”
“-fighting a supervillain,” Tim just continued as if he hadn’t heard Bruce, his voice skipping up a few pitches, “ who also uses the power of a god to help him make others into villains to do his bidding. They’ve been locked in battle for years now. Years! We really should have noticed before now, but better late then never right? Heh, she has some allies though so it’s not like she was fighting on her own or anything, and-”
“Drake,” Damian cut in, ducking past Dick to grab Tim by the shoulder to spin him, staring into his eyes with the type of harsh determination only the demon spawn seemed to be able to, ignoring the quacking fear in Tim’s own eyes, “I am the byproduct of the daughter of one of Father’s greatest enemies drugging him. I was raised will one goal in mind, to be the ultimate weapon to take down all that stood in the way of the League of Assassins, and yet Father, Grayson, Todd, Pennyworth and you gave me safety and taught me why my grandfather was wrong. Todd was murdered by a clown with psychopathic tendencies, was brought back by the magic that my grandfather has a monopoly on, went crazy with Lazarth sickness and thought the best course of action was to become a crimelord in the very city he vowed to protect, going as far as trying to shoot Father, the man he saw as an older brother and you, the boy he was convinced Father had only brought into the circle to die as he had, and yet once the sickness faded Father welcomed back in with open arms, shedding tears for the child he thought he had lost. Father may have made it clear that he’s not a fan of metas operating in the city, but you’re a moron if you believe for a second that means he’s going to disown you or take Red Robin away from you. You’re also lost all my respect if you think this means I or any of the others that dawn the bat moniker are going to feel any different about you for having these powers.”
Tim’s mouth opened and closed several times after Damian’s speech had come to a close as the others waited for him to break the silence of the cave. All he could feel was his hands trembling as his eyes welled up.
Damian was still looking at him before sighing, “You really are an idiot,”
He wanted to retort, wanted to bite out a response as he blinked back the tears but he suddenly found Damian’s arms wrapped around his waist, a tight grounding embrace, the younger boy’s chin resting on his shoulder.
Tim wasn’t sure he was breathing, his whole body shaking like it was trying to shatter into a million pieces. The brat, Damian, the one person he thought would gladly cast him aside given the slightest of reason to was…
“You’re family, Tim,” Damian stern voice cut through his mental frenzy, “If I’ve learned one thing since moving to Gotham, it’s that you don’t give up on family, not for anything, and certainly not for something like this.”
Tim felt something inside him break and the next thing he knew he was sobbing into Damian’s shoulder the pair on their knees in the middle of the cave, gripping Damian back like he thought if he let go the boy would vanish. Slowly as he felt his breathing calm down and his sobs fade he could feel more arms surrounding him. The entire bat family was surrounding him, silently holding him through his breakdown.
He pulled back, scrubbing his eyes as his family slowly untangled from around him.
“I’m sorry,” He whispered, voice scratchy from the tears, “I guess I should have known none of you would hate me but… I’ve been so scared that I’d lose you guys too. I didn’t want to risk it, I couldn’t risk it.”
He flinched slightly when a large hand squeezed his shoulder looking up into Bruce’s eyes, softened by a love that could destroy the world if his child was hurt. A love that none of the Waynes needed to put words to because of looks like this.
Glancing back to his brothers he saw the love in Bruce’s eyes reflected in theirs, all of them accepting him and loving him still.
The weight Tim had carried for as long as he knew to grow lighter as a small smile worked its way onto his face.
His eyes burning with the same intense love for his family back at them.
For the first time in a long time, Tim knew without a doubt
It would be okay.
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Tim couldn’t stop the whimper from falling from his lips as Marinette’s class came pouring out of the doors of the school.
All of the Wayne boys had decided to surprise Marinette by showing up at her class when it let out, in addition to not wanting to wait to reveal they knew her secret. It wasn’t hard to get all of them to Paris merely days after Tim’s secret came to light, especially since Bruce was planning on checking up on the Paris branch of Wayne Enterprises the following week before everything happened. Expanding the trip last minute to include all of them had taken little effort, and all of their suits were tucked away in their hotel suites, waiting to be dawned once they got Marinette alone.
Tim was ready to turn back now though and for a very good reason.
In the normal sea of threes and fours, normally Marinette stood out with her overwhelmingly soft pink 15, but now...
The tanned girl that had hoards of kids surrounding her had an obnoxious copper 9 floating above her, the font looking like a tiger had scratched it into the very fabric of space.
A trio of students, a bulky boy, a small pink-haired girl, and a dark-skinned nerdy-looking boy, were messing around as pale numbers circled their heads, a pair of stark white 12s over the boys and an icy blue 13 over the girl.
A pair of girls, one blonde and one of Asian descent, were bickering as they made their way down the steps, a canary yellow daintily drawn 14 for the blonde and deep burgundy calligraphed 13 for the more stoic girl.
And the blonde boy Marinette was happily conversing with, looking even more softspoken and sweet than the baker girl.
He had a venomous green 15 swirling over him in it’s rounded bubble-like font.
His brothers glanced at him warily.
“Everything okay Timmy?” Jason asked, eyes flitting over the crowed on instinct, looking for the threat that spooked him.
“I’ll tell you later,” He groaned back, “... but keep an eye on the girl in the orange jacket, she feels slimy from all the way over here,”
His brothers nodded, but even so, Tim felt a migraine coming on.
For once Tim wished for an alien invasion so he didn’t have to deal with this bullshit.
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#miraculous ladybug#batman#maribat#marinette dupain cheng#Tim Drake#meta!tim#BatFam#Damian Wayne#dick grayson#Jason Todd#bruce wayne#Alfred Pennyworth#miraculous class#numbers AU#Tim is so tired
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