#when the villain notices ya type lol | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jasntodds · 1 year

Text

Caving In [15]

Pairing: Gar Logan x Fem!Powered!Reader, Jason Todd x Fem!Powered!Reader

Words: 13,783

Chapter Warnings: Swearing, angst, mentions of Jason wanting to kill himself from last chapter, canon violence, some fluff kind of

Summary: ❝Tell me Atlas: What is heavier, The world or its people’s hearts?❞ You never expected your life to end up this way, turned upside down by an infamous Gotham villain. It’s been a living hell, every single day, until Dick Grayson brings you to Titans tower where you meet Gar Logan and Jason Todd.

A/N: I am changing canon a little bit so we see Jason again next chapter lol Also, so I had issues with this chapter and ended up dropping my Gar plot 😅 I got advice from my best friend and that’s where I landed lol it was not working at all and reader seemed like such an asshole and it was not fun to write so I changed it lol Luckily, not that much of my plot changes after this chapter but ya know, that’s why this is late lol I am easily motivated to post more often when I get feedback 😂 You can add yourself to the tag list below, ask me to be tagged, or you can follow my library blog @jasntoddslibrary and turn on notifications if you prefer that!!

series masterlist | masterlist | tag list

Jason and you pause, looking at Dick. Jason looks a bit broken and defeated but you look like you’re about to throw Dick off the edge of the roof. After all of that, after you both get kidnapped and permanently fucked up, now Dick is gonna take some type of responsibility for it. Jason is still limping a little, he thinks no one notices but you and Gar do. And now Dick is saying it’s his fault. Where was he a week ago? Where was he fifteen minutes ago when everyone decided to attack Jason for something he didn’t even do?

“Can you come inside? I’ll explain everything.” Dick asks and you look to Jason.

Jason looks hopeless and tired. and he’s quiet. Jason is anything but quiet. Maybe you should give it all a rest. Maybe it’d be easier if you agreed with Dick and let him say whatever he has to say and just be a silent form of comfort for Jason. But, you’ve never been very good at biting your tongue, even when you should. And especially, when someone you care about is any type of pain.

You turn back around. "You've got to be fucking kidding me, right?" You snarl. "Jason nearly jumped off a roof and NOW you wanna take the blame for something?! Dick, literally what the fuck? Do you maybe wanna first tell the other Titans they're fucking assholes because they're in there defending you so fucking hard that we're out here!!!! You're supposed to protect us! And now you wanna come clean about Deathstroke's son?!" You glare at him, your jaw squared and Jason is shielded right behind you. Your hands start to glow and acid leaks from your balled fists.

Jason reaches forward, resting his hand on your shoulder and squeezing. Jason's never had anyone defend him as hard as you do. He's not sure anyone has ever even cared that much about him. You losing control of your powers in your sleep is one thing, but right now, you’re wide awake but you’re so mad at everyone that you’re losing control of it. Jason isn't going to let you completely lose it, not over him even if it means more than he'll ever say. You look back at him and Jason shakes his head, his eyes still glossy and red.

You want to keep fighting. You’re just so furious at everyone that it's like you can feel herself slipping into insanity. It's like the trauma of everything over the last few years is all coming to the surface in one go. Every ounce of anger you weren't allowed to feel, is ranging back through the back of your throat. Your entire body feels like it's being thrown into the sun but you look at Jason and it just...fades. Not completely because you think you'll mad about this forever but it fades enough for you to take breath because he doesn't want you to fight Dick on this. The glowing of your hands fade and you open and close your fists a few times and bite your tongue, for Jason's sake.

You turn back around, facing Dick. "Whatever." You groan with the roll of your eyes. "But you fucking suck, too."

“Fuck it.” Jason scoffs.

You look down at your hands, making sure they're safe before you reach back and grab Jason's hand in yours. Jason follows close behind you and keeps his hand in yours on your walk back to the kitchen. It seems to calm you down and it seems to ground him.

When the three of you reach the kitchen, everyone is still waiting in the kitchen. Everyone is mostly scattered about, even Rose has joined the party. Dick declares he has something to tell all of you so Jason lets go off your hand, taking a seat at a table and you head over towards the sink to sit by Gar. You shake your head at him and rolls your eyes.

“Is Jason okay?” Gar’s voice is laced with worry.

“I’ll tell you later.” You whisper to him before Dick addresses the room with his confession.

“I lied.” Dick states as he finishes the story. “I lied to you guys because I was afraid you guys would leave this place and me. And if that happened, there would be no Titans. And I lied to you, too.” Dick lets out a breath. “I told you guys Jericho was dead when I got to the church. But he wasn’t. He was alive. He died trying to save me from his father. I’m sorry.” Dick looks to the ground and crosses his arms. “You all deserve more.”

The room falls completely silent. Everyone processing what Dick has just confessed but Hank is the first one to make a move. Hank gets up slowly and then walks over to Dick. Everyone in the room remains completely silent, waiting to see what Hank is gonna say. But, then, Hank doesn’t say anything. He punches Dick in the face. Dawn quickly jumps up to move Hank away from Dick.

“You lying sack of shit.” Hank grits his teeth at Dick as Dawn pulls him away, Kory standing up from her spot near the living room.

“How many fucking half-truths have you told us?” Donna asks, not moving her spot by the snack bar, her voice holding annoyance.

“At least you got a half-truth.” Rachel says and just hearing her voice, you wants to explode.

You’re mad at Dick but a part of you understands why he would lie. If any of the younger Titans knew it was his fault Jericho died, none of you would trust him. You’re supposed to trust him with your lives but he went and got another kid killed and by his own father no less. Of course, you wouldn’t trust him to keep you safe. It doesn’t excuse him from lying because it caused this huge mess, for you and Jason specifically. But, you do get it and Jericho trying to save Dick, was still his decision. Mad as you might be, you’re almost certain Dick would do that for any of you. It's what you're supposed to do, right? What the Titans are supposed to do? Put your lives at risk for not only the greater good but also each other? Rachel is always on Dick's side, if anyone should understand any of this, it should be Rachel. Why is everyone flipping so easily?

“So, me and Jason got kidnapped and tortured because of you?” You ask and Dick makes eye contact with you before barely glancing at Jason and then looking to floor. “Alright then.” You scoff and Gar puts his hand over yours, giving your a look of sympathy.

“My brother’s dead because of you.” Rose states, glaring harshly at Dick. “I’m out.”

Jason stands up as Rose goes to leave the room. “I’m going with her.”

“Jason--” Dick starts, looking back to him.

“You don’t get to decide what I do anymore, what anybody does.” Jason states before turning around and heading down towards the hallway.

You look at Gar a bit panicked. Jason? Leaving? And with Rose? It makes sense given what Jason told you earlier but maybe he should go back to Gotham if he wants to leave. Dick almost got him killed, you don’t blame him but it hurts anyway. And Gar’s heart is in his stomach. Gar thought you’d all be a team and Jason is his best friend. He doesn’t want to lose him because Dick made a bad decision.

“I’m out, too.” Donna glares at Dick as she pushes herself away from the counter and heads out of the room.

“I’m going with Donna.” Rachel pipes up, hopping off of the counter. Gar snaps his attention towards them and now another friend of his is leaving. “Can I go with you?” Rachel asks as Donna stands in front of her.

“Sure?” Donna questions.

“Rachel.” Gar pipes up.

“I can’t stay here.” Rachel says before turning away from you and Gar.

“Let’s go.” Hank says to Dawnn and the two of them start to leave without another word.

Gar’s eyes grow glossy as he watches all of the Titans start to leave. “Kinda messed of Dick.” Gar’s voice is so small.

“Hold the fuck up.” You groan, not moving from your spot but the Titans look to you. “Seriously? You guys are just...giving up on him?”

“Give it a rest.” Hank’s jaw is squared.

“You defended Dick left and right and now that he comes clean about shit, you’re just gonna bail? What kind of fucking team are you people?" You don't even sound angry right now. Gar isn't sure if he be more worried about that than you being furious. "I mean if the roles were reversed and Jason were Dick, I wouldn’t leave. You guys almost got Jason to kill himself and for what? To bail because Dick lied to protect all of us? It’s fucked up, sure, but at least he had a good enough reason. What the fuck ever.” You bite the bitter taste of disappointment.

The Titans are not the heroes you once looked up to. None of them are. You’re a firm believer in not giving up people easily. You’re not an easy person to believe in and you’re aware of it. But, your best friend didn't give up on you in Gotham, your mom never did, Gar hasn't, Jason definitely hasn't, and Dick didn't. People are deserving of second-chances. As Titans, as heroes, they should know that better than anyone. But none of them have anything to say, they all just walk off.

And because things couldn’t get more disappointing, Kory’s phone goes off and she takes a second to type a quick message before she starts to walk away, too.

“You’re leaving, too?” Dick asks.

“Got some loose ends to take care of. Sorry.” Kory says softly before she closes the distance between them and rests a hand on Dick’s arm. “At least it’s out now.” She pauses. “The truth.” Dick nods. “I’m sure they’ll get over it soon.” Kory assures him before she leaves the three of you, too.

Gar has tears in his eyes and it breaks your heart. The Titans are leaving Dick but in the process, they’re also leaving Gar. Jason, completely understandable. There’s a weird history between him and Dick anyway because of Bruce. That’s understandable but Rachel. Rachel should be staying. Everyone leaving is hurting more than just Dick.

“Interesting how I’m one of two people still sitting here.” You mutter with the quick raise of your brows, Dick’s looking at you with sympathy. Surprised you even came to his defense in the first place. “Look, Dickolas,” You hop down from your place on the counter.

You can't believe you’re doing this. Defending Dick? Understanding Dick's motivation? Maybe you’ve also lost your mind. But, you just watched your best friend completely shatter and you’re not going to watch Dick do the same. Not without making an effort to prevent it. The reality is that Dick and Jason were taken in by the same person. Both of them are not great at communicating and some of that probably has to do with Bruce. This is something that's clearly eaten away at Dick and words matter. You don't want to talk another person down from the ledge today. So, you swallow the anger you feel towards him and let's yourself just feel empathy.

“Y/n, don’t.” Gar pleads with you.

“I gotta say my shit on this.” You let out a sigh and walk over to Dick. “Look, fuck you, first of all. Me and Jason almost died because of you and you started this shit here today in the grand scheme of things. But, fuck, alright you were raised by fucking Bruce who clearly isn’t very good at it. And you did try your best. Maybe, I was wrong about what it means when someone says that.” You shake your head as you shrug your shoulders. “Because you did.” There’s no snark in your voice, no sarcasm. It’s just sympathetic. “It backfired to hell and back but….at least you fucking tried to keep all of us safe and that’s doing a whole lot more than a lot of people have done for me and Jason and Gar. So, fuck you because that’s shitty. But, I don’t think everyone should give up on you either.” You suck in a breath. “You didn't give up on me.” You chew the inside of your cheek as you furrow your brows. You suck in a breath and clear your throat. “Anyway.” You spin around to look at Gar. “I’m gonna try to convince Jason to stay, wanna help?”

Gar shakes his head and there’s a hint of a smile on his lips. He didn’t think you’d say any of that to Dick, ever. He didn't think you would ever even side with Dick if Dick were right about something. But it was nice and Gar knows that probably wasn't easy for you to say, especially right now. And as for Dick, he's getting the sense you’re gonna be okay. Of all people in this tower, you’re the one siding with him. He can't believe it but it does mean something to him. Maybe he hasn't completely failed all of you.

“If he’ll listen to anyone, it’s you.” Gar nods at you.

“I’ll meet you back out here when I’m done.” You smile softly at him and head towards Jason’s room.

You walk to Jason’s room and you’re trying to think of what you can tell him to convince him to stay that isn’t about you or Gar. It’s a little selfish of you to ask him to stay for either of you. But, you need him. You chose Gar but Jason is your best friend. He means everything to the both of you and neither of you want to see him take off and make bad decisions because of one bad decision Dick made. The way you see it, Dick didn’t kill Jericho. It’s Dick’s actions that lead to Jericho getting killed but Jericho was protecting Dick. There was a reason for that. And you hold onto that. So, you knock on Jason’s door and open it slowly seeing him pack a bag by his bed.

“Hey.” You greet him sadly, leaving the door open.

“You can’t fucking stop me.” Jason snaps at you, throwing some clothes into a bag.

You look to the floor and stick your hands into your hoodie pouch. “Yeah…thought I’d try though.” Seeing him pack, it puts him leaving into reality and you really, really don't want to him to leave and it starts getting heavy again.

Jason looks over at you and see your eyes starting to gloss over. The hardened expression grows softer. You look desperate. "Are you okay?" Jason switches it to you, not just because it's what he does. You just talked him down, screamed at the Titans for ten minutes in his defense, and found out it's all Dick's fault. He is worried about how you’re going to handle all of this.

You pause and your heart is somewhere between thundering and stopping. The lump grows in your throat and this is getting to be a little too much. The adrenaline from being angry is crashing and now you just feels sad. Your eyes start to burn while your stomach grows nauseous. It’s too loud and too heavy and too fucking much.

You shake your head. "No." The word is so fragile, Jason swears if he breathes too heavily the world will shatter around you. "I'm....uh, I'm just so fucking mad at them." You suck in a heavy breath, dodging Jason's eyes. “You...you-you just...don’t deserve it.” You shake your head, looking to the ground, brows furrowed and you swear you can't breathe. "You-you deserve, you deserve better." You pull your hands out of your hoodie pouch, tugging the sleeves over your hands as they shake so bad you almost can't grab the sleeve. "It's...I don't know." You finally look up to him. "And I don't want you to leave." You suck in a breath as if that breath is gonna put all of this back together again.

Jason shakes his head and it’s agonizing listening to you try to get the words out. His chest feels like he’s being punched over and over again. “I can’t fucking stay here. He fucking lied. I almost fucking died because of that shit. You almost died.” Jason's eyes go to your hands, still shaking and he walks over to you, putting his hands on your shoulders. His eyes lock with yours, his left eye still a light shade of yellow from the healing bruise. But the action alone, grounds you. You’re able to suck in a full breath with his hands on your shoulders. "They're assholes, okay? I'll be fine once I'm away from all of them."

"You almost walked off a roof half an hour ago, Jay." Your eyes water.

"But I didn't." Jason states. "I'll be fine once I'm far the fuck away from any of them, alright?"

"They're all leaving." Your voice is almost pleading with him.

"All?" Jason questions as if to not believe you.

"Rachel's leaving with Donna, Hank and Dawn are leaving together, obviously. Kory's leaving, to. She has a thing, I guess." You pause and Jason's hands slide down your arms. "It's just..Gar, Dick, and me. Dick sucks but Gar and me are pretty okay."

"I can't, not with Dick still here." Jason keeps his stance, ignoring the feeling of his chest caving in and he drops his hands entirely away from you.

He moves back to the bed and continues to pack his clothes. It’s hard for him, too. You’ve done more for him than most people have. You mean so much to him that he can’t even imagine his life without you in it anymore. He knows it’s what’s best for him but leaving, leaving you, makes him feel like his chest is wide open and bleeding.

You hang your head. Every reason you have to convince him to stay is selfish. He’s standing here telling you he can’t stay because it’s what’s best for him. And you still want to convince him and that’s just selfish. It’s gonna be painful with him leaving. You’re going to worry about him the whole time. He means everything to you. You like hanging out with him. You like being around him. He makes you feel fucking normal. The weight of the world doesn’t feel like it could crush you at any moment when he’s around. Every single reason you come to, is about how you feel and not about what is actually best for Jason.

It’s right now, with the undeniable fact that Jason is leaving, that’s him. You like Gar, of course you do. What’s not to like? But, there’s Jason and this agonizing thunder in your chest is practically crippling and all he’s doing is leaving. He’ll call you and text you. But it feels like this is the end of everything. If it weren’t Jason, it wouldn’t hurt this bad.

You wouldn’t feel like you’re bleeding out. It’s always been Jason as much as you want to deny it because it’s easier that way, it is. Because Jason is the one you felt the most comfortable with to tell him what happened first, because he went with you to Jerry’s without any judgment or anger, because he welcomed you into his own world. Because, despite everything, Jason feels comfortable and safe and thrilling and fun. Jason feels like a rollercoaster, right before the drop or a loop. You know you’re safe, but your stomach drops anyway and there’s a thrill that comes with it. It’s safe but thrilling and that’s what it feels like around Jason. Around Jason, the world is not heavy because when it gets heavy, he crawls under it with you and he helps lift that weight so you aren’t alone in it. Because you tell Jason that you’re not okay. Jason feels like home.

But, you bite every piece of that down because you cannot tell him. He will stay if you do. You kissed him anyway and he doesn’t want that. Not right now. If you tell him, you’re terrified he will stay and get worse. It’s not what’s best for him. And you can’t leave. You want to go with him but Gar has been there for you just as much as Jason has. You can’t leave Gar alone and telling Jason would mean choosing not just between them on a romantic level, but choosing between them on a friendship level and that is something you swear you will never do. So you swallow the shards of glass with every unspoken word scribbled across the pieces.

“I understand." The words feel like chewing gravel. "I'm...I am really gonna miss you, then, Jay."

Jason almost turns around, your voice is broken and desperate. He almost turns around because he feels bad this hurts you. It shouldn't. He never should have meant that much to you but he does. He almost looks at you but if does, he'll stay and he knows he can't. He doesn't belong here. He's never fit in. Dick has never wanted here. He would rather be on his own than someplace he isn't even wanted.

There's a silence that consumes you both and it's as if you exist in your own bubble. It's always kind of like that when it's just the two of you. It's just Jason and you. The world gets quiet, you both can breathe, and the heaviness is easier to carry. When you're together, alone, you exist in a bubble that protects you both from the outside world. Even with Deathstroke. That whole experience would have been so much and so much more terrifying if you didn't have each other. And right now, your bubble surrounds you, it's filled with heartache and guilt, unsaid words that you both swear will never see the light of day. But, then your bubble gets popped.

Rose walks in, seeing you watching Jason with Jason's back to you. She plops in one of Jason's chairs before deciding to break the silence. “What? Trying to get him to stay?”

You feel the sadness completely fade into more anger with Rose speaking. It consumes every piece of sadness that embedded itself in your chest. You roll your eyes nearly into the back of your head. You don’t have the mental capacity to deal with her, too.

“Is that any concern of yours?” You ask, keeping your back to her.

“He’s coming with me.”

You look over your shoulder to Rose. “Cool.” You shrug one shoulder and turn back around to Jason. “Look, you’re our best friend and we respect your decision but….uh, ya know, we just worry about you.” You do not want to have this conversation with Rose in the room. It’s none of her fucking business. What is said between you and Jason, stays that way.

“I'm gonna be fine.” Jason shakes his head and if Dick would leave, he’d stay. But with Dick here, he can’t.

“You care about him,” Rose’s voice is snarky from behind you and you feel your entire emotional stability start to slip. You will explode again. You’re fed the fuck up with all of this shit. “But Dick treats him like shit and so do the rest of the Titans. They’ll all come back eventually.”

You narrow your eyes and there is something about Rose that doesn’t make sense. You don’t know what it is but there’s something rubbing you the wrong way. It’s not jealousy, you’re certain of that because it doesn’t feel warm like that. There’s something else and it hits you that it’s the way she just said how the tower treats Jason. Everyone treats Jason like shit besides you and Gar. You’re the only two that ever gave Jason a chance to not be a shithead. Sure, maybe Rose gave Jason the same, but you find it a little weird.

“Do you wanna shut the fuck up?” You look at her, blinking quickly.

"If you're really his friend, you'd want what's best for him." Rose quips. "Do you even have a good reason for him to stay?"

"Literally, this sounds like we're fighting over him which I'm not gonna do." You pause and turn to fully face her. "No, it's why I simply asked him instead of outright convincing him. I don't have a reason that's not fucking selfish." Jason glances over his shoulder and he wonders what the hell that could possibly mean. "Is there a reason you, specifically, want him to go with you instead of going home?" You raise the question and Jason has slowed his packing to watch the two of you argue.

"He isn't wanted there either." Rose states and you’re taken aback by the comment.

Does she know Jason at all? Home is home. It doesn't matter how fucking shitty Gotham is, that place is home. You know for a fact that is his home because he doesn't think you’re insane for wanting to go back. The only people who don't think that's completely insane are Gotham people. There is something else going on here and for a second, you want to play every single card you have against Jason to get him to stay. Regardless on if it's good for him or not because going with Rose, right about now, seems like a bad fucking decision, too.

"Interesting." You nod your head. "Right, so it's not because you're hooking up and you're choosing to go with saying he isn't wanted there to engrain more negative thoughts into his head so he'll go with you?" You question. "Which, by the way, pretty shitty fucking move considering what just happened."

Jason snickers softly to himself. He's not exactly sure who would win in a fistfight but he's certain you could win any argument you’re in. You will not back down against anyone. Especially when it's about him. Jason swears Rose has no idea what she's getting herself into and Jason isn't about to tell her. He is a little curious about what Rose's answer to any of this is.

"You still haven't given a reason for him to stay." Rose offers this condescending grin and your eye nearly twitches.

"You know what, I got one." You narrow your eyes at Rose. "I don't fucking like you." You snark, your voice stern and coursing with venom, Jason's full attention is now on the two of you. You liked Rose a few hours ago, this is getting interesting.

"Because you think we're hooking up? That's cute. What does Gar think?"

"Nope." You shake your head while a laugh leaves your lips. This isn't jealousy and you’re positive. "Why do you know it wasn't Jason?" You ask. "I mean, I know it wasn't him. But, why do you know that? You're positive it wasn't him. Why? You know him about as well as you know me or Gar or Rachel or Dick. So, why do you think it wasn't Jason? And don't say because you like him because we all know you're a lot smarter than that. So, why?"

Does it seem insane to accuse Rose? Absolutely. But the entire tower has lost their minds and you figure you might as well join them. If you shoot enough times, you’re bound to hit something. And Jason didn't do it but someone in this tower did. You’re gonna find out who it is if it's the last thing you do.

"Why would he?" Rose fires back.

"Exactly. But, see, I ask that question and you don't even point the finger at Rachel or Dick which, by the way, was who I would have said did it. So, why do you know it isn't Jason and why aren't you blaming anyone else in this tower?" You cross your arms. "If you care so much about him, that is, you'd be pointing at anyone else."

Jason glances in front of you to Rose and you’re making a point, a completely insane point but a point nonetheless. He's not entirely sure where you’re going with this but he is curious how Rose knows it wasn't him. It is nice that she knows it's not, but curious what the explanation is nonetheless.

"Okay, how do I know it wasn't you?" Rose questions.

You give a cold smile. "See, now you're using me as a scapegoat because I asked. I know it wasn't Jason because I was with him. He's either me, with Gar, with the both of us, or you. So, for you to know it wasn't Jason means you would also know it wasn't me or Gar. So, who do you think really did all of that?" You blink at her.

The dots connect right then and Jason is pretty sure you’re accusing Rose. He has no idea why she would. How would Rose know any of that shit? It's like him. He wouldn't know any of that, so Rose wouldn't. A part of him is a little annoyed by it because now it's seeming like you can't set aside your bias.

"Are you accusing her?" Jason huffs from behind you.

"Nah, just asking questions." You shrug your shoulders and Rose holds a stern face. You aren't sure how or why it would be Rose but you do find it interesting that Rose is certain without pointing the finger at anyone. You turn around, dropping the argument. Of all people, Rose isn't worth fighting. "I won't convince you." You back down and Jason is surprised. You don't back down from anything besides your game of chicken. "But, uh, just call and text, okay? Me and Gar both care about you." You offer a soft smile.

"Yeah, yeah, alright." Jason chuckles softly.

You walk over to him and pull him into a hug. "Just...promise me, you'll be careful?" You whisper to him and you feel him nod against your shoulder. "Good. If shit gets too loud..." You pauses and it really hurts saying goodbye to him. "I'll come find you, okay?" You pull away, keeping your hands on his shoulders and smile gently at him. "Always." You offer him a nod, the lump in your throat almost suffocating you.

Jason nods at you, his hands on your waist and he wishes it were just the two of you for this. It should be. It hurts him, too. You’re his best friend. She means the world to him. You’re the only person who ever understood him for who is, all the way through. His chest aches and it's like it's just bleeding, openly for you. But, he has to ignore it but he cannot stay here. It's too heavy.

"Same to you." Jason nods at you. "Just call."

You give him the saddest smile Jason has ever seen. "Of course. Have fun, Jason Todd." There's the slightest break in your voice and Jason always decides to stay. Just almost.

"Don't have too much fun." Jason winks at you and you roll your eyes.

"Shut the fuck." You groan as you head for the door, giving a quick glare to Rose on your way out.

You head back to the living room, heart heaving and aching. You sit beside Gar on the couch, Dick is outside on the balcony, likely wallowing. You rest your head on Gar's shoulder and Gar puts his arm around you, pulling you close against him. He knows you’ve gone through a lot and it'd be easier, probably, if you would leave with someone. But, he is always going to be grateful that you decided to stay with him. Gar can't give up Dick. Everyone else is and Gar believes in second chances. He has to stay. Someone has to stay. And he is so happy you’re staying with him because he needs you.

"Thank you for staying." Gar whispers to you and you pick your head up, brows furrowed. "I would just get it if you wanted to leave." Gar's voice is soft, almost expecting you to change your mind.

"I know uh, but, I've been running from things forever and..." You pause, chewing the inside of your cheek. "They're all leaving anyway and you're here. I'm not gonna leave you with just Dick." You let out a weak laugh.

"Thank you." Gar offers you a grateful smile. "Are you okay?"

You nod your head and give Gar a fake smile. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Worried for Jason's sake." You swallow every reason you’re not okay and the words stick to your throat like static.

Just then, Jason and Rose enter from the hallway. Rose is already on her way to the elevator, not offering anything to you or Gar. Jason, on the other hand, offers you both a nod of his head. Gar gives him a sad smile but the smile you give him is broken and hollow before Jason heads to the elevator.

"Think he'll be back?" Gar asks.

You shake your head. "No, I think his mind is made up. I think Dick burned him too bad this time." You say quietly. "He said he'd call and text though, both of us." You assure him.

Gar nods his head. "I'm gonna miss him."

"We'll hunt him down if he doesn't call or text." You smile at Gar. "Dick will owe us and Jason will probably end up back with Bruce so we'll figure it out." You wiggle your brows and that gets Gar to laugh.

"Got it all planned out."

"Always do." You smile widely but your smile falls as you watch Hank and Dawn head for the elevator, pausing when they see you and Gar.

"Are you guys gonna be okay here?" Dawn asks, her voice as sweet as usual.

"Yeah, if you guys want, you can come with us. You don't have to stay here." Hank nods at the both of you, earning a soft glare from you.

"I wouldn't go with either of you if someone paid me." You scoff at the both of them, Gar letting out a sigh beside you. He gets your anger towards them but Gar doesn't have it in himself to be mad at everyone.

"We're okay." Gar offers a somber closed mouth smile at them. "Thank you though."

"If you need somewhere to go, call us, okay?" Dawn asks you.

"We will." Gar assures.

"I will not." You nod your head, blinking at them. "Can't--"

"Okay." Gar lets out a sigh, lightly nudging you and shaking his head, eyes pleading you not to argue anymore. Dawn and Hank don’t say another word before they leave.

"Sorry." You let out a breath. "I'm just so fucking mad." Your voice cracks. "You didn't....you didn't see him, Gar. Just..." There's desperation in your eyes. "I'm so fucking mad at them for how they treat him."

"I know." Gar nods. "Me, too. He's my best friend and them blaming him for stuff he didn't do, that's not right. But, it's not worth arguing. They're gone anyway."

"I know." You nod your head with understanding.

The two of you sit together, comfortable in silence together as you watch Rachel and Donna leave together and then Kory following not long after. It's a sad moment. You hold a lot of bitterness but you did like having the older Titans around. It's sad to watch them deteriorate over this. You don't really get it because Dick did apologize and he did it to protect them. It wasn't right but they should understand that. If you can, everyone should. And you just can't believe you feel bad for Dick, but you do.

Dick walks in and looks at you both with sad eyes. "I'm gonna leave, too." Dick nods once at you and Gar and you sit up straight, nearly jumping from your seats. "You guys can hold down the tower. I'm gonna pack but you guys got this." Dick says as he turns around, leaving the two of you in the living room.

"Uh....yeah, what the fuck?" You look at Gar.

"I'm gonna go to talk him." Gar gets up quickly and leaves, rushing to Dick's room.

You stay in the living room while Gar chases after Dick to try and convince him. Your heart is heavy in her chest, it feels like your shoulders are going to collapse. After everything, it all just keeps falling apart. You swore this place could be home, but now everyone besides Gar is leaving. Your best friend, the one you share so much with, the one who gets you better than anyone, the one who you fight back the burning in your stomach for, is left. Gar is here which is great but having everyone else leave, is making this hole in your heart that you can't quite explain. And maybe you swear you’re just tired because it's been a long two week and trauma is exhausting.

"Yeah, hey, hi, I got a question." You hear Gar as him and Dick come walking in from the hall near the kitchen. Gar is facing Dick, stopping him from moving. "What about the unconscious naked dude down the hall?" Gar asks as you get up from your spot, getting a view of Dick with a bag. Even Gar was unsuccessful in getting him to stay and your heart sinks further.

"He's your number one job." Dick says, eyes locked on Gar. "His vitals are steady. Just check on him every few hours but nothing to worry about." Dick explains while you move to stand beside Gar. "He's probably going to outlive us all." Dick pauses for a second. "When he wakes up, call Bruce." Gar perks up with the name.

"Bruce Wayne?" Gar asks without missing a beat.

"No, Bruce Springsteen." Dick states.

"Who?" Gar mumbles, voice slightly deflated.

Dick shakes his head. "Look, Conner will probably want to get in touch with Superman. Bruce can make that happen."

Gar crosses his arm, almost vibrating with excitement as a smile splits his face and it makes the hole in your heart not feel so deep. "So, him and Superman are like..."

"Just call him, okay?" Dick asks and Gar nods. "He's your number one job." Dick nods his head at Gar. "Yours, too." Dick looks to you and then back to Gar.

"Number one job." Gar confirms.

"Number one job." You let out a sigh.

"That's all you gotta do." Dick states.

"All I gotta do." Gar repeats and you give Dick a thumbs up.

"Thanks." Dick sticks out his hand but Gar slaps it away and brings Dick for a hug.

Once they pull away, Dick turns to face you and you’re a lot more upset about him leaving than you’d like to admit. You have your issues with him but you do respect him. At the end of the day, despite everything that happened, he did save your life a few months ago. Dick did do his best and it should have been good enough.

"Yeah, I'll take the handshake." You offer Dick a smile and stick out your hand. Dick chuckles softly, shaking your hand.

"I'll be back." Dick says and he walks to the elevator, Gar and you following behind him. Dick gets into the elevator, looking back at you and Gar who are stopped outside of the hall. "Keep the faith, guys." Dick says as the elevator doors close.

The elevator takes Dick down, leaving you and Gar alone with Krypto and an unconscious Conner down the hall. It's just you. This is the emptiest the tower has been since Gar arrived and he's gotta admit, he does not like it. Gar doesn't like being alone. He has you, of course, which he knows will be nice but it felt like such a family, even with the fighting. The fighting made it seem more like a family and he's really gonna miss it, miss everyone.

"Well..." You let out a breath. "Now what?" You squat down and start to pet Krypto.

Gar joins you. "I have no idea." Gar chuckles softly. "Same as always, I guess."

"Movies, video games, training?" You raise a brow at him.

"Any other suggestions?" Gar asks.

"Nope," You laugh softly. "I’m gonna train then, wanna come?"

"You sure? I mean, we haven't done much training since..."

You nod. "Yeah, I'm fine. It just, uh," Your brows furrow as you looks past Gar for just a second. "Needed that break."

"From Jason or training?" Gar asks hesitantly.

You wince with the question. "Both." You shrug as you stand up. "Coming?" You jerk your head towards the hallway.

"Yeah, of course." Gar grins, getting to his feet and gestures for Krypto to follow you.

The two of you make your way to the training room and start to warm up. You wonder if this is what it will be like. Still having the same training sessions but with just the two of you and then having breakfast, more training. You wonder if you'll start to slack off or if this will become more of a habit because there's nothing else to do in the tower. You can't very well leave until Conner wakes up so it's just you and Gar. The one thing you do know is that training will distract you from the heaviness in your chest.

On a list of things you never thought you would have to do it, talking someone down from a roof was high up on that list, especially that someone being your best friend. And of all people, you never expected it to be Jason. Jason is resilient and hard-headed and stubborn as twelve pack mules. But, Deathstroke seemed to break some piece in him and then everyone turned on him. They confirmed every horrible thought he had ever had about himself. Even the most resilient people have a breaking point and Jason hit his today. And it's something that will haunt you and you think about it as you stretch, swearing that has to be one of the most selfish thoughts you’ve ever had.

It didn't happen to you, being haunted by it shouldn't happen but you’re worried about him. You’re here alone with Gar and your only thought is being worried about Jason because he tried to walk off a fucking roof after being dropped fifteen stories.

"You okay?" Gar pulls you out of your thoughts, you snapping your attention to him.

"Huh? Yeah, no I'm good." You fake a smile towards him.

"You were ignoring me." Gar gives you a shy chuckle.

"I'm sorry, Gar." You let out a breath. "I'm just thinking."

"You wanna talk about it?"

"Just...Jason, ya know?"

"Yeah, what, uh, what happened out there?"

"He was gonna walk off the roof so...."

"Wait, what?" Gar's entire face falls, his heart dropping into his stomach.

"Mhm, so, uh, Rachel had crucifixes drawn on her mirror I guess. She stormed into Jason's room and immediately put the blame on him but I was with him so I know he didn't do it, not that Rachel wanted to hear that side of it. Jason went to leave and the other Titans blamed him for this random shit he did not do. He just couldn't take it anymore, I guess. I don't know, worried about him."

"Why would they blame him? I know he gets on people's nerves but Jason wouldn't do any of that."

"That's what I said!" You yell, flinging a hand out dramatically. "Plus, he's always with one of us or both or Rose so we would know if he did it. It's so fucking stupid and I guess that was just his breaking point."

"That's really shitty." Gar's eyes grow sad. Gar kind of thought Jason went off to sulk somewhere and was more upset than usual. Gar did see the look of hopelessness across his face before Jason snuck off. He didn’t think it would lead him to the roof. "Do you think he'll be okay?"

"He thinks he's like a disease or something....like he ruins everything he touches. I told him it wasn't true so I don't know. I got him down which is good but I don't know. I hope he goes back with Bruce, honestly. I don't like Rose."

"Since when? You said she was cool."

"Yeah, but then she barged in when I was gonna convince Jason to say and she was being so......"

"MEAN!?"

"Yeah! And rude! Wouldn't stay out of the conversation! She was pretending like she knew best or whatever!"

"She did the same to me when you guys were....held captive by her dad."

"What!?" You shake your head. "What'd she say?"

"She was basically just blaming you and Jason for getting kidnapped as if it wasn't her dad and Dick that caused everything, not that we knew about Dick but it was her dad. And then she said not to project my guilt on her, Tiger boy." Gar mocks the way Rose said it.

"That's fucking rude, we didn't go out and—" You stop mid-sentence before furrowing your brows. "How'd she know you're a tiger?"

"That's what you're gonna focus on?"

"No, but..how'd she know? Dick doesn't tell people, I would know. He definitely wouldn't tell Rose on account of her dad. No one else would have told her besides Rachel, I guess."

"What are you getting at?" Gar didn’t think that was all that weird but you seems to think so.

"I don't know that's just like a weird ." You shake your head. "It's not that she went with Jason either, it was just the way she was that rubbed me the wrong way and I don't think she has his best interests and hearing what you said, I don't know. Bad vibe."

"Yeah, I get that. But hey, Jason is smart and he's definitely not gullible so if something is off, he'll figure it out."

"Yeah, I know." You offer Gar a soft smile and decide to drop. You know you’re probably just being paranoid given everything that’s happened over the last couple of weeks. "Well, let's train then." You get to your feet and Gar follows suit. "Spar like we always do?" You grab two of the practice swords, tossing one out to Gar.

"Works for me." Gar gets into position and you follow his lead. "Ready?"

"Go." You state and the two of you meet in the middle, you throwing the first swing, smacking Gar on the upper bicep. "You gotta block me, Garfield." You tease.

"Ha, ha, funny," Gar chuckles, taking a swing at you and missing as you jump out of the way and block him with your sword. "You know, I don't think we’ve ever done this, just us, I mean."

"That's because Jason practically lived in here." You laugh softly. "This is nice though, we never spar against each other and I'm winning. We usually lose. Today, I'll win though." Sam strikes quickly, smacking Gar's other bicep, wiggling your brows at him.

"Okay, no, I'm gonna win." Gar's smile is wide as he plants his feet firmly on the floor, a little more prepared for you to hit him again.

"Well, bring it on then." You mock him.

After two hours so training, you winning the sparring session, you call it a night and decide to order takeout. Naturally, you go with a pizza and breadsticks. While you wait, you check on Conner who's still unconscious and you head back to the living room. Gar lets you pick the movie since he got to pick the movie last time. You opt for one of your favorite comfort movies and go to Gar's room for some blankets. You prep the couch for the two of you, Krypto hopping up next to you and resting his head on your lap.

You and Gar watch the movie together and the two of you allow yourselves that time to relax. Today was a shitshow, and you should have some time to forget about it. Watching a movie together, eating pizza with Krypto, it allows that reprise. And you both deserve it.

The next morning comes around and Gar wakes up first. At some point, you both had fallen asleep and you used him as a pillow. This is different than the other times you've fallen asleep together because instead of a nightmare that drove you to him, it was just because you were tired and comfortable with him. And Gar thinks you’re the cutest person he's ever seen. You don't look so angry right now or stressed out. You actually look peaceful and he thinks you should always have peace of mind. No one deserves to go through half of what you went through. So, Gar carefully gets up, trying not to wake you, and heads to the kitchen to make coffee and breakfast for the both of you.

While Gar gets the food going, he starts thinking of a plan to get the Titans back together. They're supposed to be a team and they were once a really good team. They shouldn't be mad at each other and they can all be a team together. They should be a team together. And part of that is Gar doesn't like be alone. He never has, ever since he was little. He got separated from his parents at a zoo once and it was one of the scariest moments of his life. He hates being alone and yesterday, everyone besides you left him. So, he's taking it upon himself to get the band back together.

You wake up the sound of sizzling coming from the kitchen. You look at your legs and Krypto has made his way over to you, laying on you. A smile pulls at your lips as you pet him. You slide your legs out from under Krypto and sit up, stretching before making your way to the kitchen where you see Gar, flipping a pancake at the stove.

"Morning." Your voice is still filled with sleep and a little hoarse.

Gar turns around, a toothy smile shining bright. "Good morning."

"What're you doing?" You ask, taking a seat at the snack bar, Krypto trotting in not long after.

"Making breakfast. You like pancakes." Gar feels heat creep onto his cheeks as he turns back around.

"You're making me breakfast?"

"You made it for me." Gar chuckles softly. "You were still sleeping and you had a rough day yesterday."

You would be lying if your chest didn't still feel heavy from it. Your throat actually feels sore from all of the screaming. "Yeah, it sucked." You let out a scoff. "Thank you, that's very nice."

"Of course." Gar chimes. "How'd you sleep?"

"Uh, okay, actually. I think I was so fucking exhausted that...I didn't have problems." You laugh softly. "How about you?"

"Good." Gar states simply. "The couch is surprisingly comfortable."

"Yeah, right?" You nod your head in agreement before checking your phone.

Jaybird 🐦: Made it to a house we're fine

You: Good stay safe and wrap it before you tap it 🫡

"We doing the usual today?" You ask as Gar puts the pancakes on a plate.

"Yeah, but we should try to get the Titans back together." He states, looking over his shoulder, seeing your reaction. You’re very expressive.

Your eyes are slightly narrowed. You have no desire to get them back together. The only people you want back here are Jason and, surprisingly, Dick. Dick is at least somewhat a responsible adult and despite him being the cause for everything, you did feel safe with him at the tower. You aren't sure if that's some sort of growth on your part or if it's you still being mad the other Titans.

"Why?" You ask as your phone chimes.

Jaybird 🐦: 😏🥱

You: 🤮🤮🤢

You scrunch your nose with Jason’s reply, looking back up at Gar. Gar raises his brow, as if silently asking what the face was for.

“Jason, they’re fine.” You brush it off.

That’s kind of the thing for Gar. He likes you, he does. But he is not Jason Todd and he never will be. They’re similar enough, it’s why they’re friends. But they are drastically different people and he isn’t him. You’re smiling a goofy smile at your phone and Gar is pretty sure you’ve never looked at him in that way. Jason told him to tell you but Gar thinks he’ll go against that advice and pick a different route. Gar wants to know for certain before he gets his hopes up, since Jason isn’t here.

Jaybird 🐦: take your own advice

You: 😑 stfu

Gar places a plate in front of you. “It’s Jason…isn’t it?” There’s a solemn but understanding tone to Gar's words, making you look up at him again, confused.

“I just…I just said it was Jason?”

Gar let’s out an awkward chuckle. “No, I mean…it’s him, right?” Gar gains this soft and sad expression and you get it.

It hurts a little to confirm it but it’s for the best. Jason said Gar likes you and you alwaya felt like he did. It’s not fair to not tell him when you know for certain. That’s not right and Gar is your friend. You would never hurt him.

“Yeah.” You let out a sigh, of putting your phone on the counter. “Yeah, it is.” Your expression is sad, and sympathetic toward Gar.

Gar gives you a soft nod and he looks so sad. “How long have you known?”

“Yesterday,” You state. “I like you, too. It’s…I don’t know. Fucking Jason. I didn’t…I didn’t know until yesterday that it was him, when he was leaving. Like with Deathstroke, near-death experience, that's...too high of an emotional situation but yesterday..." You let out an exasperated sigh. "It hurt too much for it not to be. Telling off the Titans, all of that. Can’t really deny that.” You roll your eyes, more at yourself than Gar. “I’m really sorry, Gar.”

Gar nods with understanding. “It’s okay.” Gar assures you. “It sucks but it’s okay. Thank you for being honest.”

“I wish I could have been sooner.”

It does hurt but Gar also understands. Jason and you made it so obvious, he almost felt a little silly for even liking you. It aches in the center of his chest but he’s at least glad you were honest with him about it. It might not be him, but Gar isn’t the bitter type and at the end of the day, Jason and you are his friends. He just wants everyone to be happy.

“It’s okay.” Gar offers you a soft but small smile. “Did you tell him?”

“Absolutely not.” You laugh. “He would have stayed and I don't think him staying would have been good for him, he was so insistent on it and I get it. I was afraid if I told him, he’d stay.”

“Probably.” Gar chuckles and he lets the ache in his chest exist, but he pushes past it because you’re his friend. “Can I ask why you decided to stay then?” There’s a hesitance in Gar’s voice.

“You’re also my best friend.” You say it so simply that it brings a gentle smile to Gar’s face. “You’ve been there for me and he’s going off with Rose. Everyone leaving and stuff, I wasn’t gonna leave you here with just Dick. Glad I stayed since he left, too.”

Gar looks down with a gentle chuckle before looking back to you. “Thank you. It, uh, it means a lot.”

“Of course.” You give him a sweet smile and telling him feels so good. It’s actually relieving having that acknowledgment of it being Jason actually out in the open. You feel bad for hurting Gar but it’s relieving. “Anyway, what’s your plan? I trust you and if you think getting the Titans back together is a good idea, I’ll help.” You say and Gar gains a giant smile.

"We give them a few days to cool down." Gar cuts his own pancakes. "Then, we text them for random things, asking for help with some stuff. When Conner wakes up, we'll show them what he can do and they'll have to come back."

You find the mention of using Conner strange, even for Gar. But, at least that sounds like maybe it'll work. Who wouldn't want to work with some who's like Superman?

"The Conner thing might work but they might just text us the answers if we ask them?" You offer with a soft laugh.

"Which is why we keep bothering and we tell them that they're better as a team. We can convince them."

"You probably can." You laugh softly. "If they don't all hate me from yesterday, I'll be shocked." You clear your throat. "But, you, I mean you could probably convince all of them. No one likes to say to you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you're so...you that you make it hard." You chuckle. "Like, you're so kind and innocent about everything. You never ask for anything either so if you're asking for something, we gotta say yes." Your eyes widen at him before you give him a grin. "Dick has never told you no since I've been here and neither has Jason and I think his favorite word is no." You shrug. "Well, and fuck but..."

Gar lets out a sigh. "I never noticed"

"Yeah, it's true. So, we'll come up with some stuff to bug them about and then you work your tiger magic to convince them. Plus, who doesn't want to live with a tiger?"

"Thank you." Gar's smile is grateful while the two of you continue your breakfast, discussing the Titans and what show you’ll start with all of your free time now.

As the day goes on, you and Gar train for a few hours, and order in more food. You take turns taking Krypto on short walks around the block while the other checks Conner's vitals. Jason checks in with you and Gar throughout the day, too and there is some comfort in that. At least, over text, he seems okay.

The night comes around and you opt for Gar's room where you play a few video games, Krypto still hanging out with you. That’s how you both spend the rest of the night, occasionally checking on Conner. Eventually, you head to your own room and sleep there for once, something about sleeping in Gar's room with feeling out in the open feels a little weird.

Over the next few days, you and Gar fall into your own routine. You take turns making breakfast before you go into training. You make your own training schedule, having three sessions a day and you schedule walks with Krypto while taking turns checking on Conner. You sleep in your own rooms and you deal with your nightmares alone, choosing to keep Gar out of them. You aren’t his responsibility and you decide maybe you should try and figure out how to handle those on your own. You tell Gar about them in the morning though because talking still does help a little.

And while this whole thing is nice, you’re also growing so bored. At least when Jason, Dick, and Rachel were around, you both always had people to talk to besides yourselves, people to hang out with and do things with. It’s just the two of you following the same routine for the last four days. You can’t leave the tower together so you’re just trapped here.

On top of that, you and Gar both get regular texts from Jason the first two days. Jason texts you more but he was keeping in touch. But, the last two days, he’s gone silent and makes you start to worry that something happened. Jason not texting you back just seems weird and it bothers you. It’s that gut feeling that says something just isn’t quite right.

"What are you thinking about?" Gar asks as hands you a Gatorade, the two of you taking a break from training.

"Huh?" The action snaps you out of your thoughts.

"You're thinking about something. I can always tell. What's up?" Gar asks, sitting on the bench opposite you.

"I dunno, I think I might just be paranoid." You try to shrug it off because you think you’re looking for a reason for something to be wrong. The last few days have been going well and you’re always waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"About what?" Gar lets out a chuckle.

"Jason..." Sam states hesitantly. "And Rose, ya know, it's just weird. We aren't really hearing from him."

"Yeah, no that is weird. But what does that have to do with Rose?"

It’s still bothering you. The whole interaction was five days ago. It’s not a sixth sense and maybe it’s your feelings for Jason that are clouding your judgment but it just does not feel right. And you stack Gar's conversation with Rose on top of it. The more you think about Rose coming to the tower and everything that followed after, the more it bothers you.

"I just mean....it's weird, right? Like, her showing up and being Deathstroke's daughter and everything that happened after?" You open the Gatorade bottle before taking a drink.

"I guess, but Dick brought her here and Deathstroke did try to kill her." Gar scrunches his nose, trying to be the voice of reason.

"Yeah, but....two's a coincidence and three's a pattern, right?"

"A lot of the time, sure. What exactly are you thinking?" Gar doesn’t think Rose had anything to do with anything. Gar isn’t her biggest fan because why would she? How would she have anything to do with any of it?

"Dick finds her, coincidence? Definitely. Her being Deathstroke's daughter, Dr. Light attacking the both of them at the same time, me and Jason being kidnapped, that shit with the other Titans Jason was blamed for, her knowing you tuned into a tiger. That's more than three, Gar." You suck in a breath. "And Deathstroke only even kidnapped me and Jason because Dick got Jericho killed. Why would he try to kill his last living child? That doesn't make any fucking sense."

Gar sits on for a second and you’re making a good point right now. It all does seem a little weird. But, Gar still isn’t so sure. That would mean the whole thing, Rose almost being killed and chased by the cops, all of that would have needed to be planned. Deathstroke would have needed to know one of the Titans would go off on their own in order to be kidnapped. It seems a little nuts.

"So, you think it was a setup?"

“I don’t know because I think I sound paranoid. But, who else did that shit to the other Titans? We know it was Jason or us. It wasn’t the other Titans. The only people left are Dick, Rachel, and Rose. It probably wasn’t Rachel. So Dick and Rose.”

“I do doubt it was Dick. He was acting weird, but not that weird.”

“Exactly, so we're back to Rose. How would Deathstroke even know Rose was here? The tower is supposed to be secure so he shouldn't have known Rose was here, right? How would he know and Deathstroke lost his son, but Rose lost her I brother that day, too. Rose kissed Jason and they were good but she went through the records Jason borrowed and found one that belonged to a Jericho and freaked out. So, he was important to her, it's not like they didn't know each other."

The thing about you is that you do not like unanswered questions, mysteries. Whenever there’s some unanswered question, you will dig and dig until you get an answer. You were the kid in your science classes asking why the sky was blue and refused to take “because it is” as an answer. It’s one of the reasons you always found Batman and Robin interesting. They were masked, no one knows who they are and you did not like that. A mystery. This is another mystery. The difference here is this mystery almost got your best friend killed and you’re not going to rest until you get an answer.

"So, you think Rose is working with her dad? As an inside guy?" Gar’s brows are knitted together, not buying this.

"Well, when you put it like that it sounds crazy, but yeah." You shrug casually, taking another drink of the Gatorade.

"Okay, so how did she know we went to find Dr. Light? If all of this was planned, she would have known, right? That's how you guys got kidnapped. Why else would Deathstroke have been there?"

"We aren't subtle. Maybe she saw us leave, Jason in the Robin suit and put two and two together. She did talk to Jason so it wouldn't be that hard to figure out that's where we were going. Maybe she got access to the cameras while we were all asleep and that's how she knew about the stuff with the Titans or maybe Deathstroke knew somehow. Dick said he had pictures of the Titans."

Gar lets out a sigh because you’re not gonna let this go and you’re very convincing. "Okay, come on, let's check the cameras." Gar gets up from his seat and you offer him a grateful smile.

Even when you’re being paranoid, Gar doesn't make you feel that way. He's very good about reassuring you and still letting you sort that out. He lets you weigh the reasonable and logical side of situations without being judgmental or condescending and you very much appreciate it. Gar really is a really good friend.

"Why would she leave with Jason though?" Gar asks as he sits at the computer, you sitting in the open chair next to him.

"Jason said he thinks Rose really liked him and maybe she actually does. So, maybe she does like him and doesn't want him involved in this shit anymore. If he's with her, maybe her dad won't target him again."

"It sounds a little far-fetched." Gar states as he types into the computer, pulling up security footage. "But it's at least worth looking at."

"Yeah," You let out a scoff. "I don't know. It just doesn't sit right."

"So, why would Jason suddenly not be answering?"

"Maybe, Rose thinks we'll figure it out because I don't like her. I was already suspicious of her so maybe she's gotten into his head or something. I don't know, but it's something. Jason would ignore everything else, but he would not ignore us."

"Yeah, that's true." Gar nods in agreement, mostly knowing that Jason would ignore everyone besides you so goes back to the security footage.

The two of you scan over the footage together over the last month, looking for any signs of Rose of doing anything weird. You don't find footage of her sneaking into rooms or laying anything out. But you find Dawn finding the picture of Elis and Rachel storming into the hallway following Jason. You actually didn't find anyone sneaking into the rooms of the older Titans.

"Huh." Gar hums, eyes narrowed at the screen.

"What?" You ask.

"Look, the time stamps are off." Gar points at the screen as he goes back a few hours. "Look, there's a jump here."

"Which means whoever planted the picture..."

"Also erased the footage."

"Can you recover it?"

"Maybe." Gar starts typing away quickly, trying to recover the footage. He should be able to get it back as long as the person who deleted it didn't t know about the backup server. It was one of the first things Dick taught him, just in case something were to get deleted. And sure enough, Gar finds the footage. "Wow, okay." Gar beams. "Check it." Gar pulls up the footage on the big screen and its Rose sneaking into the kitchen and planting the picture. "You were right."

"Holy shit." You stare at the screen and you can't believe you’re right. You really thought you were being paranoid.

"We gotta tell Jason."

"Yeah, I'll call him. You text him. If we're both spamming him, maybe he'll answer." You nod your head, getting up and the two of you pull out your phones.

Jason's phone starts going off, vibrating in the futon Rose is sharing with him. The vibrating wakes her up. She looks over and Jason is still sound asleep so she takes his phone. She sees a text from Gar first, telling him to call ASAP it's about Rose. Rose's heart sinks and then she sees the voicemail notification. She listens to it, hearing you tell Jason to call you back as soon as possible, you need to talk about Rose and he'll want to hear you and Gar out. Rose can't have Jason know, not yet, so she goes back to Gar's text.

Rose types out a quick and short text before hitting send. She glances over her shoulder a few times to make sure Jason isn't awake. Once the read notification goes thorough, she deletes the texts and then deletes your voicemail along with the call log.

She does like Jason, a lot. She never meant to lie to him or use him or hide any of this from him. But she knows that if he knows she's the reason the Titans attacked him, he'll never forgive her. So, she hides it to protect herself and him. Rose swears she'll tell him when the time is right, but right now is not the time. So, she hides the messages from him and puts his phone back.

Jason: She told me it's fine

Gar raises his brows and shakes his head, confused as he reads the text. "He said he knows? She told him." Gar shows you the text.

Your eyes narrow at the text. "That also seems weird."

"Hey, look, maybe she did tell him. Jason said he thinks she likes him so maybe she did come clean after they left. Maybe he does know and you're worried because of everything that happened." Gar keeps your feeling out of it. Bringing that up seems kind of like a low blow right now. Gar believes the text anyway. Why would Jason tell him he knows if he doesn't?

You let out a sigh because there's nothing you can do. It feels weird, seems weird. You thought if Jason found that out, he would tell you. Maybe not leave Rose because maybe he really, really likes her and forgives her. Maybe Jason was never supposed to get hurt in all of it anyway. The reality is that you don't know what goes on between him and Rose and you don't have a real reason not to believe his text.

"Okay," You let out a breath and decides to let it go. Maybe it's all fine and Jason is just having fun in his relationship. "Thank you for checking this out with me." You give Gar an awkward chuckle.

"Yeah, of course." Gar nods his head. "You were right." Gar laughs softly. "Let's uh, check on Conner and play Mario Kart." Gar stands up, a glowing smile on his face.

The next morning, you make you and Gar breakfast and you sit at the snack bar together, bored of your routine. But, lucky for you and Gar, Conner wakes up and joins you. You find him funny. He's very chipper, very excited, and happy-go-lucky. He actually reminds you of Gar in a way but like a little kid version of him. It's funny and kind of adorable.

The two of you explain to Conner what the tower is and who the Titans are. Gar tells him he can be a Titan because of the things he can do. He's special like all of you and you nearly rolls your eyes out of your head with the comment. But, it's kind of true. Gar then goes off to call Bruce before you and Gar take Conner into the training room to see more of what he can do, Gar explaining more about the Titans and how everything will be better once they're together again.

You’re going along with this but you really aren't sure there's anything you and Gar can do to get them back. You don't even think having Conner around is going to change their minds. Gar looks up to them and you get that but, shit got hard and they left. They gave up. They have way bigger issues to deal with and you and Gar trying to convince them to come back isn't going to be enough. But, you let Gar talk because you can't crush him.

The next day rolls around and you and Gar decide to take Conner and Krypto out, show Conner around some of the city. The two of you have gotten stir-crazy and this way, you and Gar can teach Conner more stuff he'll need to know.

"So," Gar starts, resting a hand on Conner's shoulder as the four of you walk. "Think of San Francisco as one big three-dimensional, interactive, multi-player video game. And you're Player One." Gar points at him and you think it's funny that Gar compares life to a video game. It makes perfect sense but you know you never would have thought of that and likely would have ended up confusing Conner further.

"Okay." Conner says as you round the corner.

"And it's your job to make sure everyone stays safe and no one gets hurt."

"Is that what the Titans do?" Conner asks.

"Well, we don't, but the old Titans did." Gar gives you a look as if knowing you want to fight that comment.

So, you bite it back. "Yeah, they kept everyone safe." Your voice is a little flat but luckily, Conner doesn't really pick up on speech patterns yet so he believes you.

"Dick mostly just kept us locked up in the tower. "Gar chuckles awkwardly. "Y/n, Jason, Rachel, and I talked about how we wanted more real-life experience. And once the team is back together again, I think he'll get it."

Gar has so much faith and so much optimism. You aren’t sure if Dick will be willing to allow all of you some experience but maybe you’re wrong. Maybe with everything that’s happened, he’ll see that you all can do it. You all should be allowed to so you admire Gar’s optimism.

"I know this sounds crazy but once the teams knows you're awake and can see what you can do, they'll be back in a hurry." Gar says confidently.

“Yeah, I mean, who doesn’t want to work with someone who’s half Superman.” You add in. Superman at least still seems really cool and nice.

"So, what can you guys do?" Conner asks looking between the two of you.

"I shoot acid from my hands and know when people are gonna attack me." You deadpan and Conner's brows furrow. "It's not...it's a thing." You shrug it off while Conner looks to Gar.

Gar laughs sheepishly. "It's-it's no big deal."

Your brows furrow at Gar. turning into a tiger is definitely a big deal.

"Come on. Can you show me?" Conner asks.

"Now's not the best...time." Gar winces, looking at all the people around you, minding their own business.

"Well, can you tell me?" Conner asks.

"Just tell him." You state. "It's really fucking cool, I swear." You look back at Gar. "Well, I don't really know because I have yet to see it. But It's probably cool." You say and you move next to Conner, almost expecting Gar to do something so you can finally see him turn into a tiger. In the middle of the day. In public.

"Yeah...yeah." Gar's brows furrow. "It's kind of weird but I can turn into a tiger." Gar beams with pride.

Conner looks so overjoyed and astounded. "No way!" Conner laughs.

Gar's chest fills with pride. "Yeah."

"What's a tiger?" Conner's laugh subsides.

You double over, laughing loudly. Conner’s innocence is so precious and you hope he can hold onto that. The world is a rough place and it needs more people like Conner and Gar.

"I'm sorry, it's not..." You choke out. "You just looked so excited and you don't even know what it is. You're amazing. Keep being you, Conner."

Gar deadpans at you before pulling you both over to the side. Gar is blocked by the both of you while he starts to growl and then his face starts to shift into that of a tiger, his eyes glowing green. You’ve only seen the green tint, not anything like this.

"That's awesome!" Conner yells as Krypto barks.

"That is sick and also a little terrifying. Nice." You beam, surprised Gar was so willing to show you and Conner. It’s so fucking cool.

"There's more to it. I'll show you later."

"Finally." You state.

Before any of you can say anything else, the three of you hear someone yelling for help. Conner puts his hand on Gar's shoulder, pushing past him softly and you see the guy that's yelling. That's not good. A guy is being arrested and Conner looks thrilled.

"Game on. Hero time." Conner states with excitement before he uses superspeed and grabs the cops but the back of their uniforms.

"That's really not good." You state while Gar's expression turns to panic, Conner bashing one of the cops's heads into the window of the cop car.

"Conner, no!" Gar yells but Conner throws the cop into the bushes and then pins the other cop to the ground. He looks at you and Gar, happy with what he's going. He literally does not know any better.

You both should have been a little more specific about helping people. You can't get mad at Conner though. He heard someone yelling for help and as a Titan, when someone yells for help, of course, he's going to step in. And you also should have been more clear about how you help and how you go about the whole situation. What Conner is doing is definitely not it.

"What the fuck do we do?" You start to panic. You don't want Conner to get arrested. You aren't even really sure how that would work and that would cause a whole lot more problems.

"I have no idea." There's panic etched in Gar's words. If you two step in, you risk being involved which also means getting arrested and then what do you do?

Two more cop cars pull up, four cops exiting their vehicles and pointing their guns at Conner. They start shooting Conner. Luckily, Conner is bulletproof but chaos ensues around them, pedestrians fleeing for safety. Conner starts to completely lose it and attacks one of the cops. Krypto takes that as a signal to join in, attacking another one. Gar and you hear more sirens coming forward and you hate to do it, but you look at Gar and decide to it’s time to run.

"We gotta go unless you go spend several nights in jail." You yank him by the collar of his shirt and the two of you start running in the other direction.

The two of you run all the way back to the tower, chests heaving by the time you get back. You look over your shoulder and no one's followed you. For a second, you hate thinking it, but it was kind of thrilling. It reminded you of your days back in Gotham. Running from the cops, the asphalt hard under your feet. The thrill of possibly getting caught. It's been a long time since you’ve felt something like that. But, you look back at Gar as you take the elevator up and he is panicking. Face riddled with guilt.

You feel guilty, too. You and Gar had one job and you dropped the ball. Then, you ran away. You know you and Gar couldn’t have done anything to help Conner without digging an even bigger hole but you feel guilty anyway. You and Gar abandoned him.

"Hey," You put your hand on Gar’s shoulder. "It's gonna be okay, Gar."

"How can you say that? He just attacked a bunch of cops." Gar panics, walking into the tower once the door opens.

"Uh-huh, but he's like...a carbon copy of Superman so...he can beat them. Like, they'll never catch him."

"That's not the point." Gar grits his teeth and he can't believe that's where you’re going with this.

"I mean, kind of. Like, it sucks and everything but...at least he won't get caught. We can sort it out when we find him or he finds us or something." You’re choosing to be the optimistic one this time. Gar definitely needs some optimism. And none of it is a lie. You do think Conner will escape them and you’ll find him. He doesn't have anywhere else to go and you have access to the city’s surveillance system.

"It doesn't matter that he won't get caught. He was our responsibility and because of us, he's out there! Now he's alone."

"I know." You state, feeling the guilt creep back over you. He was your responsibility but Dick left the two of you alone with a strange man as if you were supposed to know how to handle that. You did not do as asked but...that's not the point here.

"I'm gonna try to call Dick." Gar mutters, walking off towards the training room.

You let out a sigh and you aren't sure what to do. Maybe you should have tried to called Bruce more than once but now you can't since you lost Conner. It's all a mess again. Everything gets okay for a minute and then it gets messy. It's the same routine but you can't dwell on it because Gar is the one beating himself up for it. So, you follow Gar and find him in the display room, sitting in the display that says "Hawk".

Gar puts the phone to his ear while you take a seat in front of him. You rest your hands on his knees, squeezing softly.

"Dick, uh..." Gar's voice is breathy as it cracks, tears coming to his eyes. "I'm-I'm sorry. Something really bad happened and it's my fault. I need your help, so..." Gar's voice is desperate as he holds his arm with his free hand. "Call me back, yeah?" Gar pulls the phone away from his head, hanging it up.

"It's not your fault, Gar." Your voice is soft, brows knitted together.

"How?" Gar nearly whines. "He was my responsibility and now he's out there and he just--"

"Stop." You cut him off, shaking your head. "Dick left us in charge of him which was a bad idea. Now, Dick isn't answering his phone. We had no business trying to do this alone. Conner has been awake one day." You stress. "Even if we got ahold of Bruce, maybe it would have happened anyway. Dick didn't say we couldn't leave the tower." You’re very good at finding loopholes. "It's not your fault, okay? We'll find him and it'll be okay."

"How?"

You shrug. "I don't know." You laugh softly. "Because we'll work together. You survived a demon and I survived Deathstroke. We can find Conner." Your smile is gentle and soft, making Gar feel al little better about the whole thing. "I believe in you, Gar." You take your hands off of his knees and stands up, offering him your hand. "Let's get on the cameras and see if we can find him." Gar gives you a thankful but weak smile before taking your hand.

prev. chapter | next chapter

series masterlist | masterlist | tag list

Tag list: @fairyofshampoo // @italiana-20 // @jasontoddsmentaldisorders // @purplerose291 // @lovelessamai // @makaelaseresin // @lenidaslenchen // @mayfieldss // @ghostkingblake // @im-done-with-this-im-out // @velvetskies // @lilylovelyxo // @cryinghotmess // @yesimwriting // @vivian-555 // @anthemabby // @baebeepeach

#gar logan #jason todd #gar logan x reader #garfield logan x reader #jason todd x reader #gar logan fanfic #gar logan fanfiction #jason todd fanfic #jason todd fanfiction #titans #titans fanfic #titans fanfiction #caving in

116 notes · View notes

obsessive-ego · 1 year

Note

Toonjuice taking us to the netherworld and losing track of us somehow would be such a shitshow. Dude would lose it. By the time he finds us again we're (mostly) fine but he is hopping between carefully pretending he wasn't worried and doesn't blame himself and VERY angry at us for getting ourselves lost

Yessss

Ya know

I have so many ideas of y/n getting tangled up in netherworld nonsense and being separated from toonjuice

My personal favorite is that y/n is very popular in the netherworld for some weird reason, and at least once every few weeks the villain of the week kidnaps them, regardless of gender

I even have a fic in the works of this type of thing

But yeah no, y/n taking a wrong turn and getting sweep up away from beej, I can see him not really noticing, especially if he's chatting on about something, assuming we're behind him listening, but when he finally notices he panics lol

He'll 100% put the blame on you bit at the same time will be super clingy for a bit

2 notes · View notes

calpalsworld · 1 year

Note

idk if you saw zeurel's twitter but one of the second set of wip Monkey wrench pins has dr. Agness and i though ya might like.

also curious what attracted you to her?

ARE YOU KIDDING-- WHAT-- I--

OHHHHHHH MY GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD I was literally joking when the pins came out that I was MAD that they didn't have a Dr. Agness one. but i didnt expect them to possibly make one..... I.... I... I NEED THIS??? I NEED HER?????? If it comes out and I don't notice that its out PLEASE someone notifiy me so i can buy it ASAP.

What attracted me to her?

Ummmmm

I think her voice actress did a SPECTACULAR job and her dialogue is super funny and cute. Shes a very simple character but she was a silly and effective villain. i love her granny nature. But shes straight up evil as fuck which made me scared of her at first but I have come to actually dig it. Love when women can be terrible power hungry murderers. #feminism. And her design? Its so freaking awesome and unique. I love how she is an angler fish but also she looks like the plants on the Lythop's planet. So you'd think maybe she is from the planet herself or something? Which seems innocent. Idk thats what I thought. Also shes a sun obviously of course. So epic. But also they make her SUPER obviously evil from the start which is funny as fuck. I love how she slips up and is so bad at pretending to be good even though shes probably been doing this scheme a WHILE. She is not even trying very hard to pretend i guess LOL, or shes just impatient. Sooooooooooo cute!!!! Also her battle theme GOES SO HARD? Also she feels like she could have deep lore but she doesn't so thats really fun to think about. Also every little expression she does is amazing since monkey wrench is such a well animated show. Also she has a big sword????? And a cool hoverchair??? and a cool mech fighting form???? and it looks like a fish??? and is cool?! and she is a fish!!!!

What **attracted** me to her?

Well don't tell Zeurel because he said he doesn't want people lusting over his characters where he can see it but..... if you know me, you'll know that my type is absolutely nerdy GNC/butch fat big-boobed older women ....sooooooooo........ And plus, shes an ALIEN!?!?!?!??! plus SHES EVIL???? plus shes BADASS?!?!?! also. her voice. Also can we talk about how when she reveals herself as evil she rips her sleeves off? its such a good look and ummmm...... Hi granny.... like... * twirls my hair and tries not to sweat too hard or look like a pathetic animal that is dying * can i feel your big strong funny fish arms? please. please.

Also I don't see this type of character (fat gnc women) often in media so imo I'm just happy to have one for once even if shes so evil and so sucks. thank you monkey ranch

note: i know she isnt actually fat with big boobs because she is actually just a head with little fins and a lure and arms.... but shut up idc shes so fucking hot no matter what. shes hot as a little evil fish too. shes hot in her fighting machine too okay? shes. always. hot. me x agness forever. i want her to hold me. because shes awesome. shes always awesome. im a dr agness stan for life she could kill everyone in the galaxy. i wouldn't care. she didn't do anything wrong. ever.

tldr; funny. cool design. hot alien granny.

5 notes · View notes

ranty-ramblestein · 2 years

Photo

(captions~) Violet continues to be fun... though another grinding moment is incoming.

- Midterms had some funny moments, but later I realized that somehow Fomantis had been evading me and I spent that and the next day hunting for it, only to eventually pull out the Sandwich Simulator and whip up the perfect grass encounter sandwich! (Why can’t I sort the recipes in-game??)

-Since I was grinding mons I only wanted for the Pokedex I did raids for EXP Candies and finally noticed that Maushold don’t share the jewelhead, nuu...

- After getting a shiny spider from WT (-Attack, ew) and before getting that blue worm above, I jumped off a cliff a split second before I noticed a bright pink spherical Pokemon... Pretty sure it was a shiny Lechonk, augh! Unfortunately it wasn’t a cliff I could get back up easily, so all I could do was fast travel back to that area, but that made the ‘mons respawn, duh...

- Before taking on the Medli Gym I decided to evolve all of my starters, which meant Don Quixote deserved a new name, a reference to Sylvando of Dragon Quest 11! When I took part in my first online raid and someone brought along Quaquaval I realized he’d need a rename, lol. That sprite didn’t include the feather/lights!

- Wha-oh, the League is catching on to Penny’s hacking! Run!!

I’ll put more images from the classes under the cut!

pic 1: dec 21st: I'm so used to anime tropes I started out wondering if she was planning on make lunch for her crush, but she doesn't seem the type, honestly. pic 2: Clive, buddy, ya gotta do that transformation in the bathrooms, or wherever you home is. (I don't /feel/ like he'd live in the school? But he's got all that research machinery, so...) pic 3: What, you didn't pin a note to the-? Oh, right, the grounds area has multiple entrances. pic 4: Bro, I'm only here for the Pokedex completion. But also, please fix the problem where you can't look through forms of Pokemon when you select the 'recently battled/caught' section. pic 5: dec 22nd: First shiny in WT that doesn't have a website name! (Only second shiny, tho.) Love the pallet, but it's -Att, ew. pic 6: I followed the sandwich creator at https://cecilbowen.github.io/pokemon-sandwich-simulator/ to help me spawn Fomantis! pic 7: :(( They don't share... pic 8: First full odds shiny in a while! I missed a shiny earlier in the evening, though... pic 9: dec 25th: Don evolving into Quaquaval means it's time to rename him to a certain DQ11 character! pic 10: dec 27th: *sweats*

So, uh, I stumbled across a BrassiusxHassel ship art before I met Hassel, so when I met him and recognized his hair shape (I exited out of the post very quickly...) I wonder why people shipped him with Brassius...

and this is definitely the reason, holy shit.

...Note to self: Look for ship art of these two later. (I mean, there’s no way they’re plot twist villains, right...?)

I swear I saw something that showed Hassel being a villain, but that crying thing... Now I’m not so sure I read that right. (I still wanna experience the story on my own, though; No spoilers!)

#pokemon #Pokemon Scarlet&Violet #screenshot

1 note · View note

miraeluc · 4 years

Text

purr him to sleep

prompt: “you put your cat quirk to good use when you notice aizawa’s has been having trouble sleeping at night”

pairing: aizawa x reader

word count: 636

warnings: none

genre: pure fluff

NOTE: this is short,, i just thought the idea was cute and NEEDED to get it out :P ALSO see what i did there "put him to sleep" -> "purr him to sleep"?? i'm a genius

so we know that aizawa is tired 24/7

and we also know that cat purrs lower human stress levels and calm them down

now, your boyfriend usually doesn’t have much trouble sleeping at night

he lays down and knocks out directly

unlike you - who is kind of night-active

but that helps you monitor his sleep patterns, as creepy as that sounds??

so usually, when he wakes up in the middle of the night you either,

a) cuddle him back to sleep or

b) make him a chamomile tea and cuddle him back to sleep

which usually works??

but with more villains appearing every day, he can’t help but overthink at night, rendering him sleepless

you, being the observant girlfriend you are, started to notice this

not to mention that he gets very easily irritable when he’s tired so it just makes the atmosphere worse honestly

“hey, shota?”

“what’s up, kitty?” he responded, sounding aloof as his tired eyes were staring into his computer screen

“why dont ‘ya get some sleep? it’s getting late.”

he glanced over at the clock

1.23am

“i’ll go to sleep soon, i just want to find out some more information about the LOV..”

you sighed softly

your feet padded against the carpet quietly, and if he didn’t listen closely he would likely not hear your footsteps getting closer

your tri-color tail was swinging behind you as you leaned over the couch to peer at his laptop, an idea suddenly popping into your mind

“mind if i nap where while you do?”

he was used to you being clingy, so he scooted over to give you more space, you immediately hopping over to take a seat beside him

you picked up his arm, forcibly making him embrace you and you made yourself comfortable, head on his chest

he continued typing at his laptop, only hesitating a little when soft purrs started escaping your lips

one hand of his went up to scratch behind your ear before he went back to work :(((

he thought it was so adorable oml

at first it was your mission to comfort him but your purrs were honestly justified, feeling all safe and cozy

nonetheless your plan was working, the soft purrs calming his heart rate and breathing

his mind was getting all foggy and he couldn’t concentrate because you were just so nicely warm and your purrs were so comforting and all he wanted to do was snuggle up to you and sleep :(

and when he looked down at you, not quite asleep but not awake enough to comprehend anything, that’s exactly what he decided to do

he closed his laptop and carried you to your bedroom, your body unconsciously leaning closer to him

which, btw made his heart swell

it just felt so good to finally lay down??

he pulled you on top of him so your head was still rested on his chest and almost instantly fell asleep, your little purrs only getting louder as you drifted off to sleep

the next morning you both woke up at 11am

that’s the longest time he’s ever slept

he usually wakes up really early in case he gets called because of a villain attack or something

he woke up and he felt so?? well rested??

you smiled up at him “i’m guessing my plan to purr you to sleep worked?”

“you did that on purpose?!”

“hehe.”

he acted offended but he loved it lmao

from then on that became your little thing, every night he felt stressed you sat there and purred on his chest, calming him down nearly instantly

those nights were the nights he slept best <3

you didn’t mind either lol, cats dont sleep for 16 hours for nothing

plus you get to cuddle your boyfriend???

win-win situation, thats all

requests: open

read rules before requesting

#shoto aizawa #shoto aizawa x reader #aizawa x reader #shoto x reader #cat #bnha #mha #aizawa fluff #bnha fluff #mha fluff #purr #shoto fluff #aizawa x y/n #bnha x reader #mha x reader

429 notes · View notes

sunaswife · 4 years

Text

𝕻𝖗𝖔𝖌𝖗𝖆𝖒𝖒𝖊𝖉 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝖍𝖎𝖒

Shigaraki X f! Reader

Warnings: 18+, NSFW, brainwashed/ programmed reader, implied kidnapping, Dom/sub, use of the word ‘pet’ and ‘master’, first time sex, uh..does this count as yandere..? Idk lol

🔪: this is like my second time writing smut so I’m sorry if it’s bad 🙇‍♀️ plz don’t spank me. N E Wayz I dedicate this fic to @aoi-turtle 🖤 and Any other shiggy whores out there

Edit: I FORGOT TO TAG @dinablossom and @toworuu IM SO SORRY BSVAKAGSJA

Summary: Imagine being programmed to be the leagues healer but also Shigaraki’s little cum bucket

♡︎☠︎︎♡︎☠︎︎♡︎☠︎︎♡︎☠︎︎♡︎☠︎︎♡︎☠︎︎♡︎☠︎︎♡︎☠︎︎♡︎☠︎︎♡︎☠︎︎♡︎☠︎︎♡︎☠︎︎♡︎☠︎︎

“Master what is the meaning of this.” Shigaraki looked at the television screen as he scratched his neck. “I took her quirk and made it a thousand times better.” He said simply. “Tomura shigaraki where should I place her?” Kurogiri asked. “Anywhere. I don’t care. I just don’t understand why you brought a stupid hero here.” He said annoyed.

“Now now—“ “Shut up and put her somewhere out of my sight!” Tomura demanded and Kurogiri sighed and carried your body to the spare room by shigaraki’s private quarters. You looked dead, you were exhausted, traumatized, in shock.

You were frozen. Your eyes stayed open, unblinking as you stared at the ceiling. It looked as if you were dead. But your body is warm and you were breathing, you’re alive and you’ll recover quick. Thanks to the quirk All for One fixed for you.

Dabi smirked at your ruined form. Spinner hid his rosy cheeks, you were a cute one. Toga was excited to have another girl in the league she talked with Twice about all the fun things you two could do together. Whether it be painting your nails, doing your hair, torturing someone, or making them bleed. She was excited.

“What’s so good about her quirk that you needed it.” Shigaraki asked. “It’s come to my attention that the league has been missing an important puzzle piece.” He started off. “Yeah? What’s that?” The light blue haired man asked. He was beyond ticked off to have a hero here. “She’s not a hero. She was training under UA’s school nurse. But she fell into the hero course for recovery and first aid training.” He said and everyone stayed silent and patiently listened to the brain behind the league.

“Her quirk is pyrokinetic regeneration. She manipulates fire with the energy of the person who needs healing and together she heals with so called fire. Her quirk was small, only a few cuts a bruises here and there could she heal. But I added cell regeneration so she can even fix up deep wounds that could need surgery in a matter of days instead of months.”

“Sounds amazing! No she could use her fire against us!” Twice said and Toga nodded. “She won’t. Her fire doesn’t burn unless you’re hurt.” Kurogiri returned. “But she’s still a hero brat so wouldn’t she try to resist?” Dabi asked. “I don’t know but let me try and see!” Toga giggled and pulled out a knife she easily slit her wrist and skipped her way to your new room.

Out of curiosity the other members followed suit. Shigaraki first, he wanted to see if you were truly useful if not then he’d disintegrate you right here and now. “Hi hi new friend! My name is Toga!” The psychotic girl giggle as her blood dripped all over the floor. You looked up slowly from your spot on the bed. “H-hi...T-toga..” your voice was low. “Kurogiri Can you bring her some water?” Toga asked and he left and came back in the blink of an eye.

Your hands were shaking for the cup of water but Toga held it back, away from you. “If you want the water then heal my wrist first.” She said sweetly with a giggle. “Heal your wrist?” You whispered and she nodded. “O-okay..” you stuttered and you slowly removed the blanket from your lap. You stood up with wobbly legs to go to the girl but you fell. The chain on your ankle pulled you back. You winced and looked at her, pleading for her to come to you. She asked if you were okay and when you responded she shoved her bloody arm to your face. “Take a deep breath. This may sting...” you started and a small green flame came upon your hand. You rubbed the flame over both of your hands like you were putting on lotion, finally when the flames covered both hands you pressed hard on her wrist. She winced, “ow ow ow.” She whimpered, you removed your hands and everyone stared at the flame around her whole wrist. “Give it thirty seconds....or not...” you said as you stared wide eyed at her already healed cut. It was barley a touch and it’s gone now. “Wow. No scar!” She giggled and turned to show the guys. “Wow stab me next, please don’t or else I’ll bite ya!” Twice said and you reached for the water. “Interesting.” Shigaraki mumbled with a small squint. Kurogiri looked over and hoped he wouldn’t do anything bad to you.

“Shows over. She needs her rest.” Kurogiri said and everyone left one by one. Toga gave her a hug and wished for you both to be the best of friends and she skipped away. “Tomura Shigaraki. What are you thinking?” Kurogiri asked as Shigaraki began to walk into your room. “Nothing that concerns you.” He spat and slammed the door. Kurogiri sighed but returned to the bar nonetheless.

“Do you know who I am?” Shigaraki asked, “Yes you’re the leader of the league of villains, You’re name is Tomura Shigaraki and your quirk is decay—“ “that’s enough!” He raised his voice and looked at you with wide eyes.

You looked so sad and you glanced down at your cup. “Mr. shigaraki I know I don’t usually talk this much. I’ve always been the quiet type. I think whoever kidnapped me gave me a huge sense of knowledge. I know the league is bad but I don’t care about the heroes anymore and I don’t know why. I know everything about you guys, your true identity, your quirks, your past. And when I see you I—“ you quickly stopped yourself.

Shigaraki raised a brow. “You what?” He asked curiously. “N-nothing. Just forget it.” You answered and he growled. “Answer me now before I kill you.” He said and your legs subconsciously clenched together. You stayed quiet and your chest rose and fell a little more quickly. Why was this feeling in your chest when this killer, this man child looked at you? What exactly did the man he calls master do to you?

Before you knew it he gripped your chin and lifted it harshly so you could look at his wrinkly red eyes. Even though he looks like a bum he smelled nice and clean. A hand was covering his face and you slowly lifted your hand to touch it and his other hand grabbed your wrist. “What the fuck are you doing? Do you have a death wish you fucking idiot?” He growled and you gulped. “C-can i see your face?” You asked and he tilted his head confused.

“No. Answer my question-“ before you both knew it, as if your body had a mind of its own you tackled shigaraki down and you snatched the hand off his face. His hand quickly wrapped around your neck and arm and you pressed your lips against his. He halted his finger from pressing against your neck. He was beyond confused.

“If only tomura finished listening to what i had to say.” All for one chuckled loudly. You both were able to faintly hear the television from down the hall. “He would know that I managed to change y/N’s desires and whole way of thinking. She’s now with the league of Villains and she’s in love with its leader, Tomura Shigaraki. Consider it a present and motivation for the future of the league.” You both heard and you pulled away from him. “I’m sorry. I should have asked.” You said lowly. He stood there stunned and silent.

He slowly sat up and looked at your figure. “So you were brainwashed like my Nomu.” He hummed and took a few steps back. He noticed how you crawled closer to him but the chain was keeping you away.

“Who do you love?”

“You.”

“Who do you belong to?”

“You.”

“Who’s your master?”

“Tomura Shigaraki.”

You said and he smirked. He was gonna have fun with you. “At least master was kind enough to give me a beauty.” He said as he held on to the chains. “Don’t freak out.” He warned and you nodded. He disintegrated the chain around your ankle and he pulled you by the arm. You were wearing an ugly hospital gown and you were barefoot. You couldn’t help but shiver. He went next door to his room and he shoved you in and slammed the door. You nearly tripped over the mess and you turned to look at shiggy. “Why are you just standing there?” He asked, “You haven’t given me orders.” You deadpanned. “You can’t think for yourself?” He questioned. “No i can but I Don’t want to upset you.” You replied.

“Fine then clean this shit up.” He referred to his very very messy room. You nodded and began to lift up a piece of trash but he pulled you away. “Change first.” He said and handed you a black hoodie. “Do you have a bathroom?” You asked. “No change here.” He said and you nodded. You turned so your back was facing him and carefully began to take off the gown, leaving you completely bare and Shigaraki couldn’t help but look.

Your skin was so beautiful and looked so soft. He saw as you carefully put on his hoodie and it completely engulfed you. It reached to your mid thigh. You slowly turned to look at him with rosy cheeks. The hoodie smelled just like him. “Tomura—“ “It’s master to you.” He Interrupted and you nodded, subconsciously squeezing your thighs together once more. “Sorry...m-master.” You said and played with the hem of his hoodie.

“Master..can I have some underwear too...? I feel weird, when I’m bare underneath..” you asked. “No, continue cleaning my room.” He answered coldly and sat on his gaming chair. He turned on his console and began playing whatever game he had.

You sighed and you couldn’t help but admire his gorgeous yet scarred face and his beautiful long fingers. In an instant he can kill you, but if you’re good..then he might even reward you. If you were to die, I’d rather be in the hands of your master than anyone else.

You quickly began you pick up the instant ramen bowls and bags of chips. You separated recycling and trash. You even managed to pick up all his dirty clothes and put it in the hamper in less than an hour. Tomura was stunned, one minute he can barley walk in, the next It’s almost spotless. He saw you from the corner of his eye, you were folding his clothes that practically had the same color scheme.

“Can i go through your drawers to put your clothes away..?” You finally spoke up. “Yeah it’s whatever. I don’t care.” He mumbled and returned to the screen. “Ugh stupid game!” He huffed and began pressing the controller more furiously. You chuckled and thought that it was so cute and adorable when he was frustrated.

You went to his California king sized bed and began to fix the sheets and make his bed. Since it was so huge, you had to climb on to properly fix it. You were completely in your own world when Shigaraki turned and saw your wet cunt on display in all it’s glory. Ever since he saw you he couldn’t help but feel that urge to take you. His resistance was getting to him and now he wanted to give in to his urges even more. He was too distracted that he lost the fucking game and he growled and disintegrated the controller. That was his own form of rage quitting.

You heard his sound of frustration so when you turned you expected him to be in the same chair uttering bullshit, but you were shocked when you felt your hips being pulled back. Your cunt was touching his pants, but you can feel his bulge. “Um..master..I—“

“Shut up.” He said and reached for your neck. He pulled you back to him and wrapped his other arm around your waist, hovering your aching clit. “This is whats gonna happen.” He started off and you nodded. “I’m going to fuck you. And you’re going to like it. Okay?”

“I understand.” You said softly, you felt his hands slowly lift up the hoodie just a bit to get a better view of your ass. You couldn’t help but feel slightly embarrassed. “I know I’m probably not your dream girl but I promise to be a good girl, master..” your voice shook. He tilted his head, were you getting insecure?

“No pet, you’re perfect to me.” He assured and you could hear his belt jingle as he took it off. “You seem pretty wet already, pet. Since how long have you been like this?” He asked as he got out of his jeans. He slowly open your cheeks to reveal your little pussy clenching around nothing, how cute. “Since I saw you..” you mumbled. He smirked and leaned down. He immediately began to eat out your cunt causing you to gasp in shock and grip the sheets. Your chest layed roughly against the bed as your ass stood proud in the air for the leader of the league of villains to enjoy.

“Fuck—“ you moaned and you felt a slap on your ass. You slightly jumped released a small yelp. “Watch your language.” He growled from your pussy. “Yes master.” You whimpered and he slowly began to rub his thumb on your other hole. Your small moans filled the room and he easily slipped his middle finger in you. You squeezed around him so deliciously, he couldn’t help but wished his cock was inside.

This has never happened to him before, this feeling in his chest. Someone that loves him and will obey his every command. You’re so beautiful as well, and your sounds. Your moans and whimpers, in all honesty he jut wanted to get himself off. But after hearing you and seeing you. He wants to make sure you have pleasure as well.

He continued pumping his finger in and out of your slick walls and your voice started getting slightly higher. “Master...I—I’m gonna cum...”you panted and your toes began to curl. “It’s okay, cum for me, pet. You’ve been a good girl.” He said softly and he felt you clench around his finger. When you came he slowly removed his finger and examined it. You must be new to is if you could get off with just one of his long fingers.

You layed on the bed a bit tired, not paying attention to your master who had tasted your cum on his finger. It was delicious and he wanted another taste. When you felt a lick on your cunt again you immediately shivered and clenched your thighs. “Hold still I just wanna taste some cum.” Shigaraki huffed and he pulled your thighs apart. You were pretty sensitive but you obeyed nonetheless.

You moans began to fill the room once more and before you could finish and cum again he pulled away. You automatically whimpered and turned to give your master puppy dog eyes. “I would let you cum again, but my cock is so fucking hard I don’t think I can wait another minute.” he said and began to pull down his boxers.

Before you could get back in position, which freaking hurt, he flipped you over on your back and you made a small oof noise. You looked up to See shigaraki focused on his cock, he was rubbing himself up and down your slit to use your cum as lube. “Alright I’m going in.” He announced and slowly pushed his rather large member inside your tint cunt. You immediately yelped and held on to his biceps. “M-master wait—it hurts..” you pleaded and Tomura finally looked up at your face.

He loves inflicting pain, he loves watching people’s painful expressions when they’re hurt or when they’re gonna die. Chisaki’s face was so amusing. But when he saw yours, his heart shattered and he didn’t want to hurt you at all. You’ve been nothing but good to him, he doesn’t want to hurt his little toy. “I’m sorry.” He apologized, “it’s okay..” you sniffled. After a minute of him being patient you gave him a nod and he continued to slowly bottom out.

You both released a moan when he was all the way in. You both have never felt anything like this before. “Can I start moving?” Shigaraki asked you as he brushed way the hair from your face. You nodded and he pulled almost all the way out and he slammed back in. Your little gasps and moans came back which made shigaraki feel at ease. You can clearly hear your slick with every thrust and it was music to his ears.

“I’ve been neglecting these.” He grunted and lifted his hoodie over your chest. Finally he was able to see your beautiful soft breasts bouncing with each thrust. “Fuck you’re so beautiful.” He moaned and immediately lowered his mouth to one of your nipples. You squealed and your back arched and he pushed you down. “Master...” you moaned softly. His tongue swirled around your hardened bud and your fingers tangled in his light blue hair. Two of his fingers pinched your other nipple and he lightly bit the nipple in his mouth.

“I think I-I’m close—“ you gasped and he removed his mouth. His thrusts decreased in speed but they became harder. He had a stupid smirk on his face and your eyes widened when he wrapped his hand around your throat. “Hold it until I say so.” He demanded and you muttered a weak yes. He felt how your gummy walls squeezed against his large dick, he was getting close too. “Fuck Fuck Fuck.” He groaned with his head tilted back and your mouth watered at the sight. Why is he so fucking handsome?

He could feel himself getting closer to his climax so he rubbed his thumb on you clit while increasing his pace once more, causing you to be even louder than before. Everyone in the bar could hear and a certain fire villian grumbled in annoyance. “Master I can’t hold it anymore!” You screamed. “Then cum my stupid little pet. Cum all over my cock like a good girl.” He grunted and bit his lip at the sight of your sweaty body. Your bouncing breasts, crazy hair, your adorable ahego face, your twitching legs and finally your grip on his biceps. You were so prefect and so good to him and only him.

When you came you felt his cum shoot inside you as well causing you to gasp at the delicious feeling. Tomura rested his head on your shoulder and tried catching his breath. You couldn’t help but smile and blush at the closeness. You slowly wrapped your arms around him and you gave his shoulder a kiss causing him to freeze. “I love you master, thank you for making me feel good.” You said softly. He chuckled and pulled you closer, “I love you too.”

I wanna write a part 2 of Shiggy finding out his little toy is being used by a certain fire boy 👀

#tomura shigaraki #shigaraki smut #league of villains #my hero academia #yandere shigaraki #smut #[🏌️‍♀️🔪.yandere]

395 notes · View notes

masoqueen-official · 3 years

Text

October of paperhat (inktober) 2021

Day 26 - Heat

"𝕀 𝕓𝕦𝕣𝕟 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕪 𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕖 𝕀'𝕞 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕦𝕟, 𝕀'𝕞 𝕤𝕚𝕞𝕡𝕝𝕪 𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕚𝕥𝕤 𝕡𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣."

Sorry for taking so long I was binging villainous crack xDDD you know how it is

Guess who got 30 fucking shark teeth when they though nothing would happennnn (like omg i was almost about to give some away- I WAS HOLDING AT LEAST 300,000 YEARS IN MY HANDS PEOPLE-)

But more about that later...

I did it! I actually made this one beach themed and a literal representation- jesus christ, the amount of times i re-did bh's eye (i redid his mouth once lol) HhuhajIiJjm, pMmm

My dad actually gave me some inspiration for this one and i said, "y'know what you actually gave me an idea for half of this thanks-" he basically said something about an aura around a person, but i think this works better. XD

Flug doesn't even know how to react anymore and bh is just like: "I may hate shorts but I'm notgoing to look stupid ✨" i also apologize for the filter pff idk

You also see how i snuck in that shark tooth canister and bag to compare to what i did? Yeahhh

I was thinking about giving him some fancy device to aid him in the sun but i was braindead so you get teeth instead-! Fun huh?

Speaking of fun, here's the other part-

The beach i went to was casperton(?) in Venice, Florida (calm down calm down i wanna go to) since we loaned some gear. And I gotta tell ya', it's as pretty as pretty can get that's not tropical blue water but instead has a bunch of seaweed *shivers* (i don't like touching seaweed)

((I'm about to loose my shit because the paragraph i typed is gone and I'm going as fast as i can GODDAMN IT so you get the simple simple version))

- Active decaying pufferfish and crabs were cool (it was)

- big scoop of "masochism give me strengtHhhh" and a sad washed away pile except it wasn't sad because big tooth was there :)

- CLEAN ASS SANDDOLLAR YAYYYYY

- i think that was it

- we thought we found 2 megladons but the first one (which i fohnd for the record U_U) looked like a rock so i got rid of it and the other one we kept because my dad was so confident and i was like okAy Then

- there was also black (grey) sand which was c o o l but woosh erosion got me like 😩 In the ocean

- also you know that feeling when someone has a lot of something or is rly popular in so,e public place or doing something usual and you're like m a n i wish that was me, well walking around with -30 something teeth might do the trick XD

- oh yeah and while we were heading out we (me, i did) noticed so many teeth in the concrete (cuz they put shells in stuff in them there) and it was such a tease, especially because one tooth was sticking out and you could feel it but it was stuck 😭😭😭

ANYWAY

I WROTE

A LOT OF STUFF

SO HOPE YOU LIKED IT Gtg now BYEEEE

(oh yeah and the sand pic i drew next to a flug sand pic on anpther day lol)

27 notes · View notes

misslynn99 · 3 years

Text

Epicenter: Chapter One

Link on AO3: Epicenter

Author: misslynn_99 (Me!)

a/n: I totally forgot that I could post this here to help bring in traffic lol. This is a Pro Hero! Bakugo x Reader insert I've been playing around with. Enjoy!

Red Riot was a regular of yours. His bright smile lit up the atmosphere of the little coffee shop, infectious and spilling over to anyone else in the vicinity. He was friendly, inviting even, as he ordered two coffees- one plain black and another syrupy sweet with cream. He usually turned up a couple times a week up business causal, perfectly content to leisurely chat and sign autographs before inevitably ducking out shyly, laughing that his partner wouldn’t be thrilled with cold coffee. You’d grown to love the visits of the charming hero, finding it easy to get lost in his easy conversation and brilliant ruby eyes. You couldn’t help but wish that maybe one day he’d order just one coffee and stay a while longer to sip it at a table across from you.

Today was not one of those days. Instead, he barreled through the doors, dragging a bedraggled blonde in across his bare shoulders. The harsh muzzle and shredded fabric of his hero costume was a slap in the face, reminding you that he was not just a charming civilian, but instead one of the finest defenders of the city. The café customers had already evacuated, but you had stayed to quickly close up the shop. “Watch him, will ya?” He huffed. “He’s been hurt. I know you’ve got a minor healing quirk, and he’s in no shape to return to the fight. Deku and Uravity are on the scene too. We can handle it from there, but this idiot will get himself killed just to prove that he’s just fine.”

“Okay,” You nodded. “I’ll do my best to patch him up.”

“Thanks, doll.” He prodded at your check playfully. “I owe you one. Blasty here is quite the bear when he’s pissed. Don’t worry, I made sure his blasters were empty before I brought him to you. I couldn’t have him taking out my favorite place. ” Carefully setting the blonde on the coffee bar, Red Riot raced back to the scene, where a villain with a rouge power-type quirk was wreaking havoc.

“What am I going to do with you?” The words absentmindedly left your lips, fingers tracing a tender looking cut along his arm. Sighing, you stripped the gauntlets from his arms and legs, leaving the pro hero in just the Kevlar of his hero costume.

Angry red bruises already dotted his exposed skin. His chest shuttered unevenly with each shallow breath, and his soft blonde hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat. “I’ve got to have a first aid kit around here somewhere.”

The scent of alcohol almost overpowered the stench of burnt sugar and gasoline that seemed to seep from the blonde’s every pore. Even barely conscious, he hissed a curse as the disinfectant stung his open wounds “Fuck!”

“Red’ll kill me if you get an infection.” You muttered. “Just sit still. I’ll get you something for the pain here soon.”

“Hands off.” He slurred. “I’m going back.”

“Your ribs are broken.” A gentle hand to his chest was more than enough to stop the hero. “Let me heal you first.”

Stalling was your best option, but sparks danced along the hero’s palms. He left me with Ground Zero, cheeky little asshole. you thought viciously. The feral black mask and fiery red eyes should have been a dead giveaway but, lost in the moment with Red Riot, you had missed it. Ground Zero looked so vulnerable, even as he struggled to resist your help. Each breath seemed to whistle through his gritted teeth. Rivulets of sweat dripped down his brow and splattered onto the counter, and his entire frame shuddered from pain. Yet his steely frown bit back at you, screaming that he was determined to rejoin the fight with a confidence that his words could not convey.

“And Shitty Hair, Deku, and Cheeks aren’t finishing without me.”

“Just let me handle the ribs, okay?” You pacified. “Broken ribs could mean a punctured lung with another hit, and a punctured lung means you’ll spend the next few weeks in the hospital with a chest tube. Even then, you might not get the lung capacity back. So let me fix it.”

“Fine.” He spat. “I’m waiting.”

You felt the heat of embarrassment on your face. “This is going to hurt. A lot.” You gulped. “I need to touch the injury directly, so shirt off.”

Ground Zero motioned to pull the black and orange tank top over his head, but froze. “Can’t move my shoulder like that.” He growled.

“Should’ve known.” You sighed nervously. “You’ve probably got flail chest close to your sternum. Where ever that thing hit you, I think it broke a bunch of ribs so they’re not attached to the rest of your chest wall now.”

“Just fix it.” Ground Zero snapped. “By any means necessary.”

You nodded, intimidated by the hero’s anger. Praying that no one walked in the shop, you carefully peeled the fabric away, and flinched at the sight of the marred skin. Sickeningly black bruises blossomed from just below his clavicle and you tenderly laid a hand across his pectoral. The bones shifted slightly under your touch. His injuries were more extensive than you had expected, as you felt the puffy skin and sharp edges of displaced fractures through the lean tissue of his torso.

“How do I know this isn’t just an excuse to feel me up, perv?” A bright shade of red flushed his cheeks.

“That’s pretty messed up.” You glowered. “I don’t have to do this, you know. All I’d have to tell Red is that I tried but you blew me off and staggered out the door anyways. I don’t appreciate being accused of groping you while trying to do you a favor, so if you don’t want my help we can just wait here.”

“Fine, just get on with it.”

Cool energy trailed from your fingertips, dancing over his skin and sinking in. “Fuck!” He swore again, writhing against the counter. You could feel yourself sway, energy sapping as the bones knit back together. His chest grew warm beneath your touch, or maybe it was just your icy fingers as cold settled in your core.

“Why don’t I feel tired?” He peered curiously at you, as you slumped forward onto the counter.

“Because it saps my energy, not yours. Why do you think I own a coffee shop instead of being a traveling healer?”

“Blasty!” Red Riot’s voice was music to your ears. “I hope you didn’t give my favorite girl too much trouble now.”

“He,” you wheezed. “Still needs to see a doctor. He needs a chest X ray to make sure everything is in the right place. “

“I think you need to see a doctor.” Red’s eyebrows furrowed in concern, running a hand across your forehead, fingers trembling against the freezing skin beneath. “You’re so cold.”

“If I’m going to a doctor, so is this idiot.” You scowled at Ground Zero’s jeer, getting to his feet as if to prove he was just fine.

“Come on.” The blonde grabbed your arm, pulling you across the bar, and attempted to shoulder your weight across his back.

“Not on my watch.” Red caught you before you could hit the ground. “Didn’t she say that you need to be seen? Something tells me that you’re the one who needs to be carried.”

“I can walk myself!” Ground Zero barked, although his knuckles were white from gripping the counter top and his jaw clenched. Your vision was swimming, but he seemed to sway as he took a few unsteady steps towards the door.

“Sure you can.” Red rolled his eyes with a wink your way. “But you’re not taking this lovely lady on a one-way trip to the floor in the process.

“I’ve got them!” A flash of pink and black ducked around Red’s arms, and suddenly you were weightless. “Nearest hospital is a couple of blocks to the north. Deku is taking the villain down to the station, in the quirk-cancelling cuffs. I moved most of the rubble out of the way, but I’ll come back to help with the clean-up. I just had to see how Bakugo was holding up. “

“I think my girl here has him stable.” Red Riot frowned. “But she’s not doing so hot. Why’s that? I thought Blasty here would be the one drained.”

“Quirk,” You slurred, relaxing in to the weightless embrace of whatever was supporting you. “Drains my energy. ‘S why I’m not a healer. He was hurt, real bad. Flail chest, I think.”

“She needs IV fluids.” You were vaguely aware of moving, unbidden, with Red’s arms no longer warming you against his chest as your consciousness dimmed.

................................

A gentle prod to the arm stirred you back into awareness. “Hey.”

“Red Riot.” Your head lolled to the side. The cool, metallic hospital bed chilled your bare skin, shivering against the thin blanket. The smell of antiseptic stung, and the image of Ground Zero’s uneven breaths burned behind your eyelids. The tell-tale stiffness in your arm was a sign of the IV already inserted, surely dulling the ache in your own chest with a steady drip of pain medication. “Where is he? Is he okay?”

“Blasty is doing just fine.” His warm hand splayed across your shoulder comfortingly. You hadn’t noticed before, but as he leaned over your bedside, you could have sworn that you saw a hint of black roots amongst his fiery red hair. Concern creased his face, and his cologne tickled at your throat, smelling of patchouli, leather, and pine. “You gave us all quite the scare there. But Ground Zero is a lucky man. The doctors say that you fixed up his five broken ribs, three of which detached from his chest wall.”

“Where is he?”

“He’s in the operating room. They had to go in and stop some of the internal bleeding, and clear out the pooled blood in his chest so it wouldn’t give him a collapsed lung.”

“Thank you, Red Riot.” A sigh escaped your lips.

“Don’t be so formal. My name is Eijirou Kirishima. Call me Eijirou, or Kiri, or just something that’s not my hero name. It’s not like my real name is a public secret.” He laughed.

Stealing a glance to the side, you smirked. “I could call you Sharky.” His eyes widened, and you chuckled. “But I think I like Kiri.”

A doctor quickly cut the exchange short, her harsh raps on the door breaking the moment. “He’s out of the OR and in recovery.” She directed her attention towards Eijirou. “Do you want to go back and see him?”

“You can go, I’ll be okay.”

“Nah, Bakugo would never let me live it down if I ditched a civilian at the hospital.”

“I want to know how he’s doing.” You nudged his side with your elbow, trying your best to look convincing. “I’m a big girl, I can handle myself.”

“I’ll be right back!” The tension in his shoulders eased, sagging in relief. “Don’t leave without me, okay?”

“I’ll hold her discharge paperwork until you return.” The doctor’s lips quirked in a half-smile. “I need to ask her a few questions anyhow, so it is beneficial that you’re out of the room for a little bit.”

Eijirou scurried out, and a pang of affection fluttered in your chest. “He’s such a kind hero.” You sighed.

“He is.” The doctor plucked a pen from the pocket of her white coat and began to add notes to your medical chart. “How are you feeling? Still light headed?”

“I feel much better. Just a bit tired still.”

“Okay, I’m going to release you with orders to take it easy for the next day or so, and if you start feeling poorly, please go either to your general practitioner, or return here for further treatment. I’m going to remove your IV, and then I just need you to sign the discharge paperwork, and wait for your escort to come back.”

“I’m back!” Eijirou grinned as he poked his head in, watching as you signed the papers. “Uraraka is forcibly floating Blasty back to his apartment so he doesn’t wind up passed out on a train somewhere. They’ve got him all sorts of knocked up on pain killers. But I’m ready to take you back to the shop if you’re good to go.”

“I am.” You nodded. “I still need to finish closing up shop, though. I locked up the cash from the register, but the machines need cleaned and the doors need locked before I call it a night.”

Eijirou just smiled sheepishly, his hands ready to steady you as you climbed out of the hospital bed.

“I’m okay.” You whined, batting his arm away playfully. “The press would have a hay day if you held my arm or god forbid carried me anywhere.”

“Oh! Uhh, yeah, you’re right.” He flinched, arms snapping back to his sides, and you instantly regretted even bringing it up as you watched Eijirou school his features to look carefully professional once more, carefully ushering you out the door.

"I think the ladies would be too devastated, if the press made it seem like the most eligible bachelor of the pro heroes was off the dating market.” You joked nervously, trying to ease the tension that had settled between the two of you.

“Obviously.” He rolled his eyes, cracking a slight smirk. “Who else are they going to drool over? No one else is nearly as manly as me.”

"Not even Ground Zero?”

“A close second.” He conceded. “But he really only shows anger and annoyance, which decidedly unmanly. His only downfall.”

The café was in sight again- and mostly still intact. It was nestled between a few other businesses on the strip, quiet and unassuming. You wondered briefly how the heroes had even taken notice, when everything else about the world of heroes seemed so loud and chaotic. The chalkboard outside was smudged with dust, as were the windows that offered a peak into the cozy shop, but as far as you could see, nothing had been damaged or broken into during your absence.

“I think tomorrow is going to be a long day of cleaning.” You groaned.

“Occupational hazard.” Eijirou laughed. “I think this is where I let you go, though.”

Turning to face him and putting your hand on his shoulder, you looked into his eyes. “Thank you, Eijirou. Thanks for making sure I was okay and that I got home safely. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, and what you continue to do for the city.”

“Just doing my job.” He replied sheepishly, his voice half an octave higher than usual. “I think my patrol shift starts here soon, so I’ll catch on the flipside for my usual.”

Eijirou left, and you carefully locked the doors behind him. The silence was deafening. The café usually buzzed with quite murmurs of those working, catching up with friends, or tentatively flirting with a prospective partner. Normally, the café wouldn’t close for a few more hours, but even leaning against the counter seemed to draw from the deepest reserves of strength you could bare, and you wished Eijirou had stayed.

That’s what you get for making the man so uncomfortable. The voice inside your head whispered cruelly. Shouldn’t get hung up on your silly little crush. He’s just a hero looking to maintain a public image, not get to know you or your life or sweep you off of your feet. You should stop this before you embarrass yourself.

“Kiri is a kind man.” You whispered to yourself, as if to silence your own internal monologue, hands deftly cleaning the espresso machines. “He cares about others. I may not be special, but he is genuine.”

The coffee bar was strangely oily, and once again your senses were assaulted with the stench of over-cooked caramel and thick smoke. Ground Zero was an enigma; you knew that his temper was just as explosive as his quirk, frequently berating civilians unfortunate enough to be caught in his way and chasing away reporters with a more than a few sparks. Yet, despite his notoriously low public approval levels, he still managed to rank as the number two hero. His record for take downs and civilian rescues were immaculate, only outranked by Deku. For someone so who was so determined to be the take over the spot for number one hero, he was prickly at best and outright aggressive at worst. He was a confusing contradiction of everything the public believed of pro heroes, and in his own way, stole the media’s attention as they leaned into Ground Zero’s “bad boy” reputation.

You wondered if he appreciated the media’s attempts to make him more likeable, or if it only annoyed him further. Ground Zero certainly didn’t seem appreciative of your help, nor was he thrilled with Eijirou’s attempts to joke about his bad attitude. He was so different from his partner; Red Riot was the media’s sweetheart, sympathetic and caring, and known for his tendency to help civilians even with menial tasks. He was both an unbreakable force for good against the villains plaguing the city and an approachable everyday hero.

Ground Zero didn’t have that luxury, his humanity lost to his pro hero status. It seemed like a lonely existence. With a sigh, you finished your cleaning, and taped a “Closed early” sign to the front door, and wandered back up to your apartment to rest for the evening.

#My hero academia #boku no hero academia #fanfiction #reader insert #bakugo katsuki #bakugou x you #bakugou x reader #female reader #she/her pronouns #Pro hero Bakugou Katsuki #Pro hero AU #Ground Zero AU #angst with a happy ending #Reader has a healing quirk #canon typical violence #somewhat graphic description of wounds #No beta we die like men #Coffee shop au #hints of Eijirou Kirishima x reader

40 notes · View notes

amazingphilza · 4 years

Text

DSMP!OC HEADCANNONS

i dunno if ppl on here make dsmp!ocs for themselves outside art but here’s my long list of headcannons?? idk what to call this, but assume all names have c! before it ofc :]

,, this is kinda messy & probably has a lot of plot holes but i just needed a space to write out all my thoughts LOL

also cw / ment of manipulation & ib: dsmp wiki <3

character origin :

previous life was the l’mantree :D

allegedly planted by schlatt, we will never know who’s my canonical parent(s)

reborn as a dryad after niki burns the l’mantree

i think being a dryad would fit especially since they’re typically nymphs of oak trees :]

appearance :

my character’s mc skin has long light brown hair & is seen wearing a flower crown with petals that are around the color of a pale violet and navy blue

clothing would consist of black shoes & a long light grey sweater that falls down to the legs and covers most of the hands which adorned with 2 black stripes on the upper arms

lore / history :

since my past life was the l’mantree, i would’ve known the ins and outs of the history when l’manburg was still standing, up until niki burned the tree

after witnessing everything, i’d hold a grudge on niki (+ allies?) and loyal to wilbur since he’s the whole person that made a meaning of the land of l’manburg

however i’d still be on edge w any side because i could sympathize with everyone to some extent after seeing some sort of distress from everyone at some point

i think seeing both sides of the spectrum when l’manburg/manburg still stood could change my perspective of some other characters

but at the same time, not everything was completely centered in l’manburg so i wouldn’t know the whole story of everyone’s character

i’m currently writing this just after tommy has left the prison & mostly everyone is treating him differently, so i’d try to befriend him by not showing that i dont care about his past & trauma but also not being fully faithful about our friendship ahaha,,,

he seems like the type that needs someone to see through his past history but tommy would definitely disapprove of my character visiting dream at the prison (i would do it anyway :))

vowing my current life to wilbur, i would help dream escape to revive wilbur & follow along with their plans of chaos

i don’t fully support dream but he is the only way to wilbur, making me comply with dream’s decisions

“growing up” in my past life and witnessing endless conflict, it is the only thing i know and understand; chaos

but i think during the process of helping dream & wilbur i’d keep my connection with them secret, being the person to obtain all the inside information they need

i could see myself as a type of equilibrium like ranboo but in a bad way, i don’t know how to explain it

but i would try befriending ranboo since he seems like he is involved in many things and would know a lot, despite his short term memory

unfortunately i’m not sure how much his character actually knows since i haven’t been able to watch his pov that much but i’m sure there’s a lot in his memory book...

to blend in as a normal person within the rest of the characters, i’d surround myself with connor a lot

not only because he needs more lore, connor is one of the “normal” citizens of the smp so i believe being with him doesn’t bring as much attention to myself, unlike people that’s related to the egg and their noticeable features after associating themselves with the egg

he is currently only on bad terms with techno which is rly good when comparing that to other characters and their relationships with other people

connor could probably sense my real intentions eventually & tell everyone else that i’m not who i say i am but if that’s my flaw & my downfall is caused by connor, so be it! sorry dream & wilbur

i feel like for being a young dryad, i’d still fool around with dream/wilbur & help give tommy an small “advantage” to defeating the two ?

like yes i’m supposed to be on your side but where’s the fun if tommy can’t do anything to begin with?

i honestly don’t know if wilbur was revived he’d actually be his vassal but let’s assume that happens, but either way i’m with wilbur on his decisions

but ya dream seems like the type to punish me for helping tommy and send me to the afterlife to learn & become smarter like wilbur had done or smth

in the end, i just want to give tommy bits and pieces that tease him from ending all the wars and problems he has been faced with

like here’s some info about dream and wilbur but it won’t be no where close to enough

but who knows, ghostbur said ‘villains are just heroes that aren’t convinced yet’ & maybe tommy could eventually grow on me & change my ways,,

maybe me fooling around & teasing tommy with answers he’s been searching for is a way to mask that i want to be a good person

ok but imagine after knowing so much about dream/wilbur, the revive book, & the afterlife & then i switch sides,,,

surely if tommy can’t put and end to them, dream would make sure i’m gone for good instead

but also if me & connor are in good terms & he’s canonically a necromancer & can bring ppl back to life,,,,

personality :

to all besides dream & wilbur, i’d try to act passive and friendly on the outside to get on everyone’s good side

however under the mask i am more mischievous & strive to cause more problems for everyone on the server from the inside out

in a way, i’ve taken up some of dream’s manipulative personality but still very understanding

i’d like to think of my character as a good listener,, trying to do less talking than others so i do not open up about my true self and intentions

i’ve seen rumors about schlatt & mexican dream also being revived along with wilbur & i feel like i’d have some soft spot for schlatt & pick up a few things from his own character, not sure what though

schlatt planted l’mantree theory, dad!schlatt au part 2 !! /j

because of my character’s closed off and quiet personality, i feel like i’d be pretty analytical

i would know how to slip between the cracks with some characters & notice the smallest things to make them question themselves

maybe my character is good at holding their composure, and not that susceptible to being “emotional” in a way so it’s easier to face people

like i understand when a situation is sad, etc but i can’t show emotion towards how i feel about it (i don’t know if that makes sense but ya!)

i wanna try to elaborate more,, like imagine my character before tommy visits the prison, i would be unfazed from when i found out he died to the point he’s released and we find out he’s been revived

everything is a constant blur hehe

i just can’t fully process everything i guess? i dunno if that’s helpful but yeah!

in the end though, my moral compass has been very tainted; despite wanting to show my loyalty, it can be slightly easy to sway me, making me internally feel guilty to other people

but me trying to get on everyone’s good side to impress wilbur/dream to seem useful to them would ruin me before i would even realize that i’m another “pawn”

we know damn well dream is faking it till he “makes it” but yk,,

but i’d be stuck in this kind of dilemma of not knowing what thoughts are my own or just something trickled down from wilbur or dream

there’s like maybe something that clicks in my head like “maybe i wanna think for myself for once” or smth

like who am i really?

powers , bonuses , etc :

since dryads can technically manipulate plants in some ways, theoretically i could control the blood vines to some extent ???

i’m pretty sure dryads can communicate with plants so i could understand what the blood vines are saying as well

maybe i could get a good sense of what the egg is all about and stuff

assuming that i understood anything that was happening with the egg in the first place but anyway—

i guess similar to ranboo like how he can’t really be around water without some type of amour or something, it would make sense for me to primarily reside in a type a forest or be near one ?? who knows

seems a bit morbid in a way because of the whole history but if i can somehow easily get rid of the blood vines without it affecting me (if there is still some there) i think it would be kinda pretty to build a tree base in the middle of the l’manburg crator (iskall tease)

like it can show a sign of some rebirth, not the same government repeated once again but a new era in general

you know how you see like destruction years after it the disaster or smth happened and it gets all overgrown with plants and stuff? ya that’s what i’m going for in my head (mumbo jumbo s7 tease)

i know it’s covered in glass already but i dunno, some broken glass and a giant tree emerging from the whole thing and all the rubble seems cool

i’m not a good builder but i have the vision LMAO

omg puffy is like a sheep human hybrid im pretty sure & like there’s a specific type of dryad that are a protector of sheep & other animals?? i’m not exactly sure but that seems like an interesting element to incorporate somehow

also glatt randomly planting a oak sapling in quackity’s lore stream yes pls feed my nonexistent dsmp character lore /j

i honestly dunno how to incorporate the fact dryads can turn shapeshift into trees when trying to escape something but i read something that if a dryad stays in a tree form for too long they’ll forget who they are and stay stuck as a tree?? which like woah that’s cool & some material but at the same time what—

since everyone’s backstory is kinda a mess, mr beast parent tease bc he planted a bunch of trees /hj

i have realized wilbur saying like “the whole reason i built this nation is gone” & blowing up everything or whatever is kinda a plot hole in like ‘why would i follow wilbur if/when he’s revived when he said this?’ but i’d like to think he was the one that made some meaning of the area lmanburg was on, which includes the lmantree

like he was the one that started everything and created that sentiment of that land, and however he views it now is how i would see it now

he gave meaning to my past life and now in my current life, i feel this obligation to repay him for it

not really lore bc i think it was cc!tommy talking to cc!ranboo about his height & age when he first joined but yk it would funny to make my dsmp character than his just to slightly spite him anyway

canonically 6’4 dryad yes . /hj

also i have no idea anything about hannah and her lore but we do be flower buddies :D

also omg like this isn’t at all important but the way ranboo can pick up grass blocks will just have me at awe, i dunno seems in theme with the forest/plant stuff

and i remember reading like there was something about dryads and apples but i can’t remember but i’d give tommy a bunch of apples /hj

apples am i right chat,,,,,

i’ll just have infinite apples in my inventory, like kill me in game, not like losing lives kinda deal but just in general and boom stacks of apples

“bee i get you’re half tree but do you just poop apples out like they’re nothing??” “girls don’t poop” /j

ok but like no matter how many streams i watch i cant grasp where everything is but omg but no if i was new to the server & stuff, canonically & not, i would feel my character to be the curious kind to explore everywhere

like besides a mini tour from some other person in the server, since my character only knows things in the bounds of lmanburg, i’d go off exploring different places like pogtopia, the sewers, showchester, etc

i feel like my character would be really into history, like they would have questions about what happened to lmanburg after the last war? what was life like before wilbur? what was the whole history about the antarctic empire? i dunno but reading a bunch of books from a library seems really interesting

oh but in theory, me and tubbo are loosely related if you wanna count schlatt as my “dad” because he supposedly planted the lmantree ???

i mean could make sense but it seems like a stretch

also if my character ever got close to schlatt, i’m not sure if this is canon, but i swear one time he mentioned how the whole dsmp sever is just a game/server in a game & he’s the only one that knows that ??? but like imagine if i found that out canonically,,,,,

big existential crisis pls

and i’m not 100% sure how dryad shifting works with like going from female to tree form and stuff but if i’m able to morph into different girls on the server & act as them,,,, the about of problems that can cause in the lore omg

lemme frame niki real quick and get inside information /j

oh ya and like hey bee do you support the government then? yes but no. whatever my “fav” person is canonically (assuming this is based in the beginning of this whole hc) whatever wilbur thinks, i think. head empty. but subject to change as the dsmp storyline progresses and stuff :]

ngl i wanna throw in some like random lore that doesn’t make sense to throw people off but i can’t think of anything

not actually really lore related but my choice of stream music like how ranboo has his undertale stuff that makes everyone cry, i will have in love with a ghost

yup i like in love with a ghost sm & i’m pretty sure their music is like not dmca too which yay but yk theoretically never gonna stream on the dsmp but still a fun aspect to think of bc i love listening to music & it’s very impactful to a story & associating something to it makes it more meaningful :D

like i could imagine the chill pop lofi piano stuff fits witha few lore streams of like exploring the whole smp before my character would really go out with being this lost villain in a way?

tubbo’s gangnam style who?

like i feel like i made my character bad/evil so they could have potential to get better in the future

on one hand, i’ll end up w dream and/or wilbur for the rest of my life, which is okay but i could also switch to be with tommy or even disregard all of them and be with techno/phil or quackity & potentially schlatt even who knows

also i cant wait for more connor lore tho, like as much as i tried to make my character give him more content i wanna see how everything goes with him having connections to schlatt & stuff

anyway i would’ve made concept art for my character but i honestly don’t rly like my art currently but who knows LMAO

and lastly if u read all of this ily /p

i might update this later when there’s more lore but ya

#bee for dream smp 2021 /j #dsmp headcanon #dream smp oc #dreamsmp headcanon #dsmp hc #mcyt x oc #dsmp x oc

36 notes · View notes

dr-nero-is-god · 4 years

Text

i felt the urge to riff on the hive streams for a little bit since discussion came up on the hive discord, namely, holding issue with the idea that the alpha stream is inconsistent in that it is about leadership when otto is the only leader, and that it’s also possible that the alphas are just kids with specialized skills, and not actually bonded by any particular unifying element.

and, in response, @vulpix-sinistre brought up a quote from the abridged hive fanfic, that goes something like: “there are four streams: main characters, stereotypical bullies, ?, and nerds.”

and i disagree with the first two ideas, but almost completely agree with the abridged fic quote. that is pretty much how the streams work, and it is IMPORTANT that that is how the streams work.

in the end, you may conclude that the streams system still doesn’t make sense. you won’t be like “well clearly dr. nero was just logically dividing the labor of his students to reflect a specialized training program” because it’s more complicated on that. i hate to do this to y’all, but a lot of everything streams-related requires an out-of-book explanation to get where you’re going, but i can promise that i will at least try to go

first, let’s think about why h.i.v.e. would have streams at all

on the one hand, it’s inescapable to consider that one primary reason that hive has streams is because harry potter had houses, and for the same reason that percy jackson had cabins, the 39 clues had branches, hunger games had sections (or counties, idk), divergent had factions, and so on and so on. the rise of fandom spaces on the internet was concurrent with a big ya/mg boom in the post-2005 world (after twilight was published), and within those fandom spaces it became important to identify with an aspect of the fantasy world as part of your personality. that became a very marketable thing for a while, and so separating children into streams would, to a publisher, seem like a pretty solid storytelling choice.

however! the alpha stream is not the same as gryffindor house. on the one hand, it seems easy to make an alpha/gryffindor and henchman/slytherin parallel, because one group is good (relatively) and one is bad (or at least antagonistic). but it doesn’t work because while slytherin has a reputation for constituents of poor moral character (which has been largely revised in fanon), being a henchman is where you go, according to the books, if you are unintelligent and burly. it’s not a really sexy stream, is what i’m trying to say. and though there are undoubtedly some readers who would look at the henchman stream and see themselves, i think the majority of readers would likely find the henchman stream a completely undesirable stream to be in.

and, given how little importance the role of streams have after the first book, i will go out on a limb and say that mark walden knows that the henchman stream is unsexy. we aren’t interested in the hopes and dreams and motivations of the henchman stream; as we learn in book two, the ideal henchman is weak-minded and easily led—so what dreams would they even have? this leads me to conclude that while mark walden might have sold h.i.v.e. on the “there are personality-based groups in the school!” idea, he had something completely else in mind when he started writing and that, I think, is actually far more interesting.

but really, why would h.i.v.e. have streams at all

a few things about mark walden: 1) he studied english lit in school, 2) he has a background as a video game producers, and 3) he likes james bond. i know the first two things because i have read his bio and i know the third thing because i have read his books in conjunction with seeing all the james bond films. so we will call 1-3 facts.

if you are wondering what a lit degree, video game production, and the james bond franchise all have in common, then let me connect those dots: all three of those things depend heavily on the study and understanding of repetitive structure in storytelling as an interpreter and creator of meaning. each one of these fields requires an understanding of how stories and words work to create meaning in order to be successful.

and, to quote mr. walden here directly (sourced from this here link):

“So, I was playing with this cat one day and it got me thinking that those old-school Bond villains always just seemed to appear out of thin air with very little back story and that got me thinking about how they became world- conquering megalomaniacs in the first place. It was only a short mental walk from there to HIVE.”

so, imagine you’re a writer trying to tell a story about a school for villains like those in james bond—you’ve studied storycraft and you have a lot of experience in a job finding believable and compelling obstacles for people to interact with in video games. you have noticed patterns. and you need to make those patterns work for you.

enter: streams

i have watched all the james bond movies (all of ‘em) (i mean it) (just not the unreleased one yet lol) and you know what?

there’s probably just about four kinds of villains in those movies.

henchmen include the likes of jaws, oddjob, and tee hee. often physically disabled in a cinematically interesting way, these guys are the muscles and the machines in every bond film. they are the ones who tail bond as he takes long train rides and who try to personally throw him into shark tanks. they are the hands and feet of their evil masters and they don’t have a lot of emotional depth or backstory.

politicians/financiers abound in the james bond franchise because he is a government employee who often hangs out with other government employees (he has no friends). these people are like colonel rosa klebb, georgi koskov, prince kamal khan. there are a lot more, as a matter of fact, because the whole point of james bond is that they are in the cold war and even people without titles have political and financial motivations for screwing around with stuff. these types of villains depend on being well and truly embedded in an existing infrastructure or hierarchy, somebody who worked their way up from being a foot soldier or clerk into a powerful leadership position that gives them a lot of state-sanctioned trust and authority.

technicians and inventors include folks like henry gupta and boris grishenko, who use technology as their primary weapon. they are often inventors or innovators and are really good at making high-tech stuff. however, i think this stream is also a direct result of the character Q, someone who is actually on James Bond’s team and who runs an entire department of people who test sometimes outlandish gadgets for Bond to use in the field. (but we love the gadgets. they are fun.) in other words, Bond arguably has a technical stream at his disposal in MI6, which means the idea isn’t necessarily evil, but, likewise, our James Bond School also needs Qs. it’s the rules. if you are familiar with Q from James Bond at all then you understand

and that leaves us with alphas... the “supervillains.” these are the famous ones. dr. no. mr. big. scaramanga. le chiffre. blofeld. max zorin. emilio largo. goldfinger. these are the ones with the master plan, the dreams to recreate the world as they see it, the passion to see their desires to fulfillment and the resources to make them happen. they are rich. they are fancy. they are larger than life. is it weird that karl stromberg tries to incite a nuclear war between Britain and the USSR so that a lot of people can die so that he can colonize the ocean? yes. but by god, it’s fancy and dramatic, and that’s what counts.

are there other kinds of villains? oh, definitely. lots more. but you have to understand, that those kinds of villains generally don’t appear in Bond. sometimes! but it’s not a staple. for example, not many people in the bond films are motivated by revenge because each movie is kind of designed to function as a one-shot. villains don’t come back and so there is no revenge. the villain who gets the most notable reprise, jaws, actually ends up finding his true love in space.

compare: every movie is going to have henchmen. every movie has government stooges making morally questionable decisions. (almost) every movie has Q, or some gadget stuff going on. and every movie has a big bad that has to be better than the last.

so that explains why the streams are what they are.

it was a jumping-off point for mark walden to figure out what this universe might look like and how different character types need to function. consider that while the core four are all alphas and are kind of insulated as a group, the teachers all kind of roughly align with one of these groups. colonel francisco, raven, and chief lewis are henchmen types, doing on-the-ground work to get stuff done. ms. tennenbaum and the contessa are political af, they are all about the corruption and infiltrating institutional power. ms. gonzales, ms. leon, and professor pike all have technical skills that help keep an organization moving forward. and over them all is the singular alpha, dr. nero, who is coordinating and monitoring it all for his own evil plan: to run a high school.

honestly, dr. nero’s hive idea operates just like a james bond villain plot! it works, or it does when pitching the idea. the problem is that the books continued after the pitch did, and with worldbuilding came some complications. namely, the fact that the megastructure of james bond villainy does not replicate well into a small friend group on which the narration focuses. so let’s return to the question presented at the beginning:

how can alphas really be alphas when not everyone on the field trip can be a mastermind?

i’m gonna give this to you in two ways. one, the way i personally interpret it as an in-universe explanation, given the background premises we have already established. and the other, why the stream system kind of ruins the structure it sets out to create.

so, for me, the alphas can be alphas because there is more to villainy than being a mastermind and there is more to being a mastermind than being in charge. as i think about it, this novelization is actually the backstory for every one of the students, who will go on to do great and scary things. they will manage big projects and come up with interesting ways to terrorize the British government, because that is what James Bond villains do (and James Bond does canonically exist in their universe). much like your actual teenage years, this is not the main event.

as students, the core four need to learn to do a little bit of everything. you gotta learn some lock-picking, that’s essential. everyone has to be able to climb a rock wall. it’s the rules. and everyone needs to be able to do some programming. that’s just the way school is. though everyone has a different personality and a different way of looking at the world, their education has to cover the basics because the fact of the matter is, none of them are villains yet. will they become one? that remains to be seen. but they are being given the tools to become the greatest villains if that is something they choose.

the main problem that remains when holding this attitude is that the specialized skills of otto and his friends might be better suited to other streams, in which case, what is an alpha anyways?

here’s the facts: if everyone were assigned to a stream by talent, then there wouldn’t be an alpha stream.

franz? political/financial stream.

nigel? laura? otto? technical stream.

shelby? wing? henchman stream.

you can debate me on the specifics of those assignments, but the point is this: all the other streams are based on hard skills. franz can manage a ledger and that is a financial skill. laura can build a computer from scratch and that is a technical skill. wing can do martial arts, and each martial art is a physical skill that can be taught and performed in a measurable level of proficiency.

the idea of being a “mastermind” is a much softer skill—which is to say, there’s no one recipe that will make it work. my manager at work has coached me by saying that leadership is often about having a “style,” and working at it that way. leadership requires interpersonal flexibility, being able to stay organized and to make important decisions rapidly, it is about being able to prioritize and delegate. and it’s very much open to interpretation, every day, all the time.

let me tell you something else about james bond: there is a lot of classism, racism, and sexism embedded into every aspect of those films, but that goes for double when it comes to the villains in the show. to vastly oversimplify that very concept, it shows up in the bond films like this: henchmen are working class folks, the villainous equivalent of “the help,” and the supervillains are (usually) rich and glamorous and powerful. henchmen are uneducated (read as: stupid) and ugly and poor. no one cares if they die. (there’s more complexities, as always, but this essay isn’t actually about james bond so we’ll fast forward through My Opinions to the end)

the problem with replicating james bond in your villain school universe is that some of the biases of the james bond universe get replicated in there, too. poor and uneducated folks get turned into disposable henchmen whose lives are irrelevant. people who are educated and talented get fast-tracked to a more glamorous and interesting stream that will catapult them to the top of the ladder as soon as they graduate. if you look at the dialect with which block and tackle are written, they are clearly meant to be seen as a different social class than otto, despite the fact that otto is coming from basically nothing. and we understand that when otto graduates, he will be able to do basically anything that he wants to at all.

so, if you’re asking why wing has a role in the alpha stream when he doesn’t seem as leader-y as otto, there’s a simple answer: because dr. nero believes that wing can be more.

the climax of book one is dr. nero explicitly telling otto, wing, laura, and shelby that they are in his school because he believes in them and he wants to see them grow. they are given an elite status other students do not have despite the fact that they have just literally tried to escape. as we see in the case of duncan cavendish, the main way to get on that highway to a guaranteed career is to convince him that you’ve “got it.” for those who are not believed in, there is no way to make up for the special grooming. you’re stuck with the stream you’re placed in, doomed (perhaps) to be a second-in-command at best.

is all this intentional? probably not. but it is implicit in the structure of the story and, alas, that’s the way it is.

all i can think to say in conclusion is that while the stream system tends to replicate some of the unfair and classist realities present in other media and the world we live in, i think part of the reason we read h.i.v.e. is because the alpha stream is so appealing. imagine! you are competent and you have a desirable, specialized skill as well as a proficiency in many general skills and you are certain you are going to do good things—and all because someone believes in you. to receive someone else’s support and confidence can be life-changing. the magic of h.i.v.e. is that yes—lives are changed and ordinary, boring people were elevated to the level of supervillains. we are only left to wonder, are they the only people who deserved that honor?

#meta #spoilers #streams #alpha #henchman #political/financial #technical stream #technical #james bond #hive #h.i.v.e.#higher institute of villainous education #the higher institute of villainous education #otto malpense #max nero #streams post #musings

24 notes · View notes