tinybrie

[tinybrie]

I love when fanfic authors are freakishly unhinged. "Yes, hello, I am here to write a heart wrenching story about relationships and mortality. My medium is Ducktales (2017)"

[tinybrie]

Those "modern fairy tales where the princess saves herself" types of books not only misrepresent the gender roles in fairy tales (there are tons of stories where girls get to save the day), but they fundamentally misunderstand the entire genre.

Fairy tales aren't about saving yourself.

These aren't epic myths or heroic legends about the great warriors who slay every monster in their path because they're so awesome. Fairy tales are almost always about ordinary, even incompetent, people who get thrown into strange situations where they only succeed because of the help of others.

It's not a gendered thing. The boy who goes off to seek his fortune is usually the dim-witted third son whose older brothers are the strong, smart ones. The third son succeeds because he is kind to the magical helpers who then complete the tasks for him--and the exact same thing happens when a girl is the main character.

The characters in a fairy tale rarely succeed because they embrace their own strength and take their own path. Much more often, they are told step-by-step what to do, and they succeed because they obey--respecting the wisdom of others.

The core virtue of a fairy tale is not pride, but humility. It's not a story about the strong, but those who are weak, small, helpless. The people who can't do it all on their own, but can recognize the worth and wisdom of others.

Turning this story into a "girl power" (or even a "boy power") story warps it into something that is fundamentally the opposite of a fairy tale, and it has nothing to do with the gender of the main character.

[tinybrie]

Her fear of betrayal makes her deny any advancement of his love

[tinybrie]

Chapter 7 of a Fresh Start

Link to AO3

The next time Black Cat was on the WatchTower Damian, Tim and Dick approached him as informally as they could. It had been a month since Marinette had received the call from Adrien that spawned their suspicions and they had been researching Adrien specifically to see if they could find a link to where the Miraculous were now.

“What's up bird boys!” Black Cat said enthusiastically, smiling at them winningly. Damian tried to shove aside the dislike he felt for the man and greet him cordially, but it was hard. “Man, I am psyched to be up here again, I really think I'm going to make a difference.”

“We're lucky to have you with us,” Dick said cheerfully. If anyone could match the Cat's energy it was Dick, and they were counting on him to make Black Cat comfortable. “I mean, it's not often we get magic users on the base, they usually end up in JLD.”

“Hah, yeah, I'd heard that. Probably because I'm not actually a magic user,” he said blithely, seemingly oblivious to the way their attention sharpened. “I used to use a magical artifact, but I wasn't what they called a true cat, so I didn't keep any cool powers after I stopped.”

“Aw, man that sucks,” Dick said, sounding genuinely sorry for him. “Pretty brave of you to carry on the fight without powers when you started out with them.”

“Yeah, it's a hell of an adjustment, that's for sure! But you all manage without powers, right?”

“Wow, you really know your stuff,” Tim said. If Damian didn't know the man so well he wouldn't be able to pick out the sarcasm. As it was, he had to fight to keep a smirk off his face as the Cat preened at the ‘compliment’. “Not that we should be surprised, you were part of the team of teenagers that took down a supervillain.”

“We did a pretty good job, right?” If Damian wasn't wearing a mask that covered his eyes, he would have had to really focus on not rolling them. ���Ladybug and Master Fu did a pretty wicked job of choosing allies.”

“You got that right!” Dick was the only one capable of answering as Tim and Damian had scented the blood in the water. In none of their research had they turned up a ‘Master Fu’ and it sounded like this was the person who held the Miraculous. “You had a few different civilian aides, right? Rena Rouge, Carapace…I could never keep track of them!”

“I wish I'd known their identities,” Black Cat said wistfully. He seemed to get lost in a thought as he continued and Damian almost didn't dare breathe. “I only found out about Marinette's because she detransformed in front of me after a battle and- wait, ignore that, we should probably talk about what missions I'm likely going to be on!”

The topic change was anything but subtle and Damian's heart sank. They'd been given two leads within a minute of each other and one of them was something they could definitely follow up on. Having gotten information they could use, they let him change the topic and followed the conversation until he was pulled away by Elaine.

The three bats sat in silence for several minutes after he left. Damian could feel his brothers watching him, knew what they were going to ask him to do and he hated it. They had been together for nearly four months now and the thought of abusing her trust to get the information they needed made him feel ill.

They were interrupted before either of his brothers could broach the topic with him, in the form of Wonder Woman and Batman approaching them with information about the League of Shadows attacking a remote village in Asia.

_ _ _

Marinette's day had started out pretty well but it was taking a weird turn. Damian had messaged asking if he could visit that evening and she had responded yes enthusiastically. They had flirted a little through text until she had felt an odd pull in her chest and then Louis had demanded her attention.

Since then everything seemed to be slightly off: she had been absent minded during lunch and served Louis her lunch by mistake, had forgotten to put him down for the nap and carried him around instead, had misplaced her phone for long enough that she lost all track of time. And through all of this, something had been setting off warning bells in the back of her mind.

She recalled that something similar had happened a couple of days before, a panic that wasn't her own settling in her veins until she had had to call Penny to watch Louis for an hour. She wondered what was causing it, when she had enough presence of mind to. 

She was practically vibrating when Adrien finally called for their monthly catch up. She had tried to get him to be more consistent so she didn't have to keep too many secrets from Damian and he had agreed. It didn't stop him from forgetting some days and having to rearrange with her, but she had sworn that she wouldn't pick up a call without an accompanying text with an emergency code outside of scheduled times, which helped him be more reliable.

“He~y Mari,” Adrien said, eyes shifting away from her as he said it. Immediately she knew he had done something he shouldn't have and she swallowed a growl. “Oh, wow, Louis you're so big now!”

“Hi papa,” the toddler said dutifully, fidgeting in his seat. Adrien didn't seem to notice that the boy didn't meet his eyes, chattering about his month until finally Louis couldn't stand it any more and wandered off.

“What did you do?” Marinette said as soon as Louis was busy playing with his toys again. Adrien blustered and she leaned forward and glared into the camera. “Adrien, I am not in the mood for this. I've been on edge for days so if you have something to tell me, do it.”

“Um, well, you see, I was up on the WatchTower again a couple of days ago and a few of the other heroes were chatting to me. They were really nice, said we did a great job with the whole Hawkmoth thing so that was cool. But, uh, they mentioned something about Rena and Carapace and…well, I don't really know why but I mentioned that…that you'd been a hero once. I didn't use last names or anything! But, um, if they look for a Marinette that was a teen around then…”

“So I can expect a couple of heroes to show up and interrogate me, is that it?” Marinette couldn't believe this. A decade after her tenure as Ladybug and Adrien had managed to out her to random heroes. “Right, well there's nothing we can do about that I guess. But as long as it's heroes on the WatchTower, I probably have a bit of time to get my side of things polished up.”

“The thing is…it was kind of some of Gotham's heroes?”

“You outed me to the world’s greatest detective team?!” She was going to murder him, through this screen.

“There's no guarantee they even picked up on it,’ Adrien explained hastily. “I managed to steer the conversation away from it pretty quickly so you might be absolutely fine!”

“Oh, sure, they definitely don't save that sort of information for later,” Marinette hissed sarcastically. “During this absolute cluster- nightmare, did you accidentally let slip which hero I was?”

“Give me some credit, Mari,” Adrien pouted, looking injured. “I was thinking of Multimouse when I said it, so it should be fine anyway! Besides, they're heroes, so it's okay, right?”

“Adrien, something has been up for the past couple of days for me - they could be watching me! I just- I can't believe you did this. I have to go, Damian's coming over for dinner tonight and I need to get started.”

She hardly let him say goodbye before she ended the video call. Her instincts hadn't been wrong, she could potentially be on a list somewhere and it was a matter of time before the Gotham vigilantes broke down her door for answers. One thing she had learned during her time in Gotham was that the Bats were relentless when looking for information.

She was slowly working herself into a full spiral when someone buzzed at her door. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Damian's handsome face on her doorbell cam, buzzing him in. She hugged him tightly as soon as he shut the door behind him and he hugged her back.

“It's good to see you, Marinette,” he murmured into her ear, pressing a kiss to her temple as Louis finally noticed him. The blond child tackled his knees, babbling excitedly. “I don't think I've ever seen the full collection of dolls before. These are all handmade?”

“Mhm! Some heroes, some akumas…Louis loves them all,” she replied, heart settling as she walked back to the kitchen to make their dinner. “I'm planning on making tofu fried rice, is that okay with you?”

Damian agreed and sat down on the floor with Louis. He ran a critical eye over the dolls, trying to pick out any he didn't recognise of the dolls. If Marinette had only been a hero once, it stood to reason that she might not have made it onto the internet.

It took a while but eventually he came across one that made him pause. It was a grey and pink heroine, who had space buns and a jump rope around the waist. Impeccably made, as were the others, he could see the resemblance to Marinette. It was interesting, without any of the supposed Miraculous magic obscuring features, it was painfully obvious who this one must be. 

“Maman!” Louis cooed as he spied what Damian was holding and that solidified the thought in Damian's mind. He was both pleased with his sleuthing and annoyed that it had been so easy. Why was Marinette making dolls of the heroes if it gave away her identity as one of them? “Bug!”

Louis was brandishing Ladybug at Damian now and he happily swapped. His heart softened as the boy cuddled the miniature Marinette. Chat Noir might have been the favourite, but the little grey and pink hero was also well loved.

“Oh, wow, you haven't played with that one in a while!” Marinette laughed as she came through. Damian looked up at her and she grinned at him, wiping her hands on her apron. 

“It's a lovely one,” Damian said, nodding towards it. He forced himself to keep his voice light, mildly curious at best. “Is it styled after you? I don't remember there being a hero like that on the akuma website.”

“Ah, yes, I did,” Marinette replied, her eyes shifting away. Damian noted the avoidance and hated that it meant she was hiding things. She had every right not to tell the man she had been seeing for less than half a year about her heroic endeavours, but it still meant he had to find out more.

“I think you would make a very good…rat?...hero.”

“Mouse,” she corrected automatically, face flushing as she seemed to realise what she had done. But she scrunched her nose adorably and pouted at him. “Mice are far cuter than rats.”

“An egregious error, I'm sorry,” he said with a nudge of his knee against hers. “It is very good work, regardless. Honestly, all of them are fantastic, and very true to the likenesses I've seen online. Did you get to spend time with them to create these?”

“Hard to avoid the heroes when your class is constantly targeted by a madman,” Marinette muttered, her eyes cutting towards him warily. Carefully, he thought. He couldn't screw this up, too much depended on his ability not to make her suspicious. He refused to lose her.

“That makes sen-”

There was a flash of light and Marinette screamed something. Damian had a split second to make a decision and he dove for Louis, covering the boy's head with his hand and turning him away. He turned his own eyes back, desperately, and found Marinette sitting on the floor where he had left her - holding a circular box.

“No…” Marinette whispered, eyes wide as she ran her fingers over it. Her hand covered her mouth but she didn't say anything else just then. Her eyes finally flitted to Damian and he could see panic in them. “This can't…Fu…”

But before he could ask, she set the box aside and rushed over to Louis and Damian. She looked her son over first, tilting his chin and checking his extremities for injury. It was efficient and Damian marvelled at the clinical approach she took. Then she turned her eyes to Damian and his breath caught.

“Are you alright? I'm so sorry, that…I'm not entirely sure what just happened. I'm sorry if I scared you when I screamed, I was just startled.”

“That was rather…intense. Is everything alright, Marinette?”

“Honestly? I don't think so,” she said, a tremor in her voice before it dropped into a whisper. “I don't understand, it's been ten years, this was supposed to be over.”

“Ten…am I to presume that you were more involved in the situation in Paris than you led me to believe?”

“I don't know how much I can…how much I should tell you,” she answered softly. She was clinging to Louis who was looking up at her curiously. She wasn't looking at Damian and it was crushing his chest the longer it went on. He didn't dare move towards her but he longed to hold her tightly.

“You don't have to tell me anything,” he said firmly. Forget his brothers, his mission; Marinette needed him to be her boyfriend first right now. When she was done with whatever crisis was stopping her, he could review. But his heart stopped in his chest when her eyes darted sharply to his own, the warm blue giving way to stormy distrust.

“...why aren't you demanding answers? The living room literally lit up with magic and a box appeared out of nowhere. You should be suspicious, or at the very least freaking out. Who are you, Damian Wayne?”

“Marinette-”

“No, don't try to placate me right now,” she said, edging between him and the box. But the thing that hurt more was the protective way she held Louis, as if he would hurt him. 

“We both have things we haven't discussed,” he managed to say past the lump in his throat. “I'm not pushing you for answers because I don't want to ruin what we have. You- you're incredible, Marinette, and I know that having secrets isn't the worst thing in the world. Please, I would do anything you ask me if it would help you to trust me.”

“I do trust you.” It was barely more than a breath but her grip on Louis loosened. Remarkably, Louis didn't seem upset at all and went back to playing with the dolls. “I'm sorry, I shouldn't…I should have given you a chance to explain.”

“You wanted to protect Louis and yourself, I can't fault you for that.”

“It's a little bigger than that,” she murmured, turning back to the box and pulling it into her lap. She tapped it and a drawer slid out seamlessly, displaying a pair of black and red spotted earrings. Marinette stared at them before sighing and picking them up.

Immediately a light blinked into existence, pink and small. It twirled, like a very agile firefly until it ended at Marinette's eye line. She didn't flinch, her brows furrowed as a red bug thing stretched before flying at her cheek.

“Guardian!”

Marinette froze again, her eyes glistening as she brought a hand up to comfort the bug. She took a deep breath before asking, “Tikki, what's going on? Where's Fu?”

“Oh Marinette, it was awful! There was an attack on the temple, Fu only just got away with the box but he was bleeding horribly. He got to Paris but then one of the assassins caught up to him and he had no choice but to relinquish the box. Don't worry, they won't be able to get any answers out of him, giving up the guardianship means any memories linked to the Miraculous are gone.”

Tikki pulled back from Marinette and Damian finally got a good look at it. He swallowed his surprise, though he couldn't help how his eyes widened as it turned to him. He tried not to flinch away when it got close to his face, scrutinising him.

“And who is this? I would have expected Chat to be here, given how you both mooned over each other.”

“Tikki! Sorry, Damian, she's a tiny god and it means she forgets her manners sometimes. Besides, Chat is in England right now, so you're not likely to see him any time soon.”

“Maman, pretty!” Louis had waddled back over and was gazing raptly at Tikki. The tiny god squealed and flew down to him, landing on his head. He shrieked happily and Damian couldn't help but smile at the pair. Marinette apparently felt the same because she was smiling softly at them.

“So you were more involved in Paris’s villain issue than you led me to believe,” Damian remarked in a low voice. She blushed and shrugged, glancing up at him from beneath her lashes. 

“Maybe a little. But it sounds like I'm not the only one keeping things back. But I'm going to trust you, and explain why people finding out that I have this is a bad idea.”

[tinybrie]

I'd eat ur art but it looks like a lot of people have already gotten a bite... is there any leftovers? (btw I love your art and style!)

thank you^^! happy to hear<3

here are some leftover sketches of Dick and Jason I never posted lamo

[tinybrie]

rumours

masterlist

word count: 1.8k

you are such a darling. you’re so sweet and kind and perfect and beautiful- how could anyone think to hurt you?

well, that’s the question, isn’t it?

gepard sits at his desk, his fingers tapping the wood. it’s not often he’s stuck in this room doing paperwork. generally that sort of stuff is left to the supreme guardian, to bronya. but this is a special case, because you’re special. special to the city, to the people, but most importantly-

-to him.

he grits his teeth. someone’s been spreading rumours about you and he’s going to find the person responsible for it. although you try to hide it, they’re definitely getting to you. the sparkle in your eyes isn’t quite sparkling anymore, and he can’t have that.

it doubles as an awful reminder that you don’t feel close enough to tell him this kind of stuff. is it because you don’t want to add to his workload? is that? after he catches the culprit, he’s going to have to think about how to make you understand that you can bother him with anything.

anything.

really.

the more he thinks about it, the angrier he gets. seriously, what have you done wrong? he bets it was a man. maybe a guard? someone that felt he was perhaps deserving of your attention and time and respect and was actually severely wrong?

maybe you know who’s behind this. you definitely won't tell him, though. no, he'll have to find out some other way. not through the guards- even if they do spill, when some tragedy inevitably befalls the culprit, they'll know exactly who was behind it. pela falls into this bracket too, for similar reasons. nobody with the last name landau, obviously, and he really can't afford to bother bronya with this, for multiple reasons.

an idea comes to him.

sampo.

nobody has a high opinion of him; even if he thought to spill the details of their exchange, nobody would take him seriously. he might even get two birds with one stone and jail him, too. he's caused the people of belobog enough trouble. he's probably caused you trouble too, at some point in his little rat life.

and as a criminal, he probably already knows who the lowlife that's spreading rumours about you is. if he doesn't he can find out faster and easier than he ever could. oh, and, and, he can lie to motivate the man. sampo, just like everyone else, subscribes to the notion that gepard landau is a morally steadfast man. and he is! the morals just get a little... bent, when it comes to you. you're special, so it makes sense that it would be this way.

the fact remains, though, that he’s never actually caught sampo. and he needs to catch him in order to talk to him. his leg begins to bounce and it’s quickly becoming clear that he has nothing to gain by sitting at this desk. no, he’s never caught the man before, but that was only with the motivation of duty. this time, it’ll be for your sake.

he follows qlipoth to preserve belobog. he follows qlipoth to preserve you, and all that that entails.

gepard sighs. he stands up, clenches and unclenches his fist in an unsuccessful attempt to shake some of the nervous energy, and leaves the building. it’s only then that he comes face to face with the man that he’d very recently decided was the solution to his biggest problem.

sampo sprints off, and gepard gives chase.

“go geppie, go!”

he hears a familiar voice call out through the courtyard, and it brings a smile to his face and determination to his mind. he puts on another burst of speed and sampo yelps, obviously struggling to keep up the pace. he won’t get away this time. not when the motivator is you.

once they’re out of sight of most people, he decides to end the man’s misery by grabbing him by the shoulder. the sudden stop kills his momentum and sampo falls to the ground, gasping for breath.

“how… you wear all that… armour… how are you… so fast…?”

the chase did nothing to stop his anxiety. nervous energy still courses around his body, and if he focuses on it long enough, he’ll see his hands begin to shake.

“i don’t want to hear your excuses,” he begins, steadily. he didn’t plan out what he was going to say. maybe he should’ve, lest he looks like a fool. “all you’re going to say is that you’re sorry, or that i have the wrong man, or-”

his sharp blue eyes do not miss sampo trying to ready himself to make a quick escape. silly boy. he’s so busy trying to be sneaky that he doesn’t realise his surroundings. gepard swiftly and silently moves his boot to the man’s hand.

sampo lets out of a howl of pain.

“what’s wrong?” the man asks, his honeyed tone suddenly quite lethal. “are we going somewhere that i don’t know about?” when his almost-hostage looks up at him, genuine fear in his eyes, his face is pale. yes. yes. this is the expression he wants to draw out of people who hurt you. this is what repentance looks like.

he cracks his knuckles, well aware of how that looks. “i think you can find me a man.”

“y-yeah…?”

“there’s someone spreading rumours about my… friend.” he scowls, the word tasting bitter on his tongue. “i think you can tell me who they are.”

“oh, you mean that guard that got rejected and then resorted to making up rumours about them? yeah, i know him.” it was a him. he knew it.

“name, please.”

“woah, hey! i don’t just give away information for free, y’know-” the premise is similar to a business transaction, so sampo could be forgiven for forgetting his position. nonetheless, gepard opts for the wordless reminder of pressing his boot into the snow (and his hand) harder. “OW! ow- okay, ow, fuck- okay, i’ll tell you the name! ow!”

oh, that was so easy. so simple. he releases the pressure immediately; once he the receives the name, a face immediately comes to mind, and he strides off, leaving sampo to cradle his hand with tears in his eyes. perhaps this will serve as a good lesson to leave you alone, anyway.

he finds the guard with his buddies in a bar. they look like they’re having a good time, although their chatter dies right down when he walks up to them. is there something on his face? is he unable to hide the glee that hides in his anticipation? gepard points to the culprit.

“you. come with me.”

he hears an almost silent whisper: “oooh, he found out…” but ignores it, and the guard’s now-pink face. the pair walk out together wordlessly.

it’s a beautiful night. quiet, too. have the stars always been this beautiful, or is it just because he’s in a good mood? eventually your eyes will begin to sparkle again, and he’ll be able to see this sight again and again whenever he looks at you.

"captain, where are we going?"

"out for a walk, that's all. do you have somewhere to be?"

"i, uh... no, sir. sorry."

the man’s nervous voice does little to sour the spring in his step. what does kill it is when he hears a new pair of voices conversing. two people whom he’s seen today. one fairly recently, in fact.

“why won’t you just tell me who did this to you?”

“oh darlin’, i’d really love to. but you wouldn’t believe me if i told you.”

gepard’s blood runs cold.

it’s you. and him.

“yeah? go on. try me.”

“okay. serval broke my hand.”

did she really? good for her. oh- oh, no. wait. sampo’s testing the waters to tell you about him. it appears that he put more pressure onto his hand than he thought. he didn’t really mean to break any bones.

but if he can get away with it, then what does it matter?

he turns towards the direction of the conversation, beginning to pick up speed, and the half-drunk man with him is forced to follow suite. the voices get louder and louder as he approaches.

“what? really?”

“see, you don’t believe me!”

“i- well, did she?!”

“no, but that’s not the point!”

your laughter echoes down the streets. normally the sound would make his day better. normally it would warm his heart, make him smile- but today it doesn’t. today his heart hardens because someone that is completely despicable is making you laugh instead.

“seriously, though, sampo. who did it? i need to know so i can give them a piece of my mind. unless they’re like, way bigger than me. then i’ll send geppie out instead- whoah!”

you trip over something just as his path intercepts yours. blessed with quick reflexes, he catches you with ease. he’d keep you in his arms forever too, getting drunk off of the feeling, but you wriggle out easily.

“geppie!” your eyes are solely on him. good. you should keep them there. “someone broke sampo’s hand and he won’t spill who it is! i need you to find out who it is and go beat them up!”

gepard doesn’t address the issue of how you’re apparently so comfortable talking to a rat like him. that can be covered on a different day. instead, he wordlessly raises his gaze to sampo and is greeted with lovely terrified green irises. he’s like a deer in the headlights.

“well? tell me who it is.”

you spin around and try to reassure the criminal that the name is safe with him. it's just so... good. the corners of his lips quirk up. he can't help it. even if it's his name that's said, and you almost even believe it, the evidence is stacked up against him. and to think he was so anxious just an hour ago; the very notion is ridiculous now.

sampo's eyes fall to the guard behind him. yes.

"it was the guy behind gepard." yesss.

"HUH?!"

"oh, i believe that," he hears you mutter, and that's enough for gepard. he spins around to face the guard, but the man has already taken off running. coward. thankfully, there's two witnesses to the act, so when he drags the man's corpse back, bloody and bruised and broken, he can blame it on the monsters that surround everwinter city.

it's so perfect.

"i'll get him eventually," gepard says, evenly. he watches sampo experience a full-body shudder at the use of eventually, now well aware that the honest and righteous gepard is a mask when it comes to one person in particular, and then his gaze moves to you.

you smile warmly at him. "thank you, geppie."

"of course."

he'll confess to you.

eventually.

[tinybrie]

Her fear of betrayal makes her deny any advancement of his love

[tinybrie]

How to spot signs and symptoms of Breast Cancer 

[tinybrie]

call me a dirty communist radical but I think everyone should know if they live near toxic waste

[tinybrie]

Okay this might sound reallllly crazy but stay with me

So if you have been on TikTok (I mean who hasn’t) or ig reals you would get those long ai story ads on how the mc was perusing a love that was never hers in the first place for example the mc has a bf who is clearly in love with his childhood friend but he doesn’t breakup with the mc he just has these ambiguous moments with his childhood friend while making excuses to the mc about how the childhood friend is just lonely and the bf still loves the mc even though that’s a fat lie. And one day the mc just snaps and starts pulling away entirely. The childhood friend is the type to act innocent but it actually a bitch to the mc knowing they can take the bf at any moment (they often say lines like “oh mc doesn’t like me..i should leave) and then the bf gets mad at mc…yeah what if it’s a Bruce x reader where Bruce keeps dragging the reader along saying they are going to get married and he loves them but he is literally out here cheating on her with Selena and Talia and one day when the Batman is too busy to notice the reader leaves gotham entirely and lives in Europe to avoid them???

Sorry if this sounds ass

The Wayne Manor was silent. Not the kind of silence that follows comfort or sleep — but the kind that echoes after a scream.

There was no note. No suitcase in the hallway. No teacup left half-finished on the counter like you always did. Just silence.

Bruce stood in your bedroom, the one he never called "yours" out loud but always considered it that in his head — when it was convenient. The one you filled with soft linens and folded sweaters and novels he never read but always pretended to be interested in when you talked about them. Now, the bed was stripped. The shelves were bare.

You were gone.

And he had no one to blame but himself.

You used to believe him when he said he loved you.

Even when his hand reached for Selina’s waist a little too tightly at charity galas. Even when he vanished for entire nights only to come back with bruises and the scent of unfamiliar perfume. Even when Talia showed up uninvited — her son in tow, her eyes scanning you like a predator — and Bruce insisted it was just a misunderstanding.

"They’re my past, you're my future," he said once.

You were stupid enough to believe that.

Until one day, you weren't.

The moment of clarity wasn’t loud. There was no dramatic betrayal. Just the steady ache of realization.

It was Selina’s voice — sweet and sickly — when she leaned in behind you at a Wayne Foundation gala and whispered, “He always finds his way back to me. You know that, don’t you?”

You didn’t cry. You didn’t scream.

You smiled, excused yourself, and never looked back.

Gotham was too loud for heartbreak. So you went where no one would know your name.

Europe welcomed you with open arms and silence. The kind of silence you could breathe in. You found a little apartment in Prague with peeling brick walls and sunlight that hit the windows at just the right angle. You taught yourself how to make coffee in a Moka pot. You bought yourself flowers every Sunday. You wrote again. You slept through the night.

You didn’t block Bruce. You didn’t need to.

You just stopped replying.

Back in Gotham, Bruce spiraled.

He searched the usual places. Asked Alfred if he’d seen you. Asked Oracle to check your last transactions. Tim said, “I thought she left months ago.” Damian scoffed. Jason looked at him like he was finally seeing the truth: You pushed her away.

He didn’t even notice your absence at first. Thought maybe you were on a break. A retreat. That you were still waiting for him like you always did.

Until Lucius handed him your resignation letter — dated weeks ago.

"It was a pleasure working under Wayne Enterprises. Please consider this my formal exit, effective immediately. I do not wish to be contacted."

No emotion. No blame.

Just a clean, professional goodbye.

Selina rolled her eyes when Bruce finally showed up at her penthouse, pacing like a man undone.

“You thought she’d stay forever?” she said, filing her nails. “That girl worshipped the ground you walked on. But even a saint gets tired of bleeding.”

Talia only laughed when she heard. “Let her go. You never deserved her anyway.”

But Bruce couldn’t let go. Not now. Not when it was too late. He stared at the ghost of you in every shadow. In every untouched teacup. In every unopened book by your side of the bed.

He finally realized something.

You never screamed. Never fought. Never begged him to choose you.

You just… left.

And somehow, that hurt more than any goodbye ever could.

Meanwhile, in Prague…

You sip your espresso. A breeze flutters the curtain. Somewhere in the background, a record plays something old and romantic. You close your eyes and let the sunlight hit your skin.

No chaos. No lies. No “I love you” with a knife behind the back.

Just peace.

And for the first time in a long time, you feel free.

[tinybrie]

I've got a new friend. He's a kiwi. A bird or a fruit, you may ask? Well, both

[tinybrie]

got me good with this whole email address thing. you make email account as child for one purpose neopets.com and now all this. bait and switch. not nice.

[tinybrie]

☀️

[tinybrie]

Belted Kingfisher I know you don’t care but you mean everything to me girl

[tinybrie]

🌇

[tinybrie]

So I read a prompt about how Wonder Woman found Danny in a trash can (don’t remember which one) and I was bored.

So I took that lil info and made it into an AU.

So basically, Danny get yeeted into this unknown universe and has no where to live. And no where to live means no money. No money means no food. No food means Danny can’t keep his human half sustained.

So what does he do?

Decides to not change into a human and live in a trash can.

Yes you heard that right, live in a trash can.

Because he’s a ghost, he doesn’t have to worry about the germs and stuff. But that doesn’t mean he lives in just any trash can! He lives in a clean one ☝️

AND he also decorated it with his name so other people know it’s his!

And so Danny has been here for a while now and realizes

Holy shit there’s hero’s here- you know what, why doesn’t he have hero’s back home?!

And being minorly annoyed jealous (but he’s never admitting that)he thought:

Well since there’s hero’s here already, guess I’m not needed.

.

.

.

Good. I’m tired af

And so Danny caries on his life, being content with his trash can and scaring whoever comes into his alley. It’s fun. Sure he sometimes needs to ugh overshadow people to feed his human side, but other than that.

It’s going great.

But Danny doesn’t realize that with Amity gone (or smth, you choose) which was his haunt, he slowly makes the trash can into his new haunt.

And slowly but surely, Danny’s beloved haunt trash can starts to become other worldly kinda.

Yk because of the ectoplasm.

So now Danny’s lovely trash can haunt has more space inside and- Hey Danny can actually sleep in it better!! And he got some company too!

In the form of blob ghosts.

Two actually.

They keep his trash can clean and help purifying some corrupted ectoplasm that he finds. Because for some reason this universe’s ectoplasm seems half way artificial and tastes a bit weird. Which is where the blob ghosts help out in.

Everything was great.

Danny was loving the trash can life style.

He has two blob ghosts friends. Which he named Sam and Tucker, and yea they couldn’t talk but that was fine.

He wasn’t lonely, he wasn’t. He had two very much talking friends like Sam and Tucker.

However one day two weirdly dressed people- oh they were hero’s.

Well anyway they found him, one woman stripper and one furry guy.

But it was on accident! He was just peaking out of his beloved haunt trash can, and they spotted him.

He stared, they stared back.

Then the woman stripper asked him questions, even when he said:

“Don’t mind me, have a nice day!”

But they just kept bother him and giving him weird looks and glances.

Which- rude.

Didn’t they see his mark on his haunt trash can? Obviously it means it’s his home, so they shouldn’t be bothering him still. He’s safe as can be.

Plus.

It’s not like he’s looking at them in suspicion and weirdness, I mean look at them! What kinda cheep knock off vampire fury mix and American stripper style clothing are those!

They should mind their own business!

———

Just a silly lil drawing of this lmao, don’t mind me.

[tinybrie]

just a heeeaaads up that some of these art commission scammers are upgrading their technique

they will now actually take notes of things that really happened in your fic, they make it sound personalised and genuine, but there's a way they talk that feels weirdly artificial, there's always a vague mention of some 'ideas' they have, if it raises your hackles trust those instincts and tread carefully, because ultimately-

they will ALWAYS LEAD YOU TO A SECONDARY LOCATION

suddenly changing up their writing style is a big red flag, wanting to take you off platform to some other site showcasing their 'art' is an even bigger red flag, REAL ARTISTS DO NOT DO THIS

no matter how genuine they sound, trust NOBODY advertising their art in your comment section, trust NOBODY who wants to take you off platform, NEVER go to that secondary location

STREET SMARTS!