#[Tim at least talking to her sister first of his plan wanting to run by of 'to cheesy or?']

[dragontamer05]

@seaglassmarigold

[2 thoughts either Song played at their wedding or the Sappy Romantic Goober that he is Tim putting on this song/ playing along to it before proposing, like as it reaches the end to the line 'If you'll marry me' he just pulls out ring]

[ew-selfish-art]

My brain is unwilling to let go of Twin AU prompts. Sorry for the long post lmao.

Jazz and Jason are getting pretty serious in their relationship, and honestly, they’ve both been hesitant to introduce their family members to one another despite constantly talking about them. They’ve been dating since she started her doctoral studies at Gotham U and she’s about to defend her dissertation, so it really is about time. He saved her in her first week as the Red Hood and he immediately felt at home with her (something, something liminal), she runs into him the next day at a coffee shop and thanks him for taking the time to help her. 

Identities are obviously blown. Jason knows that her brother works in ‘politics’ and her younger sister is a travel blogger, and that the three of them don’t talk to her mad scientist parents anymore. Jazz knows that he came back from the dead, his adoptive family had a slew of issues in addition to their hero-complexes and that he would be prepared to kill for any one of his siblings. Their communication skills are top notch. 

But then came the issue of actually meeting the family. Like Jazz knows all of the drama between the siblings but could not pick them out of a line up, or more importantly, know who to talk to if an emergency situation came up. Jason agrees, that yeah, it would probably be for the best if he could at least identify her little brother and sister if they had to like, meet at hospital or something. 

So that was the plan. Invite just siblings over to their shared apartment, no parents and no fuss. (She even called Danny ahead of time to tell him not to portal straight into the apartment, he needed to walk in the door like a normal person. They could share Ghost King secrets later.) 

Tim arrives first, he’d been working a case nearby and Jazz & Jason live pretty close to a nice coffeeshop, so he stopped along the way. He’d done some creeping to figure out that she drinks Chai so he brought one for her. Creepy and yet, endearing. 

Ellie comes in second from the window, launching into a story about how annoying it was to find the place with all the gloom, didn’t this city have any respect for the dead? Tim doesn’t get it but Jason is laughing along so Tim files it away for later. 

Dick comes in with a shit ton of Pizza he panic ordered, a fruit bouquet and two bottles of wine from Bruce’s cellar. Duke came along with him, a large tupperware of Alfred’s cookies. 

Then Steph, Babs and Cass show up, immediately treating Jazz like family while also being hella suspicious about the whole thing. She notices them looking at her hands and Jazz explains that no, they weren’t doing this because Jason proposed. Steph and Cass are annoyed at Jason but tell Jazz she could do better if she wanted. Babs is happy they aren’t rushing into anything (she’s the only one besides Tim that knows how long they’ve been dating- this is just to throw out a red herring for the others)

Everyone is getting along and having a great time, Ellie being a natural entertainer along side Dick, everyone trying to tell embarrassing stories about Jason. Loud noises are coming from the hallway when they realize that neither Damian nor Danny had arrived. 

Rushing out the door, the boys are alternating putting each other into choke holds and arguing about not being clones. Danny keeps phasing out of Damian’s grip and Damian keeps pulling out more knives. The hallway looks like it had been blown up and the two are continuing to yell at one another about going to a family dinner. Jason and Jazz just stare at them from the doorway, and wouldn’t you know it, they look like fucking twins. 

Jazz grabs Danny, Jason grabs Damian, and everyone is fucking confused. Both sides of the family can confirm growing up with the twins, that neither are a clone. Ellie helpfully supplies that she’s the clone and that opens a whole other bag of chaos. 

Eventually they get everyone to sit down for dinner and the night gets weirder from there. 

[starflirts]

NO GRAVE CAN HOLD MY BODY DOWN (I'LL CRAWL HOME TO HER)

in which luke is determined to keep you close to him forever. luke castellan x fem! reader, wc: 1.36k, warning: swearing, note: first post dedicated to my favorite villain... enjoy !

"Wha-... what the fuck are you talking about Luke ?" From the edge of his bunk bed, your boyfriend avoids your stare, looking anywhere but at your face. "Look at me ! You can't just drop this upon me and act like nothing is happening !" He can hear the hurt and the confusion in your voice and decides to get closer to you. He wants to hold you tight and never let you go but settles for holding your hand.

"Babe, listen to me. please." He’s the one to look at you with pleading eyes this time, one hand circling yours and the other resting on the nape of your neck. "You know how much I hate Olympus and how they toy with us just for their own benefit. I know you feel the same way, watching kids barely getting here safely only to never be claimed or only when their parent deems it convenient ! Do you think it's fair ? To be used as a puppet so you can finally be worthy in the eyes of mom or dad ? Risking your life to fix their shortcomings ?"

His emphasis on dad doesn't intrigue you, you already know. Everyone knows. His eyes are full of resentment and his scar seems so red, a stark contrast with the unmarred skin. Luke goes on and on about his supposedly great plan and you can only watch in horror as the boy in front of you looks nothing like the one you fell in love summers ago.

Hand reaching for the one still laid on your nape, you look up, brows furrowed. "Does Annabeth know ?"

These three words are enough to make him flinch. He opens and closes his mouth and that tells you everything you need to know. Your face twists with disgust and anger as you shove his shoulder enough for him to stumble back, away from you.

"Fuck off Luke !" you spit, tears cornering at your lash line. "How dare you turn your back on your little sister, on me ?" Your voice cracks but you try to put up a brave front, wiping the corner of your eyes. You can only stare at him in disbelief, even though your hands itch to bring him closer to you, to hold him and to at least try to understand his sudden change of heart.

Luke attempts to step forward but you pull back and he can hear his own heart breaking. He runs a hand over his face before answering you with a shaky sigh: "Look, I’m doing this for everyone at camp, for us ! I want us to live free of that burden. We deserve so much more than what the gods have to give !" His voice falters and he clears his throat. "I don't want to wake up one morning and find out you're gone because of them, because you went on a stupid quest for the sake of your parent who can't even bother to acknowledge you !" He looks at you fondly and sighs. "Do you remember the time I came back from the quest Hermes sent me on ? You were so scared something had happened to me. I can't let that happen again. I can't let that happen to you. I want to protect you, to protect us ! You- you're all I have."

Tears fall freely as you shake your head, hugging yourself in an attempt to calm down. "There’s got to be another way, you can’t… You can’t do this Luke ! I-" you sob.

And you feel so afraid yet you don’t know whether you’re more scared of Luke himself or of the thought of losing him to something this insane. The cogs in your brain turn and turn but you can't bring yourself to drive him out of your life, not when you've seen him at his best and at his worst, when you've been by his side for so long you can't even remember.

In a few steps, Luke is engulfing you in a hug and all resolve you had to push him away crumbles within seconds. He rests his chin on the crown of your head while you cling to his shirt. He holds you tight, as if the mere thought of you walking out of his cabin would become true and you might vanish with the wind.

"Hey hey, it’s okay, we’ll… we’ll figure it out, we still have time." he whispers in your ear and you want to believe him, you really do.

Slightly pulling back, he rests his forehead against yours, hands coming up to cup your face. With a sad smile, Luke's thumbs wipe your tearstained cheeks.

"There, don't cry," he tells you softly, "my pretty, pretty girl. You know I'll never let you go right ? I love you too much to be able to live without you."

His smile is genuine as his hand cautiously takes your own to place it on his chest, right where you can feel his heartbeat. "You’re here, always and forever, no matter what."

Luke's world had crumbled a long time ago, ever since he realized the gods were monsters in disguise. But now that he has you in his life, whatever's left of that sparkle of hope he had when he was fourteen (and when the world seemed so big yet so full of chances) shines brighter. You were the one who rebuilt everything from scratch, who fixed the gaping hole in his heart.

Your free hand comes up to brush his cheek, thumb trailing his scar. You wish you could close your eyes and pretend that the world isn't on the brink of disaster, that your Luke isn't about to change its course.

The love of your life starts again: "I'll be with you at any cost, believe me. And if anyone, so much as the gods or that new forbidden kid attempt to separate us, I'll walk- heck I'll drag myself back to you !"

His promise is sealed with a kiss and you're certain you'd follow him in a heartbeat: "for better or worse ?" you ask in a small voice, lips hovering over his.

He answers you with a smile and shiny eyes: "for better or worse."

[infinit-world]

Don't worry darling

Pairing: Jenna Ortega X Fem!Reader

Word count: 2.41k

Summary: You have a surprise for Jenna's birthday, but soon your plan falls apart.

I've written this while being sick so I'm sorry if it doesn't make a lot of sense. Like always, if you see a mistake, please let me know.

You walk to the entrance of Wednesday’s set with a huge smile, going through your plan in your head. Today is Jenna’s birthday and you’re so excited about it. You greet your teammates while you go to the dressing room, where you spot Jenna’s bag on the corner. Making sure the room is empty, you walk to it and stick a little note inside, before leaving your own bag and walking out.

You see Jenna and the rest of the cast chatting in one of the lounge areas. You’re walking to them with the idea of saying happy birthday to your girlfriend but Tim stops you midway. “I need to go through one of the scenes with you, we’ve made some changes.” You slump a little, bummed that you won’t be able to talk with Jenna before starting to work, but you nod and follow him nevertheless.

You spend the next few hours running around the set, shooting your scenes and changing outfits when it’s necessary. By the time you finally have a reprieve, it’s almost lunchtime. You’re a little disappointed. You knew today was going to be a very busy day and you wouldn’t have any scenes with Jenna, so you wouldn’t be able to talk with her until work was finished. But, you thought at least you could be with her a little before starting.

You look around, trying to find Jenna, knowing that she should have finished shooting her scenes by now too. You don’t see her, but you do see her parents and her sister Mia waiting at the entrance. A smile forms on your lips. Jenna told you how much she’s been missing her family and how she wished she could spend her birthday with them. You wait in your spot, wanting to see Jenna’s reaction when she sees them. As you expected, Jenna immediately runs to them with a happy expression. They exchange hugs and a few words before you hear her dad saying they had a reservation in her favourite restaurant for lunch.

Your face falls a little after hearing that, your plan falling apart.

You and Jenna started dating a couple of months ago but no one knew about your relationship yet. You’re Jenna’s first girlfriend, so when you started dating she asked you for a little time for her to come out. You obviously agreed, knowing how hard it can be, especially being actresses. 

So, for her birthday, you decided to have a picnic where you asked her to be your girlfriend. It was a clearing in a forest near the city. Not a lot of people knew about it, so you knew it would aloud you to have a little alone time without having to worry about someone recognising you. It’s ok, we can still have the picnic in the evening. She deserves time with her family.

You talk with some people for a while before deciding to call it a day and go back to your apartment, knowing Jenna would meet you there after reading the note you left in her bag. You just got your things when you hear Percy and Georgie talking. “Everything is ready. Her parents will drive her to the party after they finish lunch.”  You approach them with a confused face. “You’re throwing a birthday party for Jenna?” Percy looks at you surprised. “Yeah” “Oh, no one told me. Where it is?” Georgie looks confused while Percy has a smug look. “Yeah well, that’s because you aren’t invited.” “Percy!” Georgie looks at him with anger. You have a dumbfounded expression. You don’t know how to feel about it. You’re angry at his words, you know Percy feels something for Jenna, he couldn’t be more obvious about it, and he’s jealous of you so you think it’s his doing. But then sadness and hurt washes over you. The whole cast knew about the party, and they haven’t told you anything. You started working on Wednesday just three months ago so you’re not really close with them yet, but you thought they were your friends.

You start walking fast to the exit with your head low, trying to stop your tears. You’re almost outside when Joy stops you with her hand on your arm. “Hey, where you’re going? I tho-” She stops herself when she sees your state. “Y/N, what happened?” You yank your arm from her before storming out, leaving Joy very confused and worried.

She looks where you came from, seeing an angry Georgie talking with Percy. She gets closer to them, knowing they’re the reason why you left like that. “What the hell happened?” ��Nothing, she’s just too emotional!” Georgie is fuming after hearing Percy’s words. “This idiot here didn't tell Y/N about the party. She heard us talk about it and when she asked Percy told her she wasn't invited.” 

“You did what?” The three of them jump when they hear Jenna. Percy starts sputtering nonsense, trying to justify himself before Joy interrupts him. After telling her everything Jenna takes her phone from her bag with the intention of calling you but sees a note falling to the ground. Curious, she grabs it, seeing your handwriting on it. She had planned a surprise for me. How I didn’t think about it?

She turns around and starts walking to the exit without saying anything. She wants to get to you as fast as possible, knowing how hurt and disappointed you have to feel right now. She fetches her car’s key from her bag with the idea of driving to your house but her parents stop her. “Jenna, what’s going on? Where are you going?” “Later.” Before she can continue, her dad takes the keys from her hand. “You’re too shaken up to drive safely right now. Tell me where you need to go and we will drive you.” She wants to protest but she knows she won’t win, not with this, so with a sigh, she gives him your direction.

When they arrive, Jenna opens the door with her spare keys. She calls your name without a response. When she enters the living room she finds another note on the table. Jenna loves mysteries, so your idea was to leave notes with clues in them around the house. She chuckles when she reads the note.

Look where we failed the first time.

FLASHBACK

You and Jenna arrived from work an hour ago. You just got out of the shower and see Jenna lying on the sofa scrolling through Netflix. “Hey there.” She greets you with a pout. “What happened?” “I ordered pizza but I forgot I wanted cookies.” You laugh at that. When Jenna was tired, she acted adorable. “It’s ok baby, we can place another order for them.” “But we can’t! It’s too late.” You look at the clock to see that she’s right. It’s 11:13 pm and the max time to place orders it’s at 11. She’s still pouting and your heart melts at it. “Aww. I’m sorry darling.” You kiss her temple after that, taking a seat on the sofa and putting her legs on your lap. 

You stay in silence for a couple of seconds before she talks again. “Can we bake some?” You’re going to say no when you see her looking at you with a hopeful expression. “Love, we don’t know how to bake. I can’t even cook pasta without fucking it up and you expect us to make cookies?” “Please?” When she gives you puppy eyes, you sight in defeat. You can’t say no to her when she does that. “Fine, but you’re cleaning tomorrow.” Jenna squeals in excitement before getting up and going to the kitchen.

You search a recipe and take out all the ingredients while Jenna preps the oven. Everything went fine until you put the cookies in the oven. The pizza arrived at that moment and you two completely forgot about them until a burned smell spread through your apartment. “Shit! The cookies!” You go running to the kitchen, turning off the oven and getting the cookies out. They were completely burned. Jenna laughs when she sees your face. “I think we both failed at baking love.” She kisses your cheek before helping you clean the kitchen.

END FLASHBACK

Jenna starts searching the notes. Inside the oven, under the coffee table, inside the bathroom cabinet, behind a painting in the hall… Finally, the last clue brings her to your room. On top of the bed, there’s a box. She gasps when she opens it. Inside there’s a beautiful summer dress that she’s been wanting for a long time. She takes it out of the box, admiring it with a soft smile. Suddenly she hears a whistle. She looks at the door to find Mia and her parents looking at her with smiles on their faces. She was so wrapped up in your surprise she forgot her family was with her. “I suppose you and Y/N are more than friends?” She looks at her mom with wide eyes before gulping down. “We’ve been together for two months now.” She’s nervous about their reaction, but she’s relieved they finally know. She loves you too much and she’s tired of hiding. “She looks like a keeper, you better treat her right.” She smiles after that, knowing that her family fully supports her.

She looks back to the dress, wondering where you at, when she notices another note in the box. “I know where is she. Can you let me change before driving me there?” Her family nod before closing the door.

Thirty minutes later, they arrive at the spot. Jenna hops down before the car fully stops, ignoring her parents’ protests, and starts running with her heels in her hands. You’re seated on the ground, face full of dried tears, while you look intently at the small stream in front. You whip your head to the side when you hear her yelling your name. Her body collides with yours and you feel her lips.

The kiss is fast and a little desperate with all your hurt and her worry rolling off in waves. After a few seconds (or minutes, you don’t really know), you start to slow the kiss, enjoying her warmth. You give her a few short pecs before looking at her with a lovestruck expression. “Hi” She giggles before greeting you. “What are you doing here? I thought you would be at your party?” Her hands are on your cheeks caressing them and you lean into her touch, wanting to feel her as close as possible. She sighs before looking at you with soft eyes. “After we finished lunch I realised I left something in the set. When I got back, I saw Georgie and Joy arguing with Percy. They told me everything. I’m so sorry darling.” 

You flinch a little after hearing his name, still angry and hurt. She kisses your temple, before resting her forehead on yours. When you talk, your voice is weak. “You shouldn’t have come here. You should be having fun with your friends at your birthday party.” “Hey no, look at me please.” You do what she asks. “I prefer spending my birthday with my amazing girlfriend in this beautiful place than at a party. I should have known that you had prepared something. Sorry for not thinking about it.” “Stop apologising, it’s not your fault. But, you should go to the party, they worked hard for it.” You give her a smile, feeling better after hearing her. “Come with me.” You stammer a little after that. “I don’t think they want me there Jen.” “I’m sure that’s not true. But, even if it was, it’s my birthday and I want you to be there with me. I have an incredible girlfriend to show.” You look at her with wide eyes after that, afraid that you misunderstood her. “What? You’re sure? I don’t want you to feel press-” She kisses you before you can finish. 

“Jenna, we are running late!” She turns her head to throw daggers at her sister. You giggle, before getting up, offering your arm to her. “Well, we can’t have that can we?” She smiles, seeing how your mood has improved, before wrapping her arm in yours and start walking to the car. “I’m sorry it took me two months to tell someone about us.” “Don’t worry darling, I would wait forever for you to be ready.” You kiss her cheek before entering the car.

When you arrive at the place the party was held, you get a little bit nervous, but you calm a little when you feel Jenna’s hand intertwine with yours. Emma and Naomi come to greet you both. “There you are! We thought you got lost.” Emma has a playful grin and you bark a laugh at her words. “And miss the party? Never pup.” 

You enter the local, your mouth hanging open looking at the decorations. The party is held on the roof, the breathtaking view of the city getting your attention for a minute. Everything is decorated in blue, white and gold, giving it a sophisticated look. “This is amazing girls.” You nod at Jenna’s words, still taking everything in. When everyone comes to you so they can congratulate her, you take a step back, giving them space.

You walk to the end of the roof, resting your hands on the glass fence, and look at the city. You feel a presence on your right and when you look, you see Georgie with a remorseful look. “I’m sorry about earlier, Percy was in charge of the guest. We all thought you already knew about it.” You give him a small smile. “It’s ok.” You talk for a little bit before Jenna comes you your side. She grabs your hand before talking. “Want to dance with me?” You pay attention to the music and realised a slow song is playing. Your smile widens and you nod, letting her drag you to the dance floor in the middle.

You look at each other through the whole song, and when it finishes, Jenna gets close to you, kissing you soft and slow. You can feel your cheeks grow warmer when you hear some cheers from the cast, but you don’t pay them any attention, deciding instead to deepen the kiss. In the end, a little embarrassment it’s worth it if you can continue to kiss Jenna.

[sickofthistoxicshit]

Here's the thing, I have nothing against Lou/Tommy, but the accessive enthusiasm of him returning and everyone already talking about him showing up for next season,

Which if any of you watched for the last 7 seasons, it is very possible because writers love to drag temps over to the next seasons because apparently breakups are for season beginners, mostly (except for taylor),

is very off-putting.

1. Because the dude literally just showed up and they haven't even had one worthy make out session to even call it a situationship.

2. Buck hurt Eddie physically to get into Tommy's mouth and pants, which ruined it for me from the start tbh and Tommy had nothing to do with it, he was just there.

3. Buck has made Maddie's day, his coming out party - that is a big NO in my book. Because one, dude you literally came out, what if you decide eventually that you don't want this or don't want this with this specific first-guy-ever anymore? And two SHE IS YOUR SISTER THE LEAST YOU CAN DO IS HAVE HER LEAVE ON HER HONEYMOON BEFORE YOU KILL YOUR PARENTS OF A HEART- ATTACK.

Even if they "seem accepting" to Buck’s face, this takes time to process, something better revealed in time and in private, once one is sure. Not thinking and talking about this the whole wedding!

And yes, I know, Buck is impulsive, but think for a second, would you want your baby brother to hijacke your wedding after so long of planning it? I know I would have killed him.

Would have told him in advance that if he's bringing his new boyfriend to my wedding, he better tell our parents first. Because this is my fucking day!

I love Buck, but his self-centered personality rubs me the wrong way this season.

Maybe because I wanted to see him growing the fuck up after 7 years and so many traumas and experiences and therapy that he went through, but nope, same old Buck, only instead of the dating the girl who gave him attention, he's seeing the guy who gave him attention.

It's annoying, it's off putting and frankly I am so mad at the writers and Tim for this because these characters deserved better.

And don't talk to me about representation because Shonda did the bi representation in Station 19 perfectly to the point that I was bummed that Travis and Eli didn't end up as endgame even though I loved Emmett with Travis.

Again somehow the 911 writers managed to taint for me what should have been and amazing experience, independent completely of buddie, but no they managed to not only mix Eddie and Buck with Tommy, the whole thing came at the expense of Eddie, physically and mentally, because not only did Buck not apologized to Eddie, Eddie also lost his new friend who now fawns over Buck.

So screw this storyline, I hate it and I hate how everyone is OK with everything that happened in the story, just because Buck is doing a dude(kissing really, there was no doing yet).

There's a lot of blocking in my future, most are just ppl who either came in now because of bi Buck or those who came from other disappointing fandoms and are just here for the rep not the actual story.

But some of us have been here since S1, we want the rep, but we want it to be complimenting, we want to fall in love with the character before it turns into a LI, we want the emotion, the connection, the obvious love building over several years.

Like Casey and Gabby and Severide and Stella, like Maya and Carina, like Travis and Emmett (even though I liked Eli better for him) like Sullivan and Natasha.

I want an emotional payout, give up the surprises, and the wrecked trucks and ships, just tell a good story!

And for the love of all that's holy, enough with the last-minute changes, those never turn out well in the long run. They literally started from scratch when they made the switch between Eddie and Buck.

Also in my opinion, Eddie had a LOT more chemistry with Lou/Tommy than Buck. It would have made so much more sense, in the catholic guilt and internal homophobia department, the nun and supposedly commitment issues was weak at best.

It could have been epic. 😩

And yes, Buck could have started the season single, no harm in that, maybe make him, I don't know, actually growing into something that he would like without someone else to pet his ego? Go back to therapy, work for the LT. exams, be interim captain, realize his worth and learn to love himself for him, not because someone else gave him attention and that made him preen, get him somewhere worthy. Even lessons with Tommy without involving Eddie in this would have been great.

Just something that shows character development, because up until now all I get is S2/S3 Buck and I've seen that movie before, I want my money back.

I realize this is harsh, and normally, I would stick to the light and fun and ignore the rest, but this had to be said out loud so I can go back to that.

That being said, as I said, I will watch Madney wedding purely for Madney. Anything else is just a bonus. I can't wait for that bachelor party and see wth happens to Chimney.

Happy Monday, my loves. ❤️

[hereghostslive]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

thanks for the tag @lemonlyman-dotcom !!

1. How many works do you have an AO3? 19

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 29,507

3. What fandoms do you write for? 911 Lone Star, 911, The Old Guard, Shadowhunters, RWRB

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

victories, defined | a 911 Season 7 coda to the medal ceremony. Tommy confronts Gerrard (i dont really like this one tbh)

hitchcokian | a 911 season 7 coda. buck calls Tommy right after he runs into Kim. (this one is okay, but i fear i wasted the title "hitchcockian" on this when it would be cool do a genre-bending thing. idk)

echoes | 911 Lone Star Season 1. Carlos waits in the hospital after TK is shot and really talks to the 126 for the first time.

why | 911 Lone Star. the silliest thing i've ever written, and it's all @lemonlyman-dotcom's fault. Carlos buys Lou II pajamas and then realizes he has to put the pajamas ... on Lou II and regrets every decision that led him there.

halted beginnings | 911 Lone Star. post-engagement. Carlos is in love. But he's forgotten about something.

5. Do you respond to comments? I do, although I think im kinda behind on doing so? I do forget to sometimes.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? i think it's a tie between halted beginnings (linked above) and fundamental. they are essentially sister stories, with fundamental being the meta-verison of halted beginnings. they both tackle Carlos forgetting about Iris when he says yes to TK's proposal. halted beginnings is more of a character introspection into how, in the moment, Carlos might have forgotten about Iris. fundamental takes the meta-approach that Carlos/Iris were never planned from the beginning and is written as if Carlos, the character from season 1-3, knows someone else is rewriting his history (the writer, or "Tim," as I called him in the annotations lol). Both fics end on a heavy note, with Carlos either putting off telling TK (halted beginnings) or a rewritten version of Carlos taking over Seasons 1-3 Carlos (fundamental).

7. What is the fic your wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably "why" (linked above). TK and Lou II in matching pajamas ... couldn't be better!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I haven't, and I hope it stays that way.

9. Do you write smut? not really

10. Do you write crossovers? No, but I would like to

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? no. but open to that if anyone wanted to translate

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nooooooo, but I would love to collaborate on something!!!! Idk how to find a person to collaborate with though lol

16. What are your writing strengths? i really don't know ... someone else tell me. i feel like i always want to make people feel like they are in the room with the character, and i thiiiiiink i do that. or at least im getting better at it.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? plotting, finishing wips lol

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I don't do it, but I definitely could be better at adding in there.

19. First fandom you wrote for? for this question I'll take into account my past fan fic writing life, which was a long time ago. Angel

20. Favorite fics you've written?

In no particular order:

large popcorn with a bag of m&ms | an Old Guard fic I wrote in 2021 that I really want to turn into a longer series. It's Nile-centric and about how she misses her real family while adjusting to her new immortal life.

peace | a 911 Lone Star fic that is actually pretty angsty too, haha. it's very short, but I was stretching some more poetic writing muscles I hadnt used in a long time. This is Carlos, after the breakup

Staring at ghosts | my newest one, 911, bucktommy. It's a wip, but I really love the first chapter, and I'm really excited about the rest of it I have outlined and partly written. Buck and Tommy are still in the fairly early stages of their relationship, and Buck doesn't really know how to open up when he starts having dreams about the lightning strike.

--

no pressure tagging: @rmd-writes @welcometololaland @reyesstrand @bonheur-cafe @paperstorm

@alrightbuckaroo @carlos-tk @carlos-in-glasses

[ragingbookdragon]

I'm Only A Crack In This Castle Of Glass (Hardly Anything Else I Need To Be) PT. 5

Batfamily x Batsis Story!

Word Count: 2.5K Warnings: Explicit Language, ALL THE ANGST. AND MORE TO COME! Tags!: @itsnottilly @cloudyskylines @starflyer-104 @iwillstaywiththemforever @justine-en @weirdgirlfromtx @notsostraightweeb @candlestudy @edlothia-baby @soul-end @willieoo @willowoo @peterxwade24 @the-atlantic-french-fry @bad-bouquet-of-emotions @vvipgot7be @pure-princess-97 @atomicsoulhumanspy

Author's Note: I have nothing to say for any of the emotions y'all are about to get from this. Enjoy!-Thorne

She wasn’t sure what she expected when she sat down, but the stretching silence growing between her and her estranged family wasn’t it. She tried to look anywhere but them, not because she was ashamed—far from it. But it was more than awkward sitting across from three brothers and a father she’d not spoken to in three years, let alone tell them she was even alive.

Her eyes found Wally’s as he sat down beside her eldest brother and if looks could’ve killed, he’d been dead and buried.

“Glare at me all you want, but I’m not going to apologize,” he shrugged.

Scowling, she turned her attention to the skyline. “Fuck you,” she spat, crossing her arms.

“At least talk to them, (Y/N).”

“And why should I, Wally?” she questioned, glaring at him. “I don’t have anything to say. If I did, I wouldn’t be here in Central.”

“You’re not leaving until you talk to them,” he finalized with a firm look and she growled low in her throat and resigned herself to her fate.

Her eyes darted to her father’s and she couldn’t for the life of her decipher what was in them. “I’ll talk for an hour,” she told him. “I’m not talking about what I’ve been doing in Central City, so don’t ask. I’m not talking about the life I’ve been living, so don’t ask. You’re only allowed to ask me about my departure and that’s it. But after one hour is up, I’m leaving.”

“Who said you get to leave,” Wally questioned, and she shot him the darkest glower she could muster.

“So help me God, Wally West you’ll either take me home or you’ll fix that fucking elevator and I’ll walk myself home. Because if you don’t, I’ll tell the world who every vigilante is at this table.”

For once she managed to stump him because his eyes went wide—so did her family’s but she didn’t care—and he finally nodded.

“Alright. One hour.”

Seemingly satisfied with his answer, she turned back to her family, more specifically her father. “Why are you here? What do you want from me?”

“Maybe for you to come home, (Y/N),” Jason answered, and she glanced to him.

“Not a chance. Next?”

“(Y/N), you don’t have to be hostile. We’re not going to force you here,” Dick said, and she looked at him now, eyes narrowing.

“The manipulation tactic isn’t going to work on me, Dick. I’m not here for to be tricked into coming back. I’m never coming back.” She cocked her leg over the side of the table and reclined, biting out, “Give me your anger. I’d prefer that instead of whatever this pitiful bullshit you’ve got going on.”

In the eighteen years they’d known their sister they’d never heard her say such a callous thing, but her words had practically slapped Dick across the face because hurt etched onto his expression, then immediately turned into anger.

“You want my anger? Fine.” He stood and pointed at her. “What the hell is wrong with you! Why would just up and disappear like you did! Do you have any idea how scared we were for you! How distraught!”

(Y/N) blinked at him. “Knowing how you like to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders because you can’t help but be a hero? Probably a lot.” She made a dramatic show of looking at her watch. “You’ve got forty minutes. Keep it up.”

Her eyes shifted to Bruce’s. “Did you let them read the letter? Or did you just throw it away after you read it?”

Dick, Jason, and Tim all turned to Bruce at that.

“Letter?” Tim repeated. “What letter?”

(Y/N)’s mouth made an ‘o’ shape and then she smiled knowingly. “Oh, you never showed them the letter, did you?” She looked to her brothers. “I wrote dad a letter the night I left to explain why I was leaving. It’s sugarcoated bullshit but it is the truth.”

Dick’s face contorted in anger. “(Y/N) left a reason behind and you didn’t tell us about it? Three years and not a single word?”

Bruce merely stared at her as he pulled the letter out of his coat pocket. “I was going to burn it when I found her again. Talk to her before anyone else could.”

Jason snatched the letter from his hands. It had faded a bit, softened around the hard edges, like someone had opened it and read it every day for three years.

His eyes scanned the paper, and he met her gaze, voice chock-full of hurt and she had to fight tooth and nail to keep herself from externally reacting. “You left because you thought we didn’t care about you?”

Dick reached over and took the letter. With furrowed brows and a frown, he started to read aloud, and Bruce gazed at (Y/N) as the memory came back to him.

***

Mornings at the manor were unusually quiet in comparison with the evenings. Everyone was typically too tired to argue so it accounted for a peaceful breakfast of soft words and chewing. Everyone had an assigned seat and every child had learned early on not to take the seat that belonged to another brother or their sister because there would be a fight about it.

Dick and Jason sat next to each other and (Y/N) took the seat at the end of that side; Tim and Damian took the other side—oldest to youngest, just the neat and even way Bruce liked it.

It was rare for any of the boys to be awake before him or Alfred and (Y/N) was usually the first kid to the table, the boys wandering in just minutes after her. Oddly enough, that morning she hadn’t come down for breakfast—which she always came to.

Bruce looked at Alfred. “Is (Y/N) coming down?”

Alfred hummed and gently maneuvered Tim’s arm to the side to he could set down the plate. “When I went to her door, it was locked, and I received no conversation from inside.”

Jason snorted and sipped his coffee. “Probably had a long night with her friends and is still out. I know I would be.”

“How would you know?” Tim interrupted. “You died before you got to the eleventh grade.”

“You’re one to talk, dropout,” Dick countered, and Damian sighed.

“Richard, you dropped out of college. The only son of Batman who has actually completed an entire bout of schooling is me.”

The three boys turned on him with scowls and retorted, “No one asked you, pipsqueak.” Damian glared back at them.

Bruce rolled his eyes, using the side of his fork to cut into his omelet. “Let’s try not to start a free-for-all here in the breakfast room, please.” He glanced at Alfred. “She’s probably tired from all the ceremonies. Let her sleep.”

Alfred nodded. “Of course, Master Bruce. She should be well rested this evening.”

But when the evening came, Alfred still hadn’t been able to get (Y/N) to unlock her bedroom nor speak to him. He certainly wasn’t worried, but it was off for her to be so reclusive. When Bruce and the boys came back from patrol, he mentioned it to him.

“Miss (Y/N) hasn’t come out from her bedroom, Master Bruce. Nor has she said a single word all day.”

Bruce’s brows furrowed and he tugged the cowl off, rising from the seat at the Batcomputer. “I’ll go check on her,” he replied. “You deal with…” his steel eyes drifted to Dick who had Tim in a headlock and Jason who was giving Damian a noogie. “Them,” he finalized, leaving the poor butler behind.

He knocked on the door to her room and pressed his ear to it. “(Y/N)? You haven’t come out all day. Is everything alright?”

Nothing. Not even a breath.

“(Y/N), are you in there?” he asked again and when he didn’t receive a confirmation, he raised his arm, running his fingers along the doorframe until he touched a small metal piece. He pulled it down and stuck it in the door, wiggling the knob for a second before it clicked, and he opened the door.

“Sweetheart, we’ve been trying to—” Bruce went silent when he saw the kempt room. Bed neatly made, everything organized and put away. Even her clothes hamper was empty.

He blinked and walked into the room, quickly heading to the bathroom to check for her there. It was empty as well, and just as clean, leaving him stunned as he exited the bath.

Wandering over to her desk, he saw an elegant envelope sitting on top of her laptop, his name written in beautiful penmanship. He picked it up and unfolded it, pulling out the multi-page letter. He drew his eyes along the golden lines, reading her words.

Dad,

I don’t really know how to start this letter. Truth be told I’ve written at least six before this one, and even then, I’m not entirely happy with it. But if you’re reading this, I’m not here anymore. I haven’t hurt myself in anyway, you don’t need to worry about Vicki Vale or Jack Ryder reporting the discovery of my body. I mean it in a literal sense—I’m not in Gotham anymore. Neither am I ever coming back.

Don’t think this is your fault. You’re a good father, the best I could’ve been given, and my brothers are good siblings. But the truth is that I’m not fit for this family of heroes. And I never have been. My best when trying to be what all of you are, was never good enough and I’ve spent eighteen years staring at your backs, waiting for you all to realize that I’m still here, that I still matter even if I’m not like you. And I don’t want to feel like a stranger in my own home any longer.

I don’t want you to look for me. I know you will, but I wish you wouldn’t. This isn’t some spur of the moment thing I decided to do the night after graduation. If you look at my bank records, I’ve been withdrawing cash from my savings since freshman year—this is four years of planning, so please understand that I’m doing this because I don’t want to be found—ever.

I’ll leave the story for the media up for you, though I doubt that they’ll care long enough to make a deal of it. It’ll pass like winter does spring and they’ll move on to the next bigger story.

Thank you for everything dad, and good luck with Gotham—keep it safe like you always have. And I hope that one day when you think of me, you won’t feel disappointment. I’ve only ever tried to be something that when you looked down on me, you’d only be proud, and I hope one day I’ll achieve what I always dreamed about. Eighteen is young to be on your own and I’m scared. But I’ll be okay—I always have been.

So do me a favor and don’t spend too much time over this. There are plenty more younger kids that need a parent’s hand on their backs to steady them like you once did for me. Find one and fill my spot. Let them shine brighter than I ever could. Let them be the one worthy to be a Wayne—I know I never was.

-(Y/N)

Bruce barely had time to grasp the back of her chair to keep himself from falling to his knees in shock. The letter was clenched in his hand and his lungs wouldn’t take in air like he wanted them to, his heart aching with each palpitation. He looked around the room to her dresser drawers, willing the strength into his legs to moved over to it. He opened every drawer and to his astonishment, they were empty. Hurrying to the bathroom, he noticed the drawers in there were empty as well. She was really gone. And he had no idea what to do.

***

Tears were in Dick’s eyes when he finished the letter and he looked up at her. “How could you ever think we didn’t care about you, (Y/N)?”

She didn’t want to have this conversation. She didn’t want to sit there and explain every time she asked her brothers if they wanted to do something with her and they conveniently had something else to do. Didn’t want to explain every school and extracurricular performance that went unattended and left a little girl standing in front of a crowd barely managing to stave off the tears as she bowed and thanked them for coming. She didn’t want to remember all the memories that chipped away at her heart with every disappointment that occurred. All she wanted to do was leave.

(Y/N) had earlier returned to her original position, hands in her lap and she clenched her fists until her nails bit into the skin of her palms, eyes directed anywhere but Dick’s.

“I think it’s time we call this little reunion done,” she said, standing to her feet. “We’re not going to get anywhere.”

“Not if you run again,” Jason muttered, unconsciously wiping a tear from his eye.

She pointed at him, hissing, “I didn’t run the first time, Jason. I left. On my own accord.”

“You ran instead of coming to us, (Y/N),” Tim said, and she threw her hands above her head in disbelief.

“What the fuck did you want me to do! Wander down into the cave and beg at your feet for someone to pay attention to me! To at least pretend like I was a sister! I did! Every day!”

(Y/N) picked up her purse and yanked it up her arm. “Cassandra seems to be fitting in better than I did. So go and dote on her as the younger sibling. I’m not interested in the position anymore.”

“It’s not a competition,” Dick explained. “We love you just as much as we love Cass.”

She paused and gazed at him, voice laced with disappointment as she disagreed, “Then you should make sure she’s content in the manor, because if you love her with any semblance of how you loved me? It’s not at all.”

Her eyes shifted to Wally’s. “Fix the elevator. Now.”

He stayed seated for a moment, the two of them staring each other down, then he nodded wordlessly and moved to the elevator, starting it again. Her family stayed seated, and she gave them one final look before she followed Wally, silently waiting for the doors to open.

When they did, she stepped inside and turned around, hitting the button. Just before the doors closed, Wally stopped them and murmured, “You’re making a mistake.”

“My worst mistake was becoming friends with you.” (Y/N) blinked at him, then reached up and shoved his hand away from the door and as it closed, she remarked coldly, “And you can go to hell for all I care.”

[dccomicsimagines]

Study Help - Tim Drake x Reader - Part Two

Warning - Adult Content Ahead -NSFW

Part One

Requested by @sannevd5​ - Can there be a Study Help Tim Drake x Reader part 2 where they get revenge on Damian

***

You glanced over at Tim who was fast asleep in the passenger seat. Your hands gripped the steering wheel and you focused on the road. You widened your eyes to keep them open. Exhaustion weighed on you. Finally, the manor came into view. “We’re here,” you whispered, nudging Tim with your elbow.

Tim jerked awake. “What? Is it the baby?” He glanced around in a panic, wiping the drool off his chin. You snorted and peeked back at the sleeping baby in the backseat. 

“He’s fine, Timmy. Sleeping like his daddy.” You laughed. Baby Jack was fast asleep, probably tired from crying the night away last night.

“Are you okay?” Tim said, touching your arm. He had that protective look on his face again. 

“I’m fine.” You smiled at him and opened your window to type in the code once you pulled up to the gate. “You were the one who was up with Jack all night.”

Tim rubbed his eyes. “I was up anyway though, and you didn’t actually sleep, you were with me the whole time.” 

You shrugged, pulling up the driveway once the gate opened. “Still, I’m fine, Tim.” Tim squeezed your hand tightly. You wondered if he would ever stop being overprotective of you. Apparently, being kidnapped by Ra’s al Ghul for two months during your pregnancy was enough to keep Tim on edge permanently. You parked the car. 

Tim rushed out of the car and ran to your side to open the door. You smiled, rolling your eyes. “What? It’s the least I could do since you drove,” Tim said. You opened the back door to gather up Jack while Tim grabbed the bags. 

“Master Tim, Miss (Y/N), welcome.” Alfred opened the front door.

“Hello, Alfred.” You hurried up the stairs and hugged him with one arm. Jack was smashed between you, but he didn’t even stir. 

Alfred laughed, hugging you back before pulling away to get a good look at Jack. “Well, look at Master Jack. He’s grown so much.” 

“Well, it’s been one month,” you said, handing Jack over to Alfred. “He was up all night like he is every night, so he’s sleeping like a log.” 

Tim struggled with the bags. You turned to help him. “Oh, so it looks like Master Jack is a night owl like the rest of the family.” Alfred beamed, looking very much like a proud grandfather. 

“Unfortunately, he got that from Tim.” You and Tim headed inside. 

“Har, har.” Tim kissed your cheek. “I’ll run our bags to our room.” You and Tim were staying for the weekend at Bruce’s insistence. 

“Where’s everyone?” You closed the door once Alfred was in. He rocked Jack, who was kicking one foot in his sleep. 

Alfred hummed. “Master Bruce is downstairs.” You smiled, knowing Alfred meant he was in the Batcave. “Master Damian and his friend are in his room.”

You froze. “His friend?” You smirked. “Is this the one who we think they are dating, but Damian keeps denying it?” 

“Yes.” Alfred shook his head. He wrinkled his nose and shifted Jack in his arms. “It feels like Master Jack needs a changing.” 

“Oh, I’ll do it.” You took Jack back, realizing Tim took the diaper bag upstairs with him. “I’ll be back, Alfred.” You headed up the stairs. Outside of Damian’s door, you paused. You swore you heard the moans inside. Glee filled you. Was this the time? Would you finally get your revenge?

You hurried to the bedroom. Tim looked up as you entered, confused by the grin on your face. “What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing’s wrong.” You handed Jack to Tim. “Change him for me and meet me in Damian’s room.” 

“Why?” Tim frowned. “(Y/N), are you planning something?”

“Timmy, there comes a time where opportunity rings and we have to answer.” You kissed his lips passionately before pulling away. 

“(Y/N).” Tim gasped, glancing down at Jack who woke up fussing. 

You grinned at him. “Just meet me there in a few minutes.” You left the room and hurried back down to Damian’s room. The moans were still there, louder and more intense than before. You smirked, knocking on the door. “Damian, I just wanted to say hi.” 

You opened the door without warning. A laugh threatened to escape you, but you swallowed it to play this straight. Damian and his friend flipped around under the covers in a similar way Tim always did when Damian interrupted you. The shoe really was on the other foot.

“Oh, you must be Damian’s friend. I heard so much about you.” You came over to stand next to the bed. The friend’s face was flushed and they hid their face under the covers. “A little shy? That’s okay. I’m Damian’s sister-in-law.” You grinned at Damian who was death glaring at you. “(Y/N) (Y/L/N) Drake.” 

“We were busy.” Damian snarled. 

“Were you?” You blinked innocently, but you could see Damian’s eyes flash. He didn’t buy it and knew exactly what you were doing. 

Tim wandered inside, eyes widening when he took in Damian and his friend in the bed with you standing beside him. Jack gurgled in his arms.  “(Y/N), did you just...” 

“Hi baby.” You took Jack from Tim, ignoring Tim’s protest. Kissing the top of Jack’s head, you glanced between Damian and his friend. “You two should be careful, having fun has consequences.” A dangerous smirk came to your lips. “You might get kidnapped by Ra’s or...” You glanced down at Jack. 

Damian lunged for you, but Tim stepped in front of you and quickly ushered you out of the room. “Okay, enough now. It was nice meeting you,” Tim said, blushing redder than his Red Robin suit. He pulled you back to his old bedroom. “What the hell was that about, (Y/N)?”

You laughed, sitting down on the bed with Jack nuzzling against your chest. “Revenge is sweet, Timmy. So sweet.” 

“Revenge? What kind of revenge involves walking in on Damian while he and his friend...” Tim choked, traumatized. 

“Oh stop it. You didn’t see anything.” You closed your eyes and rested your head against the headboard. “He interrupted us so many times. Using Bruce, Dick, Steph, even Jason to ruin our moments. It was only fair I would do it to him.” 

Tim took a breath. You opened your eyes to see him struggling not to laugh. “Still, now he’s probably going to stab you.” 

You smiled. “He wouldn’t dare with you around.” Tim’s shoulders straightened as you stoked his ego. He came around the bed and crawled in next to you. You leaned into him, ignoring Jack’s drool soaking into your shirt. 

Your eyes grew heavy. “Take a nap. You need your rest,” Tim whispered in your ear. His arm cradled yours to support Jack as you fell fast asleep.

***

“Look how much he’s grown,” Bruce said. You handed Jack off to him before taking a seat at the dining room table.

“I know. Sometimes it’s like he grows an inch every day.” You smiled when Tim came over to pour your drink. Alfred came out of the kitchen with dinner.

Bruce rocked Jack. Jack gurgled at him, waving his arm around wildly. Damian stalked into the room. His glare darker than death. You just smiled sweetly at him. 

“Master Damian, where is your friend? Are they not joining us?” Alfred asked.

“No, they went home. They couldn’t face this monstrosity again.” He pointed at you. 

Tim tensed, setting down the pitcher and leaning in front of you. You wanted to laugh, but you held it in. It would just set Damian off and Tim would have to defend you. 

“Damian,” Bruce snapped sharply, narrowing his eyes at his son. “That is uncalled for.”

“Uncalled for?!” Damian threw his arms up in the air. “That harlot ruined...” He stopped, blushing slightly when he realized what he was about to admit. A snicker escaped you. Damian’s eyes flashed and he lunged for you. Tim blocked him, pushing him back.

“Knock it off, Damian. It’s not like you haven’t done it to us.” Tim’s shoulders straightened into a defensive pose. “And that’s my wife you’re talking about. Don’t ever call her that again.” 

You got to your feet to take Jack back from Bruce when he started to fuss at the raised voices. “I think someone’s hungry. I’ll go feed him. You can start dinner without me,” you said calmly and quickly leaving the room. Tim was right behind you.

Entering the kitchen, you fed Jack, sitting at one of the stools by the counter. Tim hovered in full overprotective mode. “I told you he would explode like that.” 

“Of course, he doesn’t like it when others get revenge on him,” you said, smiling down at Jack as he ate. “He’s always been entitled.” 

Tim hummed in agreement. He sat on the stool next to you. A soft chuckle escaped his lips. “Can you believe he almost admitted to having sex in front of Bruce and Alfred?” 

“I know.” You laughed. “I almost lost it there, but I knew he would just go off the deep end.” 

Alfred came into the kitchen with two full plates. “I figured you two should eat while it’s hot. Besides, I think some distance would be good.” He set them on the counter. 

“I’m sorry for causing trouble, Alfred.” You looked at him with genuine apology.

“It is alright, Miss (Y/N). After all, he did ask for it.” Alfred smiled somewhat mischievously before leaving.  

“I think you are Alfred’s favorite.” Tim took a bite of his food first. He moaned before feeding you a bite. 

The food melted in your mouth. “Maybe or he’s just happy we stopped Damian from having unprotected sex.” 

Tim almost spit out his food. “How did you know that?”

“Please. There’s a reason they went really red when I mentioned consequences.” You ate with your free hand since Tim was still in a state of shock. “It’s not like anyone gave him the sex talk. I mean you knew nothing.” 

Tim blushed. “True.” He cleared his throat. “But you knew.”

“Also true, but that doesn’t mean that Damian’s friend knows.” You put Jack to your shoulder to burp him. He spit up a little. You wrinkled your nose when you felt it slide down your back. “Tim, if you could grab a napkin please.”

Tim blinked. “Oh.” He grabbed a napkin and stood to clean up your back as Jack started to fuss. You bounced him, calming him down. Tim sat back down and went back to eating.

“You know, there is another way we could add to our revenge.” You smirked and kissed Jack’s head. “Can we call Dick after dinner?”

Tim’s jaw dropped. “Now that’s too mean.” Tim shook his head. “We couldn’t. Damian would really stab you after that.” 

You shrugged. “He can try.” You got to your feet to walk Jack around the kitchen so he would fall back to sleep. “Besides, this is a good thing. We don’t need Damian to get into the kind of trouble we got into.”

“The trouble you’re currently holding?” Tim took the last bite of his food. He got up and offered to take Jack from you. “Go back to eating, sweetheart.”

You smiled, kissing Tim’s cheek. “I love you.” Jack went over to his father calmly and you sat down to eat your cool food. You watched Tim walk around with his son. Your heart melted into a pile of goo and you couldn’t imagine loving them both more.

***

“What are you doing up?” Bruce asked, poking his head into the den. You flinched in surprise, causing Jack to start screaming again. 

“Oh, my son’s colic triggered again.” You got up to walk him around the room with your eyes closed. Bruce’s presence stayed by the door as you walked the path you memorized hours before. 

“Tim should be up in a few minutes.” Bruce’s warm, strong hand rested on your shoulder, stopping you. “Go to bed, I’ll take care of Jack.” 

Your eyes snapped open and you spun to look at Bruce in compete shock. “What? You’ll take care of Jack?”

Bruce chuckled. “I do know how to take care of a baby. Besides, at this point, I wouldn’t be able to sleep worrying about you walking around with your eyes closed.”

“I guess I am pretty tired.” You handed Jack over, but you couldn’t leave the room. “Am I a bad parent? I can’t leave him.”

“No, you’re not, but it’s okay to accept help once and a while. He’ll be safe with me and I promise if I need anything, I’ll get Alfred.” Bruce pushed you toward the door where Tim stood watching the exchange with the same surprise you had moments before. “Tim, take her to bed before she falls down.” 

You stared back at Jack as Tim wrapped an arm around your waist to pull you out of the room. “He’ll be fine. Come on,” Tim whispered in your ear. 

“Okay, okay.” Tears filled your eyes. “I’m a bad parent, aren’t I?”

“No, you’re not.” Tim squeezed your hip. “But you need a break. We both need a break.” Tim kissed your cheek. You stumbled on the stairs, but Tim caught you and scooped you up into his arms. “Woah, there.” Your head fell limply on Tim’s shoulder.

“Sorry.” You mumbled, opening your eyes to see Damian watching you and Tim from the bottom of the stairs. His expression bewildered and confused. “Hi, Damian. How was patrol?” 

Tim tensed, turning around to face Damian himself. You had to roll your head to keep him in your eyesight. “TT.” He frowned at you and Tim.

“Sorry about embarrassing your friend, Damian, but it was nice for the shoe to be on the other foot for once,” you mumbled.

“Hush.” Tim bounced you slightly in his arms. “Don’t piss him off now.” 

“He won’t get mad. I apologized.” You waved at Damian, focusing on Tim. “Can we go back to Jack now? I’m a bad parent for leaving him.” 

Tim sighed. “No, we’re going to bed, sweetheart. You’re not thinking straight.” Tim turned to head up the stairs with you. Damian watched the two of you go with a blank expression. 

You let your head rest on Tim’s shoulder as he bumped the bedroom door open with his hip. He laid you down on the bed. You melted into it. “Tim, why can’t we have fun anymore?” 

“We have fun.” Tim kissed your forehead. You sighed, hearing him pull away to move around the room. 

“No, we don’t. We just sleep all the time and take care of Jack.” You kept your eyes closed. Your body limp as Tim crawled into bed next to you and pulled you into his arms.

Tim kissed the corner of your mouth. “We will someday. This is just one of the hard parts, but that’s why we came to the manor, so we can get some help.”

You opened your eyes to look at him. “Wait, I thought Bruce invited us over?”

“He did after I asked for help.” Tim tightened his arms around you. “I’m worried about you. You’re a great mother and you give it your all, but you’re so tired.” He kissed your nose. “We need some rest.”

“You always need rest,” you said, closing your eyes and sighing in relief. Tim was right, you weren’t a failure as a parent. You just needed help and a break.

Tim chuckled. “True. Good night, sweetheart.” 

You hummed, feeling yourself slipping into the nothingness of sleep. “Love you.”

“I love you too.” You almost didn’t hear him as you let yourself relax for the first time in a long time.

***

Sun blinded you, pulling you from the deep, dreamless sleep. You opened your eyes to find yourself still in Tim’s old bedroom at the manor. Tim was spooned into your back. You smiled when you felt a certain part of him poking you from behind. 

“Tim.” You turned in his arms to face him. He opened his eyes, yawning.

“Morning, beautiful.” He kissed your lips. You slid your hand down his chest and under the waistband of his boxers. Tim jumped, blushing. “What?” 

“You really can’t tell. You were poking me.” A smirk pulled at your lips when Tim moaned at your touch.

“Well, I was having a good dream.” Tim closed his eyes, shivering. “You and I were at that hotel in Vegas, and you were in that outfit with the littlest...”

Cutting him off with a kiss, your thumb circled his tip and made him tremble. “Let me take care of you,” you whispered softly. 

“I should be taking care of you.” Tim cleared his throat. “We haven’t since Jack was born.” Tim’s hand slipped under your shirt, but you grabbed his wrist with your free hand.

“I’m not ready for that.” You looked him in the eye. “Not all the way.” 

Tim leaned forward to kiss your lips, rubbing his foot against yours. “How about we just touch? Like you’re doing to me now.” You traced a vein on his cock. Tim shivered. His hand flexed against your bare stomach. Your face burned, thinking of the baby weight you still carried. 

“Fine. Only touch.” You leaned over to bury your face into his neck. Your hand let go of Tim’s wrist to allowed his hand to find his way up your chest. His other hand played with the waistband of your pajamas, tugging them down. 

His long, strong fingers found your clit. You hissed and tightened your hand around Tim. Tim choked. “Careful, sweetheart.”

“It’s okay. I won’t break your T-Rex.” You giggled breathlessly. Tim’s fingers were rough with calluses, the friction making your body tense, skin tingle. You stroked his cock with just your fingertips. 

Tim panted. You gripped him and slid your hand up and down the length of him. Tim’s fingers stopped playing with you. “You’re distracting me.” 

“Right.” You kissed his jawline, working him harder than before. Tim tensed. “Are you close, sweetheart?” 

“I am.” Tim choked, looking you in the eye. 

“Then let go.” You smiled at him sweetly and sealed a kiss to his lips. Tim shivered and spilled into your hand. Most of the mess was caught inside his boxers. You pulled your hand out, wiping your hand on his boxers.

Tim closed his eyes, panting against your lips as you kissed the corner of his mouth. His fingers circled your clit again. You gasped. “Now I take care of you.” Tim whispered, one hand went under your shirt again and cupped your breast.

You relaxed. Your skin tingled again, feeling the flutter of your heart as Tim squeezed your breast gently. His lips tickled your skin, kissing down your neck. “It’s only fair that I leave you a mess too.” 

You wrinkled your nose, giggling as your body tensed. One of Tim’s thin fingers entered you. You jumped in surprise. “Oh.” Your hand rested on his wrist. “Careful.”

“I’m careful.” Tim hummed. “Tell me if you want me to stop.”

“It’s okay.” You closed your eyes, taking a slow breath. “I love you.” 

“I love you too. More than anything.” Tim’s head went under your shirt to kiss his way up your stomach. You rested your hands on his shoulders. 

You felt that familiar tension building up inside of you. Your nails dug into Tim’s shoulders. Tim groaned against your stomach. “Close, huh?”

“Yeah.” You lost your breath. Tim’s finger curled inside of you and you were suddenly among the stars. “Wow.” 

A knock suddenly came from the door. Tim jerked away from you, quickly pulling the blankets up and around the two of you. “Yes?” he asked. You giggled, panting as you came down from the high. You smirked when you felt Tim’s hand was still on your breast. 

Damian entered with Jack gurgling in his arms. He looked slightly disappointed. “Take care of your offspring.” He handed Jack to you. 

“Hi Jackie.” You showered his little face with kisses. He touched your cheek with his tiny, perfect hand, enjoying the attention.

“How did you get him?” Tim asked. Damian’s eyes went to your chest and Tim quickly pull his hand away. A blush dusted his cheeks. 

“Pennyworth asked me to watch him.” He crossed his arms. “You invited Grayson over?”

Tim looked at you. “Yes, I did.” You smiled at Damian sweetly. “And if we call a truce, I won’t tell him to give you the sex talk.” 

Damian’s eyes widened slightly. “TT.” He glared at you. “What kind of a truce?”

“Well, if you quit interrupting us, we won’t interrupt you.” You handed Jack to Tim, looking Damian the eye. 

Damian hummed. He rubbed his chin, biting his lip. “Fine, I agree.” He spun on his heel. “But if Grayson tries to talk to me, I will break this truce.” 

“Fair.” You smiled, relaxing against the pillows. Damian closed the door securely behind him. Tim stared at you with his jaw dropped. You took Jack back from him when he started to whine. “What?” You reached up to close his jaw.

“Did you just get Damian to promise not to bother us? He just came in here disappointed that he didn’t catch us in the act.” Tim pointed at the door, eyes wild. 

“Well, it’s only fair. Damian was always about revenge.” You smiled at Jack, cooing at him in a soft voice. “But now we’ll be good and maybe we can give Jack siblings.”

The blood drained out of Tim’s face. “More kids? When did you decide that?” 

You snorted, patting Tim’s cheek with your free hand. “Not now, Timmy. Later, when Jack’s like four or something.” 

Tim glanced at Jack. A dopey smile grew onto his lips. “I suppose that’s fine. I mean if we can handle Jack, we can handle another one.” 

You leaned over to kiss his cheek. “That’s what I was thinking.” Tim turned to catch your lips with his. Jack fell asleep in your arms and you couldn’t be happier.

[robinofgothamcity]

♡ prompt: “i thought you were dead? for years, i thought you were dead! and i hate that i still love you and never moved on!” 

♡ pairing: tim drake (red robin) x fem! reader

♡ lyric inspiration: “you’re riding high in April, shot down in May but I know I’m going to change that tune when I’m back on top in June. I said that’s life and as funny as that may seem, some people get their kicks stomping on a dream.”

♡ note: not checked for grammar or spelling mistakes / please check the pinned tweet please! since i’m very low on inspiration.

Tim Drake stared at you, mouth wide open, not knowing what to say or do. he felt like he saw a ghost. you were standing across the room, talking amongst others as they instantly crowded around you. everyone had thought the same thing Tim did and only a selective few knew about your whereabouts. 

you were giving Dick a hug, whispering in his ear about how much you missed him as Damian stood there dumbfounded. Jason was not in the room or else you knew that he would be giving you an earful about the entire situation. Jason always did think of you as a sister when you first started dating Tim. 

“what the fuck happened to you?” Damian screamed, finally coming into the realization of the situation, “you were dead! we saw you die! all of us did!” he continued. you bent down, giving him a hug as he didn’t bother to try and deny it. 

“it’s a long story. i was under secrecy for a long time and couldn’t tell or say anything without me getting caught,” you told him. you looked to Dick who still couldn’t believe what was going on, “it must’ve been a monumental mission if you were technically dead for three years and I couldn’t know about it,” he replied. 

you nodded, whispering to him that you’d tell them the details later, “is...he around?” you asked, referencing Tim. Dick moved a bit to the left, revealing the man you were still madly in love with. you felt yourself gulp, scared on his reaction, “oh god, I never realized how bad this is,” Dick whispered to himself, sensing the tension immediately. 

+

you swinging around the Batcave, Batman clearly annoyed with your antics as you finally plopped down next to him, “aww c’mon Bruce! live a little! this Batcave is so depressing and need I say, dark?” you said, hearing the door jingle open. 

“great, the boys are here,” he murmured, realizing that introductions had to happen between you and his sons. Bruce had taken you in a few months ago, under the guise that you needed a better mentor, “you haven’t met them, right?” he asked. 

you shook your head no, “course I haven’t! it’s my first week in Gotham!” you exclaimed happily. you did hero work out of the west coast and happened to finally land in Gotham for the first time ever, “although I did run into Damian earlier in the week so I think he’ll recognize me!” 

Tim and Dick were the ones who walked in, conversing about some Gotham football game. you smiled at the two boys as they stopped dead in their tracks, “uh....Bruce, who is this?” Dick asked, pointing at you. you stood up, shaking their hands, “I’m ( your name )! Bruce’s new apprentice!” you explained. 

the two sighed, Dick’s first thought being if Alfred knew about you. Tim on the other hand didn’t exactly respond as quick. you were oddly excitable, not exactly the personality that ran rampant across the ‘family’, “apprentice or daughter?” Dick asked, a bit playfully. 

“she’s an apprentice. no need to adopt someone who’s already an adult,” he replied as he stood up himself, “she came from the west coast so she doesn’t exactly know her way around here. it’d be helpful if one of you showed her around. I don’t trust Jason or Damian enough,” he said, walking to another one of the computers. 

“Stephanie isn’t around?” Damian asked, walking inside of the cave, “she’s already acquainted with her and she isn’t available to do it right now so it’s up to Dick or you Tim,” Bruce repeated. Dick looked to his brother with his eyebrow lifted up, “well?” he asked Tim. 

the two of them went to look at you who was already not paying attention to what was going on. you were nose deep into a computer with music blaring inside of your headphones, “I swear that girl has ADHD or something,” Damian murmured to his brothers, “but I think Drake should do it! you just love getting to know people, don’t you?” Damian pressured. 

Bruce nodded in agreement, “it’s settled, you’re showing her around!” Tim stared at Damian, ready to attack the gremlin with his bare hands, “appreciate it Tim!” you yelled from your seat, surprising the three who thought you couldn’t hear what they were saying. 

+

it was already a few months into your internship with the Batfamily. you had gotten closer with Jason, Stephanie, and because of your relationship with Dick, you befriended Starfire as well. even though your work was constantly surrounding you around Tim, you weren’t around him much unless it had to do with work. 

“where you heading off too?” Jason asked, seeing you all dressed up, “Star, Barbara, and Steph wanted to go out for the night since we aren’t on duty so we’re going to get drinks up the street,” you told him. he nodded, looking to Tim and seeing the way he was checking you out, “why do you go with them, Tim?” he asked. 

Tim looked at Jason with a bewildered expression, “why would I be the only guy in the group?” he asked sarcastically. you on the other hand jumped up in joy, “you should!” you exclaimed, “come on! it would be amazing! you know you want too!” you poked Tim’s side in anticipation. 

he sighed, slipping a bit on the couch, “fine,” he muttered, making you excited all over again. you gave him a few minutes to get himself together, “you know he likes you, right?” Jason told you. you laughed out of genuine shock, “who? Tim? yeah right!” you let out another laugh, not believing he was lying to your face, “fine, don’t believe me but it’s pretty obvious.” 

you couldn’t say much else as Tim walked out, hair restyled and threw on a different jacket, “ready?” he asked, hands deep in his pockets. you nodded, throwing Jason a scrap piece of paper before heading out the door as Dick walked inside, “meeting the girls?” he asked. 

“yeah and I’m taking your brother as a hostage,” Dick was surprised, “did you finally?” he started to ask before Tim screamed at him to shut up, “how about we leave,” Tim told you, discreetly hitting Dick on the back of his leg as retaliation. 

the two of you walked out as you told Tim that the place you usually went out with the girls was in walking distance, “I think they’re going to be surprised you even decided to leave your apartment,” you joked as he rolled his eyes playfully, “I don’t think they’ll mind. at least Stephanie can stop saying that I never go out,” he said. 

you laughed softly, “yeah you might be going out with a bunch of girls but it sure beats being stuck inside playing video games or doing work,” you replied, “yeah, guess your right,” you two walked inside of the restaurant, already seeing Steph, Starfire, and Barbara sitting at the usual table. 

the three girls had their mouth hanging as they saw you walking in with Tim, “he actually came out?” Barbara screamed, not believing Tim was actually out, “yeah, figured it was better than staying in for the night!” you said excitedly. 

“I couldn’t even get him to come out with me at times and I dated him,” Steph murmured under her breath to Star. she laughed as you pulled chairs for you and Tim, “I’m getting first round of shots!” you told the group excitedly. Star and Barbara had followed you to the bar, leaving Steph and Tim in a small awkward silence 

“you like her don’t you?” she asked. Tim nodded, figuring it was better to just tell the truth than to lie, “that’s cute! she’s a great girl. I’m happy you finally found someone else but I will say one thing, I think you better get a move on with your feels with her because I know a few others who have an interest in her and one might be on your team,” she said, not so subtly hinting at Connor. 

Tim was taken back by what Stephanie was telling her but remained silent, “and I think she’d say yes on Connor so you better be quick,” she laughed, seeing Tim’s slightly jealous eyes. you returned to the table, giving everyone their glass as you raised yours in the air, “to Tim! for actually leaving his house for once!” you screamed as they all raised their glass and took the shot down.

throughout the night, Tim saw the way you were singing and dancing with Steph and Star, your terrible drunk singing voice getting louder as they played ‘poker face’ by lady gaga towards the end of the night. 

+

you stared at Riddler, seeing that he was ready to attack Tim with full intentions to kill him. you debated for a moment, saving a few civilians from getting mildly hurt or seeing your boyfriend get killed? you chose the latter and ran to Tim who was not paying attention in the slightest at what Riddler was doing. 

“Red!” you screamed, your feet moving as fast as they could and pushing him out of the way. you felt the slice of the knife into your stomach as you had successfully pushed Tim to safety, “fuck,” you whispered, seeing the blood already pooling underneath you. 

although you getting hurt was already pre-planned, you had no intentions of getting hurt this badly, “fuck, fuck, fuck,” you continued, trying to grab your cape to stop the bleeding, Tim stared down at you, seeing the blood gushing at a rate too dangerous for his liking, “hold on, please hold on!” he screamed, moving you out of harms way. 

Bruce had saw you giving him the signal, weakly but you still gave it to him. it was your only chance for your pre-planned mission to actually succeed and the start of that plan was to make you die in front of everyone. Bruce had swung down from the stairs, seeing the way your eyes closed. 

“she needs to go to the hospital,” he told Tim, making him rush you to the hospital himself. he knew this was the only time he would be able to say his goodbyes to you and he need to make it count, “go now!” he yelled. 

Tim dragged your almost lifeless body to the nearest hospital, screaming at the staff that you needed help immediately. the nurses grabbed your body, hauling it to the OR as Tim sat there, blood all over his uniform as he watched you get wheeled into the hallway. 

it felt like hours by the time they gave an update to all of them. Bruce, Tim, Dick, Jason, Steph, Barbara, and Damian, were sitting in the waiting area, munching on food nervously as the nurse came out of the hallway, eyes bleary with tears. 

“she didn’t make it out of surgery. she passed.” 

all of them (for the exception of Bruce), immediately bursted into tears. Tim more than anyone had fell to the ground, having no control of his body as he screamed that it couldn’t be true and that you weren’t actually gone. a part of Bruce’s heart broke seeing his son having a mental breakdown but he knew for their safety and yours, he couldn’t say a word. 

the following days were left to plan your funeral as the nurses who relied your wishes stated that you wanted a closed casket for no one, not even Tim, to see your dead body. Tim hadn’t spoken a word to anyone as he only spoke up when it came for him to plan your arrangements. 

they buried your casket with your uniform laying on top of it as they all saw your casket get lower and lower to the ground. Tim was by this point sobbing as he couldn’t have cared who saw and who didn’t. 

+

Dick grabbed Damian, moving themselves to another part of the room as you walked slowly to Tim. he had yet to say anything but as soon as you locked eyes with him, you both let out sobs to each other. Tim grabbed you by the arms, bringing you into a hug as he sobbed into your shoulders. 

“what the fuck is going on?” he yelled, not knowing what to say, “I’m alive Timmy. I didn’t die that night,” you practically sobbed back to him. he released you, now anger and sadness crossing over him, “what the fuck do you mean you didn’t die?” he screamed, scaring Dick and Damian in the process. 

you sat on the ground, trying to compose yourself, “I went on an undercover mission for league. I had to die in order to protect not only myself but all of you and the entire league. which explains why I look different,” you murmured the last part. 

“I thought you were dead. for years, I thought you were dead! and I hate that I still love you and never moved on!” he exclaimed, seeing the way you stared at him heartbrokenly, “you think I wanted this to happen? it was for the betterment of the league if I took on this mission. I never wanted to leave you or Steph, hell I didn’t want to leave any of you but I had too! it broke my heart knowing what I had to do!” you yelled back. 

Tim bent down, taking you into his arms, “what the hell are we going to do?” he whispered in your ear, not knowing how to respond to any of this rationally. you shrugged as the two of you tried to calm yourselves down from the hysterics you both were throwing, “I just need you here with me,” you whispered back. 

Tim nodded, not releasing you from the hug you were giving him. “I won’t. I won’t let you go! not anymore!” he replied. you laughed through your tears as you heard someone else walk into the room. 

“what the fuck.....” you heard Steph and Jason’s voice scream through the Batcave, “what the FUCK is going on?” they screamed in panic. 

hehehe a cliffhanger 

[intercoursefluids]

Marry Me Part 2 (Final)

The morning after Damian proposed he went looking for his brother and stepmother. (She had a knack for finding beautiful jewels and Dick was a hopeless romantic and would kill him if he didn’t let him help.

“Grayson, Selina, I require your assistance with something and no it cannot wait.”

They both look up at him from the living room couch, watching the news.

“Where’s Marinette? You never come down without her.”

Selina looks behind him as if she was hiding behind his larger frame.

“She's still asleep and will remain that way until at least noon since she stayed up till an ungodly number calling her friends and family back in Paris, but that is not important now. (He says obviously irritated at her unhealthy sleeping schedule) Last night I may have made a spontaneous decision and need your help with the next step.”

Selina and Dick both look at him questiongly knowing damn well what he's talking about.

“Do you regret it?” (Dick)

“Did you get her pregnant?” (Selina)

Damian sputters for a moment his face turning red.

“The answer is no to both questions. Just get dressed and meet me outside.”

He walks away muttering about how Selina ‘has no sense of shame’ and how Dick ‘was an idiot to think he’d ever regret it’.

Dick and Selina both share a smile before getting ready and meeting an impatient Damian outside.

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

“I proposed to Marinette last night and I want your help picking out her ring.”

Damian immediately exits the car and heads inside as his brother and stepmothers excited squeals fill the air.

Soon after he starts browsing they both join him looking for the perfect ring to give to her.

After an hour of searching Damian looks up, waving both of them over.

“What about this one?

Selina comes over first, immediately nodding her approval.

“Oh yeah, a little subtle for my taste but Marinette will love it.”

Dick immediately agrees, cooing over how cute this whole thing is and tearing up that his ‘baby brother is going to get married and he will have little nieces and nephews running around in a few years’.

Damian completely ignores him calling over a worker to get the ring in the correct size before buying it. Walking out with the simple diamond ring with pink accents on both sides of the diamond in its velvet black box.

“Okay, before we get back home where you have access to your katana I need to tell you something.”

Damian pauses at the car turning to face his brother.

“I messed up really bad this time and I’m very sorry. I was snooping around last night trying to get pictures of you and Mari being all sweet together like I usually do, but Jason, Selina, and Tim all saw me at different times and decided to watch and take pictures and videos too. I posted a bunch of the pictures to what I thought was my private Twitter like I do when you two do something especially sweet, but it wasn’t my private one and I couldn’t tell because I was crying too hard. I’m really sorry, Damian.”

Dick sucks in a deep breath after his ramble refusing to look up and meet his little brother's eyes until a loud groan followed by a thud makes him.

Damian smacks his head against the roof of the car several times more before letting out another groan and looking at his favorite least annoying brother.

“You’re lucky that I’m still in too much of a good mood to want to kill you right now. Get in the car, I want to get back before Marinette wakes up and it's already around 10.”

Happily counting his blessings even though he's low-key terrified Dick hops in the back seat and lets Selina take the front.

The drive rather quickly and Damian wastes not time in running to his room where he left his Angel.

He breathes a sigh of relief noticing she's still very much asleep. Running back downstairs he makes her a plate of breakfast and grabs a platter to fill with food for all of the kwamis.

Rushing back up to the room he sets the tray on the nightstand before going over to her side, brushing some hair out of her face, making her grumble and burrow deeper into the covers in an attempt to stay asleep.

He laughs softly sitting down beside her stroking her cheekbone.

“Angel, wake up. I brought you breakfast.”

She grumbles, reaching out from the covers to wrap his arms around her waist and snuggling into his side.

“At least let me put the ring on you. I need to talk with Grayson anyway.”

She thrusts out her left hand, still refusing to open her eyes.

He sighs, sliding the ring on her left finger and placing a kiss to her forehead before standing up to leave.

“I love you, Habibiti.”

The following noise that is probably an ‘I love you too’ but could also be a ‘shut the door’ is the only response he gets before he goes to find his brother(s).”

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

“Grayson, Todd, Drake, you three are fixing this entire internet mess that you started and that is final.”

Sounds of protest erupt from the room as he takes his leave to feed the animals.

“Hold up! Dickie-bird is the one who fucked up, why do we have to fix it?!”

Jason pulls him back by his hoodie, thoroughly pissing him off, to face them again.

“Because, Grayson would be too emotional and sappy and just humiliate himself and make the situation worse, Drake knows how to navigate the internet better than the rest of us and, you are always happy to talk about Marinette and I need you to keep Drake awake long enough to fix this.”

Jason nods his head accepting the explanation when Tim interrupts.

“And why can’t you do it?”

A smile that puts all three brothers on edge takes over his face.

“I have a wedding to plan.”

Followed by him immediately shutting the door and going about his chores.

BONUS:

*Marinette wakes up, eats breakfast and changes before noticing the new rind on her left finger*

Marinette: HOLY SHIT I’M GETTING MARRIED!

Marinette:JASON! JAY! I’M GETTING MARRIED!

Jason from down the hall: I KNOW! I WAS THERE WHEN HE PROPOSED!

*Marinette immediately calls her friends and family and start crying while Chloe, Adrien, Kagami, Alix, Kim, and Max all immediately buy plane tickets*

*Jagged cries and also buys plane tickets for him and Penny*

*Luka goes with Jagged*

BONUS 2:

*Two weeks before proposal*

*Marinette running to Jason (her self-proclaimed older brother) and jumping as he catches her*

Marinette: JAY!

Jason: PIXIE-POP!

*Damian groans setting her bag on the floor*

Damian: Must you two be so dramatic? You saw each other last month.

Jason: Piss off Demon Spawn! She's MY baby sister

*Cue pissed off and tired (because he was so excited to see Mari that he couldn’t fall asleep last night) Damian *

Damian: Yeah? Well she's MY wife

*Cue immediate pause and lots of blushing from aforementioned couple*

Damian: I meant fiancé!

Damian: NO! GIRLFRIEND! I meant GIRLFRIEND!

*Marinette exe. has stopped working*

*Damian rushes over and throws her over his shoulder*

Damian: I meant GIRLFRIEND, and you wipe that smile off your face Grayson!

*Damian runs to his room with Mari and eventually they fall asleep together while the batfam collectively loses their shit down stairs*

[verymuchimmortalcat]

Familiarity

For Bio Dad Bruce Wayne Month Day 3: Identities

ao3

@maribat-bdbwm

part 1

Marinette couldn’t quite put a finger on it but there was something about the Waynes that felt familiar. Rose would say it’s because they’re family but Marinette knows it not that. In fact, they remind her of the Bats. The simultaneous inclusion and exclusion, the chaos, the feeling of knowing them, everything.

She isn’t quite sure yet if she likes the idea of her family being the Bats but she does know it would explain a lot of things that have happened in the two days since she arrived at the Manor for the first time.

.oOo.

Steph watches as Tim and Marinette plan out pranks, it’s creepy how well the two of them work together. It’s almost like they’ve worked together before. From the way Cass is analysing Marinette, Steph knows she’s picked up on the strangeness of it all too.

Duke had told her they’d asked Marinette to join so they could get to know her better and to spite B, who had told them not to drag her into their chaos. They hadn’t really expected her to be so good at planning pranks. From what she’s learnt she was brought up as an only child. Not that it really matters, they’re going against Babs, they’re going to need all the help possible.

Duke looks thoroughly lost, Steph doesn’t blame him, Tim’s thought process is hard to follow normally but Marinette and Tim, Steph’s just as lost. As the three of them stare at the two of them in the middle of their planning, Steph can’t help but feel they’ve been here before. Which makes absolutely no sense she’s never even met Marinette before today.

.oOo.

His sister’s time has been monopolised by Drake, Cassandra, Duke and now Stephanie. Planning, probably. A pointless endeavour, he's going to win in the end, just because his team has lesser people doesn’t mean they’re going to lose.

However, he has spoken to her. She’d approached him the first day and while their conversation had been awkward and stinted, it had been a conversation. Damian wasn’t planning on telling Grayson but speaking to him had helped.

But what’s been bothering Damian is that it feels like they’ve had that conversation before. Which they haven’t, Damian’s sure he’d remember if they’d somehow met. Jon says he should talk to her but Damian’s sure he can figure it out on his own.

.oOo.

Tim has a theory: Marinette is Ladybug. He doesn’t bring it up with the others, if she had wanted them to know her identity, she would have told them herself a long time ago. Besides, it’s just a theory and even if he is right, he remembers the feeling of betrayal when B had told Steph his identity, so he doesn’t pry.

.oOo.

Cass knows Marinette. She’s not able to place it and it makes absolutely no sense, but there’s something very familiar about her. For someone who walks into objects at least three times a day she carries herself with a grace that Cass hasn’t seen outside vigilantes or dancers and Marinette denies being able to dance. Even if her new sibling is one of the Parisian heroes, Cass doesn’t know the Parisian heroes very well, having met them only a few times. Their training had mostly been taken care by Dick, Tim and Damian, since the three of them spent the most time at the Tower. She leaves it alone, Tim mentioned that the miraculous holders' identities were protected by magic, it would be impossible for her to figure it out.

.oOo.

Dick had wanted to see if he had left his phone in the gymnasium, when he enters the room, Marinette’s there. He watches in shock as Marinette leaps and flips her way through the gymnasium. She’s a surprisingly good gymnast for a civilian. A lot of the moves she uses are familiar to him. Things that he had taught to some of the younger heroes as fighting sequences. He wonders what kind of teacher she must have had to be taught that.

When she finishes, he claps and she turns back in shock, her eyes widen in recognition and she becomes a vivid shade of red. He holds back the urge to laugh.

“That was amazing! Where did you learn all of that?”

“Oh, uh here and there, I went to classes for a while and I have a friend who’s really great at gymnastics.”

Dick frowns, she sounds unsure of her answer, but he lets it pass.

“I’d love to meet that friend of yours.”

She looks like a deer caught in headlights for a second before her expression smooths over and she grins at him and says, “I’ll be sure to ask him!” before skipping out of the room.

Dick is officially very curious.

.oOo.

Thursday morning, she’s informed by Duke that they usually have family dinners on Thursday and a few of Tim’s friends would be attending today too. Marinette’s excited, it’ll be fun to meet Tim’s friends.

Alfred’s banned all pranks for the day since they have guests visiting in the evening. There’s some complaining but in the end they all give in. Tim heads to his room saying he has something he wants to work on, Dick and Damian are going out for the day, she can’t find Duke, and Jason isn’t at the Manor. She’s currently searching for Cass. When Marinette finally gives up and returns to her room, she finds Cass waiting for her there.

“Want to join me and Steph? We’re going out.”

Marinette agrees and the two of them leave the manor to join Steph in the actual city. They spend the day roaming around, eat enough junk food to give Alfred a heart attack and just pass time. Steph returns with them to the Manor in the evening for dinner. They’re late but only by a bit, they’d hopefully only get a disappointed frown from Alfred.

Alfred lets them in with a sigh of disappointment. The three of them offer him sheepish grins before running off to the dining room. They can hear all of them laughing, Marinette doesn’t pause to analyse their voices.

She wishes she had.

It’s not surprising really, she’d already known how highly possible it was but nothing had prepared her to be staring at Kon, Cassie and Bart.

Jason notices her staring and asks, “why’re you looking at them like they’re aliens?”

She takes another second to finish processing, and then grins, “Well, Kon is half alien.”

Their reactions are priceless. Plagg would be proud of the chaos she’s unleashed.

Jason’s staring at her in shock. Tim’s yelling, “I KNEW IT!” Dick and Cass look like things make more sense now. B, Steph, Duke, Kon and Cassie. Damian’s jumped onto his seat and is pointing his katana at her. Bart had attacked her in a hug, yelling, “Bug!” which had thrown her to the floor.

Groaning she gets up, “not wearing a super suit right now, Bart.”

“IforgotI’msosorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Oh my, what is going on here?”

They all turn to look at Alfred who’s standing at the entrance.

There’s a lot of apologies as they sit in their seats and everyone settles down. She ends up sitting next to her father.

“So,” he starts, “you’re Ladybug.”

She smiles, “and you’re Batman.”

Before she can reply, she’s dragged into the others’ conversation. Her father offers her a smile and returns to his food. Marinette grins and joins the argument about the stupidest villains.

[breesays]

The trouble is, you think you have time

I don't usually blog about the mundane minutiae of my day to day life (unless you remember that Motherhood Minutes blog) but today was just... a lot. I think I need to unload it.

Last night the fireworks woke Desmond up (at 10pm) and he was basically unable to go back to sleep until 1am. Tim was angry about it. I was annoyed he was angry and also a little nauseous because when it was determined Des would "sleep" in our bed until the fireworks were done, I took an Advil PM.  It never took effect like it was supposed to, as I was alternating from big spoon on toddler bed to glider chair to kitchen for applesauce packets. When he wailed at 5AM I begged Tim to tap in. We all felt wrecked this morning. 

Our brand new downstairs neighbor knocked on our door at 8AM while Tim was taking Des to school. He asked if we could WALK SOFTER. In a very polite way, but they've only been there A NIGHT and it was 4th of July. I smiled and nodded and asked for specifics (he gave none) and then drafted an email to our landlords after he left because it's really concerning that they complained after ONE night. I've been a downstairs neighbor more than half my life, and I think we are very considerate. We never heard so much as a peep from the previous tenants. I understand where they're coming from because we lived below an AirBnB rental for 4 years but it also had me fuming because we're just living, man. We don't wear shoes in the house and I give Des as many balloons as his heart desires so that he doesn't bounce any balls indoors.

Tim was laid off from his FT job on Friday so my normally completely silent working morning was punctuated with business calls - cold calls - and I already hate phone calls in general but I was nervous for HIM. And him landing a good gig (yay) consequently meant that some of my plans for the rest of July were... now unstable. C'est la vie.

During dinner I got a call from my Stepmom. She never calls so I was  worried the instant her name popped up on my phone. Her sister died. Maru. Unexpectedly. Suddenly. I was so gutted. Maru was a part of our lives when we were little, she lived with my Dad and Lita when they first moved here from Mexico. She was so good with kids (us) that I remember insensitively asking my Dad once if he was sure he married the right sister. I remember leading "english class" for her and Lita and I think their brother Hector. All my memories of her are warm and comforting. Me watching her write letters to her friends and family in Mexico. She told us her American name was "Jenny" but she was definitely a Maru. Was. Fuck. It stabbed me right through the heart to hear my Stepmom cry. She said it was like a dream, not real. I wanted to run to OC and hug her. How completely tragic to learn your sister was taken away from you. It's not my tragedy but I still needed to know what happened. At least we know she didn't suffer. Rest in peace, Maru.

I'm reading a book called "How To Stop Time" by Matt Haig, and it's an interesting perspective for someone (me) who has been kind of distressing over how I'm going to read all the books I want to read write all the blogs I wanna write see all the things I wanna see hear all the music I wanna hear pet all the cats I wanna let watch Desmond grow and experience things and also write about THAT. I wanna travel I want to teach I want to nap on exotic beaches. We don't have enough time. 

I've been trying to appreciate situations for what they are and not what I want them to be. 

The other day after an activity-packed day, Desmond wanted to talk. It was past his bedtime. I asked, "What was your favorite thing about today?" He paused, then said, "This, mama."

Alive.

[organic-guacamole]

uh yeah so I wasn't planning on watching the episode until the weekend but my sister woke up super early and started like dancing or swinging from the ceiling fan or something and it woke me up so now I will bring back the guac episode text blocks :')

Hsmtmts: Season 3: Episode 1 Reaction

"And love is an open door. Did I just make that up? It's pretty good."

First new line of the show and I'm smiling like an idiot. So turns out I'm not actually over this show🥸

DAD JOKES ARE LIFE. I will be taking notes as EJ continues to speak.

big red's got work? all the time? why? can't he take two weeks off to enjoy the summer with friends? he's like 16? huh??

and Sebbie's gotta milk so this is how we explain their absence 🧍🏽‍♀️

oh so Ricky is with Lily after all? icky licky.

Carlos switching his glasses for sunglasses made me laugh a bit too much. maybe I should pull my sister down from the ceiling and go back to sleep...

wait wait wait

I'm not American and I haven't paid much attention to the details yet but like, Utah and California are close, but close enough that these kids' parents let them drive by themselves across states? ISNT CARLOS LIKE CANONICALLY 16? is this normal? I'm sorry

EJ being the son of Cash Caswell 4 and a half minutes into the season. why do rich people need more than 1 home? also yes Gina. she knew about the 2nd home so I'm assuming she's at least seen it (unless EJ just casually mentions his other houses but to me he seems like the kinda guy to forget he has more houses than the average person and just never talk about it) so yeah slay girlie pop marry rich! life is about the material things! go queen!

"you come to camp shallow lake and you leave and someone else" oh no. foreshadowing.

yeah I miss seb too.

the whole phone confiscation thing is awful to me. not because I'm addicted or anything, just that, that's my property and they're storing it in a bucket with other people's nasty phones in a dark room somewhere and idk what's happening to it? no thanks I'll leave it home.

oh I completely forgot the intro song thing *insert harsh whistle*

RICHIE EWE WEQEQ WS

this is funny though. don't mind my disgusted expression as I watch this scene, I'm rather enjoying seeing Ricky turn into a text to speech reader.

the more Lily talks the more I fear for Ricky's life.

Caribbean cruise? uhhh I live in the Caribbean 😥😥😥 imagine just chilling and you see miss Jenn running around buying souvenirs.

also. MR BOWEN? GIRL BENJAMIN MAZZARA IS RIGHT THERE. HE CONFESSED TO YOU AT THE END OF LAST SEASON. THIS WOMAN-

so it's confirmed that this is the same camp that Nini and EJ met at😃

I love Ashlyn. no context needed.

Why is she still with Howie again?

the non-wildcats in the corner. Are they credited as non-wildcats on IMDb?

as Ms Jenn is talking about sparks, remember when she and Mr Mazzara started a fire at the school and just...ran away? why don't we talk about this?

I wrote an alternate 2x12 fanfic where Ricky knows about the harness already so I genuinely thought they all knew already... anyways, yay Tim for bringing back this plotpoint!

Carlos being horrified by these random dudes throwing things is exactly what I expected from this season. that and Ricky coming to his senses but we can't always get what we want.

Jet is hot but we knew this already. anyways gimme the enemies to lovers with Ricky please, with a bunch of angst with happy ending, all that jazz. gimme the flavour🤌🏽🤌🏽

the way lily's body language is... reminds me of an episode of 911 where this girl murdered her boyfriend on valentine's day because he wanted to leave the date... she literally looked so much like how Lily looks rn... RUN RICHARD

isn't she like 14? like canon... I have a lot of questions for her parents mainly.

so he really just has big red's car this whole time? he's having his mv moment so I'll overlook it. we all need our main character moment at some point. but actually. it's a literal music video in the middle of the episode.

wait have we seen Kourtney and Carlos interactions yet? please someone tell me if we have or have not because this is my favourite. also let's discuss Kourtney's rainbow belt 😁

what kind of life changing 2 week camp is this? why are they all acting like all new people will be brainwashed and their lives will flip upside down by the time it's over

emo boy Jet meets emo boy Ricky they un-emotify together or something idk

"if you fall in no one will hear your screams" "don't go too far into the woods or you'll be gone for good" still not convinced this isn't a murder mystery season.

...

you telling me

Disney plus exists

in the universe of a show

on Disney plus

...

anyways so is this how EJ becomes director-

damn so he's really second choice for this too👩🏽‍🦯

RICKy? how does this even happen? don't they have to pay for this camp? how did he get so far in and portwell are the first people he sees? I'm so confused 😭

[hood-ex]

So Nightwing 83 is out;

Pros and Cons of it?

I experienced so many emotions while reading that. I need to take a fucking walk holy shit. I'm buzzin'. But, okay, pros and cons. Let's gooo.

I'm still not sure if I'm really all that stoked about Melinda actually being Dick's sister, but I like that Dick still doesn't trust her. I want him to look for more evidence behind what she's saying before he really decides to partner with her though.

Dick's exchange with Audre about him breaking in was kinda funny. "Oh, yeah. I suppose I did."

The helicopter scene was cool even though it looked stupid for him to launch himself right into the line of fire where he could've easily been riddled with bullets (and somehow wasn't).

I don't like that Babs is still wearing that shirt. I actually forgot she was wearing that, so seeing it so suddenly when she was rushing to help Dick was like, "Oh, yeah. There's that thing I hate."

I thought it was weird how Babs casually told Dick that he had been asleep for two days. Like, hellur. Dick got kicked in the head so hard that he blacked out, and he was also hit in the head again prior to that. You're telling me Babs wasn't at all concerned about the reasoning behind him sleeping for two days being brain trauma related? If I knew someone who had been hit in the head so hard that they went unconscious, and if they showed no signs of waking up after a normal amount of sleeping time had passed after said event occurred, I would be freaking the fuck out and calling an ambulance. Just saying.

"Tim's been patrolling for you." You been reading fanfics, Taylor? Ha, I'm kidding.

Dick wearing Converse made me 😂.

I do like that we got to see Dick consulting people in his social circle. I like that he went to his friends for their opinions because that's what we all do irl. We ask our friends for advice and ideas. It also continues to show us that Dick will use his personal connections to help him achieve something.

I gotta admit, the Dick and Clark scene really fucking got me. I'm a sucker for scenes between them. This interaction reaffirmed that Dick did indeed get the Nightwing name from Clark, and it also reaffirmed that Dick is an extremely respected person in the cape community.

"You're a lot like him, you know?" Okay, thanks, Clark. I didn't need my heart today.

Tbh, the thing that really got me was Clark asking Dick to look out for Jon, and Clark thinking of Dick as the ultimate role model. That... speaks so much about Dick's character. Like just think about it. Superman thinks that Dick is the best possible person that Jon could grow up to be like. And it's not just Clark who thinks this either. Oh, no. Slade fucking Wilson thinks so too (at least to some extent) which is exactly why he wanted Rose to adopt Dick's values (via Rebirth Deathstroke #19).

This issue just proved that DC editors sure ain't working hard enough because there was a damn typo during Dick's speech. It should've read, "Too many good people have fallen in Bludhaven," instead of, "To many good people have fallen in Bludhaven." Like come onnn. I betcha they're using the same editor who approved the "Romani smile" line. Yeesh.

The things Dick wanted to do with The Alfred Pennyworth Foundation made me laugh because when Dick was talking about his plans with Clark, Dick was like, "I'm worried it's too small," and Clark was like, "It's not small, it's focused." Focused? It sounds like Dick is trying to tackle a pretty hefty amount of social, economical, and environmental issues. I mean, okay, so he's focusing on Bludhaven mostly. I'll give him that.

Tim's text to Dick made me laugh because, well, yeah. Yeah. Jason texting Dick is... interesting. I have mixed feelings about Jason's current place in the family dynamic, so part of me is like, "Cool," and the other part of me is like hmm... that's a little fanon-y.

Either way, I just think it's funny to imagine all the bats stopping what they're doing to watch Dick talk on TV. You do have to kind of think of them as the Kardashians in a way when stuff like this comes up. Because, yeah, they've seen each other on TV before so it's not like they'd all be rushing to the nearest TV while yelling, "Hurry up! Dick's on TV!" but he is important to them, and they do want to support him still (even though I am questioning said support a bit because writers haven't built up Steph and Cass's relationship with Dick enough so this whole thing feels a little too "perfect family" for my tastes).

Also! Damian texting Dick! We have to assume that Damian is tracking his family (or, at least, tracking Dick specifically) on the web. How else would he have known to watch Dick's speech? Unless someone texted him about it. But uh... that kinda doesn't make sense with Damian running away from his fam and everything.

Heartless referring to Dick as "my first." Hm. Okay. I feel like I need him to be more intimidating or something. His whole aesthetic reminds me of that kabuki mask-wearing dude from Big Hero 6. Yokai/Robert dude. But less ominous.

All in all, I definitely appreciate some of the relationships that were shown in this issue. I still just find the massive support Dick is suddenly getting from all of his friends and family to be a little... off-putting. Specifically, because this arc takes place after the amnesia arc where we got nearly none of that same support. It feels like two large, opposing extremes. The amnesia arc wasn't enough, and in comparison, Taylor's arc almost feels like overkill because of it. As if he's trying to compensate for the lack of support by being like Look At All The Support Over Here! And If You Look To Your Right, Guess What You'll See? More Support!!

I guess it's weird to complain about Dick getting loved on but, narratively, the degree to which it's occurring compared to the last arc just doesn't feel right. There's a lack of build to a satisfying balance.

[hollyharper]

I think DC neds to do a five year time skip. Take their entire continuity and more it forward five years. Give us fans something new.

Maybe Bruce and Selina finally tied the knot, maybe they even have a little Helena Wayne. Their starting to train her to follow in their footsteps. Just have a bunch of sevens of the little three year old doing splits with her mom, learning how to analyze samples with her dad. Damien teaching her to fight. And of course, all the older siblings spoiling her rotten. Bruce is simply happy to spend time with his wife and kids. Selina still loves her cats. The house is over run with them, domestic and wild.

Dick and Babs should definitely be married. They have a two year old boy, James, after Barbara’s brother. Maybe even start with Barbara’s second pregnancy. This time a girl named Mary, after Dick’s mom. They have a large apartment in Blùdhavan. Dick is still Nightwing. Barbara struggles juggling her roles as his partner and wife, Batman, and The Bird’s Oracle, and being a mom. The Alfred Pennyworth foundation is thriving, and Babs resented reclaimed Gotham Clean Energy. Being the genius she is is Barbara refuses to send her kids to public school. Dick worries that adds to much extra stress to her life. She loves it. To thank her for all of her hard work, Dick brings home little gifts for her at least once a week. These presents range from chocolate bars to new computer equipment. As much as he loves when Babs cooks, Dick usually prepares their meals.

What would truly be a bomb, would be to put Jason in serious relationship. Personally, I would go with Helena Bertenilli. They started working together as partners. As they spent more time together, it became clear that they both were looking for a more intimate relationship. Their shared understanding of loss brought them closer together, until their relationship turned into lovers. Helen’s exceptional skill as a history teacher, earned her a place at Gotham High. Seeing Jason’s talent with kids, her confided him to get a teaching job as well. He mostly teaches P.E. at Gotham Academy, but also has a black smith class. He makes knives and sword son the weekend, and sells them to make money on the side. On the Battlefield, Huntress and Red Hood are inseparable, and on of the best teams Batman has. They both deeply love each other, but are afraid to talk about commitment.

Tim and Stephine are currently have issues. They’ve had an on and off relationship for the last year. Tim has entirely taken over running Wayne Enterprises. He works all day, and is out as Red Robin most of the night. His exhaustion puts a massive strain on their relationship. He feels bad about having so little time for Steph, and to show her how much he loves, her is planning to propose. Stephine feels neglected. As much as she loves Tim, his constant stress weighs on her. After talking with her mentors, she has decided that time apart would be good for both her and Tim, but she doesn’t know how to tell him. Steph has been job bouncing for awhile, another reason she’s cautious about leaving.

Cass is still Bruce’s angel child. She has little interest in dating. Her main focus is always the mission. Barbara believes she needs to get a job and stop relying on Bruce for funding. The only idea she even considered, was Helena’s suggestion to become a federal agent. Bruce strongly opposes the idea. After her father died, Cass has been trying to patch things up with her mom, who unsurprisingly wants Cass to join the League of Shadows.

At first, Damien was reluctant to accept Selina, though he would never admit, he was still hoping for his parents to work things out. When Bruce married Selina, it became clear Talia wasn’t coming back. Over time, she grew on him. Selina was the one to figure out that Damien missed his mother. After some negotiations, she convinced Bruce to invite Talia over for the holidays. It became an eagerly anticipated tradition for Damien. Talia as brings food and gifts for him. It’s the one time of year when Damian’s almost always smiles. Dami adores his little sister, and has even sworn to protect her at all costs. His relationship with Flatline died out very quickly after their meeting. Mostly, because of how immature they both were. Four years, and a sweet ex later, they meet once again on the field of battle. Again sparks flew, leading to a passionate reunion, and another hero and villain love story.

Jade and Lian were recently reunited. Their relationship is still on rocky ground, but Jade is determined to make up for the time she missed with her daughter. She makes every effort to connect with Lian, even while fighting shadows from her past. Every night, to two will sit on the roof outside of Lian’s window. Their shared interest in astronomy is a safe topic, one they touch on often. Lian wants a relationship with her mother, but is afraid Jade will leave again. Jade’s proud that her daughter took the name Cheshire Cat, and love watching her daughter in action, even though it’s usually from a distance.

Dinah and Oliver have been married for a few years. They found out pretty soon that they can’t have kids. After the news, Dinah went into depression. Their friends and family stepped up to help. Bruce tried to convince them to adopt. Neither want to, until they meet a feisty young girl named Kayleigh. Kayleigh is closed off, with deep wounds. She’s trying to become a vigilant in Star City. Her methods are overly violent. Oliver sees his younger self in her and brings her under his wing. Dinah takes a little to warm up to her. Kayleigh gives them both quite a bit of trouble, but their determined to read her. But Kayleigh’s secrets are something that could shatter their belief in her. She knows the day the find out, will be the last time she has anything close to a family.

[bellakitse]

Carlos and Grace save the world

Carlos is surprised at first when Grace seeks him out, but when she explains that she’s worried about her neighbor possibly being abused by her husband, Carlos instantly agrees to help.

They become friends.

+

The story I wish they had in 2x05

(I started working on this about two weeks ago when we heard that Grace and Carlos would have a story together in the last episode. I then put it on hold to work on the tarlos valentine’s event. At the time, I was worried that the story would be pointless after the episode, and then the episode happened, and the story was given about a minute of airtime, so I figured I would finish this.)

Warnings for: Mentions of Domestic Abuse, Threats of Violence, and Knife injury.

Carlos will admit he’s a little surprised when Grace seeks him out. They don’t really know each other that well. The only interaction they really have is when he’s answering one of her dispatch calls. Or when the 126 is having some kind of gathering at the station like now.

Still, they don’t really talk.

“Officer Reyes?” she greets him with a tentative smile, coming up to him as he pours himself a glass of water. Around them, the 126 and extended friends and family mingle. They’d finally come together to honor Tim the way they couldn’t when the wildfires were roaring.

“Mrs. Ryder, hello,” he answers politely. He points at the pitcher of cold water in his hand, offering to pour her some.

“I’m good,” she answers with a shake of her head and another smile. “And please, call me Grace.”

“Only if you call me Carlos, ma’am,” he gives her a smile of his own; it grows as she lets out an amused chuckle and nods in agreement.

“Okay, that’s a deal.”

“Good,” he says jokingly. He puts the pitcher back in the fridge before turning to give her his full attention, frowning when he finds her fidgeting, shifting from foot to foot nervously. “Is something wrong?”

“I’m not sure,” Grace blurts out, looking as surprised as him. “I wanted to talk to you about something, but now I’m not sure if I should, or if it’s any of my business – or if I’m even just imagining things and overreacting.”

Carlos raises an eyebrow at the woman’s run-on sentence. “Well,” he starts off slowly and with caution. “I know we don’t know each other very well – ”

“We should change that,” Grace interrupts him with a kind smile on her pretty face.

“I completely agree,” Carlos concurs, liking Grace’s welcoming presence even before this conversation. “But what I do know about you is that you just don’t seem like the type of person who overreacts. So why don’t you tell me what’s going on, and we’ll see if I can help,” he finishes with what he hopes is an encouraging look.

“TK got himself a good one,” she says with a fondness that makes him blush slightly. “Okay, so I have this new neighbor, Rosie,” she starts to tell him.

Carlos listens as Grace explains about the newly married couple on her block, Rosie, a jumpy young thing, and her husband, Derek. He frowns as Grace tells him about her first encounter with them, the way the girl went from friendly and lively when they were alone in her front yard to subdued the moment her husband showed up.

“I can’t explain it,” Grace lets out a frustrated exhale. “He was friendly enough; he didn’t grab her in any way that would raise concerns, and yet alarm bells went off the moment he walked up to us. Even as she was smiling, there was something in her eyes that has stuck with me.” Grace sighs again. “Like I said, maybe I’m overreacting, looking for trouble where there isn’t any.”

“Grace,” Carlos starts with a shake of his head. “I have been on a number of your calls, and I hear you over the radio. You are an amazing operator because you have good instincts. If you’re worried about this girl, I don’t doubt you saw a reason for it. What does Judd say?”

Grace’s expression softens at the mention of her husband, her eyes shining with love and affection. “I haven’t told him yet. Judd, bless him, is so tenderhearted and protective. If I said to him that I think something is wrong with this slip of a girl, you better believe he would be pounding down their door before we even find out if something is really wrong.”

Carlos gives her an understanding smile. “Sounds like TK,” he tells her, earning a chuckle in return.

“Why do you think they clashed when they first started working together?” she questions with a twinkle in her eye that lets him know she’s heard as many complaints about TK from Judd as he’s heard from TK about her husband. “Those two are reckless softies who want to save the whole world, and if no one is there to check them, they dive in headfirst,” she says with a pointed look at him.

“Is that supposed to be us?” he questions jokingly. “We’re going to keep them in check?”

Grace shrugs easily. “Well, I married mine, so I pretty much signed up for the job. You’re still dating, so that’s up to you to decide.”

“Can you be my support group?” he questions. It’s not like he really needs to decide after all. He might not be married to TK yet, but he has known since the night of the solar flares and maybe even before that, that it’s his job to keep TK safe.

Grace grins at him, her eyes crinkling at the corners from her smile. “We can meet on Wednesdays for pie.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Carlos says easily, only half-joking. He likes Grace’s easy energy and can see himself becoming good friends with her. “Now, how do I help you with Rosie?”

 ֎֎֎

 “You and Grace were talking for a while back at the station.”

Carlos looks up from the book in his hand over at TK as he comes out of the bathroom into his bedroom. He licks his lips as he takes his boyfriend in, dressed only in a pair of grey sweats that rest low on his hips.

“Carlos?” TK questions as he runs a towel over his hair, a smile taking over his face when Carlos jerks his gaze from all the tantalizing skin.

“Huh?” he questions, blinking a few times, hoping to focus. He blushes slightly at the knowing chuckle TK gives him in response.

TK throws the towel in the hamper before he crosses the distance to him. He presses a knee on the bed by his thigh, throwing the other over him.

Carlos quickly drops his book on the bedside table, freeing his hands to place them on TK’s hips as he comes to sit on his lap. He runs his thumbs over the soft skin right at the edge of TK’s sweats. This time it’s his turn to smile in satisfaction as the simple touch causes TK to shiver under it, his eyes going hazy and soft as he looks down at him.

“Don’t think you’re distracting me,” TK accuses him softly, even as he sits more firmly on Carlos’ lap, arching into his touch as he moves his hands from his hips to his back, fingers touching the constellation of freckles he now knows by memory. “You two looked deep in conversation. Is everything okay?”

“Grace has a neighbor she’s worried about,” he tells him, watching as TK goes from soft to tense and alert. “She has a bad feeling about the woman’s husband and asked for my opinion as a cop.”

TK frowns, concern replacing the previously touch-induced daze on his face. It’s not surprising to Carlos in the least. He’s pretty sure he’s never met anyone more empathetic than his boyfriend.

“Does she think he’s hurting her?” he asks, worrying his bottom lip in distress.

Carlos runs his hands up and down TK’s back once more, this time not to arouse but comfort. “Maybe,” he says with caution. From everything Grace told him, he understands her worry, but he also doesn’t want to make up an opinion before having all the facts. “She’s going to visit her tomorrow with some food as a late ‘welcome to the neighborhood’ thing, and asked me to tag along.”

TK bites down on his lip even harder, causing Carlos to reach up and press his thumb against it until he releases it. “Hey,” he starts softly. He tips TK’s chin to look at him in the eyes. “It’s fine. I’m just going for support and to offer a helping hand if there’s something to Grace’s concerns.”

“You’ll be careful?” TK questions, his voice low and worried. “Domestic situations have a way of spiraling out of control quickly.”

“Of course,” he answers, tugging TK forward. He lets out a content sound as TK settles on top of him. He turns his face into TK’s damp hair, giving it a kiss. “Everything will be fine, I promise,” he whispers, holding his boyfriend close.

Later, the promise will ring loudly in his ears.

 ֎֎֎

 “Relax,” he says to Grace quietly as they stand on Rosie’s front steps. He arrived at the Ryder’s home thirty minutes earlier and waited as Grace finished her peach cobbler before they crossed the street, food in hand. “You’re just being friendly, and I’m tagging along for the ride.”

“Right,” Grace murmurs back as she presses the doorbell. She spares him a look with a raised brow. “That’s a nice shirt, by the way.”

“TK got it for me a few weeks ago,” he says, running a hand down the light-weight cream color polo. “The color makes me look less intimidating, don’t you think?”

Grace’s mouth quirks upward in amusement. “Carlos, sweetheart, you’re massive. I don’t think a soft-colored shirt will hide what you’re packing. Luckily you have a kind, gentle face to balance out all those muscles.”

Carlos grins at her, his smile growing when she rolls her eyes at him. “Yeah, you’re cute,” she mocks sarcastically, her dimples winking at him.

Carlos laughs at the begrudging compliment and Grace’s teasing ways. It reminds him a lot of his sisters and the way they gently like to mess with him. He’s still mid-laugh when a young woman with long light-brown hair and big green eyes opens the door. Her eyes remind him of TK, and he instantly feels protective of her. He remembers Grace calling her a slip of a girl, and he understands why. She’s small and sweet-looking in a heavy long sleeve shirt and print leggings.

“Grace?” she questions curiously, her eyes shifting quickly from Grace to him and back again.

“Hi Rosie,” Grace greets her with a bright smile that convincingly hides the tension she had moments ago. “This is my friend Carlos,” she points to him, not adding anything else. Better to keep her attention off him as he studies her. He takes in her clothes again, the shirt so big the sleeves come down to her fingertips, the thickness odd for the current warm weather. “He was visiting, and I mentioned I hadn’t had a chance to properly welcome you to the neighborhood, so we made you cobbler. Can we come in?”

Carlos smiles in what he hopes is friendly and reassuring as Rosie sneaks a look at him again. She looks over her shoulder towards the inside of the house before giving them a nod. “Sure, Derek is not home anyway,” she says, stepping aside to let them in.

He lets Grace cross the threshold first, but not before sharing a pointed look with his friend. The mention of her husband and her being comfortable with letting them in because he isn’t home already setting an alarm off for him.

“Sorry about the mess,” she says as she follows them into the living room, where there are still a few moving boxes on the floor. “I haven’t had a chance to put everything away,” she says with a self-conscious chuckle. “I can’t make up my mind where I want things to go. It drives Derek crazy.”

“It’s fine,” he tells her with an understanding smile, speaking for the first time. “When I first moved into my place, it took me a month to put up curtains because I couldn’t decide what color I wanted.”

Rosie gives him a small smile, her shoulders relaxing slightly at his comment. It only makes Carlos more tense and aware. He’s already starting to see what Grace was talking about. Even with the friendly smile on the girl’s face, there is an air of tension around her as she moves – the slightest shake of her hands as she takes the cobbler from Grace while she asks where Derek is.

“Oh, who knows,” she answers with a smile that looks more like a grimace. “He likes to wander about. This looks delicious Grace, thank you. I can’t bake to save my life,” she says with an awkward laugh. “I’ll serve some up, be right back.”

They watch Rosie walk into the kitchen silently before they turn to each other.

“Okay,” he starts once they’re alone. “You’re right something is up. She’s nervous, even scared. She only let us in because he’s not here, and I don’t like how she put herself down twice already, like someone who’s used to hearing negative things about themselves.”

“It’s pretty warm for a sweater today,” Grace comments quietly, her brow wrinkling in the middle as she frowns. “I don’t want to be right about this, Carlos,” she whispers, obviously pained by the idea.

Carlos has only known Rosie for a few minutes, and he knows exactly how she feels. He opens his mouth to reassure her that they will not leave without helping the young woman when the front door opens and the hairs on the back of his neck rise.

Derek – is almost as tall as him but slimmer, with limp, dirty blond hair and cold blue eyes. He has a mean look on his face that Carlos doesn’t like one bit.

“Who the fuck are you?” he sneers at them, making zero effort to hide the fact that he is not happy they’re in his home.

“Derek!” Rosie exclaims as she walks back into the living room with two small plates in her hands. Her eyes are wide as she looks at her husband. “Hi, baby,” she says, trying to smooth her expression out but failing as her eyes dart back and forth rapidly. “You remember Grace, right? She’s our neighbor from across the street.”

“Hello again, Derek,” Grace greets him, but there isn’t a hint of a smile on her face as she looks at him like a bug.

Derek notices if the way his eyes narrow is anything to go by. He turns to him with a raised eyebrow. “And you? Who are you?”

Carlos wonders for a second how he should play this, but as he catches Derek’s angry looks at his wife and how Rosie seems to be shrinking into herself the longer she stands by the archway of the room, he decides to rip the bandaid off and let the chips fall where they may. “I’m a friend of Grace’s, Officer Carlos Reyes with Austin Police.”

The reactions are, unfortunately, instant. Rosie drops one of the plates she’s holding in fright while Derek snaps his neck to look at her.

“What the fuck have you been saying?” he questions her, taking a menacing step forward.

Carlos moves too, getting in the space between them, holding up his hands defensively to Derek. “Back up, man,” he warns him, his voice hardening.

The ugly twist of Derek’s face grows nastier, meaner, and now that he’s closer, Carlos can smell the bourbon coming off him.

“Seriously, Derek, back the fuck up,” he grits out through clenched teeth when the guy takes another step forward, ignoring his warnings.

“You don’t tell me what to do,” Derek all but shouts angrily. “This is my house, and I’ll do whatever the hell I want.”

“Like hurt Rosie?” Grace asks him with a stern look, and while Carlos understands the sentiment, he groans internally at the question and the way it takes Derek’s focus off him to Grace. Behind him, he can hear Rosie quietly crying.

“And what if I do,” Derek questions with another sneer. “What are you or anyone else going to do about it? She’s my wife. I can do what I want with her.”

Grace looks at Derek with the same look of disgust he feels. Quietly he pulls out his phone and sends a quick message to his partner, grateful he had the forethought of mentioning the situation to her before he came.

“Only cowards hurt their wives,” Grace answers with another nauseated look and shake of her head.

Carlos admires her bravery. It proves the wrong thing to say, though, as Derek sticks his hand in his pocket and Carlos catches a flash of silver.

“You have a smart mouth on you, don’t ya?” Derek snarls at Grace with a switchblade in his hand.

He moves, and Carlos does too without really thinking. Like with Rosie, he gets between Derek and Grace, only this time Derek is ready, and he swings his knife-carrying hand at him.

Grace and Rosie both shout, Grace quickly moving out of the way and towards the young woman when she tries to step forward to intervene.

“Derek, stop!”

“Put the knife down, Derek! He’s a cop!”

Derek doesn’t listen to either of them, and neither can Carlos, as he jumps back to avoid the knife being lunged at him. The fight happens for Carlos in a blur as he tries to avoid the blade, disarm Derek and keep him from turning his rage toward Rosie or Grace.

“Please stop!” Rosie screams again, loud, and so scared it breaks Carlos’ focus for a moment. Unfortunately, it’s a moment too long, and he lets out a shout of his own as the knife pierces his skin on the left side of his flank.

Grace shouts, alarmed. “Carlos!”

He holds her back with one hand as she rushes towards him. She shoves it away, placing hers on his wound to put pressure as his shirt quickly stains with his blood.

Derek stares wide at him, the realization of what he’s done coming over his face. He doesn’t have a chance to react further than that as Austin Police barges through the door, Carlos’ partner at the front.

Carlos leans on Grace heavily, and Rosie comes forward to help him stay up as the three of them watch Derek be dragged to his knees and handcuffed.

“You can’t stay out of trouble even on your day off, Reyes,” his partner shakes his head at him before signaling for EMS to come in.

He tries to roll his eyes at her, but he’s starting to feel lightheaded, and he’s just grateful when the gurney rumbles in.

Rosie and Grace hand him off, but not before Rosie apologizes, he tries to reassure her, but he finds it hard to speak as he gets sleepier. He thinks he hears Grace tell her it’s not her fault, and he nods tiredly in agreement.

Looking over at Grace, he smiles, hoping it will ease the worried look on her face. “TK is gonna be pissed about the shirt,” he jokes right before he passes out.

 ֎֎֎

 Carlos wakes up to bright lights in his eyes. He groans, annoyed at them as he tries to cover his face and finds that he’s tugging on his IV.

The hospital, shit.

“Everything will be fine, I promise,” says a soft mocking voice to his right, and when he turns his head, he’s not at all surprised to find TK sitting there with a raised eyebrow, trying to hide his worry behind a sarcastic look. “Getting stabbed, needing surgery, and having your spleen removed doesn’t scream ‘everything is fine’ Carlos Reyes.”

“Hey, baby,” he rasps out, his throat dry like the Sahara. “Sorry about that.”

TK gets up with a deep sigh. He crosses the distance to him and leans down, pressing a kiss on his forehead before he lays his against Carlos’. “You were being a big damn hero, so I forgive you,” he whispers as he touches his nose to Carlos’. “But if you can please avoid getting hurt while you save the world next time, I would appreciate it.”

Carlos makes a humming noise in the back of his throat, closing his eyes for a moment as he basks in TK’s closeness.

“I would have to agree.”

Carlos opens his eyes to find two other people in the room he didn’t notice before. Grace and Judd sit on the other two chairs of the room, both standing when he looks over at them. They walk together to the foot of his bed, and Grace wraps her hand around his ankle, giving it a squeeze.

“If we are going to be friends and go on adventures together, you can’t end up stabbed, honey,” she says with a sweet smile on her face.

“Carlos and Grace save the world,” TK says with a proud but dry smile. He looks over at Judd, sharing a look with the older man. “God help us, brother,” he says, getting a severe nod in return from the cowboy, while Grace scoffs at both of them.

“We didn’t save the world,” Carlos protests at the repeat of those words.

“Tell that to that sweet, scared little thing you two helped get away from her abusive husband,” Judd answers, still somber.

“Yeah,” TK agrees with a nod. He combs a soothing hand through Carlos’ curls. “Pretty sure Rosie would tell you differently.”

“Is she okay?” He asks, seeking Grace’s eyes, letting a relieved exhale when she nods.

“Your partner had a social worker ready, and they are setting her up as we speak,” Grace assures him. “She said thank you.”

Carlos lets out another deep breath. “That’s good.”

Grace looks at him for a moment with a small frown on her face. “You had them ready, even when we weren’t sure if I was right – “

“I trust your judgment, Grace,” he interrupts, answering her silent question. “You knew – so I prepared.”

Grace gives his ankle another squeeze, and Carlos nods at her in understanding.

“We should go,” she says with a smile. “I’m sure TK wants to scold you some more and then smother you with kisses.”

TK lets out a sound of protest that has Judd snorting. It makes Carlos chuckle despite the pain it causes.

“Pie on Wednesday?” he asks Grace, grinning at the twinkle that enters her eyes as she smiles back widely at him.

“I’ll see you in my kitchen – 4ish?” she points at him. She starts to turn with Judd after he agrees, but the older man stands still, looking at him.

“Thanks for keeping my baby safe, brother,” Judd says to him quietly.

Carlos swallows hard, the weight of the words impacting him. He looks up at TK to find him staring at him with a soft loving look on his face. “You keep mine safe all the time, just returning the favor.”

The Ryders both smile at him as they leave; Grace makes a signal that she’ll call him, blowing him and TK a kiss before closing the door, leaving them alone.

“So you and Grace are friends now.”

“Yeah,” Carlos answers, smiling at the comment and how true it is. They’re friends now.

“That’s cool,” TK says, smiling as he sits at the edge of his bed. “But for mine and Judd’s sake, can you two keep the dangerous situations to a minimum?”

Carlos snorts at the comment, grinning when TK rolls his eyes.

“Yeah, I know,” he grumbles sarcastically. “Look who’s talking, right?”

“You said it, not me.”

TK shakes his head, but his expression goes soft as he looks at him. “I was so scared when Grace called me,” he tells him with a trembling smile. “But then she told us how you kept her and Rosie safe, and I was so proud of you, baby.”

Carlos reaches for him, tugging on his hand until TK gets the hint, and lies next to him on the small bed, resting his head on Carlos’ shoulder, his arm going around him, careful of his wound.

“I love you,” TK whispers into the slope of his neck.

Carlos closes his eyes as tiredness starts to take over again. He’s in some mild pain, and he’s sure there is gonna be a mountain of paperwork later waiting for him, but Grace and Rosie are safe, and he’s in TK’s arms, so everything is okay in his book.

He turns his face towards TK’s, finding it inches away as TK looks up at him.

Pressing a kiss against his lips, swallowing the soft, peaceful sigh TK lets out, he whispers back. “I love you too.”