#Alfred luckily doesn’t put up with this

[amevdw]

[timmydraker]

Tim had a jumper that doesn’t seem all that special, but to Alfred, Bruce and Dick is incredibly important. Dare they say vital to caring for Tim.

It’s a big wooly thing, once a pale mossy green but now with a hint of brown and white from fading and use. It’s too big for him to the point that the sleeves have to be bunched up when worn and even than they hang over his hands.

It looks like a dress on him, which isn’t help but his naturally slim build.

The jumper is held in such high regard because when Tim puts it on it means that he’s not feeling like he usually does.

His confidence, his snark, his wit, and his mental strength is either hard to reach or impossible.

Tim, in the only instance he actually talked about what was going on when he wasn’t wearing the jumper, said he felt both like a tiny little fish in a giant pond and like his skin was a sheet of paper.

Bruce talked to Dinah about it and said it was most likely a form of mental regression, but Tim refused for it to be called him being ‘little’ or anything that would remind him of being a kid again.

Because he doesn’t act like a kid, but maybe it’s not right to associate Tim Drake with a normal child behaviour pattern. He doesn’t babble or whine or want to watch kids shows like Dinah had suggest he might, but he does go non verbal or only say one or two words in response to pretty much anything.

He puts his jumper on and will just… sit there.

Tim is always moving or thinking, always doing, but when he gets in his ‘jumper state’ as Alfred calls it, he tends to slow down completely and just want to sit somewhere warm and feel the fluff of his carefully maintained jumper.

Sometimes, he seeks out warmth outside of heaters and fires and the sun.

It’s on one of those days when Tim stalks down to the Cave with his jumper on, hair messy over his head and hands held up to his chest in an almost shy manner.

Jason notices him first and simply raises an eyebrow in confusion while Damian scoffs, “What on earth are you wearing, Drake? That looks moldy-“

But Tim doesn’t even look at him, eyes on the floor as he goes over to Bruce at the computer and pokes the older man’s shoulder once before retracting his hand.

Bruce immediately turns and opens his arms, an almost heartbroken look on his face as he lets Tim drawl onto his lap and bury his face in the crook of his neck.

“I’ve got you. Anything in particular or just one of those days?”

Tim speaks in a voice like a husk that Damian and Jason only hear because they’ve come closer and sound travels in the cave, “Janet, birthday.”

Bruce Wayne, The Batman, The Caped Crusader, then fucking coos and kisses his head before rocking him slightly.

“That makes sense. Do you need someone here tonight? I can call Dick or stay myself if you need.”

The two other boys in the room look at each other, shocked to hear Bruce say he will give up a patrol to seemingly cuddle someone.

Tim shakes his head, “Alfred.”

Bruce nods, kissing his head again and saying, “Thank you for coming to me so I can help you. I’m so proud of you for not making yourself go through this alone again.”

It’s not exactly a whine that leaves Tim, but it’s not a word that is Bruce’s answer.

Jason comes forward and awkwardly scratches the back of his head, “I don’t really know what’s going on, but can I like… help or something?”

Bruce smiled as Tim nods against him after a few moments, the boy in his arms turning to reach a hand out for Jason and then strangely patting the hand Jason offers up for him.

Damian, not trying to be rude but needing to understand what is going on, clears his throat and demands, “Explain what is wrong with Drake.”

Luckily Bruce had gotten better at understanding how his son communicates and looks to Tim for permission before answering, “Sometimes Tim needs to… be free of responsibility and just feel like a person for a bit. He isn’t always up for talking and just wants to be around people he trust, and me, Dick and Alfred have managed to convince him to actually come to us when he needs that.”

Bruce smiles at where at where Tim is holding Jason’s hand and swinging it around a bit before feeling over the rough calluses and thick fingers with apparent joy.

Damian frowns a little at his father’s explanation but nods regardless, “Very well, we shall set up the family room for the evening before we head out for patrol.”

Bruce smiled and pulls Damian’s head over to kiss his hairline as he hears Jason mutter, “Weird little guy, aren’t ya?”

Tim hums and pinches his finger and smiling at his older brothers yelp.

[spicy-apple-pie]

Imagine Damian not acknowledging that he suffers from Metal Spine-itis and the pain that it causes him. Mostly because he would have to stop Robining for awhile and he only really gets to hang out with his dad when he’s patrolling with him.

But one day he wakes up in excruciating pain and literally cannot move, he can’t even cry for help. Luckily Bruce realizes that Damian has slept in and it’s very unlike him. Alfred says that it’s good for him, he’s a growing boy that needs his sleep. But Bruce’s dad senses are tingling so he goes up to check on him.

He rushes Damian to the ER and they’re put into a room very quickly and Damian is given some very strong drugs for the pain while they wait for tests. And while he’s hopped up on painkillers he starts crying.

“Does it still hurt, kiddo? Where is it?” Bruce asks, wiping tears from his cheeks. Damian tries to shake his head, but winces and just whispers out

“No.” Damian gasps, “I just- I just don’t want to lose Robin.”

“Don’t worry about that, sweetheart.” Bruce runs his hands through Damian’s hair. “Your health comes first, okay?”

“No!” Damian grunts, “I only get to see you when I’m Robin. I don’t want to lose Robin.”

And Bruce kinda is in shock for a bit before his brain is like “one problem at a time.” And he focuses on getting Damian feeling better.

So then he organizes at least one day a week where him and Damian hang out. And then he starts doing it with all of his kids.

And some days, Damian comes to him saying that his back hurts and he needs some comfort. Sometimes Bruce isn’t sure if his back really does hurt, but it doesn’t matter. He still gives any affection Damian allows.

[clockwayswrites]

For the Birdicts. Part 27

Masterpost

There were gentle fingers in his wings.

Danny muffled the sleepy, hysterical chuckle at that thought into the soft surface that he was tucked against. He really had hoped that he wouldn’t have wings any longer when he woke, but when had he ever been that lucky.

The fingers stilled.

“Danny?” The person rumbled.

Very much did not wanting to be awake, Danny replied with a disgruntled grumble.

A chuckle answered him back. The finger picked back up the gentle touch to Danny’s wings. As Danny’s mind continued to come online, he realized that the fingers were fixing and straightening the mussed feathers.

It actually felt rather nice.

Danny let himself continue to drift for a little longer. Let his wings be cared for. The soft, unflinching touch helped make the new limbs feel less unnatural, even if the weight of them were still heavy on his back. He felt unsteady as he sat up.

The hands moved from his wings to help brace Danny.

“Careful, you might be a little disoriented. It’s been quite a day.”

Bruce. Apparently he’d fallen asleep on top of Bruce. He hadn’t needed to embarrass himself any more that day and yet there he was, falling asleep on Bruce Wayne after a panic attack.

Danny pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes and hoped he wasn’t blushing too horribly. “I am so sorry.”

“For what?” Bruce asked. He sounded genuinely confused.

“Falling asleep on you, apparently.” And really on Bruce it seemed. Even sitting up and back he was still practically on the other man’s lap.

(Worse, Danny really just wanted to curl back up and sleep some more.)

“Oh,” Bruce said with a chuckle. “With how large a family I have, that’s nothing to worry about. I’m very used to being a pillow for others. Besides, you needed the rest and after today it’s more than understandable that you’d want someone close.”

That was… fair enough, Danny supposed. He took a deep breath and lowered his hands to cross them over his bare chest. He offered Bruce an apologetic little smile. “Still…”

“Still nothing,” Bruce said and waved the matter aside. “Now, Jason and Dick are back from your place. They weren’t able to find any clothing that would work around your wings there.”

Danny rubbed at the back of his neck. “Ah, they wouldn’t. I haven’t… it hasn’t been long enough to deal with that even if I knew where to start.”

“Luckily for you, we haven an Alfred,” Bruce said as he leaned forward and and grabbed something fabric from off of the coffee table. “He worked his magic and modified this into something that should work around your wings.”

“Really?” Danny took what looked like just a well worn Gotham Knights sweatshirt and turned it over in his hands. Oh, Alfred really had worked his magic. Danny ran his fingers over the cut and stitched splits in fabric and the snaps under them. “Wow, he just went and made this?”

“Alfred is a man of many skills and not to be underestimated,” Bruce said with a chuckle. “I’m sure that he’ll ask you if it needs any changes before he does any other versions.”

“Other versions?”

“Something to sleep in and another shirt at least ,” Bruce said as if that clarified much of anything. “Since we aren’t sure how long the wings will last and you should be comfortable here.”

“He really—I mean I appreciate it so much,” Danny said as he pulled on the sweater quickly, “but Alfred doesn’t need to put all that effort into this for me.”

“You really can’t stop him. The comfort of people in this manor are paramount to him and he has something in his mind now to improve your comfort,” Bruce said. “He will think that this is the least that he can do.”

Danny blinked at that. “I’m a little scared of what he thinks I the most he can do then.”

“You should be. He is a force of nature. If you’ll turn, I’ll do up the snaps for you,” Bruce said.

Danny gratefully twisted, glad he was turned so that Bruce didn’t see his wince.

“I imagine that your back must be sore from this,” Bruce said, ruining Danny’s hope that he hid his pain. “I will find where one of the heating pads are for you to use later.”

“It’s fine,” Danny said quickly. “I don’t want to—”

“Danny,” Bruce spoke over him. His hands gently smoothed down the fabric under Danny’s wings. “You saved my family today. Even beyond that, my children seem to have become quite fond of you. You aren’t a bother. While you are here to have the help, let us take care of you a little, please?”

Danny chewed on his lip.

“If nothing else, it will help the children worry less.”

There really was no refusing that, was there?

“Only so people don’t worry,” Danny said. “And I do mean ‘people’. Don’t think that you’re hiding your worry.”

Luckily Bruce chuckled a that. “Hiding my worry is something I’m not very good at. And yes, I am a worrier. My children have told me that enough times that I accept the title.”

“Well, as long as you know,” Danny said as he stood. He could feel the heat rising in his cheeks between the conversation and Bruce’s hands against his back and just needed to take a moment to just breathe. The wings shifted with the deep breath, rising and falling into a relaxed fan.

“I know that you have understandable issues with the wings,” Bruce said softly from behind Danny, “but they really are quite stunning.”

Even the back of Danny’s neck felt hot now and he rubbed at it as he cleared his throat. “I, um, thank you.”

Bruce gave a soft hum. He must have stood too because a moment later a hand brushed over Danny’s wings and then Bruce was beside him. “Let’s go track down some of my children so we can make sure they brought everything you need.”

“Right, yeah, that’s a good idea. Lead the way.”

[euphoria-looney]

Hold Me, Console Me, And then I’ll Leave Without a Trace, No One Noticed by The Marias

Before we start this has many ideas for authors and some are specific, so if you notice “Hey that looks like what idea I put into my post” PLEASE TELL ME, I would love to give you credit, bc I probably would have never made this without it!

and greatgooglymoogly (my friend, I don't discriminate against other greatgogglymoogly's) if you see this scroll, admire how aesthetic this post is and scroll./j

(This has a mother!darling and a daughter!darling, and they are separate from the reader- unless you decide they aren’t 😍😍)

gn!reader (if I accidentally make them seem too feminine, I’m sorry 😞)

So Much More.

Pt. 1

All my life, I held onto this thin piece of thread called hope. It started off as a rope, almost strangled myself with it, but as time went on and as it started dwindling down, it started snapping.

So, now, the only thing that kept this “rope” connected was a thin piece of thread, too bad, it broke. Due to people who were honestly victims.

Bruce Wayne.

Everyone knows him, who cares if you love him, who cares if you hate him, I mean eat the rich, and who cares if you don’t care about him. To me, he’s a good-for-nothing sperm donor who was also my landlord.

My dear mother, (M/N) (L/N). What a diva she was. She gave me everything and so much more. She embraced me in such comfort that I could feel myself slipping when it disappeared from right under me.

Gotham City is one of the many crime-raided cities there is in the world, anything could go wrong.

Luckily for momma, she died through a natural death, unluckily for me, she was my everything. I mean really, a child no older than 4 frantically searching for something, anything. Desperation creeping in, dialing an emergency call, with terrible service and small fat fingers that didn’t even know how to operate such a stupid telephone that only worked if you used it at an angle.

May my dearest momma lay in a field of flowers, sunlight kissing her skin, that was the fantasy she told me she’d love to take me to. Something Gotham City could only be reached if there was no such thing as heroes, villains, or vigilantes.

If it wasn’t for my appearance I’d would had gone to an orphanage, th officer or whatever he was, Gorgan? Gordon? Doesn’t matter, he called him someone.

a man who seemed so formal and elegant showed up, he would be my father figure, for the time I would spend in the manor. Since, it just so happens I had a 100 percent match with a certain millionaire, billionaire. The man that showed up was none other than my light in the dim, depressing place.

Alfred, the butler for the Bruce Wayne.

Ecstatic, I was, that’s when the rope appeared, my thoughts ran rapid.

Do I have siblings? How many? How’s my dad?

Questions after question, answered with… I hope you’re hungry for…

nothing 😐-

Alfred had answered all my questions, of course I met them all… eventually,

Richard, other wise known as “Dick”

He tried to give the impression to the family as a caring big brother. Well, not to me obviously. When he first met me, his first words were “Who’s the kid?”

“Who’s the kid?” Dick asked

“This is your new sibling, [name] Wayne”

He was there, for y’know that one second, moving on Tim.

Tim

I’ve never held a conversation with him, he breezed past me.

Jason.

BFFs, before he died, then came back to life, then shut me out.

Barbara, Cassandra, and Stephanie

Was my idol, but they stuck their head up so high that they didn’t notice me. Making her nothing more than a second thought in my head.

Duke

Sweet kid, from what I've seen in the shadows.

Damian

He really, broke me in, hell if anyone’s impacted me, it’s him.

degrading me like I was a bug infestation.

Then he stopped, saying “I don’t have time to waste on you.”

Are you kidding me?

I did everything and more for the attention of my family.

Sports? You name it. I probably did it.

Instruments? Do you even know how many medals I've won?

Singing and dance are challenging but that doesn't mean I'm not perfect to the T.

But nothing worked, it's funny you'd think, with how pathetic I am, especially with all these attempts that idiotic thin thread would've already snapped.

No.

Do you know what made it snap? [M/D] and [D/D]. (The second D- stands for darling)

The pair were everyone's obsession.

[M/D], Bruce Wayne's one true love, if this hasn't been obvious my mother was a fling/rebound of Mr. Wayne. [M/D], beautiful, kind, and the object in the family's eyes. It's quite sad if anything, she's like a caged bird.

[D/D], younger than Damian.

Oh, I haven't given you the age scale from oldest to youngest.

Dick and Barbara are the same age, being the oldest

Jason

Tim, Stephanie, and Cassandra

Me

Duke

Damian

[D/D]

Out of these many children. Three are blood-related with Bruce Wayne, Me, Damian, and [D/D].

I'm getting off track.

[D/D], adored, so small you'd want to keep her in your pocket.

One thing was clear about these two. They were everything to the Wayne family.

That's when the string broke.

They came probably by force and hated the very thing I wanted, attention, and love.

I wish I could say I hate them, as they were parallel to me and my mother.

My mother, who was the other woman.

My mother, who never held a grudge.

My mother, who died in a cold, dark room.

My mother, who could never see what type of person I am today.

But I couldn't hate them. I can't. They were the only other ones who gave me that family bond that wanted for so long.

It didn't help that they seemed to deem me to be the favorite. [M/D] loved to be my 'mother' and in her eyes, I was her favorite child, of course behind [D/D] since I was normal compared to them.

[D/D] If I'm near her, maybe grabbing a snack while the family is having 'family game night' she'd somehow spot me, giving that puppy-eyed look, pulling me to join them.

I would, if it's not for the way I would feel these eyes boring on me.

'Why do you have to be here, why are you ruining the moment, who are you?'

I'd pull my hand away, shaking my head, patting her hair, before making it back to the dim, dark hallway, so empty, that you could hear each echo of the step.

As I sit here complaining, at least today's, the day. I'm officially 18.

That's right. 18 years of age and everything I just wrote down has been a recap of my life.

This is my 14th journal. For each year that I've been in the manor, I had a journal, that captured each year of my life, from my emo phase to my popular phase, and now here, the year I graduate, the year that I officially move out.

My first journal was a composition journal, Alfred had no idea what I would like, everyone else was busy according to him, he gave me this journal and told me to write everything I felt, and nobody would ever see it. It's stained definitely. My first-ever entry was: "I wish I got a pet to keep me company, at least that would be better than this stupid silence."

Okay, so maybe there were a lot of spelling mistakes. I don't need to write it down. Even trying to decipher that whole sentence was hard. Not the point I would lose interest every few months before coming back to it. Then it became a hobby. It's very important to me.

I graduated yesterday, too bad nobody was there. Alfred was too busy to come to celebrate it, since graduations are long and take a while, his job came first before anything. Today is my birthday, it's a joke if anything. The day before my graduation is my birthday. I bought this journal yesterday as a little celebration gift and to me in general to celebrate my birthday.

That should be all for my entry.

Yours truly,

[Name] [Last Name]

-

Standing up I glance at my bookshelf filled with different genres of books, split into non-fiction and fiction. Journals filled with information from books, facts that mattered, and scenes that hit me deeply.

Junk journals, bullet journals, and the sheld that mattered the most to me.

My personal journals. 15 journals including the one that I was holding my hand.

A knock broke my thoughts, I slipped the journal I had in my hand onto the shelf before opening the door.

"Happy birthday, young master. I made a cupcake batch for you. Even an edible candle." He held cupcakes to me arranged so delicately with a candle on the center cupcake.

I'm going to miss him so much when I leave. So much so that I didn't even notice the tears slipping from my eyes.

"Oh dear, young master, I'm so sorry that I missed your graduation yesterday, and of course, the others wanted to be there- they were-"

"No, it's not that Alfred- Thank you so much, for everything." I engulfed him in a hug. Something I hadn't done since I was a child.

He held me and consoled me before leaving as it seemed [D/D] had adopted another feral animal or something like that.

I smiled and nodded at him when he apologized for having to go, shaking my head in understanding.

I looked over everything in my room. I would leave everything behind, including my journals. Even the newly bought one. If I was going to leave. I wanted to at least have something that showed.

I existed.

I would leave without a trace that I had left in the first place. And even leaving all these books here, I'm sure you couldn't even tell this would be a room without the bed, just some library with random entries from this random room.

Like a coward, I'll leave a letter for Alfred. For him, and only him.

With that, I bid the manor goodbye. With whatever presents I had anyway.

Also if this is cringy, just let me be delusional and believe that I ate this shit up.

Kind of new to how to format on Tumblr, and how to make posts pretty.

Anyway I wrote this with Grammarly so if you see any mistakes with the writing, I say "boo"

Hoped you enjoyed, bc I'm brewing up the next part... and also how to make a masterlist and all that jazz.

[sitepathos]

What if on the night of our death Alfred really did come back. Like perhaps a feeling or an urge to return before his vacation was up feeling that something was happening something bad. And he discovers us missing from the manor and found out the others got a ransom call but brushed it off. Would it change the current events , if so what happens ?

Look, if you were to say Alfred has the Meta Gene, I’d believe it. Honestly, that would explain how he’s strong enough to carry all of Wayne Manor and the Batfamily on his back. Batman is called the Greatest Detective in the World, but Alfred is the true holder of the title. He can tell something’s wrong with you just by seeing how you walk and trust me, nothing escapes his gaze.

Anyway, let’s just say he decided to come home the night you’re kidnapped. And oh boy, does shit get real.

In this scenario, he gets back sometime after the Bats left the cave, which was just after the phone call. The moment he walks through that door, he knows something is wrong right away. You’ve heard of Spider Senses, well, this is Alfred Senses and when something is wrong in his house, he knows it instantly, be it something breaking, a mess, or something concerning a family member.

And as he’s able to track all of the Bats on the Batcomputer in the Cave, he knows something has a happened to you and he can feel a few years being shaved off his life. While he’s pulling up your location on the computer, he sees the house recently received a call from an unknown number and when he listens to the recording (I’m positive Bruce records every call made to and from the landlines), his heart stops altogether.

And when he sees the number came from a burner phone, meaning there’s no way of tracking it, he loses it, beating himself up for leaving when he knew the family wouldn’t give you the proper attention and care. Luckily for him, your phone is still active and broadcasting your location, giving him a sliver of hope.

The signal is coming from My Alibi, meaning you’re probably surrounded by thugs. And with the Bats busy looking for Joker, that means he’s on his own.

When I say this man has an arsenal of firearms that would make Jason jealous, it’s no exaggeration. He puts on a bulletproof vest, loads up with his trusty shotgun, multiple pistols, and a dozen different kind of grenades, and drives off in his car like a bat out of hell (pun intended). I mean, this man would make John Wick afraid for his life.

When he gets there, he’s ready to wage war on everyone in that building and raze it to the ground. He storms in there, ready to shoot at the first person to look at him funny, but is greeted by a total massacre; everyone in the building is dead.

He finally locates the source of the slaughter: a figure in black armor cornering three men in the back of the bar. He watches in awe as the figure kills the man he’s holding by the neck before swiftly killing the other two, leaving only him and this creature.

When it turns, he raises his shotgun, ready to fill it full of lead—

“Alfred,” it says in a familiar voice. That’s when the armor disappears, revealing you, staring at him in total shock. “Why are you here?”

“Master Y/N,” he whispers, quickly lowering his weapon for fear of it accidentally going off and hurting you.

The entire time, he feared for your life, afraid that by the time he reached you, he’d find you dead and he would have to go through another funeral for one of his grandchildren. But, here you are, alive and unharmed.

It doesn’t matter that you just slaughtered all the bar’s patrons, everyone in here was common scum and the world is better off without them.

He takes a step towards you, wanting nothing more than to take you in his arms and never let go, to bring you back to the manor and put this awful night behind both of you.

That’s when you turn sprout a pair of wings and burst through the ceiling, flying away from him as fast as you can, you face horrified that the man you love and respect more than anyone else in the world has just seen you murder over a dozen people in a single evening.

[delusionalmultifandomwriter]

can you do a fluffy fic where bruce wants a hug from his kids but doesn’t know how to as?

PS i love ur writing style

I love this one!

Have fun!

Words: 1663

Bruce Wayne was a man that struggled with voicing his needs. Not only needs like foor or sleep but also his needs for affection. He was Batman, he was too tough for a hug. But he would have needed one. He was aware that everyone needed a hug every now and then. He just struggled to ask.

With Dick it was easy. He grew up in a giant family and with acrobatics he was used to constant touching and hugging and holding on to the people who he viewed as his family. Often he would also sleep in his parents bed, cozy and cuddled up between them.

After Bruce adopted Dick, he thought it would be more difficult to compensate for the missing family. Bruce was severly touch-starved. His parents used to sometimes pet his head, his mother fixed his clothes before events but they weren't really the ones to hug him.

Bruce was raised by Alfred and appareantly it is not very formal or British to hug the son of your former employer.

Luckily, Dick didn't know anything about Britishness or formal etiquette, he just knew that he was bursting with love that had to go somewhere. Dick hugged everyone. He hugged Alfred when he thanked him for cooking and the butler was suprised the first few times but always put one hand on the boy's shoulder and one on his head and smiled. "It is my pleasure, Master Richard." He even hugged Detective Gordon sometimes.

But most important, Dick hugged Bruce. He climbed on his lap, he hugged him after patrol or for goodnight and he introduced something to Bruce that he called a 'hug attack'. Dick would launch himself at Bruce and wrap his limbs around him and Bruce would hold him tightly and never let go first.

Dick hated sleeping alone. It took him some time and enabling from Bruce but finally, finally het got comforable around Bruce and spend some nights cuddled up next to Bruce, sharing some warmth with him.

The truth is, Bruce needed this affection just as much as Dick needed it. Dick was a handful but he would never let a day pass without at least one hug. He needed it to thrive, like air, water and food. Bruce never had to ask for a hug, he got spoiled with them.

Nightwing stormed out of the manor and Bruce heart sank. It ripped a hole in his soul. The heart ache crept back up. The king-size bed was too much for him. Too big. Too cold. Even after they forgave eachother, it wasn't the same anymore. Bruce never asked him for a hug, he didn't want to break the fragile relationship between them.

Jason was not cuddly. He didn't fear affection, he just never received it before and therefore didn't knew the advantage of it. Bruce asked him once if he wanted a hug and Jason stared at him like he was observing a car crash. He gave Bruce a weird half-hug and Bruce never asked again.

After Jason died, Bruce was numb. Numb to physical and mental pain and whatever the touch-staved heart ache classified as. He failed both of his sons.

Barbara and Bruce never came to a point in their relationship where they would hug. Barbara had a family, she was not dependent on Bruce. They would work together and very occassionally she stayed in the manor overnight but other than that they never exchanged affection. The closest thing to affection was Bruce carrying Barbara up some stairs after she got paralyzed.

Bruce layed awake at night, rolling around in his sheets. On bad nights, he felt a weird distance from his body. His heart was cramping and he layed there, numb until the sun started to rise and he went back to work.

Tim also wasn't much of a hugger. He was someone to shake hands. He liked to keep everyone on arms length. Little did Bruce know that Tim craved affection just as much as himself. Tim could have used a hug or a head pet every now and then. He was physically suffering from his touch deprivation but he never learned how to voice it. He was a lot like Bruce.

Tim ended up exchanging affection with Dick. Dick hugged him or lifted him up and spun him around and Bruce felt like he missed an opportunity. It was stupid but secretly he was jealous of them. He missed the chance to ask Tim if he wanted a hug, a chance that probably would have worked out.

Stephanie was sassy. She made herself unapproachable to Bruce. He never found out but Steph would preferably cuddle with Babs and Cass. He fired her from the Robin position before they got close enough to exchange hugs. Bruce was still numb. He was sure that he had failed them all.

Cass flinched when people got too close. Bruce tried to offer affection to her but he couldn't really find the words when she flinched away because he came closer than 3 feet. She locked her door while sleeping and never even let Bruce carry her when she got injuried. He was angry that she got broken at such a young age. He needed a hug but he didn't want to overstep her boundaries.

Bruce knew that Damian would probably stab him when he offered a hug. The kid was rough around the edges, Bruce knew that Talia carried him as a toddler and that was probably everything Damian ever received considering love and affection. By now, Bruce had gotten over the pain and the disappointment and all the negative emotions. He was sure that Damian didn't even want affection.

That was, until Damian and he returned from a particular long and exhausting patrol. After changing, he expected Damian to go straight into his room but he purposefully walked over to Jason who was sitting on the couch and drawing in his sketchbook, and sat down on the couch next to him. He leaned against his shoulder lightly.

Jason looked down at him and they exchanged a few whispered words before Jason put the sketchbook and the pen down and picked Damian up. The smaller boy wrapped his arms around Jason's neck and leaned his head on his shoulder, relaxing into the arms of the older boy. Jason held him like he would break when he handled him too harshly and carried him upstairs out of the cave. Bruce looked after them, frozen in place. The realization that he missed another chance crushed him.

Later Bruce quietly opened Damian's bedroom door and saw the smaller boy sleeping in the arms of his older brother. Bruce knew that due to their shared history in the League of Assassins, they shared a special connection. One that appareantly allowed Jason to share a bed with Damian and even hold him. He closed the door silently and headed back to work.

After Damian's ressurection, Bruce collapsed. His body shut down from exhaustion. He woke up in his own bed, in his own clothes, an uncertain amount of time later. He slowly got up and groaned as he sat down on his bedside. He heard the door open and slowly turnedhead, Damian entered the room.

Bruce jumped up and approached him. He pulled him in a tight hug, his son had been dead without knowing that Bruce loved him. Damian was taken aback but didn't even make a sassy comment. He lightly wraped his arms around Bruce and stayed quiet as Bruce held him close and tried not to break down sobbing.

After a full 10 minutes, Damian's arms got sore and he tried to let go but Bruce continued to hold him. Damian grumbled a little. "I give out hugs in rates, father, you don't have to take them all at once." Bruce finally let go of Damian and eyed him closely. He looked completly normal, healthy, rosy, not a scare to his body, at least not a new one.

Bruce finally let go of Damian. The boy took a step back and shot Bruce a critical gaze. Bruce sighed, the distant cold feeling disappeared a little. Damian rolled his eyes but leaned forward again and hugged Bruce.

Bruce was taken aback. "Damian, you don't have to--" "Hold your tongue, father, we all know you want physical contact."

After that, something changed. Dick hugged him from time to time, Jason nudged their shoulders together and Damian sometimes hugged him when he was a little exhausted.

The biggest surprise was Tim, who Bruce happened to find in his bed one night. The small boy was curled up under the sheets when Bruce stumbled into his bedroom after the patrol. He spotted the small body under the blankets and thought that it was Damian until he sat down next to the boy.

"Tim?" He asked confused while he shifted under his blankets. Tim slowly lifted his head and mumbled something incoherent. "What are you doing here? Are you okay?" Tim nodded drowsily and layed his head back down on the pillow. "Dick said you needed cuddles." The boy mumbled. "Need affection. We all do."

Bruce nodded slowly. "How come Dick thinks that?" He asked while he layed down. Tim scoted closer slowly until his head rested on Bruce's arm. "Noone hugs you. He realized after Damian told him you hugged him for 'n eternity."

Bruce swallowed down a sob and sighed heavily. "You okay?" Tim asked. Bruce just nodded and wrapped his arms around Tim to hold him close. "Yeah. I'm good."

"You could have asked for a hug, ya know?" Tim asked, now a little more awake. "At least Dick and i would have said yes."

Bruce nodded while he pulled the blanket back over Tim.

"I will. Thank you. I love you, Tim. I love you all, im so glad you got my back." Bruce whispered.

Tim smiled against the pillow.

"We love you too, Dad."

-----

Same work on Ao3:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/55397404

[were-wolverine]

selina adopts dick au - details

- bruce and selina are dating when she adopts dick, and continue to date on and off. they get married after bruce adopts jason but still live separately because selina values her independence

- dick and jason (and later tim) have sleepovers all the time when they’re younger

- each of the boys has their own specific cat at Selina’s that they got to name. dick has a calico named Penny, jason has a tabby named Ernest and tim has a tuxedo named Mittens

- babs dick jason and tim went to Gotham Academy together (in this au it’s a K-12)

- babs & dick are best friends that flirt as vigilantes cuz they think it’s funny. they were friends as civilians first before revealing their identities which just made them even closer

- since selina is good friends with Harley & Ivy, and dick doesn’t work with Batman, they are basically dick’s aunties. him and harley do gymnastics together and she teaches him self-defense, ivy helps him with his chemistry homework and they often garden together

(he makes them promise not to hurt Batboy because that’s his little brother!! and so they usually just tie him up and put him in the corner while they deal with Batman lol)

- dick as Stray will often lead Batboy on chases to distract him when Batman fights some of his more ruthless rogues, because he’d rather have jason chase him and some priceless museum artifact than get hurt by a villain. he always lets jason catch him and return the artifacts in the end bc jason doesn’t call the cops on him lol

note: babs becomes Batgirl at 14 about a year after dick becomes Stray. jason (13) becomes Batboy when dick is 16 and babs is 17

- so: babs (17) is Batgirl, dick (16) is Stray and jason (13) is Batboy. tim (10) is not a vigilante but basically lives with dick and selina atp. they all know each other’s identities and go to school together

- babs (18) is shot by the joker about a year into jason (14) being Batboy. she becomes Oracle after teaching herself how to hack

- after graduating she moves to boston and goes to harvard law, but still helps Batman as Oracle

- dick (17) is a senior, jason (14) is a freshman, and tim (11) is in like 6th grade. dick continues to be Stray and jason continues to be Batboy until they graduate

- jason is 15 when he decides not to look for his birth mom (Sheila Haywood) and spends a few months living with selina before returning to the manor (mostly for alfred)

- when babs returns from boston after two years (she graduates early bc she’s a genius like that) she becomes a more permanent presence as Oracle and this is when tim asks to be her apprentice

- dick (19) went to college for a year before dropping out and enrolling in a paramedics program, which he is about halfway through (they take two years in NJ)

- around this time is when dick gives Stray to tim and instead becomes Nightwing (he read about the Kryptonian legend in an interview with Superman by Lois Lane), a vigilante that mainly does detective work and helps injured people instead of fighting criminals

- jason (16) is a junior and plans to leave Batboy behind when he goes to college

- luckily, this is when steph (14) as Spoiler shows up and basically forces Batman to train her. jason thinks she is hilarious and they become good friends. tim (13) is Stray atp and they end up having (another) Batman/Catwoman dynamic as Stray and Spoiler

- tim and steph do date briefly but decide they are better off as friends. the Cats are way less uptight about their identities so steph knows Stray & Nightwing are tim & dick

- dick still lives in Selina’s apartment with her and tim. he briefly dorms at Gotham University for the year he’s there but ultimately moves back (he misses his mom and his little brother and the cats)

- Spoiler helps out Batman when he needs an extra hand but prefers to patrol with Nightwing and be his crime-fighting partner while he helps the victims. they work really well together

- Stray and Spoiler honestly don’t cross paths very often unless they are purposefully hanging out together or both following Nightwing around

- jason helps train steph before he goes off to college and when he does, babs give steph the Batgirl mantle. she works more with Batman after jason leaves but still patrols with NW when she can

- jason goes abroad for college and later talia invites him to the League to be trained and tutored (talia and bruce are exes but ended on good terms. talia and selina are good friends and gossip about bruce). she also appoints him as her son’s bodyguard (she doesn’t mention that Damian is bruce’s… not yet at least)

- jason is also still sent to the All Caste cuz i think he deserves magic swords. in nanda parbat he is trained in martial arts and gets tutors for anything he wants to learn. talia basically adopts him as her own (selina is 100% aware of this and is happy for them, she and jason were never as close as her and dick or tim)

note: i changed this from jason’s original ending bc i wanted to include talia and damian

- tim is sent to boarding school by his dad and for a few months steph steps in as Stray. selina is eventually able to get custody of tim and bring him back to gotham, and he gets Stray back as steph chooses to become Spoiler again

- during the time tim is at boarding school, bruce finds and adopts cass. steph gives her Batgirl so she can sub in as Stray. cass happily takes on the role and loves working alongside bruce

(random side note: selina and talia have def hooked up before and talia calls both selina and bruce ‘beloved’)

timeline/ages

babs (20) is Oracle, dick (19) is Nightwing, jason (16) is Batboy, tim (13) is Stray, and steph (14) is Spoiler

after that we skip a year or two. babs (22) is still Oracle, dick (21) is still Nightwing, jason (18) is off in college, tim (15) is still Stray and steph (16) is Batgirl

the next year jason (19) is with the League, tim (16) is at boarding school, steph (17) is temporarily Stray and cass (18) is Batgirl

[bluejaysandblackbats]

Catch and Release

Fandom: DC Comics, Batfam

Summary: AU where Jason doesn't die in the explosion and he and Tim end up attending the same high school months later.

Chapters: 15/?

Characters: Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, Sebastian Ives, Jack Drake, Janet Drake, Donna Troy

Relationships: TBA

Additional Tag: Jason Todd Lives, Jason Todd-centric, POV Jason Todd, POV First Person, Tim Drake Has Issues, Tim Drake Has Issues, Tim Drake is Not Robin, Jason Todd is Not Robin (Anymore), Bruce Wayne Needs a Hug, Alfred Pennyworth is the Best, Alfred Pennyworth Knows, Stalker Tim Drake, Jason Todd Has Chronic Pain, Jason Todd Has PTSD, Angst with a Happy Ending, Unlikely Friends, Injury Recovery, Emotional Baggage, Rage, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Communicating

Chapter Fifteen: Picture

I got up before Tim and Dick, showering before either of them could stir. I was restless. “Jason, are you okay?” Dick asked with his eyes shut. 

“Yeah… I’m alright,” I lied. Dick made a soft noise in the back of his throat, like a low grunt. He wouldn’t push me for the truth. “They’ll find Tim’s parents,” Dick reassured me, “Are you nervous about seeing Donna?” Dick questioned. I didn’t answer.

Luckily, I didn’t have to. The ping of Dick’s phone woke Tim and interrupted a potentially awkward moment with Dick. “You should get that,” I whispered. Dick walked to the front door and let Donna in. I froze the moment I saw her. Tim wiped his eyes and looked at me. “Jason, what’s going on?” Tim asked. Last night probably felt like a bad dream. I smiled at him. 

“Good morning, Tim,” I whispered. Tim smiled before squinting at Donna. “Donna, this is my little brother, Tim. Tim, this is Donna.” I stood up, and Donna hugged me.

“You look great,” Donna whispered, “How are you?” 

I forgot how strong she was. “Hey, Donna? Can you put me down?” I chuckled. She gasped and let go of me, dusting my clothes off. “I’m alright. We’ve got a few days out of school, so we took the ferry here.” 

“Hey, Tim, can I steal your brother for a second?” Donna asked. Tim nodded. I promised Tim I’d return as I grabbed my phone and followed Donna outside. She took me to the roof, and we sat on the ledge together. “Dick told me you got in a fight a few months ago… And that you were in a dark place. I hope you don’t mind that he told me.” 

“I don’t… I’m doing bet—.” I was bombarded with an image of Janet and Jack’s lifeless bodies. I covered my mouth, fighting the urge to vomit. Sheila. Janet. Jack. Mom. Dad. So many graves. So many dead parents.

“Jason?” Donna asked. She touched my arm. 

I blinked hard. “Sorry… I—. I was in a dark place, but it’s been better since I met Tim. It’s been—. I’ve never had a normal life, but living with Tim’s family feels normal. I hope it stays that way,” I whispered.  She smiled. “Normal sounds good… But—. Jason, what are you hiding?” Donna asked. 

“Tim’s parents’ plane didn’t land where it was supposed to… They might be fine, but—. Donna, when I picture my parents in my head, I see corpses. I can’t remember what they looked like when they were alive. I don’t want that for him,” I answered. I needed to tell her. I didn’t expect Donna to understand, but I expected her to sympathize. She cared about me. I truly believed that. 

Donna sat with my words and swallowed hard. “Jason, is there anything I can do to help?” Donna questioned. I shook my head. 

“Batman’s on it… It’s funny. I left home because I wanted to show him what I could do—. I didn’t want him to think I needed him. I wanted to be independent of him, but I was useless to Tim. I can’t fly to the Caribbean and track his parents—. I’m not there yet. I still need him. I still need help,” I whispered. 

“There’s no shame in that. Jason, I have superpowers, and I need help. The League, the Titans, the Amazons, and the Green Lantern Corps… One strong person doesn’t make a hero. The best heroes know they can’t do this all by themselves. Do you understand that?” Donna asked. I smiled.

She didn’t know my plan would only work with Tim’s assistance and the help of a mystery teen hacker. I wouldn’t go in alone ever again. I was smarter than that. I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. “You’re right. I’ll be strong enough to be on a team again,” I whispered, “But I should go downstairs and check on Tim. I don’t think he remembers what happened last night.” Donna nodded and escorted me to Dick’s apartment. Tim hadn’t come out of the fog yet. I could see it in his eyes. “Good talk?” Donna whispered. 

“Great talk… Thanks, Donna,” I smiled. 

“Tim, do you want break—?” My phone pinged, and I checked my notifications. Tim’s parents were kidnapped, and the man responsible wanted a ransom for their safe return. My stomach turned. 

I could see them staring at me, but I couldn’t hear anything outside my heartbeat and the ringing I heard after the warehouse explosion. The apartment closed in, and I saw Jack and Janet again. I couldn’t wake up from the nightmare in my head. I tried to speak, but no sound came out. I shut my eyes until I could hear their voices, and I dragged Tim into Dick’s bedroom to talk. I sat beside him on the bed, hiding my face in my hands while I collected myself. “Tim, I—.”

“My parents died, didn’t they?” Tim interrupted.

“Wha���? No. Your mom and dad are alive. They’re alive, but they’re—. Tim, I don’t know how to put this. Someone kidnapped your parents,” I whispered. Tim swallowed hard. “You have a right to know.” 

“You found out right now, didn’t you?” Tim questioned. I nodded. “What was it like for you when you lost your parents?” 

I shook my head. “No. Tim, don’t—. Jack and Janet are still alive. We don’t have to think that. Tim, you can’t think that,” I answered. The question sent me spiraling into another panic. I covered my face again, and Tim plopped backward on the bed. 

“Jason… Can we take a walk? I need to take a walk,” Tim whispered.

I nodded. “Come on, Tim. I’ll buy breakfast,” I mumbled. Neither of us moved. “Tim, I’m sorry.” 

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Tim answered, “I need a distraction… Okay?”

“We’ll go to the park after breakfast, and I’ll time you on your run,” I whispered. Tim patted me on the back on his way out the door. 

“Dick, we’re gonna get breakfast and take a walk!” I announced. I had to swallow my fear and keep going for Tim’s sake. Dick and Donna stayed behind to catch up. 

*

We went to the skate shop near Dick’s building on the way back and decided to skate around the neighborhood. “I thought you were gonna get a new board… I didn’t think you’d put on rollerblades,” Tim laughed. 

“Rollerblading is sick. Come on,” I replied.

Tim shook his head, laughing as he skated ahead of me. We needed the distraction. Donna and Dick hung out on the fire escape when we arrived at the apartment. “Hey, Tim? Is he embarrassing you?” Dick joked. 

I rolled my eyes as we stopped in the alley. I changed into my shoes and followed Tim up. I felt a sharp pain in my back, and I lost my grip, but Tim caught me. Donna pulled me up by the back of my shirt. “I’m okay. I’m fine—.” 

Donna dusted me off and breathed out in relief. “Are you sure? I’m sorry that I jumped in like that, but I—. Instinct,” Donna replied. I nodded. 

“Thanks, Donna. Thanks, Tim,” I answered.

[lazerswordweilder]

Batfam headcanons, sleeping

Of course sometimes they all end up sleeping in the odd dumpster or back alley but which vigilante doesn’t? And their ‘good sleep’ is the bare minimum of 6 hours. And then there’s sleeping in the hospital/health care but these are the exceptions.

Bruce prefers not to sleep at all, he is not as adapt at this as Tim but still manages to stay awake for longer than any human really should, due to this he usually sleeps deeply as he likely passed out and needs teh sleep instead of willing deciding to take a nap. Bruce tries to sleep in his bed but is found more often than not passed out in strange places, usually wherever he sat down in the batcave after limping out from an exausting patrol or sleeping infront of the bat computer with a case file still open, a few times he did pass out against walls at galas though.

Dick is terrifying, he always ends up in dramatic positions most people didn’t think humans could manage, he just likes to stretch his back/body and be in more comfortable positions but horrifies anyone who find him sleeping. He often ends up in chandeliers or bends off tables or chairs. Notable sleeping positions include: asleep with his feet wrapped around a light bulb, sitting in his escrima sticks in the space between a cupboard and a wall, through the hole in the backrest of a chair, and lying on a table with his face in a bowl of cereal. He never really had any issues with sleep from Robin to Nightwing, he does have horrible nightmares but who doesn’t? and the only time he hopped onto the insomniac train was recently after becoming Nightwing and a police officer at the same time, he learnt to manage himself better afterwards though.

Jason always sleeps in a safe house, he barely passes out due to natural exhaustion anymore (he is surprisingly good at taking care of himself, unless caught up in pit rage or having lost track of time he gets enough sleep and remembers to eat as he (ignoring Alfred) is the only good cook in the entire family and enjoys both flexing on his siblings and cooking) but he almost always passes out after the pit rage which is a down side.

Tim is worse than Dick, no one can quite remember the last time he slept and his eye bags are so deep that most people think he’s wearing makeup and one man got admitted to an asylum after seeing unspeakable horrors in the pitch black of his eye bags. Once he summoned the god of sleep just to see what happened, the god started a dramatic entrance then Tim said hi and the god screamed like a girl and ran, Tim caught the god who begged for mercy.

Steph sometimes gets caught up in everything or wants to stay awake so she doesn’t miss out on anything, she puts her heart and soul into both the family and her job as Spoiler but understands her limits and does in fact sleep. She always sleeps better with someone else though, whether falling asleep at a girls night with Babs, Cass, and Harley or while doing their nails with Dick or even grabbing dinner with Bruce. She always sleeps better with someone else around.

Damian had schedule drilled into him by the League of Assassins and was taught to function without sleep, he would go to sleep at 2am and wake up at 6am on the dot if it wasn’t for his duties, he is used to having to stay up later or wake up unexpectedly for attacks or surprise missions which comes in handy when Robin is needed. The others are trying to get him into better sleeping habits as 4 hours of sleep is no where near enough but he insists, luckily he was a lot of breaks throughout the day and usually naps during the time in between school, his chores, and patrol. His favourite places to nap (he sleeps in his bed) are on the couch at one of Jasons safe houses, in Dicks apartment, on Bruces shoulders or lap, hidden in the shadows listening to Tim work, on Selinas bed, or in other places like this, no matter how much he tries to deny it he trusts his family and sleep comes more easily around them as he knows he’s safe.

Cass is a cryptid, no one’s quite sure how much sleep she’s getting (or where she’s sleeping for that matter) but sh never seems tired unless she’s been out for longer for whatever reason. They trust her to make sure she gets her needs met.

Duke has surprisingly good sleep considering to the family he’s in, he gets the healthy recommended amount of sleep rather than the bare minimum which awes everyone, little do they know he has horrible nightmares and sits awake staring at the ceiling or wall for hours at a time.

[koolkat9]

Drag Queen Mattie AU- The Beginning

CW: implied queerphobia, parents kicking out/disowning a child, just Matt’s parents being bigots in general.

Since he was a pre-teen, Matthew had always had a thing for makeup. His friend Kateryna did his makeup once when they were hanging out just to try it out and Matt was never the same. But it wasn’t until he lost a bet to his buddies and was dared to dress in drag and perform for them that he realized how much fun and freeing drag could be. He didn’t know what it was at the time, but after stumbling upon Drag Race everything clicks. 

His friends are actually very supportive because they realize how happy and confident he is when he can perform that way. Alfred is more neutral on it. He’s conflicted because their parents aren’t that open-minded, but he loves seeing his brother happy. So he agrees to not say anything when he finds out. Their parents are not so supportive. So Mattie and his friends hide his hobby from his parents. They take him to events, hide his dresses for him, just going above and beyond to keep him safe but also engaged with his interests.

While engaging with this community, Matthew ends up befriending two older drag queens Lady Grey (aka Arthur Kirkland) and Creme Brulee (aka Francis Bonnefoy). They become like a second family to Mattie who knows his home will never accept him. They offer him advice both about drag and dealing with unaccepting families. Lady Grey also had an unwelcoming household, not for drag, but because she is trans. But “to bigots, it doesn’t make a difference.” She warns him not to come out with the drag or bi thing until he knows he will have a safe place to go if the worst cases happen (his parents turn violent or kick him out).

Time goes on, and everything is normal. The two sides of Matthew’s life stay separate. Francis and Arthur agree to keep Matthew’s dresses and make-up at their drag house so Matthew’s friends don’t have to keep sneaking around. But eventually, the truth somehow comes to light. And they’re pissed. Alfred is there for the first half of the fight, but gets scared and locks himself in his room. It’s only Matthew and his parents. There is a lot of screaming, crying, and Matt begins to wonder if all this was worth it. It finally ends with them saying to pack up his things and get out. 

Matthew is devastated, terrified, begs his parents to reconsider, even promises he’ll stop doing drag. But they brush him off. It’s late and he doesn’t want to bug his friends, so he goes to the only place he’s ever felt safe: Arthur’s and Francis’s drag house. 

At first he isn’t allowed in. It’s not an all ages show. But he begs the bouncer that he has to talk to Arthur and Francis, it’s an emergency. Luckily, Francis passes by and sees Matthew in distress and ushers him into his and Arthur’s private dressing room. 

Matthew tells them everything and breaks down crying. Francis immediately agrees to let Matthew stay with him and Arthur for as long as he needs. Arthur is ready to fight someone. Unfortunately they have a performance to get to, but they let Mattie stay in the dressing room until they’re done.

Mattie is left alone with his thoughts. He recognizes one of the boxes in the dressing room. His box, filled with all his dresses and makeup. He’s ready to destroy it all because for a moment, he blames drag for ruining his life. 

But then he picks up his first make-up palette. The one Kateryna first gave him. He takes it and does his makeup in Francis’s mirror. Makeup always put him at ease and made him feel better. Arthur enters again, deciding to leave his show early to take Matthew to his and Francis’s apartment. But first, he brushes out Matthew’s curls so his hair is just as pretty as his face. Matthew may still be hurting, but getting done up like this, even just a bit makes him feel better. And it reminds him drag is one of his greatest comforts. 

[britcision]

Imma riff on this one a little if that’s okay?

———

The last thing Danny remembers feeling is safety. A protective rage that should have been terrifying, an angry ghost so close and about to attack and there’s nothing he can do.

Can’t defend himself, can’t protect the human.

But he feels safe.

This ghost won’t hurt him. This ghost felt his distress and came to help. And that means Danny needs to protect him too, because the GIW will take them both if they can.

This ghost is fucking big though. Massive shoulders, massive arms picking him up and cradling him to a chest so huge Danny can’t help but think of his dad.

The memory aches, makes him want to retch, but the damn ketamine’s pulled him far enough out of his body that he barely feels it.

He wishes his dad would come for him. Change his mind, take back that betrayal, rescue him and take him somewhere really safe. But he knows that’s not what happened.

In as much as he knows that he’s not just dreaming now, and his body is actually just passing out on the floor.

He reaches up to the big guy anyway, grabbing ineffectually at a shirt stretched over that enormous chest.

Hell, maybe it’s Dan. Maybe Clockwork finally sent Dan to finish him. That’d beat going back to the GIW, but whether the world ends or not, Danny has one more thing to say.

“They’ll find me. ‘F I pass out now, they’ll find me. Can’t hide m’energy…” the words slur and run together, barely audible, and the ghost props him higher to listen.

Danny feels gratified, in as much as he feels anything through the fog.

“G’tta… run…” he manages, eyes never actually opening to look at the person who feels so angry and so safe.

He can’t hold on any longer. But… he wants to trust. Like he trusted the old man. The universe wouldn’t fuck him over twice in a row, right?

He was definitely waking up back in a cage. Joy.

**

Alfred hadn’t yet had the pleasure of seeing Jason’s eyes glow green with fury. Not directed at him.

It’s not enough to make him visibly react, but it definitely changes the situation; better or worse, he’s not sure yet. He doesn’t move to stop Jason from lifting the boy, though he does shift to the door into the rest of the manor.

He won’t block Jason’s exit, not if something has the boy this wound up. Hopefully opening another door will help.

“I believe we should head to the cave?” He says, tone calm and soothing in the face of Jason’s rage. It’s basic anger management, but it’s also helped pull Jason back to lucidity before.

It’s not working now, Jason shaking his head firmly and clutching the now unconscious boy tighter.

“Hell no. Why did you drug him?” It’s definitely a growl, still unfriendly, and the boy’s slurred final message has Alfred’s hackles up too.

He may have made a mistake.

“I believe he is some form of meta. He was able to infiltrate the house without notice, and displayed several abilities common to Martians. I intended to bring him to the cave so that we could learn who he is and why he came.”

He doesn’t mention the potential threat; Jason should never have had to ask the question, but he’s not stupid even when he’s having an attack. Anyone infiltrating the mansion, getting past Alfred, is potentially dangerous.

Drugging the boy might not have been the best choice, but it wasn’t like he could have been politely invited down. Jason shakes his head firmly, backing up.

“Then the “they” are probably some kind of meta trafficking ring. I’m getting him out of here now.” He’s still surly enough, still bright green in the eyes, and Alfred suspects Jason still sees him as the primary threat.

Again, he’s a very smart boy.

And he’s right, bringing meta traffickers to the manor could be more dangerous than an unknown meta, even one with a clear connection to the Lazarus pit. If they’re pretending to be a “normal” family it may put Duke at risk.

Luckily, there’s an easy answer.

Alfred nods, crossing back across the kitchen to activate a small wall panel. There are emergency dominos and a button inside, but no weapons.

Which is probably why Jason tenses, but doesn’t move.

“Then may I suggest the Watchtower? I would be very interested to observe a trafficking organization able to reach you in space, which would also give us their precise location. I shall inform Master Bruce of the potential danger and we can begin a formal investigation.”

Whoever the child is, the power he has displayed only makes an organization that he fears even more dangerous.

Whoever the child is.

Alfred hesitates. If the boy has been trafficked, he has likely been drugged before. It is never a pleasant experience, and while he regrets the need he was prepared for the outcome.

Having potentially brought up a whole slew of familiar nightmares was not something he’d accounted for. And the boy looks so small cradled in Jason’s arms.

“There is also a medical bay, with more extensive meta or alien supplies than the cave has on hand,” he adds, and that seems to settle Jason’s mind.

He nods, finally moving further into the mansion.

"Through the cave then. Quickly. Whoever is coming, I'm going to be gone before they arrive."

Alfred nods, sending a short, pointed message to masters Timothy and Bruce so that both are apprised of the situation, and follows Jason to the hallway.

"I will activate the manor's ranged scanners and defences. I trust you will wish to be informed of any other "guests"?" he asks just a little pointedly, and knows Jason has calmed enough for coherent thought when he gives Alfred a slightly sheepish smile.

"Yeah. It's just… I could feel him, Alfie. He was terrified. I have to get him to safety." The imperative is a little concerning, and Alfred certainly won't suggest it yet, but he's already planning another few scans and tests to perform on Jason too.

Hopefully once the boy awakes, Jason's presence will persuade him to share the same level of openness that his arrival brought. If they had remained unaware that someone was tracking him…

Well, it raises the odds that this unfortunate lad is truly a young stray in need of protection, and not some form of trap or agent seeking to harm the family.

Alfred will hide the adoption papers again, for all the good that ever does. A little more variation will make the family photos more interesting.

They part ways at the hall to Bruce's office, Jason proceeding to the cave and then the zeta tube, Alfred to the small broom closet at the end of the hall that leads to the manor's operations room.

Interestingly, none of their own devices are registering a new power source, but there is a degree of EM interference that was present when the boy first arrived.

It vanishes at the same moment as the zeta tube activates, and Alfred adds that to his notes.

Red Hood is not formally allowed access to the Watchtower (Jason never wanted it), but coming from Batman's primary address with Alfred's clear will ensure no one asks questions.

It will certainly give them enough time for Bruce to send a more detailed message and explain the situation.

**

Danny wakes up in an overly clinical hospital bed, which is just enough to push him to full wakefulness.

He still feels safe, that reassuring presence right beside him. There’s a large and bulky man in the chair beside him, his full attention fixed on the door.

Danny had thought he must be imagining his size in his drugged state (the memories are certainly blurry enough) but… nope, he’s fucking huge.

And feels like protection and safety and Danny just has no idea what to do about that.

He’s not restrained though, which is always good. Rules out the GIW, at least for now. He’s still gotta go though, because even if they aren’t here now, they will be soon.

He recloaks his energy, for whatever good that’ll do at this point. At least they won’t know where he’s going. But… he should take his rescuer with him.

This guy’s not just a ghost, he can tell that now, but he’s close enough the GIW will probably take him too. Danny knows painfully well what they’ll do if it turns out he’s still too alive for their tastes.

He’s also very considerately pretending not to notice Danny’s awful attempt at feigning sleep. But Danny’s caught a couple glances over, so he definitely knows.

Good thing he wasn’t planning to leave without his new buddy anyway. Not and leave him to the tender mercies of the GIW.

Still, Danny figures he’ll make this “we both know you know I’m awake” thing official and clears his throat, pulling himself into a sitting position.

Tries to, anyway. His limbs are still leaden and don’t respond right, and he’d have fallen if Buddy didn’t catch him. Ease him back to a sit, and props the pillows behind him to support his weight.

He’s a dab hand at it too, and Danny has to wonder how often he’s handled people in this situation. Drugged, or sick. Either way, his heart aches at the thought.

“So… I gotta go,” Danny rasps, and triple fuck being drugged because he sounds like shit and his throat feels like sandpaper.

Buddy takes a glass and jug from the table and fills the glass with water, then before Danny can reach for it he takes a sip himself and waits before handing it over.

Oh.

Showing him there’s nothing in the water.

Danny hadn’t even considered it, his brain to sluggish and foggy, but something in him crumbles with gratitude at the gesture. Aches with how well Jason clearly knows this exact situation.

Was he drugged? Or does he just have the unluckiest and most fucked up family ever?

Is he a hero? The kind of guy Danny wishes had come for him? Well, whatever else he is, he’s Danny’s hero now.

Danny forces himself to sip the water slowly, Buddy carefully supporting both his head and the cup. He knows he’d make himself sick if he chugged it, but he still wants to.

Is grateful for that steadying hand holding him back. It’s cool, clear relief pouring down over his dry and aching throat, and he’s sure water never tasted so good.

Once he’s finished, Buddy refills the glass and steals another sip.

Something about the look on his face makes Danny think this one is at least a bit to be a little shit, since the water’s clearly fine. It makes him smile just a bit, and then he’s offered the water back.

He gets about half way through the second glass before stopping.

“Seriously.”

And he already sounds better, feels better. But he’ll probably need something to eat to finish clearing the drug from his system. Maybe some ecto.

Maybe he’ll just stay in the Infinite Realms forever.

It’s a heavy, leaden thought, and he pushes it aside. Gotta get away again first.

“Thanks for this. All of it. Getting me out of there. But we, you and me, we’ve both gotta get going. There’s people coming, and I can’t hide myself when I’m asleep so they’ll be on their way know. They know where we are.”

He’s trying his very best to impress the seriousness of the situation on this guy, and is mildly annoyed that it clearly isn’t working. Buddy just grins, stands, and walks around the bed.

“Can’t promise they don’t know, kid, but it’d be damn impressive to see them get here,” he says very casually, and Danny’s eyes draw in.

The GIW aren’t like police or gangsters, they’re fucking insanely reckless and will drive straight through any defences.

“You don’t understand, they’re not-”

But Buddy cuts him off, raising a hand placatingly and hitting a button on the wall.

“No, sorry kid, I think you don’t understand.” A panel slides down, exposing a window. Great. It’s night out, he can see… stars…

Only stars.

No other buildings, trees, walls, ground. No clouds, birds, animals. Just. Stars. All around.

Danny’s irritation fades into a soft, gentle wonder.

“We’re in fucking space, kid. Nobody’s coming to get you from here.”

For the first time in far too long, Danny bursts into tears.

————

Just a couple other bits:

- being in SPACE does a lot to endear Jason to Danny beyond the general feeling of safety, which is good cuz the more the drugs wear off the less Danny trusts the feeling

- being on the Justice League’s station is a bit less reassuring, until Jason points out that they’re not on fucking US soil, they don’t have to extradite him

- Jason blatantly refuses to leave the room except for bathroom breaks, and while some of the other leaguers gently try and separate Known Terrorist Red Hood from this clear trafficking victim, Danny fucking bites them

- that’s his goddamn Known Terrorist now he’s the one Danny trusts not to work with, again, the goddamn government

- learning he broke into Batman’s house by accident makes the drugging suddenly make sense, but Danny’s still righteously pissed that they didn’t even try just asking

- for once Alfred is the one on the Naughty Step

- they get the rest of the League involved very quickly, especially Diana and Arthur (Aquaman) once Danny explains it’s the actual government trying to traffic him

- Danny winds up staying with Jason in Gotham and refuses to set foot near the manner for months. Whether this is an eventual shipping situation or mutual adoption is up to whoever wants the prompt

- Jason 1000% uses “sorry I’m legally nonsapient, not my fault” every single time Bruce tries to lecture him even after the Anti Ecto Acts are abolished

- Danny gets richer than Vlad from government compensation when it comes out that they deadass murdered him for experiments - helped by Vlad losing most of his fortune for his involvement in attempted genocide

(The fact that the GIW would have happily also taken him seems not to have occurred to Vlad when he funded them but boy does it occur to Danny)

- Danny 1000% goes on patrol with Jason through Crime Alley cuz holy shit he can be a mob boss his life has always been bullshit but this is the best part

- Danny also cycles through classic mobster movie accents and Jason will join him and the goons hate it

- Bruce is doing his very best to adopt Danny to a stable home in the manor because Jason’s lifestyle isn’t even great for Jason let alone another murdered kid

- Danny doesn’t wanna go to school he wants to be a mobster and also fuck being near Alfred

- Jason also refuses to come to family dinner and leave Danny behind and nobody blames Danny but they are all very sad

- Danny feels shitty for getting between Jason and his family but Jason deadass will not let him blame himself. The solution? Jason hosts family dinner

- at first it is just family and it’s kinda weird but Danny’s learning to cook and bumping off the other bats on patrol and shit and they all get to know each other

- things with Alfred slowly gets better because Jason takes extreme petty pleasure in Alfred being the guest and having to sit and eat with the family but Alfred’s not allowed in without talking to Danny so they have a long heart to heart and an apology

(Danny understands why he did it intellectually, but that doesn’t make it right or okay and Alfred understands this too, so they make some good progress)

(Alfred solemnly swears he will protect Danny and his secrets just as much as the bats’, since Danny is family now. Danny cries)

- Danny hangs out in the kitchen helping Jason cook cuz he will not eat anything that’s been out of his sight. Over time as things improve this eventually changes to allow Alfred in so long as Jason is still there

- eventually Alfred and Danny end up cooking together in the manor, and then finally one day Danny just doesn’t go with him to cook and Alfred knows he’s forgiven so he makes Danny’s favourites

- at some point Jason has to go takedown the last of the GIW with the League so Danny stays at the manor while he’s gone because ironically the only person in the batfam he’s scared of is Alfred, so he assumes Alfred can successfully protect him if he’s on Danny’s side

(Video of the GIW trying to get past Alfred at Wayne Manor after Jason took him to the Watchtower only further cements this belief, someone tried to shove the old man around and he beat them all to hell, piled them back in their van, and drove them onto a ferry

Nobody gets into the manor without Alfred’s permission)

- at some point Danny helps Jason with his pit rage and Jason learns to shoot green ectoblasts instead because he’s a good boy and deserves finger guns

These replace his regular guns on patrol and Batman is Actually Not Happier About It but what’s he gonna do, he said no guns and Jason is not using guns

Sandwiches taste better be without ketamine — part 1

Y'know all those Danny is in wayne mansion and Alfred drugs him (bc they're sus of this dude, Bruce wants to interrogate him whatever).

Well i had a thought and i think i wanna write it haha

Tw: drugging, disasosiaction (from first pov), overall Danny is not in a good mental space

--------

It was evening.

Danny wasn't sure where exactly he was, nor even what year it was. The mansion he broke in was huge and fancy, all the gothic aesthetic this city seemed to be almost worshipping and the slimy smell of money, included.

At first he hoped no one will notice him, as foolish as it was with his luck. He wasn't all that suprised when an elderly man in black suit tapped his shoulder and asked if he would want a 'brunch'. If Danny didn't have ghost sense, he'd suspect he was the ghost of a butler or something, but no. The man was very much alive, if not a little liminal. But at this point who wasn't.

:read more:

And yes, Danny can admit it was stupid not to ran the moment he noticed the man, but... was it so wrong to hoped maybe for once he met nice people who wouldn't try and vivisect him?

Feeling the familiar artificial feeling of fatigue, yes, yes it was.

In the private of his mind, he couldn't help but feel disappointed. The man seemed nice, but more importantly his food was divine. God, if his existence wasn't banned by the government, he might've even take the drugging for the food.

Yes, he might be disasosiacting. Not like he has any other choice, if he doesn't want to destroy this place.

“Is something wrong sir?” the elder (he introduced himself, but Danny figured trying to drug someone made him loose name privileges) asked, a great imitation of genuine worry lacing his voice. The boy had to give it to him, he was an excellent actor (who tried to drug him. Put something in his food and he didn't notice. Wanted to do who knows what with.him. druGgeD hIM lIKe tHE gIv dIiiiIIiIi—)

Danny blinked. It was getting harder to keep his eyes open. He opened his mouth to speak, but the ever boiling anger was now even stronger than normally. He wanted to scream and punch the man. He wanted to take the tasty guacamole toast and throw it so hard it cracks the wall. He wanted to destroy and wail and-

Instead he continued staring at the man, no emotions visible on his face. Danny didn't want to say anything, or even move, because what if that was the catalyser for him to break and just... do something he might regret later. But the longer was sitting on the stool, the stupid toast in front him, the man's eyebrows scrunching in fake worry—

"If there is anything I can—"

"is it normal for you to drug every guy who visits, or am I just that special?" he could hear himself say. Or well, Danny knew he was saying this, but it was as if it was beyond his control. Like he was just a onlooker in his own life.

The butler blinked, but other than that no surprise showed on his face. So it wasn't a mistake, Danny noted, ignoring the rising tension in his body. Some part of him sighed, already preparing to fight the grandpa before him.

"it appears there was some sort of—" the boy jumps over the island, zeroing onto the older man's hand. He wrenched the stun gun out of his grasp, not afraid to bite or scratch, all the while dodging a kick to his side. The other man had suprisingly strong grip, but it was nothing in face of Danny's rising suspicions and surprise attack.

The boy swiftly got as far away as he could, dismantling the weapon without taking his gaze away from the butler. The man was watching his action, apparently already gotten over Danny's surprise attack. A shame, he hoped he'd be able to overshadow the elder when he was in shock. He wasn't otherwise suprised, when he brushed his mind before, he could feel his mind was strong.

The familiar haze of pills was starting to take over Danny's body. He had to leave quickly. He couldn't leave without injuring the older man. If he didn't do something right now, he will fall unconscious.

Snarky quips it was than "If you wanted to get rid of me, you could've just called the police like a normal person y'know" the words came out more bitter than he wanted, but even that didn't shake the man before him. The butler was still watching him, positioned in something Danny vaguely recognized as fighting stance, face impassionate. That fact alone made him add "Or just... Tell me to leave. Literally anything but putting anesthetics in a perfectly good sandwich" only to see him squirm. The way he was so unbothered... Well it made Danny uncomfortable. (No one who drugged a kid, even if they had white hair and glowed, without showing an ounce of remorse was not a good person)

His eyes were closing, and he could feel his grip slipping on his power. What was the old man thinking?? The average human would probably be dead if they ate this much ketamine... This was getting more and more dangerous by the second, he had to... He had to... He...

"I apologize for all of this, but anyone able to enter this mansion unnoticed, cannot simply leave before some... Conversation happen" and didn't that sound ominous as hell. His vision was swaying, and he couldn't stay on his feet anymore. The panic was the only thing keeping him conscious. The moment he fell asleep, he wouldn't be able to keep his ecto signature in check, meaning They would immidietly know where he is. He would no longer be putting only himself in danger, but also the old man (as much as he deserved it for drugging him).

And he didn't know how his powers worked after everything. He could easily destroy this whole mansion, just by unravelling his true appearance.

"No... I- I have to... I..." his core was screaming. the similarity of this situation was a reminder of how he changed and what he used to be. He try to move towards where he thought could be the outer wall, but his limbs were so heavy. The boy didn't even bother to look at the old man anymore, just trying to get out of here. He turned on his stomach, crawling away from the man, tears gathering in the corner of his eyes. They stung in anger and hopelessness that once again filled him.

"It will not take long, you have nothing to worry about child" if he was little bit more aware, he might catch the pity in his voice, but he wasn't. All he could hear were threats and scorn. A noise, that wasn't entirely human, build up at the back of his throat. He couldn't stop the pathetic high pitched whines that escaped his mouth, even as his eyes were closed and body no longer moving.

And exactly in that moment the door to the kitchen smashed open, a burning core answering his own "What the fuck is going on here?!"

---

Yeah idk this was just something on my mind, idk how this would even continue lol

Uh some more stuff i thought of for this

Danny wouldn't have a good relationship w Alfred at first. Like dude wouldn't trust him at all, not his food anything he says, and all. Idk the batfam could feel guilty, or it'd just be a cool new experience it doesn't matter

On that note, their relationship would probably get better, but i just wanted to acknowledge that someone drugging u is super traumatizing even if they do it w good intentions

Danny got kidnapped/sold to giv it doesn't really matter, but what is important is that he's full ghost. Why? Idk i just think it'd be so terrible for giv to see this Schrodinger's boy and went "yo what if we made him full ghost" and them succeeding. Like first of all that shit would destroy Danny and also it'd be such a terrible situation. Also batmans reaction to Danny dying, surviving (kinda) and than dying again would be so interesting

Also the person to come in is obviously Jason. He heard a kid screaming and felt it, and the pits went "baby >:((("

No idea what happens after, but at some point he stays at the manor and stuff happens. Idk what yet but it could be anyying

Where's batfamily? In batcave probably idk

I'm so tired i just finished writing this an holy wow kill.me. it's been a rough week haha. Hope u liked this i might continue this but probably not

[timmydraker]

How I think each character would react to Tim not taking care of himself:

Dick:

As the most Older Sister coded character I’ve ever heard of, I think he’d struggle to not immediately try and take everything on for his brother. He’d want to lessen his work load and have a long talk with him about being responsible for his wellbeing but would also be scared to overstep and cause any kind of rift.

Eventually I think he’d settle on asking Tim to just take a shower and eat something. He’d start small, not making it as an order because he doesn’t want to be a douch, but firm enough that Tim can pick up his concern.

Dick is 100% the type to check on him several times and make sure he’s hydrated and well rested, especially after a bad night, to the point that it might be a little overbearing.

He’d probably also make sure Bruce would respond as best her could when the man seems hellbent of being allergic to emotion.

Jason:

Now, while I don’t think Jason is as emotionally unstable as a lot of people think he is due to the pit, I do think he’s awkward as hell when it comes to Robins. Everyone knows he loves kids and is basically a guardian of all children in Gotham, but his fear of his fate becoming theirs probably gets to him.

So when he sees Tim fixating on a case that’s either cold or old enough to not be relevant, he quickly realises that the boy is also it as obsessive as Bruce is with the Joker, just more brood with his obsession being all crime.

Jason sees his once unyielding desire to help people like him in a (mostly) spoilt rich kid and feels those good old heart strings yank.

Unlike Dick, he’s not as worried about coming off as an asshole and quickly becomes determined to get Tim into a comfortable bed with a good book that won’t drive him mad looking for clues. He uses his strength against the younger lad and gets Alfred to help him convince Tim to eat some proper protein food.

When Tim mumbles a tired ‘thank you’ to Jason, his instinct is to say no problem before running off to hide away from his family so he doesn’t have to confront that maybe the poor kid who had to take after him is better than he ever was.

Damian:

Growing up with assassins leaves Damian with as many emotional troubles as his father, but luckily for the youngest active Robin, he has good around him now.

When he notices Tim has been in the same spot at the Batcomputer since he saw him that morning, he just assumes that he’s doing important Red Robin work. It’s only after he looks at the screen and sees that Tim is actually going over how the sewer system all the way in Metropolis is going that he scoffs and begins to drag Tim’s chair over to the elevator.

Tim by this point would be used to his brother doing this as his odd way of showing care.

He learns to relent quickly because Damian will make good on his threat to get Alfred or Bruce and tell on him for his lack of self care.

Damian doesn’t talk to his brother, never knowing what to say, but he is a smart kid who’s more observant that people give him credit for. So, he will put Tim in front of his room and shove him inside before standing In front of the door until Tim goes to shower.

Then it’s just a matter of asking Pennyworth for some food and leaving it on Tim’s bed along with Alfred the Cat (who is far better physical comfort than he is) and then promptly deny he ever did anything outside of making sure Red Robin was fit for combat.

If he sometimes makes Tim herbal tea without any help, that’s no one’s business.

[alienguts]

Attending a Gala with Bruce (Bruce Wayne x GN!Reader HCs)

Warnings: None

A/N: It’s been a while since I posted anything and I am working on one-shots but they’re taking longer than I expected, so here’s something to tide you all over until then!

Galas are a huge pain in the ass, but they come hand in hand with Bruce.

Arguably, getting ready to go out is the best part of the night, psyching yourself up for hours of inane conversation aside.

Bruce doesn’t really need a second opinion when it comes to clothes, but he always values his partner’s opinion so he will ask you for your thoughts on which suit to wear with which tie and so on and so forth.

Asking him for an opinion on how you look, however, is pretty useless.

Bruce is one of those “you always look nice” kinds of partners, even when you don’t need him to be.

“Do I look okay?” “You’re gorgeous, honey.” “I meant are there crumbs on my face, Bruce.”

If you're not the social butterfly type, galas are not going to be the best time for you, but Bruce completely understands. He doesn't like them much himself but they're a necessary part of philanthropy and his social work.

No matter what the tabloids say, Bruce does not see you as simply “arm candy”. He’s not paying you to attend galas with him to keep suspicions away, you’re his partner and he’ll always treat you better than that.

It is kind of your duty to stay by him and not wander off while he’s socialising, but he’s okay with you going to take a seat at the bar when your feet start to hurt from standing up too much.

Plus, being away from the Waynes’ old friends means that you get a break from all the usual annoying questions.

“Has Bruce popped the question yet?” “When are you having kids?” “He’d better hurry up and put a ring on that finger, you’re not getting any younger.”

Luckily, he’ll swoop in and save you once he realises that you’re getting annoyed.

As rude as it may seem, he will take you home if he notices that you’re particularly fed up. The last thing either of you need is to be front page news for getting angry at a charity event.

The car ride home is an absolute dream thanks to the much needed quiet and Alfred’s smooth driving.

Once you get home, the shoes are kicked off and both you and Bruce are tempted to crawl into bed fully dressed and just crash.

There are two warring thoughts on your head about this ‘they’ll get ruined if you sleep in them’ and ‘you’re in a relationship with a billionaire, he’ll just buy new clothes’.

When the next gala rolls around, you definitely have a whole new outfit to wear, courtesy of your very generous partner.

But when he has to run out...

Once Bruce excuses himself to take care of some ‘important business’, it’s your job to do some crowd control.

After this happening so many times, you’ve become a master of making up excuses for his sudden disappearances.

“Something came up at the company.” “There’s an emergency at home.” “He’s not feeling very well,” and so on and so forth.

There will be a few tuts from older guests about how rude it is for Bruce to leave you on your own, but you’re pretty much used to it by now.

And besides, Batman exists to do the work that Bruce Wayne can’t. For every $100,000 he donates to charity, another supervillain has gotten out of Arkham or Blackgate and that needs his attention too.

You try to keep a cool composure while he’s gone, but your guts will be in knots from worrying about him.

By the time you return home for the night, he’s already back in the Cave and un-Bat-ing (is that a thing? it is now) without a scratch on him so you never really had anything to worry about anyway.

He does say that he’ll try to stay with you the whole time the next gala, but you both know that’s not going to happen.

[finemealcreates]

Chapter Two

Clark glances at Lois over the top of his computer as a snort escapes the other reporter’s nose. He raises an eyebrow as he takes note that she is looking down at her phone, oblivious to his questioning look. 

“What’s so funny,” Clark eventually asks, unable to contain his curiosity anymore. 

Lois finally looks up and meets his eyes, her own sparkling with mischief and humor. 

“Don’t tell me you live under a rock, Smallville,” Lois teases, smirking. 

Clark rolls his eyes in lieu of a response, a smile of his own growing. 

“Some of us actually work while we’re at work, Lois,” Clark goads, eyes crinkling slightly behind his thick frames. 

Lois mock scoffs, exaggerating her hurt as she tilts her head up. 

“Why, I don’t know what you’re implying, Kent. I get my work done,” Lois defends, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. 

Clark rolls his eyes and laughs slightly. 

“Yes, somehow you always manage to get something done,” Clark responds, smiling. “How though, is a mystery that may never be solved.” 

Lois rolls her own eyes at him, shaking her head slightly. 

“Anyway,” Lois starts, turning her phone around to Clark, “Luthor’s trending on Twitter.��� 

Clark gently grabs her phone, staring down at the screen.

He’s unable to stop the bark of laughter from escaping him, ignoring the looks he’s now drawing from around the bullpen. 

“Is hashtag-I-hate-Lex-Luthor trending?” Clark wheezes as he hands Lois her phone back, snatching his own phone up to check. 

Twitter confirms it as Lois nods her head. 

“This is fantastic,” Clark mutters to himself as he begins to scroll.

Clark tries harder to contain his laughter, but a snort still escapes him. 

He has it on good authority that last time Damian talked to Lex, he purposely spoke exclusively in Arabic. Therefore, Lex hadn’t understood a word that Damian had said. 

Bruce had later shown him a video, and they had laughed together watching the exchange. 

Scanning to make sure Perry isn’t nearby, Clark likes the tweet and continues to scroll.

Clark, at this point, has put a hand over his mouth to muffle the laughter escaping him. He’s not sure what has brought out the viciousness of Bruce’s kids this morning, directed at Lex Luthor no less, but he can’t claim he’s upset about it.

His eyebrows raise in slight surprise. Bruce’s kids taking to twitter to gang up on Luthor is one thing, for Alfred to join in is another. 

Did Luthor do something recently Clark hadn’t been made aware of? If he had, it would reflect poorly on his reporter skills to not have heard of it so far. Unless it was a private matter involving the Wayne family specifically … No, Bruce had gotten better about being open and honest with him. 

So then, that leads Clark back to his original question. What did Luthor do to raise the ire of the Wayne clan?

He continues to scroll, hoping to find a clue. Luckily for him, he doesn’t have to look very long.

Ah, that would explain it then. 

Clark remembers hearing Bruce talk to him, surprised Lex had offered to match Bruce’s donations to the charity. Perhaps Lex hadn’t realized how much Bruce was going to donate, and chickened out. After all, it wasn’t like Lex had made a public announcement about it or anything. 

He smiles, realizing that this was Wayne’s kids ensuring that Lex would have to keep his word, lest he wanted a scandal on his hands. 

Looking below Barbara’s tweet, he is slightly surprised to see one from Bruce.

Clark has to set his phone down to stop himself from becoming hysterical. He’s still at work, afterall. Not working. Within view of Perry. He can’t draw too much attention to himself. 

Instead, he focuses on taking deep breaths and not laughing. Well, not laughing and not going directly to Bruce at this very moment.

Why? Well, he doesn’t know if he could contain himself around Bruce at the moment. Seeing Bruce publicly call Lex out is doing something to Clark’s stomach. All he wants to do is hold Bruce tight and smother him in kisses. But he can’t. Not right now. He’s still at work, after all. 

So, instead, he decides to reply to Bruce’s tweet.

Smirking to himself, Clark sets his phone down and begins to do some actual work. 

But, unfortunately, this piece isn’t as intriguing as the Twitter war going on at the moment. So, he is unable to resist checking his phone. 

It’s not as surprising as it should be to see there’s a response to his tweet.

Clark’s face is split wide in a grin, as he exits Twitter and opens up his contacts.

Quickly, he dials Lex’s office to set up an interview. After all, Lex publicly said he would. It wouldn’t do him any favors to go back on his word. 

“Lex Luthor’s office, this is Mercy Graves speaking, how may I help you,” a firm voice greets. 

“Good afternoon, Ms. Graves. I’m Clark Kent with the Daily Planet. Mr. Luthor agreed to do an interview to clear up this whole misunderstanding that’s going on Twitter right now?” Clark responds, leaning back in his chair with one hand behind his head. He doesn’t know for sure, but he has a feeling his smile is heard through the phone. 

“Ah yes, Mr. Luthor informed me to be expecting a call about an interview. Would an interview in thirty minutes work?” Mercy questions, the sound of a keyboard being heard through the phone. 

“That works perfectly for me, thank you very much,” Clark replies, waiting for her to say goodbye before hanging up.

Standing up, he makes his way over to Perry’s office. Knocking politely, he waits for Perry to look at him before smiling widely at the other man. 

“I’m off to interview Lex Luthor,” Clark informs the man, grinning. 

Perry raises a speculative eyebrow. 

“I wasn’t aware you had an interview with Luthor scheduled today,” Perry remarks, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his desk. 

“Just got one a couple minutes ago,” Clark admits, grin unwavering. 

Perry’s eyebrow raises even higher. 

“Do I want to know?” Perry questions, mostly to himself. 

“Probably not, sir,” Clark laughs. 

Perry waves him off, and Clark heads out towards Lex Luthor’s office. 

Walking quickly, he arrives at Mercy’s desk in twenty minutes. 

He smiles wide at Mercy, messenger bag over his shoulder, notepad already in hand. 

“I’m a little early,” Clark apologizes, ducking his head bashfully. 

“Have a seat, Mr. Kent, and Mr. Luthor will meet with you shortly,” Mercy says dutifully, barely sparing him a glance as she types quickly on her computer. 

Clark does so, hunching in on himself in the too-small single-seat leather chair. It’s not very comfortable, but he’ll make due. 

If interviewing Lex is anything like Lois has complained about, he’ll give long-winded non-answers that don’t really mean anything. Not unless you dig and push, that is. The important thing is, Lois told him once, was to back him into a corner. That’s when you’d get the truth out of him.

Mercy’s phone rings, and she picks it up quickly. 

“Send him in, Mercy,” Lex’s voice says firmly over the phone. 

“Of course, Mr. Luthor,” Mercy responds, setting the phone down. 

Clark pretends not to pay attention until Mercy clears her throat, snapping his gaze towards her. 

“You’re all set to go in, Mr. Kent,” Mercy says flatly, her voice nor face giving any indication to her feelings on … anything, really. 

“Thank you, Ms. Graves,” Clark responds with a disarming smile before he heads into Lex’s office. He’s careful to close the door gently behind him so it doesn’t bang, focusing his head towards the man of the hour. 

Lex is sitting on his desk, holding a paper up with one hand and signing a page with the other. 

“Thank you for agreeing to do an interview with me, Mr. Luthor. I know Lois typically conducts the interviews with you from the Daily Planet,” Clark starts, walking towards the other man. 

“Yes, yes, of course. You were the one who put the offer out on Twitter, so it was only natural that you were the one conducting it this time,” Lex explains, voice tinged with annoyance. Then, he gestures at the seats in front of him. “Please, please, take a seat. Let’s clear up this mess, shall we?” 

Clark gives a disarming smile as he pulls the chair out, sitting down. The chair is uncomfortable, and even smaller than the chairs in the lobby-esque area. These chairs reminded him of the chairs at the principal's office. Cheap and uncomfortable to sit on for long periods of time. Perhaps that was intentional. 

“Just so you’re aware, Mr. Luthor, I’ll be recording this interview. Is that alright with you?” Clark asks, phone in hand with his thumb over the record button. 

“Fine, fine,” Lex huffs out, waving his hand dismissively. 

Clark grins as he hits the record button, sitting forward in his seat as he looks down at his list of questions. 

“So, let’s go ahead and start with how you and Mr. Wayne know each other,” Clark starts, keeping his voice warm and happy. 

“Well, we first got acquainted shortly after he returned from his ‘finding himself’ trip around the world,” Lex starts, rolling his eyes a little. “While he tends to not be as … serious as other people I do business with, he is no less worthy of partnering up with.” 

Clark jots some quick notes down, next question already on his lips. “So, you enjoy partnering up with Mr. Wayne?” 

Lex nods, “Yes. Most of the time it is a profitable endeavor. He may have a large party life, but he is thorough when conducting business.”

Clark can’t help the honest smile that forms on his lips, thinking about how that is something he admires a lot about Bruce. He puts on an act for the public, his Brucie Wayne persona, but he never shies away from showing his intelligence when it comes to running his company. 

“So then, how did the two of you come to an agreement to match donations to Treasured Children? I haven’t seen any interviews or public declaration of it before today,” Clark admits, keeping himself open. 

“Well, we saw no need to declare it publicly,” Lex says, sitting back in his chair and not facing Clark directly. “After all, we don’t always need to brag about donating to charity. Making donations to such charity’s should be done out of the good of your heart, not for the publicity it would bring.”

Clark resists the urge to snort in disbelief. Lex Luthor will do many things, but doing philanthropist out of the goodness of his heart was not one of them. 

“I see, I see. So then, how much had Bruce pledged to donate?” Clark probes, pen at the ready as he sits forward in his seat. 

“Well, for such a grand charity, he pledged to donate a million dollars,” Lex says, a certain edge in his voice. A sort of … displeasure hidden in there. Clark suppresses a smirk. 

“Ah, and such an affordable amount for a man of your wealth,” Clark comments. 

Lex’s smile is strained as his sharp eyes focus on Clark. 

“Of course, I was happy to agree to meet such an amount,” Lex forces out through grit teeth. 

“And, why Treasured Children, specifically? Can you tell me more about this charity?” Clark questions, smile still wide on his face. 

“Treasured Children is a charity focused in Gotham and Metropolis, so it was only natural that we agreed to donate to that charity,” Lex starts, gesturing wildly with his hands. “This charity’s goals are to work with children and families dealing with a variety of challenges.” 

“Challenges?” Clark prod’s. 

“Yes, challenges such as abuse, neglect, and poverty. They provide case management services and assist people who are seeking assistance with such things.” Lex explains this as if he’s reading off a cue card. So unlike Bruce, who is filled with such passion and energy about his philanthropy endeavors. 

“Sounds like a good nonprofit for the two of you to donate to,” Clark remarks, leaning slightly back in the uncomfortable chair. 

“Well, of course. We must do whatever we can to support those who are in need,” Lex says flippantly. 

Clark smiles tightly, knowing it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. 

“So then, why does the Wayne family state that you haven’t made your donation that you agreed upon?” Clark inquires. 

Lex’s face tightens at the question. 

“Well,” Lex starts, frown in his voice, “I’m afraid that Mr. Wayne just beat me to making the donation. I have written the check and my secretary is taking it down after this interview.” 

Clark’s smile turns into a genuine one as his eyes sharpen. 

“So, when did you and Mr. Wayne make the agreement?” 

Lex isn’t quick enough to hide the frown on his face or the glare sent his way. 

“A few weeks ago,” Lex admits, likely knowing if he lies Bruce will call him out on it. 

“Why did it take you so long to make the donation?” Clark asks, resisting the urge to be smug and smirk at him. 

“I am simply a busier man than Mr. Wayne,” Lex excuses. 

“Did you not take a vacation to France last week?” Clark questions, playing dumb. 

Lex’s jaw flexes. 

“It was a business trip, not a vacation Mr. Kent,” Lex retorts. 

“Ah, I see,” Clark says, jotting a few notes down on his notepad. “Why do you think the Wayne family decided to address the lack of donation so publicly instead of privately?” 

Lex’s nose wrinkles slightly in disgust. 

“I will not pretend to understand why the Wayne’s act the way they do,” Lex starts. “I wish they had approached me in private, I could’ve reassured them that the donation was coming shortly.” 

Clark disguises his snort with a cough, ignoring the dark look Lex sends his way. He knows Lex better than most. They both know the Wayne’s did this publicly to force Lex to keep his word, or else he never would’ve agreed to such a large donation.

“Well, thank you again for agreeing to an interview today,” Clark says, standing up and reaching a hand out to Lex. 

“The pleasure was all mine,” Lex replies cooly, gripping Clark’s hand tightly as he shakes it. 

Clark gives one last smile as he grabs his phone and ends the recording, making his way out of the room. He resists the urge to laugh at the curses Lex spews as soon as the door closes behind him. 

When Clark calls Bruce’s office on his way back to the Daily Planet, Danny informs Clark that he’ll be held up in meetings all day and unable to meet Clark for lunch. He’s disappointed, but understands, and thanks the man. 

His walk back to the Daily Planet is a bit slower, but he looks forward to seeing Bruce at tonight’s League meeting. And, following up to make sure Lex actually made the donation he said he would.

( '}{' )

Clark shakes off the familiar chill of the Zeta tube as he steps out of it and into the Watchtower. Surprisingly, he’s the second one to arrive. If his hearing is accurate, that is. 

Making his way through the halls, he focuses his hearing on a familiar heartbeat. Bruce’s. He can also hear a keyboard being typed on quickly. 

A fond smile grows on his face. Of course Bruce is here extra early, setting everything up for tonight’s meeting to assure it goes smoothly. 

He floats towards Bruce, excited to see him after his thoughts had been plagued by the other man all day. 

As soon as he enters the meeting room, Bruce grunts out, “Hello Superman.” 

Clark slides his way behind Bruce, sneaking his arms around his middle as he rests his chin on the other’s shoulder. 

“Hey Batman,” Clark murmurs into Bruce’s ear. 

Bruce stills, turning his head to face Clark slightly. 

Clark can hear the unasked question. After all, Clark isn’t typically so physically affectionate while they’re suited up. But he can’t help it. The desire to smother Bruce in love is overwhelming, and he can’t resist the urge to give into it and douse the other in love. 

Turning his head more, he kisses Bruce’s ear over his cowl, gentle. Bruce turns to face Clark more, giving Clark access to Bruce’s cheek which he places a kiss on. Angling his head even more, Clark finally places a kiss on Bruce’s mouth. 

Bruce’s lips are warm and soft against Clark’s, so open beneath Clark’s advances. Clark hears both of their heartbeats speed up slightly as Bruce turns to face him better. He keeps one hand on Bruce’s waist, but cradles Bruce’s face with his other. Keeping the other man close. 

He keeps an ear out for anyone approaching as he slides his tongue against the line of Bruce’s lips. Bruce opens up for him, allowing Clark’s tongue to tangle with his. His mouth is warm and soft, causing Clark’s attention to wane. 

But, in his defense, how was he supposed to focus on anything that wasn’t the man in front of him? The man that he loves with his entire being, would do anything for? Especially when he opens up for Clark so perfectly, consuming Clark’s entire attention.

Forcing himself back to allow Bruce to properly breathe, he rests his forehead against Bruce’s. 

“Was there anything in particular I did to deserve such a kiss? So I can do it again?” Bruce asks, voice less gruff and breathless. 

“Just being you,” Clark admits, smiling. “Always just you being you.” 

Bruce smiles, his gloved hand reaching up. His thumb brushes against Clark’s bottom lip. While Clark can’t see his eyes clearly, he can imagine Bruce’s eyes dilating clearly in his mind. 

“I’m going to kiss you again, then,” Bruce whispers. 

Clark leans in and meets him again. He fights himself to keep the kiss from deepening too much, from getting too excited when their colleagues will be showing up any minute. He wishes to tangle his fingers in Bruce’s hair and draw prettier sounds out of Bruce. He wants to take him to the Manor, and spend time in their bed. 

But, as he hears the Zeta tube activate, he knows he’ll have to wait just a bit longer. 

He pulls back, quickly planting one last peck on Bruce’s mouth before fully pulling out of Bruce’s arms. He drinks in the way Bruce looks, leaning slightly towards Clark as if unable to help it. A little dazed from the kiss they shared. 

Clark smiles as he reaches out and squeezes Bruce’s hand lightly. 

“We’ll continue this later,” Clark assures, tilting his head slightly. “J’onn will be entering shortly.” 

Bruce nods, squeezing Clark’s hand once before letting him go and turning back to the computer. 

J’onn enters the room, none the wiser as he engages Clark in pre-meeting pleasantries.

Can't Help Myself

Clark feels overwhelming feelings bubble up in his chest. His love for Bruce is all-consuming, devouring his very soul. And Bruce doesn't help when he does the sweetest things for Clark as if it's second nature. The closest Clark can get to sharing how he feels about Bruce is through kissing him, with all the love he feels. It still doesn't feel like enough, but it's the closest he can get.

-

Or: 5 times Clark kisses Bruce because of a sweet gesture Bruce does (even if he doesn’t know it) + 1 times Bruce kisses Clark because of a sweet gesture.

[marauderundercover]

Taking Chances Chapter Five: Paris Revealed (Stories/Memories)

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AO3

Marinette flinches back as the room erupts in shouting. The younger boy, who was definitely younger than her and yet almost (if not definitely) taller than her, was fiercely glaring while he screamed at Mr. Wayne in….was that Arabic? The man that walked in with him was waving around the knife in his hand while Dick yelled at Mr. Wayne, his face filled with confusion instead of fury. Glancing around for a way out, Marinette makes eye contact with Alfred who nods behind him. Sneaking away from the group of angry men, Marinette follows Alfred into the kitchen and instantly feels at home. And much calmer.

“I’m sorry.” She mumbles, breathing deeply to avoid spiraling again. Alfred simply hands her a cookie before turning around and putting water in a kettle.

“There is no need to apologize, Miss Marinette. It seems Master Bruce has forgotten all sense today and is instead insistent on acting like a fool. It was wrong of him to announce you like that, without preparing you or the boys beforehand. I do hope that his atrocious display of proper manners doesn’t make you want to leave.” Alfred says, and Marinette’s eyebrows shoot upwards. Was he? Was Alfred actually blaming this situation on Mr. Wayne? Was it Mr. Wayne’s fault? Did he not actually hate her? Did he just make a mistake?

“I- what?” Marinette says, unsure of herself.

“You, my dear, are not at fault. Your father didn’t tell any of his sons that you were coming to the manor today, or that you existed in general. And judging by your face, you weren’t prepared for the boys to be here either.” Alfred clarifies.

“Oh. No, I wasn’t. Mr. Wayne just said that he wanted to get to know me, and he knew I wanted to get to know him. I- my birth mother passed away. But my Maman knew her, so I can find out from her how I’m similar to Bridgette. But neither of my parents knew Mr. Wayne, and I just wanted to know if I was like him, I guess. I didn’t even know who he was until two days ago.” Marinette admits.

“As in you found out Bruce Wayne was your birth father two days ago or-” Alfred trails off, waiting for her to clarify.

“Oh no. I found out the name of my birth father awhile ago. It’s just- I really don’t pay attention to celebrities. The only ones I really know are designers. So I didn’t put two and two together, and I didn’t even know about Bruce Wayne and Wayne Enterprises until a few days ago. My friend Adrien made me google him and that’s when I found out about...the boys.” She says, stopping herself from saying her brothers as she was still unsure if Mr. Wayne actually wanted her like he wanted the others.

“Well I’m certain that things will start to calm down shortly. In the meantime, would you care for some tea?” Alfred asks, holding up the kettle. Marinette nods gratefully, trying hard to stop her inner spiral from drowning her.

---

“What do you mean daughter?” Damian snarls, finally switching to English. Bruce blinks at the boy before sighing.

“I mean, you have a biological sister.” He says, tired and wishing he had been able to convince Marinette to go somewhere else. Not that he didn’t want her to meet her siblings. But it definitely wasn’t the laid back first meeting that he wanted.

“You mean half-sister.” Damian spits out, crossing his arms and sticking his nose into the air.

“Shut up, Demon Spawn. She’s our sister, get over it. Where’d the kid come from? Her mom drop her off?” Jason asks, obviously trying to actually understand the situation.

“No. I first met her at the Museum and had my suspicions. She’s in Gotham on a class trip, and before you ask, yes. We had a DNA test done and yes, I am her father.” Bruce says, frowning when he sees Dick’s hurt expression morph into one of excitement.

“Wait, wait, wait! Was she the girl who was sassing the Joker?” He asks quietly, practically buzzing with excitement. When Bruce nods, Dick cheers and runs from the room. Okay then.

“Wait, she met the Joker?” Jason asks, his expression turning dark. Bruce watches his son’s face morph into one of disgust when he puts it together. “She’s the French kid he had at gunpoint, isn’t she?”

“Yes. Which is one of the reasons why we both thought the manor would be a more appropriate meeting place rather than somewhere public.” Bruce says, sighing as Damian once again starts screaming. This was not what he had planned.

---

After just a few minutes with Alfred, Marinette already felt calmer. Calm enough to giggle at another story about something that one of the boys- one of her brothers- did. Calm enough to let her guard down. And mess up.

“If you wanna see something ridiculous, you should look up the 26th time Monsieur Ramier was akumatized into Monsieur Pigeon. He made all the buildings turn into bird cages and all the food turned into bird seed. Luckily it didn’t last long, but seeing the Mayor of Paris stuck inside a giant bird cage was kind of hilarious.” Marinette rambles, giggling at the memory. It was definitely a needed akuma, situated right between two super destructive akumas. Monsieur Pigeon was, while a nuisance, always a breath of fresh air. His akumatized form was brought on by his fierce protectiveness of the pigeons, which luckily never led to death for civilians.

“Pardon me, Miss Marinette, but could I ask what you mean by ‘akumatized’?” Alfred asks, his posture suddenly stiff. Marinette’s eyes widen as she realizes what she just did. She told someone outside of Paris about the situation happening in Paris. Well crap. Normal Parisians didn’t know about the media block that she had set up with the help of the Mayor and Max. But after her calls to the Justice League were ignored, and she realized how disastrous it would be for a member of the League to be akumatized, the media block was the best choice. Time to act clueless.

“Akumatized, as in, a person is possessed by an akuma? Surely you’ve heard of it. It’s been happening in Paris for almost two years.” She says, hoping he doesn’t ask to see any evidence. This isn’t good, this is awful, this-

“And what is an akuma?” Alfred asks. Okay, this isn’t too bad.

“It’s an evil butterfly sent out by the villain, Hawkmoth.” Marinette says, giving out more information than she’s really comfortable with. Okay, time to change the subject, no more questions about heroes or villains or-

“Marinette!” A new voice calls, sliding into the kitchen, almost immediately falling over.

“Master Dick, have you forgotten about your ban on the kitchen?” Alfred asks, his lips quirking up in amusement.

“Awww, Alfred, I just wanted to talk to Marinette. I feel bad for all of us overwhelming her back there.” Dick says with a pout that somehow doesn’t look ridiculous on him. Despite obviously being at least ten years older than her.

“Don’t feel bad. It was just...a lot all at once.” Marinette says with a small smile.

“So I have to ask, are you the one who sassed the Joker at the Museum the other day?” He asks, a wide grin on his face as he sits on one of the stools. Marinette’s eyes widen and she blinks. How?

“Oh, uh, yeah, I guess. It wasn’t a big deal though. He thought I was a Wayne- well, I guess he figured it out before I did- but I think he just wanted to scare my class.” She says, waving her hand to brush off the topic. She really didn’t want to talk about the Joker. Because she was sure it would turn into-

“I apologize for asking, but have you been caught up in the villain attacks in Paris before?” Alfred asks, Marinette instantly panicking. Sure, she’d been caught up in almost every single akuma battle as Ladybug. But there were a few on record where she was targeted as Marinette, and even a few battles that she assisted as Marinette. And then there was Kwami Buster…

“Well, a few. But basically everyone in Paris has dealt with it at some point. That’s just what happens when there’s an attack so often, you know? And my school seems to be a hotspot but that makes sense because teenagers are full of negative emotions and-” Marinette cuts off her rambling, cursing herself on the inside. Great job, Mari. Now they’re going to be worried or they’re going to think you’re a freak or-

“What do you mean negative emotions? Why would that matter?” Dick asks, his previous cheerful smile replaced with a look that clearly meant business.

“That’s how the villain chooses his targets. Negative emotion. If someone is having a bad enough day, he can take control of them and give them powers and basically destroy the city trying to get to Ladybug and Chat Noir, who are our heroes. I only know what’s been posted on official sites like the Ladyblog or miraculousparis.org.” Marinette says, smiling apologetically and hoping that this conversation can be over.

“Have you ever been akumatized?” Dick asks, tension suddenly filling the room.

“No, thankfully. I’ve found ways to manage my negative emotions so that they can’t take me over. I don’t blame anyone who has been akumatized, it’s hard not to be. But, I also don’t think I’d be able to forgive myself if I was akumatized.” Because then her family would be a target. Because Hawkmoth would know her identity. And if Hawkmoth’s insistence on her being akumatized was anything to go on, she’d be a devastating akuma. And if Ladybug wasn’t fighting in the battle….would the cure even work?

“That is a lot of pressure, Miss Marinette.” Alfred says softly after a moment of tense silence. Marinette grins brightly.

“I can handle it, don’t worry!” She says, hoping no one can tell how hard it actually is. How hard it is constantly being strong. Never truly feeling a negative emotion.

---

Bruce winces at the faux cheerfulness in his daughter’s voice. He had only found out about the Paris situation a few days ago, but he was determined to fix it. Find a solution. Do something to help the city and by extension, his daughter. She’d be going back there soon. Back to a city that was being held hostage by an emotional terrorist. Bruce would fix this. He had to.

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