#Batman & the entire GCPD: hey (don’t say that)

[morganbritton132]

I bet Bruce was fighting for his life the first time Dick swears. The man is so used to ‘leaping lizards’ and ‘holy guacamole, Batman’ and then one day, Batman is crouched down next to a dead body covered in some strange slime. He beacons Robin over like, “Robin, come here. What do you think of this?”

Robin comes over, squats down next to him. He tilts his head, puts his hand on his chin in thought, and then says in his plain nine year old voice, “Batman, what the fuck is this?”

[jaybirdiewrites]

Hey guys! As promised, here’s the prompt fill! It’s a short little fellow (only 489 words!) but I think I’m gonna start Prompt Fill Fridays (pretty self explanatory. I’ll save prompts throughout the week and post a prompt fill on Fridays, with the idea that it ranges from 400-1k.) actual prompt fill below the cut!

Dash was Absolutely Done with Gotham.

At first, moving out of Amity seemed like a good decision. After all, Dash had gained a quite negative reputation there. Not to mention that the locals didn’t exactly get along with law enforcement, to say the least, but Dash needed some action. You don’t grow up in Amity without getting used to constantly fighting for your life.

And so, the “most dangerous city in the world” it was.

The hiring process into the GCPD had come with a thorough background check, which Dash (surprisingly) passed. After that, they had just let him in and promoted him to detective within the first week. Just like that.

The first little while had been an absolute nightmare. No one on the force wanted to work with a rookie officer from bumfuck-middle-of-nowhere-Illinois, and Dash couldn’t say he blamed them. This was Gotham, after all, and no one wanted the new kid to die in a rouge attack.

And then the first Arkham breakout happened.

Dash, two weeks onto the force and absolutely Done with waiting for vigilanties to save him, grabbed his coat, collapsible fenton creep stick, handcuffs, and marched out of the precinct.

He had gone directly to the abandoned warehouse that had been pinged as a Joker hideout.

The security was sad, he had thought to himself when he slipped in through the roof, jumping over motion sensor bombs and lasers (those reminded him of the fenton’s ectoblast guns).

The hired help was underpaid and undertrained, he mused as he whacked each goon on the side of the head (only one time each. Weaklings) before the goon next to them noticed.

When Dash finally knocked out all the hired help, disabled the bomb (it was an easier model than that one they practiced on in gym), and walked up to the Joker, he was extremely underwhelmed. 

Even the lunch lady, hell, even the fucking box ghost had been harder to defeat at sixteen, using the dodge shot gun. This was too easy. It almost felt wrong.

Except that the Joker was smiling too wide as he cleaned his teeth with a bloodied dagger (ew), and that was definitely a weak acid that had burnt through his clothes.

Still, it almost felt like a game, fighting the Joker. His hand-to-hand was worse than Fenton’s.

There was no way this was Gotham’s most dangerous Villain, right?

But, apparently, that consensus was wrong. 

The entire GCPD had just… stared at him when he walked in, dragging the Joker by his handcuffs.

Now, standing on a dark rooftop, peering into the shadows at a literal furry vigilante, Dash was honestly wishing he was back in Amity. 

At least there, the superheroes wore respectable clothing.

Letting go of a deep sigh, Dash turned properly to face Gotham’s Vigilante, holding a hand out in greeting.

“Hello Mr. Batman, sir. I’m Detective Baxter. Commissioner Gordon told me you wanted to talk?”

@lumosfeather18581 , you asked to be tagged!

Short DPXDC Prompts #599

Dash works at the GCPD. It’s been an interesting first few weeks. He can’t quite understand why everyone is so afraid of these rogues that the Bats and the Birds fight.

The other officers in the station just thought Dash’s comments on the matter was just the new guy talking shit. They ate their words when the newbie brought The fucking Joker into the station in handcuffs single-handedly.

[ragingbookdragon]

Through Hoods, Through Lace, Through Hearts--We'll Find Our Healing PT.1

Jason Todd x Reader Story (Arkhamverse)

Word Count: 2.6K Warnings: Explicit Language

Author's Note: I started playing Arkham Knight again and got inspired. Who woulda thought?? Enjoy! -Thorne

Gotham wasn’t exactly safe since Batman—or Bruce Wayne—had died. All things considered, it wasn’t as bad as it used to be now that Red Hood had moved in and started tackling the criminals Batman had left behind—permanently. Killer Moth had been the first and Roman Sionis was the second to go, and while Red Hood hadn’t outright claimed it, the leftover crew that hadn’t been pumped full of lead, had said that they saw the vigilante leaving, so it wasn’t hard to put two and two together. And it didn’t stop there.

Red Hood had started in on Penguin’s gang too. Now that Batman wasn’t around to stop the weapons and drug smuggling, it’d given the infamous gang leader a free ticket into Gotham. There were some reports about the neighboring vigilante Nightwing coming over from Blüdhaven to stop him. Rumor had it that someone said they even saw him and the Red Hood working together at one point, but it didn’t seem all to believable as the latter didn’t seem to be the partnering type.

That being said, with no one to stop him from killing all the criminals he wanted, a lot of the small-time fish got out of the business, not wanting to be met at the end of Red Hood’s handguns—it’s the exact reason she got out of the game. The money was good, and she was a damn good thief, but no amount of payout was worth her life. But somehow, trouble always managed to find her again.

***

Her file might’ve gotten deleted from GCPD’s database, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to take the easy way down the street and risk an officer recognizing her. She stuck to the back alleys like usual, ignoring the catcalls and sleazy comments about her outfit, but still keeping her brass knuckles around her hand—could never be too careful in Gotham.

Working an honest job sucked in her opinion, and the only thing more humiliating than working at Super-Babes was the number of tips she was getting at the end of her shift. Maybe if she smiled and flirted a bit more, they’d give her a tenner instead of a fiver. She’d half a mind to shove that five down the asshole’s throat after he ran his hand up the back of her thigh, but she was lucky that Tony had been working the kitchen shift—watching him throw the guy out on his ass was payment enough.

Even if she was managing to scrape by, working a restaurant job was kicking her ass, and something deep inside her itched for one more heist, but with the Red Hood stalking the city, there was no way in hell that she was going to risk it. The man had a reputation for leaving bodies and shell cases, and she wasn’t going to be the former. No, she was working towards a better future, getting back on track, and even if she was waitress, she was doing a lot better than most of the old crew. Most of them had either joined up with Black Mask, in hindsight, a horrible error on their part, or gotten thrown back into lockup. She was lucky—she got out during the recovery of Gotham after the whole Scarecrow and Arkham Knight deal. But that didn’t stop them from sending her the occasional request of her skills. All they received was a big ‘fuck no and fuck you’.

“(Y/N), (Y/N), (Y/N). Finally tracked you down.” Speak of the devil.

“Alex,” she sighed heavily as she turned halfway, catching sight of her old partner—and old flame, but that wasn’t important. “Figured you would at some point.” Her eyes narrowed. “What do you want?”

Alex chuckled and leaned against the wall. “No need to be so touchy. I just wanted to talk.”

(Y/N) shook her head and hiked her purse higher onto her shoulder, fingers tightening around the brass knuckles in her pocket.

“If it’s not about my next shift at Super-Babes, I don’t give a rat’s ass what it is,” she countered, glaring at him.

“That’s where you’ve been working?” he questioned, but his tone gave way to the knowingness in his gaze. “Really?”

“Not like there’s anywhere else for ex-thieves to apply, Alex,” (Y/N) grumbled. “Employers are pretty meticulous when it comes to criminal records.”

“I’m not.”

She glowered at him. “I’m not interested in whatever you want me to do for you.”

“Even if you’ll get paid?” he suggested.

“I can’t believe I’m going to ask,” she sighed, eyes narrowing at the grin that split across his face. “What are you doing?”

Alex pulled out a file and walked up to her. “I knew you couldn’t resist a big payout.”

“Fuck you,” she grunted, swiping the manilla folder from him. “Shine a light for me.”

He pulled out his phone and flicked his flashlight on, watching as she read the papers, occasionally flipping the sheets.

All at once, she paused and gaped at him. “Wayne Manor?” She blinked. “You wanna `excavate Wayne Manor?”

Alex nodded and turned the flashlight off, stowing the phone back into his pocket. “Good plan, isn’t it?”

(Y/N) breathed in shock and lowered the folder. “Are you insane?”

“I’m failing to see your issue with this.”

“You want to excavate the home of a dead man. You really can’t see the issue with it?”

“That he’s dead?” Alex offered. “Technically that’s not graverobbing. He’s been dead for like a year and a half.”

(Y/N) turned and took a step. “That’s not the issue Alex!” She spun back around and hissed, “Bruce Wayne was Batman.”

“Keyword was. Not anymore.”

“I don’t give a shit. If Bruce Wayne was Batman, then there’s a very strong chance that there’s still defenses laid around the grounds.”

“In that pile of rubble? Not likely, but that’s why I need you to help me.”

“No,” (Y/N) declared. “I’m not going anywhere near that place.”

Alex let out a sigh and crossed his arms over his chest. “And why not? You never really liked Batman. Didn’t he put you in jail once or twice?”

“Bruce Wayne was a good man that did his best to help this city whether he was dressed as Batman or not.” She affirmed. “He saved people, gave them jobs, helped them turn their lives around. No,” she shook her head. “I don’t want any part of this job, Alex. Now, later, or forever. I’m trying to do better, and you should too.”

Alex scoffed. “Oh please, getting tips for dressing like slutty Wonder Woman isn’t doing better (Y/N), and you know it.”

She ignored the insult and shrugged. “Maybe not, but I go to sleep at night knowing that I’m not going to get shot by Red Hood or some greedy gangbanger.”

At that, Alex paused and stared at her. “Are you really afraid of that prick?”

(Y/N) scowled. “That pricktook out Black Mask and his entire operation within twenty-four hoursthen immediately turned his attention on the rest of the scumbags in this city.” Taking a step towards him, she added, “He doesn’t break bones and leave you lying in pain like Batman did, Alex. He makes sure you don’t get up again. Ever. I’m not risking my neck for anything that’s stuck in Wayne’s basement.”

The man across from her was silent for a moment, then sighed. “I can’t sway you in any way?”

She yanked her hand out of her jacket pocket and flashed the knuckles around her hand. “I’d stop swaying and start running instead.”

Alex opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was, “Oh fuck!” then he spun around and hauled off like his ass was on fire.

(Y/N) stood there dumbfounded. Sure, she could be intimidating, but there was no way she was that scary. Instead of questioning it, she shrugged and shoved the folder into her skirt, then turned sharply on her heel to start on her way back to her apartment. Until she walked straight into someone’s chest.

She gasped as she stumbled backwards, knowing she was going to fall on her ass when strong hands grasped her upper arms, keeping her upright. (Y/N) looked up and met the very man she’d been talking about. Suddenly, Alex’s explicative and escape made perfect sense.

“Oh fuck!” she blurted out, and impulsively swung her knuckled fist at the jaw of his helmet. He caught her hand with an ease and spun her around, pressing her front up against the brick wall.

“Fuck me. Oh, fuck me,” she hissed, cursing herself for not telling Alex to stick it where the sun didn’t shine the second he found her. Now here she was about to get murdered by a trigger-happy vigilante with a grudge.

“Really? Right here? But someone could see us?” The humor in his tone drew a startled laugh from her and she pressed her cheek against the wall, so she could see him.

“I swear to God I don’t have anything to do with him. Fuck, I’ll tell you whatever you want about him and his plan if you don’t kill me.” (Y/N) sucked in a breath. “Please don’t kill me. I swear I stopped pulling heists after Halloween last year. I work a decent job. I keep my nose clean. I don’t get involved in that shit anymore. Please, God, don’t—”

“Will you stop talking for like ten seconds?” Red Hood griped, one hand leaving the grasp he had on her arms behind her back to feel around her middle.

“HEY!” she shouted, thrashing wildly. “GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!”

He pressed her harder to the wall. “I’m not gonna hurt you. Calm down.”

“I’ll calm down when you get your fucking hands out of my skirt your fucking pervert!” (Y/N) spat, leaning on one leg to kick at him with the other.

“All I want is what’s in your skirt,” he sighed and pressed one of his thighs against the one kicking him. “Christ,you’re a handful.”

“And you’re a fucking sicko!” she retorted indignantly. “Is this how you get your rocks off? Assaulting innocent women? You’re so fucking disgu—”

“Got it,” Red Hood declared, and yanked out the file she’d shoved in the side of her skirt. (Y/N) fell silent when he held it beside her head. “See, that wasn’t so hard now, was it?”

She could tell he was smirking behind the red helmet and she scowled at him. “You’re fucked up, buddy.”

Shrugging, he flipped open the file and started reading. “Would’ve been easier if you hadn’t tried to run on me.”

“Well excuse me for thinking I was about to get murdered and having the initial instinct to haul ass.”

Red Hood chuckled at that, and despite how wrong the entire situation was, the low drawl made shivers go down her spine.

“Wanna tell me about your friend?” he coaxed and (Y/N) froze.

“He’s not my friend,” she suddenly protested. “I haven’t been around Alex since last year.”

“Really? You two seem fairly chummy.”

(Y/N) craned her neck to look at him. “We used to fuck when we worked together.”

“Mhm,” he hummed knowingly. “Lover’s spat then?”

Barking a laugh, she countered, “Like you wouldn’t believe.” She stared at him. “I got out when you started putting people down. Didn’t want to be a casualty.”

“That’ll do it,” he snickered. “So, you don’t know what Alex’s been up to since last year?”

“No, and I want it to stay that way, but he thinks that if he waves enough heists in my face, I’ll cave and run back to the money.” (Y/N) groaned and rested her head against the wall. “Look, I don’t know what he’s planning, and I don’t care. I don’t want anything to do with whatever that plan it. Honest to God.”

She gazed at him, feeling something akin to tears gathering in her vision, and pled, “Take the file. Hell, take all the money I’ve got in my purse if you want, just don’t kill me.” A single tear ran down her cheek. “Please, I’m begging you. I don’t wanna die now.”

Red Hood’s weight disappeared from her back and he murmured, “I’m not going to hurt you. I want the opposite in fact.” The honesty in his words made her body feel weak and her knees started to go out beneath her. “And there she goes.” He caught her before she fell.

Gently lowering her to the ground, he helped her sit against the wall. (Y/N) leaned her head back and let out a long sigh.

“Oh, thank God.”

He laughed. “Life flashing before your eyes?”

She gave a half-hearted smile. “You’ve got no idea.”

This time when he laughed, it was dark, and it made her stomach churn. “Actually, I do.”

An uncomfortable silence fell over them, then he knelt in front of her, handing her purse back to her.

“Here.”

(Y/N) took it with a nod and stared at him. “So, what happens now?”

He was quiet for a moment, then he waved the file. “I go stop your friends from digging around Batman’s home.”

“Good luck,” she replied, starting to her feet when he tutted.

“Ah-ah-ah.” He motioned for her to sit back down. “We’re not done yet.”

She grunted at him. “What do you want?”

“Information on your friends.”

(Y/N) felt her brows furrow. “Can’t you find that out yourself?”

Red Hood shrugged. “I could, but I’m always looking to make my job easier.” He observed her for a moment, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a roll of hundred-dollar bills.

Waving it in front of her, he said, “You tell me what you used to do for them and what all they’ve got going on, and you can have this.”

(Y/N)’s jaw went tight as she stared at the roll. That could pay rent and bills for at least two months. She needed the money. Her eyes darted to the mask and she swiped for the roll, but he raised it out of her reach.

“Nope,” he ribbed. “Info first.”

“Ass,” she grumbled, but conceded with a sigh. “Fine. Have it your way.” (Y/N) clambered to her feet and dusted off her tacky skirt, watching as he did the same.

“Follow me to my apartment.” Before he could say a word, she thrust a finger into his chest. “And do it from the rooftops so people don’t see you.” Her face set in a glare. “I don’t need any unwanted guests trying to get in because they saw you following me.”

She started off when Red Hood grabbed her forearm, not harshly, but firm enough to make her stop and stare at him questioningly.

“What’s your name?”

She blinked, not expecting that. “It’s (Y/N). (Y/N) (L/N).”

He nodded. “And what did they call you when you worked as a thief?”

(Y/N) huffed. “Not everyone has an alias, Red Hood.”

Chuckling, he retorted, “Yeah, but someone as pretty as you no doubt had one.”

She felt her stomach flutter at his flirt and her cheeks warmed as she looked away and replied, “They used to call me, ‘The Lady in Lace’.”

“The Lady in Lace?” he repeated, then stood next to her and pulled out a grappling gun. “Have a matching outfit, Lady Lace?”

(Y/N) shoved him in the side. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“I think I’d rather see,” Red Hood flirted and pressed the button, shooting off towards the roof of the building.

It was gonna be a long night.

[iphoenixrising]

DickTimWeek2021 Day 2

** Day 2: Time Loop | Jealousy | Stray AU

Welp. Time to break some hearts.

They’re laughing like assholes as they climb through Timmy’s penthouse windows. 

“Did you see that thug punch himself in the face?”

“That’s the right way to get out of an ass beating by the Batman.”

Tim, still in Red Robin, doesn’t even bother, just lets his knees buckle so he can slide down to the floor and laugh until tears are rolling down the dominio still plastered on his face.

He’s riding the concussion train with 

(J)

Josephine and she’s not as bad as some of them are. 

Dick at least tosses the gloves and gauntlets before hauling Timmy’s bruised ass up off the floor, throwing the arm around his shoulders.

“C’mon, you butt. Really Timmy, just laying here in your suit? Alfred would be appalled.”

“S’why I don’t go to the Manor much anymore.”

“Ooh, I’m telling. You’re going to be in so much trouble,” as he gets Tim down the hallway to the bathroom.

“Y-You can’t! You’re the oldest! Dami’s supposed to be the tattle-tale!”

“Nu-uh. As the oldest, I can do whatever the hell I want.”

And does he tell on Timmy? You bet your ass he does.

It’s nice when Alfred can look at someone else in the family with extreme disappointment.

Tim comes by the Manor the day Alfred video chats him, shuffles down to the Cave behind the butler and absolutely sticks his tongue out at Dick’s smarmy grin.

**

His apartment is a literal mess and Dick can’t be bothered to do much more than flop on the overstuffed couch with a groan. 

Still in his uni from the day shift, he’s too bruised and battered and tired to even think of suiting up for the night. He’s been running himself ragged for two months, the day and night shifts blending together along with the usual bullshit of daily human life, and he desperately needs a night of terrible television, junk food, and snuggles.

Like he’d been reading the room, Timmy walks out of his bathroom, towel around his shoulder and hair just this side of damp.

“Hey, you made it home in one piece.” Tim’s long fingers in his hair literally pulls a noise out of Dick he can’t ever remember making.

“Yeah, I drove down because you looked like death warmed over when we talked last weekend. Luckily for you I went grocery shopping, did a few loads of your laundry, and cleaned up a little so you don’t have to worry about housework.”

“I love you. Have I told you that recently? Like, so, so much–” is muffled by the couch cushions, but he thinks Tim can probably still make it all out.

“Mmhm, I know,” and the gentle scratching against his scalp doesn’t stop, and Dick goes a little boneless with it. “I even brought my Roku so we can binge watch terrible television while you eat something more substantial than cereal. Alfred is going to be so proud of you.”

A pat to his head and Timmy is off, slinging his towel on the rack, turning on the shower again to make sure it’s nice and hot for all those bruises and contusions.

He’s no-nonsense about picking up his previous mentor and best friend, literally stripping him down and manhandling him in the shower after a low whistle at the span of blue/black across Dick’s chest and ribs, the scrapes across his back and shoulders. 

The first aid kit tackle box makes an appearance because Tim plans for literally everything ever, and Dick finds himself sitting on his sink wearily while his injuries are meticulously treated.

He knows he eats something super tasty with meat and vegetables, his belly full, before Tim pulls him down on the couch and lets Dick lay against his chest, between his legs to sleepily float while watching God-awful B-movies.

It’s the most relaxing weekend he’s had in a while.

**

Dami sneers at Tim, arms crossed over his chest, the expression on his face begging Tim to try to deny it.

The third Robin however, is looking over at Dick with horror that the big secret is finally out in the open.

“Th-that isn’t– it’s not–” Tim fumbles desperately, “he’s been my big brother forever, that’s it!”

“Tt. Grayson may be painfully oblivious, Drake, but the rest of us are detectives. Even Todd knows of your feelings and he rarely even comes to the Manor!”

Tim’s soul literally leaves his body.

Dick blinks, completely taken back, mouth open without anything coming out.

Damian raises his eyes skyward and prays for patients dealing with these two. “What I am saying,” he tries, he really is trying here, “is that you two must cease and desist this pointless–” vague hand wave– “pining for one another. It is getting to the point of absurdity. I demand you two either discuss your need for one another or take this ridiculous mooning elsewhere. The rooftops of Gotham is no place for this,” another hand wave, “utter nonsense.”

Tim’s mouth goes dry, subtly backing away to be closer to the Ducati’s waiting for tonight’s ride. He’s pretty sure he has enough energy left in his shaky knees to hop on one and be the fuck out of the Cave before his face literally bursts into flames.

But, well. Dick was Batman.

His strategic retreat is stomped into the ground by acrobatic leaps and a very well done joint lock to keep him from immediately taking off.

Dami scoffs at them on his way up the winding staircase. He stops Pennyworth on the way and turns the butler to return back into the Manor proper, citing those two needed time to figure themselves out.

**

After several weeks under deep cover, Nightwing wearily hacks into Titan’s Tower and makes his way through the maze of hallways until he hits a hidden panel. 

Tim is sleeping on his desk, only one empty coffee mug at his workstation. Even dead in his boots, Nightwing can take a second just to look, just to sigh, just to enjoy how much every inch of this boy is his.

He journeys down the hall, flips the bed covers up, carries his sleeping partner in and tucks the blankets around him, a quickly there kiss to the top of messy, too-long hair. A shower in Tim’s perch literally makes everything in life a little less awful and exhausting, not enough for him to do much more than crawl in bed against Tim’s warm body and snuggle up close.

He gets breakfast in bed and blue-violet eyes looking at him with fondness rather than awe, gets coffee flavored kisses and a slow-paced back rub that continues down to his thighs and calves and feet. Later, he gets a date night in a nice restaurant and a sweet San Fran club scene for dessert. He gets to let loose and hold Tim’s body against him, to play them both until the gazes are intense and the low key UST between them makes other people on the dance floor give them space.

**

Witty banter is a primary weapon against megalomaniacal bad guys of any flavor. For some former Robins, it’s an art form.

Over the years, they’ve cultivated their dip and distraction to bounce off one another like a well-oiled vigilante machine. 

It should have been a standard take-down because it’s not one of their more dangerous, deadly villains. It’s not one of the Rogue Gallery baddies. It’s not one of the mobster families, not one of the super powered groups come to call. It’s not someone with hordes of thugs and deadly science waiting to take them down.

It’s a simple B&E, just Nightwing talking it up to draw gunfire while Red Robin is creeping up from behind to get the last laugh.

It’s one of a thousand times they’ve done this. 

It’s a guaranteed win.

It’s the last hour of patrol before they get to go back to Red’s penthouse and snuggle together, eat and show, probably have some fantastic sex before passing out.

The .45 shell, however, cuts through the suit, between armored plates. 

Going after the running baddies is automatic, taking them down, zip ties, and viola. They’re ready for GCPD to pick-up, all kinds of gift-wrapped.

When N finally realizes Red isn’t with him, isn’t answering comms, isn’t waiting for him on the roof, he goes back inside. He hits up B for a ride in the big car in case he missed –

– anything.

The pool of blood around Red Robin is more than he can afford to lose, and Nightwing has been in the vigilante life for over twenty years, has been official with Red Robin for a little over two, has personal experience on how his Baby Bird can take a mostly-fatal beating and still keep moving. He’s seen Tim come close with the Clench, with horrifying injuries, with any of the many bad guys they fight holding him hostage.

Nightwing has seen him perform literal miracles.

And tells him so the entire time he’s got Red Robin up in his arms, carrying him through Gotham’s skyline to the waiting car, falling in with Red on his lap when the familiar hatch slides back, the tourniquet already applied before he even shot a grapple. The struggling pulse is enough of a concern to get it together.

And even if they all gather to strip off the suit, and now it’s on to get vitals back to an acceptable range. Even if the Bats cry overhead, even if the equipment is top notch in the Cave, even if Dick is still talking the whole time, and Alfred is keeping a cool head and Bruce is gripping a hand and Damian is standing at the ready to hand implements and Cass is biting her thumbnail while she hovers and Steph is moving from empty space to empty space around the gurney –

The consistent beep of the flatline cuts through it all.

**

The Titans make it for the service. 

Each of them make a point to hug Dick for as long as possible, holding on tightly.

Bruce is silent and stoic, a little boy again when he has to watch someone else he loves being lowered into the cold, unforgiving ground. Another Robin taking a piece of his heart to the afterlife. 

Steph is red-eyed, a ghost moving around to individual circles, listening to stories she might not have known. 

Cass grips the coffin with bruised knuckles, her whole body wound tight as a string ready to snap. She doesn’t move the entire service, is already convinced leaving him to his own devices caused this whole thing. She doesn’t blame the thugs or Dick or Bruce. She blames the boy that never understood how much it all means.

Duke Thomas is back in Gotham, taking leave from the Outsiders to be here for the family that took him in after the Joker drove his parents insane. He hovers in the doorway to welcome mourners, direct them toward the book to sign-in, talks about Tim Drake with regular humans and other metas in disguise, accepts condolences with his throat tight and his eyes watery. He makes sure Dick has a bottle of water after the first hour, pats Damian’s shoulder, grips Bruce’s arm, weaves an arm around Cassandra’s back to give her a squeeze, obediently looks at the old pictures of Tim on Steph’s photo roll when she’s overcome and has to see that smile again.

In the back, Jason Todd wears dark shades and a clean black suit. Roy Harper is beside him, a hand on the broad back to keep him grounded, to keep the Pit rage at bay. If anyone knows how far Tim and Jason had come over the years, it’s the former Red Arrow. If anyone knows how much agony Jason is in at this moment, at another fallen brother, another Robin gone, if anyone had held the Red Hood while he screamed and cried and broke the utter fuck down, it’s Roy Harper.

Damian Wayne hovers right by Grayson’s side, silently supporting his first Batman, his first brother. Whenever Dick’s eyes start going hazy, glazing over, Damian gently grips a wrist to bring him back, allows fingers to lace through his own and tolerates the tight squeeze that obviously assists in grounding the oldest Robin. 

(Later when the night is crowding grief-stricken Wayne Manor, Damian will be the one to open Grayson’s bedroom door, lift the covers to crawl in behind him, to wind both arms tightly. He will be the one to take the onslaught of grief, to be soaked in tears and snot, to listen to the broken, hoarse voice, to make soothing hums that ultimately mean nothing.)

Alfred Pennyworth quietly talks with the funeral director about the arrangements. Of course Master Timothy would want to be laid to rest with his parents, and the family appreciates all the support and ease of process as the deceased was an important part of the Wayne family. 

When he gets a phone call, he firmly verifies the name on the tombstone is Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne Grayson.

**

Exactly four days after the service, the Flash is staring at him helplessly, gripping Nightwing’s arm tight, “please, please, Dick, don’t do this. You can’t think this is the answer!”

He can barely hear Wally with the absolute destruction going on around them, the machine they’d inadvertently stumbled upon (which is a lie, Nightwing had been looking for it and the Flash basically caught him red handed). 

“You know you aren’t going to be able to stop me.” Standing between the glowing portal and Wally, debris from overhead crashing down on them at intervals, Nightwing is at his peak stubborn, “no matter how fast you are.”

“You don’t understand what’s going to happen,” Wally yells desperately as the vacuum starts pulling at Nightwing’s other arm, pulling him into–

–the Speed Force.

“You don’t have the lightning, Dick, you won’t be able to get yourself out, and I won’t have any way of tracking you!”

The small smirk as the machine’s panel starts going haywire, lights blinking and readings off the charts, makes Wally’s heart clench hard in his chest, makes him try to dig in his heels, makes his stomach tremble.

“You have no idea how many times I’ve already done this, Wally. And I’ll do it as many times as it takes until I change everything.”

The pellet Nightwing palmed before the Flash grabbed his hand goes off the same time the machine hits the highest ratings and a low boom is followed up with an intense swirling suction, pulling the heroes closer to the portal’s surface.

The light grenade goes off without a hitch and the Flash has no choice but to let Nightwing go.

**

They’re laughing like assholes as they climb through Timmy’s penthouse windows. 

[why-this-kolaveri-machi]

it’s a fucking metaphor!

Titans 3.08

i’ve finally gathered the mental and emotional resources to do this thing, so let’s go! as always, i’m typing this up as i see the episode.

SPOILERS AHEAD

1. on watching this opening scene, i was thinking back to how gar was in s1, or even the early bits of s2. the way he idolised the others, particularly dick, and his readiness to go along with whatever they said, and the way he practically bled the need for acceptance. and here he is now, openly defying dick, fully open to and aware of the flaws of the people he loves and admires, knowing he is accepted no matter what and extending that generosity elsewhere. it’s a remarkable bit of character growth that’s... sort of blossomed in the background and so rewarding to see and acknowledge. 

1.25. i guess what i really love about this conflict over how to respond to jason--as clumsily as it is sometimes written--is how their histories and individual traumas inform each character’s reaction. dick is torn between his guilt over what’s become of jason and his drive to do what batman had essentially given up on doing: he is motivated to track down red hood at all costs but there’s a sense that he’s not completely sold on the idea that the only way to stop him is to kill him. (he might go the comics route and try to put him in arkham? god, imagine if the season ended with jason in arkham.) kory’s never had much of a connection with jason in the first place, and jason has done one of the worst things he could do in her book: track and kill a member of her newfound family and is threatening to kill more. 

and gar... sure. look. the idea of jason and red hood as separate entities appeals to him; that red hood emerged when jason was drugged to the gills by scarecrow and lost his usual inhibitions. gar’s struggled with what he becomes when he’s pushed to his limits, too--he did rip open that experimenting scientist with his teeth way back in 1.07, after all, and he was brainwashed by cadmus in s2 into becoming a literal monster. he needs to think, to know, there’s a dichotomy, a line that can only be crossed under extreme duress or by outside influence. 

and he says--and we say--that he was accepted back into the titans in spite of what he’d done, but was he really? gar’s always struggled with his footing in this group; relegated to the caretaker, the tech guy, the gatekeeper, and sometimes punching bag even though everybody’s paying lip service to how much of a family they all are. perhaps gar reaching out to jason and offering acceptance is aspirational on his part: perhaps this is the effort he hoped the titans put/or will put into getting gar back, even when it would seem like he’s too far gone.

1.5. anyway my point is that i don’t think it’s worth discussing this in terms of right/wrong decisions because all of their reactions make a lot of sense given their backgrounds/personalities. gar is doing a fine job here of tracking down jason’s friends and trying to find him that way, but we the audience know that jason is ultimately going to end up an anti-hero/eventually-hero character, so with that knowledge in mind we know that gar’s reaction is the right one. it’s knowledge that the other characters don’t have, so to judge them on it is... uh, unfair.

1.8. also, molly is awesome, yay!

2. dick and barbara flirting over the phone is so cute! i love to see this side of dick: lighter, peppier, willing (even if somewhat reluctantly) to put his mission aside to go out on a date with his girlfriend. and i love how easy this makes his dynamic with kory too: it’s all very domestic and utterly delightful. 

(also, re: the water leak in barbara’s office--you’re saying GCPD could afford fancy-schmancy table-wide touch screen computers and evil-lair lighting but needs its frickin’ commissioner to catch leaking water from above her desk with mugs and fishbowls????)

2.2225. this is probably a teeny tiny thing and i’m not sure i want to bring it up at all BUT. the fact that dick feels compelled to lie to barbara about not liking fancy gala food and eating something more substantial before the date? not a terribly great sign, though i wouldn’t call it a red flag per se. 

“this from a man who forced his students to eat cauliflower crust pizza...”

3. so.... conner and kom are a Thing. huh.

in theory i really like the idea of them bonding over an innate alien-ness and longing for a place they could really belong. both of them are alien twice-over: conner a mix of kryptonian and human, practically generated in a test tube, and kom being somebody that was born different and rejected by her own people, now stuck on a planet dominated by an entirely different species. i even like them exploring this bond physically. i guess it’s the sense of... uneasiness around what we do and don’t know about kom that makes this scene land slightly left of centre to me. i think titans, especially through s2, has cultivated in its audience a sense of distrust even until the final episode, just in case somebody vital to the season is suddenly revealed to have had ulterior motives (i’m even low-key suspicious of leslie). i really want to see this kom-conner dynamic play out but the anticipation of watching the other shoe drop is sucking out the enjoyment.

4. for fuck’s sake dick, gar’s not your gatekeeper.

TIIIIIIIIMMMMM \O/

4.5. i love this nod to tim’s origins in the comics, the way he just comes in and lays out all his evidence and makes it clear to dick that he needs tim’s help as robin. the fact that he was there at the flying graysons’ last performance, he was obsessed with their acrobatic moves, and was observant enough to connect those moves with that of robin and later nightwing... all of this came together to put him where he is right now.

(i also love how he can’t contain his giddy excitement when talking about the day dick grayson’s parents died... to dick grayson. even if dick weren’t nightwing, that would be a deeply uncomfortable thing! yet tim can’t help himself, and i love him for it.)

4.8. it’s a testament to how much dick’s caught off-guard that he can’t come up with a better response to tim’s allegations other than “uh... he stole my moves! as you know, no two gymnasts in the world are allowed to do the same moves. now, let me escort you out while pretending poorly that i’m not at all shaken by this...”

4.9. i’ve talked about this before, but i find the logic around secret identities in this universe utterly fascinating. the titans don’t make much effort in keeping their identities secret: everybody seems to know that kory is starfire for instance, or that gar is beast boy. dick grayson is seen hanging out with kory a lot, especially at crime scenes. it won’t take a lot of sleuthing to find out that the titans are currently camped out at wayne manor, and to put two and two together.

my theory was that superheroes and villains have become such an integral part of daily society that it’s almost not worth it to seek out their secret identities, or that it’s just not a big deal anymore. like politicians or diplomats, not everybody bothers to look into who exactly their local politician is, but the people who know just... know. it’s a sort of unspoken social contract.

tim’s broken this contract by confronting dick about his identity, and dick’s not ready to deal with it. not entirely.

look at him! *pinches his cheeks*

5. ngl, it was quite satisfying to see jason knock the scarecrow out like that. 

5.5. i guess... the question of jason’s culpability is always going to be a thorny one and would make for a great courtroom drama spinoff. there are a number of factors to consider: jason’s personality, the rough circumstances under which he grew up, his undoubtedly stressful transition to being robin, bruce wayne being... well, bruce wayne, never feeling accepted by the titans and having most of them turn on him, being roundly defeated and almost killed by deathstroke, alfred’s death, a fuckload of ptsd, his violent death, crane’s manipulations, coming back to life, crane plying him with a drug. but there is no easy line to draw between any of these factors to his actions. i think it would be a disservice to jason’s character to attribute his actions entirely to these things and rather irresponsible to do so. i think jason has to reckon with the fact that when he took crane’s drug, he wasn’t reckless and chaotic like the thugs he gave it to; the planning that went into hank’s death was meticulous and the way hank died--dawn essentially tricked into pulling the trigger that blew her lover into bits--is so drawn out and cruel. 

5.75. it’s occurring to me that crane might have given jason a placebo. maybe jason’s dependence is psychological, and he’s externalised his fears in such a way that he believes crane’s drugs literally wipe them out, however temporarily.

in any case, the boy needs (more) therapy.

6. “he walked like robin...” fuck, tim

“gait recognition sweep” god, this show. i don’t know whether to laugh or cry. hey, once we’re done doing this gait recognition thingy, can we get a goddamn plumber in the house??? or move the commissioner’s desk so that sewage water isn’t dripping on her head or the million dollar touchscreen desk???????

6.5. oh no dick!!!!!! i am delighted that you got hurt but i feel ashamed about it! that looked like it really hurt!

he’s really not having a good time of it, is he. from being shot by a sniper to slamming at full speed into an suv, he’s got to be really fucking battered by now. and that’s just the physical side of it.

“can you believe that just over a week ago i was sitting in san francisco eating cauliflower crust pizza and feeling good about myself for the first time in five years...”

7. kory’s having visions again! now that she’s figured what they are, do you think the show’s just dropped justin? it’s curious that HPG hasn’t been brought up in a while after featuring relatively heavily in the beginning. hmmm.

8. dick’s in hospital but... he looks remarkably whole for someone who took a spill like that. you’d think he’d at least have a bruise to show for it. on the other hand, i love that the first thing he says is ‘i need to call home’. reminds me of season 1 dick and his clumsy attempts to explain away his found family as an ‘alliance of necessity’ or some bullshit. what a long way he’s come!

*gasp* dick’s hallucinating again!!!!!!!!!!!! i’m doing the dick’s hallucinating dance! can you believe that we’re carrying over these huge honking issues unearthed in season 2 onto season 3? can you believe?!!! all that time and effort i spent talking about dick’s mental health from last season has not gone in vain!!

... ahem. anyway. more on this later.

“hold on barbara, i think kory gave me the number to this therapist that she kept calling Hot Psychiatrist Guy...”

9. just an interlude to say that i’m barely halfway through the episode and i’ve already written 2k+ words... ugh. i’m going to try and be more concise.

10. man i fuckin love it when titans goes all out with its weird mindscapes and i’m extra glad that kory’s the focus this time. is that baby kom or maybe a secret sibling that neither of them knew about? was that lady luand’r? and is this place where kory was circling where the secret sibling is? it’s all very intriguing. 

(if justin turned out to be that sibling... we’ve a real luke/leia situation on our hands.)

11. aw, i knew that nice security guard was going to die, but it still hurt to see him go :(

12. this show is so bizarre. like i get the mindscape as a narrative device, but jason using sex workers to try and vocalise his guilt about killing hank was just weird. like. i have to use tamil, sorry: idhulaan yaaru pa room pottu yosikara??? some things just can’t be translated into a second language.

i guess one way to interpret jason’s reckoning with what he did to the titans as a sign of him coming off crane’s drug, but i think it’s more to do with the disillusionment of realising that he was a mere pawn in a more sinister plan, and not, as he thought, a player in control of his destiny, rising to the purpose of liberating gotham of its fears in a way batman never could. along the way, he’s done some truly irreversible damage. it’s a bitter pill to swallow.

13. another hallucination! it’s really intriguing that it’s a young dick(?), younger than we’ve ever seen him, wearing an early-era robin costume from way before he even became robin. (this is also interesting in that it gives credence to the idea that ‘robin’ is an identity that dick created entirely on his own, and as a possible homage to his family.)

“old road, old house... it’s all gone.” i wonder what it all means.

13.5. it’s entirely likely dick’s hallucinating because of a brain injury from the accident, though just hallucinations without any other focal neurological deficit is unusual. he might’ve been microdosed with fear toxin at some point, though i wonder when... did jason do so after dick’s accident? did he get dosed at the factory from last episode? 

it’s also possible it’s a continuing manifestation of dick’s issues from last season--which, if you remember, he never told anyone about and therefore never properly addressed. maybe he was hallucinating bruce wayne in a psychotic episode accompanying an acute stress reaction and maybe that’s what’s happening now. nobody’s denying that he’s under an extraordinary amount of stress right now. another way to look at it is that this is how he externalises conflict that he can’t bear to suppress anymore; if in s2 halluci!bruce manifested his insecurities and self-loathing, then these hallucinations... something to do with his fears, no doubt.

yet ANOTHER way to look at it might be: rachel is reaching out to him through their, well, psychic bond. after all, they were able to use that bond unconsciously last season to get the titans back together; maybe rachel has learned to gain a degree of control over it in themyscira and is sending across warnings? it’s all very intriguing.

anyway:

“i hear you skipped over the discowing suit in your evolution to nightwing... how could you??”

14. can you imagine, gar did all the work of reaching out to jason via molly and jason wants to meet dick? smh.

14.5. “i’m just a regular guy doing regular things” he says, standing at the opening of a secret old tunnel, like a secret person doing secret things, confronting someone who can now officially be called his stalker. neither of you guys are ‘regular’

14.8. ‘my dad was a cop and he taught me how to investigate’ - hmmm. i guess they’re trying to Explain Tim but i don’t think that’s really necessary. so he’s smart and he’s obsessed with batman and robin--that should be enough, imo. 

15. that scene with scarecrow and his mother was... wow. i’m just laughing here helplessly, because what the hell? for a while i thought it was an extended dream sequence and i’m still not entirely sure that it isn’t...

anyway. i still love that titans is happy to throw out its plot in favour of extended character-exploration sessions.

15.5. it seems to me that this scene with crane and his mother (i have no idea if there’s anything in the comics similar to this) serves to move forward this season’s theme of harmful legacies and how parents can damage their children in the name of their mission. in a way it’s been the underlying message of the entire show but we’re really seeing it being reinforced this season. the titans, serving as a foil to scarecrow, are using the damage to rebuild themselves and actually work through their issues together, instead of spiralling further and further into the morass of their issues.

other than that... god, that scene was painful to watch. i can’t say i like this version of scarecrow or how this actor plays him at all.

16. i wonder what’s jason’s play here. i think he’s smart enough to realise that the titans aren’t going to just forgive him and let him be a titan again after what he did, and that dick agreeing to it is just a bid to pin both him and crane down. maybe it’s a ploy to trap them, get back on scarecrow’s good books so that he can have the drug again. who knows.

17. i absolutely felt dick when he said “we’ll bring him in and then re-assess the situation.” what the fuck else is he going to say? the priority is to get him.

so kory and dick are both hallucinating while potentially trying to rehabilitate their murderous siblings. CONFIDE IN EACH OTHER ALREADY

18. TIM NOOOO! you beautiful, reckless fool!

18.25. just to quickly address it here because i know it’s been brought up before: i think it’s perfectly justified to not have conner take tim to the hospital via superspeed because a) i don’t think we’ve seen conner do that with anybody so far and b) it’s probably not a good idea to submit tim’s body to that kind of stress without knowing what it would do to him. the paramedics with actual equipment and experience would be there in a few minutes, so on a risk assessment, i would say dick and conner absolutely made the right call.

18.5. i guess we won’t know what jason really intended to when the titans came to the pump to see him, but this is definitely going to set a big wedge in his relationship with crane. then again, crane got what he wanted--using starfire’s powers to blast through to the underground pipes--so jason can argue that this is exactly what he was working towards, too. 

anyway, mortal peril, hallucinations, murderous family members, creepy visions and robins sprouting left and right. time to get rachel and donna on the scene, i think.

[bigskydreaming]

Sorry to bother you, but RE: the Jason Todd in Arkham thing, like, what was Dick supposed to do? Take him home to the same house where two of the KIDS that Jason had threatened/attacked were supposed to be living in what one hoped would be relative safety?

Like, full offence, Jason had at that point proven himself a danger to all the people around him. If he wound up at Arkham, oh well, maybe don’t kill a whole bunch of ppl and harm numerous others. If Arkham doesn’t work as a hospital, maybe he should have been at another one, but at that point in his character arc, a secure mental health facility was probably the best he could expect.

It’s like ppl forget he’s a multiple murderer with a history of targeting the ppl Dick loves. I don’t even read the comics and I know this much.

Oh for sure, I mean, I've posted meta about this before because the fandom accepted narrative gets it sooooooo wrong. Like, I'll always be right at the front of the line yelling IT WAS JASON'S CHARACTERIZATION THAT WAS CRAP THROUGH ALL THAT, THAT'S NOT JASON, GIMME NUANCE OR GIMME DEATH. Y'know, something like that.

But like, given that Jason was written as repeatedly trying to kill Dick's other two brothers its like, yeah?! What was Dick supposed to do? He'd tried asking Jason nicely hey could you stop doing that and Jason was like LOL no.

And also....people are like - Dick callously threw Jason into Arkham right next to the Joker and then just left him there and forgot about him and....SOURCE?

1) Dick didn't DO this to Jason, JASON went after Dick and Damian and in the process of fighting him in a very public space, Dick beat Jason and police were already like....right there? Dick didn't actually have the option of being uh no, you can't take this known and notorious criminal into custody, I'll stop you on the basis of - well I can't tell you actually but plz just trust me okay, he totes didn't mean it! (except like also, at that point he totes did, so.....)

2) What pull Dick DID have as Batman with the GCPD, he used to get Jason put into Arkham INSTEAD of Blackgate for his SAFETY. We know this to be true. Jason himself confirmed that absolutely nothing bad happened to him in Arkham, he just didn't want to be there but WHO THE HELL EVER WANTS TO BE IN A PRISON OF ANY SORT? And the first thing Dick said when Bruce said Jason had demanded to be transferred to Blackgate is that Jason wouldn't be safe there with all the enemies he had gunning for him. It was abundantly clear that Jason's safety had been a primary concern for Dick the whole time (and Jason wasn't safe at Blackgate, its just fine, he only wanted to be transferred in order to enact an escape plan that got like 80 people indiscriminately killed but whatevs. Its Gotham, what's a few dozen more dead criminals am I right? *rolls eyes at how often that little detail gets left out of the narrative).

3) Dick consistently put time, focus and Wayne Enterprises money into Arkham Asylum while he was Batman, since Arkham was being rebuilt from the ground up after it was blown up in Battle for the Cowl. Also, Dick had been one of the last 'patients' in the old Arkham, given that he went undercover to infiltrate the Black Glove while they were in control of Arkham and spent a week in there drugged to the gills, locked up and in a straitjacket before being almost lobotomized. He has every grievance with Arkham that fan writers like to PRETEND Jason has from his stay there, but Jason's only complaint was that he again, was bored, and he had to take psych evals every other week because it was after all, still a mental health institution. Dick did everything in his power at the time to make sure that even if Jason did have to be locked up to keep him from going after more people, like, it was going to be as humane as possible and the stuff that Dick himself had JUST experienced in the old Arkham WOULDN'T happen to Jason.

4) The Joker was literally nowhere near Arkham THE ENTIRE TIME. This is not a small detail, given that 'the Joker was just five cells down' is the entire basis of most writers' Jason-in-Arkham angst and the anti-Dick sentiments they tend to create. All the major Rogues escaped from the old Arkham in Battle for the Cowl BEFORE it blew up. That's why they're not DEAD. Dick's run as Batman was primarily about fighting the escapees. And Joker, very significantly, was clearly among those Rogues not present in Arkham during Dick's Batman run, given he was literally toying with Dick and Damian through most of it. Seriously, how much do people have to hate Dick and think the worst of him to think that he - the dude who btw, BEAT THE JOKER TO DEATH WITH HIS BARE HANDS FOR MAKING JOKES ABOUT KILLING JASON - would just....obliviously lock Jason up right next to the Joker and throw away the key?

Like...and it goes on and on, lol. I remember the first time I brought all this up in an argument with some Jason stans, they literally started laughing back and forth to each other in the replies about how someone was a bit too carried away with their own fanon, and its like...LMAO! Yes! Someone is! Its YOU! You are the people you guys are talking about, looooool, I can literally back all this up with sourced panels.

Buuuuuuut, c'est la vie.

I mean, this is nothing new for us, its literally Teen Wolf fandom alllll over again. Probably why I just said nope, not doing this again awhile back and was like umm actually I will NOT just be ignoring the blatant false narratives thrown around here just so that people happy with the fanon narratives that prioritize the characters they like and sling shit at the characters they don't can have their fandom just the way they want it at the expense of everyone else in it. You wanna push bad faith interpretations of specific characters at every literal opportunity, its like, that's cool! I got the drive! I can push back with actual facts, its all good!

But the most hilarious thing to me will always be how fucking INDIGNANT people get about that, like "How dare you point out the precedent we established in not caring about any fandom experience other than our own and thus being loud and everpresent with our preferred interpretations in an attempt to drown out any other possible interpretation just so that the most people possible would be influenced by us instead of anything else, and we'd get more of the content we like at the expense of any possible nuance whatsoever."

Like, the most common complaint I get is people griping about how damn often I'm saying "mmmm, no, this isn't what happened actually" and "okay but have you considered flipping the script BACK from the way you flipped it initially in order to get this weird ass interpretation of a superhero noted for his emphasis on emotional caretaking of his loved ones actually being this callous oblivious selfish jerk who tramples all over the feelings of everyone around them and makes them just the woobiest woobies that ever did woobie all throughout Woobieland?"

And I'm just like, okay see, I hear you, its just the thing is, the THING IS......

If you didn't want that to be the topic of conversation so damn often, then hey, just a suggesh, but maybe you shouldn't have devoted literal years to coming up with the most bad faith interpretations of this character possible at literally every available opportunity. Maybe there'd be like.....less reason for the topic to come up so often, if like....you by your own actions hadn't made it a necessary topic to tackle so often?

I DON'T KNOW, I'M JUST SPIT-BALLING HERE, DON'T MIND ME AND MY CRAZY-ASS IDEAS OF FAIR PLAY.

[s-and-n-writes]

you are my north

a/n: hey guys! here's the soulmate fic i've been working on for a while. it's an outline-style because i didn't want to write out the whole thing. enjoy! -s ps. i can't write summaries to save my life. pps. this fic is rated teen only because of two curse words, and while there is some major character death, i didn't mark it in the warnings because it's temporary.

quick links: | crossover masterlist | 

People get many types of soulmate bonds

Some are romantic and some are platonic

Platonic can be friends, family, found-family, etc

Bonds can include marks, writing on arms, switching bodies, etc

Everyone has a soulbond but some aren’t visible or obvious

Marinette grew up in Gotham named Marianne

She didn’t have a visual bond so hers would manifest when she met her soulmate

Her parents were killed when their house burned down (she was 5)

She was sent to an orphanage and ran away after a few months (she was still 5)

Lived on the streets for a year until she met Jason Todd (she was 6 and he was 10)

They met when two older boys tried to steal Marianne’s money since she was small

Jason beat them up and gave her his hand to lift her up

When their hands met there was a flash of light

Marianne - My mama told me about this. She said it was a soulmate bond and the person it was with was really really really special to me.

They both have a compass on their palms pointing to where the other is

They go off together and live together on the streets

She calls him “Jay-Jay” and he calls her “Pixie” or “Mari”

2 years later (Marianne is 8 and Jason is 12)

Jason goes out and finds the Batmobile and proceeds to get adopted

He refuses and wants to find Marianne

Jason - Let me go old man!

Batman - No. You’re coming with me.

Jason - I need to find my sister!

Batman - Fine. Find her and you both will come with me.

Both go in search of Marianne

Earlier Marianne woke up and found Jason missing so she went out to search

She couldn’t find him and was upset and was sloppy

A Parisian couple found her and adopted her

The people at the GCPD were like ????? because who adopts a Gotham street kid?

Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng apparently

So Marianne is taken to Paris while Jason and Batman are looking for her

They can’t find her and Jason goes with Batman and gets adopted and everything

Jason believes she must have been taken out of Gotham because his compass points towards the harbor and towards the water

Eventually gives up because he won’t be able to find her since across the ocean is a massive place

Gotham proceeds as normal

In Paris...

Marianne is refusing everything because she didn’t want to leave and she misses her brother

Tom and Sabine didn’t want two children so they didn’t bother looking for her brother

They rename her Marinette

She goes to school and makes friends with two boys named Nino and Kim and is enemies with Chloe, the mayor’s daughter

Reluctantly starts calling Tom and Sabine ‘Maman’ and ‘Papa’ because it would look weird if she didn’t and she didn’t want to talk about her past

They treat her nicely but she still misses her old parents

Marinette makes more and more friends but they don’t know about her past or her brother

When she’s 11 she sees on the news that Jason Todd-Wayne died

She’s really sad because her brother and soulmate died but also insanely confused because he somehow got adopted by Bruce Wayne???

Back to his death

Her compass stays but her compass needle disappears

She withdraws and doesn’t go to school for a week

She asked everyone not to give her any nicknames (not that she had any in the first place)

Nobody knows she had a brother except Tom and Sabine but even they don’t know his name

Everyone is told one of her family members died and her parents try to console her but eventually give up

Continuing on and time skips

Her parents start leaving her alone more as she got older

It helped when she became Ladybug

Marinette also slightly resents them for forcefully adopting her and then kind of neglecting her but let’s not get into that

Becomes friends with Alya and starts crushing on Adrien

Alya posts everything and is very intrusive

Marinette is constantly questioned about her soulbond but always refuses to answer

Did I mention that she always wears gloves ever since Jason died?

Because she does

She doesn’t want to see the compass and be reminded of him

Anyways, Alya keeps trying but is always refused

She calls Marinette ‘Mari’ one day and she just…snaps

Marinette goes on this big rant about personal information and privacy and respecting boundaries and ends up screaming at her and curls in a ball crying

Alya leaves and stops being friends with her because Marinette is ‘mean’ and ‘sensitive’

They occasionally talk but they’re not really friends anymore

Very soon after, Lila comes and that's why Alya turned on Marinette so quick

Adrien tells her to “take the high road” and her crush on him dies

Marinette becomes even more miserable because everyone has left her and she is alone

Luka and Kagami aren’t her close friends here

And Chloe is not in her class anymore

Tikki is her only friend until Master Fu gives her guardianship and she is in charge of her kwamis

She is incredibly stressed because of Ladybug, Guardian duties, bakery shifts, and school

Tikki gives her the idea to get rid of bakery duties and not focus on Guardian stuff and instead do a hobby

She tells her ‘parents’ that she’s too busy with school to work at the bakery

They roll their eyes and ignore her again and sometimes she thinks they only adopted her to get her to work for them for free

There isn’t too much to do for Guardian stuff anyways

She designs more and more as a hobby and ends up opening a commission website (that’s completely anonymous so Lie-la and her cronies can’t do anything to it)

It’s more work but it relaxes her and is great for making money

Her pseudonym ‘MAT’ is famous because of Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale constantly mentioning her

MAT stands for both Marinette And Tikki, and MariAnne Todd

Eventually she gets a request from the Waynes

Marinette just cried because this was her brothers family and takes the request

She makes everything extra personalized and charges a bit less and writes a note to them

The note says something about how she knew Jason before he died and he was like a brother to her and she misses him so much and she can’t imagine what they’re going through

By this time she’s 16 and Jason would have been 20 and he is currently being Red Hood (not that she knows that)

Stuff happens, Hawkmoth is defeated, and she takes the ring away from Chat Noir because he’s an asshole who can’t take no for an answer

It’s Adrien Agreste...thank god she didn’t have a crush on him anymore

Time passes, and Marinette is now 18

She has moved out of the bakery and into her own apartment

She’s still in school but it’s her last year

She is now insanely famous and her identity is the best kept secret in the world

She is completely alone except for the Kwamis

So Marinette had entered a contest sponsored by Wayne Industries and won

The prize is a trip to Gotham for the entire class...fuck

If Marinette had known she probably wouldn’t have entered

Why would she go back to the place where her brother died?

She has to go though because she is the contest winner

Lila took credit for it and is spinning lies about how she’s so close to the Waynes and is dating Timothy Drake

So now onto a plot twist yay

On the morning of the trip Marinette is getting ready

She hasn’t looked at her hands in forever because she doesn’t want to be reminded about Jason

Keep in mind that she wears gloves constantly

That morning she looks at them because she wants to prepare for being in Gotham again and memories sake and things

Marinette is shocked when the compass needle is back and pointing in a direction

She doesn’t know what happened since as far as she knows people can’t come back to life and her needle was definitely gone before

So after interrogating Tikki and Plagg for a while she finds out that yes, there are ways to bring someone back to life and some aren’t very good for you *cough* Lazarus Pit *cough*

On the plane ride she is thinking and being both excited and scared/worried

Excited because Jason’s alive!

Scared/worried because some ways of bringing back the dead don’t work very well…

The plane lands and they get out of the airport with no big issues

Except for Lie-la hiding her luggage and getting the class to leave without her

So now Marinette has to walk across Gotham at night, alone, while carrying heavy luggage and looking like a tiny, weak, foreigner

She is practically begging to get mugged but what can you do?

Around halfway to the hotel she hears footsteps behind her

Before she can do anything, Red Hood jumps down from a roof and takes them down

He ties them up and calls the police

Marinette thinks he is familiar but ignores the feeling and goes on her way

Red Hood (Jason) also thinks she is familiar but also ignores it

Now is the time for normal Maribat field trip tropes and ideas

Nothing big happens to advance the plot

The last week of their trip is at Gotham Academy and then they go to the Wayne Gala

Again, normal first day at GA tropes until there’s a Rogue attack

For plot reasons (can’t reveal the akuma situation, Ladybug can’t be in Gotham, she has nowhere good to transform, etc), Marinette hides in a storage closet

She rubs her compass-palm to calm herself and looks at it

The needle is moving as if her soulmate was walking towards her (or the closet where she’s hidden)

But that’s not possible because Jason should be 22 and definitely shouldn’t be in a school right?

Marinette is freaking out and then the needle is pointing directly in front of her

And then the doorknob turns and the door opens and she sees…

DUN DUN DUN

Red Hood!

Marinette is kind of shocked but shrugs it off for a minute

Red Hood tells her the attack is over and she can come out

He helps her up but when their hands touch there’s a flash of light

Marinette - Jay-Jay?

Jason - Pixie?

Then there’s a very heartwarming reunion that I’m too angsty to write properly

Marinette starts going by Marianne again and meets the Bats

They love her immediately (and more when they realize that she is MAT who personalized their commissions and wrote that note long ago)

Lie-la’s lies get taken down

At the Wayne Gala she is announced to be Jason Todd-Wayne’s platonic soulmate, Marianne Todd

They live happily ever after

a/n: if you would like to be tagged for any of the maribat drabbles we post, shoot us a message and we’ll tag you!

[awhitehead17]

Whumptober 2020: Day 17 - I did not see that coming

Prompt: Wrongfully accused 

Summary: When all evidence points to Jason killing those people, Bruce doesn’t question it. The accusation hurts Jason in ways he couldn’t describe but thankfully he has other family members there to back him up.

Enjoy! :D

“It wasn’t me! I didn’t do it!” Jason screams at the man. No matter how many times he says it, his so called father wasn’t listening.

“All the evidence the GCPD has collected points to you Jason.” Bruce growls back. “If it wasn’t you then who was it?”

“I don’t know, but I sure as hell knows it wasn’t me!”

“They found your bullets inside the bodies. They have witness reports stating that they saw you leave just after the gun shots stopped. The evidence is pretty clear.”  

“Fuck the evidence, isn’t my word enough? I promised you over a year ago I would stop killing and I have kept that promise from day one. As much as they deserve it, I didn’t kill those thugs in the warehouse last night. It wasn’t me.”

Jason clenches his teeth when he sees Bruce sigh and shake his head. He can’t believe that he’s having this argument with the man. Last night the police reported to Batman that the Red Hood had started ‘killing’ again and how they even had evidence that it was him.

Jason knows for a fact it wasn’t him. He had been on the other side of town doing some research when the whole thing happened. Of course Bruce being Bruce immediately went to the accusing stage instead of speaking about it to him civilly.

He had cornered Jason in the cave around an hour ago and started having a go at him. Getting defensive, Jason shouted back and they’ve been backwards and forwards with the arguments since then. During that time even the rest of the family had gathered around to see what was going on.

“How can I trust your word Jason when dead bodies start piling up again with your signature all over them.” Bruce was glaring at him, the man had his arms crossed over his shoulders and was stood up straight to heighten his authority.

Normally the size of the man would be intimidating however Jason has long gotten become immune to it. He even stands up straight himself, challenging Bruce with his own height and build. He wasn’t backing down, not from this fight.

“I don’t even use those bullets anymore. I haven’t done in over a year, why won’t you believe me?” Jason had honestly thought they had gotten past this. He’s been getting along with everyone too, finally finding his place back in the family, but after this how much of it will be left?

“You’re the fucking detective! Figure it out! I didn’t do it.” He screams again. Why wouldn’t the man listen to him?

Bruce’s glare somehow hardens even more, his face becoming dark and furious. “I don’t need to figure it out because it’s already been figured out. You killed them Jason even after when you said you wouldn’t. How long have you been going behind our backs and have been doing this?”

Jason’s stumped. How could Bruce accuse him of such a thing? “To be fair, if I was going behind your backs I would actually cover my tracks so I wouldn’t get caught.”

Maybe using sarcasm right now wasn’t such a good idea.  

Bruce raises an eyebrow. “Are you implying you have been killing behind out backs and have covered your tracks so we wouldn’t notice.”

Jason has the sudden urge to punch Bruce. Maybe knocking his head against the wall or ground would bash some sense into him. “Jesus Christ Bruce, no!”

“In all fairness,” a new voice speaks up, “the evidence doesn’t look good in your favour Jason.”

It was Dick. His older brother was leaning against the computer desk with his arms crossed loosely over his chest, watching the two of them argue.

Jason narrows his eyes at him. “So what’s your opinion Dickhead?”

Dick sighs and shakes his head, biting his lower lip. “As I just said, it doesn’t look good for you.”

“So you’re siding with Bruce? Accusing me of killing people when I didn’t.” Jason glares at him, feeling hurt by such a thing.

Dick rubs a hand across his face. “No, Jason, I’m not siding with anyone. I’m just saying the evidence is solid and is clearly against you. It doesn’t look good.”

Despite his words Jason knew that Dick would ultimately side with Bruce. His older brother had always worshipped the ground the man walked on, even in the days they themselves where fighting. If Bruce said ‘jump’ Dick would always ask ‘how high’ without question.

Jason turns his attention to Tim, who’s been watching the entire thing from the computer chair. “What’s your opinion on the matter Timothy?”

The teenager jumps at the sudden attention and sits up straight in the chair looking at them with wide eyes. Jason feels kinda bad for abruptly pulling him into the argument but he needs someone on his side. Tim, out of all of them, will look at things logically and think it through. He wonders what his little brother is thinking.

“As it’s been said, the evidence does strictly point to Jason.” Tim says evenly, not looking at any of them. Jason feels like he’s been stabbed in the back from hearing that. “However, I personally think he didn’t do it.”

He takes it back. Tim is his favourite brother.

“Why’s that?” Bruce demands now staring at the youngest in the room.

Tim fidgets in the chair for a moment before answering. “There has to be explanations somewhere. If Jason says he didn’t do it, then he deserves the benefit of the doubt. As for the bullets, the same distributor could have provided them, they could have been found back along when he had been using them.

As for sights, there could be a copycat going around. His costume’s not exactly hard to duplicate. Just grab a red motorbike helmet, a leather jacket and some cargo pants then hey presto there’s Red Hood.”

There’s a long pause after Tim finishes speaking. The atmosphere was full of tension and it felt suffocating. Jason wanted to leave but if he left now then it wouldn’t help his case at all.

In the end Tim is the one to break the silence, his logical brain coming to the rescue once again. “Until we’ve covered the scene ourselves and have primary evidence of our own, we should believe Jason and what he’s saying. Arguing about it isn’t getting anyone anywhere.”

Bruce makes a grunting sound before turning to Jason, once again glaring at him. “You do not go on patrol until this is sorted. I do not want to see Red Hood on the streets until I say so.”

Then without giving Jason the chance to protest the man was walking away, disappearing into the depths of the cave. Just because he’s no longer in front of him, doesn’t mean Jason can’t voice his opinions.

“You don’t control me Bruce! I’ll do whatever the hell I want!”

“Jay…” Tim scolds.

Jason shakes his head and moves so he was stood beside Tim at the chair. He glances at Dick and then at Tim. “It wasn’t me. Please believe me. I didn’t do it.”

Dick says nothing as he walks over to Jason, places a hand on his shoulder to squeeze it and then silently walks away. Jason watches him go until a hand grabbing his own gets his attention. Tim’s looking up at him earnestly.

“We’ll sort it out Jay, we always do.”

Jason reaches over and ruffles Tim’s hair, emitting a squawk form the teenager. “Thanks Timbo.”

He hopes to god that it gets sorted out. If this happened last year he wouldn’t have given a shit, but now he’s found a place within the family and he doesn’t want to lose that.

[batfam-rewrites]

Batfam During Quarantine: 27 Minutes

Dick: Good morning adopted dad!

Bruce: *grunts*

Tim: Bruce is so stressed out. Yesterday I watched him stare at a page load for 1 second and he screamed his head off. He almost destroyed the computer.

Jason: I literally saw him counting grey hairs the other day. Whatever it is it must be Tim’s fault.

Tim: Don’t you blame this on me....

Dick: *speaks over Tim* Okay so anyway, here’s the challenge, *speaks a bit lower* first person to make Bruce smile gets to drive the Batmobile on their next patrol.

Cassandra: Awesome, how do we decide who.......

Jason: *walks over to Bruce*

Cassandra: Never mind.

Jason: Hey Bruuuuuce.

Bruce: *glares at Jason while slurping coffee*

Jason: Want some breakfast? *turns on stove* How about some eggs!

Bruce: What do you want?

Jason: Nothing! Just to see my *pauses a bit* old man smile.

Bruce: I will shank you.

Jason: Loving this new color on you? You should be pissed off all the time.

Bruce: Go away.

Jason: Okay......d.....d...da...

Alfred: Don’t burst a blood vessel Jason.

Jason: No, I can do this. Da......d.a....dad *sighs and puts his hand on the stove* AHHH, FUCKER!

Bruce: Jason, are you okay!

Jason: GET AWAY FROM ME, I CAN DO THIS BY MYSELF BRUCE! *quickly runs to the bathroom to run cold water over his hand*

Duke: Well that was entertaining!

Cassandra: *lays head on Bruce’s shoulder and hugs him*

Bruce: *hugs Cassandra back but no smile*

Damian: Father, I brought you a gift. *pulls out a picture of the entire batfamily together*

Bruce: *Bruce smiles* Thanks Damian, that’s really thoughtful of you.

Damian: *turns towards everyone and points* YES SUCK IT LOSERS!

Daily Briefing

Dick: Okay, so we have reached a low point of criminal activity for Gotham City which is a good thing.

Cassandra: A bit funny how it took a pandemic to make Gotham a bit peaceful.

Dick: Exactly my point. Now, with that said, we will still be doing patrols starting at 11. Tim, this is your week on sanitation duty. Throughout the day we will train a bit harder than normal. There will be scheduled times and you will each have partners. Try to train no less than two and a half hours a day. Training should include sparing, cardio, strength, and tumbling. Try to spar with someone new every week.

Dick: Also Jason, you remember when you said you wish you could fall like me.

Jason: I was being sarcastic.

Dick: I will finally be teaching you how to do pommel horse 1 hour a week like you asked.

Jason: I will kill you.

Duke: Being honest, I’d like to try high bar and floor. I feel it will be very beneficial for me in the long run.

Dick: Awesome! You got it. Now everyone has until tomorrow to pick their partner, I know my partner will be Jason. 

Jason: Fuck you.

Dick: Also, last thing before I make the training schedules and routines, I need to address something. There are quite a lot of people in Gotham City still refusing to wear mask. During the day lets try to hand out mask with our own designs on them to everyone who we come across during the day. I already ordered them and they should be here by Saturday, so that is something we will be doing starting next week. 

*alarm sounds off in the batcave*

Alfred: It would seem there is a fire at Wayne Tower on the thirty-second floor.

Dick: Alright, Duke, Jason, and I will go to check it out. Everyone else do what you would normally do.

Tim and Bruce

Tim: Hey Bruce, I brought you some coffee!

Bruce: How many cups have you had?

Tim: Three large cups.

Bruce: After......

Tim: *mumbles* The five cups I had with breakfast.

Bruce: There we go.

Tim: Okay so what are we doing?

Bruce: Someone is trying to hack into my server. If they do so they will have unlimited knowledge of the companies upcoming projects, along with the identities of our persona’s.

Tim: How long do we have?

Bruce: 27 minutes. Try to locate the hackers location.

Nightwing, Red Hood, and The Signal

They all rushed to the thirtieth floor to help out and find that the firemen are ready to head to the floor. The three heroes turned on their oxygen tanks and they charged in with the firefighters. Half of the entire floor was covered in flames. They noticed a conference room with a few people inside and Jason rushed to the door, pulling out his guns. He shot the door several times before kicking it down and escorting the people out. After that there wasn’t much left for them to do so they went back down. 

Fire Officer: Nightbird, that is the dumbest thing I have ever seen anyone do.

Jason: *laughs*

Dick: Thanks.

Fire Officer: Lets get you all checked.

Jason: The mask stay on though.

Alfred and Julia

Alfred: What are we watching

Julia: Well, I thought that with both of us being former spies, I thought we could watch an American film franchise called Mission Impossible.

Alfred: And tear it apart by it’s inaccuracies!

Julia: Yes!

Alfred: Sounds wonderful!

Nightwing, Red Hood, and The Signal

Time- 19:37

Medic: They seem fine, no way of telling for sure though without their mask off.

Duke: So we’re good to go, awesome!

Fire Officer: The fire upstairs has been put out.

Dick: Good.

Tim: Dick, are you still at Wayne Tower?

Dick: Yes, what’s up?

Tim: We’re dealing with a hacker trying to get into the server at Wayne Inc. The hacker is inside the building. We have 16 minutes and 55 seconds......

Dick: Say no more! We’re on it!

Fire Officer: There’s been another fire across town. Lets move out!

Dick: Duke, investigate the fire upstairs. If I’m not mistaken, it should be arson.

Duke: Got it.

Dick: Jason, stay here there is a hacker inside the building, You have 16 minutes to find the person or else Batman is doomed.

Jason: I guess I’ll look. 

Dick: GO! NOW!

Jason: Got it Nightbird!

Nightwing

Dick follows the fire fighters down to the floor and tells the guard to let no one in or out of the building. He rides his motor cycle, tailing the fire trucks to the scene of the next fire. He runs into the apartment complex, turning the oxygen tank on. He notices the first floor is clear so he rushes up the stairs to notice the flames stretched out across it. He dives through them and hears pounding on one of the doors. He sees the other residents and grabs two children, takes out his grappling hook, and shoots it towards the ceiling. He leads them down and has them run out of the building. He gets back up to the scond floor and takes the parents and lets them run out as well. When he saw them leave, he jumped back up to the second floor and ran into the door 3 times before finally breaking it down. The flames were now getting closer. He get back up and saw Barbara giving him a hand up.

Barbara: Need some help?

The Signal

Duke: What do you smell?

Fire Marshall: Alcohol.

Duke: Exactly.

Fire Marshall: So.... why did you ask?

Duke: Just wanted to check. Red Hood, Red Robin, Nightwing. Our hunch was right. We have an arsonist inside the building. Some witnesses have said they saw a maintenance worker carrying bottles of vodka in his cart. If I had to assume, both fires are a distraction from finding the hacker meaning there is an accomplice to whoever is in the building.

Jason: Good, now I’m pretty sure I speak for Nightbird when I say this, start helping me search for this bastard.

Duke: On it.

Tim and Bruce

Time- 10:17

Harper: I came as fast as I could.

Bruce: Good, set up your computer.

Harper: Why isn’t Alfred helping?

Bruce: Shut up and get to work.

Harper and Bruce try to fight off the hacker as well as they could. 

Harper: Awesome!

Bruce: Not good enough though.

Tim: What’s up?

Harper: We bought ourselves a few extra minutes.

Tim: Nice.

Time- 13:38

Nightwing and Batgirl

Dick: Damn, you’re a sight for sore eyes!

Barbara: Come on! We have one more floor!

The two rush to get the last residents out of the building. The flames were starting to be extinguished by the fire fighters outside of the building. Parts of the ceiling began to collapse as they made it to the top floor. Grabbing the residents they set them down on the floor and rushed to the exit, only to find it blocked by parts of the ceiling.

Dick: Stand back! Batgirl, help me clear the exit.

The two move the rubble out of the way and the residents flee the building. Both ask the authorities if they needed help, but were turned down. When the fire was put out, both walked in, and under the heavy smell of smoke, was also the scent of alcohol.

Red Hood and The Signal

Time- 8:47

Jason was on the twentieth floor, searching, when he got the announcement.

Tim: THE HACKER IS ON THE FORTY-FOURTH FLOOR!!!

Jason: Signal, where are you?

Duke: Fortieth!

Jason: I’ll see you on the forty-four! 

Jason rushed up the stairway and ran up to the forty-fourth floor to see Duke there taking on three men. Jason then pulled out his pistols and shot all three with non-lethal rounds. 

Duke: Had to take away my fun, didn’t you?

Jason: Yes! 

Tim: Did you guys get them?

Duke: All hostiles are taken down.

Tim: Awesome!

Alfred, Julia, Stephanie, Cassandra, and Selina

Alfred: Why would he choose the safe house. If this were reality Ethan would have already been arrested.

Stephanie: Alfred, we love you to death, but your ruining an amazing movie.

Julia: The movie ruined itself by it’s inaccuracies. Plus this is our bonding time, you guys weren’t even invited!

Selina: Yeah, but you guys took the only copy and once we saw you watching it, we just really wanted to watch it, too.

Harper: Oh, cool! Mind if I join?

Alfred: *sighs* The more the merrier.

Nightwing and Batgirl

Dick: Alright, our guy lives in apartment 22 on 1807 Zics Street. Let’s head there now and see if we can find him.

Barbara: Lets head there. Want to get something to eat after?

Dick: Definitely.

Dick and Barbara get on their motorcycles and drove to the apartment where they found the arsonist. They tied him to a lamppost and Barbara informed the GCPD the location of the arsonist.

 Dick: So, how has your dad been doing?

Barbara: Not too bad. He’s been a bit under pressure but he’s doing fine. How is it being a dad at the mansion?

Dick: Ohhh god. I had the thought once and decided to leave that duty to Alfred. 

Barbara: *Barbara laughs*

Dick: I help him a bit. It’s been so difficult acting like a grown up. I had to seriously step in when Alfred called Jason “Master Todd”

Barbara: Please explain further?

Dick: Well, because Jason is, well, Jason, he lost his shit because he’s “not a snooty ass rich motherfucker, Alfred!”

Barbara: Damn, I could so see that.

Dick: Yeah, and it doesn’t help that Bruce totally lost the ability to interact with other people. The other day Damian was acting up and Bruce picked him up and shouted “WHERE’S THE OFF BUTTON!”

Barbara: *laughs harder*

Dick: *laughs himself* You should have been there, it was funnier in person.

The two stare at the sky for a bit as they watch the sun set. Barbara leans her head on Dick’s shoulder and they both relax. 

Dick: I love you Babs.

Barbara: I love you too, Dick.

Dick

They both left the rooftop they were sitting on at around 8:30. Dick had missed Barbara so much and was glad to have been able to see her. He didn’t care he broke one of Bruce’s rules. It wasn’t like Bruce was going to remember anything from the first week anyway. He got into the batcave and began creating workouts for everyone. He then went to the bathroom and took a shower in the batcave, and then went upstairs. He walked into the media room to see Alfred and Julia spending time as a family.

Dick: Aw, isn’t this sweet!

Julia: Get the fuck out Dick!

Dick: Damn, okay.

Dick then walked into the kitchen to see everyone in there.

Tim: Someone took long getting back to the mansion.

Stephanie: What happened.

Dick: I met up with Babs.

Everyone: WHAT!!!!

Damian: No fair. If I knew I could have been with Jon this entire time I would have!

Selina: You’re not able to Damian, and you knew you weren’t suppose to interact with anyone outside of the mansion.

Dick: Chill. Everything is fine. We’re more likely to get sick on patrol then by hanging out with each other. What’s up with Alfred and Julia?

Jason: They got tired of everyone ruining their family bonding time so they kicked us out.

Dick: That makes sense.

There was a knock at the door, so Dick goes to open it.

Dick: Helloooo...............

Helena: Hey Dick, you look great!

Dick slams the door shut and covers the door.

Jason: *shoves Dick to the side and opens the door* Hey, Helena! It is so awesome to see you! What are you doing here?

Helena: I’m here to stay and help. Where should I put my bags?

Jason: You could put them in Dick’s room for right now! You remember where that is, right?

Helena: Yep!

Dick: coolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcool coolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcool. *starts falling to the floor*

[yconic]

I hope the new Batman movie covers just how much Batman cares about his villains and their well-being, so much so that, with time, he becomes more of a lionized babysitter than anything. I would give my firstborn if I'd get the Justice League REACTING to the relationship between Bruce and his villains.

LIKE just picture Superman and Batman busting Harley, Ivy, and Joker after a failed bank heist. Superman's eyebrows basically live in his hairline after Batman refuses to give them over to the police, instead tucking them into the back of the batmobile and saying he'll escort them to Arkham personally.

And. Well.

He straps Harley's seatbelt on and attaches her so she and Ivy could snuggle together, all while giving a huffing Joker the stern look he only gives one of his sons before he's sure they'll start some admittedly funny but dangerous shenanigans.

Bruce, for some unknown reason to Clark, knows what they like to eat and even orders food for them from a fast food place that looks entirely too casual to serve Gotham's most famous vigilante, the most powerful being in the universe, and three of the most dangerous supervillains in the world.

"You better not spill this anywhere, " Bruce mutters, poking in the straw for Joker's Batman juice box. "Joker, stop making grabby hands, you're not five."

"I know. I'm Joker. Duh."

"Did ya get a toy, Mistah J? I wanted the toy! Last time you said I could have it-"

'' But this one has Batsy on it! Hey, stop grabbin', Pam, get ya girl under control before shit gets ugly, - Bats! She's bitin' my arm!"

"Does this... Happen often?" Superman can't help but ask, unable to tear his eyes from the trainwreck happening in the backseat.

"More often than I'd like, " Batman sighs, exasperation flooding the sound. "Ivy. Don't let Harley bite him, you don't know where he's been."

"Oh! Oh. I do. Trust me. I. Fucking. Know." Ivy glowers, aggressively sipping her latte. "If he dies, he dies."

"And why does this happen, exactly?"

Batman pauses for a minute, fingers drumming on the steering wheel.

"The GCPD mean well. I wouldn't work with them otherwise. But sometimes, they tighten the leash too much. To a point where it's less about order and more about control. Sometimes, they forget villains are people, too. If you treat people like animals, they'll behave like it."

Silence looms in the car for a juncture of time, until Joker pats Bruce on the shoulder, a gesture far too comfortable to be rare. "I found a rat in my burger."

Batman's voice betrays a tone of shock and bewilderment. "I- you found what?"

Harley frowns. "Wait, really?"

"Yep."

"Where is it?"

"I ate it!"

"What?" Several exclamations of disgust fly through the Batmobile, Clark's own mending with them. His senses pick up a small laugh cutting through, hushed down and masqued by a gloved hand.

"Why would you do that!?"

"Harley dared me to!"

"That ain't true! Ya never said it was 'bout a rat! Ya said 'wanna see me eat this thing' and I told ya specifically not to!"

"Oh, come on. If you forbid me from doing the stupid thing my reflex is going to wanna do the stupid thing 10x, everyone knows that, Harl! What was I supposed to do with it!?"

Ivy throws her hands up. "Throw it! The most obvious answer is throw the fucking thing!"

"Oh, just open up the window and just throw my trash at the side of the road, like an asshole? is that what was I supposed to do? I'm a villain, not a fuckin' jackass!"

"Oh, don't you school me about littering you fuckhead, -"

"So you can't throw it but you can eat it?"

"My body's a junkyard, it'll feel at home."

The three continue to bicker in the back. Superman spots a small smile on Bruce's lips and chooses not to comment on it.

[thequeenxofhearts]

Jason Todd x Reader | Recovery 2/3

SUMMARY: Reader is home from the hospital, but now has to recover from the injuries, and emotional trauma.

WARNINGS: This chapters talks more about readers injuries, but not in full detail.

A/N: This was originally supposed to be two chapters, but I decided to write a third, which will be up soon!

WORD COUNT: 1284

Previous chapter: https://thequeenxofhearts.tumblr.com/post/620167346577965057/hospital-jason-todd-x-reader-13

“Hello, and welcome to Good Morning Gotham, I’m Sarah Howard. It has been nearly two weeks since an explosion in a small house outside Gotham City took the life of Y/D/N Y/L/N, and police Commissioner, James Gordon, confirmed that the explosion was caused by a bomb, left by the Joker. Y/D/N Y/L/N’s only daughter Y/N, survived the explosion, but has been left with severe injuries. Mr Y/L/N’s funeral was held yesterday at Gotham Cathedral.”

You heard Jason mutter something from the kitchen. You didn’t hear what it was, but you guessed it was probably something about the news; he hated the news.

“Gotham’s own Batman has been seen around the city every night since the explosion, as the Joker has yet to be arrested for the crime. Other vigilantes, including Nightwing, Red Robin and Batgirl, have also been seen searching for the clown. But question is, will they find the Joker before he kills someone else?”

You heard Jason come in from the kitchen, he snatched the remote off the arm rest of the couch, and he changed the channel.

“You shouldn’t watch the news, baby. It’s all lies anyway.” He said, and he put the remote onto the coffee table and returned to the kitchen, leaving you to watch the cartoon he had put on, Tom and Jerry.

Normally you wouldn’t have minded watching cartoons, you and Jason got up early on Saturday mornings to watch Scooby-Doo, Tom and Jerry, and Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, but since you had been out of the hospital, Jason had been extremely protective, and he hadn’t left your side since you came out of the hospital.

He did not like to leave you on your own and had only been out on patrol once since you came out of the hospital, but he came home early when you didn’t answer your phone. Leaving Nightwing on the roof of Wayne Enterprises, Jason raced home thinking the worst had happened, but when he arrived at the apartment, he found you asleep in front of the TV.

Your arms were still bandaged, and they had to be covered with burn cream every morning, afternoon and evening, as well as your legs but you were grateful that the burns on your legs were not as bad as the burns on your arms.

Jason made sure your cream was applied and you took your antibiotics. Jason has been looking after you every day, and he never failed to do anything for you. Every morning he made you pancakes with strawberries, blueberries, and chocolate sauce. At lunchtime, he would make you a sandwich, or sweet potato fries, or he would cut up a watermelon and you would watch TV together, maybe a movie or watch cartoons. At dinner, he would make you your favourite food, or he would order take out; Big Belly Burger and Dominoes Pizza were always your first choices.

You were grateful to have Jason, and have the care he was giving you, but you missed your dad dearly. It had been less than 2 weeks since you lost him and you were not expecting the pain to go away quickly, but it made it harder to carry on when the news were reporting about it 24/7.

“Do you fancy going for a walk later, Babe?” Jason asked as he plopped onto the couch next to you.

“I don’t know, Jay.” You responded. You had not been out of the apartment since the incident, only to go to your doctor’s appointment, you had another one due at the end of next week.

“Come on Y/N, you need to get out of the house.” Jason replied, “I won’t let anyone hurt you, and Bats will be out on patrol tonight.”

You sighed, “I don’t know if I’m ready.”

“Of course, you are, you’ve been out to go to the doctors.” Jason replied, brushing the backs of his fingers against your cheek.

“That’s different Jason.”

“How?” Jason asked.

“People will see me.”

Jason sighed, you looked away from him and stared down at your bandaged arms. “Hey, everything is going to be ok.” He said softly.

“What if reporters see us? You know what they’re like, Jay.” You replied.

“Sssh.” Jason pulled you in close to him and you wrapped your arms around him. “You’re going to have to get out of the house at some point, it’s not good for you to be inside all the time.”

“Things are different now, Jay.”

“How so?”

“I’m not the same.”

“Do you think I care about that?” Jason asked, “You’ll always be my Y/N, everything is going to be ok.” He smiled and leaned in to kiss your cheek. You smiled.

“Alright?” He asked, you nodded, “That’s my girl.” He smiled.

Jason’s phone began ringing, he had left it on the kitchen counter, he got up to get it. You looked up when Jason said, “Hi Bruce.”

You studied Jason’s face while Bruce spoke, you didn’t know what he was saying and all Jason kept saying was ‘uh-hu’, ‘yeah’, ‘ok’.

You weren’t sure if it was good news or bad news, you wondered if it was even about the Joker, or maybe it was something else entirely.

Jason hung up the phone.

“That Bruce?” You asked, Jason nodded, “He and Tim are going out soon, they think they’ve found where the Joker has been hiding.”

Your eyes widened, and you sat up, “Where?” You asked.

Jason chuckled, “If I tell you, you’re going to want to find him yourself, aren’t you?” He asked, you shrugged.

“Baby, listen, Bruce will find him, he’s going to take him back to Arkham when he does, and then you won’t have to worry about him.”

“He’s gotten out of Arkham many times before, Jay.” You added.

“I know, I know.” Jason said, lowering his head. You knew Jason wanted to kill the Joker, you could tell just how furious Jason was at the hospital when Bruce had explained to you both what had happened on the day of the explosion.

You knew Jason would have searched for him by himself and killed him too.

“What if he gets out again?” You asked. “Then I’ll talk with Bruce and make arrangements for him to be taken to a more secure facility.”

“You wouldn’t kill him?” You asked.

Jason looked away from you, he stared down at his hands. “I’d want to.” He muttered. “After everything he has done, all those civilians he’s killed, he’s killed me, almost killed Barbara, almost killed you.”

You studied him. His hands were fisted, and you could see his jaw was clenched, “Do you think Black Gate could hold him? Or Belle Reve?”

Jason shrugged, “If they can’t, then I’ll kill him.”

 A few hours had past, and you had fallen asleep on the couch after Jason changed your bandages.

Jason stood in the kitchen, waiting for a phone call from Bruce or Tim, regarding their capture of the Joker. He stood at the kitchen counter looking through a cookbook, wondering if he could make something out of there for dinner, or just order from Big Belly Burger again.

As he was flipping through the book, his phone rang.

“Bruce?” He asked, followed by a sigh, “Ok, I’ll be there soon.” And he hung up.

 He stared at you for a few seconds, deciding whether he should wake you up, or just leave you sleeping, and leave a note on the table.

“No.” He muttered and began to gently shake you awake.

“What is it?” You asked tiredly.

“Bruce and Tim caught the Joker, they’ve got him at the GCPD.”

You jumped up from the couch and put your coat and shoes on.

[thepurplebutterflythings]

Kitty Cat & Tweety Bird (Part 16) - Jason Todd

Gif: Dxnninja on Tenor

Word Count: 2.1K

Paring: Jason Todd (Titans) x (f)Reader

Summary: Jason and Y/N spend some quality time together while Dick third wheels. Y/N meets the board of Wayne Enterprises.

Warnings: N/A

A/N: This is a little series I am doing about Jason Todd in Titans. I don’t know Comic!Jason very well so I’m taking all of this from the show, and at the moment he hasn’t been in very often, so please forgive any mischaracterisations.

Tagging: @bella-0104-123 @ninergirl1d @httpfandxms @rosybrock @attackonnat @reclusive-chicken-nugget   @demoiselle-en-detresse00 @young-psychos @thesleepykaijuu @thescottpack @nightlygiggles @rougestorms @sinon36​ @acvrosstheuniverse @friedchickening​ @chillybabe

________________________________________________________________

There was zero chance for Jason and Y/N to sneak away as they jumped over the roof tops of Gotham with Dick overseeing them. He loitered behind them the entire time, watching them with an eagle eye, never giving them a chance to escape and enjoy themselves.

‘We can’t get five minutes to ourselves,’ Y/N sighed as her and Jason dawdled over the rooftops, Dick lingering behind them just enough so they could talk privately but close enough that they couldn’t ditch him.

‘Yeah, sorry about him,’ Jason smiled sympathetically to Y/N, his mask covering his cheekbones but highlighting his eyes. ‘If I knew he was so close then I would’ve been quieter.’

‘Not your fault,’ Y/N assured Jason, ‘as he said – he’s technically my brother now. Aren’t big brothers supposed to be, like, giant pains in the ass?’

‘You’d prefer a little brother?’ Jason chuckled. ‘Aren’t they like… little demons or something?’

‘I don’t know – I’ve been an only child all my life now I’ve got a new dad and a brother along with that,’ Y/N shrugged as she waited for Jason to climb over a roof that she had already conquered, ‘it’s a totally new life. I’ve got to adjust to it all, I guess.’ Y/N smiled tightly as Jason landed on his feet next to her. ‘It’s been months though, since I learned who my dad was, and since I met Dick, I thought I’d be used to this by now.’

‘Come on,’ Jason said, ‘you can’t really expect to just walk into a new life and not be affected by the change, Kitty Cat. You’re only human.’

‘But I’m more than ‘only human’, aren’t I?’ Y/N groaned and leaned her head against the bricks, ‘I’m Batman’s daughter, I’m Catwoman’s daughter. I was raised by Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. For fuck sake, I pet-sit Hyenas on my Saturday nights.’

‘That doesn’t mean you’re unshakable,’ Jason said, placing his hands on her waist and resting his forehead against hers. ‘You have every right to feel overwhelmed and not know how to adjust or know what to do – everyone feels like that, regardless of background, of who they are. It’s human.’

‘I know,’ Y/N nodded and spoke quietly, ‘but I’ve never felt this overwhelmed by life before. Becoming Lynx was easy, coming to terms with Mum being a criminal was easy, knowing who Auntie Ivy and Auntie Harley were was easy, fighting the Joker was easy – this is so unknown to me.’

‘Well,’ Jason kissed the end of her nose gently, ‘I’ll help you through it. I’ll hold your hand the whole time.’

‘Hey, you love birds alright?’ Dick asked appearing behind them.

‘Yeah, yeah,’ Y/N nodded, ‘just talking, appreciating the distance from the paps.’

‘Yeah, they’re a pain,’ Dick smiled awkwardly, ‘after I moved out of the manor, they left me alone, but before that, they were utter hell!’

‘So, in your professional opinion,’ Jason began, ‘when will they leave us all alone?’

‘Honestly?’ Dick frowned, ‘not till they get what they want.’

‘And what do they want?’ Jason asked.

‘They want me, don’t they?’ Y/N mumbled, ‘to know me?’

‘Pretty much,’ Dick nodded, ‘they’re vultures, and they’ll keep circling. If they don’t get the information through us, as a family, they’ll get it somewhere else, a less legit source, and then that’s the public’s opinion of you.’

________________________________________________________________

For the first time since her formal announcement to the public, Y/N Kyle-Wayne was back inside the building of Wayne Enterprises, not as an intern, nor as Bruce Wayne’s assistant or Jason Todd’s girlfriend, but as the future CEO of the company. To say it was overwhelming was an understatement. Shaking from head to toe, Y/N gulped as she was led by Bruce towards the board room, filled with board members who were eager to tear her apart and prove she had no right to the Wayne Fortune or Business. Stopping in the middle of the hallway, Y/N pressed her hands against the wall to brace herself. Bruce and Dick stopped and watched before Bruce approached his daughter.

‘You alright?’ Bruce asked softly as he rubbed her back.

‘Nervous,’ she confessed.

‘We don’t have to do this today,’ Bruce said in a comforting voice, ‘we can call the whole thing off.’

‘No, no,’ Y/N shook her head, standing up straight, ‘let’s do it. Rip the bandage off.’

‘We’ll be right there with you,’ Dick assured his sister.

‘I know,’ Y/N nodded, giving a hesitant smile before the trio continued towards the board room.

‘Ready?’ Bruce asked, placing his hand on the handle.

‘Let’s go,’ Y/N said as Bruce opened the door. The three walked into the boardroom. A long wooden table took up most of the space with elegant office chairs blocking any and all free space. Every single one of those chairs were filled with members of the board of Wayne Enterprises. All were old, miserable men who stared Y/N down the moment she walked in. Seeing the large, ceiling to floor windows that overlooked the Gotham skyline, Y/N felt at ease, sighing in relief before meeting the shark eyes of the board members.

‘Mr Wayne,’ one of the men said standing up, ‘Mr Grayson.’

Y/N noticed how he didn’t acknowledge her, but rather her father and Dick, and looking at the other two, they noticed it as well. Dick coughed and folded his arms.

‘What? My sister isn’t good enough to be greeted like a human being?’ Dick spoke up.

‘No, no,’ Y/N turned to Dick, ‘I’m sure the man had a perfectly good reason for being unbearably rude to the future CEO of Wayne Enterprises, right, sir?’

The old man merely quirked his lip and met the gaze of the young Wayne, almost amused.

‘Well, young lady, you must understand how your position in the Wayne Line is obviously up for debate, and anyway, you are far too young and… delicate to take the position of CEO. CEO’s need to be strong and respectable.’

‘Dude,’ Dick chuckled, ‘she served my ass to me the first time we met – she’s stronger and more respectable than all of you lot put together.’’

‘He’s saying I can’t run a company because I’m female,’ Y/N said, ‘right? Along with questioning whether I am a Wayne.’

‘Well, what name did you go by for most of your life? It was that Street Rat Girl Mr Wayne fawned over in childhood, correct? Kyle?’

‘Selina is her mother, yes,’ Bruce said, ‘and her father is indeed I. You can see the DNA test results that we have. Obviously, I was prepared for those who would doubt the truth that was right in front of you. Can’t you see the Wayne in her?’

‘Mr Wayne, you surely cannot expect this… girl to lead the company after you leave.’

‘I can and I will.’

‘And I have a name,’ Y/N snapped, ‘if any of my future employees would care to know.’

‘My son would make a far superior CEO than this girl.’

‘Again, I’ve got a name.’

‘Just meet with him.

‘Oh, I’ve met your son, O’Connor,’ Bruce scoffed, ‘the one doing lines of cocaine in the bathroom at the Gala, yes? Utterly unfit and, currently, being arrested by GCPD for possession and use of drugs.’

Y/N placed a firm hand on O’Connor’s upper arm.

‘O’Connor – is it?’

‘Greggory O’Connor,’ the man said.

‘Well, Greg, mind if I call you Greg?’ Y/N said, not giving him a chance to answer before carrying on, ‘why don’t you take a seat and listen for a change rather than shove your nose where it doesn’t belong, especially when you’re as misogynistic as you have been towards me, who is, I will remind you yet again, is your future boss. And you still haven’t asked me my name.’

‘What is your name, Miss Wayne?’ Another man spoke up as Greggory sat back down. This man looked kinder, warmer with a greying beard and wire glasses.

‘It’s Y/N,’ she said directly to the man, ‘and you are?’

‘Lucius Fox,’ he smiled at Y/N, ‘I see the Wayne in you. Stoic – just like your grandfather, but a warmth that is undeniably Martha, especially in those eyes.’

‘Thank you, Mr Fox,’ Y/N nodded towards the man as she took her spot at the front of the room, ready to address the members.

‘I have no doubt that when you lead the company, you shall do it with the strength and values that all previous Waynes’ have had.’

‘I like him’ Y/N said, turning to her father, ‘don’t fire him,’ she joked, causing a few little laughs in the room. ‘Now, I’m certain that if you asked all of us in this room at this point last year where we’d all end up, none of us would’ve said here, in this moment. Especially I of all people. Yes, as Mr O’Connor and my father said, my mother is Selina Kyle, who did grow up on the streets, but she has worked hard to provide me with a stable and good life. I do want to be CEO of Wayne Enterprises. I believe that we, as an international enterprise and a Gotham based one as well, need to show that, when we work together, Gotham can be more than criminals that run the city, we need to show that, when the people stand up against the evil and wrongs in the world, we can make a difference. A lot of people in Gotham are pushed aside, never heard, and those people are the ones who suffer the consequences of us and our ignorance. My mother was one of those people, and she was lucky and was able to claw her way out, though it wasn’t without hardships. But we need to make sure that none have to the pain and trials and tribulations that my mother went through, and that starts with us.’ Y/N paused, ‘As some have made themselves abundantly clear, you are not happy with me eventually becoming CEO of Wayne Enterprises, although I don’t want to be cruel here but I will state the truth I don’t know how many of you will be with us when what time comes, sorry if that comes to a shock to any of you but death is inevitable. I do hope that the ones of you who are happy with me will be able to work alongside me in using Wayne Enterprises power and influence to better Gotham City, and hopefully other places in the world. Those who aren’t fond of me and perhaps are secretly plotting against me, no offence if you don’t like me and aren’t plotting against but this is Gotham – we’ve been trained to expect the worse – I hope that you take this moment to do one of two things, one, you look at yourself and your world view and question why you are so threatened by me becoming the CEO, and hopefully we can see eye-to-eye and work well together. I don’t want any arguments to breakout amongst us all, we’re supposed to be colleagues, teammates, brothers-in-arms even against the war in Gotham. If you still cannot, or will not, work with me and see eye-to-eye, are still threatened by me, a young woman who will work hard to achieve her aims in life and will not be threatened, blackmailed or bullied by those weak willed and weak minded fools, I hope you take that as your queue to end your time here at Wayne Enterprises. I do look forward to working with you, and I hope we can do it like a family, for that is what everyone in Gotham is, family. No one else knows what it is like to live in Gotham, for it is a complex and unusual upbringing to have, and that is our strength as a city, no matter where we are from in Gotham, rich or poor, young or old, we all grew up the same, with that fear of the criminals and what they would do. Some of us were lucky enough to do it in a penthouse, others in crappy apartments, and others on the streets, but at our core, we’re all the same. We are Gotham. Let’s change it for the better.’ She finished and stepped back, slowly but surely members of the board began to clap for Y/N, all except O’Connor who stood up and met the trio’s gaze.

‘My letter of resignation will be on the desk by the end of the day, Mr Wayne.’

‘Very well.’

The man walked out the room while the others all came towards Y/N and welcomed her kindly. Lucius Fox patted her on the back and spoke gently, seeing her concern over O’Connor.

‘Don’t worry about Greg,’ Lucius assured her, ‘he’s no threat, all bark and no bite. He’ll just make a comment to the press and fade away. You think Wayne Enterprises is the first place he’s quit from?’

‘Thank you, Mr Fox.’

‘Call me Lucius, please, as you said, we’re family.’

[pink-bird-30]

RobStar Week 2020- Rescue

How is everyone doing?!  Welcome back to RobStar Week 2020 day 5!!!!  Are we ready for today’s post?!  I know I am!

As always, my stories are connect for this RobStar week.  I do encourage you to go read the last 4 days works before reading this one.

Here is my link to my FF.net if you’d like to read the collection here:

(https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13635654/1/RobStar-Week-2020-All-Works)

Warning, I made a really bad pun in here.  and for my comic book Batfam readers, there’s an easter egg in here for you.  Let me know if you find it!

Happy Reading!

--------

The party was in full swing by the time Kori and Dick made their way down the main stairs of Wayne Manor.  Bruce was throwing one of his annual galas to raise money for the GCPD.  But Dick was unaware that this would be happening while he and Kori were visiting before their wedding.

Over the past year there had been arrangements made for Robin and Starfire to get married.  But due to being heroes, and everyone scattered around the world, they thought it’d be best to have the ceremony in Gotham.

Starfire and Robin thought it’d be best to go to Gotham to get everything settled for the ceremony.  A simple task to make sure everything they wanted was perfect.

Quick and easy, right?

Wrong.

Really wrong.

Ever since news spread that Bruce Wayne’s son was engaged, the media had been in a frenzy.  Naturally, Bruce took this as an opportunity to make it known the couple would be attending his annual gala.

This was not ideal for both Kori and Dick.

The moment the two stepped down into the ballroom of Wayne Manor, the entire room erupted in applause and congratulations.  Kori buried her face in Dick’s neck trying to hide from the constant flashes from the media.  His arm came up to comfort her, resting on her bare back.

The dress she wore was definitely one of his favorites.  A dark blue halter dress with a low back; it was an inside joke as to why she chose that color.  Unknown to the world, after Dick and Kori get back from their honeymoon, Dick was going to step down as Robin and hand the mantel over to his little brother Jason.  He’d been working hard and Dick knew his time as Robin was coming to an end.

“Dick, Kori, over here.”  Bruce waved them over and passed each of them a glass of champagne.

Brice tapped the side of his glass gathering the attention of everyone in the room, “Excuse me, I’d like to make a toast. To my son Dick, and my future daughter-in-law Kori on their engagement.  I think I speak for everyone here and wish you two a happy marriage.  To Dick and Kori!”

The room cheered for the couple before they all continued their conversations.

Dick and Kori did their best to keep away from other people and stick together.  As long as they stayed together, they wouldn’t have any issues.  Dick was mostly concerned with Kori getting lost with all these people.  

He knew these types, upper class snobs who think they’re better than everyone.  Most of the time they show up to these charity events to get a tax break.  Or get into the Gotham Gazette as the ‘Best Dressed’ of the week.

After an hour of roaming the party, Dick tried his best to keep up the good son charade but it was weighing on his nerves.  He kissed Kori on the cheek and quietly whispered to her, “Hey, wannah get out of here?”

“Yes, please.”

They said their goodbyes to the couple they were talking to and did their best to make their way back to the library.  But before they got too far Kori was pulled away by a group of young women Dick recognized as his former classmates from Gotham Academy, and Dick was pulled away by Wally West.

“My my, you’re a hard man to find, Grayson.”  The two men hugged each other.

“Wally, how you’ve been?”  They walked over to the bar, each asking the bartender for a beer.

Wally leaned against the bar, taking a large swing of his beer, “Could be better, Jinx and I split up again.  I think this time for good.”

Dick patted his friend on the shoulder, “I’m sorry, man.  Maybe it’s for the best.”  Dick takes a drink from his beer and settles it back down on the bar.  “Kori told me that Artemis talks about you a lot.”

Wally seemed to brighten a bit at the news, “Really, and is Ms. Crock in attendance tonight?”

Dick let out a hearty laugh, “I don’t think so, I heard she was helping out at the Hall Of Justice today since Bruce was throwing this gala.”

Wally hummed before chugging his beer, belched, which caught the attention of an older blonde woman from across the room, and tipped an invisible hat to Dick.

“Til next time, Grayson.  I got a lady to woo.” And then Wally was gone in a flash.

Dick took one final sip of his beer and glanced around the ballroom trying to see where Kori had gone off to.

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

Kori wasn’t sure how she ended up with this group of girls, but she wished someone would come and rescue her.

“So, you’re the lucky woman who tied down Grayson.” The tall brunet woman said.

“Is it true you’ll inherit the Wayne fortune with this marriage, no prenup?” said the short red headed woman.

“I heard he’s amazing in bed.” Was the comment from the blonde leaning against the wall.

Kori’s eyes widened at the questions being pelted at her, she tried her best to stay at Dick’s side, but somehow they ended up separated a few moments ago.

“Well, umm…” Kori didn’t know what to say.  To be completely honest she didn’t even understand half the things these women were saying to her.

X’hal, where did Richard go…

The women started laughing, “Oh you poor dear, out of your element are we?”

The redhead turned to the blonde and snickered, “Look at her, I doubt she is from wealth herself.”

“A mere peasant if anything.”  The Brunette turned back to Kori to glare at her, “So which is it, were you some random tramp he found or are you pregnant with his bastard child?”

Kori’s jaw dropped and was close to slapping the smirk off the woman’s face before an arm settled around her shoulders, unfamiliar to her.

The face of the three snobbish women gaped at the man that was standing next to Kori.

“Ladies,” Bruce said casually.  “I couldn’t but overhear that you were speaking poorly to my daughter.  Now what were you saying about her being a tramp?”

Kori knew that tone, it was his ‘I’m Batman’ voice.

“Well umm…”

“Mr. Wayne, we can explain.”

“Aren’t you so handsome up close.”

Bruce hummed and snapped his fingers at two guards walking through the crowd of people.

“Ah, gentlemen.  Please remove these women from the manor and make sure they never come back.  Enjoy the rest of your evening ladies.”

And with that, Bruce escorted Kori away from the group of women who were crying out their apologies to the bachelor.  He walked Kori down a hidden hallway away from the party and pushed on a false wall before they both walked inside.

Bruce let Kori go and pushed the button in the hidden elevator, bringing them down to the Batcave.  Kori awed in surprise, not realizing the Batcave was located underneath Wayne Manor.  After stepping off the elevator, she slowly walked around looking at all the different weapons on the walls, the various vehicles that were stationed near a long dark opening, and the ops area that held a single chair and a round table behind it.

“How glorious, Richard did not mentioned the cave of bat was beneath your home.”  Bruce could see the awe across the young woman’s face and gestured for her to take a seat at the ops table.

The Bruce that helped her out of her predicament was gone, replaced with the man she knew from Richard’s stories.

“I’m not surprised…Dick did leave here in a hurry.”

Kori looked up to Bruce, seeing that carful façade slipping for a moment.  She got up from the chair and walked over to him, placing her hand on his shoulder.

“From what he has told me, it was not the easy decision for him.”

Bruce smiled slightly and draped a blanket over Kori’s shoulder before ushering her back to the chair.

“I’ll locate Dick for you.”

Kori nodded and swiveled back to face the array of computer screens taking up the largest portion of the cave wall.

“And Kori,”  She turned to face him.  “I’m glad he has you.”

He turns to step back into the elevator, letting it shut behind him.

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

No longer than ten minutes passed before Dick rushed out of the elevator and made his way to Kori.

“Kor!  I tried looking everywhere for you.  What happened?  Bruce only told me a little bit of what the women said.”

Kori got up from the chair and took Dick’s suit jacket from him, draping it on the back of the chair before pulling him into a deep kiss.

Slowly, they pulled apart.  Kori rubbed her nose against his and places a gentle kiss on his cheek before stepping back.

“It does not matter.  Bruce did the rescuing of me from those…” Kori scowls. “…unpleasant women, they do the reminding of Kitten.”

Dick groans, “I remember those girls from the academy.  They’re really just a bunch of leached trying to find their way into the upper class.”

Kori nodded, knowing the type.

“I am the grateful Bruce was there, I was close to hitting the blonde one.”

Dick laughs before pulling Kori close again, resting his forehead on her’s as they slowly sway together.

“That, I would have loved to see.  These galas were always so boring as a kid.”

Kori giggles and presses a soft kiss to his lips.  They stayed like this for a few minutes, just enjoying each other’s company away from the world above them.

“Richard?” Kori looked past Dick’s shoulder to the corner of the cave.

“Yeah, Kor?”  Dick wrapped his arms tighter around her and started to trail his lips down her neck.

“Why does the cave of bats have a dinosaur?”

[attackpunk]

Mayhem and Matrimony, Chapter One

Rating: Explicit, but not until future chapters, Pairings: Batman/Joker, Warnings: none

I will be posting more of this if people are interested, so leave a comment and a reblog why dontcha?

It was never sunny in Gotham. In fact, it was hardly ever daytime. Nights always seemed unusually long, and when the morning did deign to arrive, it always came with an entourage of clouds. This was the way that all Gothamites preferred to live. If they wanted sunlight, they would have lived in Metropolis (and Metropolis was just too… metropolitan for any respectable Gothamite).

 Unfortunately, the Joker was not a respectable Gothamite. He was not a respectable anything, and he quite liked it that way. The Joker loved sunlight. He loved warm breezes and balmy afternoons. If it weren’t for a few choice superheroes, he would have moved to Metropolis long ago. Yet he stayed. His philosophy was that Gotham had character. Everything in Metropolis was pre-packaged and plastic wrapped, much like their god-like Boy Scout, but Gotham had life. And of course, Gotham had his beloved Bat.

Joker prided himself on being a psychopath, even a sociopath- yet when it came to the Bat, his heart melted. Nay, it soared. If only Batsy felt the same way. Actually, scratch that, if only Batsy realized that he felt the same way. Then everything would be tickety-boo.Joker surveyed his surroundings and smiled. Everything was going perfectly. A stunt like this was not only expensive, stylish, and daring, it was also a declaration. He wanted to see how much he could push his Bat, and if he got a happily ever after in the process? Well, then it would be a win-win!

 Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Harley skating towards him with a clipboard.

“Everything’s ready, boss,” she trilled happily, chewing her bubblegum. She held the clipboard out to him,“Just need you to sign these terms and conditions and we’ll be on our way.”“Perfect, dollface, just perfect!” Joker said, clapping his hands together. He felt like a schoolgirl getting ready for prom night. Only with more murderous intent. Or maybe not. It all rested on Batsy.

 He made his way over to the car he was going to be riding into the GCPD. It was one of his trademarks, a purple Lamborghini with green accents. It was garish, grotesque, and altogether way too expensive to have any kind of quality or class. He loved it. Getting in, he wondered just how this would all play out. Fuck, was he nervous?

No. Obviously not. The Joker, the scourge of Gotham, did not get nervous over a boy. Not even one that he was madly in love with. One that he would do almost anything for. But what if… 

No! He was not going to think about things going wrong. Batsy would see reason. He had to. Or Gotham’s streets would run red with blood.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bruce Wayne was a little bitch. At least, that’s what Batman thought. Nevermind the fact that he was Bruce Wayne; that was a technicality. No, in his civilian persona he chose to be a little bitch. It diverted suspicion away from what he spent most of his waking nights doing. And yet, he felt… empty. Like something was missing. Maybe he spent too much time as Bruce Wayne. Or maybe it was the opposite. Anyways, he was headed to the GCPD to be a public disturbance. Of course, he would be a calculated public disturbance. The real reason for his trip to the GCPD was to gather intel. Gordon had come to him about a potential mole in the precinct, and had asked him to discreetly monitor the officers. Batman was not discreet. Neither was Bruce Wayne, but at least no one knew that Bruce Wayne could sucker punch them into oblivion.

So that was the reason why Alfred was driving them into the grey, grey city in a black, black car, dodging traffic and politely cursing the absolute atrocities that were committed by the drivers of Gotham on the daily. 

Of course, it was just their luck that when they arrived it was absolute chaos. Bruce was not a betting man, but he was willing to bet the entirety of Wayne Enterprises that the Joker was behind it. It would make sense. The Joker was a psychopath, with no moral compass to speak of. Or, Bruce thought, perhaps he had too much of a moral compass. 

Gotham cops, and even cops in general, were not the most compassionate of creatures. Maybe this was the Joker’s twisted sense of justice. But it was not his job to psychoanalyze his arch-nemesis. Although, it wasn’t like the shrinks at Arkham were doing a good job of it. 

Bruce shook himself. Gotham needed him; what was he doing thinking about the Joker’s motivations? That sort of thinking was reserved for the Batcave, and if Bruce were being completely honest with himself, his bed. Now was not the time. 

“Alfred,” he said, voice slipping so naturally into that gravelly growl, “Is there a Batsuit anywhere close to here?”

Alfred glanced at him in the rearview mirror.

“Sir, do you even have to ask? I would have thought you had every location of every Batsuit memorized.”

“I’m a Bat, Alfred, not a computer,” Bruce replied dryly.

“I have one in the trunk, sir. Should I drive towards the nearest safehouse? Or mayhaps an alley?”

“Alley will be fine. Our main priority is protecting the people.”

Then, somehow, impossibly, things got even weirder. Well, perhaps not so weird for Gotham, but definitely weird by literally anybody else’s standards. The Joker was on a pedestal, rising above the chaos below like an angel. An angel in a wedding dress wielding a flamethrower. 

Miles away, Superman heard a chorus of “what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck” from Gotham. That was a rare occurrence; nobody in Gotham was disturbed by anything. Until now. Clark paused. Should he go investigate? No, Batman probably had things under control. Besides, he thought, punching a robot, he had his own problems.

Back in Gotham, the Joker was having a roaring time at the GCPD. Everybody was confused and hysterical, which was just the way he liked it. He signaled to Harley, who turned on the speakers attached to the trucks his henchmen had ridden in.

“Good morning, Gotham!” he yelled, his voice amplified by the lapel mic on his breast, “Are y’all having a lovely time?”

“No!” the people of Gotham yelled back, on fire and spiteful.

“Well, alright then. Would you like all of this mayhem to stop?”

“Yes?” yelled the people of Gotham, on fire and suspicious.

“Well then I only ask for one thing, dear Gothamites. I want…” Joker paused. Make them wait for it…

“Batman’s hand in marriage!”

Boom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Batman in question was halfway through putting on the Batsuit when he heard the shocking declaration. Now, Batman of course did not freeze in shock. The only time Batman was frozen was when Mr. Freeze scored a lucky hit. What he was currently doing was… analyzing the situation. While not moving. With his mind completely blank. It certainly did not take Alfred getting out of the car and slapping him across the face to get him to move again. It was five minutes before Batman burst onto the scene of the decimated GCPD, and everything was still on fire. Fucking typical. Only now the Joker was using his flamethrower (was it bedazzled?) to burn down the entire precinct. And the firefighters were trying to get through a blockade of stolen, armored trucks. 

“Fuck,” Bruce whispered under his breath. Then he said it a little louder for good measure. Joker was speaking again, having caught sight of him.

“Batsy, my darling, did you hear my proposal? You marry me, and I’ll stop terrorizing Gotham!”

“Over my dead body. You’re insane!” Batman shouted back, though he was barely audible above the sounds of general mayhem. 

“Maybe so, but this is an offer that’s too good to pass up, don’tcha think?”

Bruce stopped and thought about it. Personal sacrifice had never meant anything to him. He had given up any semblance of a normal life the moment he put on the cowl. And marriage to the Joker came with an end to his reign of terror. Who knew when an offer like this would come again? And, who knew what the Joker’s retaliation would be if he refused? Oh, fuck. Was he really doing this?

He was. He found himself scaling the demolished precinct, trying to get up to the Joker’s level. Or, metaphorically, stooping down to it. Either way, soon he found himself standing on the Joker’s pedestal, gazing upon him in all his wedding dress and flamethrower glory. Fuck, he was beautiful. 

Wait, did he really just think that? Well, said a tiny, sarcastic part of his brain, he is your future husband. Oh, fuck.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I accept your proposal,” Batman growled at him, looking both angry and nervous at the same time. Damn, that was a look. Wait, did Batsy just say yes? Joker gaped in shock. He hadn’t actually expected this to work. Batsy looked nervous, and Joker would bet his entire criminal empire that he did too. God, they really were a pair of idiots, weren’t they? 

“Hey, boss!” Harley shouted up to them. 

“Oh, thank God,” he and Batsy said. In unison. 

“Wow, we’re practically an old married couple already, Batsy!” Joker joked as they watched Harley get closer to them, dragging a harried justice of the peace behind her. 

“Don’t push it,” Batman warned, a tic forming in his jaw. 

“Alright, my love,” Joker purred. Oh, this could be rather fun. He’d be able to mess with his Bat as much as he wanted once they were married. Which would be very soon. Oh wow. He and Batsy would be married. As in, till death do us part. 

Or maybe not. The Justice of the peace had apparently broken free of Harley's grasp, and was now taking to the hills along with the rest of the populace. Smart guy, Joker thought. Or not, since Harley appeared to be in pursuit.

"So, we're getting… married right now? You're not going to try and court me first?" Batsy said, and was it the Joker's imagination or did he look put out? Well, that simply would not do. He only wanted the best for his Bat.

"Why, Batsy, what do you call all of our midnight trysts?" he replied, hoping to assuage his beloved.

"You consider trying to kill each other foreplay?" And oh, wow, was that a bit of sardonic humor in Batsy's voice?

"Why, yes I do! Would you rather I took you out to dinner? I, ah, don't quite think that would be received all too well, Bruce Wayne in a fancy restaurant with the Joker. People might talk."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bruce gaped.

"How the hell do you know who I am? And why the hell did you say that so loud! Isn't your mic still running? Oh my fucking God, what is wrong with- wait, no, that's a stupid question," Bruce was well aware that he was rambling, but it was definitely justified because his insane arch-nemesis knew his secret identity! 

"Relax, baby, I already disabled the mic. And it wasn't that hard to figure out your 'secret identity.' Bruce Wayne is the only person in Gotham with enough money to fund this kind of endeavor and a tragic enough backstory to warrant it. I'm insane, not an idiot," Joker said.

Bruce relaxed, if only slightly. This could actually work to his advantage, if he played his cards right (pun intended). Joker had never come after him in his civilian persona. Maybe that was a sign of trust between them? Bruce mentally shook himself. How could he ever trust the Joker?

You’re trusting him enough to marry him, that sadistic voice inside him whispered. 

“Oh, motherfucker,” Bruce groaned, feeling a headache coming on. 

“What’s wrong, dearest?” Joker asked, looking for all the world like a concerned bride-to-be, and wasn’t that a scary thought?

“What the fuck do you think is wrong, Joker, I’m marrying an insane clown with a penchant for extravagant murder sprees,” he snapped. This situation was getting too ridiculous even for Gotham, they were thirty feet in the air and the Joker was wearing a wedding dress. He was allowed to be a little angry. Angry at what, he didn’t know. Angry at the world, the Joker, himself; it was all the same thing. 

He found himself staring at the Joker, almost accusingly. Though Bruce was loath to admit it, Joker did look stunning. 

 “Batsy, not to alarm you, but we have a wedding to...perform? Do? Is that the right word? Either way we’re getting hitched. Come on, you can look at me during the honeymoon, God, this corset is tight.”

Joker lowered the platform they had been standing on, which really was too small for two grown men, and began to walk towards his Lamborghini, Bruce awkwardly following him. 

"Where are we going?" Bruce found himself asking against his better judgement. 

"To where the ceremony is being held. Did you really think I'd marry you in the ruins of a police station? Not really my, ah, style, wouldn't you say?"

Bruce had to admit he was right. Joker's style was much more… gauche. It was something to be appreciated. Almost. 

They approached the car, Joker sliding easily into the driver's seat. Bruce walked around to the passenger side, feeling vulnerable.

Christ, he was getting married. To his arch-nemesis. That was knowledge that would probably never sink in fully. How was this his life? He was in a car, a Lamborghini no less, with the Joker driving them to their wedding. Their fucking wedding. Bruce was panicked. No, no; not panicked. Batman did not get panicked. He was a calm, collected figure of justice, and he should damn well act like it. That didn't stop his stomach from twisting into knots. God, he really was like a bride on her wedding day. 

Would Joker expect them to consummate their marriage? Ice flooded his veins. Bruce may be into men and women, but he had never once had relations with another man. He had fantasized, of course, imagined strong hands on his hips and a thick cock in his ass, but he had never acted upon the desires that left him tangled in his sheets, panting. But now… he was getting married. And the Joker was a man. Who was most likely in love with him, however much sense that made. Maybe now…

No. He would not submit to the scourge of Gotham for something as base as desire. He never had, and never would. But would he if it were for the good of Gotham? What if this was the only way to save his city? Joker had promised to stop his villainous ways if Bruce accepted his proposal, and he had. Wouldn't such a union between them, however complicated, ultimately do only good? And perhaps, if he played his cards right, he would never have to sleep with the Joker. 

The bastard part of his brain told him that this was bullshit. He happily ignored that part of his brain and stared at the Joker. The white of his wedding dress was almost paler than his skin, and the purple accents were entirely typical, yet also somehow… alluring. The dress was sleeveless, and Bruce spent five minutes trying to figure out what laws of physics allowed it to stay in place. Eventually he realized that Joker was wearing a corset that had to be crushing his ribs. Bruce wanted, for just a moment, to take it off of him. To loosen the vice that had to be uncomfortable, had to be unpleasant. To ease, to soothe. That thought, that want, scared him more than anything else that had happened today.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Things were going perfectly. Almost too perfectly. Surely it couldn't be this easy? Joker wasn't paranoid, but surely Batman had something up his gauntleted sleeve. He always did. Batman may have been one of the smartest people on the planet, but he was also about as observant as a brick wall. There was absolutely no way in hell that Batsy had realized his feelings that fast. 

Oh god, this was a sacrifice play, wasn't it? Instead of actually confronting his feelings, he was rationalizing what he was doing. Well. That certainly would not do. 

They had arrived at the venue, chosen specifically for its sentimentality. It was the Gotham Bank, specifically the rooftop. He glanced at the Bat, trying to gauge his reaction. He had become rather good at reading his expressions, even concealed as he was under the cowl. 

Batman, no, Bruce, was speechless. For a moment, anyways.

“This-this was where we first met,” he said, softly, almost reverent. Joker felt something in his chest give way and shatter. Bruce liked it. He had done well. He smiled, a soft thing, so unlike his usual, mania-induced grin. He looked at Bruce, who was looking at him. This was the man he loved. This was the man he was going to give up villainy for. This was the man he was going to marry. He had never been so sure of anything. Goddamnit, he was in love with Bruce Wayne, the Bat of Gotham, and he was going to shout it from the rooftops. Literally. He offered his arm to his Bat.

"Shall we?"

Batman hesitated, only for a fraction of a second, but then he took Joker's arm, and up they went.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Everything was going absolutely perfectly. They were scaling the Gotham Bank, with him in Batsy’s arms. Thank god he didn’t mention the staircase that led up to the roof. Or, thank god that Batsy knew about the staircase and didn’t want to use it anyways. Either way, everything was working out absolutely fantastically. He rather liked being pressed close to Bruce, arms around that strong, bulky frame, so unlike his wiry one, and Harley’s voluptuous curves. Batman was solid. It was nice. 

When they finally reached the roof, he found his surprise for Batsy waiting for them. All of their friends were there. His bridesmaids- Harley, her wife Ivy, and Selina- were stunning in their violet dresses. He had taken the liberty of, ah, not exactly kidnapping, but rather… violently persuading the various Batboys to act as the groomsmen. They looked murderous, which was not ideal, but he could work with it. At least he didn't have to gag them. And really, they could get out of their handcuffs easily. He had seen them all do it before; they were perfectly capable of escape. And yet they weren’t. He wondered why.

In the seats lining the aisle were Gotham’s finest criminals, all dressed in their Sunday best. Scarecrow’s burlap looked especially nice, and did the Penguin have a new suit tailored for the occasion? Even Bruce’s loyal butler, Alfred, was there, looking altogether quite calm for a senior citizen surrounded by dangerous supervillains. 

“Batman!” Grayson called out, almost leaving from his spot as the best man. It was cute how he was still trying to hide his mentor's identity.

"Nightwing," Batman growled out, looking uncomfortable,

"What are you doing here?"

"I was going to ask the same about you," the Boy Wonder replied with a smirk that almost belied his unease.

“I’m doing what’s best for Gotham,” Bruce said, and what Joker wouldn’t give to see under that alluring cowl to see the expressions flit across his face. 

“Doing what’s best for Gotham my ass,” Jason Todd, the infamous Red Hood said from where he was standing, “You two have been flirting with each other since day one. Y’all just need to bone.”

Batman spluttered for a moment, then said,

“Bone!? Bone!? How dare you- wait a minute, didn’t he kill you?” Bruce said, incredulous.

“Yeah, but I got better,” Todd said, looking much more nonchalant than he usually did. But, then again, this isn’t supposed to be an angsty story, is it? 

Everyone decided to just go with it. Good.

“I, ah, hate to interrupt this lovely father-son moment here, but we do have a wedding to do, right darling?” Joker said. He was growing just the tiniest bit impatient. He wanted to be married, dammit! 

Batsy, to his credit, had the manners to look abashed. Wow, he had now seen more expressions on Bruce’s face today than he had in all their time together thus far. Joker extended his arm to his love.

“Shall we?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fucking motherfucking fuck

Alarm bells were ringing in Bruce’s head. This wedding was happening right the fuck now! Jesus fucking hell. Holy shit. He must look like a total idiot right now, but he was allowed to be a bit concerned! Joker was waiting for him, arm outstretched. Bruce grabbed it, his brain on autopilot. Or, not on autopilot, the pilot was there, but said pilot was almost certainly having a panic attack and quite possibly going into cardiac arrest. 

They were walking down the aisle.

They were at the altar.

The justice of the peace was there now, a bit more bruised than he had been the last time Bruce had seen him.

Everything was muted; he was swimming through noise and panic with the peace of a drowned man. All he could hear was a dull roar, that is until Dick slapped him on the shoulder. Suddenly, everything slipped back into focus.

“...Into this - these two persons present now come to be joined. If any person can show just cause why they may not be joined together - let them speak now or forever hold their peace,” the justice said, his voice wavering only slightly. Damian looked to object, but was held back by Tim. Bruce was somehow grateful.

“And now, would you speak your vows?” the justice said, glancing nervously around.

“I shall,” Joker said, looking suddenly solemn.

“Batsy, from the moment I met you, on this very rooftop, I knew you were the one. No one but you had ever been able to bring out the best in me the way you have. Whether we were fighting or flirting, I always felt complete. And now I want to be complete with you, officially.” 

That was- unexpected. Bruce honestly hadn’t thought the Joker was capable of feeling things, at least not things like- no, he refused to say it. Everyone was staring at him, why was that? 

Oh. He had to speak his vows. What the hell was he going to do now? He had no idea what to say. He was Batman, he didn’t need words; a well placed glare was usually enough to portray his meaning no matter who he was speaking to. He cleared his throat. 

“Joker,” he began, “I- I don’t really know what to say. This entire situation is completely ridiculous, but I mean what situation with you isn’t? I guess it’s just a part of your charm.” Oh fuck, did he really just call the Joker charming? He glanced over at his children and, yep, they had definitely caught that. Even Damian looked smug. Okay Bruce, deep breaths. You just have to get through this then this whole nightmare will be over. Well, said that little voice in his head, damn that voice, it really will have only just begun. 

“Joker, while I admit the circumstances of this are not exactly typical, I really don’t think any kind of wedding with either of us could be. I almost hate to admit it, but you bring out the best in me, and I can only hope that in the future I can bring out the best in you,” he finished. That should be enough, right? He looked at Joker, and almost froze. The Joker was smiling, but not his normal, maniacal smile. It was soft, and hopeful, and it made something in Bruce’s chest crack open. Oh, fuck. 

The justice of the peace, still looking terrified out of his wits, seemed to gather himself enough to say,

“You- you may now kiss the groom.”

Bruce didn’t even have time to panic.

[dragon-kazansky]

Ace - Joker [H.L]

Summary: You're the ace up his sleeve.

I've never attempted to write this Joker before. I hope it isn't too bad. Please let me know if you like it. I would like to write more if you like it.

The Joker was a clever man.

He knew what he was doing and always seemed to have a way out should things take different turn. He claimed he didn't have a plan, but he was always prepared.

To say you were a part of plan wasn't entirely false. You were his way out.

Should Batman ever catch him. Should things not go as planned. Should someone unexpected interfere. You were there.

You were the ace up his sleeve and he often called you as such.

'If people know your name, they can find you.'

In front of others you were just Ace.

You don't remember how it ended up this way. You had been helping the Joker for quite some time. This was your life in Gotham, and to be honest, you wouldn't change it for anything.

Gotham was corrupt. Wrong. Out of place.

No wonder the criminals thrived here.

You thrived here.

You were currently sitting in a black van. Some of the Joker's followers were sat in the back with their masks on.

The Joker himself was inside the building across the road. He told you to wait for the sign before sending the others in.

You tapped your hand against the steering wheel, waiting. Your eyes on the wide window of the lobby. In the far back you could see the purple of his coat.

He didn't tell you what the sign was, you just assumed you would know when the time came.

"Who is this guy, anyway?" One of the guys in the back asked.

"Dont know, who cares. We get a fair share out of this job." Another replied.

"Hey, they say you've worked with him before. Come on, who is he?" The first guy asked you, placing a hand on your shoulder.

"He's the Joker. That's all you need to know." You glared at him through the rear view mirror.

"Who are you?"

"Ace."

"Just Ace?" He pried.

You glared at him a little harsher.

You had been Ace for a long time, you weren't about to change that for these pricks.

The guy retracted his hand from your shoulder and sat back down.

You didn't know who the Joker was. You had only ever known him as the Joker. You didn't know his name. His past. His story. You didn't know where he came from or what he did.

He was just the Joker.

You honestly didn't care to ask either. You trusted the man you knew. That was all that mattered.

You turned your eyes back to the window where you saw the Joker. He was standing there in clear view looking over at you. You could see the yellow of his teeth as he grinned at you, waving his hand.

"I think that's your cue." You announced to them.

The back doors of the van opened up and they guys filed out. You watched them scurry across the street and enter the building.

You sighed.

Your job was just to wait.

The Joker was still standing in the window looking at you. He wasn't grinning anymore, just standing there as the guys he hired began shooting at people behind him.

You couldn't help but chuckle and shake your head amused.

Joker ran his tongue across his bottom lip as waited for the guys to finish each other off. It wasn't the first time he had his hired helped kill each other one by one, and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

It was a part of your job to find men foolish enough to fall for the lies you fed them. 'Do this and you each get a fair cut.'

You were just leading them to their inevitable deaths.

When the last man standing came back to him with a bag full of money slung over his shoulder, Joker ended him and grabbed the bag, picking up a second he had already filled by the door.

You rolled your eyes as he leisurely walked across the road, tossed the bags in the back, and sat in the seat next to you.

Joker licked his lips once more as he looked at you.

"What?"

"Nothing." You let a smile grow across your face. "Nothing at all."

You pushed down on the acceleration and drove off. Putting some distance between you and the building. It was a head start from the police too.

"It's a lot quiter in here now." You commented, keeping an eye out for police cars as you took a few turns here and there.

"Were they bothering you?"

"Not really. They asked a lot of questions, but that's nothing new." You smiled at him, taking a sharp right turn.

"What sort of questions?" He asked, sounding as if the answer really mattered to him.

"Wondering who you were and stuff. Not like I know the answer to that. You're just... you!" You slowed the van down when you were made it to the place for the car swap.

"That's all you need to know." He grinned, hopping out.

You grabbed a bag each and climbed into the car you had organised. It was a part of the plan. You had covered every angle just in case there ended up being a chase.

You wouldn't put it past the Joker to set up something like that.

He was spontaneous.

"I'm surprised." You climbed into the driving seat. Joker sat next to you once again.

"About?"

"The fact that I'm still alive. Why not kill me and take my share?" You looked at him seriously.

Joker grinned as he leaned in closer, leaving barely an inch of space between you both.

"I don't care about the money. It's the getting it that counts." He chuckled. "Anyway, what would I do without you?"

You looked into his dark eyes, confused.

"People like us, we make this city the way it is. You. You're my partner in crime. Without you, it's not as fun."

"You have Batman." You started the car.

The Joker basically existed to cause problems for the Bat. It was his purpose to bring chaos to the city and have the vigilante chase him.

"Yeah." He said, making it sound obvious. "He's not you. Batman and me, we're destined to be at each others throats. This back and forth system we have, it's never ending."

"What does that have to do with me?"

Joker hadn't once lifted his gaze from you.

"What we have is so much more entertaining." And important.

"Entertaining?"

"You're the ace up my sleeve. My way out. My friend."

Never, in all the time you had worked for this man, had you ever used that word with him. You had never seen him as a friend before. Joker was like your boss.

You laughed.

"Your friend?"

"Sure, why not?" He shrugged.

It was flattering to think that Gotham's big bad Joker had a soft spot for you. As far as you were aware, he didn't care at all about other people's lives.

It made you laugh.

The very thought was amusing.

You took a turn towards the warehouse the Joker had told you to go to earlier that morning. You would be hiding out here tonight.

"Now that is funny." You smirked.

Joker chuckled.

"We're a team, you and me."

"Creating anarchy everywhere we go." You basically sang.

"Exactly."

You pulled up when you got the warehouse and abandoned the car as you grabbed the money bags and followed the Joker inside.

You ignored the man strapped to a chair as you dumped the bags at his feet and walked on. Apparently he was a part of another plan. The Joker had kidnapped him for information and wasn't done with him yet.

The Joker followed you into the other room.

There was no doubt the GCPD and Batman were making their move now. They wouldn't be able to find either of you for a while.

"Ace."

You looked over at your shoulder at the man in purple. He was holding a wad of cash in his hand. He was looking oddly sincere right now, something you hadn't seen on him before.

"For me?"

To be honest, you couldn't care less about the money either, but the fact he was giving you some was touching. You really didn't need it though.

You took it from him, his gloved hand brushing against yours.

"I owe you some form of payment." He gave a quick grin as he turned on his heel and went back to the man in the chair.

You stared at the money in your hands.

"He's a psycho. You muttered. "But he's my psycho." You chuckled.

This was the life you had chosen, so you would take what you could get. He was kind to you in his own little way. Though the word 'kind' was a stretch.

At the end of the day, it was just an honour to work for this man.

You ignored the screams and shouts of the man in the other room and sat down. He was in for a long night.

Joker was working on riling up Batman once again. It wouldn't be long till you had another jo to do.

Despite everything, this relationship you had with this mad man was something you wouldn't trade for the world. You wouldn't have it any other way.

Whenever he needed you, you would be there.

This is what it meant to be Ace.

Tags:

@ntb-outsider @awyr @fandombeehive  @charmed-asylum

[huilian]

with her sweetened breath

AO3 Characters: Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown, Barbara Gordon, Cassandra Cain, Damian Wayne

Summary: With the threat of an airborne drug, the Batfamily has to fight against the clock to contain it.Or, I found a plot hole in a previous fic and decided to write 5k of words to remedy that, but instead created much, much more plot holes.

A/N: In Flameo, Batman! I wrote about how Oracle can only narrow possible locations to 5, which means that the kidnappers are actually good, but then I didn't deliver on the fight scene. So I decided to write this, and ends up with 5k of the batfam actually being detectives. This is written almost in a S.W.A.T. like style, because my dad is obsessed with that show and so I watch it too.title from Hozier, Angel of Small Death and the Codein Scene. I thought it's fitting, since this fic is about drugs. (This is Chapter 1, btw.)

“Hey, Red, is it important? I’m kind of in the middle of a stakeout.” As he says that, Dick sees movement from inside the house. He really cannot keep talking to Tim, not if he wants to get as much information from this stakeout as possible. But Tim rarely calls in the middle of patrol, so Dick is assuming that this is important.

“Oh. Not really. I just want to give you a heads-up about B’s kidnapping a few weeks ago. Turns out there’s more to it than just the kidnapping.”

Dick curses under his breath. He knows that that rescue attempt was too easy for an organization that managed to fool Oracle. “Okay. Do you need me there? I can wrap this up in a few minutes if you need me.”

“Nah, I think between Hood, BB, Batgirl, me, Robin, and Batman, we pretty much got it covered. Just keeping you in the loop.” 

“Alright, Red.” If Tim says they can handle it, then they can handle it.  Besides, Dick has his own cases to work through. “Thanks for the info. Call if you need help?”

“You’re welcome, N. And sure, I’ll call if we need help.” 

“Nightwing! Get your ass here now!” 

“Hood? Is something wrong?” It’s been a few days after Tim calls about Bruce’s kidnapping, but since there were no other calls about that, Dick assumes that they are handling it.

“Oracle’ll brief you on the way, she’s currently tied up in something else. Just get your ass here now,” Jason practically shouts to the comm. 

“Is this about the kidnapping case?” Dick asks, just to be sure. 

“Just get your ass here, Dickwing! We need you here yesterday!”

“Shit, is it that serious?” Dick grabs the keys to his bike from the table. It’s lucky that he’s staying in today, working on connecting leads to the murder case on Young Street. If he’s out on patrol, it would take much longer to get to the bike.

“Oracle’ll give you the full briefing in a couple minutes. I’m also currently in the middle of something…” 

Two explosions, one after the other, come in from Jason’s end. It was loud enough to be heard over the comms.  

“Hood, are those gunshots?”

“Like I said, I’m currently in the middle of something. Just go to Gotham, we’ll meet you at the Cave.”

“Be careful, Hood.” 

“Yeah, yeah, see you there, ‘Wing.” 

“Yeah.” Tim shrugs. “Their original plan was to distract us, GCPD, and basically the entire city with Bruce Wayne’s kidnapping. We found broadcasting equipment in the warehouse B was held in. But we rescued B fast enough that they couldn’t really use his kidnapping as a distraction, so now they have to find a new distraction.”

“And their new distraction is to blow up the bridge? Haven’t we been through this before?” Dick remembers another case that he works with Tim that involves blowing up the bridge. He is not looking forward to repeating that. 

Tim grimaces. “You have to admit, blowing up the bridge is a pretty big distraction.” 

It is a big distraction. Not that Dick is going to admit that now. “How do we know this again? And how did we miss that they are part of a larger group?” Dick turns to Babs, who hasn’t stopped typing into the Batcomputer since he got here. 

“Since I am very rarely wrong, I found it suspicious that I found five hits to the possible location of B’s kidnapping, considering how easy you took them out.” That was Dick’s thought too, but he didn’t actually stick around long enough in Gotham after they ‘rescued’ Bruce that he got to say that to anyone. He could blame his abundance of cases in Blud, but he really should have said something. Thank god Babs also finds that odd. “I sent Steph to investigate the four ‘not-it’ warehouses. She found traces of this drug there. It’s a more potent version of fentanyl, almost up there with carfentanil. It has a similar composition to the bloodwork from an OD case a few months ago.”

“We thought it was just a guy experimenting with fentanyl and accidentally OD-ed himself, so we didn’t dig too much into it then,” Tim explains. 

“I’m guessing that is not the case here.”

“No.” Tim sighs. “That guy was actually part of the group that kidnapped Bruce. He either stole some for himself and misjudged the dosage, or he was the guinea pig for this drug. We have no time to investigate his death now, not with this new drug threatening to spill on the streets tonight.”

“Tonight? What are they planning?” Dick came to Gotham prepared for any situation, so this information that he is going to have to act sooner rather than later comes as a confirmation rather than information, really. He’s been preparing himself for it as soon as Jason called him. But still, it would have been nice to have been called for something that’s not as immediate as tonight once in a while. 

“They’re going to release this drug to the air. They have an airbender, which makes it so much easier for them,” Babs says. Airbender plus airborne drugs equals very bad news, especially with drugs as potent as carfentanil. It can cause hundreds of OD cases throughout the entire city. Is Gotham not already crazy enough for these people? “We think that they want to get the entire city hooked on this drug, then sell it to them at a very high price.” 

“Damn. Tonight, you say? Is there why it’s only the three of us here?” 

“Yeah. B’s with Cass and Damian coordinating with the GCPD on containment and evacuation.” Tim points to three dots, designated Batman, Robin, and Black Bat, on the GCPD building up on the map. 

“Smart. Cass and Damian may be the only ones capable of containing this kind of scenario.” 

“Steph and Jason are out on the docks, trying to scare some of the goons to giving up their boss’ location.” Tim points to another two dots. These two are actually moving pretty fast. Dick assumes that the two of them are chasing some goons. 

“Wait,” Dick frowns, “we still don’t know their location?” That can’t be good. 

“We figured out the locations of some of the caches they put to be released to the air, but we can’t guarantee that that’s all of them. And, considering the sizes of the warehouses that were used to store the drugs and the caches we’ve found, there’s still a significant amount of drugs missing. Those must be with the boss,” Babs says. 

“Which is why I’m here with Babs, trying to track them down. Also, it seemed that this drug is flammable, so I thought it’s prudent to stay out of the field.” 

Tim actually has remarkably good control over his fire and he can fight just fine without his bending, all of them could, but Dick currently does not have time to debate that. He files it in his mental note for a later date. “Okay, what do you need me to do?” 

Babs and Tim look at each other. “A third pair of eyes won’t hurt,” Tim says.

“Don’t you think it’s better for him to be out on the streets? Hood and Batgirl haven't checked in yet, they might be in trouble.” 

Right as Babs finished that sentence, the Cave’s speaker turns on. “Hood to the Cave, Hood to the Cave.” 

“Speak of the devil,” Babs says. 

 Dick presses the mike button on the cave, then says, “Come in, Hood.” 

“Oh, good, you’re here, ‘Wing. O, Red, we got several locations, but they’re all contradicting each other. I don’t know how useful this is going to be.” 

“Any additional data is going to be useful, Hood. Where is it?” Babs opens a new window on the Batcomputer, ready to type in and analyze everything Jason is going to say.  

“One said that he’s on Crime Alley, 31st Street. Another one said he’s camping near Arkham, just a few blocks from it. One said he’s on the grounds of Gotham U.” 

“Fuck him very much for that, by the way. Who tries to release drugs on university grounds? Haven’t college students suffered enough?” 

“Focus, Batgirl.” 

“Right. Some of them said he’s on Robinsville, but some also said he’s on the Bowery, King’s Street. For all it’s worth, all of them seemed very sure about their answers, and they’re all also confused about why their fellow henchmen are giving out different answers.” 

“How sure are they?” Tim asks. 

“Sure enough that the firebenders are willing to get iced,” Jason says grimly.

“Damn.” 

“Yep.”

“How come this guy is in five places at once?” Babs frowns at the screen. “Maybe these are just decoys?” 

“No, I don’t think so, Babs. For a firebender to be willing to get iced, they must be super sure of themselves. Even I don’t want to get iced.” Tim shivers. Dick knows for a fact that Steph has once iced Tim, so Tim is speaking from memory at that one. Dick has been iced before too, but the experience is totally different for a firebender, what with their source of power being the fire inside and all. “Oh, that reminds me. Hood, please tell me you didn’t actually ice them.” 

“Nah, Replacement.” Tim sighs in relief. “Blondie here did.” 

“What!” Tim exclaims. 

“Shut up, Hood! I can and will ice you too!” 

“Try it, Blondie. I’m a waterbender too, remember?” 

“Children, focus,” Babs says. “Let’s assume that this guy is in five places at once. How is he doing that? Meta powers? Spirit world connection? If he has a spirit world connection this case might just turn out to be worse than it already is.” 

“Wait,” Dick says, tracing the five places Babs has highlighted on the map. “What if he’s not in five places at once?”

“Are we not acting on the assumption that the henchmen are giving accurate information?” Babs looks at him. 

“It can be accurate without him being in five places at once, Babs. What if he’s just moving between these places so fast that when they check in to see where he is, they all get different answers?” 

“Huh. That is certainly more plausible. But the speed in which he must have moved suggests that…” 

“He’s an airbender. Only airbenders can move that fast. It tracks, though. We already know they have an airbender to release the drug. That airbender is just the boss.”

“If he’s the airbender, he can make sure that he inhaled none of the drugs himself. Oh!” Babs claps her hands. “That’s genius, Former Boy Wonder!” 

“Hey, I’m a former boy wonder too!” Jason cries out. 

“Same here!”

“I literally had the longest run as Robin, after N here,” Tim adds.  

Babs sighs. “You guys really are children, aren’t you? Someone not me please tell Batman about this. I’m going to run an analysis on airbenders outside the League who’s in Gotham right now. There shouldn’t be too many of them.” 

“Speaking of the League,” Dick turns to Tim, “are we sure it’s not them?” 

“I don’t think so, ‘Wing. This is not their MO.” 

“Yeah. Besides, neither Talia nor Ra’s have any interest in these kinds of drugs. I don’t think it’s them.” 

If both Tim and Jason, their current resident expert on the League, say that it’s not the League, then Dick is inclined to believe them. They have spent a considerable amount of time with the League to not pick up on their tendencies. “Okay. Let’s rule out the League for now. Any hits yet, Babs?”

“No. There are still quite a few airbenders around, even discounting the League, you know?” 

Dick nods. Even though most of the airbenders are present in the League, there are still several groups outside of the League who have their own airbenders. Not to mention the occasional airbenders who’re not affiliated with any of the groups but still managed to master their craft. 

Then, the Cave is bathed in red light, with alarms sounding from all the speakers in the Cave. 

Dick curses. “What’s that, Red?” 

“It’s Bruce’s alarm. Whoever he is, he’s making his move now.” 

“Alright, Hood, Batgirl, head over to B’s location now. I’m also moving out right now. Red, you coming?” 

“No, I’ll look into containment options other than airbending from here. I’m not risking a city wide fire.” 

Dick nods. He really needs to have that conversation with Tim about why he doesn’t want to go out to the field today, but that unfortunately has to wait. “Oracle, keep us posted. B’s in GCPD headquarters, yes?” 

“That’s what his last location is. His tracker is down.” 

“What about Robin’s? Or Black Bat’s?” Dick asks. 

“They’re still at GCPD.” 

“Okay. I’m heading to GCPD now. Hood, Batgirl?” 

“Already on our way, ‘Wing!” Steph says. 

“Good.” Dick mounts his bike and zooms out of the Cave door that either Tim or Babs must have opened for him. He tries to hail Bruce on the way to GCPD. “Nightwing to Batman, Nightwing to Batman, come in.” 

Silence. 

Dick tries again. “Nightwing to Batman, Nightwing to Batman, come in!” 

The same as before, silence. The fact that both Batman’s tracker and his comm are down is very concerning, especially at nights like this, when Bruce knows he has to communicate with the entire family. 

“Shit. Oracle, Batman’s not answering. When did his tracker go down?” 

“His tracker went down right before he pinged the Cave,” Babs says. “Try hailing Robin. I’ll hail Black Bat. Maybe they know where Batman went.” 

“‘Kay, O. Nightwing to Robin, Nightwing to Robin.” 

Static. At least it’s not silence, which meant that Robin still has his comms, he just can’t reach it to answer. That’s marginally better. Still not reassuring, though. 

“Oracle, I’m getting static from Robin’s com.” 

“I’m getting the same thing from Black Bat’s com. Maybe they are in the middle of containing the drugs? That would make them unable to answer the coms.” 

Dick wills his bike to go even faster, even as he’s already riding at breakneck speed. “Maybe, O. Let’s hope it’s not something worse.”