#I need her to tell him all about Flashpoint

[icedteaandoldlace]

Bestie has been all excited about introducing me to her new boyfriend because we're both big Flash fans. We finally got to have the long awaited talk she was hoping we would have, but it was a lot shorter than expected because as it turns out, he's a Flash comics fan who's only seen the first season of the TV show, and I'm a Flash TV show fan who's never read any of the comics.

[necrotic-nephilim]

Roytim is such a fun crack rarepair for me! Dick’s best friend sleeping with/dating Dick’s baby brother Timmy is 10/10 drama on a more personal note than I’d picture it with Jason. Absolutely no shade I just have always read Dick as being more protective of Tim and Damian.

Do you have any Roytim headcanons to share? <3

oh i LOVE RoyTim on it's own! likely bc i'm just a Tim multishipper and if it fits i ship, but Roy is especially fun via the Dick connection. and i 1000% agree, *especially* pre-Flashpoint, would even argue it's outright canon that Dick is far more protective of Tim and Damian than he ever was with Jason (not out of dislike, but simply bc Dick and Jason were never all that close and the tragedy of losing Jason was losing what could've been, not what he already had) and especially with Jason as Red Hood, Dick holds no particular protective brotherly feelings toward him. it's all Tim and Damian. so you're so right, the drama of RoyTim is just a smidge more upped than of JayRoy and i'd love to share headcanons-

i think it makes for a fun "crush on your older brother's friend" situation. where like. Tim knows it's unrealistic and he has no *actual* intentions to chase it when he's just 15/16 and Roy and Dick are in their twenties, often hanging out around Tim. and Roy is handsome, he's funny, he's similar in personality to ppl Tim has dated (Steph, Kon) so, it's a crush. one that he hides *well* and never makes it Dick or Roy's problem, and one Tim never expects to pan out. he just fantasizes about Roy a little bit and mostly grows out of it by the time he's an adult.

i think more fics need Lian, so i like the idea of them co-parenting Lian. especially if they're both. sort of bad at it. like Roy loves her and he's trying, but he's doing this basically alone and it's not like he has experience. Tim also has no experience. neither of them know what on earth to do. it's a very cute idea that just relies on the two of them being terrible at parenting and Roy getting so mad that the first time Lian says "dada" she says it to Tim that he considers breaking up for a good five minutes.

how they get together can happen in a lot of ways, but i'm interested in the idea of Dick asking Roy to talk to Tim during Tim's Red Robin arc. Roy has experience helping kids through his work helping young addicts and nothing else has worked, so he offers to at least try with Tim. and Roy, who also doesn't handle grief well, understands at least some of what Tim is going through. especially since Roy dealt with Oliver dying and then suddenly coming back, he's at least open to the idea Bruce could be alive. he's just around to try and help Tim keep some emotional stability, but it ends up with Roy helping with the search and somehow, falling for Tim along the way

they go to sitcom levels of chaos trying to keep the relationship hidden from Dick. they *both* know Dick is far too protective of Tim to react well to it. but also, i think Roy would get *just* a bit of an ego about sleeping with Tim under Dick's nose. he makes a point of strutting around when Dick invites him over, finding reasons to be shirtless just to make Tim squirm a little bit. it's that sort of kink where you're excited about the risk of being caught. that fits these two so well and i can't explain it.

because Roy is used to mentoring younger heroes, i think he would have a bigger than normal moral panic about dating Tim. he fights his feelings for a *while*, to the point Tim can tell Roy is fighting his feelings and he's trying to convince Roy he's fine with this. Tim telling Roy about his childhood crush does not help. it makes Roy feel *worse*. it makes them take things very slowly, and i could see Roy being the type to never fully touch Tim until Tim is 18, no matter how much Tim insists it's okay.

i do think they have unhinged sex when they actually get into it though. no matter how sure Roy is that he'll be gentle the first time, the minute he gets his hands on Tim, it is feral. there is blood and foul dirty talk and Tim cannot walk the next day. i think Roy makes for a very mean dom, the type who will make fun of you for being a mess in bed. he just has those vibes, and it works great for getting Tim to just. turn his brain off.

i think Roy, who's struggled with picking hero names before, would be someone to try to force Tim to let go of Red Robin once the whole Bruce thing is over. it's not Tim's name and Tim doesn't need to keep punishing himself with it. Roy is nice about it at first, but then i do think he threatens to set that damn suit on fire if Tim keeps wearing it and doesn't come up with a new hero name. and the worst part is, Tim does know he's serious.

when Dick does find out, chaos. an absolute shitshow. when Roy tells him, Dick punches Roy in the face before he even finishes explaining himself. it's a pure gut reaction. even Bruce isn't as protective over Tim as Dick is. it takes a *lot* of convincing from Tim that it's okay and he wanted this before Dick calms down, and he still doesn't talk to Roy for like a month until the rest of the Titans are forced to hold an intervention reminding Dick of his own dating history with age gaps, like Babs. Dick does cool down, but he is not afraid to stoop to "you're fucking my brother" in an argument bc he wins everytime when he brings it up.

i think Tim is the protective partner. everyone *expects* it to be Roy, he's older and more experienced, but it's Tim who will absolutely lose it if someone threatens Roy's or Lian's life. like not fanonish "committing murder" Tim, but more so canonish "i have a contingency plan for everything" Tim. Roy has had to hold him back a couple times. honestly i think the moral conversations Roy and Tim have are so interesting. because Roy will cross the line for those he loves, so bc of that, Tim is careful to make sure Roy is never in a position where he has to protect Tim bc he knows it would turn lethal quickly. it's a very "i know what you're capable of and you don't scare me but i won't let you become a worse version of yourself bc of me" sort of self preservation vibe. i think it'd be very neat. Tim fights like hell when he's close to death bc his thought is always "i refuse to let Roy feel like he has to avenge me" which i find very crunchy.

[distort-opia]

This might sound silly and i know bruce is bisexual and all but from a queer standpoint, the scene where he proposes to selina feels a lot like compulsory heterosexuality. "I love you. I HAVE to love you."

And considering the timeline, joker was HIDDEN INSIDE BRUCE'S BASEMENT my god the implications, the metaphor....

Yeah, the whole thing is... [clears throat] very interesting. These two panels, which happen relatively close in time, put it into perspective:

Batman (2016) #32 // Dark Days: The Casting

However, to be entirely honest, I don't think Bruce proposing to Selina, and that whole arc... can be boiled down to just compulsory heterosexuality. It's more complicated than that. Bruce is doing this after interacting with the Batman of Flashpoint, his own father, who begs him to try and be happy. And Bruce's idea of happiness, very much inspired by Thomas', is settling down with a woman and having a family. Gaining peace.

Tom King is the one who wrote the wedding arc, and the whole thing is permeated by this... typically masculine, American idealization of women as this isle of peace that a tortured man yearns for, but can never fully choose. I'm sure there's names for this trope or stereotype, but I'm too lazy to look this up. Think Michael Mann movies, think James Bond movies, think stories about criminals and agents and soldiers leading a dark violent life aspiring to put down arms, and the whole dream being entangled with a woman. A female character who usually isn't fleshed out beyond the representation of leaving a life of violence behind, having a nice wife and nice children in a nice house with a nice white picket fence. Tbh it's not surprising to me that King ended up writing Bruce and Selina with these undertones, because of King's infamous background with the CIA before he became a comic book writer.

And thing is, I don't think it's inaccurate to portray Bruce this way. Bruce has lead a long life of violence, and he wants to want to stop. He wishes it didn't define him as much as it does, he wishes there was another path for him-- and this wish drives his attempt to settle down with Selina. "I have to love you" is less about "you're a woman and I should marry a woman", it's more about "if I love you I am more of a human being, and I need that." Yes, it's compulsory heterosexuality too, in the sense that Bruce is drawing from the heteronormative idea that happiness can only be achieved through normality, and normality = wife and retirement. But it's also a sad, desperate attempt at salvaging himself through Selina, whom he does love... but the things he loves about her are less about her, and more about himself. In the end, his own subconscious acknowledges all of it, during the Knightmares arc:

Batman (2016) #69

[sigh] It's all quite sad. And I've said it in a different post, but this is partly why -- in a seemingly paradoxical way -- a relationship with Joker has the potential to work. "You can't love anyone but the Vow, but the Bat," Selina (a figment of his own mind) tells Bruce. And Joker is part of the Vow. In many ways, over the decades, Joker has become the endgame of the Vow, the incarnation of all the things the Bat is supposed to defeat. It's fucked up and makes me want to chew on glass, but the Bat could allow loving Joker, because loving Joker would be a part of the Mission.

Anyway, I went on a bit of an unncessary tangent, but yeah! I do agree, Anon. So many implications.

[thelibrarian1895]

Bats and Time Travel

First, a disclaimer, I have only some minimal level of Booster Gold knowledge.

That being said, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that detective work isn't his strong suit, or the strong suit of most time travelers. Why would it be when they can just peak into the past and see what happened? So when something comes up and it's less straightforward than obvious bad guy needs a beating, Booster is at least smart enough to get expert help. On occasion that expert help has to go through time with him. He has to be very careful with this because no one wants another Flashpoint and he doesn't want to clean up any time shenanigans. The same goes for any other time related incident.

Bats are, of course, the go to for anyone who needs expert detective assistance. You can generally just grab any Bat and they can fill in as a detective though some are happier about it than others. Some are also more suited to time travel than others.

Batman works out well enough. He can be more or less trusted not to go off and mess with the timestream and cause some sort of catastrophe that takes forever to fix. Things get a little dicey if any case brings the Bat around Gotham or near one of his kids in the past. It becomes an exercise of restraint for both involved because B very much wants to go to his child and protect them/lecture them/hug them depending on the timeframe or at bare minimum loom over them. Booster has to sometimes physically get in the way to stop this. It doesn't always work. B is at least polite enough to fix the mess. Batman has trouble with alternate universe or alternate timeline adventures since he has to so often beat other versions of himself up and comes back extra broody. His family appreciate when he gets to the self reflection and determination to improve part after he's done brooding.

Nightwing is good to work with during time related incidents. Very professional, very cheerful, but still kept out of Gotham and very reluctantly kept from his past self because Nightwing really wants to give his past self a pep talk more often than not. Nightwing has, however, written letters for his past self that has resulted in a few branching new timelines or a mess that he was polite enough to help fix. Nightwing is allowed on alternate universe adventures which lets him give those pep talks to himself that he knew he desperately needed/wanted at those various ages.

Red Hood is not allowed on time travel cases because Jason has poor impulse control and has on more than one occasion killed someone who would commit a terrible crime in the future and ended up causing decades worth of a mess that needed to be cleaned up. He is responsible enough to fix his own messes and is only allowed now in alternate universe adventures. He's good at alternate universe adventures and they've helped him remember to rely less on hearsay and more on solid evidence.

Red Robin is Booster's favorite to work with because the kid can be snarky if caught in the right mood and the worst he has to worry about Red Robin when it comes to damaging the timeline is Red Robin taking pictures of various incidents. Red Robin is also polite enough to direct all attention Booster's way which appeases Booster's attention seeking nature. This is how Tim has the best collection of Batman tripping on his cape pictures and other similarly embarrassing incidents of his friends and family. Tim is allowed on alternate universe adventures and again returns with more pictures that his friends and family can't prove aren't them. He is developing an alternate tim support group to try to prevent additional gun batmen timelines. And, as he tells his brothers on occasion, so he can have intelligent conversation with family when Cassandra is away.

Black Bat would be Booster's favorite to work with except he's extremely intimidated by her, even more so than he can be by Batman. She has deliberately allowed herself to be seen in the past on occasion and those sightings in certain conspiracy forums as a cryptid. She's very proud of it. She is also a cryptid in other alternate timelines but is no longer allowed to go to alternate timelines after she has had to be restrained from adopting/kidnapping alternate versions of her younger self or her siblings.

Spoiler is also not allowed on time travel cases for the same reason as Jason, poor impulse control. She may have set off glitter bombs that resulted in a timeline mess almost as impossible to clean up after as the glitter. Her ability to help with alternate universe adventures is under review because, again, glitter bombs.

Robin aka Damian has worked in a timestream case once and came back with a dodo bird. Booster is glad that the kid allowed himself to be persuaded that there wasn't enough room to bring back the mastodon. He is not allowed to work on timestream cases until he can be trusted not to come back with extinct species. He is also not allowed to go on alternate universe adventures after he came back with another dragon bat he has named Desdemona.

Signal takes advantage of timestream adventures to fact check the crazy nonsense his siblings have told him. Booster likes the kid well enough and the invisibility does make things easier at times. The only reason he's not Booster's preferred Bat is because Signal is more naturally charismatic and people pay more attention to him than to Booster and also Signal needs to work on his confidence in his detective skills. He gets migraines dealing with alternate universe adventures and so tries to avoid them when possible.

Alfred has gone on ONE timestream adventure. Booster does not speak of the adventure. Alfred will just smile slightly if asked. Alfred is not allowed on alternate universe adventures because the Bats in his home universe get sullen and withdrawn without him and at least one kitchen fire will occur. His alternate selves are also possessive of their respective kitchens and do not appreciate intruders, even if the intruders are themselves.

[tiffanybluesclues]

HELLO! I'm making an obnoxiously long meta about the inconsistencies of Dick's and Bruce's relationship. I'm ALMOST finishes but I need an instance of adult-ish Dick Grayson saying that he didn't want Bruce to be his father pre-flashpoint

Also if you have instances of the writer hammering they're brothers pre-flashpoint that'd be cool as hell too, but I already got at least one instance of it (when dick goes to college)

Thank you in advance!!!! I'm still on the Kory-Bruce meta lmao I'm so annoyed he barely mentions her lmaooo

Somewhere in the decades and decades of pre-Flashpoint DC Comics, there may be an instance where Dick Grayson (as an adult or at least as a teenager) said he didn't want Bruce to be his father, but I've never seen it and I'm kind of glad I haven't because tbh based on what I *have* seen it would be Dick lying to himself.

I'm guessing the page that inspired your quest is this court scene from "Batman: Year 3" (1989)?

– Batman #439, 09/1989.

Maybe it was a modernized explanation for why Bruce took Dick in as a ward instead of adopting him – as opposed to the version in Batman #213 (08/1969), with the court saying Bruce couldn't adopt because he was a bachelor.

Something that speaks volumes to me is that in the same story as the above court scene, in the preceding issue actually, Dick thinks to himself that Bruce was like father to him. There is no internal conflict in this statement, no thought about how he at some point didn't want this. "He was like a FATHER to me and I LOVED him." He follows that up with a sad reminder of the distance between him and post-Crisis Bruce: "...and though he could NEVER bring himself to say it, I know he loved me too."

– Batman #438, 08/1989 or 09/1989.

You're familiar with the college-send-off, so please keep it in mind when you read this scene with [regard to] Bruce and pre-Crisis Jason.

– pages from Batman #376, 10/1984.

Alfred's response makes sense, it's a good explanation. It's also a complete rewrite of history, so these two are lying to themselves – or, more likely, the writers are trying to emphasize the current day stakes and emotions at the expense of the past. With the above panels in mind, let's look again at how Bruce actually reacted when Dick left home...

– pages from Batman #217, 12/1969.

Oh suuuuure, he definitely didn't mope around feeling lonely and depressed at all – and closing up Wayne Manor and moving out was a ~totally~ chill and non-dramatic reaction to Dick leaving for college... lol, okay, Bruce. I guess 159 issues and almost 15 years can make memories faulty.

The following are two pages I saved because of their references to the history that Bruce and Dick share. I want to highlight the page on the left though, because on a single page this comic manages to pay respect to the long history between Dick and Bruce while also disrespecting Dick's role as a surrogate son in Bruce's life.

– pages from Detective Comics #533, 12/1983; The New Titans #61, 12/1989.

That final yellow panel is so rude to me lol, like how dare you say "for the first time" as if like-a-son-to-him Dick Grayson didn't happen.

Comics from the 60s and 70s were probably the peak time for the idea that Bruce and Dick were like brothers. As far as I can tell though, writers didn't really have other characters describe them as brothers. I've seen mentor & apprentice, friends, partners, guardian & ward, knight & squire, and (primarily when there are no other children in the mix) of course Dick is also described as Bruce's heir pretty often.

I feel like, compared to Batman comics, the 1980s Teen Titans comics were more willing to say Bruce and Dick had a father and son relationship. Donna even contrasts her sisterly relationship with Diana to the parent and child relationship of Bruce and Dick during "Who Is Donna Troy?"

– The New Teen Titans #38, 01/1984 (Donna); The New Titans #61, 12/1989 (Alfred); The Brave and the Bold #197 04/1983 (Golden Age/Earth Two Bruce Wayne).

At least they let Earth Two Bruce remain true to Golden Age vibes.

My headcanon is always that he is the Bruce who every Dick Grayson grew up with, regardless of era, regardless of rewrites. Here are some panels that kind of support that – a significant factor in how Dick views Bruce is that he had a "softer" version of him than the man we see now.

– Batman: Gotham Knights #26, 04/2002 (Barbara); Nightwing #134, 09/2007 (Dick in flashback); Batman #437, 08/1989 or 09/1989 (Dick again).

A repeated theme from Dick is that he is insecure about his place in Bruce's life, and in some instances Bruce even made it clear that Dick's role was as a soldier, or at best a partner, and that being part of his family was conditional.

– left: pages from Robin: Year One - Part 2, Part 3, Part 3, Part 4, 01/2001.

right: panels from Robin: Year One - Part 4, 01/2001; Batman: Gotham Knights #43 09/2003; Action Comics #613, 08/1988; same; Nightwing #134, 09/2007; Nightwing Secret Files #1, 10/1999; same.

With that underlying insecurity, and the deep love and loyalty that Dick has for Bruce, I think that by the time he came of age it's likely that Dick actively wanted Bruce to be his father.

The first 20 or so issues of Gotham Knights offered some great material about their familial relationship (leading up to the adoption storyline). In issue #14 Dick writes a letter that he still never send. I swear half the delay in my response was probably me deciding which panels to include from this because it is a gold mine for the kind of meta you're writing.

– panels from Batman: Gotham Knights #14, 04/2001.

& with that I've hit the image limit, but I'll reblog with some panels on the point about how Bruce and Dick were often described as friends (something I saw possibly just as often as ward and heir).

[flashfuture]

Since I've been on it I wanna talk about Hal's parents. Cause I've seen some dislike for Geoff Johns take on them. But they didn't really, Jessica especially, exist before then. I feel like some people read the comic where Hal in hysterical grief over Coast City made a construct of his parents and then went off to kill all the Lanterns and Guardians and said yep that is exactly how his parents were.

But let's get into it. Martin and Jessica Jordan. For further context, the sibling order is Jack, Hal, Jim Jordan. Three boys. And it was sort of implied for years that they were Jewish and got confirmed not too long ago that Jessica is Jewish and Martin is Catholic. Hal was a grown man in the 80s. His childhood took place in the 50/60s. And before that he was a grown man in the 60s meaning his childhood was the 40s/50s. That absolutely influenced the type of life he had. Vs the further in time we drag this out the less natural it becomes to have super strict parents.

So to begin the first physical appearance of Martin Jordan comes in 1989 in Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn #1. This is a post crisis pre zero hour story so any events in this particular time window are wildly subject to change

Martin is a test flight pilot. He's Hal's hero. His plane goes down. Hal watches. This sequence of events stays consistent across every time line including Flashpoint which is you know fascinating.

"Hal got fired today-- and he got his mom to call up and beg for him."

"Talk about my father again Biff and I'll rip your lungs out."

In this version of events, we get a mention of Jessica. She's not named and doesn't appear. So you can tell she was brought up purely for a 'Hal is so irresponsible he needs his mommy's help' bit. Hal and Jack get along though and are violently defensive of their father. Hal also catches a drunk driving charge after this.

Speaking of drunk I know there's a comic out there where Martin is described as a drunk which I could not for the life of me dig up again but that's mentioned all of once so I just ignore it. What's with making test pilots drunks???

Anyways Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn is definitely not my favorite Hal Jordan story and I'm glad it's been mostly retconned out minus the very beginning parts with Martin.

(Green Lantern vol 3 #36)

"So you're back to flying planes, huh?"

"Dad's blood still runs through my veins, I guess."

This Christmas special in 1993 took place before Coast City exploded. Hal took Carol out to Jack's house to spend the holiday with the Jordan family. Hal directly attributes flying to his dad's influence.

Now Green Lantern vol 3 #48. Hal is standing in the ruins of Coast City not a soul left and he conjures an image of his parents. Reminder they are entirely Hal's imagination and again he is just about hysterical right now.

"I looked up to you. I worshipped the ground you walked on, or flew over. I wanted to grow up and be you... which probably has a lot to do with who I am now. Growing up, though, I never felt like you... I don't know thought that much of me."

As we saw Hal's dad died when he was Maybe ten. His little brother and older brother didn't have real accomplishments in elementary school. Jack the DA and Jim helping the campaign and having a family that's all modern. Stuff Martin would have never known about. Martin the pilot getting on Hal's case for having his head in the clouds? Really seems like Hal is the one he could have related to the most. Martin getting on Hal about not saving the city just proves Hal is projecting his worries about disappointing his dad onto his dad and then because he's so hysterical with grief forces himself to rewatch his dad dying.

Absolutely completely irrational state of mind he's in right now. At the end of this issue, he's going to fly off into space to kill all the Lanterns and the Guardians.

And then he summons Jessica. Calling her mother instead of mom is just really funny to me like informal with his strict dad formal with his chill mom. Lmao? Jessica only speaks on Martin. Reminding Hal of the good times they had. She's Hal's memory which which means Hal heard the story of dressing up as Santa he remembers his dad's aftershave. Summoning your mom just to talk about your dad is crazy work btw

Again Hal was so young when his dad died. Not a teenager not even close. What was Martin disappointed about? Maybe Hal who can't keep a job a girl or half his friends (Barry died and all super friends ditched him basically) is projecting backwards into time. And assumes his Dad would be disappointed in him.

"Personal gain? This is about personal loss!"

Personal loss and Hal's spent most of his time summoning his long dead father. He really never got over Martin dying and that's so apparent. Anyways this is where Hal decides to go into space and kill everybody. Seeing his dad taken from him one more time made him snap.

Hal is enamored with his father. Whether their relationship was tough or easy it wasn't necessarily the point. The point is Hal Jordan loves his father to Oa and back more than the rest of his family probably understood. He didn't just want to impress his father he wants to be him.

And Zero Hour royally fucked up Hal's family but like idk let's just say Infinite Crisis fixed it. That's two reality shattering events. Why not give Hal a little treat of being his dad's favorite. No one seems to miss when Jack, Jim, and Hal all went to the same college and the same fraternity and were besties

[therealtsk]

What is the Brown family pre-Flashpoint characterization vs post-?

hoo boy. So, disclaimers, while I've read a LOT of comics, I have not in fact read all of the ones where a member of the Brown Family appears (mostly because I just don't have the heart to put myself through Batman and Robin Eternal, along with some of Dixon's notoriously sexist writing in his Robin run), but I think I've read enough to make a decently informative post on this. Let's go by characters.

Stephanie Brown.

Probably the one that most people noticed, Stephanie Brown in her pre-Flashpoint characterization is one that has (right up until a certain...event...) a lot of grit to her. While she's still the victim of Dixon's notorious attitudes towards women, she's still allowed to be competent, holding her own in a fight quite handily, especially in her own Batgirl run, where she's able to take on League of Assassin members without too much trouble at all.

Her major, I would argue defining characteristic, is that she does not give up. Ever. Her dad tells her to quit. Tim Drake tells her to quit. Fucking Batman tells her to quit. Multiple times!

Stephanie Brown does not give up. Ever. When the going gets tough, she shrugs, puts on her eggplant outfit, and kicks ass.

Post-Flashpoint? Stephanie is constantly made out to be unreliable, unable to handle herself, constantly needing other people to pull her out of trouble. She loses fights she simply wouldn't have before (although to be entirely fair, this is a problem literally every batfam member has from N52 onward but that's another post) But worse than that, post-Flashpoint Stephanie gives up. 

This scene is genuinely insulting- it's definitive proof that DC's writers from N52 onwards have never understood Stephanie Brown, and never plan to (yes, I know she does come back later, but the fact this happened at all is the point.) This is utterly antithetical to Stephanie Brown as a character, and spits in the face of everything she stands for.

Crystal Brown This is actually the main reason I decided to start writing sins of the father (working on chapter two in conjunction with this), because the treatment of Crystal Brown in Post-Flashpoint DC comics is just insulting- and a major disservice to Steph! Her relationship with her mom is essential to her arc. Crystal Brown starts out as a woman who's got a supervillain as a husband. She's struggling with him, with near-poverty, and with a drug addiction that seriously impedes her ability to be a good mom.

But like daughter, she doesn't give up. In fact, Crystal Brown kicks Arthur Brown out of her life and picks herself up, manages to quit her habits, and becomes a well-respected nurse at Gotham City West Mercy Hospital. Her defining characteristic is that she loves her daughter, even if it took some time for her to get her act together.

Post-Flashpoint Crystal Brown is not that. Hell, she's barely a character. When Steph calls her, desperate, afraid of her newly-learned-of criminal father, Crystal’s response is to lie to her daughter, and then call her husband and tell him Stephanie knows about his plan. 

Sure, she doesn't want him to kill her, but this is so wildly out of character for Crystal that this is basically an entirely different person. And it leaves Stephanie without a single parent who cares about her, since Bruce sure has hell hasn't stepped up in Rebirth. Steph doesn't have any positive role models in her life in Rebirth, leaving her bereft of really any consistent form of love and encouragement outside of maybe Cass, but even that relationship is a hollow shell of what it was previously. 

Arthur Brown. 

So Arthur’s the one who’s arguably changed the least, because abusive asshole is hard to get wrong, but he does feel like he’s lost all consistency in Rebirth. Before, he's a smug, arrogant asshole who doesn't give a damn about his family beyond how he can use them.

In Batman Eternal he’s…well, fine, but in Batgirls he’s…nearly unrecognizable, even from his characterization in the previous issues. 

Like seriously, what was going on here? Arthur's never given a single damn about Steph aside from literally using her as part of a plan to get rich. But anyway. TLDR; All three lost nuance, Steph used to be more competent and had an actual character arc, Crystal used to have an actual character and was an inspiring story of overcoming addiction, and Arthur used to feel like a consistent villain instead of a one-off whack job.

[gorogues]

It is an on going puzzle for me to find romantic matches for the Rogues and I decided to look at all the female characters that DC has. DC has in total about 3000 characters. So you can imagine what it was like sifting through most of it. One of my problems that I was having was that I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking for. Romance is tough and it’s harder when you’re trying to fit characters together.

Usually when I watch a show. I can figure out the love interest in a couple of episodes but I imagine the writers have something to do with that.

Writing a romantic story is an entirely different thing and should be a neat experience for me. The problem I’m having is the 2 chosen characters Patty Spivot & Angela Margolin. There side characters that work with Barry so finding the goods on them would be immensely difficult. So I was wondering if you’d be interested in making a profile on them for me.😅

As well as pointing me in the right direction for the comics that showcase their personalities best. Please.🥺

Sure thing, though Angela was a Wally West-era character, not one of Barry's (she basically replaced him when he left). She didn't appear for very long, so I think Kelson Vibber's biography of her has everything you need, including a list of notable appearances. Plus, here's her bio from Flash Secret Files #2 so you don't have to look for it.

Kelson also has a biography + issue list for Patty which you might find interesting, though it hasn't been updated in a while and doesn't cover her modern history. So I'll give a run-down of what Patty's done since about 2010.

She first began appearing again in Flash: Rebirth #2, as part of a retconned flashback to Barry's early days. It was a minor appearance, but introduced her to a modern audience. In Flash v3 #1, we were told that she'd left Central City to work in Blue Valley because she'd gotten tired of David Singh's attitude and all the big city murders. In Flash v3 #9, Barry called her to help with a murder case, and despite Forrest's pessimism that she wouldn't come back, she returned in #10 and had a fond reunion with Barry. She insisted she wouldn't help because she was tired of murders, but got pulled into it nonetheless, especially because there was a child involved (spoiler alert: the child was Eobard). She managed to crack the case with her forensic skills, and acknowledged to herself that she left Central City due to her unresolved feelings for Barry (who was married), but then Eobard re-aged himself and tried to kill her. She was rescued, but Barry tried to convince her to stay in Central City and she confessed her feelings and said that's why she had to leave; he said they'd always be friends and she agreed to think about staying.

Then Flashpoint happened, and in that altered timeline she became Hot Pursuit after the murder of the first HP. She stated that she did in fact reluctantly return to the job in Central City, but the Hot Pursuit gig called to her and then she found herself in Flashpoint with memories of the original timeline. She was killed while helping Bart Allen, but then Flashpoint ended and the timeline was reset with the New 52.

The New 52 really bums me out, so I'll be brief with it. She and Barry had just started dating when Flash v4 #1 began and didn't know he was the Flash, and she blamed the Flash for Barry's 'death' after he fell into a wormhole. Stuff happened and Barry didn't tell her about his secret identity, but she found out accidentally in the midst of a battle and was okay with it -- she stood by Barry and they continued dating even though he hadn't been honest with her.

But eventually Barry was replaced by a meaner version of himself from the future, and he horrified Patty with his violence. She convinced him to be better and find a less murdery way to stop a villain, which he did, but she was decidedly unimpressed by his claims/bragging that he stopped a guy without killing him, and she told him she never wanted to see him again. The present-day version of Barry returned, but the two of them broke up off-panel anyway, and she hasn't been seen since. It was pretty abrupt.

Basically, Patty's modern self -- she had a lot less characterization in the Bronze Age because that was the way of comics in those days -- is that she's kind and caring above all else, and that tends to override her better judgment at times. She didn't want to return to Central City and its violence, but did so anyway because she cared about others, especially a vulnerable kid. She stuck with Barry when he needed her despite his lack of honesty because she loved him and knew he needed her. And she became Hot Pursuit and gave her life to help Bart because she was brave and determined and maybe was more of an action junkie than she might admit to herself. I guess you can extrapolate from that, leaving aside the weak plot decision to have her break up with Barry off-panel. I think the new writer on the book wanted to go in a different direction, but that was a crappy way to do it.

Flash: Rebirth #2 Flash v3 #10-12 Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost #1-2 Flash v4 #1-40, plus annuals 1-3

[shrinkthisviolet]

For the angst prompts, 10 for Barry and Morgan?

YESSS ofc! This takes place right after 3x1, when Barry returns from Flashpoint. All the canon changes of Flashpoint are intact...but Barry hasn't found out about those just yet ;)

Barry skidded to a stop in the Cortex, eyes wide and desperate as he scanned the room. Caitlin, Cisco, Iris, Jesse, Harry— No, no, where’s—? “Barry?” Cisco frowned. “What’s wrong?” What’s wrong? What’s wr—how could he ask that?! Morgan’s missing, she’s gone, she— …wait. Maybe she’s not. Maybe…maybe I’m just overreacting. “Barr?” Iris prompted softly. “Where’s Morgan?” He burst out, hoping for any answer. At school, with Tina…even kidnapped, he’d save her in a heartbeat—anything to hold his baby sister again, to settle his n— “Who?” His heart skipped a beat. “…Morgan. Our Morgan. Don’t you remember?” “Allen, what are you talking about?” Harry frowned. “We don’t know any Morgan.” “But you do!” Barry’s eyes darted desperately between them. “You all—Iris, she worked with you at Jitters, you recommended her to Starbucks in Starling City, she’s one of your best friends!” Iris just stared back in confusion. “I don’t know anyone like th—” “Caitlin, Cisco,” he entreated. “Come on, you guys knew her before I did! She was Thawne’s so-called daughter, he treated her terribly—we all missed the signs, me most of all, don’t you remember any of it?!” “I’d never miss something like that,” Caitlin whispered, tears in her eyes as she set her jaw. “That…I’m a doctor, what kind of doctor would miss that?!” “It’s okay, Cait.” Cisco squeezed her hand reassuringly, his worried gaze still fixed on Barry. “Jesse?” He pleaded, desperately running over and shaking her, ignoring everyone’s startled cries. “Please, please, she’s your sister, your soulmate, you must know someth—” “Get off me!” Jesse shoved him off, succeeding only because of his shock, fearful as she stared him down. “What the hell’s gotten into you, Barry? I have no idea who that girl is!” “That can’t be!” Barry cried. “That…that’s impossible!” How could everyone just forget M—? “Things are back to how they should be. Well…for me, anyway. For you…” He froze. No, no, what did you do to her, what did you— “Barry?” Iris prompted gently, snapping him out of it. “It’s okay. Whatever happened...we’ll figure it out, okay?” His friends, his family, had only shock and concern written on their faces. All for him. Not Morgan. Because…because they didn't remember her. They didn’t remember how much they loved her. How much they worried about her. How much better their lives were for having her in them. They didn’t remember the Team’s youngest, most vulnerable member, who had been part of it nearly since its beginning, who had always risked her life to protect them even when they begged her not to (just like Barry, they teased, which always charged up a surge of guilt within him). All of this…he’d time-traveled to save his mom, to maybe even save his dad too, but in the process— In the process, all he’d done was erase Morgan from their lives somehow. “Now, you can reset the timeline, you can try to fix it, but no matter how hard you try…it’s never gonna be exactly how it was.” No. No, I won’t accept that. He hadn’t accepted it with the tidal wave, when he’d time-traveled to save lives, and he sure as hell wouldn’t accept it now, when his time travel had erased one. No, not erased. Not…not erased, just…just gone. Just not here. The mere thought of that made him sick. Morgan, his baby sister…wherever she was, she needed him. And he needed her too. “Cisco,” Barry tried again, “you can see into other timelines, can’t you? Please…” Cisco frowned. “You…you think we’re in a different timeline?” “That…would mean you time-traveled.” Caitlin frowned too. “Barry?” Iris’s eyes widened. Of course, she’d put the pieces together. Barry looked around at all of them, at their wary faces, and sighed. “There’s…there’s something I should tell you…”

prompt list!

Taglist (send an ask or DM to be added or removed):

@arrthurpendragon @ocappreciationtag @raith-way @vexic929 @ironverseocs

@thechaoticfanartist @goldheartedchaoticdisaster @negative-speedforce @starstruckpurpledragon @angst-is-love-angst-is-life

@miss-eli-starfleet

[radioactive-earthshine]

Orla, how old is Kon supposed to be… or like is that impossible to measure currently? Is the way his age treated giving us free reign to call him an adult… he’s definitely an adult to me but like is he in his twenties… mid twenties…?

He has two sets of ages, chronological and not… I think that complicated things more.

Hello! To answer your question we need to sort of untangle how old Kon was before Flashpoint, and what happened to him immediately afterwards.

Kon's aging has been weird historically, and for a good while everyone thought that Kon couldn't age at all and he was going to be stuck at age 16 forever, however this got fixed and his aging was stabilized as he aged to approximately 17 pre-Flashpoint.

Then Flashpoint hit and this is where things get muddy.

Young Justice 2019 written by Bendis tells us that Kon, still in high school and still assumedly 17, was teleported to Gemworld that exists in an alternative dimension just before Flashpoint hit so he avoided the reboot entirely as explained by Bart.

While on Gemworld, he meets Lophi who was very late in her pregnancy with baby Martha and he lived on Gemworld long enough for her to give birth. After Lophi gives birth, Kon remains and helps raise her daughter for at least a few months. When we last see Martha she is still a baby and not a toddler so it's unlikely he spent longer than a year there. Meanwhile for Tim and Cassie YEARS passed (boo).

So Young Justice unfolds, they all find Kon and they take him back to Earth and we can assume that because he was in high school before he was zapped to Gemworld, and because only a few months passed, he is still, unfortunately... about 17, maybe 18 (hopefully), around Young Justice 2019.

Since Young Justice 2019 has ended according to Tim Drake Robin a six months passed at least because that is the length of time Megfitz stated Timbern has been dating and Kon was back in continuity before they got together.

Thus the youngest he can possibly be using comic time and extrapolation is 18 but he's likely closer to 19.

Ideally, he should be in his 20s now but I don't think DC will let that happen.

We're really not sure and comics don't often like giving solid numbers and one time in one comic doesn't always add up to another comic either so we don't know.

A fair age for him considering everything that we've seen is he is at least 18, and a senior in high school.

[specialagentartemis]

remember when I wrote an exchange between Akane and Junpei in Zero Time Retcon where Akane tells him, bitterly, "How can the princess in the tower help but resent the prince with the ladder?"

That gets to the core of how I see her character. She has this single traumatic flashpoint that ripple-effect changed her whole life, and it was a critical moment of utmost, utmost helplessness. She was the most powerful psychic person on the planet at that moment. She was a twelve-year-old girl who was dragged into an incinerator by an adult man and left in there to die, and her only salvation was psychically connecting with a different guy across time and trying to find the timeline where he figured out what was happening, what the solution was, and saved her.

She developed a Complex around control after that and I don't blame her.

Akane needs the feeling of being in control at all times, and that means removing uncertainties whenever possible. It also sometimes means kidnapping because you can't risk that, in your carefully organized plan nine years in the making, someone might say, no, I don't want to do that actually. Too bad. (Sigma you're going to survive the apocalypse and save the world with me and you don't get a choice in the matter.)

She orchestrates her own death in doomed timelines. She doesn't want to stick around to watch other people choose the wrong paths and fuck it up. She specifically organizes her participation in the 2045 Nonary Game so that she only survives in the successful timeline. If she does it herself, she removes the uncertainty, removes the tedium of living through a branch of the timeline she knows is wasted, and removes the ability for anyone else to get her first.

I also think it's why she doesn't... stick around. Around Junpei, or around Sigma. Because other people are the one thing in her life she can't control, and it's way, way too vulnerable to face these people she cares about who she has kidnapped and railroaded into her plans, and ask them to forgive her. Ask them to understand. What if they say no? Vulnerability is the one thing she cannot do, ever again. Easier to just remove herself from that situation first before she can be hurt. Besides, she has shit to do, and other timelines to psychically investigate looking for the Right Thing To Do to build the future she wants. She's in control. She can work this out. And if she's lonely then no she isn't and also that's irrelevant.

[fezwearingjellybananas]

For the AU headcanon game, AU where Wally gets his powers from the s2 accelerator rather than s3 Alchemy shenanigans?

Yes! Number one is Joe is going to have an utter fit about this.

Like Jesse, Wally's initially unconscious, until the zap from Barry. Like Jesse, at first when Caitlin checks him over everything seems normal

Wally's powers spark when Zoom breaks into the West House. It's triggered by the adrenaline rush, the Speed Force kicking fight or flight into overgear, and what's meant to be a nice family dinner has just been interrupted by the guy who kidnapped Wally a few weeks ago to use against the Flash, and Wally doesn't know who's under that mask yet, as far as he knows, no help is near.

He knows when both he and Barry barrel into Zoom at the same time.

Wally suddenly being able to do that is distracting enough Barry manages to get Henry away from Zoloman before he can kill him. Henry's probably still hurt though, and Barry can't chase after Zoloman when he's got to run his dad to the hospital, he can't lose him too.

It's while Barry's at the hospital waiting for Henry to get out of surgery the others try the stop Zoom plan that leads to Joe getting kidnapped.

Wally's also at the hospital- he probably should have been more suspicious when Iris sent him to the hospital to find Barry instead of all of them going, but he did have questions he wanted answering. It's a little uncomfortable though, he and Barry weren't exactly getting on before, and Wally's very aware the last time he was in this building it was by his mother's death bed.

Wally insists on helping when Barry agrees to race Zoom. That's his dad, and he has powers too. Powers he'd had for like ten minutes, but still powers, everyone's got to start somewhere, right?

Jesse was held prisoner by Zoom for months. He was also dying, and while she wasn't exactly in the best position to start studying the Speed Force, and she was fully aware she was just a hostage to use against her dad, saying she could help might have taken some of Zoom's attention off her dad, and maybe it would have given her a way out, and it could try and keep her on Zoom's good side (not that he's got much of one, but maybe it'll keep her alive for longer), and there's another speedster there she could talk to and find out more from. Zoloman still kept Jay's face hidden, still didn't let him tell Jesse his name, but if she had a way to make him faster, he wasn't going to say no.

Which means Jesse- working on the beginnings of the Speed Equation- has a theory for how to attract the attention of the Time Wraiths. And with Wally there, with powers, he can draw Zoom away, just for a minute, while Barry destroys the magnatar.

Which means Barry doesn't create a time remnant. He destroys the magnatar himself and he survives, unlike the doomed remnant, created just to die, but he's got this huge burn all down one side of his body, bad enough it'll leave a permanent scar even with his super fast healing.

(I remain pissed off the writers broke their own rules just to give Savitar a facial scar to show he's the evil Barry, so now Barry the superhero gets it instead)

They rescue the real Jay now Zololan's been whooshed into the Speed Force thanks to Jesse. He still looks kind of like Henry, and he's very pleased to properly meet them all.

(He tells Jesse she reminds him of an old friend, Johnny Chambers, and promises to introduce them some time)

Henry's fine, he's just going to be in hospital for some time, so no Flashpoint. Definitely no Flashpoint when Caitlin bans Barry from running until he recovers. Which means Central's going to be without a Flash for a few weeks at least if Caitlin gets her way (which she will, she insists with this almost icy glint in her eyes), and then Barry's going to need all this extra time to look after his dad

Well, says Wally, what if he had a sidekick to help him out?

And Kid Flash is born

(Iris comes up with the name. Cisco is thrilled. Wally slightly less so initially, but it grows on him. Joe just can't believe both his sons ended up doing this)

(When Jesse also gets powers a few months later it's Harry's turn to have the fit)

Thank you!

[5+ headcanons for an AU]

[angelasscribbles]

A Fervid Fixation Chapter 5: Flashpoint

Series: A Fervid Fixation

Fandom: The Royal Romance

Pairings: Riley x Drake

Rating: MA

Warnings for this chapter: Language

Word Count: 3,942

A/N: I honestly believe there will only be one more chapter after this one.

My other stuff: Master List.

Drake stood in his kitchen staring at Riley in disbelief, “What do you mean that’s not how you remember it?”

“I mean we spent three weeks telling each other everything! I thought we knew each other, Drake!”

He had invited her to meet him in Olivia’s wine cellar and they had stayed up until dawn talking. The next night they had both shown up again. They never discussed or planned it, but it became their routine to sneak down to the wine cellars after all the official events were over. On days with no official court events, they hung out together, exploring the nearby town, hiking through the woods, or just watching movies in her room.

Then he kissed her and it had all gone to hell.

Riley felt hurt and anger pull through her at the memory, “I thought we had started something then you unceremoniously dumped me!”

“Dumped you?” his mouth fell open with incredulity, “We weren’t dating, and you were there for Liam! You said you needed space, remember?”

“Oh, my God, Drake!” She exploded, “Being a little confused because I kind of liked two cute guys, both of whom I had just met isn’t exactly unreasonable! All I said was that we should slow down! Next thing I know, you’re barely speaking to me, or being a complete dick when you do! How is that not dumping me? Even if only as a friend? Fucking asshole!”

“Right. Slow down, as in giving you space, which is what I did!”

“You didn’t slow things down Drake, you slammed us into a brick wall!”

“I know about the hot tub, okay?”

“What?”               

“The hot tub, with Liam, in Lythikos.”

“He told you about that?”

“Yeah,” Drake huffed, “Couldn’t shut up about it.”

Riley felt several emotions slide through her in rapid succession. Shock followed by guilt chased quickly by anger, “So I fucked Liam in a hot tub, so what?”

“So what? So what? So that sure didn’t make it seem like you were interested in me!”

“It was our third day there! You and I had just started talking and it took you three weeks to fucking kiss me! That sure didn’t make it seem like you were interested in me!”

“I was trying not to overstep any boundaries!”

“Yeah, well, when you did finally kiss me, you went from zero to let’s get married! Talk about blowing past boundaries!”

“I did not!”

“You started talking about what our children would look like, Drake! That’s why I said we needed to slow down! I like to actually date people before I start planning a wedding! Jesus Fucking Christ!”

“Wait. You wanted to date me?”

“Yeah…maybe…I mean, yes, okay, I did!”

“Did? Past tense?”

“Well…I mean once we got back to the palace, you started treating me like total shit half the time so… you know…I mean, what was I supposed to think?”

“Once we got back to the palace, you started fawning all over Liam!”

“Well, I was apparently completely single and he was interested so why the fuck wouldn’t I?”

“I…..” Drake fought against the sudden onslaught of emotions flooding through him and mingling together. He tried to sort through and make sense of them.

She hadn’t pushed him to the side for Liam.

She thought he had pushed her to the side.

Anything she’d done with Liam since then was his own fault. All the months of torture watching her with other men had been self-inflicted.

He was a colossal idiot.  

“Riley, can we start over?” He forgave her for the other men. The past was in the past, all that mattered was the future.

“I don’t know, Drake. Can we?”

“I thought you wanted to slow things down because you wanted to be with Liam. I was snappy with you because I was trying to keep my feelings for you locked down.”

“Is that an apology?”

“Yes!”

“Didn’t sound like one.”

“Are you fucking serious-“

“Fine, never mind!” She flipped her hair over her shoulder as she spun and headed for the stairs.

“Wait!” He caught up with her halfway through the living room. He grabbed her by her shoulder and spun her around to face him, “Okay! Okay! Could you just….give me a minute?”

“For what? Either you’re sorry for alternating between ignoring me and being a dick to me or you’re not. What’s hard about that?”

“Everything!” He blew out a frustrated exhale as he jerked his hand through his hair, “you may have noticed that I’m not fucking good at this!”

“At what?”

“Expressing my feelings! I’ve never done….this before, okay?”

“What? Had a relationship with a woman?”

“Not…really. Sex, yes. Fucking cared about one? Not the way I care about you! I’ve never felt like this before!”

“Like what?” She needed to know exactly what he meant. She was tired of the mixed signals.

“Like I’m going crazy! Like I can’t fucking breathe when I’m around you and I’m barely even alive when I’m not! I know I can be intense, but I can’t help it! I’ve never done anything by half-measures! I’m sorry I scared you by trying to move too fast. I didn’t mean…I was just saying that….I mean, our children would be gorgeous, how is that not just an objective fact?” He trailed off completely unsure where to go or what to say.

“So, you do like me?”

“Didn’t I just say that?”

“I don’t want to start over.”

“What? Why not? I said I was sorry! I can-“

She stepped closer to him and laid her hand on his cheek, “Because I don’t want to erase Lythikos. I don’t want to erase any of it, even the bad parts. I just want to move forward without any misunderstandings between us. Can we do that?”

He placed his hand over hers as the feelings in his chest swelled to the point he was afraid it really might explode, “We can do that.”

“Okay,” She pulled away from him, “First thing I’m going to need from you is a phone, Drake. I need to know what’s going on.”

With a sigh, he drew his phone out of his pocket and motioned to the couch. She sat down as he opened the web browser. He tapped into the search bar and then handed it to her, “Here.”

She scrolled through a list of headlines like “American Suitor Unfaithful”, “Cordonia Deserves Better”, and “Waitress Offers Up Hot Dish”.

She shook her head as she skimmed through several articles with growing anger and disbelief, “Tariq is claiming we had a whole ass affair!”

“Yeah,” fury coiled in his chest, “if I get my hands on him again, his next affair is going to be his funeral!”

“Oh shit! Have you seen this?” She read out loud, “Inside sources report the duke engaged in a fist fight with an as yet unidentified second man and rival lover…what the fuck?”

“Shit, I hadn’t seen that one! I’m sorry, I made it worse!”

“Don’t be sorry!” she exclaimed, “Now I wish you had put him in a fucking body cast!”

His jaw set with deadly seriousness, “That can be arranged.”

Her eyes met his and despite the gravity of the situation, laughter bubbled out of her. “Oh, shit! I know you’re joking but damned if I don’t want to take you up on that!”

“I wasn’t joking.” He replied with a half-amused, half-disbelieving smile.

“I mean, yeah, I know you obviously have no problem beating the hell of people, but I wouldn’t expect  you to actually put someone in a body cast for me!”

“But I would!” He was suddenly on his knees in front of her, “I would do anything for you!”

“Drake…I…”

He laid his head in her lap, his fingers pressing into her outer thighs. “I can give you things, Riley! I can’t provide a royalty-level lifestyle, but I can give you a comfortable one. I can make sure you never want for anything! I have money, not Beaumont money, but enough to give you the kind of life you deserve!”

Her fingers twisted in his hair, “That’s….really sweet…but…”

His head snapped up. His eyes searched her face frantically, “But?”

“But you’re doing it again, Drake! We had sex once, and that sounds like a proposal or something!”

He sat back on his heels, his hands still resting on her legs, “Why do you keep pushing me away? Are you trying to break me?”

“I just think we need to have sex more than once before we start talking about-“

“How many times have you had sex with Liam?”

“That’s none of your business!” She shoved his hands away, “Besides, I thought he kept you apprised of these things!”

“I’m just trying to ascertain what the magic number is, Riley!”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Were you going to say yes to Liam?”

“What?”

“Don’t what me, answer the question! If Liam had chosen you at the coronation ball, would you have said yes?”

“I mean…”

“Goddamn it!” He leapt to his feet, “I knew it!”

“Oh, calm down. I didn’t know how you felt! A girl has to consider all her options.”

“Is that all I am to you, Riley? A fucking option?”

She jumped to her feet to yell at him, “Up until five minutes ago I thought you hated me!”

“Well, I don’t!”

“Well, good!”

“Okay, good!”

“Good!”

“Fine!”

“Fine!”

They stood glaring at each other for a moment before Drake asked, “Why are we fighting?”

“I don’t know!” She stomped her foot then considered the question seriously, “Habit, I guess.”

“So, when can we have sex again?”

“What?”

“I mean, if there’s a specific number of times we have to have sex before we can discuss the future, then I would like to know what that number is and I would additionally like to get started making progress on that goal!”

“Weren’t you the one that just said it couldn’t happen again?”

“That’s before I knew I was an option, Riley! Now that I know there’s a real chance-“

“You’re insufferable and irrational, you know that?”

“And you’re completely maddening! First, you think we’re in a relationship, but you don’t tell me that! Then you put the brakes on it because I expressed wanting to pursue a relationship with you! Then you tell me that you do want to have a relationship with me but then you get mad because I try to talk about having a relationship with you!”

“A relationship doesn’t mean jumping straight to marriage, Drake! Have you ever tried dating someone? You’re supposed to work your way up to that!”

“And what would you consider dating?”

“Dating! You know, going to a movie together, going out to dinner, maybe a party, dancing or-“

“We’ve done all those things!”

“Not as a couple! We’ve hung out as friends!”

“What’s the difference?” He demanded.

“The intention is different!”

“No, I don’t think so. My intentions were always the same. I don’t hang out with people I don’t like. I clearly liked you!”

Riley heaved a deep sigh, “Goddamn Drake! I want to date! I want romance! I want-“

“Okay, go change into something nice.”

“Why?”

“So I can take you to a fucking movie and dinner!”

“Right now?”

“I thought that’s what you wanted!”

“We’ll get to all of that later,” she said dismissively as she retook her seat on the couch, “but I have a few questions first.”

“About what?”

“About the fact that you seemed prepared for my visit! There was women’s shampoo in the bathroom.” She said accusingly.

He seemed genuinely puzzled as he told her, “I didn’t think you’d want to use mine.”

“Drake, how long did you know about the setup, and why didn’t you tell me?”

Oh, that.

His head tipped back to stare up at the ceiling. He took several deep breaths to calm himself and refocus his attention. “I didn’t know about the setup until it dropped, actually.”

“But then how-“

“I knew you were under surveillance, but I didn’t know why.”

“Okay, okay, I don’t understand…”

“The guard having orders to be on standby to arrest you, the limo ordered to wait out front, the plane ticket…I found all of that out just hours before the coronation.”

“So why does it seem like you were prepared for me to be here?”

“I did all that last week after the Tariq thing happened and Liam told me to stay away from you.”

“He did what?”

“He didn’t tell you?”

“No…”

“Well, he did, he told me to stay completely away from you! But even though he basically ordered me to stand down, I started asking around about the Tariq investigation and some things didn’t add up. I knew something was up, but not what. The cabin is always my backup plan, my fallback location. So, I thought maybe it could be yours too if it came to that. I didn’t know for sure you’d ever be here, I just wanted to be prepared in case you needed a place to lay low for a while.”

“Okay…that…that actually makes sense…but I have a million more questions! What things didn’t add up? Why did Liam tell you to stay away from me and why did you listen to him?”

She hadn’t seen Drake again after the incident with Tariq. Not until he slid into the back of that SUV on coronation night.

“Liam told me to stay away from you because he correctly identified my interest in you,” Drake told her, “As far as things that didn’t add up,” he started ticking items off his fingers, “Your lock was disabled, Tariq is maintaining that you invited him to your room and that my attack on him was unprovoked or motivated by jealousy-“

“What’s suspicious about a man lying about consent? Happens all the time, unfortunately.”

“Yeah…that’s not okay. But, back to Tariq, Liam said something that night….that I’ve known Tariq all my life. He was right, I have known the man most of my life and he’s not a rapist. What he is though, is a crown loyalist and a traditionalist.”

“Which means?”

“Which means he would not approve of nor support the king marrying a commoner or a foreigner.”

“Oh! Wow…”

“I told you people here are brutal with this shit. Now that we know someone was waiting to take those photos, it’s safe to assume he’s working in concert with someone to make sure a commoner never sits on the throne. And it has to be someone high up because digging around in the investigation is how I found out you were under surveillance. Only so many people can order surveillance like that.”

Riley slumped back on the couch, “This is a lot.”

“So, to review, Tariq was sent to paw all over you, at least enough to make it look real, while someone was waiting in the tree outside your room with a camera. You’ve been under surveillance for some time. Details of the incident report were leaked, along with the photo. A plane ticket was purchased, the limo and the guards were on standby, and didn’t you tell me your things had already been packed for you?”

“Yes, damn. Someone really has it out for me.”

“This is what I’ve been telling you!”

“But Drake….why couldn’t we just go to Liam with all this?”

“Because there are factions out there that have been known to assassinate people to take them or keep them off the throne. And whoever set you up has access to the King’s Guard! They did all this right under Liam’s nose! I couldn’t risk it, couldn’t risk you! Now do you see why I had to get you away and keep your whereabouts a secret?    

“But how did you find all this out? How do you know classified information that even Liam didn’t know? And you still haven’t answered my question about why you stayed away from me just because Liam told you to?”

“Those questions have the same answer, Brooks.”

“Which is?”

“There’s something you don’t know about me, Riley. Something I never told you, despite all those late-night chats. I’m-“

They were interrupted by the sound of someone knocking on the cabin door.

“Shit! No one knows we’re here! Almost no one even knows this place exists!” He pulled her off the couch and pushed her behind him, “Go upstairs and keep quiet while I-“

“Where is she?” Liam slammed into the cabin without waiting for the door to be answered. Relief crashed across his features when he saw her, “Riley! Thank God!”

“It’s okay, Drake, it’s just Liam!” Riley moved around him to greet Liam with a hug.

Liam pulled her tightly against him, his eyes were filled with cold fury as they met Drake’s over her shoulder though his voice didn’t betray it as he told her, “I’ve been worried sick about you!”

“How’d you figure it out?” Drake asked.

Liam released her to glower at his best friend, “It really wasn’t hard to figure out who had already proven the lengths they would go to for her and who had both the authority to issue orders to the guard dogs and access to internal intelligence. I mean, how did this person know what the King’s Guard was planning? Then I realized, there’s only one person that could hijack the guard dogs and also has access to MiSHI.”

“What’s meeshe?” Riley asked.

“MiSHI stands for mission support and human intelligence,” Liam answered, “the Guard’s internal intelligence unit. It’s their job to know everything about everything going on in every unit.”

“I don’t understand…”

“MiSHI and the guard dogs are both special units within the Guard. Only someone who had access to both could have pulled this off. And the only person with access to both is the commander in charge of all the special units.”

“Which is who?” Riley was still trying to figure out how Drake had managed to pull off the rescue/kidnapping. What favors he called in and from whom.

Liam turned to Drake in astonishment, “She doesn’t know?”

“Know what?” Riley’s head swiveled between them.

“You haven’t told her?”

Drake shrugged, “She didn’t have clearance.”

“Clearance for what?” she demanded.

“I was about to tell you,” Drake responded, “When someone barged in without an invitation!”

“That’s what you’re worried about right now?” Liam spun on him, “You could lose your commission for this! It was a flagrant abuse of power!”

A lightbulb went off in her head, “Wait…you’re the head of special units?”

“Sorry to disappoint you that I’m not the broke, unemployed loser you pegged me for.”

“Drake, I never meant-“

“Well, I might be unemployed now,” he said with a bitter laugh, “that’s what I meant when I said I’ve already risked everything for you. It’s also the reason I had to back off when Liam told me to. I couldn’t risk him firing me and cutting off my access before I figured out what was going on.”

“Which I certainly would have done if I’d known how far off the rails you’d gone!” Liam spat at him.

“Okay, we’re going to discuss you keeping information from me later,” Riley told Drake before turning back to Liam, “But why are you mad? I thought you’d be happy to find out I’m still here. Drake’s intervention is the only reason I’m not back in New York right now!”

“You thought I’d be happy about this?” Liam gaped at her, “I wanted you on that plane!”

She stumbled back like she’d been struck, “What? Why? I don’t understand-“

“I determined that it was safer for you in New York and-“

“And you had no right to make that determination for me!”

“I have feelings for you, Riley, strong ones, but you’ve always known that my feelings aren’t the only factor in deciding whom I marry.”

“Not marrying me and having me drug out of the coronation and forced out of the country are two very different things, Liam!”

“I fully intended to come and find you after things calmed down. Explain the situation and-“

“And what? You thought you could humiliate and throw me away and I’d be what? Just waiting for you to show up so I could fall into your arms?”

“I wasn’t throwing you away, Riley!” He shot daggers at Drake, “Can we talk in private, please?”

Drake crossed his arms over his chest, “I’m not leaving unless Riley tells me to.”

Without shifting her gaze away from Liam, Riley said, “Drake stays.”

Liam heaved a very loud, very audible sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

Drake smirked at him, “This is my house.”

“And Riley’s my girlfriend!”

“I’m not your girlfriend, Liam! Did you forget the part where you got engaged to another woman?”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you! You can still be my girlfriend, Riley! I may have to marry Madeleine but-“

“Wait! You want me to be your side chick?”

“I’m not familiar with that term. I want to offer you an arrangement, a way to keep you in my life. You’ll stay at the palace, or if you prefer, I can purchase a house for you in town-“

“You arrogant fucking prick!” The sound of her open palm striking his cheek rang out.

His head jerked to the side, then turned back to face her as his hand covered the spot, “I understand you’re upset, but if that’s out of your system now, let’s go, I have a car waiting outside. Where are your things?”

“I’m not going anywhere with you, Your Majesty!” She made the last two words sound like an insult.

“You can’t be serious, Riley! Be reasonable!”

“Oh, I’m deadly serious!”

“You want this?” he gestured to the cabin in general and Drake specifically, “He’s out of control, Riley!”

“You’re right,” she agreed, “he’s been acting crazy for weeks now…” she trailed off, tapping her lips as she considered something, “He’s volatile, possessive and his intensity is a little frightening…”

A victorious smile lit up Liam’s face as he gloated at Drake.

Drake’s head dropped with a defeated exhale.

It had all been for nothing.

“But maybe that’s exactly what I want…”

“What?” Both men exclaimed as two heads snapped toward her and two sets of eyes scanned her face for context.

“Maybe I don’t want a man that carefully follows the rules and wants to keep me as his dirty little secret,” she mused, “maybe I want a man that sets the world on fire to get to me and to keep me safe…” her eyes found Drake’s as she finished, “one who says fuck protocol and decorum and just throws me over a counter and fucks me senseless.”

“Wha-“ Liam’s eyes went from her to Drake to the kitchen counter back to her, “Are you fucking kidding me right now?”

She never took her eyes off Drake, “No, I’m not. I have never been more serious about anything in my life.”

“You can’t do this, Riley! You’re making a monumental mistake!” Liam ground out through clenched teeth.

“What’s the big deal, Liam? We had some good times but we both knew it probably wouldn’t last. You chose someone else, and now I’ve chosen someone else. We can still be friends.”

“Friends, Riley? Friends? I don’t fucking think so!” He bumped Drake with his shoulder on the way out, “This isn’t over!”

Riley stared after him in shock, “Wow, I’ve never seen Liam act like that!”

“Shit, Riley,” Drake breathed, “You have no idea what you’ve just done…”

[icedteaandoldlace]

One of my favorite things about Rogue Time, honestly, is the fact that that's the episode where I first realized that Cisco was actually important to Barry (tbh I think it’s the episode where Cisco first realized he was important to Barry, too).

Everything I saw about The Flash on Tumblr before I started watching the show (aside from Kurtbastian AU gifsets) had to do with either Westallen or Snowbarry, with some Coldflash and Olivarry thrown in as well, and I saw pretty much nothing about Cisco. And what with Iris being Barry's childhood best friend and Caitlin having a Hermione-esque energy (and Tumblr SERIOUSLY misleading me about what her relationship with Barry was gonna be like), I thought that Cisco was going to be basically a third wheel who's only there to make handy gadgets, name bad guys, crack jokes, and get yelled at when he's not being Serious™️ enough. I had absolutely no clue he was going to become Barry's best friend; I really thought he was just gonna be Some Guy that works with him.

So it was something of a surprise when Barry reacted the way he did to finding out that Cisco had been kidnapped. Then when Cisco is let go and he tells Barry that Captain Cold forced him to tell him his secret identity, I expected Barry to actually react to that news in some way. I expected him to be stressed, and maybe even a little mad/annoyed at Cisco, even if he didn't say so to his face and just gave him a polite, "the important thing is that you're safe", and then went all "that bitch actually sold me out" to Caitlin or Joe or Wells later (I feel like Clark did something like that on Smallville once, but I don't remember the circumstances, and I think that's what I based my expectations off of). But instead, Barry's concern was 100% for Cisco. He didn't get upset or put any kind of blame on Cisco; he just hugged him, told him he was sorry for putting him in a position where that could happen in the first place, and then worked out the matter of Captain Cold knowing his identity on his own—which involved telling him that if he ever hurt anyone he loved again, he would take him down and he didn't care how many people he told his real identity to. So even when he's running damage control, Cisco's safety still takes priority over his own anonymity.

Another thing I love about that situation is that it's one of many turning points in Barry and Cisco's relationship. One was in Captain Cold's first episode, another was after Flashpoint, and so on. This particular one showed us Cisco thinking Barry's life is more important than his own, and very likely thinking that he cared more about Barry than Barry did for him, considering the kind of relationship he has with Dante, the fact that he went his whole life up to this point thinking that Melinda Torres didn't love him back, and the fact that this episode comes right on the heels of us learning that the person Cisco admires the most and sees as a father figure is capable of killing him in cold blood without hesitation. Even though Cisco doesn't remember that timeline yet, we know he's used to having unrequited feelings for people, so it tracks that he would have the same expectations in his friendship with Barry. He's just happy to help from the sidelines, he doesn't need recognition for everything he does, so it doesn't even occur to him that Barry sees and appreciates his value and genuinely cares about him as a person, and not just the guy who patches up his suits. Once he does figure out that Barry values him, it gives him more security and confidence in their relationship, which results in him later getting more sarcastic with him, and being able to vocally disagree with him, without worrying that Barry will stop being his friend. And the longer the series goes on, the stronger their friendship grows, and the more comfortable Cisco becomes in challenging what Barry thinks, and because of this, Barry is able to grow more as a person as well—and it wouldn't even have been possible if he hadn't shown Cisco that he was important to him.

[tododeku-or-bust]

i wonder if you have any headcanons abt phi (regular canon? idk how ocs work) and her thoughts on the other characters. tbh i just think she is cool and want to hear more

Yay!! Phi time!!

Well, Philia is in three different universes because her fathers (Patroclus and Achilles) are in different universes. I ship them, and so she follows them around. But the og Philia is from the Hadesverse, from Supergiant's Hades.

Oooh let me tag you to the first art of the series, just so you can get some details on her. I wrote a whole series about her growing up, her views of the world and the people around her changing, and how parenting her changed them. I love her so much!!! They love her so much!!! There's art of her in almost all of the main stories, so that's there too if you want to see her! Here's a link to how she got her scar in that universe.

As for the Flashpoint universe (which would be the one where she was in that shiny silver dress with the pink car), her little years actually going to be in the extra chapters of the fics. I'm excited to get that going. Here's a link to how she got her scar in THAT universe.

(to date I love that I gave her a scar. 10/10 best decision)

Still need to work on her existence in the Bump and Run universe. She does have some stories there, though. I plan on writing a short story about how she was conceived (smut. Smut and hurt/comfort, my go tos).

As a whole, Philia is a sweetheart! She is the best and the worst parts of her fathers- joyous, sweet, loving, affectionate; tempestuous, stubborn, and spoiled. My goal in writing her was to let her be a child the way I wish people would let Black girls be children. To be free, to be innocent, to make bad mistakes and learn from them. No matter the universe, she's got a heavy legacy on her head- she's standing on the shoulders of two infamous men. It has an effect on how the world treats her, and it's something that's hard for her to deal with as she grows up and wants to strike a path for herself.

She adores and trusts her fathers to death, that's why it hurts her when she feels they haven't been honest with her. But nobody talks about them but her 😤 She struggles between balancing loving them and wanting to be with them, and also wanting to go her own way and do things herself.

Her best friend Kairos is practically like her brother; they're attached at the hip. He's the only one that can tell her straight facts to her pouting face and she lets that happen without qualm (usually!) Her other best friend and love interest, Calix, she has more conflicting feelings about. She loves him, and she can see being with him, but... Their families have a rough history. It's hard for her to know if she wants to risk their friendship for more- what if it doesn't work out?

I feel like I'm talking too much lol I'm just so happy you asked!

[their-destinys-writer]

Akuma Flashpoint - Chapter 4

Rated: M

Chapters: 4/?

Chapter Summary: Marinette and Alya finally get to talk.

Info: Canon compliant up to Season 3, Episode 'Ladybug'. Miracle Queen never happened. Canon divergent from that point forward, but might borrow a few details from later seasons. Very loosely inspired by DC's Flashpoint Paradox (the animated movie). Updates on the last Monday of every month.

Ao3 | Wattpad

A/N: Merry Christmas! Have a new chapter as a gift.

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The Recruit

It had been a long morning and midday, and yet Marinette still felt lost. To figure out the right thing to say for the now dreaded breakfast, she had to ask about her history with Adrien in this timeline. And it sure was… interesting. Starting with the fact that they got together when they were fourteen, instead of sixteen. Apparently, since he never fell in love with Ladybug, it opened the door for him to instantly fall for her civilian identity instead.

That was one what-if scenario she never knew she would get the answer to. Not that she had ever actually wanted to know. But it also meant Lila was Adrien’s second girlfriend, meaning she shouldn’t underestimate the importance Lila had acquired for him in this timeline.

Another awful revelation was that he was the one to break things off. According to Tikki, their communication suffered greatly after Nino passed away, and this timeline’s Marinette didn’t want to fight for the relationship, blaming herself for what happened. After that, she distanced herself from everyone, resulting in Adrien giving up in the relationship.

But every now and then, she would drunk-dial Adrien to tell him how much she cared about him and that she was glad he was alive. Among other things Tikki wouldn’t divulge. As for his relationship with Lila, that was a more recent development. Something that started between four to five months prior. And apparently, Marinette did not take it well at all, ending up at his doorstep, drunk and sobbing.

“That’s so embarrassing,” Marinette whined, dragging her hands down her face. “No wonder he’s pissed. I’m a total disaster.”

“More like cripplingly depressed,” Tikki said with a cringe.

“And borderline alcoholic,” Marinette pointed out, as she checked her phone again. “I have so many calls made to Adrien in this phone. At least three times a week. Why was I drunk three times a week?!”

“Well—”

“You know what? I don’t need to know,” Marinette intervened. “On the bright side, that gives me a few ideas of what I can say to them.”

“Really? Already?”

“It’s obvious I had a drinking problem before I got here, so what do alcoholics do when they’re finally ready to get their life back together?” Tikki shrugged. “They admit they have a problem and, somewhere along the line, they make amends. I can start by jumping to those amends. I just have to convince them that this was something I had already been thinking about for a while.”

“Oh!” Tikki said excitedly. “Simple!”

“Mhm,” Marinette nodded. “So, now that that’s settled, I just have to make sure I don’t mess it up. And in the meantime, I can try to figure out how to fix everything.”

“May I ask, how will you know when something or someone was responsible for changing everything?”

“Unfortunately, I think that’s something I’ll figure out along the way,” Marinette admitted.

“Is that why you still made a plan for tomorrow? Even though you hope to find the akuma before then?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Because I have absolutely no idea who The Genie could be, and I’m not even sure she knows I’m here. There’s a chance this might not have been part of her plan. And if that’s the case, she has no reason to suddenly show up.”

“Wouldn’t we have noticed someone walking around in blue skin, though?”

“That’s the part that I least understand.” Marinette started pacing in the small room. “Surely someone like that would’ve stood out by now. And I also don’t think she would’ve gone through all the trouble of time travel if this timeline didn’t end up benefiting her in some way. She did say something about getting her wish. Maybe Adrien not being Chat Noir triggered a better life for her.”

“That implies that she’s been here the whole time since he lost his miraculous.”

“She could have.” Marinette tapped her lip. “She was able to become somewhat invisible during our fight. Maybe she can change her appearance and make herself look normal.”

“But that would mean she could be anybody!” Tikki gasped.

“It would explain how no one has ever seen her. Or even suspected that she’s akumatized.”

“Did you ever figure out her akumatized object?”

Marinette stopped on her tracks, thinking back to that last fight. She wracked her brain, searching for a clue, but she couldn’t remember. Genie didn’t ever seem to use anything to make her wishes true, or even her movements possible. She just willed everything. Like a cartoon genie.

“I didn’t,” she sighed. “All I remember is her tacky and culturally insensitive costume, and a bright light before I woke up here. Nothing really stood out from her. It happens sometimes with willing akumas. They’re always harder to beat. But this one really takes the cake in difficulty.”

“Is that why you’re looking for a pattern?” Tikki asked.

“Exactly. Well, not necessarily a pattern, but any clue—”

Marinette’s phone vibrated. A quick look into it revealed an unknown name.

“Who’s Mrs. Boche?”

“Oh no, your work,” Tikki slowly placed her paws on her cheeks.

“Ah. I’m guessing she’s my boss?” Marinette asked, to which Tikki nodded. “That’s fine, I’ll just tell her I’m not feeling well.”

“She might chew you out for that,” the kwami warned.

Marinette let out a long sigh. It sounded like she had already used that excuse too many times. Nevertheless, if she got fired, so be it. She was hoping to not spend enough time in this reality that finances would become a problem.

“Hello?” she responded to the call.

“What happened to you today?” a woman with a demanding—and slightly intimidating—voice said from the speaker.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Boche, I’m not feeling well today,” Marinette excused herself.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng, I cannot keep accepting your excuses anymore,” Mrs. Boche said. “It’s the fifth time this month already. If you’re not willing to do something about it, I’m afraid I can’t keep you in our team. And you know that would mean termination. You understand that?”

Marinette gulped. She may have never worked for this person, but that tone made her feel ashamed for something she didn’t even do.

“I understand,” she responded in a small voice. “I promise not to let it happen again.”

“I’m tired of your excuses,” Mrs. Boche huffed. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t send you a letter of termination right this second.”

Marinette opened her mouth to give another plausible excuse, but immediately closed it. Considering how she had managed to balance work and being a superhero in her reality, she had a feeling her absences had nothing to do with that. This universe’s Marinette was clearly going through a lot, meaning what was really wrong was a health issue, and not a superhero one.

“I have no good reason to give, Mrs. Boche,” she responded as professionally as she could with missing context. “I clearly haven’t been well for some time, and I’ve made a lot of mistakes. The best I can do is say that I will be seeking the help I need, and that if I were to continue under your employment, I would do my best to not slip up again. However, if you understand I have exhausted my chances, I will respectfully accept your decision and wish the company the best.”

There was silence from the other side of the line. Marinette exchanged a look with Tikki, wondering if she said something she shouldn’t have. Or maybe she had already given a similar excuse in the past. But Tikki’s expression was hard to read.

“You better walk through that door tomorrow,” Mrs. Boche finally said. “I hope you feel better.”

The call ended. Marinette let out a breath, glad that if it took longer than expected, she would at least not die of starvation. However, it had the downside of cutting into the time she would need to find The Genie.

“Is she a bad boss?” she asked Tikki.

“I don’t think she is,” Tikki responded. “I think it’s more that you’re a bad employee.”

“Sounds about right,” Marinette muttered. “Ugh, this is starting to become more complicated than I expected. Now I need to catch up on anything that has to do with work. Though, it can’t be that different from the job in my reality, right?”

“You didn’t know who Mrs. Boche is,” Tikki pointed out.

Marinette let out a drawn-out groan, as she dragged her hands down her face. The miraculous, Adrien, Alya, work, it was a lot she had to figure out and come up with solutions in order to maximize her time to find The Genie. And the more things continued to pile up, the more it was starting to look like she might be stuck for several days.

“I need help, fast,” she admitted. “I can’t do this on my own. I need to find a way to convince Alya to help me as soon as possible. Does she patrol often?”

“She does,” Tikki said. “I know I said we can try to convince her, but after this morning, I don’t see her helping you very soon. She might need time before you ask her.”

“I have to try.” Marinette turned back to the corkboard, already interrupted several times from being continued. Without another word, she added Gabriel’s and Nathalie’s pictures on the upper-right corner of the board, plus the miraculouses they owned. “Any miraculous we do know who has them?”

“I know Mayura has the mouse miraculous. Hawkmoth definitely has the dragon and pig miraculous. The rest, I don’t know who has which.”

With a hum, Marinette placed the mentioned miraculous under its respective thieves. Slightly lower, she placed the rest of the drawings and added the word ‘stolen’ over them, merely to identify them as not in her possession.

“Did I ever make a proper investigation about these?” she asked, to which Tikki nodded. At least that was one thing she did right in this reality. “Okay then. That’s as much as I can do with that.” As she looked at what she had so far, her brows furrowed. “You said we lost the box. What… What happened to Master Fu?”

There was silence. Marinette turned slightly towards Tikki, only to find her looking away, eyes becoming glassy.

“No,” Marinette breathed.

“It happened two months before Nino passed,” Tikki said quietly. “He didn’t even get the chance to relinquish his guardianship before he…”

Before he died, Marinette finished internally, feeling her eyes well up once again. Her gaze turned down to the desk, mindlessly landing on Master Fu’s picture and a piece of paper with the word Deceased on it.

“Who did it?” she asked.

“The sentimonster active at the time,” Tikki explained. “Or at least, that’s what we think. There was also an akuma, and Hawkmoth and Mayura weren’t very far from him. It could have been any of them, but the sentimonster was closest.”

“Was it the same with Nino?” Tikki nodded. Marinette let out a shuddered breath as she proceeded to add Master Fu on the corkboard, close to Nino’s picture. “I really hate it here.” As she looked back at the desk, she realized there was one miraculous left. “Whatever happened to the black cat miraculous is still a mystery, right?”

Tikki nodded again. So, Marinette proceeded to place the picture of the ring isolated in its own corner, with the word Lost. Further right to it, she added pictures of Adrien and Lila, making a face of disgust as she did. Underneath their pictures she added: Untrustworthy.

“I’ve never in my life thought of Adrien as someone I can’t trust,” she said quietly. “I can’t believe I just associated that word with him. It feels so surreal.”

“But he did lose his miraculous,” Tikki reminded her.

“I know, I know.” Marinette swallowed, her stomach making a nasty lurch at the thought of him with Lila. “I think I’m going to need a break.”

“Are you okay?”

Marinette shook her head, as she sat at a nearby chaise. In fact, it seemed to be the same chaise that had been in her room at her parents’ apartment. She must’ve salvaged it from the destruction. Yet she couldn’t salvage her relationship with Adrien? The thought made her nauseous. Just imagining those nasty claws of Lila caressing his arms, it sent a cold shudder through her body.

“What’s wrong?” Tikki asked.

“I just need to remind myself that this reality will cease to exist,” Marinette whispered. “And everything that’s happened here will fade like a bad dream. All of you won’t even remember it. Please distract me, Tikki.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“I don’t know, um… The rest of the core team. Chloé, Kagami and Luka. Where are they?”

“Oh.” Tikki tilted her head. “Well, Chloé and Kagami are not in Paris.”

“What? Why?”

“They’re with their mothers. Chloé in New York and Kagami in Japan.”

“Why? Their mothers are awful.”

“Maybe so. But you weren’t exactly close to them to—OH! Marinette, look!”

Tikki grabbed Marinette’s cheek, pushing her to see through the window. A speck of orange was visible over the city’s rooftops. Marinette sprang to her feet, ready to transform.

“Any advice on getting her to my side quickly?”

“Just blurt out whatever you think might get her attention,” Tikki said.

Marinette looked back at the corkboard. “I think I have just the thing. Tikki, transform me!”

The light had barely finished washing through her body, when Ladybug was jumping out the window, swinging her way across the city as fast as she could. Although it was only an hour after midday, the sky was dark with heavy rain clouds. Nevertheless, Ladybug wasn’t letting the opportunity slip through her fingers.

She landed on the edge of a tall apartment building to survey the area she had seen the speck of orange. But it was like it vanished into thin air.

“Dammit,” Ladybug cussed. “Where are you? I just saw you.”

“You’re unbelievable,” a voice said behind her. Turning around, she saw the very person she had been looking for. “What part of ‘fuck you, Marinette’ do you not understand?”

“Hey, Alya. Um, Rena Rouge.” Ladybug held her hands together.

“You go looking for me one more time, and those earrings are coming off,” Rena Rouge threatened.

“I’m sorry,” Ladybug loudly said, taking Rena Rouge aback. “I’m very sorry about this morning. I didn’t mean to hurt you—”

“Oh, save it,” Rena Rouge spat. “I don’t care for your pity. I just need you to stay the hell away from me. I thought that I had made myself clear.”

“Yes, and I understand that. But—”

“But nothing,” Rena Rouge growled. “You don’t get to decide what I need. Much less after the display you pulled today. Just get out of my life!”

She turned around, about to leave, so Ladybug made a last desperate attempt at retaining her.

“Nino’s alive!” Ladybug shouted. And to her relief, it had the desired effect, for Rena Rouge stopped dead on her tracks.

“What did you just say?” She turned her head to the side.

“I-In my timeline,” Ladybug continued, hoping Rena wouldn’t change her mind. “This reality, it’s not what it’s supposed to be. I’m not who you think I am, I’m not the Marinette you’ve known, I’m from a reality where Nino is alive and we won. But an akuma caused this and I need your help setting it right.”

Ladybug could see Rena’s breathing accelerated. She wondered if it was enough, or if the damage had been too much. Rena Rouge opened her mouth slightly, but no words came from it. Perhaps it was time to push her luck.

“I know you don’t have many reasons to believe me, but don’t you think I was too oblivious this morning for it to just be a hangover?” She continued. “As awful as I’m sure I’ve been in this timeline, I doubt I’d go as far as being cruel. So there would have been no reason for me to bring up Nino, unless I had no idea he passed away. And trust me, that’s something I would never forget. I know it’s hard to believe me, but please give me a chance to explain everything.”

“How can I know if you’re telling the truth?”

Ladybug pressed her lips together. “You don’t,” she said. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but I need you to trust me.”

“That’s not good enough,” Rena interrupted. “Unless you can provide proof, I can’t get my hopes up by your word alone. I also don’t understand why it has to be me. Seems convenient.”

“You’re the only one of my team left with a miraculous and not dating one of my enemies.”

The wind blew past them, the smell of approaching rain filling Ladybug’s nostrils as she waited for a response. When Rena Rouge turned back ahead, she said at last: “I don’t buy it.”

A mournful breath left Ladybug’s lips, just as her transformation collapsed without warning.

“SHE’S TELLING THE TRUTH!” Tikki screamed. The fox hero turned on her heels, eyes bulging out of their sockets. Marinette attempted to call her back, but was ignored by the kwami. “Please believe me. She’s not our Marinette. There’s a reality out there where I still get to see Plagg. But we need to beat the akuma for it to come back, for our lives to be out of this awful place without the ones we love. Please, I’m begging you, Rena Rouge, please help us!”

Marinette could feel her eyes well up for the hundredth time that day. After eight years as a team, she had never seen Tikki in so much anguish. She couldn’t help but reach out and hold the small goddess as she sobbed.

“Tell me everything,” the voice of Rena Rouge demanded.

* * *

The rain was falling hard against the windows of the café, as Marinette finished telling Alya everything about her arrival to this reality. She waited with bated breath, as her best friend removed her hands from her temples.

“So,” Alya said after catching her breath, “you’re saying that Chat Noir not being around as your partner derailed our entire existence?”

“Pretty much,” Marinette sighed, as she took a sip of her coffee.

“Damn,” Alya scoffed. “I would say you’re full of shit, but I had never seen Tikki vouch for you like that.”

“Yeah, I noticed how unhappy people are with me,” Marinette said quietly. “I’m sorry this timeline’s version of me made you guys go through such hard times.”

“Hmm.” Alya brought the tea to her lips, hesitant. “I mean,” she started, “I guess, to be fair, you were going through a hard time yourself, you know, having literally no one to lean on. If I had known about your parents…”

“It’s still not an excuse to act unkind,” Marinette insisted.

“Look, what matters is what’s happening now,” Alya interjected, landing the cup of tea on the table. “You said you can fix this. Now tell me how.”

“Okay, so you know how I have to defeat a villain in order to fix all the damage they made, right?”

“The thing I learned today, yes.”

Marinette winced. “Right. I need to find The Genie in this timeline and defeat her. Once I free her of her akuma, I can purify it and revert this reality she created.”

“Even if you do purify the akuma, how are you so sure the Miraculous Cure can bring back an entire reality that’s currently lost.”

“I once brought back a temple that had been lost for over a hundred years by purifying an amok,” Marinette stated. “If I can do that, I can bring back a lost reality. Which I’m sure is not a hundred percent lost. I just need to find that akuma.”

“And you said you don’t think she looks like an akuma currently,” Alya added skeptically.

“Right,” Marinette sighed. “Considering she can change an entire reality, I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to assume she can also change her appearance. Otherwise, someone would’ve seen her by now.”

“Good point,” Alya muttered, before raising her voice slightly. “So, what’s the plan? If you have one.”

“I started making a board to figure out everything that’s different in this timeline and where the heroes and villains are. Obviously, I know exactly where Gabriel is, but I don’t know much about Ms. Sancoeur. And I can’t take their miraculouses yet, or The Genie will figure out I have my old memories.”

“Good call. Okay, so, that’s the villains. Does that mean you know who Chat Noir is and where to find him?”

Marinette pressed her lips. “I do. But… Ugh, I can’t trust him here,” she admitted. “I already bumped into him, and he was so hateful towards me. Well, Marinette me, at least. I think he wouldn’t believe me if I tell him everything, so right now, he’ll be staying in the dark.”

“So you know who he is!” Alya said, edging her seat. Marinette nodded. “I would love to know the identity of the coward who abandoned you.”

“If you want to know just to kick his ass, I’m afraid that information is currently off-limits.”

“Come on—”

“And like I said before,” Marinette interrupted, “whatever the reason that he’s no longer Chat Noir, I know it wasn’t his choice. He loves being Chat Noir more than anything, and I know he would never give it up unless he thought it was a matter of life or death.”

“If you say so,” Alya sighed, sitting back while drinking some more of her tea. “What about the other heroes you mentioned?”

“Well, I got you, so that is my biggest relief,” Marinette said. “I know now what happened to Carapace. What I don’t know is about his miraculous—”

“I have it,” Alya responded.

“Oh. Good then,” Marinette let out a breath of relief. “So that’s another miraculous Gabriel and Ms. Sancoeur don’t have. Anyway, the bee holder is not in France, and neither is the dragon holder. So that leaves the holder of the snake miraculous, but that was where I left off.”

“You thinking of bringing them in?”

“I’ve considered it, yes,” Marinette confirmed. “Out of the entire team, he was always the most levelheaded one. Of course, I don’t have the snake miraculous, so the bee will have to do. But I have no idea where to find him, and I don’t have his number in my phone, for some reason. So I need you to help me make contact.”

“Why me? Wait, do I know him?”

“Yes, Luka.”

“Luka?!”

“Yeah, I thought about calling Juleka or Rose, but I don’t wanna come off a bit weird, since I don’t know—”

“Waitwait, time-out.” Alya made the gesture she said. “You’re telling me, of all the people in the entire city, you choose Luka? Luka?”

“He’s basically part of the core team,” Marinette argued. “He was one of the firsts I trusted with my identity, he recognizes the importance of teamwork, has the most patience out of all the holders, and even had to wear the black cat miraculous once. I know he can do—”

“He’s in rehab,” Alya interjected.

The coffee cup landed loudly on the table. Marinette’s mouth hung open, right where she left off her sentence.

“He’s… WHAT?!”

“Ow,” Alya winced, covering one of her ears.

“What do you mean he’s in rehab?!”

“I mean,” Alya said, pointedly lowering her voice, “he decided to get clean after Juleka woke up from her coma.”

“Juleka was in a—God, why do I even question anything in this timeline.” Marinette dragged her hands down her face, attempting to get her tone several octanes lower, yet failing miserably. “This is literally my worst nightmare. And everyone else’s it seems!” Marinette grabbed at her hair. “I-I… I don’t have a team. I literally have zero core members available outside of you. I mean, unless… How long has Luka been in rehab?”

Alya blinked. “Don’t even think about it.”

“He’s our best shot.”

“He’s an addict. The last thing he needs is stress.”

“Or maybe he needs to be trusted. And a support system.”

“No, he can’t be around you,” Tikki interjected, poking out of Marinette’s purse that was sitting on the table.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Marinette groaned.

“You two have a history together,” Tikki explained.

Marinette raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t sound like a big deal. He’s my ex-boyfriend in my timeline, too.”

“Wow, your timeline sounds fascinating,” Alya said, resting her chin on both her hands. “So you actually dated Luka in your timeline.”

“I—Wait, I’m confused.” Marinette said. “Tikki just said we have a history, but you’re acting like this is new information.”

“Alya doesn’t know,” Tikki cleared up.

“Know what?” Marinette and Alya said in unison, the former concerned while the latter excited.

“Before Luka went to rehab, you two had a… I think what you call a fling?”

“Okay?”

“Oooh.”

Marinette and Alya said in unison.

“It didn’t end very well,” Tikki finished, tucking back into the purse.

“Of course it didn’t,” Marinette deadpanned. “Though, to be fair, things could’ve gone better in my timeline, too.”

“What happened in your timeline?” Alya asked, sitting back while sipping her tea again.

“My secret identity is what happened,” Marinette said with a tired sigh. “Eventually, it wasn’t sustainable.”

“And yet, you’re still with Adrien in that other reality?” The reporter arched a brow.

“Things are different with Adrien,” Marinette reasoned, careful not to let slip his identity. “We found a way to make it work. But that doesn’t matter, Adrien’s not part of the plan, nor is he getting a miraculous.”

“Why not?”

Marinette shifted in her seat. “I just see no reason to bring him in. The only thing I need to do with him is make sure he doesn’t get in my way. Which I’ll be doing tomorrow.”

“Whatta you mean?” Alya pried. To which Marinette explained part of her encounter with him that morning. “So, you could be delayed in your investigation because of a potential court order.”

“Yup,” her lips made a popping sound at the last letter. “If I want to reverse this mess as quickly as possible, the last thing I need is to worry about going to jail, or something of the likes. So, I will convince him and… ugh, Lila, that I’m done and that I’ll be leaving him alone.”

“You seem to dislike Lila,” Alya said, eyes squinting.

“Let’s just say she’s very different in my timeline,” Marinette limited herself to say. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that I do that tomorrow so I can focus more on finding The Genie. And to do that, I need to know everything there’s to know about this timeline.”

“Does that include…” Alya gulped, “Does that include Nino’s death?”

Marinette’s gaze lowered to the already cold cup of coffee in her hands.

“You don’t have to tell me if you’re not ready,” she whispered. From the corner of her eye, she saw Alya’s tea land on the small plate.

“I’ll tell you everything,” Alya said quietly. “But not here.”

Marinette slowly looked back up, finding a solemn expression on Alya’s face.

“Okay,” she agreed. “We can go to my place.”

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