#If Robin were to admit he was scared and that he wasn’t strong enough then he failed his dads memory and failed everything he’s built his

[nympippi]

The next one on my list is Robin Arellano!!!

He likes rock n roll, milkshakes, and watching scary movies!

In this au, Robin definitely is trying to block out everything that happened to him. Any mention of the grabber and he’s changing the subject, and is uncomfortable.

He tries very hard to not be affected by it, to not think about how he couldn’t kill the bastard who did that to him, but in the end it does effect him. It effects him a lot.

Robin can’t stand the scars on his forearms, they’re always going to remind him of what he “failed” to do in his mind, something he knows isn’t his fault but can’t help but blame himself for. He doesn’t wear his bandannas anymore after having to see his cut up and bloodied one from his own kidnapping be put in an evidence bag.

He tries everything to forget what happened to him, to try and be stronger, and better in case there’s another grabber out there.

Robin blames himself a lot for what happened, he doesn’t know how or why it is but he just knows it is his fault that Finn was kidnapped, it was his fault that he couldn’t kill the grabber, it was his fault that he was kidnapped because he should’ve known better, and it was his fault for getting murdered…

He tries to keep it inside and tries to look unaffected and happy like he used to be but like all the others, Robin is a traumatized child who didn’t know any better and that is something that infuriates him.

[sadlybeans]

No More Batman AU Part 4: The Prodigal Son

AO3 Link || Part 1, 2 & 3

Dick could pretend all he wanted and play at being a strong, reliable hero, but he wasn’t.

Nightwing had become a beacon of what any new member of the Justice League could aspire to be, standing next to the founding members after winning his own place and not as a replacement to Batman after his retirement. He had worked hard to be the person everyone could rely on, and in turn he had won many wonderful friends that would undoubtedly give everything for him if he just asked— But Dick Grayson? Dick Grayson was a coward.

Dick Grayson was scared to death every day when he didn’t have his siblings in sight, anxiety building up on his chest until he could call or visit to see them, make sure they were safe, they were home, they were alive. He had lost every drop of courage the day he returned home only to be told his little brother had been killed. There wasn’t a single day since those news that he didn’t feel fear, even if he knew his little siblings were strong and capable on their own.

But… well. He wasn’t sure if he was afraid for Damian, or of what he could do.

Dick had started his vigilante career as a child of all of nine years old when his rage was too much to contain and Bruce had lost every battle to keep him home. He had trained with and against many people and he had grown so much that it was said he had long ago surpassed Batman, and yet— yet he felt that Damian was almost, just almost, as good as him.

Damian, the fifteen year old child that had just been dropped on their doorstep a couple months ago. Damian, who refused to acknowledge their presence most days, who swore in expletives that scandalised even Alfred, and who was a trained and seasoned assassin. Damian, who could heal inhumanely fast, who could see in the dark and move without sound, and who had broken Tim’s arm in three with two strikes too fast for any of them to stop.

He was just a kid who shouldn’t have been in their business -much like none of Dick’s siblings should be- yet he was proficient in many of Bruce’s and Dick’s techniques, and he was unfairly fast in learning amidst a fight… Dick had tried setting him up against Cass, and had thought it worked for a moment… until he learnt to use her own moves and set them equally until they were both exhausted. He had mopped the floors with Tim and Steph, and then almost defeated Dick all in a row.

When Tim had asked sarcastically if that was all he had, Damian had frowned as he opened and closed his fist.

“I’m still adjusting to fight without weapons”

A frightening phrase that had made them all fall silent, and then he had to ask cautiously if he’d like to spar with wooden swords. He could’ve sworn Damian almost brightened to that suggestion, but it was such a quick expression he couldn’t be sure. He then picked a katana and won. Against everyone.

And so, after an entire week of testing, they sat in the batcave and Bruce took a deep breath as he stared at all his children, and Dick for once didn’t know how to feel knowing that there was absolutely no excuse to not let Damian out onto the field.

“It’s… clear that your mother trained you well” he started.

“She didn’t” Damian interrupted immediately “Mother had tutors for me, but baba made me better“

Dick mentally filed another tick for concern on his thoughts about Damian’s mysterious baba.

“Right” B cleared his throat “your baba trained you well, I admit that you’re strong enough— But!” the boy scowled and he continued “Things here are not like you’re used to and….”

“I’ve been told on your family’s stand on killing. It’s stupid, but I’m willing to play along” he grunted reluctantly.

Bruce stared at him, and so did Tim and Dick, but there was no trace of deceit in him. For all his intensity and temper, he wasn’t really the type to lie as they had learnt, so Dick was inclined to believe him this time.

“… Very well. You can’t be Robin”

“You have said that already” Damian rolled his eyes “I’ll take another name”

That is certainly not the point, and none of them were comfortable with him being out there when they didn’t even know why he wanted to.

Things in Gotham had gone downhill when Jason died, and when Batman was put into the case that stood next to Robin, it was up to everyone else to keep the order in the city. They’d done a good job of keeping up the illusion, of pretending Batman still existed, but those who knew him well knew the truth… Joker hadn’t escaped in ten years, not since a week after Jay died and Nightwing beat him half to death before tossing him in Arkham. But now the asylum was on high alert, and a certain clown was said to be in a good mood after those photos of Robin were leaked.

The news had exploded and the topic was trending online, hence why Damian was actually needed despite their reluctance; he was the only one that fit the build and size, and who could also perfectly replicate Jason’s body language as terrifyingly confirmed by the photos and footage. They didn’t look that much alike and Damian’s skin was darker, but the pictures were taken at night and from far off, nobody could spot the difference unless he was close enough and standing still.

“Can you promise that you’ll be careful and follow Dick’s rules?”

The boy frowned.

“I’m not a child, I know what to do”

“We already discussed this, it’s my way or nothing”

“… Fine, I promise” he said in a grunt, crossing his arms across his chest. ���Any other ridiculous demands?”

“You never patrol alone, ever” Bruce held up a hand before he could protest “that’s a rule all of them follow, not only you”

He didn’t look any more happy but nodded.

“And one last thing… you’re going to need to learn the ropes of how this works, and Dick can’t supervise you all the time. For obvious reasons, I don’t believe anybody else is qualified to supervise you, so after talking it through with Clark… Superboy is going to be your partner whenever Nightwing is not available”

Damian didn’t say anything, no immediate explosion of anger, nothing. They all waited with baited breath as he just stared at Bruce.

“He’s a child” he finally replied, with actual bafflement in his voice.

“Jon is thirteen, yes, but he’s been in the business for longer than you, and he’s kryptonian. It’s safer”

“So I don’t kill him”

“Safer for both of you”

“No, you really just want to prevent me from killing him because I don’t have access to kryptonite at the moment”

“I… Like to believe you would not attempt to kill a child”

Damian shook his head in disbelief and Tim pushed past Dick.

“Are you serious, B!? Jon’s way too good for him, it’s not safe! Why not— hell, if you want him to be supervised by a kryptonian then Kon might be able to!”

Bruce sighed deeply.

“Supernova is as busy as you are, son. And there is an undeniable advantage on Damian being around a boy his own age, it will raise less suspicion”

“B, this is madness!”

“I don’t think this is a good idea….”

Slowly they all started to argue and Bruce tried to appease Steph, Tim and Duke, with Cass staying silently frowning in the background and Dick letting himself fall seated on the chair next to the computer, exhausted both physically and mentally. Damian didn’t look too upset but he was definitely over the whole conversation and completely tuned it out, moving through a couple sword forms with his wooden katana. God… when had things fallen apart this bad?

A phone rang in the silence and Damian turned his head towards the computer, where his burner phone rested. Dick’s eyes widened and slowly the discussion died down as the teen crossed the room and picked it up, looking down at the screen for a second before he answered it.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, you ungrateful little brat!?”

Dick fully winced at the furious voice that hollered at the other side, audible in the sudden dead silence of the cave. Damian looked wholly unimpressed, and he wasn’t sure if to think that was stupid or brave.

“I’m fitting in, like you said I should. Wayne has agreed to let me patrol with them”

Damian please, don’t you have any self preservation instincts? Why are you talking to your father like this? Damian, I beg you—

“If you so much as step a single foot out on the streets on patrol I WILL DRAG YOU BACK kicking and screaming if I have to!”

“Ok”

“You have no idea of—! … What?”

Damian’s lips turned into a smug smirk and Dick gaped at him.

“I said ok. You can come drag me back inside the house”

Oh.

Oh, this sneaky little brat… It was such a simple trap but it worked. This mysterious “baba” of his obviously wanted nothing to do with the bats -so far their leading theory was that he didn’t want to risk getting arrested-, which was why he couldn’t check on Damian personally, but if the boy did something so reckless that he wouldn’t approve of, something he knew only he would be able to stop… then he had no choice but to come to Gotham and set him straight.

“Damian Al-Ghul, you know exactly why I don’t want you out playing superhero” the man hissed in a low dangerous tone.

“I know” the teen agreed calmly “and it’s not going to stop me. I didn’t want you to go either and you didn’t listen to me”

“I’m the adult in this relationship you little shit, you don’t get to make demands”

“Well you gave me away so it’s not up to you anymore!” And he hung up. He turned off the phone and turned away to stare directly at Bruce. “When can I go out, then?”

Fuck…. Dick seriously needed a drink.

Robbing a store in Gotham was frighteningly easy, as long as you didn’t run across a very pissed off owner or a vigilante. But hey, Mark was very sure that none of the Bats patrolled that area at that hour, giving him a window of time to act and leave silently without anybody being disturbed.

After emptying the safe and putting a few semi valuable items in his backpack he sighed and turned around towards the door, and nearly had a heart attack right there and then, a strangled yelp coming out of his mouth. There was… god, that was a new one!

The figure was perched atop a car at the other side of the narrow street, crouched and staring directly into him through the soulless white eyes. They wore a black hood that obscured most of their face, but the bat cowl they wore was still visible and the ears poked out of it, easily making them identifiable. The rest of the suit was mostly black and red, with a somewhat childish touch on it that gave it a creepy vibe; the chunky boots of a bright red that matched the knee and elbow pads, the crimson palms of the black gloves, and the bright bat on their chest. Something about this miniature Batman reminded Mark of… of Robin, whose pictures had been supposedly taken not long ago.

Fuck, no, it couldn’t be him! Robin had died ten years ago, this was impossible—

The figure stood from his crouch and jumped down to the pavement to start making his way over, and Mark screamed in terror.

New Vigilante in Gotham! Could This Be Robin!?

Dick folded the newspaper and sighed, looking up to the many screens of the computer again. The media had been in a frenzy the entire week, and the internet was blowing up even more. Hardcore fans had dug up every single video and photo they had of Robin from ten years ago and were comparing them side to side with little Batman, and incredibly… they were thoroughly convinced that they were one and the same, which had sparked an avalanche of theories as to how had he come back from the dead, and why so late. If any of them had been skeptical about Damian’s ability to imitate Jason, then their doubts had been eliminated— hell, he could do it so well that he had added details not even Dick or Bruce could remember until they rewatched old footage to compare.

In just his first night the new Batman had turned the city upside down, and so far after a week of continuous work, he seemed to be doing just fine… which was why now, Bruce wanted them to focus on finding that mysterious ‘baba’.

Damian was still not aware of their active investigation, but either way they had found absolutely nothing, not even Babs had managed to dug up any evidence or record, and it didn’t help that the info they had was severely limited to little facts the youngest Wayne dropped here and there.

“I don’t think we’ll find shit” Tim declared next to him, grumpily staring at the nth file they had on the League of Assassins. “We don’t even know what this man looks like”

Dick let out a long sigh and leaned back on his chair as another article popped up on screen, one mentioning the date of Robin’s death, and a vague memory popped up in his head.

“Hey Timmy, do you remember I told you about that kid I ran into at the faire?” he asked quietly as he straightened back up.

“Yeah, the rude little shit that didn’t even say thank you”

“…. I think that was Damian”

Tim finally looked up and frowned.

“What?”

Dick nodded as he turned to look at him with wide eyes, now remembering clearly.

“He was wearing sunglasses so I didn’t see his eyes, but the skintone and face shape is the same, and he was wearing his black hoodie that day, I’m a hundred percent positive it was him”

And come on, the way he talked was a dead giveaway too.

“Dick, why is this relevant?” his poor little brother asked in annoyance.

“Because I saw his dad too!” he declared triumphantly at last, grinning like a mad man, before he turned to the computer and started typing frantically “I couldn’t see his face either, he wore sunglasses and a mask, but he was tall— hell, I think he’s taller and broader than Bruce. And he— he had white hair, I remember I saw white hair beneath his hood”

Tim scrunched up his nose.

“He’s old….? But that can’t be, his voice sounds way too young… dyed hair?”

“Possibly. It would make sense if he doesn’t want to be recognised”

It was a small trail, but a trail nonetheless. With those small identifiers they could check across the security feed of thousands of cameras in Gotham, and narrow the search to big tall men with white hair that had been spotted around the time Damian arrived and right before it. If they clocked a single glampse on him from one of those, they could follow the lead until it brought them to his doorstep. The man was good at hiding, they had to admit, but they weren’t the world’s greatest detectives for nothing.

Before they could truly start digging on the new lead properly, one of the screens was overaken by Babs.

“Sorry to crash your party boys, but I think you should clock in early today— I just got an alert on East End for way too many gunshots. Mini Batman is requesting to go out”

“I’m not a mini anything, Gordon” Damian called from the stairs, where he was walking down followed by a silent Cass.

Babs completely ignored him and Dick frowned.

“I don’t think it’s wise to bring you to a possible gang war, Damian”

The fifteen year old raised an eyebrow at him.

“Should I remind you that of anybody in this room, I have performed best the entire week?” he replied dryly.

Dick frowned but Cass surprised them by raising her hand to interrupt.

“We need all the help. Batman will play nice”

They glanced at Damian, who rolled his eyes but nodded in accordance to their sister. Well then… time to work.

What they found in East End was not a gang war in fact, but clowns… Joker’s thugs. While Joker himself hadn’t stepped out of Arkham since Dick last tossed him in ten years ago, his clowns usually came back every few months to remind Gotham they still existed, that Joker could come back every time… It didn’t seem like he had escaped, not yet at least; when and if he did, he would definitely try to make it memorable for ‘little Robin’. At the very least, it meant there was no rogue running rampant and the cleanup was dealt with almost completely smoothly—

That is, until Damian was snatched mid air by the tall and imposing figure of a man, grabbed by the collar of his cape like a kitten as he kicked to struggle to get free.

Dick -or well, Nightwing- turned to attack and then stopped in his tracks. That man was big, definitely bigger than Bruce was now, with a shock of white hair amidst black and his face covered by both a domino and a red metallic mask over his nose and mouth. None of them heard him move near them, despite the fact he was not a few steps away… he had managed to sneak up on all the bats, he could’ve done anything before they even relised he was present.

“I warned you, and you didn’t listen” the robotic voice came from the mask and its modulator “You’re fucking grounded, you little piece of shit”

Damian twisted to kick him in the chest despite being held up in the air, although the man didn’t even react or move at being hit. The boy wasn’t upset though, grinning as if he’d just won their little spat, which in a way he had.

“Hi, baba” he said innocently “you look really nice tonight”

[artiststarme]

When Life Gives You Lemons...

I love biting into lemons and limes so now Eddie does too. I hope you guys like it and please leave your thoughts in the comments!

~*~*~*~

Eddie Munson was an anxious guy. He wasn’t ashamed to admit it. After everything he’d been through in his life, especially after his Spring Break from hell and the murder accusations posed by the angry mobs, he thought his anxiety was warranted. His friends understood, as did his boyfriend and his uncle, and they all tried to support him in the ways they knew how. 

When his hands started to shake and his breaths started coming out in pants, they all had a technique to try and get his nervous system settled. Dustin would try to distract him with D&D discussion, Mike would try to talk about long hairstyles, Lucas and Max would bring up arcade games, and Robin would start rambling about literally any subject that she could think of (one time it was rabies and the reminder of the Upside Down made everything worse. Steve liked to distract him with hugs and kisses which worked about 75% of the time. And Wayne had him suck on a lemon slice for a few minutes one day when he started panicking at home during a flashback.

The strong acidity of the lemon shocked him enough that he was able to fix his breathing and calm himself down from the forthcoming panic attack. From then on, he had a tried and true method of shocking his nervous system back to baseline when he was having a flashback or panic attack. 

However, he neglected to inform his friends of this method. 

They were all having a Party gathering at Steve’s house for no particular reason when the conversation grew somber and turned to how Chrissy’s family was doing after the events of Spring Break. Just hearing her name was enough to flood Eddie with terrified dread and he could feel the dredges of panic start to overwhelm him. Without even thinking, he dug his emergency lemon out of his jeans pocket and took a huge bite through the rind. 

Immediately, all conversation stopped as the entire group watched Eddie mow through a whole-ass lemon. Concurrently, Eddie had his eyes closed in peace as the lemon’s sour taste scared away the feelings of panic. He breathed a sigh in relief as his hands stopped shaking and his vision started to clear. 

“I’m sorry, what the hell is that?” Murray exploded as the group remained silent. 

Eddie’s eyes shot open and took in the varying horrified, confused, and exasperated looks of his friends. “What, you’ve never seen a guy eat a lemon before? Get off your high horse, asshole.”

Murray's jaw dropped in offense but Joyce put a hand up to curb his angry rebuttal. “Eddie, we have better food than just lemons. If you want a hamburger or a hot dog, Hop can warm it up for you.”

Eddie smiled at her, “why thank you, fair maiden. However, my thirst has now been quenched and I am satiated!”

And then he took another bite of his lemon. The juice dribbled down his chin and the Party could only watch as he chewed the sour fruit without even a wince.

The kids were looking on in wondrous amazement questioning if that was something people just did. The adults were looking at him in horror, or utter irritation in Hopper's case. None of them seemed to want to get too deeply into it.

Robin just shook her head at him in obvious disgust before turning to talk with Nancy. The others of the Party went back to their separate conversations as well but Steve shook Dustin off and made his way to Eddie. 

“A lemon, huh?” He asked him, leaning into Eddie’s shoulder. Eddie's heart settled further with the comfort of his boyfriend so close.

“It’s like lemonade but better for you because it doesn’t have sugar, man.” At Steve’s prodding look, he sighed. “It calms me down when my brain decides to go haywire. You guys mentioned Chrissy so I bit into my lemon. It’s fine.”

“Okay,” Steve nodded as he walked away towards the kitchen. 

“Where are you going?” Eddie questioned him, absolutely puzzled. They were in the middle of a conversation and he was just walking away? Rude!

“To put lemons on the shopping list. If it helps you to suck on a lemon, I want to make sure I have some available to you when you’re over here.” Steve answered him, scribbling horrendously onto his list. 

Eddie could feel his face go starry-eyed and felt his heart jump with affection. He loved this guy and he was definitely going to keep Steve Harrington around for a long time to come. Forever, preferably.

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[quin-ns]

Crushes, Chaos, and Confessions (Steve Harrington x Reader)

Word count: 2.2K

Summary: dustin knows how steve feels about you and he can’t stop himself from spilling his best friend’s biggest secret to you

Tags: ST4 spoilers!!, steve being all sweet, dustin, max, and lucas being chaotic/funny, dustin has a big mouth, humor, fluff, love confessions, kissing, mutually requited love

A/N: my second steve fic! I loved writing him so much the first time I had to do it again <3

Stranger Things masterlist + main masterlist

Sitting in the basement of the Wheeler house felt odd. Probably because neither of the Wheeler siblings you knew were there. Still, you had a lot of company.

Max was across the room at a desk, her headphones on as she held a pen in hand. Lucas, Steve, and Dustin—in that order—were sitting on the couch against the wall opposite to Max. And you? You couldn’t sit down. You should’ve gone with Nancy and Robin, but Steve had complained about always having to be the babysitter and convinced you that three was a crowd and to stick with him instead.

It was kind of embarrassing, how easy he could sway you. Steve had quickly become one of your best friends after he began working with you and Robin at Scoops Ahoy. That is, before the mall burned down. However, everything that happened was a very quick and strong bonding experience. Then the three of you migrated together to the video store and spent even more time together. Especially you and Steve. After your shifts or on your days off you were almost always hanging out together.

“Can you sit down?” Dustin’s voice broke through the silence and took you out of your head. “You’re making me dizzy.”

“Leave her alone, dude,” Steve muttered in your defense. “She’s scared.”

“I’m not scared,” you were quick to correct, finally stilling in order to face them. “I’m just… anxious.” It was true, you couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen if Nancy and Robin came back with no answers and Max—who you’d become fond of—was left in danger.

Steve stood from the couch and made his way over to you. He put an arm over your shoulder and pulled you against him at an angle. You allowed yourself to curl into him as he provided you with a comforting embrace.

“When’s the last time you slept?” Steve asked as his other arm came around you, hugging you. His voice was soft but full of concern.

“I don’t remember,” you admitted. After everything that happened it was hard to calm down enough to even close your eyes for more than a few seconds. You felt like you couldn’t sleep until the mystery of Vecna was solved and he was stopped.

If your head wasn’t against Steve’s chest, you would’ve seen Lucas staring at you and Steve while Dustin rolled his eyes. Steve didn’t see at first either, but he sensed the sass radiating off of his young friend. He shot Dustin a glare that translated to ‘keep your mouth shut!’

See, Dustin knew about Steve’s feelings for you. Well, practically everyone who saw the way he interacted with you did, but Dustin was the only one he actually told. He would’ve told Robin but she had already figured it out and he made her swear to forget it. There was only one person who didn’t know how Steve felt about you; you.

Somehow, you were oblivious to it. Even Steve at times was surprised you hadn’t called him out on it. Between the longing stares and constant affection, the way his mood always lit up when you were around and how often he wanted to hang out, he figured he would’ve been caught by now. But you never seemed to notice how he was so much gentler and much more openly caring with you than anyone else.

“Just try to take it easy, okay? Please?” Steve asked softly. “You know I worry about you.”

You lifted your head and met his eyes with a soft smile. “Sometimes I think you worry about me too much,” you teased him lightly.

“Yeah, well, I can’t help it,” he replied with sincerity. A light smile tugged at his lips as he stared down at you. He couldn’t hide the absolute adoration in his eyes as he held your gaze, and it took everything he had to not lean down and kiss you.

The moment was ruined when Dustin decided he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. “If you’re gonna kiss can you not do it in front of us please?” he asked sarcastically. Steve shot him a death glare and you blushed a little bit and stepped back from Steve.

“What the hell, man?” Steve couldn’t contain his annoyance at the younger teen. Looking at Steve you could see he was blushing a tad. You figured it was because Dustin had embarrassed him. It was one thing when you and Steve teased each other about your relationship but hearing it from someone else made it awkward.

You rolled your eyes and brushed off the comment. You thought there was no way it was anything more than a joke so you didn’t let it bother you. “I’m gonna go get a glass of water,” you announced, changing the subject.

“No, you stay here,” Steve decided, already walking to the stairs. “Sit down and relax for a sec. I’ll get it for you.” He gestured to the spot he’d been sitting that was now empty.

“Um, thanks!” You called after him as he ascended to the main house. You turned your attention to Lucas and Dustin, furrowing your brows at the weird expressions on their faces.

You didn’t move to the seat, unable to bring yourself to sit down. “Why are you looking at me like that?” you asked the boys.

“I wasn’t joking, you know. Before. He really does wanna kiss you.” Dustin told you matter of factly.

“What?” you questioned, his comment coming seemingly out of nowhere. You had no idea how long he’d been keeping Steve’s secret and Dustin just couldn’t not say anything now.

“He likes you. It’s, like, disgustingly obvious. I don’t know how you don’t notice,” he stated with plenty of sass in his voice. It was the tone he always used when he knew he was right—which was more often than any one of you wanted to admit.

“Yeah, he’s definitely into you,” Max chimed in, apparently having listened in to the whole interaction. You turned your head to her and saw no hint of sarcasm. “You seem like you like him too,” she added.

You opened your mouth to say something, but Dustin cut you off with more revealing information. “He’s too scared to tell you. He doesn’t want to ruin the friendship, whatever that means.”

“If you like him you should tell him,” Max intervened yet again. “He’d actually be a good boyfriend. He’s like, super romantic with you already. You just don’t notice.” The way she said it had an underlying argumentative tone.

That, of course, sparked Lucas to jump in. “And what? I wasn’t a good boyfriend?”

“You cared more about being popular so what do you think?” Max snarked back with her focus on Lucas.

You didn’t even have the focus to register what they had revealed to you before because the conversation devolved into children (okay, fine, teens) bicker amongst themselves.

“I do care about you!” Lucas defended, yelling slightly in exasperation.

“You did miss Hellfire Club,” Dustin muttered under his breath.

“And you missed my game!” Lucas then turned back to Max. “I do care about you, okay? Plus, Steve was popular in high school and now you’re his number one fan or whatever so how is that different?”

Max scoffed. “What does that have to do with anything?” she questioned. “Besides, I’m not his number one fan- Y/N is!”

“Guys—” you said, trying to get a word in.

“All I said was that they’d make a good couple because he obviously cares about her a lot.”

“Once again—” Lucas tried to argue back, but he got cut off just as you had been. This time, by Dustin.

He shot to his feet. “Hey! Quit it!” he yelled to Max and Lucas, causing them to fall quiet. They seemed startled and honestly you were too. All eyes were on Dustin as he firmly reminded, “this is about Y/N and Steve, not you two.” Dustin then looked at you. “Do you like Steve?” he pushed for an answer, causing you to feel flustered. You felt like a spotlight was on you.

This was not how you expected to admit you had feelings for Steve Harrington…

Then, to make everything even more… you didn’t know the word for it. Weird? It didn’t matter. Point was, Steve appeared all of the sudden and questioned, “I heard my name, what’s going on?”

Well, at least he hadn’t heard everything. “Um,” you didn’t know what to say.

“We told her you love her,” Dustin announced, causing both you and Steve to whip your heads towards him.

“What!?” You and Steve exclaimed in unison. You were both shocked, but in different ways.

“Why would you tell her that!?” Steve demanded an answer from Dustin.

Your eyes found Steve. “You love me?” you asked. He looked down at you, his cheeks flushed and his face still wearing an expression of surprise and confusion.

He swallowed, trying to regain his composure. “I thought he said he told you.”

“He didn’t say love,” you told him. You still couldn’t believe it as you said the words. Steve Harrington loved you… that was a lot to take in.

“Well, he does love you,” Dustin confirmed.

“Be quiet, Henderson!” Steve shouted in frustration at the boy.

“No, I’m tired of you staring at her and always talking about her but doing nothing about it!” Dustin argued, somehow sounding just as frustrated with Steve as Steve was with him.

“I thought you said you didn’t want them to kiss earlier,” Max quipped.

Dustin looked at her and she tilted her head, easing her brows. “They need to kiss and get it over with, just not in front of me,” Dustin clarified.

“Okay!” Steve shouted, holding his hands up, signaling for silence. Then he took a breath before letting out a deep sigh. “Y/N, can I talk to you for a minute?” he addressed you calmly. This wasn’t how he wanted you to find out. Hell, he wasn’t planning on you finding out. But if he did tell you, it would’ve been… well, not like this. Now he had to explain himself and hope you didn’t reject him too harshly.

Given the situation with Max, you figured the both of you leaving the room wasn’t the safest and Steve agreed. You found yourselves sitting on the stairs next to one another. You were towards the middle, still in the eyeline of the other three but (hopefully) out of earshot if you talked quietly.

“Here,” Steve murmured, pushing the glass of water he had been holding into your hand. You dipped it, muttered thanks, then set it aside.

“So…” he started off. Steve wasn’t looking at you, but at his hands as he fiddled with his hands. “Henderson told you everything?”

“Yeah,” you confirmed. “It was a lot of information all at once,” you recalled through a small chuckle. The chaos that had ensued was admittedly funny in hindsight.

“And what do you think of that information?” he asked cautiously, finally looking up and meeting your eyes. Steve was so anxious and he was sure you could see it. Maybe he’d get some of your sympathy so you would let him down gently.

Instead, you surprised him. “I wish you had told me sooner,” you admitted. You had no excuse not to tell Steve everything now that you knew he felt the same. “I feel the same way.”

Steve’s brows raised slightly and a boyish smile crossed his face. “You don’t know how happy I am to hear that,” he replied, a huge weight lifting off of his shoulder. His heart still raced but in a different way now.

“I guess I was better at hiding it than you,” you teased. “I mean, I didn’t know—but they did.” You gestured to the kids with a tilt of your head. “Seems like I need to pay better attention.”

You both laughed at that. “I should’ve just said something. I didn’t want to screw things up,” he confessed. Steve then chuckled to himself. “I can’t believe Henderson told you.”

“I guess he did us a favor, huh?” You suggested.

“You’re welcome!” Dustin called over to you. Great, so they had been eavesdropping. It was naive to believe they were actually minding their own business.

“Hey, Dustin?” Steve spoke up now that he knew he was listening. You threw a glance towards the boy and saw he was looking at you guys now.

“What?”

Steve smirked to himself before saying, “Close your eyes.”

Dustin furrowed his brows at that, not realizing the callback Steve was making until he leaned in to kiss you.

The kiss was sweet and full of love and god, his lips were so soft. You smiled against him briefly before returning the kiss with just as much passion.

“Oh, come on,” Dustin complained, likely averting his eyes.

“Leave them alone! This is a big moment,” Max defended you and Steve. You couldn’t help but laugh and the two of you pulled apart, both with smiles on your faces.

“I can’t believe the first time I got to kiss you was in front of,”—he gestured to the teens—“them."

"Me neither," you and Dustin replied at the same time.

[movedmovedsoup]

“Likewise”

robin x gn! reader. 3/3! FINAL!

taglist!

@multi-simp-page

@telmawang-blog

@utopiabby

@subjecta13-thefangirl

part 2 is right here feel free to read !

“god how could he be so cold hearted??” you mumbled to yourself. wiping away some stray tears before shoving away the tons of photos as you tried to clear your throat simultaneously. not paying attention to the loud thumping footsteps on the staircase. as robin was walking home, taking the shorter way now, he couldn’t stop his heart from completely falling out of his chest and onto the street the moment he saw a ‘FOR RENT’ sign jammed into the front lawn. your front lawn. and then seeing the u-haul truck parked out on the driveway. he didn’t even know what he was doing, it didn’t register in his mind when he ran up the steps of the home, opening the unlocked door. he knew you always went straight home. it all finally started to register in his brain what he was doing when he pushed open the door, standing there stiff as a board as you very quickly looked over to him. eyes going wide at the mere sight of him. one part of you wanted to start apologizing and hug him and the other part of him wanting to set him straight and let him know a piece of your mind. standing up with the photos tucked under your arm you didn’t waste any time.

“what do you want? finally decided you wanted to toy around with me again?” you began, showing no signs of stopping as he looked at you with remorse. as you began to feel the beginnings of guilt as well. “robin i have tried, countless and i mean countless of times to apologize to you, but..” your voice started to waver as you spoke, trying to fight the fact you were choking up, as if it the mere sight of robin wasn’t enough to make you cry. “you never once tried to ever call me back and..you wouldn’t even want to be around me, don’t you dare think for a minute i didn’t see the way you would drop the conversation with finney whenever i came around-!” towards the end of the sentence was when you couldn’t hold it in anymore. voice going weak as you bursted into tears, hands hurriedly trying to wipe away tears. you didn’t know what robin was going to respond with. you knew he wasn’t good with words. he knew you were a strong person, he wasn’t used to seeing you cry. to see you in a state such as this..it didn’t seem natural.

he knew both of you were in the wrong, him more than you..ignoring someone wasn’t the best way to go. but now it was his turn to apologize and clear things up before it was too late. “y/n..i’m really sorry..and i know sorry isn’t going to cut it for all these months, i should’ve said something to you rather than leaving you in the dust like that i was just..” he trailed off for a moment looking over at you with a guilty sigh. “i was scared alright? i was scared to admit that i’ve always had some feelings for you. i seriously don’t know why i froze up and i don’t know why i just left you there i couldn’t bring myself to even speak to you i felt so..embarrassed?” he was trying his best to look for the appropriate word. you paused on wiping your tears for a moment as you just looked at him. in semi-shock. this entire time you thought he was just leading you on just for fun. no feelings or anything attached. but as he now admitted this it felt like the worse timing ever. it brought an ache to your stomach, the type of ache where you felt like you were missing out on something. with your shoulders slumped you let out a dry chuckle and shook your head, frowning. “robin don’t you understand? it’s too late.” you gestured to the window, right across from the ‘FOR RENT’ sign.

“i’m moving and you tell me this now?! you’ve never had any good sense of timing did you know that?? and you never even pick up the phone in the first place regardless if you’re acting petty or no-“ “y/n do-“ you seemed to immediately talk over him not giving him the time or day to even get the smallest word out. sure, the two of you had made amends but that didn’t mean you automatically weren’t still upset at him. small tears still threatening to topple over onto your cheeks. now robin hated it whenever he saw you about to cry. gently grabbing your shoulders as he shook you lightly, making you wriggle around for a moment or two. “yes okay okay i get it!! i understand you are moving that’s why i’m here-!!” he cried out dramatically with a sigh, shaking his head. in return you raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

“so..you are only here because i’m leaving?? if i wasn’t leaving you wouldn’t have came?”

you could’ve sworn you saw the boy internally screaming inside his head. removing a hand from your shoulders as he pinched the bridge of his nose.”

“no-! no no no that’s not what i’m saying! well i mean-yes?-no? just..god damn it!”

letting out a sharp sigh he grabbed you up by the face, being careful as he did so. not wanting to be given another scolding in the span of four minutes. you seemed to be confused to what he was doing. it wasn’t until he leaned in and gave you a quick but sweet, kiss. he pulled back with his hands hovering over your cheeks carefully looking at your face to see how you’d react. but instead of shooting out some vile insult you actually went quite shy. taking a moment to realize what had happened a grin had taken over your features, the scowl no longer evident. or that grumpy attitude, gently placing your hands on his shoulders. “you know you can’t just kiss me whenever you screw up?” you teased, pointing a finger at him accusingly. as he playfully sighed and nodded in agreement. “but it worked this time didn’t it?” his grin matched yours as you lightly hit the back of his head.

oh yeah, about that whole moving situation? you had realized you never asked your mom about where the house was. so when she told you it was quite literally..just a block away from the house you were staying in currently..instead of you giving a mouthful of scoldings to robin it had turned the other way around. the rest of the evening he had helped you pack up your room, occasionally looking back at memories with you. you kept a smile on your face the entire rest of the day. it seemed like the wishes you made months earlier before were coming true. it was turning back to normal..well this new type of normal at least.

[erin-bo-berin]

Please write some soft Steve Harrington comfort with reader as they wait to hear news about Max?

OH MAN OH MAN. I hope you mean the reader comforting Steve because that’s how I imagined this blurb.

Also I’ve seen edits of that moment from 4x9 where Steve, Robin and Nancy hear the four chimes and assume the worst has happened to Max and where all the bad thoughts that’s probably going through his head at that moment just based on the look on his face. That poor boy definitely has a lot in his head that he doesn’t express/we don’t see often on the show. I just want to give Steve a big hug 😕 anyway, prepare for a bit of him being too hard on himself in this because I feel like he doesn’t express how own worries and fears enough.

“This is my fault. I should’ve been with them. They counted on me. I shouldn’t have let them go alone. I shouldn’t have let them go along with this, it was too dangerous.”

You watched Steve pace the waiting room floor in front of you, where you were perched on the edge of the seat.

The aftermath of your battle with Vecna was to put it bluntly, grim. He’d disappeared, but wasn’t for sure dead. Hawkins quite literally had split open like hell had come to earth, the Upside Down bleeding into the real world. Eddie was gone, Max was in a coma. There was no telling what Vecna would plan next and you had the awful feeling that he would strike when you and your group were the weakest, but you refused to let the asshole win. Especially not when he’d taken the life of one of your favorite people and the soul of another one of your friends.

Max was still alive, but in a coma. Somehow, maybe even miraculously, El had managed to bring Max back to life with her powers. But there was still no definite answers right now.

There was no guarantee she’d wake up.

No guarantee she would even be okay if she did wake up.

No guarantee that the Max you’d all known and loved was even still in there.

The possibilities were endless and terrifying.

Lucas hadn’t left her side since she’d been admitted to the hospital, reading to her as often as he could. Erica was often with him, offering any support she could.

You and Steve had just been in her room. After finding out what happened to her, Steve was rushing to the hospital, you in tow. Now, after seeing the condition she was in, everything had caught up to him.

He’d sank to the floor earlier, just down the hall, after seeing Max and cried like you’d never seen the man cry before. It was deep, guttural, soul wrenching sobs, his face buried in his fists as his shoulders shook.

It broke you heart to see.

You instantly fell to your knees, not caring if the linoleum hospital floor was uncomfortable and pulled your boyfriend into your arms. You sat and hugged him, letting him cry as much as he needed to. He clung to you like you were the anchor in this storm he’d been thrust into.

You couldn’t say how long you both sat in the hallway like that, but you sat quietly, holding him to you, stroking his hair.

You were upset and scared too, but for once, Steve shouldn’t have to be the strong one. You wanted him to know that he could decompress, he could let out all the grief, grief you knew had been compiling and building up inside his head, inside his heart for years. Maybe this was what had been his final straw.

He’d said nothing about the episode, only kissing your forehead as if saying thank you for just being there.

His face was no longer wrecked from his sobs, but his eyes were red, you could tell just from the distance where you sat. A mixture of tears and lack of sleep had turned his beautiful brown eyes that you loved so much, completely bloodshot.

“Steve,” you finally stopped him, grabbing his arm to slow his pacing.

He hadn’t even changed out of his fighting gear. Although he’d disposed of the tactical vest he’d had on, he was still in the camouflaging shirt, dark pants and brown leather jacket with the patches. He was bloody, bruised and injured. Specks of dirt and blood mixed in the dots of filth on his face. His choke burn and cut from demobats that seemed like eons ago was still present, yet to be cleaned. You ran fingers over it lightly, causing him to wince. You whispered an apology before you continued.

“None of this was your fault,” you tell him firmly, looking up into his face.

“But I’m supposed to be looking out after them. That’s my job. I promised to keep them safe. I always said I’d keep them safe and I didn’t. This time I didn’t.”

Steve had grown a close bond to the young teens after years of winding up looking after them on the craziest of missions, situations and all the weird Upside Down shit that Hawkins had the misfortune of going through. Even though it had been a joke amongst the group, Steve truly cares for these kids as if they were his own family. They were his own family. Steve was just the kind of person to sacrifice himself to save each and every one of those kids. He would’ve done it too in this instance, if it’d save Max.

“The only person responsible for this is Vecna,” you said, “No one else, okay? This is not on you.”

“But Y/N-”

“No,” you said firmly, sitting him down in a chair, you sitting in the one next to him, “You know Max. Even if you were there she would be stubborn enough to do it on her own. Even against your wishes. Remember when she drove you guys after you were knocked out by Billy? She was barely 13 then!”

He smiled faintly at the memory.

“Yeah, she is stubborn alright.”

“She’s also a fighter, Steve.”

You linked your fingers through his and squeezed his hand gently, letting him know you were there for him, in more ways than just being right next to him. He looked up at your words.

“I’m scared, Y/N.”

“I know,” you whispered, “I am too. But she would want us to fight this son of a bitch and that is what we’re going to do. When the time comes, we’re going to fight like hell. For Eddie. For Max. For all the other lives he’s taken, all the lives he’s destroyed. We’re going to fight, Steve. And you know where I’m gonna be?”

He shook his head, watching you.

“I’m going to be right there next to you fighting as hard as you are because I refuse to let Vecna ruin us or this town. Ruin anymore families, lives. I’m going to be right there next to you Steve okay?”

“Okay,” he whispered.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen to Max and I sure hope she’ll wake up. Maybe defeating Vecna will help her wake up. I don’t know. But we’re going to get through this alright?”

A tear escaped down his cheek as he looked down and you brushed it away before he could swipe at it himself. You rested your free hand on his cheek and he turned once again to look up you, slightly leaning into your touch.

“I know things aren’t okay. But we’re going to make it Steve, all of us, no matter what.”

The words seemed to center Steve, his lips pursing in determination.

“No matter what.”

[vemuabhi]

Hiii Vemuabhi chwaan, may i request for a hurt/comfort headcanon for the Monster Trio + Law where they are wandering around the new island with their fem. S/O when they come across a celestial dragon, and then their s/o starts to get a panic attack, like she can't breathe nor move and tears keeps streaming on their cheels due to their tragic past as a slave? IK its a weird request

credits to the owners of the pictures.

oh no! its not weird at all Yui chwan. its emotional. I tried to make it hc’s but it turned to be mini scenarios. i hope you like them. I just Love the picture above!

sorry for any mistakes. English is not my first language.

Warnings : angst, Mention of trauma, abuse, hurt then comfort.

MONKEY D LUFFY

You both were making jokes and laughing while you were looking around the Island for the last time before you all hit the waves.

Luffy stopped at every single food shop and took food from there, while you paid for the food he got. Well you weren’t complaining. You loved to take care of him because he was your lovely innocent captain and also your lover.

Suddenly everyone stopped whatever they were doing because of a loud Gunshot. Luffy and you looked in the direction of the gunshot. It seemed that a celestial dragon came to this place. There was a big person who was walking on all fours and had huge chains around his neck and hands. He was… a slave. Like once you were.

Seeing this you started sweating and your heart beat increased. You knew how terrible that situation is. You slowly looked up and saw a man with snot nose and black curly hair.

Your eyes widened in surprise as you saw the celestial dragon. He… he was the one who made you tremble with fear. He was the one who made you think Death would’ve been peaceful than to live under his foot.

You remembered how he had kicked you repeatedly and how he had thrown his hot coffee on your bare skin just because he wanted to know how hot the coffee was.

Your eyes started to water and you hid behind Luffy, clutching the back of his shirt. He hugged you back with one of his hand but didn’t look at you.

He noticed how you shivered with fear. He heard you sob but didn’t ask what had happened. He knew about how you were once a slave. Only he knew.

Meanwhile the rest of the straw hats came to the place from where ever they were because they heard the gun shot and were worried if something had happened to you two.

Nami and Chopper asked why you were crying. Then the celestial dragon started to slowly move in the direction of where you all were still on top of his slave. He was not yet close to where you were at but the sole presence of that jerk was enough to break your emotions.

Luffy soothingly rubbed on your back and now turned to face you. You looked at him with tears in your eyes and whispered, “That’s him”, so softly only for your boyfriend to hear. He gently wiped your tears and placed his straw hat on your head. You then saw how Luffy walked ahead with Sanji and Zoro behind him. You stopped crying as you looked at your captain with hope in your eyes.

He went to the Celestial Dragon and beat marines surrounding the celestial dragon and punched the Celestial Dragon’s face and made that jerk to taste the dirt. You are sure he broke his ribs. You stopped trembling and smiled as Luffy turned around and gave you his classic smile. Luffy doesn’t fail to make you smile.

Luffy stretched his arms and flew towards you with Zoro and Sanji dangling in his other hand. You knew what was happening and you jumped as you wrapped your arms around his neck. You held him tight as he proceeded to fly towards Sunny with the rest of the crew still dangling on his arms.

He was already your prince but now he was your whole world, your reason to smile, your Pirate King and… your One Piece.

RORONOA ZORO

Zoro got lost in the middle of your date and you were trying to find him. You suggested to go on a date on the last day and he got lost.

You were still looking for him as you heard an announcement. Your ears perked up as you started to listen to it.

The island announced that a celestial Dragon was going to reach the island soon. Everyone was warned to be on good behaviour and not come in the way of Celestial Dragon in order not to die.

You were shaking like a leaf. Your breathing became faster along with your heart rate. You were sweating. You tried to breathe as air wouldn’t enter your lungs.

You didn’t want to look weak so you hid how you were once a slave but escaped with some others one day on an island. You hugged yourself and tried to breathe. You knew your past was always haunting you. You knew Zoro was waiting for you to tell him but chose not to.

Then you saw from a distance, a big ship had stopped on the port. You weren’t very close to them but could see them.

You slowly looked up. You saw the man with grey hair and big beard, sitting on top of a slave. You saw how the slave crawled down the ship with that jerk on top of his back.

That man… he tortured you. He lit his cigar and with it, he burnt the skin on your shoulder just to make you scream in pain. Once you screamed he’d use that reason to beat you up and not give you food for days. Oh how he smiled when you cried with pain. He enjoyed to make you suffer as you were his new slave. You remember how Zoro frowned after seeing your scars every time he looked at them. Chopper cried when he treated them, but you just lied whenever they asked about your scars. Of course Zoro didn’t believe them because he knew you weren’t ready to tell him. So he chose to wait.

You froze in place. In your head you screamed. You knew you should run away. But you couldn’t. Tears wouldn’t stop flowing from your eyes.

“Zo..ro”, was the only word you managed to say as you shivered. Suddenly you felt two strong arms pull you back to a hard chest. As soon as he hugged you, your knees became weak as you trembled. He caught you and wiped your tears soothingly. He asked you what had happened but you couldn’t speak. Instead you pointed towards the Celestial dragon.

After hearing the announcement, Zoro actually had a plan of getting you then running to ship with everyone and getting away. But after seeing you in such a state, his mind changed. He exactly knew what to do. Meanwhile you see Robin chan and chopper running towards you two in order to leave the island quickly. Their hearts broke as they saw you weeping as you held Zoro tightly.

Robin chan hugged you as Zoro placed his hand on his swords and ran towards the Celestial dragon. He beat all the marines around and charged front. Then you saw Luffy attacking with Sanji by his side. Zoro sliced off the clothes of the celestial dragon and scarred his torso.

“You can’t get away after hurting my lover”, he glared at the celestial dragon. Then the monster trio ran towards our direction.

“LET’S SAIL QUICKLY”, Luffy shouted. Zoro came running towards you and picked you up with ease as he ran towards Sunny. You threw your arms around his neck and you wrapped your legs around his waist.

You hugged Zoro and inhaled his scent. He smelled like wood and leaves. That must be because of him getting lost in the woods. Well you knew you had to thank your crew for doing this for you. For now you just closed your eyes and held onto your boyfriend tightly. He was your love, your man, your marimo and the one person you'd love to call... your precious prince.

BLACK LEG SANJI

You and Sanji walked around the small island before you again continued your journey. You both heard a loud noise which sounded like a horn. You looked at the place from where the sound was coming and saw that it was a ship of Celestial Dragon.

The celestial dragon had brown hair and had a small beard. His snot was visible to everyone. He was sitting on a person who was bleeding from his head. He wasn’t even treated. He looked very injured.

You could recognise that celestial dragon. He was the one who tortured you by beating you with rods to make you scream in pain. He made you to work all day long without mercy. He made you to scream and then hit you for screaming.

Without mercy he sat on top of you while you carried him, then kicked you in the stomach because you fell to ground as you couldn’t carry him.

He loved to harass you and all the other slaves. His evil grin spread wide whenever you collapsed to the floor because you couldn’t even stand anymore. Now he had another reason to beat you up. Once you knocked out while you carried him. He kicked you but you didn’t respond. So he thought you were dead and made his men to throw you in the boat of dead bodies of slaves. But you were still alive. When you woke up you immediately threw up into the ocean. The bodies of the slaves were horrible because of their condition and how beaten up they were.

You cried for them and also… you also cried with happiness that you weren’t with him anymore. You felt sorry for the bodies of slaves. But the feeling of dead bodies round you didn’t disgust you because the celestial dragons were the most disgusting of all. You were happy to even be alive and escape that hell.

You hid behind Sanji as you gasped for air. You were having trouble breathing. Your surroundings became very uncomfortable. Your heartbeat was raising quickly as you looked at the celestial dragon. You were getting a panic attack. He hugged you as you held onto him tightly.

Sanji didn’t ask you anything. He didn’t knew you past nor did he want to pressure you. He respects if a person choses to not talk about their past. He never saw you so scared. He soothingly rubbed your back. Sanji was your home and straw hats were your nakama. You slowly admitted that you were his slave and he tortured and harassed you, so you were scared of him.

He wiped your tears as he told you to just stay back and watch as he lit his cigarette and went towards that jerk who made you cry. He kicked everyone with ease and wiped out everyone. Then came Luffy and Zoro as they joined the fight. Chopper and Nami hugged you as you returned their embrace. Sanji kicked the Celestial dragon in face and broke his neck.

Everyone started to run towards Sunny and with one swift motion Sanji jumped in front of you and picked you up like a princess. Then he did his Sky walk while he still held you in his arms. You always go crazy whenever he does that. To light up your mood he always picks you up like you don’t weigh anything and sky walk on top of that whenever you feel sad.

This time… it was different…. You fell in love again. Tears streamed down your cheek as you hugged him tightly with your head in the crook of his neck. He smelled like shampoo, perfume, spices and nicotine. He was your prince, your dream, your knight and your All Blue.

TRAFALGAR D WATER LAW

Just like usual, before leaving the island, you and your captain were stocking up on medicines and medicinal books. It was like shopping date. You never get bored with this because it’s your special moment together.

You both go and pay for it and exit the shop. Penguin came to you and took your bags as he went to the submarine. That was so sweet.

You and Law both slowly walked towards the port hand in hand as you talked. Law rarely shows PDA and this was one of the days he at least holds your hand in public. Suddenly there was a loud scream and you two ran towards it. There you saw a celestial dragon was beating up her slave.

Law looked at you and saw you were completely pale. Your eyes were wide open. Your limbs trembled and you went behind law and stayed there. You gripped his shirt tightly and covered your mouth with your other hand. You were crying but didn’t want to make any sound but still Law could hear your sobs and his heart dropped.

Law didn’t knew why you were crying. But being the clever man he was understood that you were getting scared because of the… celestial Dragon. Then it came to him. The scars on your back and legs. He always knew they weren’t from a battle like you always said.

Now that he knew... oh boy he was furious. Bepo soon came towards you two. Law made sure you were with Bepo and he slowly went towards the celestial dragon. Not even a second later he freed the slaves in a swift motion and made them to teleport. The chains exploded and created a smoke screen. Then he wiped out all the soldiers and guards in the way and in one instant he got a heart in his hands. Due to the heavy smoke no one could even see where he was and who he was.

With the heart Law ran towards you. He gave you the heart as he picked you up and ran with Bepo on his side towards the submarine. You had that awful woman’s heart with you now. In your hands.

That horrible woman pulled your hair harshly and used to beat you. You were her new toy, which meant you were the new person who they enjoyed to break. As you could scream and cry for help she watched with happiness in her eyes as she burned the skin on your legs and back. Without mercy she used to burn the same the same place even when it wasn’t healed completely.

You had another slave friend with whom you escaped but… in the end, that celestial dragon, shot your friend. As you both escaped. You ran… you ran with tears in your eyes as your friend screamed for freedom. You knew that meant for your freedom especially. You still had horrible nightmares because of the trauma. You still could clearly hear the screams of the slaves who begged for their lives but got killed in a terrible way in her hands. You still have the heart in your hand… you could choose…. Life or death for that horrible person.

You look at law and smiled with happiness as you let your tears fall. You were so happy to be a member of the heart pirates. And mostly… a person beloved to Law. You were lucky to have Law as your captain, your saviour, your boyfriend and your Pirate King.

THE END

Like, comment and Reblog!

what would you do if you had the heart of the celestial dragon?

Tell me in the comments below!

i hope you liked them. I made the celestial dragon a female in Law’s scenario because there are female celestial dragons who are also the same the men. i just wanted to do something different for his scenario. 

also i may not be active on tumblr because of exams so please forgive me everyone and Yui chwan~

[gointothevvater]

Her full profile is finally here! Seven pages of information! I may have gone down the rabbit hole just a tiny bit! 

.

St. Cecilia Jameson

Gender: Cis female

Status: Alive

Occupation: Singer for British rock band Stiletto ("Like the knife or like the shoe?" "Yes.")

 Family: Elizabeth Robinson, née Wallis (Mother), Bryony Robinson (Older half-sister), Esme Robinson, née Davies (Grandmother, deceased), Herakles Zafeiriou (Biological father, though she's never met him), Evander Zafeiriou (Older half-brother, who she's also never met, though they've exchanged family photos and stories via email)

Voiced by: Florence Pugh (Speaking), Lzzy Hale (Singing)

Age: A few months younger than Pickles

Date of birth: December 15 (Sagittarius)

Place of birth: Oxford, England

Birth name: Felicity Robinson (Initially, only Sammy knows this, though the rest of SnB learns it at Esme's funeral)

Nicknames: Ceelie (By Pickles and Sammy, mostly, though the Dethklok boys pick it up eventually), Star (By Magnus), princess (By Skwisgaar)

Ethnicity: Half English, half Greek (Though she's unaware of the latter for most of her life)

Height: Five-foot-one

Sexuality: Bisexual

Relationship status: It's complicated. It's always complicated. She's unlucky in love. 

Current location: London, England

Appearance: St. Cecilia is a petite woman (She's half a head shorter than Pickles!) with golden skin and long white-blonde hair, which she wears in a high ponytail. She has thick, dark brows and bright brown eyes (Skwisgaar says she has "wolf eyes"). She has three white marigolds tattooed on each shoulder, a labret piercing, and a vertical collarbone piercing at the hollow of her throat. Her ears are pierced three times each, in which she wears two silver hoops and a silver stud on each side, and she has a small black star beneath each eye. She has a Christina piercing, nipple piercings, and a belly button piercing. She has a No Time For Antivenom tattoo on her sternum, and a European robin tattoo at the back of her neck. Along her spine, she has a tattoo reading "to thine own self be true." She has a shitty stick-and-poke crown tattooed behind her right ear. She has a pear body type, with wide hips, a small chest, and an even smaller waist (Nathan can encircle her waist with his hands). She typically wears a black muscle shirt, ripped dark jeans, heavy boots, black driving gloves, and a studded black leather collar with a D-ring at the front. She also wears a Gibson pearl guitar pick on a necklace, which was given to her by Pickles when they first started dating in the 80s. She wears a silver cuff on each ear, and her tongue is pierced with a simple silver stud. 

During flashbacks to the Snakes N' Barrels era, she's shown with darker blonde hair cut in a mullet style, and only her labret and ear piercings, plus one on the right side of her nose. She wears a cropped white tank, with high-waisted jeans and black Converse sneakers. She wears mismatched armbands, one black, one striped, and the same collar she wears in the present.

Her more casual look consists of a black button-up shirt with the sleeves pushed up, which she wears tucked into a pair of leather pants. She wears pumps instead of boots, and her hair is twisted up in a clip. She keeps her collar, but doesn't wear the pick necklace or her ear cuff, and she switches her hoop earrings for studs. She doesn't apply her stars.

For fancier occasions, she wears a black dress with spaghetti straps and a very short, flared skirt, black opera gloves and black strap pumps. She, as always, wears her collar with it, and she pulls her hair into a high bun. 

Personality: St. Cecilia is cocky, witty, and teasing, but ultimately good-natured. She's a bit selfish and stubborn, but she does everything with 110% effort, hoping to impress people, even if she winds up getting hurt in the process. She'll do literally anything for validation. To say she's vain would be an understatement. She's something of a coquette who flirts with both men and women, and is she has a tendency to "think with her dick," as Tony once put it. She's slow to anger, but quick to jealousy, and she holds grudges for far too long. She's the playful type, but it's largely in a chill way. She's an obvious extrovert, and the role as frontman for Stiletto came very naturally.  

Skills & Hobbies: St. Cecilia writes good poetry, great song lyrics, and terrible erotica. She likes plants and is quite the chess player (Though she hasn't managed to beat Charles even once), which she learned during her school days. She also learned to fence, ride horses, and speak fluent Latin there.

Musical Talents: She's a classically trained singer (When she was little, she was part of her church's choir), and she writes most of the song lyrics and some of the music for her band, Stiletto. In Snakes N' Barrels, she played lead guitar on a white Jackson Pro Series Rhoads RR3, but during their reunion concert, she plays a more modern Gibson Explorer '76 Reissue 2010 Cherry. She took piano lessons for several years as a child, and she's still pretty good. Nothing outstanding, but if Stiletto needs to incorporate a piano into a song, she's perfectly capable of playing it herself. 

Relationships: 

-Pickles the Drummer: Their relationship is a complicated one. They've known each other for ages, and they've been together through the highest highs and the lowest lows, all the way down to rock bottom. She partially blames him for her late teens and early twenties being the fiasco they were, and she cut off contact with him for a long time after the SnB breakup. During the run of the show itself, the two reconcile somewhat and even become more or less friends before Abigail shows up and things start to crumble again. They have a hard time admitting it, but there's love between them, and there has been for a long time. They're both afraid to try getting together again, though, as there's a mutual fear of the relationship ending as it did the first time, with them hating each other again. They're back together at the end of Doomstar, but there's no way of telling if the love between them is enough to keep them together or if they'll just fall apart all over again. 

-Magnus Hammersmith: They were more off-and-on than anything, but they were together for years, even though quite a bit of it was long-distance. It wasn't supposed to be a serious thing. It was just supposed to be a quick fuck. Then it was supposed to be a performance to annoy Pickles, but Magnus quickly realized that St. Cecilia's feelings for Pickles were too strong for her to be any use to him in his revenge plot. The basis of their bond formed because they understood each other on a level they've never known with anyone else: Former Snakes N' Barrels guitarist St. Cecilia Jameson and former Dethklok guitarist Magus Hammersmith both understand on a fundamental level what it's like to be left behind and forgotten. Magnus caught a bit of feelings, and when Roy Cornickelson's funeral came around, Magnus warned St. Cecilia not to attend. It was their last interaction, and it forever cast him in a positive light for her, even after she learned what he was doing with the Metal Masked Assassin. 

-Nathan Explosion: They get along pretty well. Their first meeting was at a singers-only Crystal Mountain party, and they ended the evening with a quickie in the coatroom. He wrote a song about the encounter, but Pickles never figured out that it was about St. Cecilia, which Nathan thinks is just the funniest thing. He mostly sees St. Cecilia as one of the guys once she meets with Dethklok again for the SnB reunion. It's a "been there, done that" kind of deal. She's not brutal, but she's funny and she's fun, and goddamn, is she pretty, and they would absolutely hang out if they could get their schedules to line up.

-Skwisgaar Skwigelf: St. Cecilia is nothing short of enchanted by Skwisgaar. It's not a crush, exactly, but she has a huge amount of admiration for him. They've practiced together a time or two, but she's a little rusty and winds up with her fingers bleeding because her calluses have gone soft. He tends to tease her over her soft hands. A guitar god, he tells her, can't have hands like a princess. His calling her “princess” becomes a bit of a thing for them. The two of them often have brunch together, talking shit and drinking. She's good for him; He's never had a female friend before.

-Toki Wartooth: Within the series itself, St. Cecilia hasn't given Toki much thought. He's cute, but he's just sorta there. His incident during the SOBERTOWN USA concert really scared her, and she more or less avoids him after that. Post-DSR, though, their relationship changes. He, like her, was hurt by Magnus, and even with him dead, Toki misses him terribly. St. Cecilia misses him, too. As sad as it is, this becomes their common ground. Their other connection, odd as it sounds, is pole dancing. St. Cecilia does it for exercise, and Toki did it for money, and they often compete to see who's better on the pole. 

-William Murderface: St. Cecilia actually has a begrudging fondness for Murderface. He's awful, but he's also pretty funny, and she likes to hear him talk about knives and medieval weaponry, as her family home is full of such things. They clash over things, of course, but she likes being around him more often than not.

-Charles Offdensen: St. Cecilia really likes Charles, actually. He's basically the only person on the show who's really "on her level" class-wise. He attended Harvard, and she attended Oxford, so they have a great deal to talk about. They play a lot of chess and fence on occasion, and if it weren't for her feelings for Pickles and his obligation to the Church, they just might have gotten together.

-Dick Knubbler: They're friends, in a way. She thinks he's kind of a weirdo, but he knows how to have a good time, so as long as he isn't hitting on her, she likes being around him. 

-Abigail Remeltincdrinc: They became friends mostly due to the fact that they were both women in the music industry (And both working for Crystal Mountain) and supporting each other seemed the right thing to do. Abigail getting involved with Dethklok and catching Pickles's attention quickly became a sore spot, and they drifted apart after that. After DSR, things got even worse. Abigail, naturally, is glad that Magnus is gone, while St. Cecilia is devastated by the loss. They had something of a falling-out over it, and they haven't really spoken since. 

-Edgar Jomfru: Despite being very different people, St. Cecilia really enjoys Edgar's company. He merely tolerates her at first, but she grows on him, to the point where they're legitimately friends come Doomstar. The two of them often have lunch together on the roof of Mordhaus so they can get some fresh air. 

-Family: St. Cecilia's family consists of her mother, Elizabeth, her older sister, Bryony, and her now-deceased grandmother, Esme. St. Cecilia has a very formal, cold relationship with her mother, and she has no desire to change that. As far as she's concerned, her mother doesn't deserve to have a good relationship with her. St. Cecilia adores Bryony, though. Though Elizabeth brags about her, Bryony remains modest and is very close with her sister because of it. Though there's seven years between them, they may as well be twins. Esme, who passed away in 1993, was more of a mother to St. Cecilia than Elizabeth ever was, and St. Cecilia still misses her terribly. She was a big part of getting SnB off the ground, and the boys even came to her funeral.

-Snakes N' Barrels: St. Cecilia adores all the boys, of course, but Sammy is the only one she really kept in touch with after the breakup. He was her favorite long before Pickles joined. There was a pregnancy scare not long after the band took off that somehow, against all odds, brought the two of them even closer. Sammy was St. Cecilia's first love. Her relationships with Tony and Snazz were much more professional, though none of them were anywhere near professional. The crown tattoo behind her right ear was done by Tony on a drunken night in, and it was too good a night for her to even consider covering it or getting it removed. 

-Stiletto: She gets along with them all quite well! She's known Niamh McLoughlin, their bassist, the longest, and their friendship dates back to their school days. Lex Clarke and Priyanka Dayal, the drummer and the guitarist respectively, came as a package deal, as they've been more or less married for years. St. Cecilia adores them and the sweetness of their relationship. She's a little envious of them, actually, though she would never say so.

History:

-Childhood: St. Cecilia was born in Oxford, England to Elizabeth Robinson. She was raised more or less at her family's girls-only boarding school, away from her mother. When she was fourteen, she fell off a horse during an equestrian class and badly injured her shoulder. She was one of the popular girls during her school days, up until she hit fifteen and decided that she was no longer a child and had a right to demand respect from her emotionally distant mother. She quit the piano lessons she had been taking for several years and took up the guitar, though it aggravated her injured shoulder and even as a teen, she developed a dependence on painkillers. This rebellious period stretched until she was sixteen and ran away with the help of her grandmother. St. Cecilia was given her name just before she left, so it would be easier for her to hide, as well as a hefty sum to tide her over until she could get herself settled. She was only in LA for a few weeks before she met Sammy at a bar where the SnB prototype band was playing. Naturally, Snazz and Tony weren't thrilled with the idea of Sammy's kinda-sorta-girlfriend trying to become their lead guitarist, and when Snazz disparagingly referred to St. Cecilia as Yoko, she broke his nose (How could he have not expected violence when a Beatles-loving British girl was called such a horrible thing?). This earned their respect and is an event that they laugh about to this day. 

-Snakes n' Barrels era: St. Cecilia stuck with the band for several months before they found Pickles, and she was smitten with him the moment she heard him sing. Esme was an important source of financial support during their formative years. The band made it big after not too long, and they all grew quite close. St. Cecilia ended up in an ill-fated off-and-on relationship with Pickles as time went on, and to this day she doesn't remember the first time she told him she loved him. It wasn't long after his first OD and his following stint in rehab that she told him, and they were both drunk in celebration of his release. His tolerance, even post-rehab, was far higher than hers, though, and he remembers, though he sometimes hates that he does. Though there was genuine love between them, the stress of the band and both of their substance abuse problems drove a wedge between not only the couple, but also the entire band. Coupled with Pickles fucking groupies behind St. Cecilia's back and St. Cecilia's becoming a rather serious Vicodin addict to combat the pain in her injured shoulder, the band was doomed. Pickles came to see St. Cecilia off on her flight back to England, saying he would meet her there when his next residuals check came in, but he never made it, and they didn't speak to each other for years afterward. It hurt, but St. Cecilia supposed it was for the best. A clean break, and all that.

-Preklok: After SnB broke up, St. Cecilia returned to Oxford, staying with Bryony in their mother's guest house as she tried to figure out her next move. Despite her gift for writing lyrics, she had no talent for writing books, and that idea quickly went down the drain. She still received a large amount of money in residuals, but she was reduced to a mere socialite, though it mostly agreed with her. At her mother's insistence, she attended a few classes at Oxford University. She absolutely loved it. In 1992, Esme passed away. St. Cecilia only told Sammy about it, but he took the initiative and brought Pickles, Tony and Snazz with him to the funeral. St. Cecilia was initially pissed, but she really appreciated the support. That was the only time she saw Pickles between SnB's breakup and their reunion concert. He was devastated when her parting words to him were "I love you with everything I am, but I never wanna see you again." In the mid-90s, she posed for an issue of Playboy, and Pickles has a copy of the issue tucked away somewhere. It wasn't until 1998, when she moved to a little flat in London, that St. Cecilia reunited with her school friend Niamh and the idea of Stiletto came about. They found Priyanka and Lex at an open mic night at one of the local clubs, and they hit it off, both as friends and as bandmates. They played at many clubs and pubs, and they were soon found by a scout at another open mic night. They signed with the UK branch of Crystal Mountain Records and were assigned the surly but efficient Melinda Glasscock as their manager, and within three years, Stiletto was huge, due in part to St. Cecilia's residual fame from Snakes N' Barrels. Their first tour was through Europe, but the second came to America, where St. Cecilia met Magnus in a bar post-show. They got on really well, and she invited him to her hotel room for the night. They exchanged numbers and got quite close over time, with her even flying him out to London from time to time so they could hang out. Magnus knew who she was from the start, and while he planned to use her feelings for Pickles to get her on his side, that soon faded and he came to genuinely like her. She wouldn't learn who he was until later on. A few years before canon, she had a quickie with Nathan in a coat room at a singers-only part at Crystal Mountain records, and he used the fact that she couldn't fit her mouth around his dick as inspiration for Dethklok's infamous song "Glasgow Smile."

-Season 1: 

-St. Cecilia's first mention within the confines of canon is during Performance Klok, when Pickles mentions he hasn't been in a serious relationship since the '80s despite the fact that he would certainly thrive under such attention. 

-She first appears in Snakes N' Barrels, during the documentary the Dethklok is watching. The guys are a little critical when they (Save Nathan, who's known for a long time) learn that part of SnB's downfall was due to Pickles's failed relationship with St. Cecilia. There's some comedic nonsense talk about fucking one's guitarist before Pickles goes to speak with Charles. Though St. Cecilia is working on an album with Stiletto when she's asked to go the reunion, she manages to push through and finish in time, though she arrives nearly late. She finds Pickles backstage, and when he sweeps in to kiss her, she pulls away a bit, saying they can't do this, as she's spoken for. She lets him hold her close, though. The rest of Dethklok finds them like that, and St. Cecilia excuses herself to go find Sammy, Tony and Snazz. There's some talk about Pickles not leaving Dethklok, which he says he won't, but they're rather worried after catching him with St. Cecilia in his arms. Meanwhile, she manages to find the boys, and they meet with Pickles backstage. While the boys partake of the Totally Awesome Sweet Alabama Liquid Snake, St. Cecilia doesn't, as she once humiliated herself by passing out on stage and doesn't wish to repeat the incident. She presses a kiss to Pickles's palm before they go on stage, an old ritual that they were never able to shake. What happens is far worse than someone just passing out, and she and Pickles leave the stage amidst the chaos while the medical Klokateers take care of the boys and see them off to the hospital. It's a disaster. She's embarrassed and angry, and she turns down Pickles's offer of a ride home and calls someone instead, as she didn't get her money converted and can't pay for a cab. This someone turns out to be the man who's claimed her, Magnus, and Pickles is none too happy about it. He tries to stop her from going with him, but it doesn't work. 

-She isn't seen in Dethkids, but she is mentioned. When Pickles starts drinking harder than usual, he finally gives in to the urge to call her, to talk about how Sammy and Snazz and Tony are doing, and to tell her that she should steer clear of Magnus. He's so drunk, though, that she barely has even an idea of what he's talking about. 

-Offscreen, but somewhere between the two SnB episodes, Magnus and St. Cecilia abruptly break up. She has a feeling something was going on with him, but his sudden disappearance really hurt her. They had been together off and on for years, after all. A few weeks before he left, he bought her a little pink knife and showed her how to use it, just in case he wasn't around to protect her. When he left, he left his guitar behind, and she still has it as of Doomstar. 

-Season 2: 

-She's mentioned by Seth in Dethwedding, though only as "that British chick" he thought Pickles would eventually have married. Pickles nearly decks him for even mentioning her.

-St. Cecilia's next appearance is in Snakes N' Barrels II. In part one, during the advertisement for the SOBERTOWN USA concert, she's missing from the band lineup, and Pickles is both relieved and a little concerned by her absence. 

-In SnB II part two, Nathan, Skwisgaar and Toki find her among the crowd at the SOBERTOWN USA concert. Nathan asks if she wasn't invited to play, but she says that she was: She just didn't think it was right to play without Pickles. Realizing that Pickles is sneaking around backstage, she leaves to go find him and try to keep him from doing something he'll regret. She only finds him just as Tony, Snazz and Sammy start freaking out, and she only just manages to keep Pickles from killing Rikki Kixx, though she honestly doesn't mind the thought of him dead. She pulls Pickles away from the stage, where he calls the Klokateers to take care of Sammy, Snazz and Tony, and she sets to icing down his bruised knuckles. She tells him that she and Magnus broke up, and he's thoroughly pleased about it: She's too good for him, anyway. That irritates her a bit, but she tells him to call her sometime, though she insists he do it when he's not drunk off his ass. 

-Season 3: 

-Ironically, when Pickles calls her in Dethhealth to inform her that he's dying, he's in fact drunk again. She wants to go to Mordhaus to see him, but he tells her to stay where she is, as he doesn't want her seeing him like that, though she's seen him at rock bottom as it is. At the end of the episode, he's drunker and higher than ever, but he calls her again to let her know he's all right. She can't understand him, though, so he puts Nathan on to explain. She’s thoroughly relieved, but she’s still considering going to Mordhaus to see him. She implores of Nathan, "Take care of him, all right?"

-Offscreen, in the time between Dethhealth and Dethmas, Pickles goes to London for a while to appease St. Cecilia, and to their mutual surprise, it's not really all that different from how it was when they were actually together. There's lots of cuddling and kissing and great sex and just... Hanging out. It's easy for them to be together. They have their share of problems, but the old spark between them is still there. Pickles is honestly a little scared of that: What if he falls for her all over again just for her to break his heart like she did last time? The fact that she has Magnus's guitar makes him doubly suspicious. He starts drinking harder than ever to drown out the thoughts of her. 

-In Rehabklok, when Pickles's drinking is brought to the attention of the band and he's sent to rehab, he tries for a while to blame it on St. Cecilia. She broke his heart, and he drinks to cope. It makes perfect sense, until he starts to really think about it and realizes that he's equally at fault for how their relationship (And also SnB) fell apart. He realizes, after many years, that he hurt her as badly as she hurt him. And that makes him feel even worse. He talks the doctor into letting him call her to apologize, but it doesn't go well: She's a little offended that he would even consider blaming her for his drinking, given he was a drunk long before they met. "Is that what I am to you now? An excuse to get drunk and act a fool?" Not long after that, Pickles realizes the real cause for his drinking.

-Just before Charles goes to speak to the UN in Doublebookedklok, he calls St. Cecilia and cryptically asks her if she speaks Latin. She owes him a favor for getting her out of some legal trouble, so she can't really refuse. Several months before, she punched a scummy paparazzo who called Magnus washed-up, and Charles used his reeducation program to keep those involved from pressing charges or damaging St. Cecilia's reputation. 

-Season 4:

-In Fanklok, before Charles meets with the band to discuss Klokikon, he welcomes St. Cecilia to Mordhaus and presents her with an ancient-looking journal that belonged to Aurelius Isambard, one of the original prophets of the Church of the Black Klok. She's taken down to the basement, where she's introduced to Edgar Jomfru, and gets to work. 

-In Diversityklok, after he's spoken to Edgar, Charles speaks to St. Cecilia. He finds her engrossed, but thoroughly worried. She asks if this is real, and she's even more worried when he tells her it is. 

-Offscreen, St. Cecilia has been hard at work translating the journal, and she's come to a passage that seems to describe the growing tension between the band. It also mentions an approaching star, and she takes to sitting on the roof at night to observe the sky. 

-In Prankklok, when Pickles tells Nathan that he's not allowed to drink any tequila during their friender-bender, Nathan tells him he can't visit St. Cecilia when they stop in London. Pickles reluctantly agrees. Not long after, we see Pickles on his phone, though, debating on calling her just before he notices the storm warning.

-Offscreen, St. Cecilia approaches Charles about a phrase repeated over and over in the journal: Fata sidus oritur, the star of fate is born. 

-After Charles breaks the news about Ice Festival to Skwisgaar in Bookklok, he goes to speak with St. Cecilia and Edgar in the basement. She's tacked two star maps to the wall: One from the previous week and one from the previous night. There's a spot near the center of the first map that seems bigger on the second one. She looks like the world is ending when she tells him it's the Doomstar. It's real. It's coming? When? Soon, she says. Far too soon.

-When Charles tells the boys he's going out of town in Dethcamp, it's to take St. Cecilia to an observatory, where they meet with Ishnifus and spend a few days tracking the Doomstar's movement as it comes closer and closer to Earth. 

-In Going Downklok, when Pickles shows up all decked out for his meeting with Abigail, Nathan is quick to ask, "Don't you have a girlfriend?" Pickles insists he doesn't; He and St. Cecilia was hurt and angry the last time they spoke. On top of that, he believes she's all the way in London, and Abigail is right there. 

-Offscreen, between Dethdinner and Breakup Klok, St. Cecilia is tagged in the video of Pickles leaving Dethklok by a drunken Toki. She's incredibly hurt. Pickles has nothing, he said. She, apparently, is nothing.

-In Breakup Klok, Pickles tries to call St. Cecilia to invite her to his wine tasting, but she refuses to answer and sends him straight to voicemail. Towards the end of the episode, after the escape from Salacia, Charles requests a check-up on Edgar and St. Cecilia back at Mordhaus, and Pickles is stunned and angry to learn that she's been more or less within arm's reach for months. Had he known, he's certain things would have been different-- He wouldn't have tried to make a move on Abigail and he wouldn't have fucked up his chance to get back with St. Cecilia again.

-Offscreen, St. Cecilia speaks to Charles about staying at a hotel for a few days, just until Roy Cornickelson's funeral, after which she'll return to Mordhaus and her translation work. The day of the funeral, though, she receives a call from Magnus telling her she absolutely cannot attend, as he can't guarantee her safety. It's the last time she has contact with him before his death. We also see her watching the news about Dethklok's breakup and the insinuation that Abigail caused it, and St. Cecilia chucks a bottle at the TV, mirroring Pickles's actions in SnB II.

-In Church of the Black Klok, St. Cecilia is fetched from the hotel by Klokateers and taken to the Dethsub, where she meets with Charles, pointedly ignores Pickles, and goes to work with Edgar instead. 

-The Doomstar Requiem:

-In "One of Us Must Die," St. Cecilia can be seen on one of the slides, staring up into the sky with Isambard's journal held to her chest. Towards the end of the song, reading from the book, she sings, "Dethklok, they must be rejoined/Evil, it must be destroyed/No more apathetic stoics/They can learn to be heroic/Write the song that will be our salvation..."

-In "Training," while carrying the journal, she sings the lyrics, "As the prophecy foretold, the Doomstar has been born/And you all will be endowed with a power known to none." Nathan, Skwisgaar and Murderface are looking at the art of the Prophecy, but Pickles is watching her. Ishnifus places a hand upon her shoulder, and they sing together, "The Deth lights are within you all waiting to be woken/And when the five are united, the evil will be broken," in a show of solidarity.

-In "En Antris et Stella Fatum Cruenti," just after Ishnifus is killed and the Doomstar goes red, we see a shot of Charles, Edgar and St. Cecilia at the Church, watching the sky. 

-In "Morte Lumina," in a mirror to Nathan and Abigail's kiss, we see Pickles approach St. Cecilia, and she presses a kiss to his palm (Which is a really significant gesture between them) before he pulls her into his arms. 

Trivia: 

-The stars on her cheeks are actually a makeup trick, as she's afraid to have a needle so close to her eyes. 

-She smokes Honeyrose Cherry cigarettes (Which have roughened her voice a bit), but she doesn't drink to excess, save when she's with Pickles. He's a terrible influence on her, but she adores him just the same. Considering him and Magnus, she has rather bad taste in men.

-Her signature scent is Estée Lauder's Cinnabar, which features notes of jasmine, orange blossom, cloves, and patchouli. She uses a cinnamon body oil when she wants to get Pickles's attention. It always works.

-She wants nothing more than to be loved, but she's keenly aware of the fact that most of the people who "love" her only want to coast on her fame. It's resulted in her having a hard time trusting people. The fact that Pickles and the rest of Dethklok don't need to coast off her is part of why she likes them so much.

-She's an iced coffee addict, and she prefers chocolate, caramel, or hazelnut varieties.

-She was raised Catholic, and while she lapsed a long time ago, she has occasional bouts of Catholic Guilt. Her name is related to her religion, as St. Cecilia is the patron saint of music.

-Her preferred alcohol is Bombay Sapphire gin, though she also likes white wine and champagne.

-She's a plant mom. Her flat is full of plants, including a little devil's tongue cactus she bought at a farmer's market in LA when she first came to America. It's traveled the world with her! It lived in the cupholder of Snazz's van for several years, and now it lives in her kitchen, perched on top of the microwave.

-She has a pretty serious oral fixation. She's always got something in her mouth: A cigarette, a pen, a popsicle, someone's fingers, a dick. Depends on her mood. Getting her tongue pierced helped a little, as she can play with the stud, but some habits just can't be broken.

-She and the rest of Stiletto own a condo building in London together, and she naturally has the penthouse to herself. It's very airy and open, with lots of mirrors and plants and exposed brick. One corner of her living room is just a huge window that looks out on the city. It's her favorite feature. Magnus is too nervous to go near it.

[zosin-ya]

“Apology.”

Setting:  One Piece Universe; Zoro x Reader

Word Count: 1765

Summary: You damaged his sword a few times now and Zoro was clearly sick of it. He was frustrated which lead into anger. Anger he targeted at you. You knew he was right, and decided to apologize to him properly. This couldn’t end like this. 

!Credit to the Artist!

“That's the third time now, enough!”

He barked at you like a wild dog, and snatched the sword out of your hands. You wanted to use them a bit, just to see how it would be with a sword. He gave you permission a few times now and watched over you. He taught you some easy techniques and was quite excited to give you all of his knowledge. However, you always used his swords and in your inexperienced hands it happened that you harmed the blade. He told you to get yourself your own weapon, but since it was rather just to try out and not actually your weapon of choice for combat, you didn’t.

This was the third time. The third time you tried something with it, and accidentally cracked the tip of the sword. Zoro was patient in the beginning, he knew that it took time to learn it. But his weapons were not your toys when you were bored. He made this very clear. You watched him push it back into it’s scabbard before he stepped closer to you. The way he stood in front of you was threatening. Like a wild animal ready to lash out. He didn’t care that you were a crew member nor his friend. He had told you to be careful several times and this was enough.

“Get your own god damn sword. I’m sick of having to repair them all the time only you can play. This isn’t a game, Y/N. Swordsmanship is not a fucking game.”

You wanted to yell back and protest, however your words were stuck in your throat. You knew he was right, but you were too stubborn to admit it. Your pride was stopping you from actually listening to him and your impulsiveness had made you do it three times now. You’ve never seen him this angry and it scared you. Your body instinctively stepped back and you flinched at his words. Zoro was still standing in front of you, eyebrows deeply narrowed. His body language spoke aggression, which he tried to hold back. You made the string of patience rip.

Quickly you left the crows nest and disappeared into your shared room with the other two ladies. Nami and Robin had heard your argument and looked at each other, before following you into the bedroom. With your friends by your side, you quietly cried over your mistake.

“It’s better you apologize to him. As mad as he is, he will calm down after you do.”

“Are you sure? I doubt he wants to see my face again.” You sniffed and clinged onto your pillow. Robin nodded reassuringly and gently stroke your back. She didn’t want to remind you that what you did was indeed somewhat stupid, and Zoro was right. Nami was in the same boat. It was better to look ahead and look for a solution to get along with your crewmate again.

“Of course. I remember when Usopp wanted to leave the crew and basically dragged Luffy through the mud, Zoro gladly accepted him back when he apologized. He’s a simple man Y/N, and in no way someone who holds grudges for a long time.” Nami smiled at you and gave you a tissue to wipe those tears away. Hearing that, made you think for a moment. They’ve told you that story before, they probably knew the swordsman better than you did, considering you were rather new in comparison to Nami and Robin. You nuzzled your face into the pillow a bit and nodded.

“I will. Thank you.”

The next day when Zoro woke up, his hand automatically grabbed to his swords. With a yawn he put them besides his hip where they belonged to. Wado Ichimonji, Kitetsu...Shusui…wait.

“Shusui?” Confused he looked around in the room. His third sword was missing. He swore he left it next to him. He looked in his bed, in his closet, in the other beds and closets. It couldn’t be...did he leave it in the crows nest? He remembered he put all three swords aside before he went to sleep. “Fuck where did I leave it…” He mumbled to himself and looked through everything again. No matter how many times he looked in the room, he couldn’t find it.

Frustrated he walked on deck and searched there for his weapon. Usopp was sitting in the gras of the Sunny and noticed his crewmate walking around in distress. Before the sniper could question his mood, Zoro spoke up already. “Usopp, did you see Shusui?” He pointed at his hip where only two of his signature swords were. The other man shrugged and shook his head. “Nah, didn’t see it.”

“I saw Y/N leaving with it into town.”

A high voice pitched from the other side. It was Chooper, who was holding some drink in both of his hoofs. He sipped it slowly and looked at Zoro with his big deer eyes, like the innocent little thing he was. The swordsman tensed up noticeably and sighed. He clenched his hands into fists. It made Chopper back off a little. He was clearly mad at you taking his sword again. Zoro thought you haven’t learned your lesson and assumed you were messing around with it. How many times did he have to tell you to stop it. He already snapped at you yesterday. He wondered how stubborn you actually were. Maybe you did it on purpose he wasn't sure. But enough was enough.

“Z-Zoro...w-wait what's the matter?” Usop watched him stomping off the sunny with confusion. He wasn’t on the ship yesterday, therefore didn’t hear the argument you had. The anger his friend was radiating was irritatingly strong. He’d never seen him this angry at you. “What was that…”, the sniper mumbled to himself, before he shrugged and continued to work.

You had some business in town which you just finished. The way back to the harbour was quite calming, it was a small little road through a little forest area. The atmosphere surely helped your nervosity. Robin had helped you get Zoros sword while he slept. The weapon was wrapped in fabric and strapped on your back. It should be a little surprise along with the little bag you had in your hand. You dearly hope he would forgive you. You felt sorry for what you did and didn’t want to risk your friendship to continue like this.

Sadly, the surprise wasn’t one for long. In the distance you could see the owner of the said sword. His posture was giving you clear signs. Zoro was mad, yet again because of you. He must have noticed his sword was missing. Obviously. You had hoped to get back to the ship before he woke up, which clearly failed. You swallowed hard when he stomped to you and grabbed your collar.

“Z-Zoro, please let me explain!”

You rose your hands in defense when he handled you this roughly. His fingers were dug deep into the fabric of your shirt, an iron grip which you couldn’t escape. His eyes shot from you, to his sword on your back. Seeing the fabric around it, he narrowed his eyes. “Did you break it now?! I swear to god if you-”

“Let me explain Zoro, I beg you.” Your voice was filled with fear that he’d be mad for you forever. The expression you gave him through your eyes made him hold still for a second. He frightened you. You looked like a scared animal ready to run away and hide. With a sigh he let go, and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Fine. Speak.”

“I...I wanted to apologize…” Zoro raised one eyebrow when you grabbed behind your back to his sword. You placed the bag in your hand on the ground to remove the fabric from the weapon. The scabbard was shining in the sun. Someone polished it, even the little scratched in the wood were gone and a fresh layer of polishing wax was on it. You pulled the black blade out, the one you broke the tip off. The metal was shining as well, sharp like new. Zoro eyes widened when he saw his sword. He was speechless. It seemed like you brought his sword to a blacksmith to- not only repair the blade -but also give it a clean up. It looked fantastic, he didn’t know what to say. “Y-You…”

“And this.” You put the sword back into it’s scabbard and handed it over to him. Zoro gladly took it, still speechless. The bag on the ground was also for him. You gave it to the swordsman as well. A delicious smell hit his nostrils. He didn’t have to look inside to know that it was the smell of smoked eel. It was still warm even. With his sword in one and, and the food in the other, he stood there completely baffled. He didn’t expect this and didn’t know how to react. His eyes wandered from the food to his sword. However, when you spoke up, Zoro faced you again.

“I’m sorry for acting like that. I know swordsmanship is not a game, I apologize for disrespecting. I promise it won’t happen again.”

Zoro stood there in silence for a second, before he sighed deeply. He put his sword back and stroke through his hair. He felt like he had to apologize as well. He was way too rude to you. The way he had grabbed you earlier obviously had scared you. It wasn’t his intention. Zoro didn’t want to scare you off like that. “It’s alright. I guess I should apologize for being that rough.”

With a relieved smile you shook your head. You were more than happy that Zoro accepted your apology. That was more important. “Already forgotten...I hope you like smoked eel by the way.” Zoro nodded with a small smile on his features, and sat down on the side of the road. He motioned next to him. “Hope you do as well.”

Together you sat next to each other and emptied the little box full of delicious rice and eel. Zoro asked you how you managed to get his sword and how you found that blacksmith. You quickly explained which made him grin a little. You were a bit clumsy with swords but you surely were witty. Soon you two drifted into some conversation about god and the world, as if nothing happened. Nami was right, Zoro wasn’t someone who held grudges long. Especially not with this kind of apology.

[thr-333]

Mismatch- Part 21

Bio Dad Bruce Wayne Month

Patrolling with Gotham’s vigilantes is somehow the least chaotic part of their day, emphasises on Least!

First< Previous > Next

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

“So you want to explain how you let the Joker go?” Sparrow asks Red Hood, as they pour over plans.

“It happens,” Red Hood shrugs, but she is willing to bet he has a similar expression to Songbird right about now.

“Right, i just want to know how ,” She pushes more, getting Songbird to blush more

“Hey!" Songbird interrupts, getting the attention of the rest of the Bats with them, "I’m good at tracking people,”

“Thats nice,” Nightwing says, gearing up to search for the Joker with Red Hood.

“What I mean is I should come with you while Sparrow goes in the opposite direction,” Songbird turns to glare at her, “Far away,”

“Why would you want that,” Sparrow leans into his space, getting her face pushed away, “I’m just asking a professional question,”

“I have known you for little over a week nothing you do is professional,” Robin tsks, still sour about getting put on Patrol with her instead of going after the Joker.

“Well that’s simply not true,” Sparrows's voice comes out mumbled as marion smooshes her face.

“Right so you will follow the lead Nightwing has,” Batman pushes Songbird towards Red Hood, the greatest detective not notices the growing blush, “You three are patrolling together,”

“What could go wrong,” Red Robin sighs, resigning to patrol with both her and Robin.

“Try not to fall through any windows,” Sparrow calls, as they move to swing in opposite directions,

“Ha ha...I make no promises,” He mutters, heard through super hearing, before shouting, "See you later Captain!

Marinette leaves with Robin and Red Robin. The two bicker until oracle alerts them of three people attacking a girl in an alley a block over. In a matter of seconds of their arrival the three were disarmed and unconscious. Marinette goes to comfort the victim Alya?!

“Al- are you alright?” Sparrow reaches out to help her up.

“Yes, I’m fine thanks,” Alya dusts herself off, finally looking up, “Um, who are you?”

“Sparrow, working in Gotham temporarily,” She says professionally, hoping beyond hope that Alya does not recognise her.

“Right,” She surprisingly misses the chance for an interview, “Listen I need to talk to Batman, is he here?”

“Sorry miss he’s in another part of Gotham what seems to be your issue?” Red Robin answers for her.

“I need to talk to him about something really important,”

“Sorry, but if you’re looking for an interview Batman is very busy,” Sparrow brushes her off, of course she would be salivating to interview Batman.

“What? no-I’m,”

“We have to go, the police will be here soon,” Robin cuts her off, leaving with a Tt.

“Wait!”

“How annoying,” Robin spits, as they leave Alya behind in the alley.

“How did you know she wanted an interview?” Red Robin asks instead.

“Just know the type,”

“HEY!” Alya calls, chasing after them in the street below, “Just wait a minute!”

“Do you think we should stop?” Sparrow asks, feeling guilt claw at her.

“No,” Robin speeds up.

“Please! I really need to talk with you!” Alya begs, “It’s about Paris!”

“Paris?” Robin exchanges a knowing glance with Red Robin.

“We should stop,” Red Robin decides, they come to a halt.

They wait on the edge of the building, so Alya can see their shadows at the top. Alya starts sprinting up the fire escape.

“Tha-Thank you,” She pants, leaning over.

“What's this about Paris?” Robin demands, somehow glaring down at her despite being significantly shorter.

“The Akuma attacks!” Alya explodes, as if it's the most obvious thing, probably is, “Have you heard of Ladybug and Chat Noir? Hawk Moth?!”

“The situation in Paris has recently come to our attention,” Red Robin answers cordially.

“Well it’s been like this since I was thirteen!” Taking them both aback slightly, “And it's only getting worse every day,”

“The heroes of Paris have proved to be capable,” How did Red Robin even know about them?

“That's not what I mean, it’s the emotional toll,” Alya is still out of breath, Sparrow stands off to the side, joining in would only risk her identities, “Do you know what it’s like to be afraid to feel negative emotions? To have to constantly be happy otherwise you could kill your whole family!”

“I’m sure your heroes can handle it,” Robin concedes, bitterness hanging from the tone.

“They can but they shouldn't have to!”

Alya takes her aback with another out burst, stepping towards the Bats.

“I was… I used to be called in by them from time to time, and let me tell you,” Alya pauses, she was probably still mad about getting benched, loving her position as Rena Rouge, “It’s terrifying,”

Now that... that is a surprise.

“Not even the hero part… most the time,” Alya rubs her arm, “But you can’t get Akumatized again otherwise Hawk Moth will know, he can target your friends and family,”

At least she finally understood the need to keep secret identities.

“Ladybug hasent called me in in years,” Alya admits, actually looking shameful, "I don’t know how I messed up,”

Thats the problem

“But I know that I’m glad Ladybug never gave me the miraculous again,”

Wait... WHAT!

“It was so stressful having all of paris, sometimes the world, depending on you,” Alya looks on the verge of tears, “At first I though it was fun because I had Ladybug who seemed so strong and unstoppable, someone I could look up to, for always being there, always put together, she didn't seem to have a weakness,”

That- That could not be further from the truth

“Not that I don’t still respect her, it’s just different now,” Alya backtracks, “I saw it, sometimes, the uncertainty there, it made me think she’s just like me, scared, but she doesn't have anyone stronger to protect her, she’s all alone,"

I have Chat Noir!

“I look up to her so much more now, it’s not a fun job and I know she’s afraid she cant protect everyone, so Hawkmoth needs to be defeated,”

Alya looks every inch the confident reporter Marinette had first met. The one before Lila came and sapped all her strength and independence.

“Ladybug deserves to live in peace,” Alya decides, almost glaring down the other two, “Will you please help her?”

“We already have plans of going to Paris soon to assist,” Red Robin informs.

“You do?!”

“Thank you,” Alya burst into tears, while Marinette is still reeling from the new information, “Thank you so much,”

“How about we escort you back to your hotel?”

They carry Alya to the hotel, swinging through the night. They see her in and set up a watch across the building. They report into Batman, granting permission to stake out for a while. They watch as Alya is talking with the group, including Lila in her room. Marinette could feel the irritation radiating off the other two at Lila’s nonsense.

“Is this necessary?” Robin glares down at the window they are watching through, “She didn’t have any valuable insight,”

“She was a hero in Paris,” Red Robin sighs, evidently glaring just as much, “That's something,”

“And she clearly got the boot for being incompetent,”

“You don’t know that,” Alya had actually been a great fox, but when Marinette could no longer trust her as a civilian, she knew Alya could never wield another miraculous, “Which is why we are watching, follow every possible lead, especially when they’re scarce,”

“Hey listen,” Red Robin nods towards the speaker, connected to the bug he planted on her.

“Marinette really needs to think things through,” Lila whines, all three go to turn it down at the same time, “It’s like she wants the class to get in trouble,”

“But Marinette protected us from Scarecrow,” Rose squeaks out.

“And Marion!” Nino adds, as if they didn't just commit treason in Lila land.

“Of course, it’s just they know all this trouble is following them around and they’re still-” Lila pauses long enough for everyone to be on the edge of their seats, “No never mind,”

“What is it Lila,”

“Well…” Lila plays like she isn't going to tell them everything that never happened, “I was talking to Marinette in the elevator and I told her I felt really unsafe and scared that another villain was going to attack,”

“Mari-Marinette started yelling at me about how I was trying to ruin her trip!” Lila's lip quivers, so painfully obvious she can see it from here, “She said if I felt unsafe I should just stay behind or go back to Paris!”

“Do you feel that unsafe Lila?” Mylene asks, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Wha-”

“Yeah if you’re that scared you should tell your parents,” Kim encourages, enthusiastic, but concerned, “I’m sure you’ll feel better back home with Ladybug,”

“You guys don’t understand,” Lila almost shouts, losing grip on her perfect persona, “Marinette wasn't worried about me; she just wanted me out of the way! Because- well I don’t know why! I think she can just be really cruel sometimes,”

“That little disgusting worm!” Robin makes a grab for his katana.

“Yeah so I hacked the security footage and they have never been in a room alone together,” Red Robin reports, scrolling through a video feed, “Let alone an elevator,”

“Let’s just go,” Sparrow grabs them both by the arms, “I think we’ve exhausted our information,”

She practically drags them off the roof, a few blocks away. Robin’s pacing looking for something to stab. At this rate it’s probably going to be Red Robin, who’s been tapping away at his screen the whole time. Sparrow finds her saving grace, spotting a park down below.

“Let’s go,”

She drags them despite their protests down to the playground. Robin is grumbling the whole time, so she sits him down on the swing, and pushes him. Red Robin starts laughing and may or may not be filming.

“I am perfectly capable of pushing myself!”

“Really have you ever been on a swing before?” She leans over, getting in his face.

“Tt, of course not,” He looks away, “So childish,”

“Well that just means a child can do something you cannot,”

It's really Red Robins laughter that truly breaks him.

“... do not push me,”

“Alright, how about I show you?” She hops on the swing next to him, “Like this,”

Robin copies her form as Red Robin keeps filming, shouting out scores in the negative numbers.

“So help me I will stab you if you don't!-” Robin tips off balance and falls off the swing backwards, “ RED ,”

“That was very good for a first time,” Marinette helps him stand back up, “Keep it up and you might be able to go toe to toe with the three year olds one day,”

They spend the rest of patrol getting chased around the park by Robin, both hurling out insults and condescending reassurance.

Marion had not run into any buildings yet thank you very much. He had ran into a cell phone tower.

“Are you alright?” Red hood lands in front of him.

Marion glares at him upside down, hanging off the bars, as if this wasn't all his fault,

“Fine,” And because he can’t possibly be anymore embarrassed, “Just like you,”

“Of course I’m fine,” He crosses his arms, Marion definitely doesn't give him the once over, “I didn’t just run into a cell tower,”

He’s an idiot!..... He’s perfect

It does not help that Nightwing bursts out laughing.

“Little wing… no,” Nightwing gasps through his laughter.

“What are you-” Red Hood stiffens up, “oh,”

Mayday! Mayday! Abort! Abort! BACK TO PARIS!!! Wheres the Rabbit Miraculous!!!

“Oh,” Red Hood leans in, inches away, “Hell yeah I am,”

Sorry to inform you Marion has now died, Red Hood is indeed a murderer

Unfortunately before Marion has another opportunity to embarrass himself  Oracle calls in and they both swing off. Leaving Marion to catch up. They eventually stop for a break without crashing into another building… it was a light graze ok?!

“I swear you and Sparrow are my new favourites,” Nightwing scarfs down another macaron.

“Careful golden boy,” Red Hood warns, stealing a macaron from Nightwing, “You’ll get a lecture form the Bat,”

“Batman can fuck off,” Marion shoves one in his mouth, “He probably lives off protein shakes and brooding,”

“Oh my-,” Red Hood cracks up, “I don’t think I've ever heard you swear,”

“What can I say,” Marion leans back, looking over Red Hood, “You bring out the best in me,”

“I think I’d rather bring out the worst in you,”

… No Marion is not blushing, he is not stuttering, he has everything under control thank you very much.

“Are- are you actually going to eat that?” Marion chokes out, Red Hood still holding his stolen macaron.

That turns out to be the worst possible thing he could have said, because Red hood actually takes off his helmet. There is a domino mask underneath but this is the first time Marion is seeing his face.

“Songbird are you ok?” Nightwing asks.

“I will never be ok again,” Marion falls back across the roof, “Ok is a state before perfection and I can never feel anything but joy after seeing that,”

“Ummm,” Nightwing looks awkwardly between the two.

“You’re pretty,” Marion turns, curling around to look at Red Hood.

“Not handsome?” And fuck he’s smiling, fuck.

“No,” Marion says harshly,“Gorgeous,”

Red Hood looks completely shocked. And god he can actually see his face! And expressions! This is wonderful!

“Yes… well,” Nightwing clears his throat, “We should probably move on,”

“Jealous?” Red Hood teases.

“No, let’s just go,” Nightwing stands, Marion sighs and sits back up.

“It’s alright Golden boy,” Red Hood punches him in the shoulder as he stands, “Plenty of people still think you’re pretty,”

Marion has to stop himself from ripping the helmet out of Red Hood’s hands when he goes to put it back on.

“That’s not what this is about Hood,”

“Sure it’s not,” Red Hood winks at Songbird just before he puts the helmet back on, as if that didn’t cause him cardiac arrest.

They continue along their search equal parts flirting with each other and teasing Nightwing.

“Oi! Shelly!”

Marion looks behind him, mid-swing to spot a familiar taxi driver,”

“Norris!” Marion spins around, landing in front of the man.

“You’re patrolling with them?” Norris nods towards the other two hiding in the shadows, “Where’s your sister?”

“Yeah! Decided on a codename, it’s Songbird actually,”

“Nah,” Norris leans against the hood of his car, “Shelly suits you better,”

“Hell yeah it does!”

Bruce waits for the others to finish up patrol in the Batcave. He has to talk to them about the twins at some point, the sooner the better, before they go back to Paris. It’s just so hard. Would they even accept someone new into the family?

“Father!” Damian shouts the moment he enters the cave, “I demand you adopt Sparrow immediately,”

“What, why?”

“She is a good warrior,” From Damian that is very high praise .

“And helps you skip patrol,” Tim adds, going directly for his after patrol coffee.

“You were complicit in that Drake!”

“You skipped patrol,” Bruce sighs, partly disappointed, partly curious Damian was usually excited for patrol.

“Not really we were watching that student from Paris we told you about,” Tim states, Bruce nods along, “They were talking to another student in the class who is-”

“A filthy liar,” Damian spits, “I have meet them once and know Marinette is far more honourable than that,”

“Lila?” Bruce guesses, thinking back to the fair, on the other hand at least Damian doesn't seem to hate them.

“How did you know?” Tim asks, taking the reports from the desk as he downs the coffee.

“I was with them the other day-”

“Father if you are planning to adopt them I insists you adopt Sparrow first,”

“We’re adopting Sparrow?!” Dick calls, as he walks in with Jason, “Cause we should also adopt Songbird,”

“Are you so offended you would go this far to thwart me?” Jason recites theatrically, “You should really learn to control that jealousy,”

“What happened?” Bruce grows suspicious watching Dick glare.

“Songbird flirted with me,” Jason grins, perhaps a little too widely, “And ignored Dick,”

“I’m not jealous, just worried,”

“Thanks,” Jason looks away bitterly, tone getting harsher.

“That's not what I meant Jason,” Dick cringes, having ruined his good mood.

“What did you mean then?” Jason bites out, making Dick recoil.

“Enough, I’m not adopting them!” Bruce shouts, making everyone pause.

“... That’s probably the first time you ever said that,”

"Alfred!" Jason jumps, Bruce tenses at him reflexively reaching for his gun, "Where the fuck did you come from!?"

"I think you will end up adopting them one way or another Master Bruce,"

"What do you mean," Bruce asks as Alfred takes Tim's coffee.

"Well I think it's time everyone retires for the night,"

"ALFRED! what do you mean!"

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

Taglist:

@technicallyburninggarden @fusser90  @misslenamooney @superbwhispersconnoisseur @biodad-bruce-month @nalu-ismyjam @the-one-woman-army @rosesandsailboats @blackmagicforever @zeneralla @ivymala07 @tired-butterfly @tired-butterfly @Ranger-gothamite @A-star-with-a-human-name @enchanted-nerd

[writer-and-artist27]

Flower Petals

For @panyum, since your art had me thinking on my breaks during my day at work today. Addressing some of Ayako's lore via the Vy-and-Ayako-coexisting AU. :)

Was listening to a piano version of Madoka's Luminous to go with this. Please enjoy.

In other words, Dantes adopts Vy as a daughter, I think.

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

"I'll be heading out first, Vy," Ayako said over her shoulder, her red-band Command Spells glowing on her right wrist as she waved her hand. "Anything I need to remember from the 'Material Shopping List' while farming?"

"Restocking on Cursed Bones and Dragon Hearts would be ideal, Aya-san!" Vy called after her from her seat at one of the tables in Chaldea's Dining Hall, trying not to laugh at Ayako's exaggerated air quotes. "Material Hell" wasn't exactly fun for either of them, after all. Not to mention QP hell. The "Material Shopping List" kinda just happened, and hey. It was a good way to keep some semblance of normalcy. Thus, Vy added after a second of extra thought, "Some more Void's Dust would be a nice bonus, if that's okay!"

With one last glance in her direction, Ayako sarcastically rolled her eyes while saying an exaggerated, "Fineeee~!" It was hard to make out her figure past all of Karna's fluff-armor-things and Raikou's many headpieces, but Vy could still see her fellow Master shoot her a warm smile. It was rare to see Ayako smile these days. "Don't die from overwork!" was the last comment Ayako left in the air, the Servants flanking her masking any remaining signs of her friend as she left the area.

Vy barely got the chance to reply with, "I-I won't die!" by the time Ayako was gone.

Still, the Dining Hall wasn't exactly devoid of people. Once Ayako had left, and before Vy could go back to her snack bowl of pineapple slices, a cold, almost bony hand decided to land on her head.

Pat pat.

Vy did her best to not flinch, taking in the feeling before opening her mouth. "...Count? You're not going with Aya-san?"

The Count of Monte Cristo did nothing but shrug once Vy raised her head and looked up at him through her glasses, quiet and rather mysterious-looking as always with his dark cape and fedora. The wisps of darkness still lingering on his figure were telling of his usual teleportation powers. Or, were those wisps smoke? Vy was never really sure with Ayako's Avenger. "I am, just not immediately," was the soft answer, and in spite of the glints of what seemed to be irritation in the corners of his yellow eyes, the man known as Edmond Dantes still seemed... serene. Somehow. "Is it so wrong for me to check on a little flower?"

It was rather amazing in hindsight how Vy didn't blush at the title. It wasn't everyday an Avenger wouldn't be... well, all "Avenge-y", or so some of the staff would whisper in the hallways when no one was looking. "You're the only one who calls me that, Count," Vy pointed out gently, raising one of her hands from the table to grab his hand before he could retract it from her head. "And you don't have to keep patting my head. I'm okay today."

The fact that Vy didn't feel the need to take a nap yet was a good enough sign for the rest of the day. At least, it felt like one.

The Count still smiled at her. Vy wasn't sure if it was a smirk or a grin at this point. "Still, it is remarkably rare to find someone like you, little flower. Merely take these gestures as a sign of appreciation. Hell can be a vast place to explore."

For some reason, Avenger's words sparked something in Vy's heart. She slowly let go of his hand, instead choosing to tilt her neck up a little more so as to make better eye contact with the taller Servant. "...If you say that, Count, can I ask you something before you go back to Aya-san?"

"Why, a little flower like you, asking me a question?" Dantes threw his head back to laugh out loud, but Vy still sat quietly to wait for him to finish. A few seconds later, he stopped, lowering his head and kneeling down so that Vy wouldn't be craning her neck so much to meet his eyes. He was still taller than her by quite a few centimeters in spite of the kneeling, not helped by how Vy was sitting, but he still said in a gentler voice, "Go ahead. I shall make the time for you to speak freely."

Vy pursued her lips. Okay. She had permission. But, was it really okay?

To voice such a silly thing...

Her heart beat once, twice, then—

"...Do you think I'm helping Aya-san enough, Count?"

Dantes slowly blinked at her, clearly not expecting her voiced line of thought. "...Helping?" he echoed.

Vy blushed, turning her head away and ignoring the urge to clutch at the hems of her cape provided by her Mages' Association uniform. "Aye," she admitted. "I'm just wondering, really, if... if I'm really helping her. That's all."

Dantes stayed remarkably silent.

Vy flubbed, feeling heat start to climb up her cheeks. The faint scent of expensive tobacco wafting off of Dantes from the closeness wasn't exactly helping much. Vy couldn't wish for Robin Hood or some of the other Servants to come to her rescue right now. She made this bed. It was time to lie in it. "I-I mean, I know we're fellow Masters! And in a time like the Incineration of Humanity, we're supposed to help each other!" But, but—my mana levels suck, I overwork a lot without meaning to, I can't help but sleep in sometimes when I'm tired, I— "But, but sometimes I wonder," Vy said instead, taking a few deep breaths to try calming the anxiety starting to wash over her brain. "...To a Servant like you, Count, who's been with Aya-san since the beginning, am I..."

"..."

Am I strong enough? Am I good enough?

Am I helping her enough?

"Am I being a good enough friend to her?" It took all of Vy's courage to turn her head back to look into the Count's yellow eyes. Even with her cracking, higher-pitched voice, she finished her bit with a tinier, "What do you think, Count?"

The ball was in his court now. Edmond Dantes could judge in whatever way he wanted at this point. And it was because of that Vy was scared.

Still, Dantes blinked at her again. His shoulders seemed to relax as soon as Vy was looking at him, and Vy blinked back once he raised one hand.

Vy probably should've expected Dantes to rest said hand on top of her head again, but she still flinched once his fingers brushed her hair. The look in his yellow eyes as he did this reflected a lot of things.

Wonder, amazement, and... and gratitude?

"...Vy," Count said finally, a long exhale following the call of her name. "Little flower, to my Accomplice, you are a guiding light post."

"Light...post?"

Dantes merely patted her head again, and the smile on his lips seemed sad in spite of the warmth reflected in his yellow eyes.

"It should be obvious to even you that Ayako walks the depths of hell. For her, my Accomplice, I would gladly follow her into hell," he elaborated, his hand still patting Vy's head. The touch was cold, but still gentle. "But for you, little flower..."

"Muu?"

Dantes sighed at the unsaid question Vy posed through one of her instinctual noises, pulling Vy in by the back of her head as a response. Vy did her best not to wince once his forehead hit hers. Still, she thought, Ow.

Yet somehow, through the sparkles that blew up in her vision from the sudden headbutt, Vy could faintly see Dantes smile again.

"Vy, my Accomplice would not be alive without you. And for a little flower of change like you, I would gladly walk into the light I abhor just to see you bloom again."

Vy blinked, just once, and with the sparkles gone from her eyes, Dantes too had disappeared.

[peppersonironi]

Siblings: The Truth of the Matter

For @duketectivecomics‘s Duke Week Day Six: All in Batfamily

Summary: Duke had a strange family. Two of his siblings had been raised from birth to be assassins. One was born in a circus. One had been a crime lord for a time. Yet another was the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company by the age of seventeen. All of them dressed up in spandex every night to punch bad guys.So when he was woken up by icy water being splashed in his face, tied to a chair in nothing but his boxers, he wasn't surprised. Now, that's not to say he wasn't worried. Duke was definitely worried. Especially since it was these two. AKA Duke gets tied up and questioned by his siblings, all while drugged with Truth Serum!

Notes: I’ve had this for a while (it was going to be a chapter of my Batfam/Avengers Crossover), and figured I might as well submit it! What’s family without pranks, right? I might do a new one later on, but we’ll see!

Duke had a strange family. Two of his siblings had been raised from birth to be assassins. One was born in a circus. One had been a crime lord for a time. Yet another was the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company by the age of seventeen. All of them dressed up in spandex every night to punch bad guys.

So when he was woken up by icy water being splashed in his face, tied to a chair in nothing but his boxers, he wasn't surprised. Now, that's not to say he wasn't worried. Duke was definitely worried. Especially since it was these two.

“Now, Thomas,” Damian said, setting a now empty water bucket to the side, “we have a few questions for you-”

“And since we loaded you up with truth serum, there's no way you're getting out of it!” Jason finished. He had an evil grin on his face as he fiddled with a hanging lightbulb that provided light to the otherwise pitch-dark room.

“Of course, the results of this session will go straight to Father. I'm sure he will take them into account with your training.” Damian had produced a clipboard from somewhere, and began to write on it with a… was that a feather quill? Gosh, Duke's brothers were so extra. “Todd, you may now commence.”

Duke could have sworn he heard water drip slowly into a pool as Jason bent over into Duke's face.

“Okay Duchess, what did you do with my power puff girls guillotine? I know you were next to it last week.”

“Umm …” Duke didn't quite know what to say. This was not what he was expecting from The Red Hood. How could he even keep a straight face?! “Jay, do you know how weird that sounded?”

Jason did not find that funny. He stood up straight. “I guess we're doing this the hard way.”

“Wait, what?” Duke started to panic. Knowing Jason, 'the hard way' would probably involve lots of guns. “I don't know what you're talking about! I didn't know you even had a guillotine, let alone a power puff girls one!” Duke couldn't hide the upturn of his lip at the end of his speech. That was one sentence he never thought he would say.

“You saw it when you were in my room last Thursday!” Jason paused, and Duke once again heard the ominous drip. Drip. Drip. Of the water. “Say, Duchess, why were you in my room last Thursday?”

Duke thought back. “I think I was looking for you,” he began, “Dick wanted everyone together for a movie night.”

Jason shook his head. “That may add up, but you've still been around my stuff an awful lot, lately.” 

“Like what?” Duke asked, honestly confused.

“MY CANDY STASH!” Jason blew up. He waved his hands around, almost hitting the hanging lightbulb. “In the kitchen! You got into it, I know you did!”

“Do you mean the single Snicker's in the bottom cabinet?” Duke had found it just yesterday, but didn't touch it for fear of a glitter bomb booby trap. “I'm sorry, if there were more, I didn't touch them. I'm not your perp!”

“That Snicker's is my stash, duchess! And you looked at it funny! I know you were thinking about taking it!”

“Do you know what happens to people in this house when they eat the last of something?” Duke was filled with horrible memories of things he wished he could unsee. “There was all out war when Steph finished Dick's Captain Crunch cereal!”

Damian nodded his head as he kept writing. “Avoiding the questions and denying blame. Good, Thomas. I didn't think you had it in you.”

Jason glared at his partner in crime while Duke denied the … compliment?

“No I'm not! I'm answering the questions honestly!”

Damian gave Duke a look that was eerily similar to Dick's 'oh, honey' face. 

“What about my rubber bullets, kid?” Jason once again leaned down over Duke, and rested his hand on the back of the chair. “You took them. Thought using a vacuum would be sneaky, did'ja?”

Ah, now Duke was in trouble. He and Stephanie had been teamed up for a prank war, part of which involved stealing Jason's ammo. “That's what was all over the floor in the living room?” Thank goodness Bruce had taught him how to evade truth serum.

“What the f*** did you think they were?!” Jason was leaning in close now, his glare boring into Duke's soul. Drip. Drip. Drip. Went the water, its pace ever steady. Damian stood to the side, a small smirk on his face as he wrote down every twitch in Duke's face, every breath. Duke began to sweat from the pressure.

“What's going on?”

All three of the rooms occupants looked over to the sudden intruder. Stephanie stood in the now open doorway, flooding the room with light. She looked very confused.

Duke pulled his eyes away from his savior long enough to take in his now revealed surroundings, and was quite surprised.

Instead of some dark, dank corner of the Batcave, or some KGB torture cell, Damian and Jason had set up shop in one of Alfred's drawing rooms. The windows had been blocked off to limit to the light, and the furniture had been pulled to the sides of the room the only other thing on the floor was a large bowl of water. The lone lightbulb swung precariously from a wire pulled from the chandelier. The Chandelier itself seemed normal, except for -

“Dick?” Duke was open-mouthed at the 20-something year old man wrapped around the gold and crystal, an eyedropper in hand, which he seemed to be using to produce those ominous dripping noises. 

“Uh,” Dick laughed nervously, “hi?”

Stephanie laughed, grabbing the doorframe to steady herself. “Oh, this is gold! What are you even doing?”

Jason grinned, standing straight. He hit his head on the light bulb, but didn't seem that bothered. “We're interrogating Duke. Wanna join in?”

“Truth serum?”

“You know it.”

Stephanie beamed as she skipped over to the others. Before she could join in on the Duke-torture, however, Dick dropped down from his perch and put a hand out to stop the purple-clothed terror.

“Wait, you gotta be in character.”

Crap, Duke thought, as Stephanie nodded solemnly before shutting the door. Once the room was back to darkness, Dick retreated into the shadows, and the dripping continued.

Stephanie walked up toward Duke, pausing to take a deep breath. She put her hands in front of her face, drawing them down as she let out the air. Within moments, Stephanie Brown became a whole other person. A much, much scarier person.

Jason cursed as Steph stalked forward, giving Duke small satisfaction that he wasn't the only one scared. “Duke,” Stephanie drawled as she bent down, “Pancakes or Waffles?”

“I …” Duke looked around, searching for help. Some kind of help. Anything that could get him out of this mess. H***, he'd even take Bruce at this point.

“Duuuuuuke?” Jason asked. “Why don't you answer the lady? Surely old Alfred has taught you some manners while living here?”

“I …” Duke closed his eyes. “My answer is … yes.”

A small snicker floated from the darkness. Great, at least Dick found this amusing.

Stephanie, however, did not. She unleashed upon her prisoner the full brunt of her own batglare(TM). It was different than Bruce's. More Vicious. She accessorized it with a tight smile.

“Which you prefer, Duke?”

“I … I couldn't tell you.” Not if he wanted to live. “I … haven't had them in a while …” Ah, there you go Duke, he thought, beating the system.

Stephanie looked to Jason, and they both grinned. “Oh, I think we can help with that.” From somewhere behind her, Steph pulled two plates, one with a stack of pancakes, the other with waffles. Somehow, they were both warm. “Which do you like better Duke? Pancakes, with their light, fluffiness?” Stephanie waved the plate of pancakes under Duke's nose, and he had to admit they smelled divine. “Waffles, with their crisp exteriors, eggy interiors?” She switched the plates, and her smirk grew as Duke began to tremble. “One is clearly superior.”

“Stay strong, Thomas.” Damian said. The little gremlin had a small grimace on his face. Ah, so he was perfectly fine with stabbing his siblings, but Stephanie's emotional torture was now inhumane?

Yeah, it really was.

Duke smashed his lips together, the only part of his body that wasn't trembling. He wasn't going to tell Steph he preferred pancakes. He'd rather die.

“He's close.” Steph said, deadpan. “He just needs a bit of a push.”

“I got it!” Jason pulled out a syringe from his cargo pants. “One more dose of truth serum. This'll get him singin' like a bird!”

“But I was never Robin!” Duke blurted out before he could stop himself. Jason, Damian, and Stephanie looked unimpressed. “it's true ….” Duke muttered. 

“Poor banter,” Damian said as he took another note on his clipboard. “And to think you were doing rather well. Unlike Todd.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Jason said as he tried to inject the dosage into Duke's neck.

“Jason, please!” Duke begged. “Don't! This is too much, even for you!”

“Duchess,” Jason said, shaking his head, “I've killed, maimed, and tortured people. Do you really think this is too much for me?”

“Damian?” Duke turned as much as he could in his restraints to look at his little brother. “Please, have pity! I thought we were good? We play video games together! You've told me I'm acceptable!”

The former assassin turned his head aside . “I apologize Thomas. This must be done.”

“Dick!” Duke was almost to tears at this point. “You're supposed to be the nice one! You're supposed protect your brothers! Protect me!”

Dick's voice trailed from the shadows, full of regret. But also … excitement? “Sorry, Duke, but I also have some questions for you.”

Duke wailed in horror as Jason launched himself forward, jabbing the needle into Duke. “Three minutes should do it.”

“BETRAYAL!” Duke called. Hopefully Alfred would hear. But Alfred knew everything that occurred in his house, so the chances that he wasn't already aware, were slim. Heck, the butler probably approved!

“Once again, Duke.” Stephanie announced, once the allotted time for the serum to start working had passed. She tented her fingers. “Do you prefer Waffles or Pancakes?”

Duke tried to stay quiet, he really did. But none of Bruce's training had prepared him for the horrendous, unstoppable force that was Batman's children.

Just then, Tim Drake opened the door to see a strange scene before him. Duke, tied to a chair wearing nothing but boxers. Jason, standing to the side with an empty syringe, a maniacal gleam in his eye. Stephanie, looking much like the super villains that they fought, her fingers tented, her face dark. Dick, once again wrapped in between the coils of the chandelier, eyedropper in hand.

His eyes were wide and unblinking as his mouth opened and closed, trying to form words.

Unfortunately, fate was not with the captive that day. Duke Thomas couldn't help but blurt out the words that sealed his fate: “I like pancakes better! The texture of waffles is just weird!”

“Uh …” Tim began before cringing as he heard Duke's words, then saw Stephanie's face. He looked to the heavens, as if begging for strength. “You guys look like you need some privacy. I didn't see anything.”

“No!” Duke called. “Tim, don't leave me!”

Tim shut the door behind him, but not before calling out: “Sorry dude, but I value my life.”

Stephanie tutted, shaking her head. “I'm sorry Duke,” she did not look sorry, “But no one's coming to save you.”

Jason whistled. “Wouldn't want to be you right now, Duchess.”

Duke slunk down in his chair. “Me neither.”

Stephanie opened her mouth, about to start a rant on the glories of waffles, when Dick leapt down from the chandelier and handed Steph his eyedropper. “Nuh-uh, it's my turn!”

The purple patron saint of waffles harrumphed, but retreated into the shadows. “I'm not doing that freaky contortion stuff on the chandelier though!”

Dick grinned as he sat down in front of Duke. From a pocket of his jeans, he pulled out an envelope. Out of which he plucked a piece of paper.

“Now, Duke, I have collected some fan-questions for you. All are completely harmless. Do us all a favor and answer … truthfully, eh?”

Duke groaned. “That was just bad, Dick.”

The acrobat didn't seem discouraged. He then unleashed a barrage of questions, completely unrelenting. Luckily, Duke was prepared.

“Best prank you ever pulled?”

“Was prepared.”

“Worst punishment you ever received?”

“Dolled out by Alfred.”

“Most embarrassing memory?”

“Not worth me telling you.”

Jason laughed appreciatively. “He's good.”

Dick narrowed his eyes slightly. “Your funniest pun was …?”

“Better than yours.” 

Stephanie, Jason, and even Damian let out a laugh at that.

“Kid, you are now my favorite brother.”

“Hey!” Damian and Dick said, simultaneously.

“Thanks Jay,” Duke said, “If only you felt this way before you drugged me!”

Jason laughed. “You're funny, Duchess.”

Once again, the door opened. This time, Harper Row stood in the doorway, and she did not look happy.

“What's this that Tim told me about you tying up Duke?”

“It's not what you think!” Dick began.

“Yes it is!” Duke cut in. “They gave me truth serum and are interrogating me!”

There was a war going on in Harper's eyes. On one hand, she seemed to be trying to be the responsible sister. On the other, Harper loved chaos. 

In the end, she sighed. “You guys really shouldn't be doing this. And you, Dick! You're supposed to stop these kinds of shenanigans!”

“That's what I said,” Duke muttered.

Once everyone looked properly remorseful – or at least pretending to be – Harper nodded. “I'm going to go now. This is your only chance.”

As soon as the door closed behind her, and Duke's last hope left, Jason let out a sigh. “That was close. Let's continue, shall we?”

Duke let out a moan, “I thought you were going to stop!”

Stephanie's voice was gleeful as it came from above: “Aw heck no, Duke! This is the most fun I've had in ages!”

“Better hurry up,” Jason said, “B will be home soon.”

Dick nodded sagely. “Of course.” He turned to Duke. “Okay, middle D, one last question for you.” Duke cringed. “It involves ducks.”

Duke’s eyes widened. “NO!” He yelled, knowing exactly what Dick was going to ask. “NO! You can’t make me!

Dick shook his head. “Aw, come on!” Duke continued to shake. “Duke Thomas, how many times have you-”

“What on earth is going on here?” Duke let out a relieved sigh as Bruce opened the door and strowed in. He glared at everyone, and even though every single member of the batfam was immune to Batman’s glare, it still gave Duke’s attackers  siblings pause.

“Just some brotherly bonding, B.” Dick said tentatively. “You know, what you’re always trying to get us to do?”

Jason snorted. “Nothing harmful going on here,” he said, “and that’s the truth.”

Dick chuckled. “Ah, that pun was good, little wing.”

Bruce was not impressed. “Stephanie?”

“We’re having fun!” She said, dropping from the chandelier. “And we’ll clean it up.”

Bruce let out a long, suffering sigh. “Damian, will you tell me what all this yelling is about?”

Damian frowned at his father, before glancing around at his accomplices. “Todd and Grayson insisted on drugging Thomas with Truth serum. I was roped into assisting. I believed that I could keep them from going too far.”

Bruce rubbed his temples and sighed once more.

“If I may, father, Thomas performed admirably under the pressure. You may refer to my notes.”

“Little brat,” Jason muttered, and Stephanie and Dick nodded along.

Bruce shook his head. “I don’t need to see that Damian. Right now I want all of you to go to your rooms. As soon as Alfred is back from the grocery store, He and I will be having a discussion about your cookie privileges.”

Dick, Stephanie, and Jason deflated all at once and filed out of the room. Damian nodded to Duke, then stalked out. Huh, maybe the kid did feel bad.

Once the room was clear, Bruce untied Duke. "I'm sorry about them. If it happens again, come tell me or Alfred."

Duke nodded, "Thanks, B."

Bruce paused at the door on his way out. “The cure is in the cave. Or you can just wait it out.” He frowned, then sighed. “Also, I hope you don’t need me to say this, but please don’t attempt vengeance.”

Duke nodded solemnly as Bruce walked out. Then he smirked. He may be comparatively saner than his family, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t up for a bit of payback.

“Maybe Cass will help me,” Duke muttered to himself. “That’ll be fun.”

[stevesnailbat]

I haven’t even seen any fics about Steve and male reader running around the mall and hiding from the Russians, maybe they both escape and eventually kiss (the feelings be real what they are feeling) and this(instead of robin could be both of their coming out parties) and then maybe nsfw??? Cause Steve is daddy

warnings: slightest mentions of homophobia, mentions of violence, smut

word count: 2.4K

a/n: this is my first ever male reader fic, i hope it’s up to everyone’s standards! enjoy :)

Everything was blurry and painful as Y/N opened his eyes, slowly becoming aware of the fact that he was tied up in a chair inside of an underground Russian base. He realized where he was eventually, realizing that impending doom was upon him. What he heard seconds later was what fully brought him back to reality, a pained groan from someone behind him. He remembered that they had been down there for what seemed like an eternity, and that both of them had the living shit beat out of them not too long before.

“Steve?” he called, trying to reach his hands that were tied behind his back to touch the boy behind him. “Harrington, I’m gonna need you to talk to me. Are you alright back there? Are you hurt? Please—“

“Jesus, Y/N. I’m fine, just a little beat up, that’s all. No need to start your nervous rambling.” Steve groaned bluntly, rolling his head back, leaning it against his.

“It’s a little too late for that, Steve.” he joked coldly, his hands still trying to reach for Steve’s in a frantic manner.

Before either of them could say anything else, more of the guards walked in. Y/N was sure that he had a major concussion at this point, that or his eye was just swollen shut, because he could barely see what was happening around him in enough time to react to it. That was when he felt Steve’s finger reaching for his own, hooking their pinkies together in a comforting way. Y/N couldn’t really remember all of what happened after that, but he knew Robin was dragged in and that they injected them all with something that was supposed to make them tell the truth.

The next thing Y/N could remember was Robin and Steve giggling about how the drugs not working only, that was when he realized he had it way worse than the two of them. He was still spinning in and out of consciousness as the Russians came back in and threatened to pull Steve’s fingernails off. He was coherent enough to follow them through the tunnels after being set loose when Dustin and Erica saved them, but that was as much as he could do.

The elevator ride made him feel nauseous, but being in the movie theater after was what made his head feel even worse. Still, he followed Steve wherever he went, in a daze as he heard mutterings from him and Robin.

“Y/N—Y/N. Come here, check this out.” Steve said as he stared up at the ceiling in the mall, the swirl of blue lights mesmerized him as he reached for Y/N’s hand.

He stood next to Steve staring at the lights for a moment, the lights dazzling him just as much as they did Steve and Robin. His hand was ripped from Steve’s when he ran towards the bathroom, leaving Y/N alone in the hall. He started to feel nauseous soon after the other two sprinted towards the bathrooms, so he followed suit but neither of them noticed.

Y/N laid on the bathroom floor, listening to Robin and Steve talk in the stalls next to him. Most of the conversation was a blur, but he brought himself back to reality when he heard Robin ask if Steve had ever been in love before. When he said Nancy’s name, Y/N’s stomach twisted in a knot. It was hard enough to see Steve flirting with girls at work all the time, but thinking about him with Nancy was even worse. He’d been holding back his feelings for so long, but it was hard for him not to flirt with someone as playful as Steve.

It was unheard of for Y/N to even think of bringing up sexuality to Steve, but it was something on his mind a lot. He caught lingering glances in his direction from Steve one too many times to think that he wasn’t interested in the slightest, but he’d never bring it up.

“Are you still in love with Nancy?” Robin asked.

“No.” Steve replied bluntly.

“Why not?” Robin questioned.

“I think it’s because I found someone who’s a little bit better for me.” he chuckled, making Y/N’s heart drop as he thought of Steve finding someone else. “It's crazy. Ever since Dustin got home, he's been saying, "You know, you gotta find your Suzie. You gotta find your Suzie."”

“Wait, who's Suzie?” Robin interjected.

“It's some girl from camp, I guess his girlfriend.” Steve said. “To be honest with you, I'm not 100% sure she's even real. But that’s not—that's not really the point. That doesn't matter. The point is, this person, you know, the one that I like, it's somebody that I...didn't even talk to in school. And I don't even know why. Maybe 'cause Tommy H. would've made fun of me or...I wouldn't be...prom king. It's stupid. I mean, Dustin's right, it's all just a bunch of bullshit anyways. Because, when I think about it, I should've been hanging out with this person the whole time.”

The room was silent and Y/N nearly stopped breathing for a moment, trying not to ruin the moment for anyone. He wasn’t really sure who Steve was talking about, but his heart was racing at the possibility of it being him.

“He’s—They’re just smart, way smarter than me, and so funny. They’ve made my life better and I’ve had the time of my life this summer with them, I just—I don’t know if I’d be able to tell them.” Steve scoffed.

“Steve?” Robin said quietly, unsure of herself as she spoke.

“Yeah?” he replied.

“Did you just say he?” Robin asked, making Y/N’s stomach twist into knots again.

“Yeah—Yeah, I did say he, didn’t I?” he laughed, leaning his head against the stall closest to Y/N. “I never thought I’d admit it, but yeah. And—And it scares me how much I like him.”

“Robin, did you just OD in there?” Steve asked after a long silence, knocking on the side of her stall.

“No. I am still alive.” she replied, laughing to herself a bit. “It’s okay to be scared about your feelings for a guy Steve, I am too.”

“About me?” he questioned, making her laugh again as she slid under his stall to sit next to him.

“No, Dingus.” she said softly, shooting a sympathetic smile in his direction. “I’m scared for myself—my feelings about girls scare me too.”

“Are you saying—“

“Yes, Steve. I am too.” she replied, shaking her head at his confusion as she chewed on her lip. “And you know what? It’s okay that we’re scared. But you know who’s probably even more scared right now than we are?”

“Who?”

“That someone you found who’s better for you.” she said as she leaned down to peer under the stall, seeing Y/N’s feet near hers in the next stall over; he had been listening in shock the whole time. “He might actually have OD’d in the stall over.”

Y/N had his eyes closed when Steve slid under the stall to him, but they fluttered open slowly when he felt a warm touch on his bruised cheek. They didn’t have time to say anything to each other before Dustin and Erica barged in, seeming very annoyed.

The more times the two of them faced death that night, the more they wanted to be alone. It made them realize what they were missing out on for so long and what they really needed. But they fought, they fought to live to see the day where they would be able to be together. Y/N still wasn’t seeing straight, but he was strong enough to push past it because it meant that he was one step closer to being with Steve.

The medics checked Y/N after the battle was over, confirming what he already knew to be true. He had a severe concussion, which meant that he wouldn’t be able to drive himself anywhere. Steve was nowhere to be found for a while after coming out from the mall, but he was searching for Y/N just as much as he was looking for Steve. He eventually found Y/N, rushing over to him as soon as he did.

“How do you feel?” Steve asked, sitting next to him on the tailgate of the ambulance. “That’s a stupid question, I know you don’t feel good. Do you need me to drive you home?“

“Yeah, that would be great.” Y/N replied with an exhausted smile on his lips.

The car ride was relatively silent for the most part, as both of them were trying to figure out what all had just happened with them and the Upside Down. Both of them lived in Loch Nora, but Y/N felt the need to be with Steve for the night.

“Can I stay with you tonight?” he blurted out as they pulled into the neighborhood, making Steve nearly slam into the brakes at a stop sign. “I don’t want to be alone tonight.”

“Yeah, yeah of course you can. Honestly, I was hoping you would say that.” Steve chuckled, smiling sheepishly over at him.

They got ready for bed in a peaceful quietness, neither of them daring to say a word. It felt like things were alright again, but Y/N thought saying something might ruin it all, like Steve might change his mind if he said anything wrong.

“Listen, Y/N.” Steve said hesitantly as he pulled the sheets down on the bed, the hesitancy in his voice making Y/N a little uneasy. “I—I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” he implored, watching the doe eyed boy cautiously from the other side of the bed.

“I don’t know, for not telling you I guess? I’ve known for a long time that I’ve felt this way but—“

“Steve, it’s okay. You were scared, I get it. I know you and I know who you’ve been around for the first nineteen years of your life. You thought that someone, your parents, your friends, people around town, would judge you.” he cut Steve off, grabbing his hand as he gripped the sheets between his fingers. “I understand, I was lucky to have people like you and Robin and my understanding parents to support me. It’s not like that for everyone, yeah?”

“Yeah, I’ve been trying to cope with bottling it all up for so long but I just couldn’t take it any longer and now—fuck—now I just want you. No, I don’t want you, I need you, all of you.” Steve said desperately as he grabbed Y/N’s hand tighter as he kneeled on the bed.

“Steve, you aren’t thinking straight—“

“No, but I am! I know that I really like you and that I haven’t felt this way about someone in a long time.” Steve exclaimed, tugging at his hand lightly again as he followed and knelt on the bed.

It was sudden, but needed when their lips collided. There was a sense of urgency behind the kiss, like their lives were still in danger and they’d never get to feel their lips together again. It was hard for Y/N to believe that Steve actually wanted him, but it was happening, it was really happening. Everything was happening so fast that he barely realized his hand wandering down to Steve’s boxers until he felt him moan into the kiss. Steve mumbled under his breath as he pulled away from Y/N’s lips, pressing kisses along his jaw slowly. He stopped Y/N by grabbing his hand, making him furrow his brow in confusion.

“I want to do this for you, okay? You’ve had a rough few days, finding out about all of the true crazy in Hawkins, I want to do this for you.” Steve insisted and Y/N nodded, laying back on the bed as Steve palmed his length through his shorts. “I gotta hear you say yes.”

“Fuck, Steve. Yes, please, just do something.” he mumbled as he locked eyes with a very excited Steve.

Steve wasted no time in pulling his shorts down, taking his length into his hand as Y/N moaned loudly. There was a smirk on Steve’s lips as he leaned down to kiss Y/N, getting whines of pleasure from in response to his movements. Steve’s tongue danced across Y/N’s bottom lip before biting it gently and pulling away after. Steve looked nervous for a moment, but Y/N cupped his bruised cheek and smiled up at him reassuringly.

“It’s your first time doing this, I know.” he chuckled, making Steve blush a bit. “It’s alright. You’ll do fine.”

“I know I will, don’t worry.” Steve said as his confidence boosted immediately, smirking lightly. “So sit back and let me get to it.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll let you—Oh fuck.” Y/N said, cutting himself off as he felt Steve take him into his mouth.

His movements were more forward than Y/N expected, but Steve was confident and wanted to make it great for both of them. He started out slow, though. He took half of Y/N’s length into his mouth at first, getting adjusted to the feeling as Y/N gripped his hair while biting back a moan. It didn’t take long for him to get used to it, so he sped up soon after. Y/N almost came at the sight of Steve taking his whole length into his mouth at once, but stopped himself. He wanted the moment to last a while.

Steve hadn’t done anything like this before, but he knew exactly what he was doing. The swirl of his tongue and the use of his hand were done to perfection, making it hard for Y/N not to come.

“I want you to cum, babe. You don’t have to hold it back anymore.” Steve said before licking a stripe up his length.

It didn’t take long after that for Y/N to reach his high, gripping Steve’s hair tightly to hold him down as his cum hit the back of his throat. A string of curse words left his mouth before he let go of Steve’s head and relaxed, staring up at the ceiling as he caught his breath.

“Was that good?” Steve teased, already knowing the answer as he pulled Y/N’s shorts back over his hips before crawling next to him in the bed.

“That was more than good, it was pretty fucking amazing.” he replied, laughing tiredly as he turned to Steve. “I want to make you feel good now.”

“It’s okay, Y/N.” Steve said, cupping his cheek as he noticed his tired eyes and raspy voice. “I want you to sleep now, we can do that later. You need sleep, alright? I’ll be right here when you wake up and we can finish where we left off.”

“Alright.” he sighed, letting Steve pull him into his chest as he pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Sweet dreams, Steve.”

“Sweet dreams, Y/N.” Steve sighed contently.

[writingblock101]

Still An Asshole (Jason Todd x Reader)

Part 1 

Thank you for all the love on part one! Here is part two! Enjoy!

Summary: As an ER nurse, you deal with a lot of shit, but Red Hood is not one of those things.

Warnings: Injuries are mentioned? It’s not very gory, this is very dialog heavy

Tags: @combative5sos​

Word Count: 2,700

You quietly shut the door behind you and stare at the wall. You’ve been a nurse for a long time. You’ve seen more tragedies than you can count, but today was probably the worst day of your career.

Some psychopath blew up an elementary school. An elementary school.

The number of survivors kept dropping the longer your shift went on until you felt ready to break, but you couldn’t. You had to put on a strong face, stay in your nursing mode and help those that you could.

But now you aren’t at the hospital.

Your back slides down the door as you collapse to the floor, openly crying. Your shoulders shake as you sob into your hands, barely able to breathe.

Who would do this? Who would want to hurt children?

Tears stream down your face and you curl in on yourself then there’s a pair of hands helping you to your feet. You barely open your eyes, but you accept the hug, knowing exactly who is in your apartment despite the fact that moments ago, you were curled against the door.

“It’s okay,” Red murmurs to you, stroking your hair.

You’re not sure how long he holds you in your kitchen, but eventually, you pull away, hiccuping.

“You okay?” He asks.

You nod tearfully, wiping your eyes then frown at Red. He isn’t visible hurt, so why is he here?

“Are you hurt?” You ask, wiping your nose.

“No, I’m fine.”

You frown again.

“Why are you here then?”

“I heard about the bombing… I wanted to check on you,” He adds sheepishly. “Are you okay?”

You stare at him for a moment, then in spite of yourself, your eyes well up again. Red guides you over to the couch where you sit down, hands in your hair and tears spilling over.

“I just... I don’t understand,” You hiccup. “How could someone hurt children? How could someone…” Your voice cracks and your breathing stutters. “How could someone blow up a school?”

Red says nothing, just rubs your back and listens.

“You know, I don’t agree with murder,” You start. “But even murder makes a little sense! Like, you had a grudge or you were angry or you were caught on the wrong day or whatever but how, just how can someone formulate the idea of blowing up a school full of children and actually follow through with it?!”

You start sobbing again, hiding your face in your hands.

“This one little boy,” You hiccup. “He was in 4th grade. His name was Zach. He was so scared. He asked me to hold his hand because his mom wasn’t there yet. And I watched the life leave his eyes,” You pause for a moment, covering your face then slowly lookup. “That parent dropped off their son at school, thinking he would be safe, that they would see him again later that day, alive and well, but I watched as he died. I watched so many parents sob over their child’s body because some… some psychopath thinks they're entitled or something!” Your voice raises as you become more angry. “Because they think the world owes them something! That blowing up this school and killing all those children will get them something!”

You sigh, all your energy leaving your body. You watch as your tears run off your nose for a moment before quietly admitting to the coffee table.

“I don’t know, Red. Maybe you’re onto something with this whole idea of some people deserving to die. Maybe I’m just too naive.”

You feel his hand freeze on your back, but you’re too upset to wonder if you said something wrong.

“No, come on, Y/N,” He pulls your shoulders so you’re sitting upright and wipes your tears with his thumbs. “You don’t mean that.”

“Maybe I do!” You exclaim, pushing his hands down. “Maybe there are just shit bags in this world who don’t deserve a second chance! Maybe I’m an idiot for thinking that people can change…”

“No, come on. You see bad shit every day and you still see the good in people--”

“Exactly! I see how bad people are! How can I of all people think they deserve a second chance?! How can I think people can change when I’ve seen the same family come into ER three times because they’ve beat their five year old too hard but we don’t have enough evidence to help that child?! How can I think people can change when I’ve watched doctors stitch up the same dealer handcuffed to the bed four times when I know damn well I will see him back in the same position in a few months when he’s out of prison?! I see it, and I know you’re right but I chose to ignore it and that makes me an idiot. A stupid, naive, idiot.”

Red’s shoulders sag.

“You’re not an idiot, Y/N, and you’re definitely not naive. You’ve seen so much shit but you still fight tooth and nail with me about killing criminals. Criminals. We don’t need more people in this city that think like me. We need more people like you. We need people who still have faith in others. Don’t let this asshole change that.”

You smile tearfully.

“You know, I never realized until you said my name that I don’t know your name… I also never told you my name but I also never told you my job, much less where I live, or had even met you before you just showed up, and yet,” You gesture to him sitting on your couch. “Here you are.”

“Exactly,” He agrees. “Here I am because you believe in people. Even dirtbags like me that kill people. Yeah, you argue about morals all day with me, but you’re also stitching me up when you do it. You’ve never turned me away because you see good in people. You haven’t liked me from day one but it hasn’t stopped you from helping me.”

“Well, you did threaten me with a gun the first few times we met,” You laugh, wiping away tears.

“You always try to pull that on me, but don’t think I forgot that you called me on my shit with that gun.”

“It was clear that you don’t have enough people in your life to call you out.”

He chuckles.

“I actually do, but I just don’t listen.”

“And you listen to me?”

“Not really,” He admits.

You smile sadly, but put a hand on top of his.

“Thank you for coming by to check on me.”

“Of course,” He nods. “You always help me out when I’m bleeding or have something dislocated, so it’s the least I can do,” He stands up and walks toward the window.

He opens the window and starts to step out by hesitates then turns back toward you.

“You can call me Jay.”

“Jay it is,” You smile, giving him a wave.

He seems awkward, unsure of how to respond but gives back a small wave then steps out the window and disappears.

Maybe Red Hood Jay isn’t that bad…

. . .

Maybe it was because of the nature of your last encounter with the Red Hood, but you didn’t seem to mind finding him in your apartment; however, that nonchalance quickly went away when you realized he was bleeding profusely from his neck.

“Holy shit!” You exclaim, dropping your stuff. “What the hell happened?!” You demand.

Jay chuckles, leaning heavily against your counter with one arm, his other holding bloody gauze to his neck.

“Well, I went after that bigger fish I mentioned.”

You grab your trauma bag which you started storing next to the couch and quickly snap a pair of gloves. Forcing him to sit at the counter, you peel his hand back to investigate the wound.

“Yeah, looks like it went really well,” You retort, digging disinfectant out of your bag, but you stop and frown then look back at Jay.

“No helmet tonight?”

“Took it off.”

“But you’re wearing a mask?”

“Yeah, I’ve always had it on.”

“Under the helmet?”

“Yeah.”

“And you’ve done that every night?”

“Yeah.”

You blink.

“Why the fuck do you wear a mask under the helmet?”

“It was for dramatic effect, okay?!” He snaps.

“...What?!”

Jay groans.

“Will you just keep me from dying?!”

“You’re not gonna die,” You roll your eyes then resume cleaning his wound.

Though you’re slightly miffed to admit this, Jay is pretty cute, even with the mask and bleeding profusely from his neck.

“You said you did this going after that “bigger fish”?” You ask.

“Yeah,” He mutters back, staring at the countertop.

“So, who is this bigger fish?”

“Joker.”

You whistle lowly, preparing your sutures now that the wound is clean.

“Yeah, that’s definitely a bigger fish,” You admit. “He got you good,” You start stitching up the wound.

“Joker didn’t do this to me,” Jay snaps.

“Okay,” You roll your eyes. “Then who did?”

“Batman,” He mutters.

“What’s your beef with Batman, you know, other than the obvious reasons?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Given how deep and long this cut is,” You gesture to his shoulder. “You’re going to be here for a while, so come on, indulge me.”

“I indulged you last time you stitched me up,” He grumbles.

“No, you didn’t. You were cryptic as shit and none of it made sense.”

“Yeah, well it doesn’t make a lot of sense for me either!” Jay snaps.

You roll your eyes again. You find yourself doing that a lot around him.

“Shut up. You were being purposefully cryptic. I didn’t realize how much arm twisting I would have to do to get a straight answer from you.”

“I have given you straight answers.”

“With absolutely no context you, little shit, so it doesn’t count.”

Jay sighs again.

“Fine. The beef I have with Batman started when I was Robin.”

You sit back for a moment, staring at him in wonder.

“No shit? You were Robin?” You frown. “I thought Robin became Nightwing?”

Jay grimaces.

“Different Robin. I was the one after. Anyways, I was Robin and me and Bats didn’t have the same ideas for how to handle Gotham thugs--”

“I see a lot has changed,” You mutter.

“If you interrupt me, I’m not going to tell you shit,” He snaps.

You mimic him under your breath, but stay silent.

“Anyways,” He continues. “Long story short, I got murdered by the Joker and six months later woke up in a coffin,” Jay frowns as he recalls the events. “It gets a little fuzzy about what happened from there, but really the gist that you need to know is that I found out that Joker was still running around, alive and well, despite literally murdering me, so I came back to finish the job and find out how the fuck Batman was justifying keeping him alive.”

He scoffs, shaking his head.

“The bastard didn’t have the guts to kill him. So this whole crusade I’ve been on was to draw out the Joker and Batman so I could confront Batman and kill Joker.”

“So,” You frown. “Is Joker dead?”

“No, that’s where this lovely cut your stitching up came from,” He grumbles. “Damn bastard hit me with a Batarang.”  

“The Joker?”

“Why would the fucking Joker hit me with a Batarang?”

“I don’t know! He killed you once already.”

Jay pauses.

“Fair, but no, Joker isn’t dead because I’m not dead.”

“I’m not following…”

“Joker building blew up while all three of us were still in it. Batman got out, meaning he took Joker with him and I obviously got myself out.”

“Wow, you have had a long night,” You agree, tying the last knot on his stitches. “And it sounds like you need a drink.”

“I’ve needed a drink since digging myself out of that damn coffin,” He mumbled while you cover his stitches with bandages.

“Fair,” You sit back once finishing. “I’ve got Vodka, Captain Morgans, and Bourbon.”

“Rum sounds good.”

You nod, then stand up then start making the drinks, rum and Coke for Jay, and Bourbon and Coke for yourself.

“I know I’m not the medical expert here, but I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to drink alcohol after getting stitches,” Jay calls from his spot at the counter but you wave him off.

“You died and came back to life. I’m certainly not going to be able to kill your ass with some liquor,” You hand him his glass.

“True,” He holds his glass to you. “Thanks for helping me to not die.”

You smile, clicking your glass against his and take a long sip.

“While stitches were a big part of why I came here,” Jay says after taking a sip of his drink. “There is something else I want to ask you.”

You raise your eyebrows.

“Okay, shoot.”

“I’m getting together a... team of sorts,” He says.

“Of sorts?” You ask.

“Yeah, don’t be expecting any girl scouts. But a team of people who can finish the job.”

“A team of mercenaries,” You translate.

“Whatever. Would you be interested in joining us?”

“As an assassin?”

“I was thinking more of a team doctor unless you have some secret hobbies I didn’t know about.”

“Why me?”

“Well, you’ve saved my life on more than one occasion. Also, you call me out on my shit, which I might occasionally need--”

“More than occasionally,” You interject.

“Watch it,” He growls.

“Or what?”

“Also, you’re not scared of me, so you’re definitely not going to be scared of anyone else I bring on board.”

You take another sip of your drink and stare at Jay for a long moment. It would be different, probably unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before, but are you truly on board with this lifestyle? Are you ready to completely uproot your life to join Red? You’re not sure.

“And,” He starts sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. “There was one other reason that I’m asking you.”

You raise an eyebrow.

“Yeah?” You ask. “What is it?”

He pauses for a second, chewing the inside of his cheek, then takes another long sip of his drink and stands up.

“I’d prefer to show you,” He smirks, but you can tell he’s full of shit.

He’s nervous, but he’s trying to pretend he’s not. You’ve grown to know Jay solely by his voice, so adding his facial features gives way to a whole new form of communication that leaves Jay much more vulnerable to giving away his true thoughts. He seems aware of this, hence the helmet, and of course, bullets constantly being aimed at him.

You tilt your head at him, your mind creating one hypothesis just as quickly for another thought to shoot it down. He rounds the counter and reaches out to hold your hip with one hand, his other on the back of your neck, giving you plenty of time to pull away, but you don’t.

Instead, you grab the front of his shirt and pull him into a kiss. He tenses for a moment, probably surprised that you ended up being the one to initiate the kiss, but he relaxes, pulling you closer to him. You break away, his forehead against yours.

If you went with Jay, you’d have to start over, but would that really be that bad? You don’t think so.

“Oh, what the hell?” You grin. “Count me in.”

He grins and kisses you again.

“In that case, the next thing you should know,” He reaches up and takes his mask off. “My name is Jason Todd. Nice to officially meet you.”

“Wow, you’re pretty hot for a zombie.”

He rolls his blue eyes.

“So,” You ask, jumping up on the counter. “Does this team have a name?”

Jason moves to stand between your legs, bracing his arms on the counter behind you.

“I was thinking The Outlaws.”

“That’s a dumb name.”

“I take back my offer.”

You stick your tongue out and kiss him again.

“No, you don’t.”

Red Hood, Jay, Jason Todd or whoever the fuck, yeah he’s an asshole, but you’re willingly stuck with him now, so you guess he isn’t that bad.

Logically, would Jason have an autopsy scar? Probably not, but I don’t care, I like the idea. Also, who blew up the school? Dunno, thought about making it Bludhaven considering that actually gets blown up during Under the Red Hood, but as you see, this is fanfiction and I did whatever fit the story instead of following the comic. 

Hope you enjoyed it! I absolutely loved writing it! If y’all ever want to be tagged, just shoot me a message! Also, I do take request, but disclaimer00 I can’t guarantee the speed they will be done because I am a student and I like to write things I’m proud of so I don’t want to give you a shitty piece just for the sake of having it done. 

[kasieli]

Fights and Flights: What Happens Undercover, Stays Undercover Chapter 8

A/N: Hey, guys, it’s finally here. I figured since some websites don’t entirely work for everyone, I’d just post a text version here, too. Links for the ff.net and wattpad are listed at the end! Also, I may or may not have a small comic that goes along with this ;) Anyways, please enjoy!

---

"You think that just because you're the son of Bruce Wayne, that you can get away with anything." This varsity-jacket-wearing dumbo in front of them was practically fuming. "Well, you're Gotham's little princess after all, aren't you?" He added with a sarcastic smirk as he took one heated stomp closer and closer and closer towards a placid Damian. "Did you know, Damian Wayne," he spat, "I was the hotshot around here before you showed up?" He cracked his neck, rolling it with a wicked smile. "I'd rather keep it that way."

Raven exhaled slowly as her eyes darted around the hallway. Azar, it seemed like all of Gotham Academy was watching. How did Damian's mere action of bumping into this hotshot get him into this predicament? Undercover her ass. This was Damian Wayne! If he tripped over and broke his nose on the sidewalk (not that he would, ever) it would be all over the Gotham Academy newspaper! Of course he would bring attention to any and everything he did — especially running into this sleazebag jock.

Jeez, she knew it wasn't on purpose either but she knew Damian, and she knew (as a solid fact, she might add) that he was entirely enjoying this soon-to-be sprawl.

And as predicted, when her eyes shot over to Damian, while he wore an overall composure of calmness, there it was, right on that smug face of his.

Damian's signature remark — the first thing she noticed when they battled together. That stupid thing she hated to admit that she...kind of liked.

His signature defiant smirk.

Azar.

"Please," Damian purred, his voice low and husky and so...nevermind, "enlighten me as to how you plan to do that."

He sauntered slowly, lips pursed into a tight line, bright eyes aflame, eyebrow quirked, neck bared, and anger vein exposed. How could someone possibly be dumb enough to pick a fight with Damian? The Bruce Wayne's son? And even as just Damian he was a type A "I'll kick your ass if you speak to me" type of person, let alone the separate brat entity that was Robin.

She wished that she was next to him like in battle, ready to beat up this asshole in front of her, but in the rush of the spectacle, she was shoved into the audience. Just a mere spectator — like the rest of the students. Basically...all the students. The next class had already started too, but apparently no one could resist the urge of watching the battle of Mr. Hotshot versus Damian Wayne. She swore even some professors were there watching, too.

Damn, she didn't want to be just a spectator, though.

She wasn't just a classmate to him.

But here...apparently she was...or had to be. Isn't that what she just told him not even five minutes ago, anyways?

"Do you really want to know, princess?" Mr. Hotshot cooed. There were a few snickers from the crowd. Probably from the other jocks.

They were maybe only a few bodies apart now, and she could see Mr. Hotshot's fist clenching, let alone feel the anger that was seething from his body.

Oh, no.

Damian shrugged nonchalantly, his eyebrow quirked. "Why not?"

Oh, hell.

The jock struck, his fist plummeting through the air.

"What?" He sneered as some "oooohs" were emitted from the crowd.

Her hands were sweating. Why were her hands sweating? She knew this guy was no match for Damian and yet...

"I think you missed," Damian said on a deadpan. There was some more laughter from the crowd.

Of course he dodged it. If only they knew exactly what the boy in front of them was capable of.

Mr. Hotshot sighed forcefully, his upper lip quivering. "Why you little —"

He lunged at Damian. If she hadn't known him she would have thought the delicate frame of his was no match for the beefy, bulky jock. Of course Damian was muscular in his own way, but not like this guy -- this guy looked like a horse. She almost snickered at the thought, but then after another miss from the jock she saw Damian's fist clench and -- this wasn't going to be good.

"Stop!"

Before a single thought flashed in her mind, she found herself in between Damian and the jock with a stern stare and a heavy breath.

"Rae, don't," Damian grunted under his breath. His nostril flared ever so slightly and she could tell that while seconds ago he was just mildly irritated, now he was fuming. Of course that change in his expression was so minute that only she would probably notice it, but there was also surprise scribbled in his eyes and as she glanced over at the jock, she was damn sure he noticed it, too.

God, the response was so natural to her, like an instinct. Now she got herself riddled in this goddamn mess which was probably why Damian turned from playful to serious in the fraction of a second. She looked around her at the appalled and excited faces surrounding them, just a sea of anonymous amused spectators, and she felt so...exposed. Why? She was used to this.

"Oh ho ho, what do we have here?" The jock's voice turned low and gruff as he sauntered towards them. His eyes were no longer focused on Damian but rather glued onto...her. What?

"What a precious little girl protecting her precious little princess."

She felt Damian stiffen beside her. He was growing angrier by the second, she didn't even have to look at him to know.

By this point the jock was a mere foot away from her, towering over her with a lopsided smile. The small thought of how Damian's lopsided smile was far far far more charming washed over her. In this guy's defense, there was no warmness in his smile, more like contempt, or eagerness...slyness, anger, even. His eyes darkened as he leaned in...his face was so close. Her breath hitched in her throat.

"Hmm," he hummed. "You smell good." He licked at his lips. "Lavender, is it?"

He breathed in so very close to her ear and for some reason she couldn't move. Her body was so tense. She felt so stiff. Goddamnit, she was submitted into more intense situations than this, and yet...

"You stay the fuck away from her."

Her emphatic shields were up, she knew it. After all, she couldn't last an hour feeling everyone's crushes and teenage-hormone-inflicted emotions in Gotham Academy. Her shields were up, but yet she felt Damian's anger seething, biting into her shields, so powerful it was almost...painful.

"And if I don't?" This time she felt one of the jock's strong, rough hands push some hair, tucking it behind her ear. That's what Damian would do...

A smirk worked its way across his face. "Hey, gorgeous, what do you say, would you like to go to prom with me?"

...What? Prom?

Oh, prom.

She can't believe she forgot. Prom! The spectacle of the senior class. Where girls would gush over their prom dates, hoping to be asked in a romantic way. Although, she wouldn't be surprised if half of the senior class was trying to gather the courage to ask Damian. Damian...she didn't want to go to prom with this jerk in front of her.

By the second she just felt Damian's anger grow hotter and hotter. Her mouth opened slightly, but for the life of her, she couldn't get words out. Part of her was so stunned that he would even dare to make an offer, even though she was sure it was only to get under Damian's skin, but what really shocked her was that...it was working. Damian was angry. It was making him the sort of angry he felt when Batman would deny him a mission. How...Why...? What about asking her to prom would make him so...furious?

Beside her, she felt Damian shift, and not before long his strapping frame was right next to her and his hand was on the jock and suddenly, with a forceful shove, he propelled the jock back a few feet. He was really, really, really angry. Damian was scary when he was this angry.

As the jock sputtered to a stop, the surprise in his face slowly faded as it was replaced with a furrowed brow and a quivering lip.

"I said stay the fuck away from her," Damian repeated, his voice strained as if he was biting back a growl. This time, it was his turn to saunter towards the jock. He seized a hefty chunk of his Gotham Academy varsity jacket and pulled him in. "Don't touch her ever again." In one swift movement, he threw the jock to the floor. "And just so you know," he added sharply, "she's going to prom with me."

What?

There were many gasps from the crowd and probably many more students with broken dreams of going to prom with the dreamy son of Bruce Wayne.

Prom? With him? What the heck? He didn't ever mention this to her!

"Okay, okay, the spectacle is over!" A professor shouted as he was shoving his way past the sea of students, "get back to class!"

With many grunts and sighs, the crowd started fizzling out.

"Shoo, shoo, come on now, you're all late for class."

He turned to them as he said in a stiff voice. "Wyatt (so that was the jock's name!), please make your way to the principal's office. Damian, come with me."

She opened her mouth to say something, but in the time it took her to do so, Damian turned away from her without saying a word, heck, not even giving her a glance, like "screw this guy". Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. As she watched him slip away, she squeezed out a sigh through gritted teeth.

What did she do wrong?

She groaned, turning away. As scared as she was to do so she needed to find out. It was going to eat her alive if she didn't.

"Azar," she grunted, heading towards her calculus class. How could she concentrate with Damian being furious at her -- ugh -- she had to admit it, she absolutely knew she couldn't. She even had an exam, let alone the fact that she wasn't able to finish her homework.

She shook her head and rolled her eyes. Waiting for him to get out detention (because, he was most certainly going to have detention) was going to be awful.

She sighed.

Could her day get any worse?

—

She timed it perfectly. Almost perfectly to the point that she knocked into him as he strode out the principal's door. Any more perfect and they would have collided head first.

"Damian," she gasped in a surprise. Why was she surprised? She expected to meet him here, she knew she would. But her heart -- it was beating so fast.

"Roth," he acknowledged. To her dismay, he was looking straight ahead like before and didn't even glance her way.

Her eyebrows furrowed. Roth? She felt...offended almost. He hadn't called her that in a long time...basically since they met. Shaking it off, she stated sternly, "we need to talk."

To be honest, she didn't expect him to agree -- he wasn't entirely the type of person to take the phrase 'we need to talk' lightly. He wasn't exactly the best at taking confrontations. To her surprise, Damian didn't even flinch but granted he didn't leave, either, so she took that as a reluctant yes.

Good. Even though she didn't even know what in Azar's name she was going to say to him.

She led him to the rooftop in what seemed to be the most excruciating five minutes of her life (Why was Gotham Academy so large?). He said no word, he didn't even look at her once. He made absolutely no sound, it didn't even sound like he breathed. She even had to check if he was still with her, making sure he didn't slip away from her in the silence. In retrospect, those five minutes would have been the perfect time for her to figure out what the hell she was going to say to him, but in reality she couldn't concentrate because her heart was pounding so adamantly against her ears.

When they finally reached the roof, she shut door behind her as the cold air began to bite at her cheeks. It was winter now, and there was a slight blanket of snow covering the city. She cursed silently as she realized she wasn't entirely prepared for their venture out into the cold as her scarf and coat were tucked away in her locker, but honestly there were more important things she had to attend to first.

"We're alone...there's no one here."

She sighed heavily, turning to Damian. He was still looking ahead but seemingly watching the skyline now. His expression turned slightly softer, anyways.

"What, Damian?"

His jaw tensed.

"Damian."

Still nothing.

"What?"

"Nothing is wrong," he finally muttered.

"You called me Roth, stop the bull crap."

A soft siren sang beneath them amidst the subtle breeze, and Raven couldn't help but notice how...beautiful he looked in this very moment. His eyes looked so incredible when the light hit them like that and —

He finally turned to her, a little too quickly might she add. While he seemed tense just moments before, his overall aura was rather stoic, but now...now, it was undoubtedly not stoic. She hated to admit it, but she'd rather it have stayed apathetic, as excruciating as it was. As she looked at him, she sensed anger pouring from his eyes. Yes, his eyes were gorgeous, but anger made them piercing to the point it was almost frightening.

His nostrils flared. Oh, no.

"You're so stupid," he hissed through gritted teeth. "Is this what you wanted? Loads of attention? Well congratulations, because you undeniably just landed us on the front page of Gotham Academy newspaper."

What? What? She was flabbergasted. Just moments before he was so silent, and now he just exploded on her? Then again, it wasn't unlike Damian to do so, but still...he never really did so with her.

She stilled.

That's right, he never exploded at her. Dick, maybe, Beast Boy, definitely, but with her, his explosions were rather mild, not earth shattering like theirs.

"What? Wait..." she sputtered.

But...he just did so. Did that mean...what...why? She tried to form a reply in her mind, but nothing semblance of a sentence came to her, so she scoffed as her mouth hung open, probably looking as floored as she felt.

"I..."

She could have just let anger win. Anger was a good emotion in times like these.

"You..."

Still nothing.

Anger it was, then.

"You're blaming this on me?" she spat, finally. "If your pride could just disappear...just...for one second maybe you wouldn't have gotten yourself into this fight in the first place!"

God, that felt good.

"You could have said 'sorry' and scurried along your merry way," she continued. Oh, she wasn't going to stop now, not now since he was pointing the finger at her. "But noooooooo that's not how Damian Wayne operates, now is it?"

He flinched.

"Raven, just..." He pinched his nose bridge, shaking his head. "You should have let me handle it, not get yourself involved," he countered.

"I was trying to make sure you didn't land your butt in detention! And this is the thanks I get?" she scoffed, shaking her head. "You are so unbelievable sometimes."

"Tt." He shook his head, rolling his eyes.

Oh, he was rolling his eyes at her?

"What is your problem, Damian?"

"I'll answer that when you tell me why you lied to me."

She stilled, and she felt her heart reach an utter stop. What? What the heck was all this nonsense? First blaming her for the fight, now accusing her of lying to him? She tried to piece everything together but it was too much, it was too puzzling, her mind felt like it was spinning. She was so dizzy. Lying to him? When? How?

"I...don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do." He turned to her, giving her a blank stare as if to reiterate his previous point, as if to pry the answer out of her, and it probably would have worked except for the fact that she was honestly floored. What lie could she have told him in the past few minutes? About the fight? She didn't think the fight was her fault. It wasn't her fault whatsoever.

She shook her head. "I don't understand."

Chuckling softly and rolling his eyes again he turned to the skyline. "And you say I'm difficult," he muttered under his breath.

"I'm not trying to be difficult!" she protested. "I've told you before, I'm an empath, not a mind reader. Must I remind you what that means?"

"No, Raven, I know what it means," he snapped with a mocking tone.

God, he was being difficult right now --how could he accuse her of such?

"Okay, then, stop acting as if I know exactly what you're talking about."

He paused, shook his head, then hissed out a sigh. Turning to her, he brought his bottom lip between his teeth, and in a less stressful moment, she would have marveled at how hot it was.

"You don't really care about the Gotham Academy newspaper, do you?"

What? What was he getting at? For Azar's sake she was getting so sick of this emotional roller coaster he was putting her through. First the fight, then lying to him, now the newspaper?

"...What?"

"Being on the front page, dead center, talking about us. You don't really care about it."

"What?"

She couldn't even count how many times she said 'what?' at this point, let alone differentiate when she merely thought it or said it out loud.

"That's absurd," she scoffed, "of course I do. The whole mission —"

"The whole mission thing, I get it," he interjected curtly. "You and I both know that it doesn't actually matter that we're together a lot. In fact, it's actually what would speed this process up exponentially."

"But Bruce..." she whispered.

Damian chuckled again.

"Father isn't stupid. He knows teenagers, and he knows that telling us to not do something would, in fact, encourage us to do it."

He wasn't wrong...especially knowing Damian, that was something he always did. But, even so...

Her eyebrows furrowed. "That's crazy."

"No, it's not," he stated on a deadpan. "He could have just sent me. Or you. Or Beast Boy for all that matters. Why us? Why us together?"

Her eyebrows kept furrowing to the point that she was sure they were touching now. "...Do you expect me to have the answer to that?"

He looked at her with one of his blank stares again, then clicked his tongue.

"Because he knew we couldn't help but become close at the Academy." He paused. "Admit it, Raven. I'm the closest one on the team to you."

Okay, he was right, but she wasn't going to tell him that.

"Oh, don't be so cocky," she mused instead.

"I'm not," he said, his voice sounding a little tight. "We share a similar past. It's only natural that we've become close."

He kept being right about everything, and it was really starting to piss her off.

"Whatever."

"It was intentional from the start. Deep down I'm sure you knew it, too."

He paused again and shot her a glance that looked almost... hurt.

"So...you lied to me. Why?"

How many times was she going to shake her head in disbelief throughout this conversation? "I don't—"

"There's no Gotham Academy newspaper within Wayne manor, Raven," he scoffed. "You think I didn't notice that you were ignoring me there, too? Being on the cover of the newspaper, that's bull shit. I just told the whole Academy that you were going to prom with me, and you haven't mentioned that once."

Shit, he was right. God, why did he keep being right? Everything was happening so fast, so fast, so many things were happening...she had forgotten all about that. She fisted the hem of her skirt as she looked up at him too sheepishly for her liking.

"I was going to..." she whispered.

But...she didn't, even though she had every opportunity to before when they were arguing about who started the fight, hell, he even mentioned the newspaper, but she couldn't dispute the undeniable fact that she didn't bring it up once since he proudly announced it to the crowd.

She opened her mouth to say something, but a heavy sigh from Damian stopped her immediately.

"You're afraid of me, Raven."

Afraid?

"No, I..."

Wait...wait...she was.

Part of her knew that, but she was in so much denial that she had almost believed she wasn't. She was afraid of him. Well, maybe not of him, but she was afraid of the way he felt about her, afraid of the way she felt about him. Afraid of what could have happened, what couldn't have happened. Afraid of that Saturday when they could have...kissed.

"I..."

"You're a bad liar, do you know that?" he stated, smirking a little. "Your fingers always fidget when you lie. You especially like to twist your hair or play with the hem of your skirt. You purse your lips a little more but your eyebrows become less expressive. You—"

"Okay, okay! I get it!" she spat.

God, why did he keep being right?

Plus, he kept putting her on the spot when he knew she hated it. Why wouldn't he just shut up?

"I guess...spending time at the Academy and at the manor and...just...all this time..."

He was looking with her with curious yet stern eyes and part of her had to keep pushing away the thought that a small strand of his hair was unkempt due to the breeze and how attractive he looked in this moment.

"Remember, I can tell when you're lying."

She clicked her tongue. "Give it a rest, would you?" she huffed.

At this point she wanted to squeeze his throat or cover his mouth with...anything...anything to just make him shut up. But as the seconds ticked away, the more she believed her hypothesis to be true. He was doing this on purpose. He wanted to make her angry. And it was working. He took some pointers from that jock earlier, didn't he? Like that jock, he knew exactly which buttons to press to get on her nerves. Why was he doing this to her? It was all getting too much. The newspaper, prom, the fight, the fact that they could have kissed, his goddamn strand of hair that she wanted to push out of his pretty face. Azar, she just wanted this all to end.

"Fine," she grunted, waving him off. She felt a blush flare across her cheeks, but at this point, she didn't even care to hide it. "Maybe I've...enjoyed this...experience. Maybe I don't want to be exposed because I know that'll mean this mission will come to an end..."

She really hoped that answer was sufficient enough. Taking him to the rooftop was to confront him, but it was only turning out to be him confronting her, and she couldn't take it much longer.

"Sure, me too."

She stilled, her breath catching in her throat.

Him, too?

Wait...did she hear that correctly? Him, too? She was so focused on getting him to shut his mouth that it didn't entirely register in her mind what she just said. She just admitted to him that she liked spending time with him...and he agreed. He felt the same way. About what, though? Enjoying his time here, with her, or not wanting the mission to end. Or both?

"And...?" Damian prodded.

"...And what?"

He let out a soft chuckle but there was no humour in it.

"There's something you're not telling me."

She was really starting to get sick of him expecting to know what he was getting at, and him being right about practically everything, and him just prodding her relentlessly.

"What?"

"Listen, we're both enjoying our time here, that's obvious," he said, his cheeks turning red, but before she could really see it, he quickly turned his head away. "But why would you lie to me and make up an excuse about the newspaper? You keep avoiding my question, Raven. Why were you ignoring me?"

Oh.

Oh, that.

She couldn't even relish in the fact that Damian was blushing before she felt like someone had thrown her into a brick wall. Her mind felt fuzzy but oddly clear. Thoughts were rushing through her head but one loud one stood out amidst the rest. She didn't want to focus on it, but it was screaming at her, screaming at her so loudly...she wanted it to shut up, she wanted him to shut up, she just wanted to hide, she just wanted this to end.

She wasn't going to tell him she liked him. Hell, no.

"There's...nothing more I want to say," she murmured.

But why wouldn't he just give up? She was visibly distraught, she knew Damian could tell, but why did he keep pushing her? What did he want from her?

His voice turned into its agonizing know-it-all tone again. "I can tell when you're lying. Tell me, Raven."

Her mind kept reeling. Why wouldn't he let this go?

"What do you want from me? What more do you want me to say? I just...stop, please."

God, at this point she was practically begging. And she never begged.

"I'm not going to stop until you tell me why you've been ignoring me."

Exhaling sharply, she ran her hands through her hair, "I just...I'm gonna go."

There she was, running away from him. Again, and again, and again. If she could just confess she could end this all, but she was so stubborn and so scared. She wanted him to like her back, why couldn't she just admit that to herself? And if he didn't, it wasn't like the world would crash around her, at least she could tell him, at least she would be brave enough to, instead of running away, like everything else in her life.

But her fear always won.

She turned around to head back to the door but --

He grabbed her wrist and spun her around so forcefully that she knocked into him and had to steady herself by clutching his chest. Part of her wanted to let go so she could run away, but her knees felt so weak, too, she felt like she would turn into a puddle if she let him go.

"No, Raven, you're not running away from me this time."

"Please, just stop," she pleaded, shaking her head.

"Raven..."

"I said I don't want to answer you, okay? Just let it go, just let me go. You can't have the answer for everything. The world doesn't work that way."

At this point, she felt tears welling in her eyes. Why was Damian being so cruel?

He paused, looking away. His jaw clenched, and he slowly turned his eyes up, but when they met hers, she saw something different in his eyes. Something she never saw before except for the small spark that appeared for the fraction of a second on that Saturday. It demanded her to stay put, no matter how much she wanted to run away. How could he do that with just one look?

"You...like me, don't you?"

He tore his eyes away again, but he couldn't hide the fact that his cheeks turned bright red. Not this time.

What?...

What was happening? If she thought she was dizzy before, it wasn't even remotely close to the way she felt now. She was never in a centrifuge, but she was sure that it would feel exactly like this. Her breathing was hard and heavy, like there was a force pushing on her chest, and it was making breathing become exhausting.

What...How...what did he mean by that...

"Of course I like you...you're my friend," she stuttered.

There she was, still running away.

He bit his lip again and -- please, just make it stop.

"No, not like that," he exhaled slowly. "Like more than just a friend."

She was so confused, was he the real empath here? How could he just read her thoughts like that? Was she really that transparent? There were so many thoughts running through her mind, but he didn't let her process any of it.

He sighed and relaxed his grip on her shoulders. She didn't even realize he was holding her. Damn it, her heart, she wanted it to slow down. But it just kept on beating faster and faster.

"I'm sorry for pushing you, Raven, I just..I don't want us to run away from it."

Us?...

What did he mean 'us'?

"What...What do you mean?" she gulped.

Really, what was happening?

"Come here," he whispered softly.

It was so silent that she could have missed it, but she was also staring at his lips and they mimicked his words. They looked so soft...

His grip tightened as he pulled her in. They were so close, so very close...like they were on Saturday. A sharp exhale escaped her throat as her eyes met his. There it was again, that look, that spark. God, he was so beautiful, it hurt.

He tucked her hair behind her ear like then. He smelled like he did then. His warmth enveloped her like then. It was all the same. Her powerful heartbeat, her labored breathing, the way the light hit his eyes, the small scar on his right eyebrow, his hand lingering on her cheek. It was all the same...except...

He leaned forward, slightly brushing her forehead with his..his hair was so soft...he smelled so good. His sigh tickled her lips before he pressed them into hers.

Except...

He just kissed her.

---

Here’s the link for it on ff.net and Wattpad

[batboysheadcanons]

This is your spoiler warning about Justice League Dark: Apokolips War. I’ll put it in the tags too.

But basically, I thought it was beautifully done. It was violent, heartfelt, heartbreaking, and I just felt so many emotions during it all. Truly, it was a master piece to me. Let’s start from the beginning.

John and Zatanna were great together. I love their chemistry, and knowing that they had seemingly worked out their issues since the first JLD, and it’s just lovely. The humor of Bruce being a cockblock was a nice touch.

When discussing Apokolips showing up on Earth’s doorstep, I think they did a good job of showing Superman’s trauma. He is the big blue Boy Scout, and is usually level headed and reasonable but you could see his encounter with Doomsday and Hank in Reign of the Superman, fucked with him and it showed there. To the point where he angerily damages part of their conference room, and is being stubborn with his plan. He didn’t want to take any chances with Darkseid again.

The jump from them flying into Apokolips and the paradoomen (that’s my new name for them), shattering their window to Earth, 2 years later, on fire and practically desolate, was harsh. It was like, they didn’t win. And it allowed us to get backstory, from multiple perspectives, which I thought was nice. John drinking was a good touch, as it shows his serious signs of PTSD, and guilt. Etrogen not even rhyming because he doesn’t see the point was just a hard hitting reminder that this world fucking sucked.

The first encounter between Superman, raven, and John was great. Raven’s annoyance, and “oh fuck this” were perfect. She’s already got a million things to be worried about, a drunk man and a drunk demon don’t need to be added to them. Also Etrogen just burping fire onto the paradoomen was great. A bit of humor to lighten up the dark bits. We also learned a bit more about what happened to the justice league, and got to see many of them visocusly ripped apart or seriously maimed. Knowing that Darkseid didn’t kill all of them either was horrifying, as you know many of them were actually better off dead at some point. John’s sarcastic nature was helpful to not make it too dark and depressing.

Next, to my best boy Damian, who immediately stops the battle with one word and threatens Superman, blaming him for the loss of his teammates and his father. This immediately stops when Raven collapses and we see a range of emotions cross his face, and we all saw those screen caps and they were every bit as good in the movie. He immediately sets aside his disdain for Superman and is worried about her. Finding out Dick died in front of him, protecting him from a paradoomen is super fucking depressing. Learning that he used a Lazarus pit to bring him back but it not working is even worse, and then we get gutted with the line of “he was my brother”. Like you can stop now, my heart can only bleed so much.

Next is the group going to see the suicide squad. First, seeing Lois Lane fight Harley Queen was hot as hell. Secondly, boomerang and John calling each other names and both ending on “wanker” was golden. Third, which this should have honestly been first but it just crossed my kind, is Damian, back in his Robin costume instead of his League of Assassins getup, was chicken noodle soup for my batboy soul. Honestly first thing should have been that king shark and John fucking is CANON. Continuing, Superman actively and positively cheering on Lois in her fight was adorable, and I liked it. Damian and Raven admitting their feelings for each other was great, and I’m really happy that this was the endgame.

Getting to LexCorp tower, and finding out Lex is the sleeper who was feeding Lois information was amazing, because we all wanted it to be Batman, and think that he had actually fought off Darkseid’s brainwashing, and was just in a deep cover until the right time came. But it showed that even Batman can break. They lost a lot of people in the tower, and watching a beast of a woman like Lady Shiva die was terrible, but I will say it felt almost meaningless. I do wish Damian had more of a reaction, as I’m sure he actually knew Shiva quite well, due to his time with the league of assassins since he was born, and when he went back to rule them after losing all of his friends and family. But I guess you can only take so many people to Apokolips. Story wise, it does make sense, it just seemed like it had very little impact on someone who I figured it would have a bigger impact on. Seeing all of Lex’s of kryptonite was good. “I had issues.” Was a great line.

The next part on Apokolips was horrifying. We get cyborg resemblances of what’s left of the justice league. It was physically awful to look at, and I’m sure for our heros, probably doing some psychological damage. The other part of that, took place in Darkseid’s throne room. I will say, I do not buy for one second that Damian would not avoid a laser beam. He’s not out of practice, and he’s been in extreme turmoil before. Back to the throne room, that was a masterfully thought out scene. And I would like to pinpoint the exact climax of the movie, which I found to be my second favorite part, the ending being my favorite part. But it’s not John debugging cyborg and the others, it’s not the beginning of the fight with cyborg, and not even Batman’s fight with Damian. The climax of the movie is when Bruce is getting ready to kill Damian and all of a sudden, he sees himself face to face with Joe Chill, at 8 years old, and dead parents in front of him. Bruce seeing himself in his blood son was the climax of the movie, because it set off the rest of the events for the rest of the movie. Batman breaks and throws the sword at Darkseid. He gets pissed and sends Omega beams towards Bruce, and Damian steps in front and takes it, which does kill him, and that breaks Raven, and she has John free trigon, who invaded Superman’s body, and it just continues from there, until they all got to leave and Darkseid and his paradoomens, along with trigon, end up stuck in the middle of nowhere. We get the damirae kiss at the end, and the flash starting another flashpoint, effectively ending this current continuity, and setting up another one, which I think really went well, considering this is the last movie in this continuity.

Now touching on the previous point of why the climax is my second favorite part of the movie, I never explained why it was that. And for me, it’s because it didn’t have any long winded “good man” speech to accompany it. Don’t get me wrong, I think it worked well with bad blood. But Talia only had him for a little over 2 weeks. Darkseid’s had him for at least 2 years. So it would take more than some words to get it together. But it couldn’t be just any action or any thought. The one thing that pulled him out of Darkseid’s control, is the event that created Batman. It was poetic, and it just worked for me. What better way to come to your senses than to just see the original, and just be like “this is who I am.” Damian mentioned this earlier in the movie too, that Dick’s death almost broke him, the key word being almost. I thought it was great, because Batman took Dick in, because he saw himself in Dick. Dick was the first Robin, and the next in-line to the mantel. Losing any of your children isn’t easy, but losing your first son, and the one who’s always been there is even harder. But it wasn’t enough to break him.

Now I’ll be talking about some things I really liked in this movie that I didn’t include up above, one of them being John Stewart’s last stand on Oa. John, is seemingly the last green lantern alive, the guardians are dead, and any green lanterns that were making a last stand were quickly and brutally dealt with. John is right in front of the source of the green lantern power, and he’s so close. He’s almost got it, the fist is raised, and Darkseid asks for a transfer of some of earth’s magma core onto Oa. He’s burned up, along with the power source for green lanterns. It’s super crushing because you were hoping, that even if he didn’t kill Darkseid, which he probably wasn’t going to, he could at least try to slow him down. But we never got there.

Another thing I liked is when Zatanna reveals that John didn’t run away on his own accord, and that Batman always has a contingency plan. Zatanna knew she was going to die at that point but made sure John made it out so the others could have a shot at eventually winning. First of all, holy shit that is traumatizing, watching someone you love die and you’re running away. But I’m assuming other magicians can feel when magic is being used on them, and so John is so upset with what’s happening that he doesnt even feel the magic being used. He just thinks he ran away, tail between his legs, because he was scared.

Raven letting go and using her demon powers to protect them from the laser beams and then afterwards “I will kill you boy” before immediately calming down and apologizing. Raven letting go to grab Luther and threatening him “no one will mourn you” was *chef’s kiss* everything I ever needed. Damian and Raven were so protective of each other this movie and it was so sweet to watch. You could really see that he did have feelings for her and it was just sweet.

Another part I liked was John offering himself up to Trigon to use as a host body and Trigon said “fuck that” and jumped into Superman, which if you look closely, burned the liquid kryptonite out of his body, which did allow him to return to his normal form when he watched Lois die, which holy shit. Wow. That was uh depressing. But it allowed Superman to gain control again, and it made sense on why Superman was back in his normal form. The other thing, is that Trigon is already a strong being, and from his past experience with the justice league, he knows Superman is strong too. It all made sense, and I do think it was done well.

Finally, John finding out that the Flash is the reason for this is amazing and also depressing, because at this point, if you’ve seen flashpoint paradox, Barry will have to sacrifice his mom to save the rest of the world. A world where everyone is alive. You also find out that their plan to blow up the generator won’t work because flash is the generator. They also use flash at the beginning to tell everyone that he’s seen what happens and that this may not be the time to do it. At the end, broken, battered, and utterly depressed, he knows what he needs to do. Create another flashpoint. I know I mentioned it above, but it really does bring a nice end to this animated universe and opens up the door for a new one. It does seem a little deus ex machina to me, but it’s not overly outlandish like time travel in the quantum realm using pym particles (looking at you marvel). The kiss at the end between Raven and Damian was perfect, because they truly were endgame and that’s all my baby bird heart wanted.

Basically all I wanted to say with this really long post is that I liked Justice Leage Dark: Apokolips War.