#In the end is Jason who figures out the best course of action is for Arthur or Diana to send a letter as representative of their kingdoms a

[ryoalouette]

Machi's saying that she loves y'all for adding to dem prompts in your own ways X"D

She also said that she got several continuities for this coz apparently the idea doesn't leave her head, so Imma just put this here. And so on and so forth. With so many tags fyi lmao

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It's even more fun if they send Flash for a recon mission but since it's Danny's haunt he notices the intruder immediately and gets captured.

Machi's #7 DP x DC Prompt

We all know that at some point Pariah Dark dumped Amity Park into the Ghost Zone. So, what if when Danny is king he tries to put the city back in its place only to pick the wrong dimension? Now all the DC heroes are freaking out bc of the fae city that has appeared out of nowhere.

[mellotunekitty]

hey ! how would the batboys react to their s/o or best friend finding out they're [insert vigilante persona] ??? like say they havz noo idea they just assume they havz an eqrly bed time which is why they can't ever hang out in the evening

This is such a good idea because I feel like they'd all have different reactions with similar actions, so here it is! :D

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Batboys - When You Find Out Their Identity

Dick Grayson

As his best friend/partner, it was a bit of a shock that he was Nightwing. Your sweet, funny, caring best friend was actually a crime fighting detective? No way. 

Well, it wasn’t that much of a shock. He’d always leave hangouts early and wouldn’t text you back for hours on end. After you found out he was Nightwing, it made a lot of sense. 

If you were dating, he’d be so upset he didn’t get to be the one who told you. He didn’t want you finding out like this. Dick wanted to keep it on the down low until he could fully ensure your safety. So the fact that you figured it out crushed him a bit. 

But after you found out, he told you everything. His story. The reason he became Robin, what he did as Robin, why he stopped being Robin, and how he became Nightwing. He didn’t give anyone else’s identity away, of course. But he knew you could figure it out. 

Since you know now, he enjoys climbing in through your window after patrols, bringing food with him so you guys can watch movies and talk about your days. 

Jason Todd

He was devastated when you found out. The one person he cared about most, now in danger because of him. Of course, you were shocked too, and he wanted nothing more but to explain everything. 

It was terrifying for him, telling you his story of Robin, his death, becoming Red Hood. But it was a nice surprise for him that you were okay with it. It was an even nicer surprise that you admired him more for it. 

Before you knew who he was, he made you a bit anxious. Jason had you constantly wondering if he actually liked you as a person or not. He was always canceling things at the last minute, or overall just not showing up to hang out with you when he promised he would that time. It also explained the constant injuries he couldn’t explain. So, it was a big relief finally knowing the answers.  

Now that you know he’s Red Hood, he still thinks he put you in danger. That’s why he slipped a tracker in the souls of your shoes. Every. Single. Pair. Not to mention he now tracks your phone and asks Barbara, Oracle, to check on you every so often. 

And obviously he’s going to break into your place when he’s hurt. He needs someone to patch him up, and he trusts you more than anyone. Totally not an excuse just to see you. 

Tim Drake

Anxiety. Immediate anxiety for him. You finding out his identity was his top fear for two reasons. The first reason being he didn’t want you in any danger, the second reason being he didn’t want his ass kicked by Batman. 

He was quick to explain himself, you could hardly get a word in before he dumped it all onto you. How he basically stalked Batman and Nightwing, how he chose to be Robin, why he chose to be Robin. The whole nine yards. 

As stealthy as Tim was, he was kind of bad at hiding it. He trusted you a bit too much and his excuses were poor. He wouldn’t tell you why he had to leave early or why he had to cancel. He just did. Plus, the injuries were a bit of a tell that he was fighting frequently. 

Naturally, he’d swing you around Gotham sometimes. If he wasn’t doing that and he had to focus on watching the city, he would have the other’s track you and see what you were up to, just to keep you safe. 

Like the others, he breaks in through your window. Most times he waits until you’re asleep to sneak in. He sits at the edge of your bed, softly grazing his fingers along your cheek as you sleep soundly. 

Damian Wayne 

Instantly, he’s mad at himself. How could he be so careless? He’s even more mad at himself now that he’s put you in danger. 

You weren’t shocked, really. I mean if anyone you knew was going to be kicking ass in the late hours of the night, it would be him. He had fast reflexes and was a little too stoic. He was always just… off. Leaving randomly without saying anything, his fight instinct going off whenever there’s a slight threat, and more. The list is long. 

He never told you how he became Robin. He barely talks about himself as is. However, he will drop little things about him once in a while. 

Damian doesn’t trust anyone else to keep watch on you, so he does it himself. On patrol, he checks your location when he gets the chance just to make sure you’re where you said you’d be and not in some strange, underground warehouse. 

And obviously he visits you after his patrol. The only thing that’s different from his brothers is the fact that he doesn’t enter your room. Like Tim, he does wait until you’re asleep. But he sits at your window, watching you rest peacefully for a few minutes just to reassure himself you’re safe before he heads back home.

[insomanic-fanfication]

Hey, I really liked your Dick Grayson sfw and nsfw alphabets! When you have the time, can I request either of those for Jason Todd? Thanks 😊

Jason Todd SFW Alphabet

Author's note: Of course! I planned on doing his anyway after finishing some of my drafts. But that's taking a little longer than I thought it would. CW:

Alphabet Under the cut!

Affection: How affectionate are they? How do they show it?

Jason isn't really affectionate, at least in open places. He's got way too many people wanting his head on a pike. Family and friends know you two are dating; however, if someone on the outside saw you two, they would have no idea. However, when you two are alone, his true colors bleed through. His personality is similar to that of a huge dog that hasn't figured out they can't be a lap dog anymore. Laying his head on your lap while you do your own things. He is reading a book, and you do one of your hobbies. Just decompressing from the day Comfortably in science and enjoying the other's presence. Will 100% fall asleep if you start playing with his hair.

Best Friend: What are they like as best friends? How would you become best friends?

Unless he needed to ask you for something, you would probably have had to make the first move toward friendship. Jason gets very lonely, but trying to meet new people on his own accord is not part of his personality. If he approached you, it would be one of two things; 1. You did something that impressed him, or 2. Dick was pestering him about meeting new people too much, and he caved to make Dick leave him alone.

Cuddles: Do they like to cuddle? How would they?

Jason hesitates to cuddle at first; it's not that he hates it, but more so, he fears it. For the most part, positive physical interaction is a foreign concept in his body. For the first few times he cuddles, he will flinch, and it doesn't matter which one of you enacted it. But once he gets to the point of cuddling, where you two can cuddle, he is relaxed? Your fate is sealed. You've created a monster! Anytime you're not busy in the apartment, it's cuddle time, and no protests are allowed. Will get pouty if you have to get up.

Domestic: Do they want to settle down? How good are they at cooking and cleaning?

Jason is one of the Batfam members who would settle down in a heartbeat, even if it's just for a year or two. He craves at least some normality. But if he does, no one can protect the ones he loves, at least not well, in his opinion. Unlike his brothers, Jason is an excellent cook and even a chef with his skills. One of his favorite early memories is helping and learning to cook with Alfred. He's also very good at cleaning, partly cause his spaces are the bare-bone things to live in. However, he likes to clean his apartment or space once weekly as a coping mechanism. It's something he feels he is in complete control over. However, if you find him randomly deep-cleaning a room or his apartment. BE AFRAID; he's not okay, no matter how often he tries to tell you he is alright. For him, that is grippy sock stay levels that are not okay.

Ending: If they had to break up? How would they?

Like Dick, if you two broke up and he was the one that broke it off, it was due to him having an episode. But unlike Dick, it would be out of paranoia. Jason would make himself believe that your life will be destroyed. or you'll die because you are dating him. He would most likely ghost you and not actually break up with you. Because the words would pain him too much to say out loud. Only coming to his senses after the episode has passed, realizing his actions, and imminently finding you in person, terrified he fucked up everything between you both.

Fiance: How do they feel about commitment? How long before they pop “the question”?

Jason didn't want marriage for a long while, too terrified that it would make something go wrong. However, the longer the relationship goes on, nothing terrible happens like he expected. The more the thought of marriage would come into his mind. Asking what your thoughts on marriage are one night while cuddling.

Gentle: How gentle are they? Both physically and Emotionally? 

Jason is incredibly gentle with his partners, partly due to his personality and partly because he fears accidentally hurting you. He's a little rough around the edges emotionally, though, mostly because he's not used to being a completely open book to people.

Hugs: Do they like hugs? What are their hugs like?

Jason hugs like a dad coming home after a long trip. He'll hug your waist and lift you, keeping you in his arms with the biggest smile. He'll kiss your forehead while you feel the warmth of his body around you.

I love you: How fast do they say the L-word?

Jason would be extremely slow to say the actual' I love you' wording, but he would make up for it in physical affection and words of affirmation. Holding you as close as he can while telling you how much you mean to him and how great of a partner you are to him. So, people may mistake it for love bombing, which added to his other behavior. But it's because it's so hard for him to verbally tell you he loves you. He feels he needs to say it to you in other words, so you know how much his heart bleeds for you.

Jealousy: Do they get jealous? What would they do?

Jason gets super jealous; he won't control who you talk to or anything like that. He knows you have a life outside your guy's relationship, and it's not his place to manage. But he's protective of you and gets jealous when others flirt with you because, in the back of his mind, it's hard for him to believe someone would date him. So he's worried that you'll find someone more accessible to love, and you'll give up on him. Does it sound balls off the wall crazy? Yes, but mental illness is rarely something that likes to make sense.

Kissing: What are their kisses like? Where do they like to be kissed/ kiss you? 

Jason loves it when you kiss places on him that are generally done on the submissive partner, such as his knuckles, neck, forehead, etc. He finds them so comforting and feels very loved.

Little ones: How are they around kids?

Jason is great around kids unless it's his brothers. Generally speaking, though, he's very good with kids. Sometimes, he understands what's okay for a kid or not. He'll let a toddler he's watching fidget with an unloaded gun if they are very interested in it. But he'll explain to the kid in terms they understand gun safety and how you know a gun is loaded or not. Telling the kid you never treat a gun like it's a toy. It is a 100% safe choice for a kid to go to if they can't find their parent.

Morning: How are they during the mornings?

He's a morning person but a lazy morning person. He'll wake up at 5-6 and do dishes, eat, and do morning stretches, but he will not do any actual work until around noon. God forbid the poor man has a morning shift, no matter what his day job is. He'll be the grumpiest man in the world, but he hides it well from clients/ customers. Some of his coworkers get very confused of this very quick change of mood, but others just see that, and think 'Same brick wall dude, Same'.

Nights: How are they spent with them?

He is a huge Night Owl, wither that be doing the bulk of his work at Night, or having a nice cuddle session with you while having a smoke on the fire escape of the apartment. He is a very light sleeper, or deep sleep with every hour or so waking back up. He also has a lot of night terrors, so he tends to avoid sleep, ESPECIALLY if you are staying over at his place. He has a lot of 'what if i hurt you..' paranoia.

Open: When would they start revealing things about themselves?

Try to get Jason to open up, is like trying to open a can with no can opener. You may have be in a relationship with him for 5 years, and still not know everything about him. Not because he doesn't trust you not to use that against him. But because he struggles with knowing WHEN to open up about things in a relationship. He wants to make sure your twos relationship is a healthy as it can be, which every now and then dose end up causing problems. Especially when he's having a ptsd episode and you feel helpless within how to help him through it.

Patience: How easily angered are they?

He tries to be a laid back person, tries to be, is the wording there, he doesn't have a hair thin trigger, but sometimes his trauma just gets triggers by something he doesn't even see the connection to, so he's in a pissed off fight response for a bit. He does, however go to anger management therapy to try and help these behavior issues. But somethings slip through the cracks before they can be brought up in therapy. This does not stop him from bragging to his siblings, that he's the only one taking care of his mental health.

Quizzes: They remember everything or nothing about you?

It's like a scale, sometimes he remembers everything, other times he can't remember your favorite hoodie, (it's the one that's been used as a pillowcase for 3 months, because he missed holding you). He can dissociate for a long awhile, but him also bottling up his emotions plays a bigger role in this.

Remember: What is their favorite memory in the relationship?

The first time you fell asleep while cuddling with him. You both were watching cheesy 90s slashers for Halloween night, snuggled in almost a cocoon of blankets and snacks. When he turned to check on why you had been so quiet, you had falling asleep while being snuggled so far into him, that he half expected for you to fuse into his side. The amount of trust you had for him, the emotions he felt was too much and he ended up crying for the first time in years. the tears feeling like they were burning his eyes, but it's still a memory he holds closest to his heart.

Security: How protective are they? How would you protect each other?

No matter what your appearance is, wither that be tall and lanky or short n stout. Jason tends not to need a lot of physical protection, but you are most defiantly the protector of his emotional peace and social battery. Think of it like a Pitbull done with his guarding of the house for the day, so runs to their favorite human to become the biggest cuddle bug on earth. That's Jason Todd, (He's very Resurce dog coded, don't blame me, blame DC). He very much, however, is scary looking guard dog for you. He could kill someone with his death glare sometimes.

Try: How much effort would they put into dates, gifts, anniversaries, etc?

Jason puts an extreme amount of effort into your anniversaries, gifts and dates! He's not a social able person, so don't expect fancy Lucious dinner dates at a 5 star restaurant. They make him very uncomfortable, thinking everyone's eyes are on him. But he will make you the most romantic and gushy homemade dinners, your favorite flowers or candy. Cooking Red type pastas with red wine or cooking a Hispanic dish that learned while growing up around crime ally.

Ugly: What are some bad habits of theirs?

He has a bad habit of pushing you away, instead of telling you what's up. For better, or for worse. Sometimes it's because his crime lord days caught up to close to him, and for your safety he pushed you away. Or on the worse side of things, he's terrified you'll look at him as a monster or not understand where he's coming from with his trauma and his poor mental health, so he tries to keep them from you as long as possible, until he has no choice to tell you, or lose the relationship he has built with you.

Vanity: How concerned are they with their looks?

Honestly, Yes and no, like he cares about his looks more than a person would think, but like.. slightly more. He's not gonna shower every single day on the dot and shave his pubic hair into a sharp clean design. But he absolutely cares about keeping up good hygiene. Though he does have issues with cleaning his teeth, nothings rotting in there, but he is brushing his teeth waaay less than he really should be.

Whole: Would they feel incomplete without you?

No, unless you two date each other until your 4 years into retirement and you die of old age. He will be able to feel the same before you to started dating, because he feels incomplete on a regular basis. Like he isn't able to do enough, BE a enough for anyone to see him how he is as a person now.

Xtra: Random headcanon for them?

Jason use to smoke weed, especially in his teen years, regularly. But now he smokes cigs, problary Marlboro's or Lucky Strikes maybe Camels , and eats edibles every now and then to help with muscle pain and mood swings. (he still hasn't figure out if meds are worth not being able to have a beer whenever he wants.)

He knows he has PTSD, maybe C-PTSD, however he's not quite sure or not that he has BPD or a similar disorder, he's mainly just not internally ready to know the answer to that part of himself just yet. He's barely processed his feelings towards his Mother, so he's not there yet in his healing journey.

Yuck: What are some things they don’t like, in general, or in a partner?

if you have bad few of poor people or think poor people are only poor because they chose to be. Than I'm sorry, but Jason is more likely to pop a bullet in your head than he is to see you in a good light, let alone a romantic one.

Zzz: What is their sleeping habit?

Either waking up every 1 to 2 hours, or only sleeping 30mins to 3 hours and then staying up for the rest of the night or start cleaning or smoking a cig outside.

[rogueshadow1124]

SHE'S BACK

[THE BATFAMILY SERIES]

Summary: a few months ago Y/N left for university, leaving her family to begin something new, but now she's back.

Word count: 3621

Warnings: mild swearing, (not proof read)

"And there it is..." Y/N muttered, shutting the door of the taxi behind her, slinging her duffel bag over her right shoulder with an exaggerated huff. Her bright orbs trailed over the manor before her, wavering over the vines that travelled up the sides of the building and momentarily glancing at the windows which had no source of light seeping through. To be honest it wouldnt be expected at this hour, it had just turned four o'clock, in the morning that is. "My humble abode."

The girl walked up the pathway, hopping up the steps of the front porch area. Her left hand slid into the pocket of her jacket to pull out a worn metal key, slotting it into the hole in the dark oak door, she wiggled it slightly smiling once she heard the churning of the locks before an audiable click sounded into the silence of the night.

Pushing down onto the silver handle, sighing in relief when the warmth of her childhood home hit her right in the face. She had missed being at the manor, she missed everyone she had left behind- not purposely. In the early summer, a year ago to this day she had recieved a letter from one of the biggest universities globally, it was one of the best ones around- at first she hadn't at all planned on leaving, not wanting to leave her father, her grand-father figure and her brothers behind.

Her youngest brother Damian ended up finding the letter when he was snooping through her room one night, she told him plenty of times that he wasnt allowed to do that but he didnt seem to understand privacy nor did he bother to listen to anything he is told to do. The next day Damian took the letter to bruce and informed him about how she had been accepted.

When she was confronted about it- basically being cornered on the couch by not only her father and youngest brother but also her other three brothers and the family friend Alfred who worked as the butler in Wayne manor, she was eventually persuaded to take the offer after denying and pushing it off many times, the others had told her that it was a once in a life time opportunity that she couldnt give up and assured her that they would be perfectly fine without her, which wasnt exactly a lie, though there were some struggles once she left.

Bruce had gotten so used to the morning visits from his daughter, it was the sake routine running- he would get a knock at his office door, not even being able to respond before the door was opened in in walks Y/N in all her glory, a tray full of food in her hand that also with held a glass of orange juice, without pulp just the way he liked it. Then he would get a mini lecture from her where she tells him how it's important that he doesnt over work himself and that he gets a break or how he shouldnt skip meals because it wasnt good for his health. He always got annoyed at this but when she was gone, he sure did find how much he missed her.

Alfred had taken her leave better than the others, of course he did but that didnt mean he didnt miss her. The butler had been in her life ever since she was just a small child, they had a kind of tradition where they would bake once a week and test out making new baked goods, sometimes it went awfully wrong but that didnt stop the fun, it was a laugh.

Dick was only older than her by a couple of years, he didnt like the fact that his, what he liked to call 'baby sister' was venturing off into the big wide world, he knew that nowhere was safe no matter how nice it looks but he had to trust that she could look after herself and although he had seen her fighting in action many times, he still couldnt come to face the fact that she could always help herself, he was her protector and no matter what she said he would always be there to protect her.

Jason was her first younger brother, he looked up to Y/N alot and was worried that she would forget about him when she left, she was one of the few people he didnt want to loose and now she would hours away from him, not being there to 'annoy' him and be on his back 24/7. Tim knew that this was what's best for his older sister, she would be able to succeed and achieve what she needed to in order to create the best life for herself, he missed her but he knew this was what's best for her.

Now Damian had made it look like he wasnt at all bothered or affected by the fact his oldest half-blood sister was leaving but deep down her really was. Nobody knew that ever since she left he would sneak off to sleep in her room at night and cuddle up to her teddy bear that still slightly held her citrus scent- atleast he hoped nobody noticed. He respected her, she was always there even when he didnt need her and he had only just gotten used to her being around that now he was at a lost without her.

Y/N's eyes squinted, closing the door slowly behind her as not to make any loud sound. She looked to the end of the open hallway, smirking when she noticed the kitching light was on. That only meant one thing, she wouldnt have expected any less from Alfred, he was always the first one to be awake in the house, it was like he didnt need sleep- when she was younger she thought that he was some kind of metahuman or alien. It's funny if you think about it.

She strolled towards the opening to the kitching, peering through, eyes meeting the butlers back as he was turned away from her. She smiled to herself, coughing lowly making Alfred spin on his heel, hand coming up to his chest subtly, eyes wide when he spotted the girl.

"Miss Y/N. What are you doing here?"

"Its winter break, decided to come home. Kinda missed this place." The duffel bag slid from her shoulder, slumping to the ground. She rushed forwards and embraced the man in a much needed hug, he chuckled light heartedly returning the gesture, patting at her back.

"You could have given me a heart attack." They pulled away from one another, Y/N letting out a laugh at his statement while his face turned stern, arms coming up to cross among his chest.

"Your an old man Alfie, they might get more frequent." She laughed harder, hands clutching at her stomach. The butler rolled his eyes, shaking his head at the girls antics, this would be one things he hadn't missed, her humor and comments. The girl looked up immediately letting her laughter die down when she spotted the look on his face. "I'm joking, I'm joking."

"It's a pleasure to have you back Miss Y/N." A smile broke out onto his features, one just as sincere being returned.

After her interaction with Alfred she picked up her duffel bag and lazily threw it over her shoulder, making her way out into the wide hallway and towards the stairs. She hopped up the in a rhymatic motion, skipping a couple steps ever now and again- making it to the top she spotted her room, the one she had accustomed since she was a child, the door was open ajar, a hint of light passing through the gaps.

Her eyes squinted slightly, a small smile crossing her features.

She crept towards the room, pushing the door open- eyes immediately trailing over the navy walls that were covered in band posters and paintings she had created herself. Her Y/E/C orbs landed on her bed, which had an odd lump in the centre, her brows creased as she let her bad slide from her shoulder and plop to the ground before making her way to stand beside her bed.

Out-stretching her hand, she grasped at the corner of the dark sheets, tugging it back to reveal her youngest brother curled up in a fetal position, arms wrapped tightly around her Teddy bear.

"Oh Dami." Y/N chuckled, sitting down on the edge of her bed gently as if not to wake the boy. She reached out a hand, gliding it through his dark spiky locks, humming in content when she felt him move under her touch, leaning up into her hand, she grinned whispering- "Not so big and bad after all huh?"

She watched as he stretched out, eyes peeling open to show off his ocean blues. At first he seemed to still be in a half-asleep state, eyes wandering around until they set on his older sister, widening in surprise as his body jolted up from the bed, scooting backwards away from her for a split second, hands coming up to rub at his eyes.

"Y/N?" His voice croaked hoarsly. "W-when did you get back?"

"Hmmm." She looked down at her wrist, eyes oogling at the watch that layed on her lean wrist. "Arrived in the city about an hour or so ago, got here say twenty minutes ago."

"I-I..." Damian stuttered, internally debating whether or not he should hug her- he had missed her dearly, not at all wanting to show it as he had a reputation to uphold but he hadn't seen her for what felt like forever- to her utter surprise his smaller form launched at her, arms wrapping around her shoulders, head snuggling into the crevice of her neck. "I-I urm- I missed you."

"I missed you too Dami." Her arms wrapped around him, pulling his body closer to her own, near to the point he was sitting in her lap. A few seconds passed, a nice and peaceful silence falling between the two, the girl ended up pulling back to look down at the boy who had a ghost of a smile tugging at his lips- which was indeed rare. "Aw Dami, you miss me so much to give me a little smile."

"Tch, in your dreams Wayne."

"Not at all have you changed but I guess I wouldnt have you any other way." She pulled him back in, placing kisses around his face to which he tried struggling away from her, making laughs erupt in her throat at his reaction to her teasing.

"Get off of me!" Damian pushed ta her shoulder, a loud thump sounding in the room when she ended up falling to the floor from the impact while he boy stayed on the bed, on his stomach as his head dangled from the edge.

"Ouch." Her laughing ceased, arm crossing over her chest to lay a hand hand on her now throbbing shoulder.

The sound of Y/N falling from the bed, caught the attention of the lightest of sleepers within the house- The girl stared at her youngest brother, eyes squinted, brows furrowed and mouth a gape. As she went to stand up, the sound of her door creaking open caught both of the siblings attention, Y/N again falling back to the floor.

"What's with all the-" In walked the eldest adopted son, fisted hands rubbing at his eyes as he let out a longing yawn- his sleepy demina instantly switching to a more lively source of emotion when he spotted his 'little' sister sitting on the floor, hand clutching at her still throbbing shoulder. "Y/N?!"

Dick launched himself forwards, hands reaching down and clutching to her arms before her pulled her up into his embrace to which she let out a slight yelp at the rushed movement, harshly being lifted from the carpeted floor.

Oh how he had missed his sister, she was always on his mind- he tended to worry about her alot and had actually at some point contemplated driving to the university to snatch her up and drive her back home where she would be in his sight at all times, though in reality it would be him clinging to her and definetly not the other way round.

"D-dick. Air. I need air." Y/N stuttered, hand patting at his bicep. The male instantly let go, holding her at arms length, letting his eyes skim and check her over. A giant grin etching over his features as he pulled her back in to give her one last squeeze before letting go. "Damn do you have a strong grip boy."

"Dont you 'boy' me. What happened to answering my calls, hmm?" Dicks hands came to rest on his hips, his foot tapping on the floor impatiently. Y/N could only look up at him in confusion, her mind going to only a day ago when she last spoke to him.

"I-I spoke to you yesterday morning."

"What about last night, I called before patrol." He consulted further, eyeing the girl up and down as she scoffed out a chuckle.

"Oh yeah silly me, I'm not aloud to sleep now. I thought this was a free country." She rolled her eyes, shooting damian one last glare before storming towards her door, walking out into the dark halls of the manor making a beeline for the door to the left hand side of her room, barging inside like she owned the place.

There she spotted a bed, in the middle layed a slight bump under the covers, a tuft of raven hair showing from the corner as light snores echoed the room. Y/N grinned curtly, waltzing over towards the bed where she pulled the covers down slowly, humming at the content look that plagued her younger brothers face in this vulnerable state- it was a rare sight indeed, for Jason to look so calm and collected, he always carried this cold and hard exterior, he liked it that way and had been the same ever since she could remember.

"Jay..." she coo'd, one hand reaching out to run through his hair lightly, in an almost motherly way. He let out a low groan in response, turning his head to the side to burrow into his pillow away from the touch so he was able to get back to his slumber.

"Five more minutes Y/N/N, s'too early." Y/N rose an eyebrow at the boys antic, pursing her lips when she felt him tense, halting his sleepy movement. His body suddenly turned fully towards the girl, him still laying on his side as he stared up at her wide eyed. "Y/N?!"

"Hiyah Jay." His lips twitched when he noticed she was really there, his arms slanting behind him so he could push himself up and against his head bored, hands rubbing at his face and ruffling his hair.

"Si-(yawn)-nce when were you back?" He croaked, looking at his sister with tired eyes although a now lazy smile hooked his lips. He reached out an arm, bending it at the meltdown around the back of her neck to pull her into his side making her chuckle and push against his torso to get away from his hold, accepting defeat when he kept her beneath his arm, a loose strand of hair falling in her eyes to which she blew at.

"Missed you too." The girl grumbled, poking his ribs. "Got back earlier this morning."

"Such a softie." A voice echoed from the doorway making the siblings heads turn to see Dick and Damian standing there. Damian had his arms crossed with an eyebrow raised, his face contorted into his usual sour tone and Dich held a hand to his chest teasingly, wiggling the fingers of his other hand towards Jason who scowled and pushed Y/N away.

"Shut the fuck up Dickwad." Jason growled lowly, standing from his bed and stretching with an audiable hum and groan in relief at the stretch of his achy muscles.

"Hey, wheres Tim?" Y/N questioned looking towards the eldest who shrugged, looking down to the youngest who tutted, rolling his eyes in an obvious sign of annoyance.

"Probably in the cave, may aswell live there at this point." Damian pushed off the door frame, putting his weight onto his left side, hand coming to be placed on his right hip as he nodded behind him in ignition for his sister to follow him.

"You do know I know where the cave is, right Dami?" She laughed, walking towards him watching as he turned on his heel and stormed away with a huff. She stayed standing on the spot for a second with a blank look on her face before blinking with a shake of her head and speeding in the same direction Damian had.

She walked down the dark hall, turning at the stairwell where she spotted the spiky haired broody boy standing at the bottom with the same sour look on his face. Also taking note of the pattered steps of her two other brothers behind her as they followed along. She sped down the oak steps, hopping down the last two with a smile as she turned to Damian who looked to have already turned and started walking towards the knight statue in the corner of the foyer.

He pulled down on the arm, waiting for the bookshelf to move away from the wall to reveal the circular gap where another stairway was seen, leading down into the infamous batcave. He lead the three down the length of the opening, and into the main area where a couple of couches could be seen around the coffee table in the dimly lit room and in the centre at the back near the jhettbrick walls was a podium where a whole computer and tech system was located.

In the chair was a lean body, hunched over the desktop.

"Hey replacement?!" Jason's voice boomed, echoing through the cave- said boy jumped from his seat, falling to the floor with a pained groan and a bunch of curses.

"Jason Peter Todd!" Y/N turned to slap at the boy, hitting his chest then his arm and then the side of his head. Jason jumped back, arms coming up to shield himself from her as he grumbled. With one last glare sent in Jason's direction, she pointed at him sternly, turning on her heel to look at the boy on the floor, staggering her way up the small slope to crouch down by him, placing a hand on his back.

"Hmmm wha-" Tim's head lifted slightly, his eyes being blocked by the loose strains of dark locks that had fallen down messily, one of his hands swiping them away to allow him to see his surrounding clearly, though all he could actually see was his sister, who he hadn't seen in what felt like a lifetime. "Y-Y/N."

"You alright Timbo?" And within seconds she was taken back by him shooting up to wrap her in a hug, his head resting tightly on her shoulder, hands grasping at her jacket.

"Your back." He whispered, trying to move more into her embrace, near enough sitting in her lap.

"Yes Tim I'm back." She breathed out, giving him a final squeeze as she pulled away, holding him by the shoulders at arms length giving him a full serious look. "And what did I say about looking after yourself Hm?"

"I-I well I-urmm..." under the harsh gaze he stuttered, looking towards the ground guiltily, scratching at the back of his head muttering out a 'sorry'.

"Mhm, well I suppose I can forgive you." She squinted her Y/E/C eyes, piercing through the boys shard ocean blues but couldnt hold the cold, stern look for any longer, letting a large smile break onto her face, messing his hair up with her hand before pushing his head away gently. "Seriously though, are you okay? You took quite the fall there."

"Y-yeah I'm good." He smiled.

"Good now i just gotta find-" she hauled herself up from the floor, dusting off her trousers, spinning to face the others only to find a familiar face staring right back at her, the boys standing behind the figure. "Dad."

"Y/N." He sent her a half smile, eyes following as she rushed over towards him, hurling her smaller form into his bigger one, arms wrapping around his waist to which he returned only his were placed around her shoulders, one hand resting on the back of her head. A singular tear slipped down her cheek as she nestled her head further into her fathers chest, she felt his chin atop her head, as he squeezed ever so slightly she could hardly feel the move. "You've grown."

"Y-yeah. I couldnt stay small forever." She stood away from him, hands clasping infront of her as she chuckled. "I was only gone for a few months."

"A few months?!" Dicks voice suddenly tuned through, going from his normal tone to a high pitched one as he dramatically pushed by Bruce and took Y/N's face in his hands, looking at her intently, orbs switching between each of her features. "No no no- A few months too long. It felt like forever!"

"Get off of me." She slapped at his hand, scowling up at the taller male. "Always the dramatics with you. I'm back now arent I?"

[ultraericthered]

One Villainous Scene: A Childhood Wound Repaid

Unlike later Disney/Pixar villains like Lotso and Ernesto de la Cruz, Buddy Pine AKA Syndrome of The Incredibles was promoted as the film's villain from the moment the character was revealed, as you can just tell by looking at him that he's a dastardly supervillain. But they still sort of pulled a trick on us with what they showed us of him versus what they did not show. Voiced by comedic actor Jason Lee, Syndrome was characterized as a geeky superhero fanboy gone bad after having been soured on his hero, Mr. Incredible, and now he's not only an enemy to Incredible and his family, but a threat to the world at large with the super weapons he plans on making and selling. While it figures he'd be credible as that threat, the geeky personality and hammy characteristics of Syndrome painted him as a goofball cartoon baddie, one who'd evoke more humor than hatred.

And then we all actually saw the movie, and got to see exactly what Syndrome did in it and what effects those actions had on others. Syndrome was a viler, crueler, far more personally nasty villain than we'd been led to believe he'd be, and this scene best exemplifies it.

Before this scene, we were told that Syndrome was an arms dealer and that he'd brought about the deaths of other Supers. We saw Gazerbeam's skull and saw heroes classified as "terminated" on a big computer screen. Dark stuff, but Syndrome's comedically douchey manchild character didn't quite match the darkness of his deeds. Syndrome enters this scene just as comically, fanboying over Bob Parr (Mr. Incredible) all over again even as he holds him captive, then disparaging him sending out a call for help as "Lame, lame, lame, LAME!" And then not two seconds have passed before Syndrome orders the electro shock torture to be turned on, as Bob is painfully zapped by the volts that suspend him, and he writhes in agony but refuses to give Syndrome the info he's demanding. After Bob sent out his request for help, which included a honing signal that gives his location, a government plane has requested to fly and land on the island Syndrome owns. Syndrome wants to know who's on board, as they'd almost assuredly be allies of Bob's. He even plays the transmission from Helen, Bob's wife, but Bob still denies that it's anyone he knows. So Syndrome says he'll send them a greeting.

Not shown in the video is that the "greeting" in question turns out to be an array of missiles to shoot down the plane. And because he knows Bob is lying about not knowing the pilot and wants to fuck with him, Syndrome keeps the live transmission on as the missiles seek to destroy. At one point Helen confirms that her children, her and Bob's son and daughter, are on board, which gets Bob panicked and pleading with Syndrome to call off the strike. Syndrome's response is a cheerful "Too late!", followed by a snarling, disdainful "15 years too late." Because he remains embittered towards Bob about how he'd spurred his help all those years ago, back when Buddy was a young, overzealous Super fanboy wanting to be his kid sidekick "Incrediboy". Bob doing this, and his cold, insensitive attitude about it, cut Buddy so deeply that it set him on course to becoming the villain he is today, and the grudge he carries over it drives him in his vendetta against Supers, Mr. Incredible himself in particular. Really think about that for a second: Buddy remains so sore about having had his feelings hurt as a child - in part due to Bob trying to stop him from recklessly jeopradizing his own life and the lives of others - that he now as an adult is A-OK with harming and ending the lives of children so long as doing so can hit the idol who'd rejected him where it really hurts.

When the last missile hits the target and it seems that Helen and the kids have perished in the explosion, Bob is mortified. Syndrome takes his speechless anguish as yet another opportunity to rub in some petty payback for the incident 15 years ago, throwing Bob's words to him back at him "You'll get over it. I seem to recall you prefer to work alone?" Cackling maliciously, Syndrome turns to walk away not noticing a now furious Bob about to grab him from behind. His assistant Mirage rushes in the way and Bob grabs her in a chokehold instead. Bob demands he be released or he will crush Mirage to death right there and then. Syndrome displays zero empathy or understanding that Bob is doing this out of the pain of having just lost his beloved wife and offsprings, remarking that killing a hostage would "be a little dark for him" before nonchalantly going "Aaah, go ahead." Bob, even in this emotional state, doesn't actually want to take Mirage's life, so he verbally reinforces how easy it'd be for him to do it. Syndrome just chuckles and calls his bluff again. "Show me!", he says, daring Bob to go through with the murder, a despicably evil smirk on his face as he looks his ex-idol in the eyes.

Bob cannot do it. His human decency is too great. But Syndrome sees it differently. "I knew you couldn't do it." he sneers "Even when you have nothing left to lose! You're weak...and I've outgrown you." Completely cold, dead serious, and detached from any semblence of human feelings, Syndrome doesn't even give Bob a second glance as he walks out of the room, believing his revenge to have at last been fulfilled, as now Bob can only suffer and drown in his despair until the time comes where Syndrome makes him the last Super to perish. But Mirage does give a glance back and a sad look as Bob, the mighty and once revered Mr. Incredibly, has broken down in anguished sobs, believing he's just had everything taken from him.

Beneath the geekiness, blase humor and superficial affability, Buddy Pine is not only absolutely a true menace not to be taken lightly, but a malignant, sociopathic monster who relishes any and all ways he can build himself up at the expense of others who are either enemies for him to topple or collateral damage he gives not one single shit about. And with his own self-elevation to greatness, he feels it fine to bring about both the end of Supers and the downfall of human civilization once all of his weapons would be put up for grabs. Nothing matters to Syndrome except Syndrome, and in such a self-aggrandizing soul there exists endless room for cruelties and exactly none for shame.

[heartthumpnovel]

Heart Thump: Chapter 6

“Seeking Answers”

Word count: 11493

Finally I get to release this chapter! :'D It's a long one but it's literally my favorite so far as we finally get to see and find out what he heck is going on with Jason, or at-least the hook of his issues.

cw: A little bit of cursing

Last chapter: Carrying the World

Next chapter: Growing Pains

---

“Let go of me this very instant- YEUGH!” Jason squealed as his leather loafers had failed to get traction on the smooth concrete floor. He slipped about as he tried to pull away from Motor’s iron grip, trying to get away from his ridiculous rambling. Motor, however, had different ideas. He barely even looked at Ellie, who at this point was begging Motor to stop dragging Jason and was desperately trying to give any sort of explanation as to what happened in the conference room.

Ellie’s tongue tied itself in knots trying to explain Jason’s colossal affliction. It shouldn’t have been possible, but twice now she had seen him grow before her very eyes. And not in any way a human might be able to, like through exercise or aging, but… magically. It was far too surreal for her to put into words.

“It’s- it’s not what you think, it was just… Uh… An allergic reaction? Yeah…” Ellie sputtered out as Motor hustled Jason with a harsh jolt to prevent the squirming weasel from getting away from a confrontation.

"Motor, for Pete's sake, stop that!" She took the next course of action, stepping in front of the angry bull, causing him to halt in his tracks with a fed-up Brit still in his clasp.

Motor stared down at Ellie with a huff and pointed down at Jason, maintaining his furious eye contact with the sweating blonde. "I know what I saw back there," grumbled Motor in an accusatory voice. "I can't believe you two would seriously think I'm that dumb! You just can't leave me out of something cool like this!"

In the middle of the verbal onslaught, Jason was able to speak his mind. "Mate, this isn't some fantastical adventure! It's a disease!"

Motor responded with a dismissive "That's what you think." before sidestepping Ellie and reaching for the janitor's closet. Despite Jason's pleading Motor managed to get the door open with a sharp tug.

They stumbled into the pitch dark room, and Jason had to right himself when he was thrown upon a cold, sleek surface. He fumbled around, trying to get out of the dark void he had been trapped in. He tried to stand back up, however, right as he did, the room flooded with a bright, unnatural light that blinded his eyes.Flinching in pain, he covered his eyes with his hands.

 "Really, man?" The sound of Ellie's exasperated sigh convinced him to move his hands, and…

[Image Description: Jason is sitting at a counter within Motor's nerd domain. AKA, the janitor's closet with figurines, unkempt posters and his low-end gaming rig. It's obvious Motor is a fan of giant monster movies.]

A touch disappointed that out of everyone who might have been a kaiju, it was Jason, but excited nonetheless, he stared down at the terrified man. Ellie broke the silence, clapping her hands together while wearing a forced grin. "Soooo," she began, the air thick with tension, "Since we have the privacy and time, let's figure this out!"

Jason's eyes, filled with dread, turned to his best friend as he tried to find a reasonable explanation, but all he could feel was anxiety and panic, unsure what he should say. Before he could speak his mind, Motor slammed his hands on his lap, interjecting. “So are you actually an alien or what?”

Jason’s frown couldn’t have been more sour if he had drunk the world’s most expired milk. “I… excuse me a wha-” Before Jason could even express his shock at Motor’s audacity,  Motor interfered with a not-so-polite point to Jason’s chest, leaning over his comparatively small figure. “ARE. YOU. AN. ALIEN?” Motor repeated, more aggressively than the last time. 

The completely normal (barring growth spurts) human, who was definitely born on Earth, felt indignation and fear at the same time. He never liked how Motor jumped to nonsensical conclusions like that.

Feeling like a cat reeling from an overly inquisitive dog, Jason leaned back and pushed Motor’s hand away. “NO! Dear lord! Are you actually stoned right now!?” Jason yelled out, now more rustled than scared. 

Motor gave a slight smug grin, “Not at work.” He responded before Ellie had the chance to lightly push Motor at least a good few inches away but Motor kept egging on the theories with a grin that was too excited. 

"It's painfully obvious, you know!" Motor's words flowed unabated, his momentum building like a runaway train, "You practically radiate anxiety in social situations. I've never once witnessed you attempt to get behind the wheel of a car, and let's not even talk about how you obsessively scrub every inch of your desk, even though you wiped it down just a couple of hours ago on your break- Let me repeat, ON YOUR BREAK.” 

Motor was on a roll and nothing was stopping him at this point.

"Or, here's a wild thought," Motor continued, a mischievous glint in his eye, as he playfully scratched the tip of his work-in-progress beard. He pivoted towards one of his cherished movie posters, his finger tracing the outline of a colossal adversary. 

"Maybe, just maybe, you're actually a kaiju!" He emphasized the word with dramatic flair. "Picture it: 'Godzilla Vs Office Accountant.' Yeah, real box office gold right there." A wry grin crept across Motor's face, his amusement  growing more evident. He turned back to face Jason, who seemed less than amused, but Motor was undeterred, his excitement now matching that of a child who had just discovered their parents' unlocked phone with access to their credit card.

"Oh, hold on a second! What if, bear with me, you're this super crafty alien, all incognito as an ordinary office accountant? But here's the kicker: You've mastered the art of acting so brilliantly that you've actually forgotten you're an alien! And wait for it, your grand mission is to conquer the world and subject humanity to your rule... all while engaging in epic battles against a monkey!" 

With a flourish, a finger playfully booped the tip of Jason's nose, the idea seemingly too amusing to ignore. "And who knows, maybe you've got, like, a trio of heads tucked away somewhere secretly—"

"Motor." Jason interrupted the janitor's ramble in the most bitter tone that it had silenced him and the once confident index finger rolled cowardly back into Motor’s palm.

Jason's cheeks were burning red and it wasn't from ‘the love’ either. Feeling absolutely offended- Jason straightened his spine with a demeanor only an angered parent would have painted across his face as his fists were clenched up. 

"You've got to be kidding me. While I'm grappling with a crisis, you're off daydreaming about stupid movies?? This is no laughing matter, Motor! It's... it's infuriating!" His words erupted in a loud burst of fury, his hands sliding down his face in exasperation. As he sank back into his chair, Jason's emotional state shifted from rage to a more subdued sadness.

 Crumbling into a shivering ball, not being able to comprehend that this was happening to him and more importantly how. He could still feel the walls of that conference room squishing him in a tight hold and feeling like he had no air to breathe. Jason could have possibly suffocated if Ellie didn’t come into work.  

He couldn’t hold his tidal wave of feelings any longer and his eyes watered up- he tried to brush the tears away but it only made a couple more tears flow. Ellie noticed a small sniffle and immediately wrapped her arms around his shoulders, holding him tightly. She occasionally ran her hand through the stubble on the back of his neck to comfort him. Jason remained silent, his fingers tightly gripping the fabric of his pants. 

Ellie whispered, "Hey, hey..You're in a safe place... it's okay," even though she didn't completely believe it herself. She didn't know what was happening, and it was stressful trying to comprehend the situation. However, she knew that her best friend needed her at that moment.

Motor stood there- frazzled and when he actually stopped to think for five seconds he realized he did a huge woopsy. This particular woopsy just re-hashed an experience a lot of people would call traumatic. The janitor rubbed his forehead while following it with a deep sigh. His shoulders withering away like his excitement, he decided to speak up after several minutes.

"Look, I... I'm really sorry," he stammered, his fingertips guiltily tapping against each other. "I wasn't trying to make light of this. It's just... well, you know how my mouth likes to run without thinking." Ellie, having momentarily disengaged from the hug, cast a quizzical glance back at Motor, her raised eyebrow an unspoken question. Jason wondered if that was the extent of the apology they could expect from him. Motor pressed on, his words more measured this time. "This isn't an everyday thing, you know? It's incredible, and there are people out there who'd give anything to be able to do what you can.” A flicker of his trademark dorky smile emerged, although this time he tried to be sensitive to Jason’s feelings about his gigantism. 

Ellie and Jason cautiously pulled away from each other, with Ellie approving of Motor’s rather geeky nature. She knew that Motor tended to speak before reevaluating his thoughts, but it wasn't usually mean-spirited (at least not towards his friends). Motor could recognize when he said something that was screwed up... a minute or two after the fact. It's a work in progress.

Jason used his suit sleeve to wipe his tears off his face and tried his best to speak up again, but the congestion in his throat made it difficult for him to find his voice. Ellie decided to speak for him, and for everyone in the room for that matter, as Motor was still reeling from the awkward tension that had just passed a few seconds ago.

“So… what do we do now?” Ellie spoke up as her hands started to settle onto the chemical shelves with a shaking in her left leg. Jason looked over at her expecting an answer but Ellie was delivering the same gaze at him. Jason let out a sigh and buried his face in his hands as he slumped over in his chair. His mind felt like a high-speed race car hurtling towards a catastrophic crash - the anxiety of his reality being shattered colliding with the realization that his normal life was over.

“Can we pretend this never happened?” Jason suggested as he started to show his face again- only to be stared down at in disbelief by both of his coworkers. 

Motor shook his head with a sigh. "Jason, you can't just ignore-"

"I know, I know..." Jason melted back into his chair in defeat as he turned to Ellie. "I honestly don't know how to comprehend what's happening to me, let alone begin thinking about what I should do..." 

His hand clasped his chest, which at the moment felt like it wanted to explode from all the stress weighing him down. Something didn't feel right, and it wasn't the normal anxiety he had to deal with for seventy percent of his life. This was some other monster that had shown up on the front porch of his mind, standing eerily still in silence. It was lurking in the grass menacingly, waiting to strike at the perfect signal. What was that signal? Was there a signal at all? With the deadpan look Jason had on his face, Motor cued in that Jason was spacing out. It was time to bring up a daring plan he was constructing while the two were fretting over what to do about the situation. Motor didn't want to impede on Jason again, otherwise they would have more bones to pick. Instead, he waited until the coast was clear to bring up a suggestion that would save a lot of time and worry. “Hey,  why don’t we try to trigger the growth spurt intentionally? That’d be a quick way to figure out what the hell is happening.”  Motor spoke up. 

Ellie was the first to leap as her eyes lit up and a grin finally came back to her face with Jason lagging behind in the enthusiasm department. "That does sound like the next move- if we could figure out the trigger, we could get a bigger understanding of this… thing!" Ellie chirped as she stood back up. 

“I don’t know about that..” Jason said, “What if… something terrible happens? We know nothing about this thing.” His best friend just had to interject however by throwing a supportive hand on Jason’s shoulder.

"But we have to identify the root cause of this before we can even attempt to solve it, Jason," Ellie declared heroically, as she rose to her feet with a clenched fist, determined to help her friend. 

"Plus, we all finish work at the same time today! AH! We could go to the park and observe with our own eyes!" Motor gave a silent but resolute thumbs up in agreement. However, Jason could only mutter incoherent objections, as he had no other options aside from letting it happen again unintentionally. They couldn't be certain that the next time it happened wouldn't spell the end of Jason's normal life, both metaphorically and literally, as it could potentially be fatal.

“It’s settled I suppose.”                                                                   ---

Anyone could tell they were in the Pacific Northwest by the stunning, long-standing forests, emanating the earthy scent of life from the towering pine trees and the thriving wildlife, surrounded by a breathtaking environment. The region's misty weather, which is almost like a year-long depression, only adds to the fascination of the area. 

Nonetheless, it is undeniably beautiful and definitely worth a road trip, even for those who aren't looking to spend time with their regular ol' nuclear family, visiting tourist traps or finding a place to get weed without being chased down by the authorities.

Sometimes it was just three people in a red worse-for-wear pick up truck that proudly showed off its bumper stickers of a t-Rex eating a stick-man family and proudly displaying a blue-white-pink flag design on the back that was in the shape of a middle finger. The engine had a heart of gold though as it was running like a champion and the speakers on the inside were playing the screams of metal-heads just fine at an ear bursting level.

The driver of the vehicle tried to focus on the road, but he couldn't help stealing glances at his strange coworker in the backseat. The way Jason was zoning out was quite intriguing, and it was difficult to resist the temptation to keep looking at him. Thankfully, his passenger, who was sitting in the front seat, kept reminding him to pay attention to the road and not to be rude by staring at Jason. The driver huffed every time, as he was eagerly anticipating the growth to happen.

Jason’s right hand was fiddling with the edges of his retail brand blazer’s sleeve that was spread upon the rest of the back seat. His eyes were busy drifting off at the pine trees moving quickly past them. He found it kind of hard to properly process his thoughts as they had constantly been canceled by the boiling anxiety in his chest. All he could feel was this light sensation running throughout his skin that had a mild tingling that Jason hadn't noticed before. 

He moved his fingers from his jacket to the edge of his left collarbone and placed his fingers around his artery to gauge his heart rate. His heart pumped with stress, and it was so pronounced that he couldn't tell if he needed to make an appointment with his doctor or not. If he did go to the doctor, what was he supposed to tell them? That he had the same syndrome as Goliath? Jason deeply sighed as his fingers trailed down from his throat and landed on his lap. He directed his attention to the trees moving quickly past, and noticed that signs of civilization were long gone. The only thing out there were roads that would lead deeper into the woods.

Jolts to the truck’s wheels shocked Jason out of his dazed state as Motor veered off onto a gravel path that led deeper into the forests of Washington. How far was Motor planning to drive? Ellie grabbed onto the side of her seat as her hair nearly blinded her eyes. It was like they were all being tossed around like quarters in a washing machine. “Do we really have to be out this far Motor, geeze!!” Ellie exclaimed as she tried to look over the nonchalant driver acting as if they were on perfectly smooth concrete. His head slightly tilted up and took a millisecond glance in her direction as paying attention to the road was important after all. 

“Trust me Ellie, we are going to need the space. Besides, no one is gonna be out here around this time of year.” Motor responded as his gaze was searching around for a spot to park in the middle of the wilderness. Motor wanted to make sure to not set his precious baby under a bunch of birds that would take any opportunity to defecate on anyone’s prized possessions. 

Both of Jason’s hands planted on the window as he took a longer look outside, narrowing his eyes slightly in disbelief. 

“I don’t know if I really want to do this anymore.” Jason finally spoke up as the truck’s engine cut off. Ellie looked over from behind the passenger seat while Motor was unbuckling and throwing his seat belt out of the way.

 “You’re completely valid in the way you feel, but we did just drive all the way out here already,” Ellie then unbuckled her seat belt and opened the door to follow Motor outside. “Plus, we're here to support you in case anything goes wrong ya know?” 

Ellie slammed the door shut before Jason could protest with a “But, Ellie, a lot of things can and will go wrong.” He let out a harsh sigh and rubbed his forehead before eventually unbuckling and getting out of the truck.

Jason trailed behind his friends as they searched for a clearing with enough space to test his newfound curse, which Ellie referred to as his "ability". Motor was still tossing out theories about Kaiju or something related to old gods. Meanwhile, Jason remained silent, dreading that he was in the middle of all these conversations. Was the desire to not be seen a feeling that the kids called "a mood"? Well, Jason thought it should be.

“Yeah but come on wouldn’t it not be cool if Jason was the next in line in the Josta- OH HEY- this place looks perfect!” Motor shouted as they set foot into a sprawling clearing that wasn’t being occupied by too much flora or living animals that weren’t bugs. 

The dying grass here sank into the ground, having been trampled time and time again by deer. It looked like the place could hold a small circus if it wasn’t so remote. If it wasn’t obvious enough, this little area was perfect for testing out magical growing powers. 

Once Jason was politely persuaded, looking very mopey with his arms folded, to enter the middle of said clearing to start the test. The three of them were curious on how to actually start investigating this strange quirk of his. Jason stood there as his eyes tracked Ellie pacing around with a finger to her chin as she tapped lightly on her lips.

 “Let’s see… Do you have any inkling of what triggers it?” Ellie asked as she looked over to Jason as he was scratching behind his head as his eyes stared down at his loafers. Maybe it was a certain phrase that he said, though he was skeptical if he could even remember a lot of the things he said, especially since his perception of time had been skewed from fainting so much.  

Now that he thought about it,  he really should go see his doctor about that. In the meantime he started to hesitantly speak words that he could remember saying in the last couple of days. Jason shut his eyes and he quickly spat out random words he could recall saying before the initial incident. 

“No!” “Smashed!”

“Aaagain??” “Excuse me?”

“Oh dear lord- GIANT POWERS: ACTIVATE!!???”

With that last statement, Jason let out a desperate screech, like a squealing rabbit being pulled from its den. He nearly jumped out of his own skin, unsure if it would be enough to demonstrate his point. He held the flinched pose for a couple of seconds before Motor's dying laughter made him fold his arms in shame. “This is stupid.”

“Ooookkaay- Maybe it’s not that,” Ellie slid in as she knelt down, looking around in the umber pine needles and through the evergreens for inspiration.

She smiled as she looked back at her friends. 

“We at least got voice activation off the list! Yay, progress!” She clapped her hands together and stood back up. Motor on the other hand made camp on a nearby rock as Ellie patted the shamed Brit on the shoulder. 

“Jason. Think. What exactly were you doing and feeling when the growth occurred?” Ellie did a light finger snap in his direction to motivate him. The flustered man spat out vowels and rubbed the back of his head. 

“I-I don’t know?? I mean I guess the first time I was just talking to you while drinking at the water cooler and- uh. When I was just sitting at my desk alone just thinking about stuff!....stuff.” Jason’s tirade ended as he felt like he might have spoken about too much, especially in front of Motor, who at this point was just trying to catch his breath from laughing so hard. 

Before Motor made a not PG-13 suggestion, Ellie intervened and suggested conducting a pacer test to see if Jason's heart rate had any correlation to his abilities. Setting up the course was fairly simple, as they used rocks as markers and made sure there were no obstacles for Jason to stumble over.

Thus began the trial of running back and forth for what felt like forever to Jason, who didn’t take exercising that seriously in his early twenties. Watching the poor sight unfold told a story of sitting in a cheap office chair for the majority of his 9-5 work week, and while his natural metabolism kept him skinny- it definitely didn’t do him any favors in the muscle department.

His face quickly reddened as sweat poured from his forehead and soaked through his shirt. He loosened his tie, which was beginning to feel like a noose around his neck. Despite his efforts, he didn't make it to the tenth lap before collapsing, and Ellie had to step in to catch him before he stumbled over his ill-fitting shoes. Gasping for air, Jason instinctively moved his fingers to his neck, trying to steady his racing heart.

 "One hundred and fifty…," he managed to sputter out between coughs. "That's as high as... as it's going to get for me..." Ellie gently guided him to the ground and patted his back. 

"You okay, dude?" she asked, concern etched in her voice. Jason looked up at her, his breaths coming in ragged gasps. 

"Do I look taller?" he asked, his words punctuated by wheezes. 

Ellie looked at him incredulously. "No," she replied, kicking herself for not bringing a full water bottle. "Motor, do you have any water in your truck?" she asked, looking up at him. Motor was holding up his phone which was recording the entire scene. From concern to ticked off, Ellie motioned him over and communicated a silent ‘stop recording camera man and help us’. He quickly pocketed his phone and retrieved a can of water from the truck, offering it to Jason.

“Got seltzer water, that works right?” 

Jason fell over with a groan. 

---

Something wasn't right. Ellie's eyes narrowed as she pondered a potential connection between the events. They weren't getting all the answers here, and Ellie was determined to uncover them, even if it was the last thing she did. She leaned against a trunk, observing Jason as he downed his fourth can of dark cherry seltzer.

"Are you planning on leaving any for the rest of us?" Motor interjected irritably. Holding the box of seltzer in his hands, he loomed over the sweaty and disheveled Jason. After a few gulps, Jason withdrew the can from his lips and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. Gasping for breath, he weakly responded.

"Sorry, I feel like death right now." Jason turned the can in front of him, sneering at the ingredients. "I can't believe you drink this stuff. It's sticky and gross." He handed the can over to Motor. 

"You're sticky and gross," Motor retorted, crushing the can in his hand and turning it into an aluminum ball. After telling Motor to shove off, Jason rose to his feet and returned to Ellie. Feeling more disgusted than taller at that point, he questioned how much more of this paranoia-inducing gym class he could endure. That’s when an empty seltzer nearly smacked Jason’s shoulder. Thankfully the can didn’t make it’s target as Jason flinched out of the way with a screech. “AHHHHH- !” Jason let out a loud scream and clutched his chest, glaring at Motor with a deep squint. "What was that for?!" he yelled in fury, stomping his feet. Motor, on the other hand, seemed unfazed and simply scratched the stubble of his baby beard. 

"Looks like it isn't a defense mechanism," he commented with a sly smirk. Jason rolled his eyes so hard that they might as well have been watching his brain.

Brushing his hair back and promptly fixing it back into its black and sleek professional bangs, Jason grunted in frustration facing away from his friends and into the far reaching woods.

This was starting to feel less scary and anxiety-inducing, but everything was becoming ridiculous, including himself. Jason took a deep breath in frustration, "Look guys, I know you want to help, but I don't think we're going to have any breakthroughs," he spoke, avoiding eye contact with his concerned friends. This was just something he didn't want to deal with anymore. Exhausted, he pressed his palms against his cheeks and closed his eyes, pushing his glasses up from the bridge of his nose to the bristle of his bangs. 

"We should just pack up and go home."

“But Jason,” Ellie spoke in a saddening tone that ended her sentence in a cold whimper, “Aren’t you afraid it’s going to happen again?” She approached him as leaves crunched under her shoes. She reached out to him- but, Jason’s eyes darted at her hand and jerked his shoulder away softly, still not willing to look her in the eye.

"I... I don't want to think about it, let alone try to intentionally bring back that god-awful feeling," Jason clenched his face, his voice trailing off as he avoided looking at Ellie. He was certain she was utterly disgusted to discover that Jason was a coward, but he was more than just a timid man.

"You don't understand. That feeling was so terrible, yet... I couldn't help but... enjoy it a little?" Ellie lowered her hand and tilted her head, her dark brown eyes fixed on him in confusion. She could only utter a confused syllable before falling silent. The absence of words intensified Jason's anxiety, and he turned around briefly to face her, his voice cracking.

"Not power hungry or sensual! Honest! Just before all that growth nonsense, I felt... elated and happy, and my heart was racing," his trembling fingers ran through his disheveled hair, tentatively parting the strands. "It felt like, for the first time in my life," Jason took a deep breath, "That’d I wouldn’t have to worry about anything." he concluded with a sigh. 

In that moment, he couldn't look any more broken as he witnessed his best friend of fourteen years struggling to understand him. 

Jason closed his eyes in bitterness, feeling even more repulsed for admitting that, for a brief moment, he had felt lighter than air despite the potential danger he could have caused.

“I’m- I’m crazy aren’t I-” “No. You’re not.”

Jason's eyes darted back to Ellie, who had a new expression on her face. She looked at him with enthusiasm, her mouth slightly open as her fingers touched the bottom left of her chin. A smile slowly formed on her lips, and life seemed to return to her as she gently grabbed the sides of Jason's shoulders.

 “That’s it!” Ellie exclaimed as her eyes had a twinkle of discovery. Jason couldn’t help but be confused about what in the world Ellie discovered. Before he could ask what she mean’t, he suddenly couldn’t see anything at all and felt fingers cover his eyes and a small shove spun him around. There was barely any resistance on Jason’s part- however he was still confused.

 “What in the blazes are you doing??” Jason responded as he couldn’t fight away Ellie’s fingers pressing his glasses on his face. 

“Trust me on this,” Ellie responded calmly, “Close your eyes, we’re practicing mindfulness”. Doing a double take, Jason stalled for a second before defaulting into what Ellie wanted him to do. ‘Surely she has a plan’ Jason thought to himself as he willingly closed his eyes. ‘Right?...’  

Motor on the other hand was watching this all go down with a very skewed frown on his face. He never really was big on this therapy stuff, and he really had no idea where Ellie was going with it. 

"Is this really a good time for a therapy session, sis?" Motor quipped, causing Ellie to shoot a quick glance at him and swat her hand in his direction with a scowl. She then turned back to Jason and patted his shoulders, causing them to jolt slightly.

"Alright, buddy, how do you feel about our friend Natasha?" Ellie asked casually, with a smirk on her face. Jason's shoulders immediately tensed up and a shiver ran up his spine, replacing his melancholy with shock and annoyance. He almost turned to look at Ellie, but her firm grip on his shoulders prevented him from doing so. He tried to cover up his shock with a quick lie, as he didn't want to reveal his secret to Motor, who would surely gloat about it. Plus, he couldn't see the relevance of Natasha to the whole giant situation.

“Wh-what are you talking about?! She’s our friend and an upstanding manager, You should know that Ellie,” Jason sputtered out before crossing his arms, “And that- that’s not appropriate to say.” 

This was going to be a low blow Ellie was about to commit, but in the end, it was going to be for his own good. She gestured her hands over Jason’s eyes so that they went back to being closed and it was followed with a tsk. “It’s okay to be honest here, Nobody else is around for miles," Ellie reassured him, patting his back gently. She took a step back, her arms wrapping around her own back as she tilted her head. "I know you trust me." 

Jason’s head lowered-- he could feel the confused and shocked stare of Motor, who at this point was starting to burn a hard glare at Jason hoping that he wasn’t about to say something that had his best friend involved. Hairs rose on Jason’s neck as he lowered his hand to the ground, keeping his eyes closed in fear that he’d accidentally meet Motor’s seething gaze. 

“You’re screwing with me.” Motor spat out, his glare now full-on directed at Jason, who was probably about to say something he didn't want to hear. Jason became a stuttering mess, keeping his eyes glued shut and not daring to look back at the angry bull behind him, who was huffing and puffing and ready to give him a good slap.

“Ok-okay I might have made my statement a little bit- misleading. I uh- I really like her in a different way,” Jason sputtered, finding that closing his eyes made him a lot braver, even brave enough to turn around to face his companions. 

However, his nervousness wasn't unfounded, as he could feel his heart pounding rapidly in his chest, and a chilling sensation running through his skin like a bad rash. Well, not really bad. In fact, it felt good having this tingling sensation slowly making its way from his chest to the edges of his fingertips. It only grew stronger the more he talked. “I mean, not just in a friendly way. Granted, she's an amazing friend and I don't want to expect anything in the romantic department, but..."

Warmth radiated from his chest from just thinking about talking about her. The heat from his center suddenly pushed through his limbs and ended at his fingertips. It felt as though pure dopamine was coursing through his veins, and his arms wrapped around himself in a tight hug as his lips curled into an anticipatory smile.

"She's just amazing, you know? It feels like we can be so open with each other, and man alive, I haven't met anyone who can get me to smile during a dreadful shift like she can, She's just hilarious." Jason continued, not waiting for a response as the words spilled out of him. 

The more he talked, the easier it became, and confessing his actual thoughts made him feel more alive than he had in a while. His palms grew warm against his cheeks as he pressed his hands onto his face out of slight embarrassment, unable to contain his excitement.

That wasn’t going to stop him droning on, “Not to mention she’s drop dead gorgeous like, I haven’t noticed before but you know how pretty her dim wine eyes are? I didn’t even know that eye color was even possible, right?” His fingers were becoming tangled in his hair with his peepers still glued shut to avoid seeing the expressions his friends were probably making. 

His words were met with a staring silence, but right then he could have given a heartfelt speech to a whole stadium of people as the butterflies soaring through his stomach preoccupied his thoughts.

In the moment he didn’t care about shame, and though a light breeze was making goosebumps rise on his skin, the warmth he felt inside was doing him just fine. A light buzzing felt all over his skin made him feel lighter than air. He continued to fill the empty void in conversations with mere rambling, “And her hands are so soft~ Have to wonder what lotion she uses but, I really want to hold them all day no-- all week!” 

“Uhm- J-jason??” A small voice peeked from the rambling. “Okay granted- that sounds creepy I'll admit. Though it’s just how I really feel about her. She’s a comforting and deep presence that I can’t ignore anymore and that’s..” Jason attempted to continue the conversation by himself.

“Holy shit…” Another small but disgruntled voice spoke as a shadow started to drape itself across the trees, causing most of the wildlife to screech and run for their lives. 

“Well. Yeah a problem. I know. That’s why I haven’t told anyone because if word got out I actually felt it would ruin our..” Before Jason’s tone could fall harder, he was rightly interrupted. 

“JASON OPEN YOUR EYES!!” Screamed a voice- not just any voice. Ellie’s voice. She would never raise her voice like that under any circumstances unless…

Jason's eyelids opened in astonishment. The wind tousled his wispy coal hair as he took in the breathtaking scene before him. Above, the sky stretched endlessly, adorned with gray clouds that seemed to go on for miles. They formed a captivating backdrop to the rolling hills of the distant forest, while even the city's man-made structures appeared remarkably close despite their supposed distance. It felt as though a brisk ten-minute jog would be enough to reach them, defying the time it took to get here.

In fact, he could even make out the faint outline of the Space Needle's peak from his current vantage point. However, this momentary awe was quickly overshadowed by the realization that he wasn't standing on a tourist platform but rather in the midst of nature just moments ago. 

A sinking feeling settled in his stomach as he observed the peculiar chest-high pointed shrubs surrounding him. Initially appearing alien, they gradually became familiar. The distinct scent of pine gave them away as the same trees that had towered over them before he closed his eyes. What made it even stranger was the inability to distinguish individual pine needles anymore, as they seemed to merge into one prickly yet pleasantly fragrant blob.

If Jason didn't know any better, he would have thought he had been taken to an uncanny, miniature version of a golf course as a cruel and extravagant prank. The trees appeared tightly packed and diminutive compared to their previous grandeur, but they swayed in the breeze just as they always had. There was no denying that everything around him had shrunk.

Either that, or he’s gotten bigger.

His throat tightened, and he swallowed hard, keeping his gaze level with the shrunken plant life. He was reluctant to look down, fearing the unsettling sight that awaited him. Each breath felt labored and heavy as he found himself inhaling rapidly. The once exhilarating rush of romantic feelings had now been replaced by sheer terror.

“Jason..?” A very hesitant Ellie spoke as she backed up from the gigantic leather loafers and ankles. Ellie wasn’t sure if she could reach out to him. He was so far away yet- an overwhelming presence that even made her stomach flip. She didn’t want to be afraid of Jason especially since he looked like he was scared out of his mind himself but she couldn’t help the feeling of being around a body that was so big and more importantly, unstable. 

Ellie’s traitorous brain decided this would be a great time to visualize the times when Jason had a fifty percent chance of knocking his head against a bus station pole or clumsily tripping over literally nothing, resulting in nothing more than minor embarrassment. Those incidents would pale in comparison to what blunders Jason could cause being as tall as he is now. As her feet instinctively moved, quietly retreating, Ellie couldn't help but question whether she wanted him to hear her.

Shortly after, Ellie realized that he had indeed heard her, Jason’s head darted downwards after what felt like a lifetime of not looking down. His gentle hazel eyes, filled with tears, locked onto the two of them with a mix of emotions, his face contorted in an expression of awkward despair. His eyebrows shot up, and his jaw slackened in shock. Jason couldn’t believe what he was seeing but, there it was- the proof was right in front of him. 

Both frozen in fear, neither of them dared to make a sudden move, terrified of the potential consequences that could arise from even the slightest misstep. However, their hesitations didn’t matter as Jason's legs began to tingle, the blood rushing to his head causing a loss of sensation, and his weakened heart unable to withstand the pressure. 

Slowly, his colossal form buckled under its own weight, a wave of panic coursing through his mind. Feebly, he managed to utter a series of pleading "nos," accompanied by a desperate shake of his head. With a sinking realization, Jason's heightened senses anticipated what was about to happen, understanding his lack of control in the face of it. What he could do however- was to make sure he wasn’t falling on top of his friends. 

Jason had leaned back, twisted his feet to the side and let gravity do the work. 

"WOAH- Wait, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Motor's voice pierced through the air, a mix of shock and alarm. However, his protest was abruptly cut short by a violent upheaval that sent him sprawling onto the forest floor, his unruly curls mingling with the nearby vegetation. Annoyance etched across his face as he realized his beloved hoodie had become a canvas for dirt, courtesy of his impromptu encounter with the forest floor and an unfortunate stump.

The beanstalk had fallen.

Meanwhile, Ellie's luck prevailed as she found herself caught in the embrace of a sturdy tree, her arms wrapped tightly around a lower branch. Momentary whiplash left her disoriented, temporarily obscuring Motor's colorful stream of expletives. Tentatively, she turned her gaze back toward the spot where Jason's imposing legs had once stood, only to be met with the sight of him partially kneeling on the ground, his trembling arm straining to support his immense weight.

Jason traced a finger on his own face before he pulled it forwards to look at his twitching hands as he retracted them. Still buzzing from the blood rushing to his head he had his last thought of wondering if he was still dreaming this entire week; however, by now it would be less believable to think that his imagination was making this all up than him blowing up into a giant.

 He lost focus on his hand as he heard loud and clear swearing from the bushes. Darting his glaze over to his now miniature coworkers, he couldn’t believe how different the pair looked. Even big ol’ Motor, who normally stood a good few feet over him, and was definitely eating his wheaties as that man could probably take on a horse despite his loafing habits at work, was as big as an incredibly accurate figurine. Their features blended in and Jason could only tell it was them by the fact that they’re the only people there, and by the color of their clothing and hair. He saw Ellie start helping Motor up and pulling him to his feet with a good tug that just seemed so full of effort for such a small being. Their eyes meet once again with a small startle coming from Ellie seeing the monolith iris start tracking her again.

 Jason grimaced pitifully and spoke out without thinking about it. Now his talking wouldn’t bother anyone unless they had something against the British but this time his voice boomed, “Ellie, I’m not gonna hurt you!” Both Motor and Ellie covered their ears with Motor being really angry or really excited- he couldn’t decide either way. 

“Try lowering your voice a tad won’t ya?!” Motor retorted, “It’s going to wake up a whole ass city! That’s...kinda sick, though.” Jason immediately covered his mouth with his free hand, a pained expression on his face, hating that he had to go ahead and make things worse by talking. Ellie hesitantly drew closer. She slowly pulled her hands away from her ears to hold them together in an uncomfortable embrace; as if she was demonstrating reluctance to confirm something. 

Motor on the other hand was in awe- Never in a lifetime he’d thought he’d get to see a real life giant,let alone knowing the guy himself. Before Motor could go up and start doing a frantic inspection Jason removed his hand from his mouth and raised it in front of the two as he shook his head adamantly, and started talking at his usual volume, but his tongue caught him and continued speaking in urgent whispers. 

“NO- oh no- sorry! No no no no, That’s close enough you two,” He spoke in the lowest voice he could just so he didn’t further destroy their ear drums. “I… I don’t want to hurt you both… again.” His arm got tired so he lowered himself down on his forearm and leaned back. This was all around pretty terrible, Jason would admit to himself, he wondered how he was even capable of doing this, and what event caused this transformation in the first place. “Jason,” Ellie finally spoke up softly, staring downwards at the ground as she fiddled with her rings on her pointer finger. Rummaging through her head on what would be the best way to say what she needed to say but, it only looked like being straight forward was the only way to go. 

“This is going to sound so weird but,... I think.. I think it’s your crush on Nat that’s causing this.” She looked up sympathetically at the giant who had a vacant look in his eyes as if her words were bouncing off of his ears, yet it all sank in as his blank face sagged into a frown, with eyes becoming more watery as the idea repeated in his mind. He shook his head, but this time it was languid.

 “That.. that can’t be,” He whimpered, for a moment his voice rose an octave “That’s ridiculous!... That’s ridiculous…” He wanted to unhear that sentence, but deep down he knew that Ellie was right.

 She usually was. 

[Image Description: Jason, putting his hand over his mouth, is in complete disbelief while Ellie looks at him with concern.]

“Oh. Oh, no.” 

Out of all the ailments in the world it just had to be specifically that one didn’t it? He would have taken yelling silly catch phrases or being physically injured over the truth. His jaw dropped and he grew distant from Ellie’s counseling. She tried her hardest to give her best friend reasons to not panic; it didn’t help much. 

Motor wasn’t much help as he folded his arms with a gruff, “Man that’s lame.” He spoke without thinking but caught his tongue when Ellie darted back a glare he only wished he could unsee. “But uh- uhh… Being a kaiju is cool I guess.” No amount of backtracking was going to matter to Jason- he was just enveloped in his thoughts. 

Thoughts of wondering what he did to deserve this curse; he wasn’t a bad person, was he? He never intended to hurt people, he was polite to all he’s met, paid his taxes and even donated to every charity post he saw on social media even if that meant he’d have toast for dinner. The only sin he remembered committing was falling head-over-heels in love with someone who could lose their whole career if they reciprocated, and who he wouldn't be able to make happy in the long run.

Oh. 

Jason laid himself on the ground with only his arm to support his head. He groaned before making a small glance at his friends who went silent at the sudden movement, he buried his giant face into his free arm and curled up. Murmuring a request that was promptly followed by a deep sigh; “Can I have a minute, Please?”

Ellie and Motor gave each other knowing looks before Motor started to gently pull Ellie away as she didn’t take any action to walk away from her grieving friend.

 “Alright, see ya in a few,” Motor said as he glanced back to see Jason laying there, who was using his legs to cover his face. The last thing Ellie saw when she turned away was a glimpse of a very sad pile of giant limbs pulling together that had grown silent. 

Several meters away from the clearing, they both kept walking until they were out of sight and made sure that Jason couldn’t hear them if they kept a low conversation- knowing that man’s eardrums had to have been blessed enough to be able to hear a needle drop in the middle of highway traffic. Ellie finally released a tense sigh and started to rub her arms vigorously as she tried to relieve all that pent up stress.

 “Man… Maybe I shouldn’t have said that,” Ellie confessed as she looked up to Motor with sad eyes that peaked through her blonde hair. “I just really, reaaally wanted to help but…” Motor shrugged his shoulders as he decided that one tree he was conveniently next to was a great place to lean on. 

Giving her a quizzical look, Motor asked, “Wasn’t that your plan? Like, that was the entire point of this experiment, L.” Ellie paused her hair ruffling to dart her eyes right back at Motor. 

“Yeah but- Oh my gods he’s HUGE,” she raised her hands upwards in a grand gesture, “I thought he’d be a few inches taller, Not a few meters taller!” Ellie yelped out as her shoulders crept back into herself in shame. 

“That was more than a few meters Ellie-” he commented. “SHUT. You know what I mean…” she replied.

Whimpering under her breath trying to mask her words unsuccessfully, “This is my fault - I Completely messed everything up... I’m so stupid.”

 Motor wasn’t going to let her get away with that one. “Come on, don’t put yourself down like that- aren’t you supposed to be a counselor after finals or something?” he interjected. “A psychiatrist,” Ellie gave a quick correction, “Though I guess you have a point there.” She rubbed her eyes, trying to not engage too much with the thoughts she was having, letting the guilt sink in but instead of covering herself with it like a wet blanket she tried to understand ‘why’ she was feeling that way. 

“Just… none of this makes any sense, I don’t know about you but we don’t live in a fairy tale Motor, this isn’t normal.” Her shoulders dropped with the weight of the situation weighing her down from standing up to a nearby moss-covered boulder. 

“Back at the office, seeing that giant eyeball staring back at me was horrifying enough, but now that we were literally a foot stomp away from being made into pancakes…” Ellie started to babble as she sunk further into those baseline human feelings that first show up when their whole understanding of existence has been challenged.

 “Not going to lie, I felt like running.” Admitting that out loud made her feel like actual scum of the earth. Her hands clapped together and brought them to her crown with a desperate inhale. Was Motor’s awkward stare down and dirt-kicking coming off as judgemental? It was. According to Ellie it was. 

“So uh… Jason actually likes her back huh?” Motor asked, his stomach sinking from his doubt being proven wrong after all this time. He cringed as he frustratedly brushed his curly mess of hair in a declaration of being agitated. “Kinda messed up, he hasn't noticed by now she’s basically throwing herself at him this whole time. Seriously I haven’t seen her this down bad in years… The giant idiot has been leading her on?!” 

Those words weren’t going to fly, not on Ellie’s watch. She straightened her posture to glare at Motor and pointed aggressively at him. 

 “He isn’t leading her on!” she scolded back as she folded her arms, “It’s complicated, he doesn’t have a single idea that she likes him back.”

 “Then why don’t he, oh, I don’t know, JUST FUCKING TELL HER?” His patience dwindled as he paced around trying to not focus his anger on a person but the ground below him. “This whole star-crossed lover shtick got old the minute Natasha told me she liked him,” Motor spouted as he paced back and forth angrily, “I straight up told her that ain’t going to turn out because he’s a self-absorbed, spineless chicken!”

 The silence from Ellie pulled him away from his anger when he noticed she didn’t retaliate with his argument. She was sadly staring down at her battling thumbs, not sure what to say to that. “I know it looks bad,” she finally opened up to answer, “But they would definitely get terminated by Atlas if their feelings were known, and you know both of them have so much to lose.” 

Motor opened his mouth but it seemed he ran out of arguments. While he didn’t give a single shit about Atlas in the slightest, he knew that Natasha really cared about her career. 

Instead of continuing to bicker, he just took a seat on the boulder of shame next to Ellie and clumsily patted her back as they just let the silence of the forest do all the talking for the both of them. After a good minute Motor broke the silence first. “Capitalism can suck it.” Ellie sighed. “This is completely out of my league, Like, what do we do now?” She questioned not only herself but opened the suggestion to Motor. 

“We turn him into a superhero,” Motor delivered to her, which he continued before she could object. “Wait- let me finish, this is going to be helpful I swear.” He was granted permission by Ellie to go further into his wildly off-course suggestion just to see where he could have been going with it. 

Motor stepped back from the boulder with his hands gesturing to the area where a giant had been having a self pity moment.

 “If I learned anything from superhero movies, I know for sure that weird junk like this doesn’t happen for no reason,” he continued, as he closed his eyes to envision the classic hero origin story from the perspective of a common movie fanatic thinking of theories that could possibly happen in the next few chapters of Jason’s life.

 “You see, I think we’re at that part of the movie we figured out what makes him tick, it can’t be an unimportant plot point because that’d be dumb.” Motor spoke as his hands landed on his hips while his huff blew the tufts of his mess of curly bangs as he kept tacking on information,

 “There’s gotta be a reason for him to have super powers,”  The obviously confused Ellie sat there on the rock trying to find what connections Motor could be talking about and why in the world he’s bringing up fictional terms into this real life situation.

As if Motor could read her thoughts, he continued his spiel while scratching his baby beard, “Could be connected to Natasha, whatever Jason’s past is or something completely unrelated. Who knows?, The thing we need to worry about is,” Motor then talked grimly as he bent down to be eye level with the clearly nervous college student, 

“Whatever it is- Jason needs to be big to stand a chance.” 

It was completely unheard of to Ellie to take whatever comes out of Motor’s mouth with a grain of seriousness. In that bleak moment, the realization of impending doom crawled into her head. Being exposed to a phenomenon that broke her view of real world physics and scale had made her become more receptive to the idea. While Motor’s superhero rant is silly, she had to be there for her friends. Even if she was far from equipped to deal with it. 

No matter if it was just conjecture- it was all they had left. The big nerd has a point for once. 

“Well uhm… I guess we could help him adjust to this… thing.” Ellie asked as her eyes slowly met Motor’s with color fading from her face.

“Bingo,” Motor responded. 

Thunk

CRASH

---

Jason couldn’t tell how long he’d been lonesome. Despite having a small fling in secondary school with a girl, well, it wasn’t a legitimate fling so much as it was the ending punchline to that girl’s sick joke to her friend group that lasted about 12 hours.

 Never forgive or forget Tracey. 

Lucky his teenage heart was broken not out of legitimate love for the girl but the pride of being in a relationship. He learned that he never cared for the race to be someone’s boyfriend or that ladies man nonsense. For years he concluded he just simply wasn’t meant to be attracted to anyone and let that matter rest, because he’d rather not place the burden of love on somebody. He’d always figured he’d be a terrible romantic partner. 

Sure, he idealized romance in his favorite rom-coms and paperback novels which didn’t hurt anyone, though one could say his tastes in quality media suffered. It was for the best he’d keep to himself and do the simple task of just having good friends in his life because that’s all he needed. He absolutely botched the plan when he realized he’d fallen head over heels for Natasha. It happened so abruptly that he could pinpoint the moment his heart decided that she was the one. It was a Saturday night after work when the gang decided to get drinks at this local indie band bar that Ellie suggested. It was just a few pints and music for crying out loud. Cupid must have had it out for him, because in a moment his friend of three years suddenly became the most attractive woman on Earth.

 Strange part was that nothing changed about her, she looked the same, acted the same and seemed to brighten the room the same. Nothing about it was her fault- just his dumb mediocre man feelings. 

She doesn’t deserve him. The bloody monster. Reflection time was abruptly shattered when Jason's body collided with the wooden pikes surrounding him. The tree pressing against his glasses and threatening to poke his eye served as a painful wake-up call, bringing him back to reality. With a sharp yelp, Jason jolted and surveyed his transformed surroundings. The boulders had morphed into skipping stones, and the trees appeared more fragile than before.

As the pieces fell into place in his mind, Jason let out a pitiful grumble. "Now I can't even wallow about my love life without everything shrinking around me? Unbelievable!" he exclaimed in a mixture of annoyance and desperation.

Attempting to gauge his own size, Jason estimated that the towering Douglas firs must have been at their maximum height, around 30 meters. That meant he had to be over 40 meters tall himself, considering the sticks around him only reached his lower chest. The thought induced a cringe that resonated throughout his entire being. 

Why did he have to be good at math?

This made Jason feel like throwing up, though he held back on following through because of the consequences of getting sick everywhere. 

Frustrated and questioning the purpose of his brain, Jason pushed himself up to gaze at the dark gray clouds gathering over Seattle, seemingly poised for an extended stay.

At least there was something looming above him, for the time being. Jason's mind began to wander, contemplating whether he could reach such heights to devour cumulonimbus clouds as if they were fluffy cotton candy. The thought sent a shiver down his spine, but he quickly pulled himself together, realizing that would be just absurd.

This was too weird for him. 

“Out of all the curses in the world, I had to get gigantic, didn’t I?” Jason asked the nonexistent crowd with a strong distaste, “For Pete's sake, I would have taken being turned into stone or a vampire even! At least then I’d be able to fit in a house..” 

He clenched his fists with a large inhale, tensing himself up before exhaling a wind that blew through the quiet woods like a sudden, harsh spring gust. Covering his mouth once again with a startle, Jason took a second before huffing out a smaller, less affecting sigh.

 “How am I supposed to live like this?” He asked no one. No one responded with silence and small trembles of animals escaping the scene.

 Jason could already sense his mind trying to fill the void with the usual daydreaming which unfortunately, had romance most of the time. In defeat of calming himself down, His eyes searched the land for something to distract himself with- what he had at his disposal was trees. Fantastic. 

Jason reached his hand to touch one fateful douglas fir trunk as his whole body laid on the ground. In an attempt to distract himself from the panic swirling inside him, he sought solace in fiddling with something to turn off his overactive imagination. His enormous fingers gently cradled the trunk of the tree and slowly moved the tip of his fingers against the aging bark. His colossal fingers flinched away from surprise in a brief moment, he had expected the bark to feel completely smooth as his eyes told him, but it felt rough.  

“Woah, isn’t this bizarre?, “ Jason remarked, his voice filled with astonishment. His fingers continued to explore the tree trunk, brushing against the curves of the bark that his eyes alone could not detect, “Like- I can still feel all of your crevices and all that… How?” 

Driven by his curiosity, Jason leaned in closer to the trunk, his eyes widening with excitement. He realized that by focusing his attention, he could perceive even more intricate details of the trunk's curves and weathered wrinkles, each marking a chapter in the tree's long history. The bumps scattered across the surface became distinct under his scrutiny, and he could now discern the individual pine needles with remarkable clarity. It was a newfound perspective, one that revealed the tree's hidden beauty in ways he had never imagined before.

 Incredible, he had thought. 

Eyesight was one of those things he’d struggle with needing his glasses to be able to see far-sighted. His ability to see objects up close was serviceable but he'd never been able to pick out details to this extent. 

The excitement surged through his veins, causing his hand to tightly grip the tree trunk as a radiant smile spread across his face. "This is incredible... Could I have done this before?"

However, his blissful moment was abruptly shattered by a sharp snap that echoed in his ears. In an instant, the tree returned to its smooth appearance, devoid of any discernible details. Jason's elation turned to dismay as he realized the consequences of his newly acquired strength. His hand recoiled from the trunk, revealing the broken remnants where his fingers had once tightly clenched. The once-mighty tree, which had weathered countless storms and endured the tests of time, now stood fractured and vulnerable, like a worn-down pencil shattered by an overwhelming force.

Jason lowered down so that his face was a few mere meters away from the afflicted tree with a guilt ridden gaze. “I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to-! …God,” Jason’s panicked guilt turned into unfolding shame. He huffed before brushing his bangs away from his face. “Jason, you're apologizing to a tree for pete's sake.” 

Then why did he feel so bad about it? It’s not like the tree has the capability to forgive him right? He couldn’t even forgive himself. 

Jason also heard another thing with his excellent ears, the sound of crackling and birds screaming as they evacuated their homes. Before he could react, the towering timber leaned precariously, its weight shifting, until it finally crashed onto Jason's head with a resounding thud. A pained yelp escaped his lips, causing an eerie silence to descend upon the once lively surroundings.

With trembling fingers, Jason attempted to push the fallen tree back into its original position, his voice filled with desperation as he whimpered, "No, no! It's alright! Everything is fine!" For a fleeting moment, his efforts seemed to have some effect. 

“See? Good as new!” The creaking sound disagreed however and the tree made its second fall onto Jason’s face. Again.  

He dug his fingers into his knees as he stewed there with a tree adorning his forehead. Against his better judgment he made another large tidal wave of air flow through the forest aggressively.

“What the hell are you doing!?” Motor yelled out as Ellie and him scrambled into the clearing. 

“Destroying the environment, that's about it.” Jason responded solemnly, still with the tree resting on his forehead. 

He didn’t bother looking behind him because he could hear someone making an impressive low whistle. Ellie raced past Motor in a fit, "Are you okay?!" She yelled, pushing through the knee-high grasses and bushes as he bolted towards Jason. The giant hardly had any time to react and had only managed to raise his head off of the ground, letting the dead tree slide off of his nose. 

"Woah hold on a minute don’t get close to-" Jason's warning was cut short by a gentle force pressing against his lower leg. Swinging his head downward, he discovered a tiny figure attempting to grasp his ankle in a panicked embrace. It felt more like a light pinch than a warm hug, but the gesture was appreciated.

Figuring he already knew who was coddling him, the idea of using his newfound ability to focus on her came to mind, and he saw no harm in giving it a shot. Squinting his eyes and concentrating, Jason directed his attention towards Ellie. His head bent downward, his eyes squinting intensely.

In a sudden moment of clarity, the details came into view. He noticed Ellie's blonde, soft bangs brushing against his diamond patterned wool socks, and the elegant tattoos adorning her arms. Underneath her pushed-up sleeve, he caught a glimpse of a wrapped-up bandage on her upper arm. Her grimace was hidden as she buried her face into his sock, holding on tightly for a few more seconds.

“Come on, let him go.” Motor spoke up, “Gulliver said he didn’t want to be touched.” Ellie jolted off of him while patting herself down with shaky hands. “Oh geez- s-sorry dude, I… I just...” Ellie sputtered out embarrassingly as Jason pulled his head back to not scare her further.

 “It’s quite alright Ellie, the hug was nice.” Jason commented as he pulled himself slowly around so he was facing his mini coworkers. He traced his finger in the ground to lightly pet the grass with his finger tips. “This whole ‘giant’ thing has gotten me out of sorts,” Jason began to explain to his audience of two people, reaching his hands up to his face to flex them. 

“It’s not just that everything is small… Compared to me I mean, but I can- well. I don’t know how to explain this without sounding like I’m on some heavy drugs,”

 “Too late for that!” Motor interrupted proudly. 

Jason tried to sputter his words out to scold the little trouble maker without busting anyone’s ear drums. “No-NO! Oh my go- Motor please let me explain! I think I have, oh I don’t know, super focus or something!” 

Jason Leaned a bit forward to look down upon his friends, nervously smiling and trying his best to seem non-threatening as if trying to persuade a feral cat to become best friends. Ellie and Motor looked at each other in confusion. 

“Like- If I have my attention on something for long enough I can actually see and hear it just as if I was normal.” Jason continued to explain, bringing his eyes to track Motor this time and tried to dart his gaze on his clothing. Motor tried to speak up to ask what the heck Jason was even going on about, but he caught his tongue when he noticed Jason’s expression turned from a friendly inspection to a mischievous smirk. Motor hated that look, he could smell the superiority from all the way down there. 

Didn’t help Jason’s hulking form started to lean down towards him menacingly with that disgusting smugness filling his vision. Motor tried to step back a little bit when he saw that Jason’s hand was heading towards him. The audacity of this giant jerk. Motor gawked and yelled out:

“Hey, HEY! HEY! I THOUGHT YOU DIDN’T WANT TO BE TOUCHED.” 

The hand turned into a fist as it was a few meters away and Jason’s earl gray scented breath sent shivers down Motor’s spine. Was this a sick joke? Is Jason about to take his revenge on all those head rubs Motor has tormented him with? He braced himself and waited for… whatever the heck Jason was thinking of doing to him. When nothing happened, Motor peaked his eyes open and realized that Jason’s index finger was pointing down at him just a car lengths away from his chest. “You have a barbecue stain on your jacket.” … “I actually hate you.”  

[arctimon]

The "Echo" Chamber - Another Marvel/BH6 Character Discussion

So for those of you who may not be in the know, Echo is dropping on Disney+ today. Now, a lot of people have varying amounts of Marvel Fatigue and may not be interested in this series, but I will actually be super interested in how they handle the protagonist herself.

Because you see, I'm a big fan of Maya Lopez.

Not necessarily the MCU one...

But the comic one.

So here's a little backstory into the superhero known as Echo.

One of her defining characteristics (whether it's a good thing or not) is that she is one of the few deaf characters in Marvel comics. What she lacks in hearing she more than makes up for in her fighting abilities, as she has the same ability as Taskmaster: to replicate any movement or action perfectly while only seeing it once. With that, she's one of the best fighters in the entire Marvel universe.

Her father worked for Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin, and after being in his employ for a long time, Fisk kills him. William makes him promise to take care of her daughter, which he does. After shooting him, Maya finds him, but not before leaving the trademark handprint of his blood on her face.

Fisk would take Maya in, sender her off to a gifted school, and trained her with her skills. He would later convince her that Matt Murdock (Daredevil) was the one who killed her father. After several issues in the 1999 run of Daredevil, secrets would be revealed, and Maya would blind Fisk by shooting out both of his eyes.

And you though my version of Kate was crazy.

After going on a personal quest to find herself, Maya would later get recruited into the New Avengers on the recommendation of Matt. She used the guise of Ronon (a former alias of Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye). Over the years, she played a central part in the New Avengers run and the events World War Hulk and Secret Invasion, being one of the first to discover that Jessica Drew was a Skrull.

Later, she moved to LA and went undercover before having to blow said cover to save Moon Knight. They teamed up together to take down the Kingpin of LA, but not before she was killed by Count Nefaria.

Of course, we know that being dead means literally nothing in the Marvel universe, and she shows up alive and well taking down another attempt of a villain taking over NYC.

For a while, Maya was out of action, not appearing in comics for almost five years.

And then?

Well.

And then entered the Phoenix.

"Enter The Phoenix" was a story arc in the 2018 Avengers run that saw heroes and villains alike in a "competition" to see who would wield the power of the Phoenix. I put that in quotes because it wasn't really much of a battle; the Avengers figured out there were other things going on.

But it didn't really matter in the end because guess who ended up with the power of the Phoenix?

Well it wouldn't be much of a Echo write-up if she didn't get it, now would it?

Alas, she wouldn't have the powers for long. After a less-than-well received mini-series (Echo: Phoenix Song), she helped the Avengers with the Multiversal Masters of Evil and the Council of Red. She used up the power to help heal the verses destroyed by the God Quarry.

And...that's kind of where we're at with her.

(Also, I know there were about twenty words and phrases that may not make any sense whatsoever, so you might want to take up the opportunity to read her comic before proceeding.)

Now I know what you're saying. "Jason, how on Earth are you going to make this about Big Hero 6? We already know you didn't think of her when you wrote that blog post about other potential team members you were thinking about."

...True.

But Riri, Nadia, America, Alison, and Cindy were not the only people that were considered.

They were just the only ones who got logos.

A Cheyenne deaf teenage girl with super memory powers and an ability to kick your butt sixty ways to San Fransokyo? Not to mention a (varying level of) permanent handprint on her face? You bet your patootie that she was on that list.

The problem, as many of the previous people were, was a way to integrate them into the mythos. Her main adversaries (Daredevil and Kingpin) are nowhere to be seen. Fisk is a NY guy too; unless he finds his way to SF for some reason, he wouldn't fit that well.

You'd have to find some other way to get her in. Who do we know that is a superb fighter that can also swordplay.

They also would probably be equally ruthless and not afraid of having to do what it take to achieve their goal.

...Oh.

Oh dear.

How about the daughter of a kingpin?

(Marvel's Echo airs all five episodes tonight on Disney+.)

[jennyboom21]

As a football fan, it’s not uncommon to see big NFL stars date celebrities. When I was growing up in Pittsburgh, the Steelers’ quarterback Terry Bradshaw dated figure skater JoJo Starbuck. That was such a big deal at the time. For a brief period, they were the "it couple."

Now, that pairing seems so simple.

A few years ago quarterback Russell Wilson, when he was with the Seattle Seahawks, married global singing superstar Ciara. Before their nuptials, it was Tom Brady, who of course married supermodel Gisele Bündchen. Sadly, the two divorced last year. Then, Brady made big headlines in late summer with rumors he was dating another model, Irina Shayk.

That pairing seems so simple now.

This weekend, the Miami Dolphins scored 70 points in their win against the Denver Broncos, whose quarterback is Wilson. Presumably, Wilson was consoled by his famous wife after that embarrassing defeat. The Dolphins had a total offense of 726 yards, just nine yards short of the NFL's all-time record set by the Los Angeles Rams way back in 1951.

During any other weekend, the Dolphins's history-making win would dominate sports news, and spill into general news as well, because wins and yardage like that are unheard of, even in a league where high passing and high-scoring games are the norm.

Also on Sunday night, the plane carrying my beloved Steelers was forced to land in Kansas City, Mo., on their way back from Las Vegas after defeating the Raiders. That, too, would be huge sports news and general news, but alas, the emergency landing in Kansas City wasn't the biggest thing to even happen in that city on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, Taylor Swift appeared in a private box at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, to watch the Chiefs manhandle the Chicago Bears 41-10. Presumably, Swift wasn’t there as a Chiefs fan or to watch the action. She was there to watch her new beau, the Chiefs's tight-end, Travis Kelce — who scored a touchdown probably just to show off. Images of Swift cheering and screaming for Kelce in that private box with his family almost crashed social media.

Is Swift dating Kelce? Well, who knows, and you might say, who cares? But, a lot of the world cares, to put it bluntly. Starbuck, Ciara, and Gisele pale in comparison to the enormity of Swift. If Swift decided to date a tree, that tree would become a top tourist destination.

It’s called the Swift effect; similar it seems to the Oprah effect. Everything Swift touches turns to gold. Swift walked hand-in-hand with Kelce out of Arrowhead Stadium Sunday after the game, and since then, sales of Kelce’s #87 Chiefs’ jersey have soared over 400 percent, according to TMZ.

This relationship between Swift and Kelce – whatever or however long it is – has also caused the interwebs to almost crash. Young women and young gay men around the world are Googling “Travis Kelce” to find out all they can about Swift’s new hunk of a football player boyfriend – or acquaintance?

Similarly, many of the gay “Swifties” I know were reaching out to me on Sunday about Kelce. They know I’m a football fan, so they had many questions for me; Is Kelce any good Where is he from? Who are the Chiefs? Is he a homophobe?

Kelce is good, in fact, he’s one of the best tight ends in the NFL. Kelce has an older brother, Jason who plays for the Philadelphia Eagles. Their mother Donna has become somewhat of a celebrity herself. During the Super Bowl last year, where Travis’s team the Chiefs beat Jason's team, the Eagles, Donna was all over the place. The ultimate football mother. Happy for one son. Sad for the other. And now? After her picture alongside Swift ran wild over social media and the news on Sunday, Mrs. Kelce is the third biggest and current global superstar, behind Taylor and Travis.

As a side note, and for those who are obsessed with garnering as much knowledge about Kelce as they can get, this year’s Super Bowl win was his second win; the first being in 2020 when Kelce and the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers.

The Kelce brothers are creating a cottage industry for themselves. They have their own podcast, New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce, and they have a documentary, Kelce, on Prime Video that is more about Jason, with Travis making frequent appearances. It’s actually pretty good, even if you’re not a football fan. Not to be outdone by his brother, Travis had a reality show on E! called Catching Kelce, that featured 50 women from 50 states in a dating competition. I guess Taylor decided to wait until the dust cleared with that many women pining for Kelce?

There’s no doubt in the world that every Swifty is downloading all the episodes of that The Bachelor riff, so that they can find out how to catch Kelce too, or about how Swift caught Kelce.

Finally, Travis Kelce is anything but a homophobe. Kelce told Outsports at the 2017 Pro Bowl (this is the game that features the NFL’s best players) that he’d support a gay teammate. “Anybody in this world [can play]. I’m comfortable with who I am and I expect everyone to be comfortable with who they are. I respect people for their views and opinions.”

And here’s a story about why you can love Kelce even if you’re not a Swifty or even a Gaylor — which is a subgroup of Swift fans who believe Taylor Swift is actually queer. In July, Bud Light released a commercial starring Kelce. In any other year, that wouldn’t raise an eyebrow, but we all know what happened with Bud Light in April with the Dylan Mulvaney imbroglio, and Bud Light’s inexcusable reaction to the extreme right boycotting the beer.

In the face of that boycott, by angry cisgender straight white men who were shooting cans of Bud Light or pouring them down the drain, Kelce metaphorically flipped them the bird by swigging the beer. And for his bravery and f-you attitude towards the narrow-minded, they retaliated by calling for a boycott of Kelce and by calling him "woke." (How do you boycott a human being, let alone one that is 6’5” and weighs 250 pounds?) Kelce could have cared less about what they thought of him endorsing Bud Light. In fact, he was seen drinking the beer at a golf tournament soon after the ad was released.

This week, Kelce released a video announcing his partnership with Pfizer as part of an educational campaign to remind people to get their flu and COVID-19 vaccine shots, preferably at the same time. In his Instagram video, Kelce says, “With my schedule, saving time is key. The CDC says you can get this season’s updated COVID-19 shot when you get your flu shot if you’re due for both. That’s why I got two shots in one stop! Ask your doctor or pharmacist if it would be right for you. You can also visit CDC’s vaccines.gov to learn more and schedule an appointment.”

As you can imagine, the anti-vaxxers and the extreme right are horrified that Kelce is endorsing the same "phooey" and hawking the same “poisons” that their number one vaxxing nemesis Dr. Fauci championed. For his efforts, Kelce is a champion too.

Finally, Kelce hosted Saturday Night Live earlier this year after winning the Super Bowl, and appeared in a memorable sketch with Bowen Yang as his “Straight Male Friend,” as Yang's character seeks some balance after being the one gay guy in a group of straight women.

While the world tries to dissect Kelce in every imaginable way possible, as they scoop up his jersey in record numbers, we can take some solace in the fact that Kelce will have no problem with queer Swifties or even the Gaylors.

One of my gay Swifty friends asked me what the story is with Travis's hunky brother Jason. I was sorry to tell him that he is happily married to his wife Kylie, and that they have three young daughters who will be the envy of young girls worldwide some day soon, when they get a new Aunt Taylor.

[f4nd0m-fun]

Double Isekai Cryptids

@puppetmaster13u

Some images at the end BTW

@hallowsden helped me with this idea but basically...

||=====||=====|| Background ||=====||=====||

Gotham is a piece of Faerun that got warped to Earth decades if not centuries ago. While it's not connected to Faerun as much as it used to be, anyone there is more 'forced human' than 'actual human', at least in a general sense. If anyone happens to find themselves in Faerun though, their truer form or forms unlock, which can certainly be surprising for most. But as long as they're on earth, they seem almost entirely human, although it's best not to stare at a gothamite for too long, especially a stressed child (as those have the easiest time accidentally showing their truths).

Of course, Gotham wasn't the first planar warp, and wouldn't be the last. After all, the LoA were tied intrinsically to this as well, once a long proud line of demons, reduced to immortal humanity. No wonder Ras sought Bruce as a son-in-law, both his skills and his ties to the Before.

Alfred has technically been around since the planar warp, he just happened to decide to explore this 'new' world a few times, and see what it had to offer. Perhaps the closest equivalent to what he would be might be along the lines of an 'arch changeling' (essentially just an arch fey though).

What Thomas and Martha were, no one is really certain of, but after what happened with their first son, they tried for another. Unbeknownst to them, it died shortly after, and Alfred replaced the dead child with one of his own in an attempt to make his partners happy.

Bruce is a changeling. His parents suspected something was different, but didn't care to dig, they were just happy to have him. But when they died, his form glitched out, a partial change, the poor traumatized child being found by Gordon who was quick to wrap him up and out of sight until he calmed. Eventually, Leslie found out as well, but Bruce didn't find out for years.

Slade is a vampire. Not of the DC variety persay, but similar, just dampened by the lack of access to the Before. Due to this, his actions towards Dick caused the boy to be a hidden Dhampir, although his family already had a long line of dampened elven blood.

Jason is a Duegar, sturdy and good at tinkering, but quite used to darkness, although he may even have a little surface dwarf in him. It's not certain, but perhaps this is the true origin of that white streak he has.

Cass is a drow, showcased in her elegant movements and affinity for the darkness.

Tim is a probably a gnome, well known for their inventiveness.

Steph is a kenku, although that can change.

Duke is undecided.

Damien is technically a tiefling, altho the human in him is merely a mimcry due to the nature of his father.

||=====||=====|| Story ||=====||=====||

The exact reason is unknown, but Bruce and his children get scattered around Faerun during the events of BG3, Bruce taking the place as Tav. Due to the isekai plus tadpole alongside the fact that everyone got de-aged roughly a decade (time in the two realms runs differently), he has minor amnesia. As a funny not-funny, the Guardian takes the appearance of Joker, and Bruce is not happy. He's not entirely sure why he hates the figure but he knows he will annoy him as much as possible. He starts as a rogue, adds monk, focuses on monk, and then happens to notice he's apparently a warlock out of the blue? (more on that later) Idea is to have him Monk 5 Rogue 4 Warlock 3 (before any extra levels from mods).

Bruce 31, Dick 13, Jason 9, Cass 9, Steph 8, Tim 7, Duke 5, Damien 1

Jason and Cass are found in the underdark, and, even afterwards, keep (sorta jokingly) playing the twin card. Cass keeps calling Jason 'little brother' and he keeps telling her, and others, that he's older (saying how many weeks or months apart as minutes instead).

Dick and Damien are found at Last Light's Inn, having been kinda taken in by Jaheira. Dick still doesn't realize he's a Dhampir, just that he's been eating a lot more red meat. Meanwhile, Damien is far from happy in such a 'tiny, useless body' and gets into a habit of biting people (if he could speak fully, he would insist he's not teething, he's just defending himself!).

Not sure about the others.

Alfred, meanwhile, has been in a form much closer to his proper fey form recently. He spend a few Earth weeks letting the kids get up to whatever, then popped over and forced a warlock bond. Because of family among other things, it wasn't that hard to do without Bruce's explicit permission, and this way he can keep a better eye on his son. He's rather friendly with Withers, who likes to say that the After has made him soft. At the endgame party though, he shows up, and promptly drops into a more human looking form, although he feels comfortable enough around his family to keep a few otherworldly features.

||=====||=====|| Images ||=====||=====||

Human Alfred is slightly overweight and about 5'9; He has some wrinkles and hair that's peppered with grey; His eyes are a dark hazel; He looks like a standard human elder.

Mildly fey Alfred is a bit skinnier than would be healthy for a human and is roughly 6'5; He has a face of a man several decades younger and his hair has no grey; His eyes are an almost-glowing yellow; With double pointed ears and sharp nails, he looks even less human.

Changeling Bruce (mod) sticking as close to the appearance he knows, with some absurd proficiencies, still not sure how I ended up with such wild profs but it fits him. Starting as a rogue, with noble background of course.

Joker Guardian, Brucie will not be trusting him very much if at all.

[kiragecko]

(He also chose it because it's what he landed in front of when Damian cut his line and tried to kill him (in attempt no. 3?))

-

I actually want to talk about how essential to his characterization I think the theater was.

The Tim fandom likes to joke about Tim stealing other people's names, and being unable to chose anything original. They also joke about him being amoral, one step from becoming a villain. I think all of these have a single root. Tim defines himself through other people.

He grew up in frequently shifting boarding schools, with no caring adults that made an impact. His special interests were a boy who gave him one hug when he was young, and the man who rescued that boy. His parents are usually traveling, even during school breaks. He uses a common neurodivergent masking technique of keeping disconnected enough from his emotions that he can logic his way through problems instead.¹ When he first shows up, he can't figure out that telling Dick his name might help Dick trust him. He and his dad both forget his birthday, and his dad often buys him gifts that Tim doesn't want but his dad does. He had two fathers, a pseudo-grandpa, and a big brother, at the time, but still had to teach himself how to drive. He's extremely skilled at fitting in, but awkward when trying to be himself.

This kid has been neglected and tends to only value his use to other people. He puts a lot of thought into his actions, but very very little into his desires or feelings. He both doesn't trust himself, and tries to rely entirely on himself. He assumes people forget about him whenever he isn't around, and that he has no right to expect differently.

He deals with this by building himself out of other people's stuff. Their morals. Their names. Their mannerisms. Their symbols. Things that connect him to them, and seem trustworthy and stable.

He cares about things based on how much his loved ones care about them. He's probably never considered how HE feels about killing, because not killing is incredibly important to Bruce and Dick. He frequently ignores rules if nobody is around to notice, because their affect on others is what's important to him. His morality feels weird to people because his investment isn't 'normal' and emotion-based. He didn't get this stuff modeled to him, as a kid. He didn't internalize it. He figured it out intellectually, by watching vigilantes from a distance, or later, by figuring out which actions were crimes he was supposed to stop.

He's Robin because Dick and Jason gave Robin meaning. When he needs a new name and costume, he picks the one that Jason was acting really possessive about a few weeks before. He makes puns and jokes while patrolling, because that's what his predecessors did. (His own jokes tend to be much drier.) He's the best 'little brother' he can be for Dick, but the best 'partner' he can be for Bruce; and his friendship with the Core 4 is entirely unique to them, defined to match how very weird they are.

Of COURSE a Tim who's trying to figure out how to be an adult would be drawn to a building that's meaningful to Bruce, in a neighbourhood that's meaningful to Jason. Of course transforming this place of pain, endings, and beginnings into HIS place of healing, endings, and beginnings is attractive! He needs the connections! He needs the value! He doesn't think it gets any value by being HIS, so it needs to come with value preinstalled.

-

¹ I learned this technique to avoid the emotional blowups executive dysfunction can't prevent. My sister and husband learned it to make up for difficulty recognizing emotions. You may form your own conclusions about the reasons Tim might have found it useful.

I love how nowadays Tim Drake's base of operations is the Robin's Nest when in the modern era he literally bought, refurbished, and lived in the movie theater the Waynes were murdered outside of. He didn't even ask Bruce his thoughts until after the purchase. Why did he do that

[the-firebird69]

MovieLoci.com

https://www.movieloci.com › 3322-...

Filming Locations of Mars Attacks!

There are a few things to be said about what's going on here one of them is these people are angry him and frustrating him beyond his ability to control himself and he wants him to murder someone so he's murdering people using their own methods and they can't figure it out so they just sit there trying it and he says I'm killing you I'm killing you I'm killing you I killed You by hand actually that's what everybody wanted that guy's going to die fully now you can figure it out and he said that last two sentences. And I say this we're going to come in there and kill you and get rid of you and get rid of your people and because it's ridiculous he said he can't stand anymore so he's going off and we're actually helping and we're running these programs. We're running the one that gets rid of you Jack Nicholson cuz that's all you really are some crazy a****** actor. And we're going to get rid of you too ben Arnold you're in our way of taking over stuff. And of course you three imps. It's really simple the path is starting to become apparent these idiots want to ruin your tobacco crop so you don't have explosives they say it will work and we say it's stupid and it's Tommy F and it is stupid. They want to take the car out there did they buried and laid it on fire and push it into the tobacco which probably won't even burn it since they're seedlings and see this a****** caught on fire and supposedly out there already but it's not you have to have your matrix episode and that's the first movie A lot of it happens in LA it's because of Utah and people are fighting to try and get there through tunnels and it's a major war and it's coming up momentarily

Thor Freya

Finally some action and the general grievous thing well that looks like Tommy f

Hera

And you going up there to upstate New York around Buffalo and so forth but you're really trying to get those ships out too and Tommy F wants the data of BGA. And yeah Ben Arnold is out for you Mac but this is a unique spot for some reason he says you're trying to kill me yet they hurting my parents in fact your experimenting with radiation and you're irradiated them in hopes I would come out week and so you're up to you and sickly and it looks like you did it you found all these retardss on me, it did not do the right thing and you played some kind of pussies with them and all sorts of things and they are killing your people and have killed a lot of them and are killing you and in the end you can see who it is that does you in as Jason Governor DeSantis terminates you and that's what the movie looks like because you are there unconscious and dead and the building blows up I believe it's New Mexico

Zues

It was just to play these stupid songs to him it's like wailing away on you you can't even figure it out you're so gay and dumb well laughing at you cuz you're absurd but you have to die because you're bothering us too much and you're harming him every once in a while and this is how Mac dies. Here he goes there with the subsurd notion of doing something to the Earth when in fact Jason is there with some cheesy ships and he's out of his mind and his brains are huge for some reason and the outside of his head so he has to protect it with gear and I think they're smart when they're completely insane and really the inside of their brain is hollow and they kill him this little teeny clan. And especially results of foreigners and foreign warlock who hate Jason and what he's doing with Mac to them and is hated them for a long time hasn't been around eating them for quite a bit to become them to do stuff to them keep them down in revenge is best served cold

Olympus

[fearlessinger]

this may not be news to many of you bc I have not been able to shut up about it since I first finished the books but for the fast food enthusiasts who feel like a 50k essay might be too big of a commitment, in tonight’s edition of READ TOA, GUYS let me try to condense this into a shortest & simpler (& simplified! Nuance's definitely gonna be lost here) form… 

Basically, to characterize Apollo’s arc in TOA as a redemption is… incorrect.

Ok well no, I’ll admit, I did that for effect (gotcha tho, huh ;P), let me take it back immediately, it’s not incorrect bc 1) he himself does characterize it that way, and 2) Apollo did do some terrible, terrible stuff in the past and through the course of the story he takes responsibility, atones to the best of his ability, and vows to not repeat those mistakes anymore, all of which fits the definition of redemption to a tee. But the thing is… this isn’t his main character arc! It barely qualifies as an arc at all bc despite what Apollo tells us, Apollo starts out from the very beginning of THO already feeling responsible, already willing to atone – with his own life, if necessary – already committed to not repeat past mistakes. All this character work… he’d already done it well before the rrverse begun. His actual character arc in TOA isn’t about realizing that he must do this, but about realizing that he CAN do it. That he HAS A RIGHT to do it, in fact. Because his life experience under his father’s rule had convinced him that correcting his mistakes was impossible, and that showing care toward people & forming connections with them would only end up in hurt, not just for Apollo but, even more crucially, for those people too. And that WAS the reality Apollo lived in before TOA, and still is the reality Apollo returns to live in after TOA. And that’s crucial to understand, because that’s the context we must keep in mind to interpret Apollo’s pre TOA choices & actions. He acts like he doesn’t care because caring about others makes them into easy targets of his enemies and family members, two categories that coincide more often than not. He’s an asshole to the demigods even as he actually helps them precisely to obfuscate the fact that he’s helping them. He presents himself as an unreliable, capricious figure to them because he quite literally can’t offer dependability to them. Because another thing he always knew, even though he lies about it like he does about everything else, was to give value to promises. SO he could not – he would not let himself promise help that he was not free to give in the first place. 

Except in TOA, suddenly, he is, because he's not a god, because he’s not bound to the rules that tie the gods’ hands, that keep them tied to their Lord whose flighty benevolence they all depend on, anymore.

Because he has nothing left to give, finally he finds himself actually free to give it. Because he has nothing left to lose, finally he finds himself free to grab for stuff. To dare want and dream and hope and LOVE like he could never afford to before, except maybe… maybe one or both of those two times he'd been punished with mortality already, way back in the ancient days. 

"Remember what it means to be human," Jason tells him, and it has so much more meaning than Jason can realize. 

Apollo's actual arc in TOA is not one of redemption, even though he keeps telling us it is. It is one of self reclamation, both symbolically and literally, from the theft of agency & purpose & identity that he was victim of, that is a perfect representation of what abuse effectively does to a person, what abuse effectively had done to him. It is one of self actualization. It is one of learning to believe in his own heart, his own choices. To be proud of them, in fact. To see them validated in the way they inspire people's love and faith even when they are backed by no power at all. To discover that he was never alone after all. 

And despite what he keeps telling us, Apollo does know this. 

He recognizes Meg is abused because he sees himself in her, because he sees that her relationship with Nero mirrors his relationship with his own father. He is terrified that once Meg is reunited with Nero she’ll fall back into line like nothing has changed, let her stepfather make of her his obedient victim and trained killer once again, because he knows that HE might, when he’ll be faced with the same choice. Because why wouldn’t he? His problem was never an unwillingness to do better, it was that he effectively didn’t have a choice.

And yes, among his extremely limited options he didn’t always pick well. He did highly questionable things, and not all of them out of strict necessity. But the truth is there really wasn’t a GOOD option for him to pick at all. His was a lose/lose situation.

And now, at the end of the series, now that he’s back, it is once again, except – except for the part where Apollo has learned that he isn’t alone.

As crazy as it may sound, considering he started out the series proclaiming he expected everybody to do his dirty work for him, Apollo’s character arc was all about learning that he can lean on other people for support. That he has friends he can count on. That’s what the closing words of the pentalogy mean. They are not only a promise, but a request to the readers to believe in the best version of him, the most authentic version of him, the person we got to know, to discover, all through our journey together as he gradually opened up and let us see it. Gods are powered by belief, and “call on me” means “have faith that I will come”. It means “lend me your strength, so I can lend you mine in return”.

[brucewaynehater101]

Hell yeah! Brilliant additions to the AU.

Tim, feeling somewhat petty with Bruce's temper tantrums (beating up purse snatchers and grocery store robbers), decides to just take out some of the risk (both for Batman and the criminals themselves). By this point, Tim's taken a few sociology lectures, read a few recommended books on crime versus social structure, and fucked around on social debate sides of the internet.

Sue him, it's an interesting topic and something his parents would've hated.

Tim figures, why not? Bruce has been trying to combat crime in Gotham for the past decade to decade and a half. What if Tim (who's maybe also somewhat mad at Bruce for Jason's death and for him never rescuing Tim [despite him living right next door]) decreased the crime rates as a fun pass time by hiring people desperate for work? If he gives them employment opportunities that won't lead to murder, drugs, trafficking, or other shit like that, wouldn't that significantly decrease the number of goons in Gotham? It would he hilarious if Tim decreased crime in three years more than what Bruce has done in more than triple that time.

So Tim finds a way to merge ex convicts with Drake Industries and ends up with loyal employees who significantly increase profit.

Alright. Not Tim's entire intention, but he won't say no to utilizing the development to also fill in some of the vacant/abandoned buildings all around Gotham. He instates a maximum rent policy on new places (to discourage price gouging that causes nearby residents to flee from the new exorbitant prices on their rent/leases) and slowly starts stealing more and more goons from Rogues.

It causes the underbelly of Gotham to start chatting. There's not enough to draw the Bat, not yet, but enough that trusted sources are leaking information of honest work that doesn't care about criminal history. In Gotham, that's rare. Only places of employment that accept ex convicts are ones who use the rapsheet as a checklist before hiring.

The weirdest part about this new gang? The positions they hire for usually help out other people. They hire workers for food drives, street cleaning, setting up community gardens, libraries (not the librarian position unless they've been through the necessary schooling/training/years of experience for that), handing out blankets during the winter and iced water in the summer, construction for shelters, etc. For some, the organization provides someone both the ability to survive and the ability to ease some of their guilt from the price they've paid before for living.

Maybe Tim, on his "trips to his parents," accidentally ran into Lady Shiva. Maybe Tim, who has killed before, doesn't have as much of an issue with killing. He won't kill unless it's absolutely necessary and the best course of action, but he's not opposed to it. Maybe Lady Shiva keeps training him on these trips. Maybe Tim meets other instructors too. He's not a vigilante, but some tasks require someone in person to "talk things out."

I also love the Duke idea! They should definitely be friends and work together. Perhaps Duke and Tam are the only two who know that Tim runs both D.I. and the gang.

Anyways, Red Hood hears about a new gang and initially assumes it's like the others. Then, once he learns a little more and has a mental breakdown, he figures the Drakes are the ones who are doing it. He gets a little concerned about the fact that Tim's parents haven't been in Gotham for years. Yes, this gang is doing great things. However, this is Gotham. Nothing good there is true.

Perhaps Jason thinks Tim, who's barely turned 18, is getting threatened by the gang leader to help them out (or something). He's concerned about the kid and tries to find out more for Tim's protection. After all, Red Hood protects kids. Identity shenanigans ensue.

Tim Never Joins the Bats AU (Bad Parents Jack and Janet Drake):

Tim Drake's parents are always "traveling" and "never home." Yet, they always travel to places without cameras or any way to verify this information. They haven't been back to Gotham in years.

They send emails to the company and run things remotely. In fact, despite a temporary decrease in profits four years ago, Drake Industries is excelling. Timothy Drake started interning over the summers when he turned fourteen.

Now, at eighteen, Tim is practically running all in-person demands for the company. He's basically the CEO without the title (not that anyone would tell the Drakes or Board that. Some board members weren't happy with Tim's involvement until a few months ago).

If someone asks, Tim will let a melancholic smile appear on his face as he remarks how he misses his parents. He'll detail the fun adventures they are having, the trips Tim takes to go see them, and how proud they've claimed to be of him. Anyone who bothers to question Tim doesn't doubt that the Drakes are a happy if distant family.

Of course, that's the lie Tim weaves. He wonders, now that he's eighteen, when he can transfer the shares and title of CEO to his name. Should he wait a few more years?

It's exhausting, though, painting the fantasy of doting and slightly neglectful parents. Never has Jack or Janet been described as caring. After all, his last memories of them include the smells of rot and metal.

His decision was hasty, but somehow, in the same city of the "World's Greatest Detective," Tim's fabricated story has stood trial. The disappearance and murders of Jack and Janet Drake were never discovered.

[sturchling]

A maribat no pairing needed but if you want one you can write it in. But basically Marinette goes to Gotham and stays with the bat family. Bruce is leaving hits he is Batman so he can help Marinette with being ladybug

Sorry for the wait! Hope you like it! I decided to make this one a little more funny with a completely oblivious Marinette. Sorry if you don't like her being this oblivious, just wanted to have some fun with this one. I really liked that idea and thought it was funny. I hope you like it too, I had a lot of fun writing it!

Marinette was so excited she was shaking. She had just gotten word that she had been accepted into an exchange student program with Gotham Academy. Not only would she be able to get away from Lila and the drama with the class, but she may also be able to find Batman and get some help with tracking down Hawkmoth. Marinette would be hosted by the Wayne family, who was sponsoring this whole program. Marinette was impressed by Mr. Wayne's generousity. It is really generous of Mr. Wayne to set up and fund this whole program. He must be a really nice man. Marinette wasn't going waste this opportunity. She would enjoy her time in America, and she would definitely find Batman before the program was over!

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

Bruce really hoped this crazy plan worked. He had learned several weeks ago about a blog based out of Paris called the Ladyblog. It mainly posted a bunch of nonsense about a girl named Lila who was clearly a liar. But that wasn't what caught his attention. What caught his attention was a few stories posted between the interviews with the liar. These posts were about something called 'akuma attacks' and a supervillain named Hawkmoth who had been terrorizing Paris for years now. At first, Bruce just thought it was more nonsense, like the posts about the liar. But to be safe, he looked into it more, and was astonished to find out it was the truth. He learned everything Hawkmoth had done, all the different akumas, and about the local heroes: Ladybug and Chat Noir.

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

He was shocked to see that the heroes defending Paris were just kids. And while they have done great on their own, Bruce could tell they haven't had any kind of combat training. If they go up against an akuma with real training, they would be at a significant disadvantage. Plus, they would likely not have any good strategy to discover Hawkmoth's identity. Even if they keep winning against the akumas, they have to find and beat Hawkmoth or this madness will never end. He resolved in that moment to find these kids and help them. He focused on Ladybug and started to figure out her civilian ID. It took a few weeks, but he eventually found out she was Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She always disappeared once Ladybug appeared, and there were a few times that a security camera would see her duck into an alley, and then a few moments later, Ladybug would emerge. Once he knew her identity, he began to plan.

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

He decided the easiest way to get her to Gotham would likely be something regarding school. At first he thought of a class trip for her whole class, but decided against it. That idea wouldn't work with the rest of his plan. Instead, he set up a student exchange program with Gotham Academy. He would host the student that was selected at his manor for the duration of the program and fund the entire thing. The academy didn't think anything of it, used to Mr. Wayne's charitable acts for the school. His one condition was that he got to choose the student. The academy agreed, it only made sense since Mr. Wayne was funding the program and would host the student as well.

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

Mr. Wayne made sure that the news of the program made it to Paris and was heavily advertised. He even sent the information to Ms. Dupain-Cheng's school. He was sure that she would learn about it and apply quickly. Ms. Dupain-Cheng had seemed like an ambitious student from what he had found so far, so the offer of studying in America would be tempting. Plus if she was as clever as she seemed, based off her actions as Ladybug, then he was sure she would want to come and try to meet with Batman. It didn't take long for Marinette's application to cross his desk. As he approved her application and typed up her acceptance email, he smiled and began the next phase of his plan.

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

Bruce knew that Marinette would be very concerned if he approached her about being Ladybug outright. It would be best if she approached him. And here was the problem. She wouldn't approach him, she would only approach Batman. So he needed to have her figure out that he was Batman. He didn't want her to transform into Ladybug and look around Gotham for him. That could cause people back in Paris to figure out her identity, if Ladybug appeared in Gotham at the same time as Marinette. And if Hawkmoth figured it out, that would be horrible. And if Marinette went looking for Batman in her civilian form, it could be really dangerous. Instead, Bruce and his sons were going to make it painfully obvious who they were. They would leave all their equipment out in plain view, all their case files out, he was even going to park the Batmobile outside in the driveway (out of sight of the gates of course, he doesn't want anyone but Marinette to find out his identity). Short of walking around in their costumes, they would do everything they could.

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

Bruce's sons were excited. They didn't have to be careful about their identities around her which was a plus, and after learning that Marinette fighting Hawkmoth with only Chat Noir for consistent help, they were more than ready to help them with the Hawkmoth problem. They had also made bets on how long it would take her to figure it out, and which member of the family would be the one to give it away. They were ready for Marinette to arrive.

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

Marinette had arrived about a week ago, and Bruce's plan was in full effect. But, surprisingly, Marinette hadn't figured it out. She spent most of her time out, walking around Gotham. She had told the Waynes that she was familiarizing her self with the city and also gathering inspiration for her designs. In reality, she was focused on finding Batman. So focused in fact, that she missed all the clues that the Waynes were leaving her. She had walked right past the Batmobile, hardly giving it a second glance. She had picked up some casefiles sitting at the dining table, and instead of reading, or even just looking at them, she just handed them to Bruce and finished setting the table. She had walked in on Jason cleaning his guns in the living room, and instead of commenting on that, just sat down and turned on the TV. At one point, she even came into the gym and found Dick doing an acrobatic routine that only Nightwing would be able to do, all while Tim and Jason were sparing, and Damian was sharpening his sword. They were sure this would get her attention. But Marinette didn't even notice. She just got on a treadmill, put in her headphones and started running. They boys just stared at her. They were shocked that she could be so oblivious.

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

While Marinette was out walking around Gotham, looking for Batman again, the Batfam was having a meeting at the manor. They couldn't believe that Marinette hadn't figured it out yet. At least Bruce could definitely prove that his secret ID was better than Clark's. Marinette's been living with him for months now, with them actively trying to reveal their secret to her, and she still couldn't figure it out. They were running out of ideas and time. The program ended in a few weeks and they had done everything they could think of. Except for one thing. They hadn't thought they would have to be so obvious, but it was clear that Marinette would figure it out any other way.

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

So, that is how they found themselves coming up from the Batcave, in full costume, making a lot of noise to draw Marinette's attention as she sat watching TV in the living room. Marinette came around the corner and looked at them. Marinette's eyes grew wide, and she just stared. The Waynes were sure she finally figured it out. Finally, she broke the silence, saying "Nice costumes guys! You look just like the real Batfam. Nice attention to detail!" Then she just went back into the living room, leaving the Batfam frozen in disbelief.

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

Bruce decided enough was enough, and the family went into the living room, still in costume, and told Marinette their secret directly. She was pretty surprised. She had been so consumed with looking for Batman around Gotham, she never even thought she might be living with him. The night continued for a long time after that. Marinette revealed her secret and the Waynes revealed they had known all along. They told her that they had seen her using the horse miraculous to go back to Paris for an akuma battle, which that may not have been how they figured her out, but they had seen that too. After all the reveals were done, the group spent the rest of the night focused on Hawkmoth and how to track him. Tim got to work immediately and was sure he would have an answer soon, though it may be after she went back to Paris. The rest of Marinette's time in Gotham was spent training how to fight properly, and how to find better places to transform. Marinette soon went back to Paris, armed with better fighting skills, and the knowledge that she now had Batman as an ally in the fight against Hawkmoth.

[redjaybathood]

Jason gives up on gotham and moves to metropolis to become a doctor (sorry it's not crazy but I'm mostly running on fumes)

Yeah, no, I get you. Besides, you think your idea isn't crazy enough? Well, we just have to make it crazier then.

First things first. When does Jason become fed up with Gotham? I'd say: about the time he almost bled out in the ruins of his old apartment building. He couldn't stop the bleeding himself, but he did manage to make one call: to 911.

Of course, after he had gotten medical attention, there was also police who came looking. So leaving Gotham was a necessity on several levels.

He chooses Metropolis because it's a city Bruce likes the least. Also, it has a good residency program, something to think about on the later date. It also is huge, and there are a lot of weird people, but normal-weird, not "paint the walls with your intestines" weird. So Jason figures he will fit.

Funny enough, he enrolls into the school under his own name, having faked only some of the documentation and backstory. He's looking forward to settling in for a long run, so it's best if his lies were mixed with half-truths. Easier all around.

He's not worried that Bruce will look for him. Both of them can go on pretending that Red Hood died that day, by fire or water. And for the police, what he's got would be enough.

Thing is: after the initial setup - college money, apartment to rent, books, necessities - his stash of drug money isn't looking too good. Seeing how he had to leave most of it back in Gotham and won't be getting anything more.

So he's going to be broke, in the near future. Yeah? No, Jason finds a job. He's EMT now, got his 170 hours of training course, certification. Currently, he's interning with a real nice crew.

Amina Franklin, who, by coincidence, also moved from Gotham, but 10 years earlier; she was stalked by a Russian mobster and had to leave (of course, there's more to it than that, her being the sister of Wayne Franklin/Grotesk, a great inventor of medical robotic technology and a vigilante). She's the paramedic.

Davis Bloome, EMT. Local boy. Never been outside of Metropolis, he will tell you. Grew up in foster care. Could really use friends and some therapy. (It's Doomsday, but Jason doesn't know it yet)

Cody Driscoll, the driver. Seems like has a story to tell, but jokes that then he would have to kill you. When you buy him a drink, would tell you about how he was abducted by aliens. (thing is, Jason believes it)

And it's all good right up until the second week Jason is riding along, the ambulance is hijacked with Jason still in it. He's being held at a gunpoint and made to stitch a gang leader's gunshot. And he can, probably, kill all of them before they notice, but he also totally cannot do that, because there would his civilian life go. So Jason has to allow himself to be kidnapped.

Meanwhile, Cody decides to rescue Jason himself, Amina goes with him just to make sure he won't get himself and Jason killed, and Davis, you know. He has his difficulties connecting with people. But with those particular people, he has rapport. He established a system that is actually very simple. If they do something, he's doing it too, as not to seem and feel out of place. So when everyone goes to rescue Jason? This means that Dooms fucking day goes along to rescue Jason.

Even if even he doesn't yet know that he is the Doomsday.

Look, this idea is so huge, I cannot actually write anything, even a scene, because I don't know characters that well, or how Metropolis operates. But what can I add, it's this:

- besides the hot action scenes, there's human interest stories; little things, like how Jason rescues a person who OD'd, and how it affected him; Davis somehow ending up being the one who talks down a suicidal teenager; Amina having to attend to a teenager who acted as a vigilante and got really badly beat up by criminals.

- there's also a mystery where they step by step finding out new stuff about each other, and sometimes it happens very fast, like Davis turning into this huge monster and eating the criminals who kidnapped Jason, and Jason teaching them how to clean up a scene of murder, and Amina being non-fazed by the whole thing. And Cody, who was indeed kidnapped by aliens, dated one, was on a team with like a lot of them, is looking into all of this and being: how am I the only normal person here? I don't like it;

- there's a subplot where Amina succeeded in proving that a corporation stole her brother's inventions - the last way to restore at least some modicum of justice for Wayne unless she becomes the vigilante herself, of which she - not a fan. Gang helps!

- there's a subplot where Davis tries to figure out his mysterious past and the whole people eating monster thing. He succeeds and even figures out how to control it. Gang helps!

- there's a subplot where Deathstroke comes a knocking for Cody. Cody, being pretty content with his life in Metropolis, knocks him the fuck out. Gang helps!

- there's a subplot where Jason struggles to juggle school and the job and his new friends/family/crew, all the while staying out of the way of local reporters. Which is difficult, seeing as his job puts him often to the same places where the story is. And he somehow gets involved in another hostage situation; bank robbery; regular robbery; cat burglary, and many more. Gang helps!

[capricorn-stark]

Smoke and Mirrors

pairing: jason todd x reader, childhood friends

warning: language, slightly heated towards the end but it’s very mild, smoking - i’m not a smoker nor do i condone it, don’t do it kids

a/n: references some early stuff from RHATO (2011)

“The girls at the diner used to call those cancer sticks.”

You thought it was pretty ironic for him to say that when he plucked the cigarette you were holding right out of your hand, leaning against the railing of the balcony and seeming utterly unabashed. You hadn’t even heard him landing beside you until he started speaking. 

You made a face at him as he unlocked and slid his helmet off while grinning at you in a typical self-satisfied fashion, bringing the cigarette to his own lips. 

“Let me guess,” you started dryly, watching a plume of smoke swirl out of his mouth as he took a drag. “That’s why you took their warning very seriously and told yourself to never, ever smoke one.” 

“I never said that,” he protested with another obnoxious laugh as he turned to glance over at you. “You made that shit up yourself. Not my problem.” 

You rolled your eyes at him before moving to fish out your pack and lighter out again, half-heartedly settling another one between your lips and lighting it up. Jason’s eyes followed the smoke back to you, his own expression unreadable.

“And I thought you said you quit this shit.” 

You shrugged, not quite looking at him when you opened your mouth to answer. 

“People say stuff all the time, Hood. What did you expect?” Your words were directed towards a little more than just smoking. A beat passed before he shrugged it off. 

“Hell if I know.” 

You both sat there for a while in silence as you smoked, watching the grey clouds stray towards the hazy glow of the setting sun on the horizon. The city beneath you was beautiful tonight, a seemingly endless stretch of dark gleaming buildings reflecting the pinks and oranges of the sunset. You wanted to relish that moment more than anything for a while, and you did. 

You closed your eyes and let the cigarette leave your mouth, clouds falling from your lips, nicotine buzzing in your bloodstream.

It would be a beautiful night. You could tell.

When you opened your eyes, you felt Jason’s eyes on you again and your turned your head to meet them. In the sunset, they really did glow a strange hue of green - yet another marker from his swim in the Lazarus. You hadn’t seen those eyes in quite a while.

“What, you want to take a picture?” you started in a somewhat jestful tone at his expression. “It’ll last longer.” 

“Would you let me?” was his rather cocky comeback as he took his own cigarette out of his mouth, another smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. “‘cus I don’t have anything against that idea, per se-”

“I was joking-”

“Right, totally.” 

“I was!” The look on his face was infuriating enough to let you know that he didn’t believe shit. You let out a rather long and weary sigh. “I thought you weren’t planning on coming back anytime soon.” And at last, the disdain you had been trying so hard to contain from him was surfacing in your tone.

And clearly, from the way he was staring at you, he seemed to notice.

His latest adventures with his new friends, dubbed The Outlaws, hadn’t exactly been on the down-low. You knew one of them, Roy Harper, from being his best friend from a long time ago, and you had seen the glowing orange alien chick who accompanied them for the past few months on the news after he had taken off from Gotham. 

You couldn’t deny the fact that you had been more than a little dismayed by the fact that he hadn’t even bothered to give you some sort of goodbye before they left, either - no visits, no phone calls, no letters, not even a poorly placed sticky note on the front of your apartment door left to get swept away by some janitor when it fell off. 

You woke up one morning and heard from his brother that he wasn’t around Gotham anymore, no real explanations as to why the hell that was. 

He just disappeared. 

“You’re not thrilled to see me?” he attempted with mock hurt, and you gave him a very unimpressed look. “Sure, doll. I see how it is.” You acted like the nickname didn’t affect you as much as it did, because he didn’t deserve the satisfaction of otherwise.

“You know what I mean, Jason.” 

“I thought it was Hood?” He caught your look again. “Jeez, I’m just fucking around.” The silence stretched on and he at least had the sense to look a little guilty when he spoke again. “Y/N. Listen, I’m - I’m sorry.” 

You didn’t say anything for a while, your eyes still fixed ahead on the horizon. What did he expect you to say?

“I didn’t plan on leaving like that, I just - shit happened. And I didn’t want to stay in this shithole of a city for longer than I had to, anyways.” 

Of course. He was bad at goodbyes, so he never said them. You were above chasing after him, so you never did.

“You could’ve at least made a call after you left.” The cigarette was still burning in your hands, the white filter crumbling away in the wind. “Or, I dunno, sent a text, or even a damn email or something. Anything.” Even you were surprised by the contempt lacing your voice with every word you spoke. You had told yourself he had to have had his reasons for leaving and that you wouldn’t waste your own time being angry at him. But somehow, you couldn’t help it. It had hurt more than you chose to realize. “It’s been months.” For once, his passive expressions and sarcasm had been replaced with something else. 

Remorse. 

“I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal to you.” You almost let out an incredulous laugh at that. 

“Not a big deal to me? Are you serious?” You turned back to face him and he pursed his lips, clearly having realized that he had said the wrong thing. “After you came back - from the dead - and after everything that happened, you seriously thought I wouldn’t care what happened to you?” Jason opened his mouth, then wisely closed it while you tossed your cigarette down to crush it beneath your heel. “Wow, Jason, you knew me way better than I thought you did.” 

“I didn’t mean to leave,” he tried again after a beat, taking a half-step towards you. “I wasn’t - I was on a mission, and this submarine thing with the dudes I was dealing with blew up, and then I woke up like a week later on this island thing with a Tamaranean alien princess who thought I was Dick, and then I found out Roy was gonna get executed, so-” He seemed to realize how incredulous that sequence of events sounded from the look on your face. So he let out a sigh, wringing his hands. “Okay. Yeah. I was kind of a douche.”

“Kind of?” 

“I was definitely a douche,” he amended with another sigh, running a hand through his dark hair. He took a breath. “But I did mean it. I’m sorry.” 

And you knew he meant it when he said that. Even back in his unruly days as a Robin, when your friendship had first formed, you had figured out that it was ridiculously hard for Jason Todd to let go of his pride and apologize for basically anything. When he got older, it admittedly hadn’t gotten all that much better.

Until now, apparently. Just a little. And you could never stay angry at him for very long, as much as you might have tried.

You let out a sigh yourself, glancing up at him. 

“When did you even get back?” 

Jason made a show of fishing his phone out of his pocket and taking a look before answering. 

“About - twenty minutes ago.” He cleared his throat a little. “I wanted to see you.” There it was again - that infuriating feeling in your chest. 

“Did you?” You tried to keep your tone as neutral as possible as he rubbed the back of his neck, somewhat awkwardly glancing away from you before he spoke again. 

“Yeah. I missed you.”

Well fuck. That was a big one. 

“I guess I missed having you around. Sometimes.” He chuckled at your attempt to be nonchalant, stepping even closer to you. 

“That’s it? That’s all I get?” You rolled your eyes at him, refusing to say otherwise. You weren’t about to give in to him.

“Yeah, that’s all you-” Before you could finish, he had cut you off with a kiss. And in another moment, after his arms wrapped around your waist to pull you in closer, you realized your entire train of thought had been derailed completely because your best friend was kissing you.

“Get?” he offered when he pulled away again, another rather smug smile playing at his lips when you managed to look at him again, clearly flustered. “You sure about that?” 

You appropriately told Jason to fuck off before you pulled him down towards you again for another kiss. And that kiss turned into another, then another, and another. 

Your seemingly blasé attitude towards him and his constant teasing towards you had always helped you both shy away from whatever it was that you actually felt towards the other. It was easier to laugh at each other, or flirt, or push each other away than to actually move past your pride and admit how you felt. 

But then again, between tender caresses and heated kisses, you didn’t think there was a need to really say anything out loud. Where his hands were on your body alone could tell anyone what was going on in his head.

You had missed him more than you could express in words, and it was increasingly clear that he had felt the exact same way. Your relationship had always toyed at the fine line between friendship and something more, and your actions in that moment had firmly moved you both past the former. 

For so many years, your respective egos had provided a cover from a truth neither of you had been ready to come to terms with. But now, beneath the haze of cigarette smoke, sheets, and Gotham sunsets, you could finally see what exactly that was. There had always been something more underneath all of your smoke and mirrors. 

And although it wouldn’t be right then and there, eventually, you’d clear all of that smoke away.